Does everyone have to order their own meal at character meals?

[Michaelsch]

My wife and I are taking our 4 year old to Disney World and we are planning on going to a couple character meals. I am wondering if my wife and I can share a plate at these meals? It would be nice to save the money and we don't usually eat that much anyway. Also, my daughter is very (VERY) picky. We usually have to bring some food for her to restaurants when we eat out, would we be required to order her a plate at character meals? Is it possible to just order one meal for the three of us? We have already pre-paid for Cinderella's Royal Table so my question doesn't apply to that but we also have reservations at Akershus, Tusker House & Chef Mickeys.

Thanks for the help!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

My wife and I are taking our 4 year old to Disney World and we are planning on going to a couple character meals. I am wondering if my wife and I can share a plate at these meals? It would be nice to save the money and we don't usually eat that much anyway. Also, my daughter is very (VERY) picky. We usually have to bring some food for her to restaurants when we eat out, would we be required to order her a plate at character meals? Is it possible to just order one meal for the three of us? We have already pre-paid for Cinderella's Royal Table so my question doesn't apply to that but we also have reservations at Akershus, Tusker House & Chef Mickeys.

Thanks for the help!

Hi there, FYI, I moved your post to the Disney Restaurants board. The folks over here should be able to help.

 

[Piglet843]

Tusker House and Chef Mickey's are Buffets (most Character meals are). You can share plates- but no > you will be charged for 2 adults and 1 child.
Never been to Akershus - it is not a buffet - so you may get away with sharing there?

 

[Michaelsch]

Tusker House and Chef Mickey's are Buffets (most Character meals are). You can share plates- but no > you will be charged for 2 adults and 1 child.
Never been to Akershus - it is not a buffet - so you may get away with sharing there?

Thank you! So there is no way around paying for everyone at the buffet? My daughter likely would literally eat nothing at the buffet.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Thank you! So there is no way around paying for everyone at the buffet? My daughter likely would literally eat nothing at the buffet.

There is no way around it. Everyone who is seated has to pay for buffets.

Akershus is also a buffet (mostly apps last time I was there) but you also order an entrée. Again you pay a set price per person.

 

[tzolkin]

Thank you! So there is no way around paying for everyone at the buffet? My daughter likely would literally eat nothing at the buffet.

It's more like an "entrance fee" than paying for the meal itself. It's a set price per person, not paying for the food you order/eat. So, yes, you would have to pay for two adults and one child regardless of whether you eat.

We did several character meals one trip when my kids were younger and have not chosen to do any since.

 

[MinnieMom85]

The only place that used to be a character meal where you didn't have to order a plate per person was Be Our Guest. But that has now changed. Dinner is a flat rate per person.

Think it of it more as an entrance fee for the experience with the characters and a meal is just included!

 

[Allison]

You will all have to pay at those restaurants are all you care to eat service with at least a component of a buffet. No way around it.

 

[MKTokyo]

Thank you! So there is no way around paying for everyone at the buffet? My daughter likely would literally eat nothing at the buffet.

You are charged based on who enters at all three restaurants you listed. Even people who have had bypass surgery or who are tube-fed have to pay the full price.

It really is like an entrance fee, as others have said.

You have really nice meals planned for a 4yo girl. Your daughter will be so excited to meet the characters! Hope you will have a great time

 

[bumbershoot]

Many young kids don't eat at character meals b/c they are so excited, but they are still charged.

After our experience watching my little cousin not eat, and my son at Disneyland at WDW at character meals, we slowed way down with going to those. Just wasn't worth it, especially once my then-husband and I started watching our weight.

Either look at them as a way to get a little food and see characters without standing in line in the sun OR just skip them for now, IMO.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

You can't get around paying for everyone. What does your DD eat? The buffets all offer kid-friendly options: things like Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, corn. Breakfasts usually offer standard fare like scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon, pancakes, waffles, fruit, pastries.

If you want to save money, maybe consider getting rid of a character meal or two. At CRT and Akershus, 4 out of 5 of the princesses are usually the same. At Chef Mickey's and Tusker House, 3 of the characters are the same. I'd go with CRT and either CM or TH. The only princess she likely wouldn't see at CRT that's at Akershus would be Belle, and she can also be found at Enchanted Tales or in Epcot. At CM, you'd see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. At TH, it's Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. TH tends to have better food, but it is a little more adventurous.

 

[Hopefully]

Thank you! So there is no way around paying for everyone at the buffet? My daughter likely would literally eat nothing at the buffet.

