JC Butterfly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 8, 1999
Character meals are my favorite. I started on my 21st birthday and have been doing several each year for the past 8 years, no kids. Sometimes I'm alone, sometimes with a girlfriend, and now with my husband too.
After walking around the parks all day, I especially appreciate the opportunity to sit down and have the food brought to me. Two of my favorite places to dine are:
'Ohanas: partially because I just love this lush, tropical resort (the Polynesian). If you're lucky enough to get a window seat you may overlook gardens, bay lake, or even the castle in the distance. All of the servers here treat you like "cousins" or part of the family. The food is brought out in large platters (sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, Mickey waffles, fresh fruit) and they will keep refilling until you can't eat anymore. Chip, Dale, Goofy, and Mickey are always here. I have seen Minnie one time here and Donald once too but wouldn't count on them. The characters will be as interactive as we encourage them.
For example when I went with my girlfriend and Chip came to our table I said that we were trying to debate which one was cuter. I thought it was Chip (to which he responds by pumping up his chest) but my friend thought it was Dale (as she points to Dale across the restaurant) so of course Chip goes over and drags Dale to our table so we can get a good look at both of them while we try to "judge". Everyone around us seemed to have a good time watching their antics. And Goofy is famous for stealing the headbands off Chip or Dale or putting them in a headlock or just doing Goofy things. The meal here is quite good too.
But when I go with my husband is far more reserved and happy to just have the characters pose for a photo, a hug, or handshake and then have them move on.
Garden Gill: at the Land in EPCOT is another favorite. I love how you sit in a booth that overlooks a ride. There is a great sense of privacy from the other tables and the food is served to you. They serve breakfast, and dinner and host and ice cream social at like 3:00 p.m. if you wanted a shorter interaction time. This is also a meal with Mickey, Chip, and Dale, and Pluto (never seen Goofy here).
I find that they come to your table and then continue to rotate and come back. The kids seem much better here about not trying to approach the characters before their turn due to the way the restaurant is set up.
I have been to the Liberty Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom): Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto. They bring you the food. The atmosphere is authentic, the food options are just less to my liking.
Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom: Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore. This is such a beautiful restaurant, the tables are somewhat close together and feels a little noisier to me than some of the others. Buffet seems hit and miss for how fresh the offerings are.
Chef Mickey's: This is fun, fun, fun. It's a buffet so it loses a couple points with me but the food is always hot and fresh. There is a point where load music comes on and they have you waving your napkins in the air to the beat.
Cinderella's Royal Table: This is the most enchanting place to eat, right in the castle. The princesses are beautiful and the food is pretty darn good. However there is only seating for like 100 people and only serve breakfast for like 2 hours so the competition to get this is fierce. So much so that I have only dined here twice and gotten "shut out" on the other occaisions.
I hope this gives you a starting point and feel free to ask for more specific questions if you have them!
After walking around the parks all day, I especially appreciate the opportunity to sit down and have the food brought to me. Two of my favorite places to dine are:
'Ohanas: partially because I just love this lush, tropical resort (the Polynesian). If you're lucky enough to get a window seat you may overlook gardens, bay lake, or even the castle in the distance. All of the servers here treat you like "cousins" or part of the family. The food is brought out in large platters (sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, Mickey waffles, fresh fruit) and they will keep refilling until you can't eat anymore. Chip, Dale, Goofy, and Mickey are always here. I have seen Minnie one time here and Donald once too but wouldn't count on them. The characters will be as interactive as we encourage them.
For example when I went with my girlfriend and Chip came to our table I said that we were trying to debate which one was cuter. I thought it was Chip (to which he responds by pumping up his chest) but my friend thought it was Dale (as she points to Dale across the restaurant) so of course Chip goes over and drags Dale to our table so we can get a good look at both of them while we try to "judge". Everyone around us seemed to have a good time watching their antics. And Goofy is famous for stealing the headbands off Chip or Dale or putting them in a headlock or just doing Goofy things. The meal here is quite good too.
But when I go with my husband is far more reserved and happy to just have the characters pose for a photo, a hug, or handshake and then have them move on.
Garden Gill: at the Land in EPCOT is another favorite. I love how you sit in a booth that overlooks a ride. There is a great sense of privacy from the other tables and the food is served to you. They serve breakfast, and dinner and host and ice cream social at like 3:00 p.m. if you wanted a shorter interaction time. This is also a meal with Mickey, Chip, and Dale, and Pluto (never seen Goofy here).
I find that they come to your table and then continue to rotate and come back. The kids seem much better here about not trying to approach the characters before their turn due to the way the restaurant is set up.
I have been to the Liberty Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom): Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto. They bring you the food. The atmosphere is authentic, the food options are just less to my liking.
Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom: Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore. This is such a beautiful restaurant, the tables are somewhat close together and feels a little noisier to me than some of the others. Buffet seems hit and miss for how fresh the offerings are.
Chef Mickey's: This is fun, fun, fun. It's a buffet so it loses a couple points with me but the food is always hot and fresh. There is a point where load music comes on and they have you waving your napkins in the air to the beat.
Cinderella's Royal Table: This is the most enchanting place to eat, right in the castle. The princesses are beautiful and the food is pretty darn good. However there is only seating for like 100 people and only serve breakfast for like 2 hours so the competition to get this is fierce. So much so that I have only dined here twice and gotten "shut out" on the other occaisions.
I hope this gives you a starting point and feel free to ask for more specific questions if you have them!
I was really set on dining with Princesses although you made the other meals sound like a lot of fun. I've only discussed the idea of character meals with 1 of the 3 friends who I'll be traveling with, and after I told her why I thought it would be fun, she seemed like she thought so too - but I still need to talk about it with the other 2. I thought a meal with a Princess or two would be lots of fun since this is a girls only trip. Also, I'm kind of shy. Depending on my mood, I may want to have a little chat w/the characters, or, I may just want a quick picture. Either way, I think it might be easier for someone like me, or rather me specifically to forget for a moment that it's not "real," and therefore have a better time if a can actually see a persons face, and have them answer me back. As much as I love WDW and as excited as my friends (who've never been before) are about going, none of us are totally crazy about any specific character so it's kind of harder to choose which meal would be the most fun for us. I do love the Princesses though, and I think we'd have a blast just having a little "girl talk" with them. If we can't get into CRT, is the Princess storybook breakfast as bad as I've heard, would we have a terrible time (or feel like complete idiots)? Is there any other meal with princesses? Also, I'm a little confused about the meal times. When the time is listed as 8:30 to 10:30, do you have to be there at 8:30, or do you pick a time between 8:30 and 10:30?
