Skip the character dining and meal plans

[100AcreWood]

I’m in the no thanks camp for character dining. We’ve done most of them here and there over the years but they aren’t worth it to us.

We ate at Crystal Palace last year because my oldest teen really wanted to see Pooh. We were there over 2 hours waiting for him. The server apologized several times but we all agreed we were done with character dining. We lost too much ride time and it cost almost )$150 for a breakfast buffet.

 

[Jake]

People who have the meal plan or free dining. They do the cataracter dinning. There buffee. All you can eat plus
You have the cataracter. It’s a good deal for them. Paying cash might not be a great deal.
Disney sit down restaurant have limited menus and no seconds

 

[jimitrout]

Was driving each day really bad? What specifically was bad? Thanks so much!

Just my quick 2 cents. We stayed at Art of Animation(Early May 2017)..rented a car. So we did both bus and car.
Because we stayed onsite we did not have to worry about parking fees. We didn't have any issues with bus service. We rode it a number of times to different parks.
Not very long waits at all. But Car was just more convenient. Getting to the parks was very easy. Parking was cake.
We left for the afternoon almost everyday and went and relaxed and returned later.bus would have worked fine im sure but again car was just convenient.
tip: we took a picture of parking spot evertime so as not forget where we parked. .
Signage is as good as you will find anywhere. Traffic was not terrible.
Even when leaving after Fantasmic which would seem to be a peak time to leave traffic moved along , with some delays, but not really that bad.
Drove off site numerous times to different stores and then the beachone day and never had any problems. We will be renting a car next time too.
But I guess we just prefer the freedom.

ps - we did character dining and lovedit but probably wont as much next time..

 

[Momtoapug]

Just my quick 2 cents. We stayed at Art of Animation(Early May 2017)..rented a car. So we did both bus and car.
Because we stayed onsite we did not have to worry about parking fees. We didn't have any issues with bus service. We rode it a number of times to different parks.
Not very long waits at all. But Car was just more convenient. Getting to the parks was very easy. Parking was cake.
We left for the afternoon almost everyday and went and relaxed and returned later.bus would have worked fine im sure but again car was just convenient.
tip: we took a picture of parking spot evertime so as not forget where we parked. .
Signage is as good as you will find anywhere. Traffic was not terrible.
Even when leaving after Fantasmic which would seem to be a peak time to leave traffic moved along , with some delays, but not really that bad.
Drove off site numerous times to different stores and then the beachone day and never had any problems. We will be renting a car next time too.
But I guess we just prefer the freedom.

ps - we did character dining and lovedit but probably wont as much next time..

Thank you! We have booked offsite and are bringing our car! Thanks for the detailed reply

 

[Meglen]

Our upcoming trip I have 4 character meals booked. Crystal palace, Garden Grill, Tusker House, and CRT. I'm with a group of 6 some picky eaters some not. All on ddp. Buffets is a better option for us and our son who's 9(still has to choose off kids menu at non buffett) loves adult type food. So him having the option to have anything we do is nice. He's at the age where he no longer wants to even see a kids menu. Them also being character meals is just a bonus!.

 

[danygirl]

We saw Drizella and Anastasia doing a meet and greet behind the castle last week. Lady Tremaine was not with them. If you're facing the back of the castle, turn toward the right and head to the pathway that runs around the side of the castle toward the Frontierland bridge.

We ran into them there, it was my husband's favorite meet and greet . They really fuss over the men, very fun and worth standing in line for

 

[danygirl]

When my kids we're 5,8 and 12 we we're in Epcot when they melted down. Had to get in ac and feed them right away. We went to the revolving restaurant and stubled upon a chip and Dale and goofy and more character meal. A truly delightful surprise. Probably our best character meal experience because we had no expectations and the whole thing was delightful good luck

 

[maxiesmom]

This whole thread can be summed up as Different Strokes for Different Folks. The trick is finding what works for your family. No way is "wrong" as long as you are happy with it.

 

[kandb]

The only time we ever did character meals is when we had free dining. We did a breakfast character meal once and had free dining and looked at the bill of "what it would of been" and I couldn't believe people would spend that much for a few waffles and OJ and Danish. Crazy. No character meals here and now that we don't do free dining, we still don't pay a lot for food. We don't do apps, always order water, rare dessert and my 14 year old daughter is still OK with kids meals, so our family of 5 spends around $100 for a nice sit down dinner without all the frills.