No. I don’t think there should be. You can choose to not go there if it doesn’t work for your family.
Good Luck

The only place that used to be a character meal where you didn't have to order a plate per person was Be Our Guest. But that has now changed. Dinner is a flat rate per person.

Think it of it more as an entrance fee for the experience with the characters and a meal is just included!

BOG was never a Character Meal by Disney standards. You might meet the Beast in his study after dinner - no guarantee.

 

[sanapp]

We didn’t get charged once for my husband, but he didn’t eat anything. We were at Tusker House and my husband had an upset stomach, but didn’t want my daughter and I to not go as it is her favorite breakfast. The waitress brought him a ginger ale which he sipped on.
I expected to be charged for him though since he was at the table, so I figured it was just a bit of pixie dust!

 

[Hopefully]

We didn’t get charged once for my husband, but he didn’t eat anything. We were at Tusker House and my husband had an upset stomach, but didn’t want my daughter and I to not go as it is her favorite breakfast. The waitress brought him a ginger ale which he sipped on.
I expected to be charged for him though since he was at the table, so I figured it was just a bit of pixie dust![/QUOTE

Yes a lot of Pixie Dust

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If you aren't big eaters, I would suggest skipping the character meals and doing regular character meet and greets in the parks instead. By doing the regular meet and greets and going to a la carte TS and/or QS meals, you will be able to order as much or as little as you'd like and not be subject to the per person pricing of the character buffets or plated meals (in the case of Akershus and CRT). The character meals are priced significantly higher due to, of course, the presence of the characters. If you aren't going to eat a lot, it's a significant waste of money IMHO. I understand your frustration. My DS is almost 11 and has no interest in character meals now, but, boy, I remember those days of plunking down $50 for the two of us to "eat" breakfast with Mickey. Quotes around "eat" as DS barely ate anything.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We didn’t get charged once for my husband, but he didn’t eat anything. We were at Tusker House and my husband had an upset stomach, but didn’t want my daughter and I to not go as it is her favorite breakfast. The waitress brought him a ginger ale which he sipped on.
I expected to be charged for him though since he was at the table, so I figured it was just a bit of pixie dust!

I think this is different, though. The OP wants to bring his party of three, but only order one meal.

 

[Nancyg56]

Let me ask you this? How does teh server figure out how much of a buffet constitutes a meal for one, and when the three of you dance over that amount to be enough to charge for two?

If you truly are looking at the cost of a character meal as the cost for food, and then measuring the value by how much any of you will eat, you should pass. My friend wanted just coffee at 1900 PF breakfast. I had her girls, and told her if she wanted to pay one dining credit for coffee, that was her decision. She declined and got it in the lounge.

If you and your family go with the expectation that the server will simply honor your request to only charge for one person, you are sadly mistaken. If there are extenuating circumstances because someone is not well, as eas shared upthread, the server may skip the charge, however that is a very rare gift. People who are on feeding tubes and do not eat one morsel are charged, so please expect that to be the case. You will only upset yourself and embarrass your server if you ask to be exempt for paying, ex=specially give that the three of you want to take a table abd pay for one person.

 

[firefly_ris]

As stated above, you can't do that at buffets -- otherwise they would end up with people saying "Only so-and-so is eating so just one meal please" meanwhile so-and-so goes up to the buffet and makes the other person in the party a plate, or the other person just eats off so-and-so's plate.

I get it - I just have 1 character meal booked and even that I keep waffling back and forth on... I want to do it for the experience, and while my kids will eat an ok amount of food, probably not enough to justify the cost. I would do like someone upthread mentioned and reduce the number of character meals down to maybe 1 or 2.

 

[goofyintoronto]

If you want to save money, maybe consider getting rid of a character meal or two. At CRT and Akershus, 4 out of 5 of the princesses are usually the same. At Chef Mickey's and Tusker House, 3 of the characters are the same. I'd go with CRT and either CM or TH. The only princess she likely wouldn't see at CRT that's at Akershus would be Belle, and she can also be found at Enchanted Tales or in Epcot. At CM, you'd see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. At TH, it's Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. TH tends to have better food, but it is a little more adventurous.

I agree with this. I'd drop Akershus (because its a great experience to eat in the castle at least once)...and if it were me, i'd drop Chef Mickeys. Tusker House has way better food. Although if you're picky, you might like the food at CM better. Either way, i'd get rid of two of the four....Akershus vs CRT and TH vs Chef M. The characters are very similar it just seems like a waste to do all four.

And like others have said, you have to pay per person at those places. No matter how little you eat.