Character Meals

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi all,

Have never taken Joshua to one of these before, mainly (as some of you will know) because he is Autistic and can sometimes not like unfamiliar surroundings, mainly due to a lack of patience rather than anything else.

Whilst he cannot talk (well no words anyway), he is extremely mobile , very happy, loves Orlando and can communicate in so many other ways.

So despite going every year we have never sat down at any restaurant at WDW, we always stay in a villa also, so for our August trip we really want to push him a bit more, hence the question - can anyone recommend a buffet style restaurant, preferably at one of the parks or alternatively one of the on-site hotels?
And if so how far in advance do we book...and how do we actually book

I know many of you are very knowledgable on this so any response appreciated.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would suggest either Crystal Palace which is in the Magic Kingdom (and has Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet) of Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Hotel (with Mickey, Goofy, Chip & Dale and sometimes Donald and/or Minnie), depending on which characters he prefers.

Here is a full list of where the characters show up, so you might want to check it for favorites.

Reservations may be made 180 days out from the date you want to eat. If you are staying at a Disney Resort you may make up to ten days worth of reservations 180 days from your date of arrival.

If you are working through a travel agent you can ask the TA to make the reservations for you. If you need to contact them directly, you would have to call +1-407-939-3463 (WDW-DINE). They are open seven days a week 0700 to 2100 Eastern Time (GMT-5).

When you get seated at a character meal you might want to tell either the hostess or your server that you need to speak to the "character handler" and advise that person of potential problems; the handler will relay information to the characters so they will approach slowly and from the front so there are no surprises.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Many Thanks for the response, we are looking at either Chef Mickey's, Cape May (at Beach Club) or 1900 Park Faire at Grand Floridian.

He doesn't really understand the characters to be honest, but loves Magic Kingdom and especially the rides at Fantasyland.

 

[joanchris]

I would suggest Crystal Palace (great food for a Buffet). Chef Mickey's was great too, but can be VERY loud. Crystal Palace is a bit more subdued.
I saw, but did not eat at 1900 Park Fare, looked nice, but seemed (actually all of the Grand Floridian) a bit "stuffy" for my taste!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I would suggest Crystal Palace (great food for a Buffet). Chef Mickey's was great too, but can be VERY loud. Crystal Palace is a bit more subdued.
I saw, but did not eat at 1900 Park Fare, looked nice, but seemed (actually all of the Grand Floridian) a bit "stuffy" for my taste!

Thanks Joan.

 

[SueM in MN]

We like Crystal Palace too. We try to schedule one meal there on every trip.
The food is good, and because it's a buffet, you can chose from the items. They have a kid's buffet with things like chicken fingers, mac and cheese.

There are several positive things about character meals:
- you can watch the progression of the characters toward your table, so that you have advance "warning" that they are coming (and which character is coming).

- you can watch other people interact with the characters when they come to tables near you, so your child will have some models of behavior to check out before the characters come.

- since you know the direction the characters are coming from (you will figure it out after a few minutes, or just ask your server), you can position your child so that he can either see or not see them coming. Also, you can position him so someone else in your party will be the first person the character comes to.

Another thing you might want to consider is an autograph book. Since you know what characters are at the meal you are going to, you could prepare a book with those characters (som e sources of pictures would be coloring book pages or you can find lots of pictures on the internet - I can tell you more about how if you need). Even if your son is not capable of finding the correct page for the character who is coming or handing it to the character for signing, someone else can do that for him (or if he's cooperative, assist him to do it - and, who knows, he might pick up on doing some of the steps of the process after observing it). If you take pictures of him with the characters and put them in the autograph book later, you will have a memory book for him that he can use to "tell" other people what he did.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We like Crystal Palace too. We try to schedule one meal there on every trip.
The food is good, and because it's a buffet, you can chose from the items. They have a kid's buffet with things like chicken fingers, mac and cheese.

There are several positive things about character meals:
- you can watch the progression of the characters toward your table, so that you have advance "warning" that they are coming (and which character is coming).

- you can watch other people interact with the characters when they come to tables near you, so your child will have some models of behavior to check out before the characters come.

- since you know the direction the characters are coming from (you will figure it out after a few minutes, or just ask your server), you can position your child so that he can either see or not see them coming. Also, you can position him so someone else in your party will be the first person the character comes to.

Another thing you might want to consider is an autograph book. Since you know what characters are at the meal you are going to, you could prepare a book with those characters (som e sources of pictures would be coloring book pages or you can find lots of pictures on the internet - I can tell you more about how if you need). Even if your son is not capable of finding the correct page for the character who is coming or handing it to the character for signing, someone else can do that for him (or if he's cooperative, assist him to do it - and, who knows, he might pick up on doing some of the steps of the process after observing it). If you take pictures of him with the characters and put them in the autograph book later, you will have a memory book for him that he can use to "tell" other people what he did.

Thanks Sue, there are some good tips there.

 

[michelle9343]

Another great character meal is at the Garden Grill in the LAnd at EPCOT. It is a family style all you can eat. They bring the food to you. It is a much small restaurant (not quit as loud) Usually Mickey, pluto chip and dale.

 

[mickeymom1]

just want to share some of our experiences (pros & cons) with the character meals.

chef mickey- really like it, but can get loud like someone else said.

crystal palace- we just tried this for the first time a few weeks ago. the food was really good, but we had to wait fairly long to get in (we had an ADR & the parks were virtually empty while we were there, so it was surprising). also, we ate for about an hour and not one character came to the table!! don't know if it was just a bad night many people around us were done eating and waiting to see the characters.

donald's breakfast (in AK)-tried this twice and both times the meal seems really rushed. may not be a bad thing for some, but when trying to feed 3 small kids it takes us a little bit extra to get everyone fed

liberty tree tavern- good character interaction with dinner. they bring you the food (family style) and this was very good. nice and quiet the one time we ate there.

1900 park fare- i think this is one of our favorites. we have done this dinner many times. always get good service, food & character interaction.

hope this is som help & best wishes with your upcoming trip!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

just want to share some of our experiences (pros & cons) with the character meals.

chef mickey- really like it, but can get loud like someone else said.

crystal palace- we just tried this for the first time a few weeks ago. the food was really good, but we had to wait fairly long to get in (we had an ADR & the parks were virtually empty while we were there, so it was surprising). also, we ate for about an hour and not one character came to the table!! don't know if it was just a bad night many people around us were done eating and waiting to see the characters.

donald's breakfast (in AK)-tried this twice and both times the meal seems really rushed. may not be a bad thing for some, but when trying to feed 3 small kids it takes us a little bit extra to get everyone fed

liberty tree tavern- good character interaction with dinner. they bring you the food (family style) and this was very good. nice and quiet the one time we ate there.

1900 park fare- i think this is one of our favorites. we have done this dinner many times. always get good service, food & character interaction.

hope this is som help & best wishes with your upcoming trip!

Thanks for the response, we are looking at either Cafe May or Park Faire.

 

[SueM in MN]

crystal palace- we just tried this for the first time a few weeks ago. the food was really good, but we had to wait fairly long to get in (we had an ADR & the parks were virtually empty while we were there, so it was surprising). also, we ate for about an hour and not one character came to the table!! don't know if it was just a bad night many people around us were done eating and waiting to see the characters.is was very good.

I think you just had a bad night. We've eaten there at lunch at least once a year for the last 6 or 7 years and never had a bad experience. (We have never eaten supper there though, so mayb e supper is different than lunch).

Another thing I thought of - if you have a choice of times, try for one near the end of the meal period. As you are eating, there will probably be a point when they stop filling the tables because they are slowing down to clean up for the next meal.