 

[maxiesmom]

The only time we ever did character meals is when we had free dining. We did a breakfast character meal once and had free dining and looked at the bill of "what it would of been" and I couldn't believe people would spend that much for a few waffles and OJ and Danish. Crazy. No character meals here and now that we don't do free dining, we still don't pay a lot for food. We don't do apps, always order water, rare dessert and my 14 year old daughter is still OK with kids meals, so our family of 5 spends around $100 for a nice sit down dinner without all the frills.

But you are not just paying for the food. You are paying for not having to wait in line to get pics with the characters. And for some of us, that is worth a lot.

But I eat differently than you. At WDW I will order an app and dessert, and probably a glass of wine with dinner. It is easy to have a nice dinner, and it cost $100 for 2 people. Again, different strokes.

 

[meriface11]

We have 3 character breakfasts planned for our August trip and they are all PPO. Get in, get out, get on line first for our favorite rides. Time is money. We rode Soarin twice before 9 am on our last trip with an 8am Garden Grill ADR.

 

[crhbrault]

We just got back last month and did three character meals - DD14 chose Chef Mickeys for breakfast and 1900 Park Fare and Be Our Guest for dinner. So we met the “fab 5” and Beast, plus Cinderella and family. For us, it was a splurge that we viewed as entertainment plus meals, and those days we actually packed sandwiches and pretzels to eat in the park so we had basically no other food costs for three of our five park days. The only one we wouldn’t do if we had a “do over” would be BoG - not a buffet and food was not all that great, and only one super quick character interaction. The other two meals were super filling and enjoyable.

 

[dragonfly57005]

We had the perfect ages for one trip when we had the character meal in the castle. That was worth it.

The next time we went, we had the dining package foisted on us. So to use up some of the credits we did Ashkerhus and the breakfast at Poly. My girls enjoyed the interaction at Ashkerhus. The poly - meh.

We hate the dining packages. One kid is diabetic. One kid has severe food allergies. Our kids are not big eaters.
We do better with sharing meals between us all. Then everyone is happy.

 

[kandb]

But you are not just paying for the food. You are paying for not having to wait in line to get pics with the characters. And for some of us, that is worth a lot.

But I eat differently than you. At WDW I will order an app and dessert, and probably a glass of wine with dinner. It is easy to have a nice dinner, and it cost $100 for 2 people. Again, different strokes.

Yes, we are not big character folks, so that is not a big draw for us but others are and that is probably what they like about the character meals the most.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We prefer the non-character table service meals. The food is generally a lot better. The characters seem to distract my daughter from her food and then she’s hungry before our next meal and ends up eating junk.

We tend to fit one or two character meals in on every trip, but usually wish we had eaten elsewhere.

 

[sk!mom]

hello!
I wish someone had told me to pass on the character dining. All I heard was " you have to do character dining!" From everyone I knew. So we booked several. No big deal- we were able to cancel them all....
You might say, what?! Why would you cancel them?
Just sharing our experience....we decided to book a 1 BR villa at grand Floridian. That's not "budget", right? Well, it kind of is...we economize in other ways.
--We said no to the meal plan. We have a full kitchen in our villa. We went to grocery store and spent $120 on groceries for the week.
--we do only one park a day. It's really not a big deal, we just plan around it
--we but Disney merchandise ahead of time on Amazon and etsy (princess gowns, t shirts, etc.)
This allows us to buy the random hot dog or bubble wand etc. without stressing over it
So why no character dining? Because it is expensive!!! And, at least for us, we really didn't enjoy it. We went to one- at grand Floridian, dinner. It was outrageously priced and the one character we hoped for and were told would be there, didn't show up . Lady tremaine. We had already seen and got (free) one on one time with Cinderella and he Prince during their dance at the grand Floridian lobby...and we also saw Cinderella at her castle....so a third timing seeing her for over $100 was just crazy....
It was also loud, crowded, a long long wait outside of our fast pass reservation time (not fun with a 4 year old) and then another long wait for the characters to make their rounds....maybe other experiences with dining are better but I say save your money for things like the Princess Tea and other one on one experiences.
Just my two cents! We are so glad we don't have to rely on dining anywhere at Disney with or without a meal plan it is outrageously priced! I wish someone had told me . Best wishes as you plan---

So you are trying to "save us" from the waste you believe character meals to be while posting on the Budget Board that you chose one of the most expensive lodging options. Wow! Your credibility as a budget advisor is lacking.

Personally, we love character meals. We have to eat and have always had really fun character interaction. We try for 2 per trip. We would never use Fps for characters.

Different strokes.