Too much character dining?

[donan1212]

I am trying to finalize my dining plans for our August 2019 trip... and I'm driving myself crazy!

We are staying seven nights and I have four character dining meals planned... is that too much for my kids (ages 8 and 9)?

Should I try to do a 2 credit meal so we don't have so many sit-downs or maybe a sit down breakfast at our resort one day instead? The only reason I didn't do breakfast at our resort is that we are doing Whispering Canyon for dinner on our arrival day and wasn't sure if we should go back again for breakfast.

We have (on different days) - dinner at Akershus, breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, Storybook dining at Artist Point (we're staying at WL and doing this on our day off from the parks) and breakfast at Ohana.

I originally thought Storybook dining was 2 table credits, but realized I had an extra credit when I found out it was only 1 credit, so I made the 1900 Park Fare breakfast (late breakfast) for our Animal Kingdom day when we were planning on going to the park a little later on in the day.

I don't want to overstimulate my kids or plan too much. Thoughts?

 

[sjlogghe]

Are the characters different at all the meals? If they are, I'd say go for it! They are fun if you can swing that many, and a good way to get autographs without having to wait in lines.

If there's a meal that has the same characters as one of the other meals, I personally would cancel one and either do a regular meal or pick a different character dining experience.

We generally aren't a sit down meal type of family ... we do one character meal (usually Chef Mickey's) and would rather spend that time in the parks and doing other things. However I went on a trip about a year ago with my now ex's family, his SIL planned the trip, and I think they had a character meal almost every day. Kids were 5 and 9. I chose not to do all the character meals with them, because some were the exact same characters! I think the kids had fun, not sure it was an "overstimulation" issue - but just got to be not that fun because by the end it was like their 3-4th time meeting some of the characters. Just a thought!

ETA: I must slow down when reading posts ... realized after the fact that you stated where all the meals were at! Looks like they are all different characters. So if you have the money and the time, I'd say go for it! Magical things and experiences can happen at character meals, have a blast!

 

[VTHappyGirl]

I am going with a 9yo for 4 nights in August too and we also are doing 4 character meals, Ohana, Garden Grill, H&V, and Crystal Palace.

We love seeing the characters and for August a great way to plan a break out of the heat and then not have to wait in a line to meet later. Also good use value wise for a dining credit.

With the variety you picked I say go for it!

 

[chimoe]

I dont’ think that’s too much. On our last trip which was 6 days. We had 8 character meals. We had.

- Be Our Guest Dinner
- Goofy and Pals breakfast at Four Seaons
- Crystal Palace Dinner
- 1900 Park Fare breakfast
- CRT Lunch
- Ohana Breakfast
- Garden Grill lunch
- Hollywood and Vine Lunch

It wasn’t too much. Maybe we could have reduced 1 or 2 but it was our 1st time visiting and we wanted to go all out and take full advantage of our deluxe dining plan. (And we got our money’s worth!!)

If you have the Deluxe dining plan you deentily Need to do some 2 credit restaurants or you will constantly be doing 3 TS meals a day which we did some of the 6 days and I wouldn’t recommend.

 

[chimoe]

I noticed you didn’t have any character meals with the Fab 5. Try Chef Mickys, H&V, Cape May Cafe and I think Tucker House also has the Fab 5. Use the extra credit for that.

Also if it’s your 1st trip. CRT is a great way to experience a 2 credit. Most people will say it’s not worth it but I disagree, the food is OK but it’s the experience that your paying for.

 

[andy6470@verizon.net]

I don't think that is too much at all. Our next trip we have the same number planned:

Garden Grill, Ohana Breakfast, Storybook Dining, Tusker House

 

[jsbowl16]

It depends on what you are making a priority. We only do one character meal per trip but it is because the food at character meals is so disappointing. You are basically meeting characters without a line but then the food will not be nearly as good as other restaurants. We usually do Akershus to meet four or five princesses at once and then we just meet the other characters in the parks because I can only handle cafeteria food for one meal per trip especially considering there are now so many great restaurants on property.

 

[jle323]

I think it depends on your kids. We went a few years ago with free dining, and I made a bunch of character breakfasts. It was at that time that I realized my oldest son, about 8 or 9 at the time, hated them. He would get so embarrassed by the characters making a big deal around him that he would make excuses to go to the bathroom whenever they would near our table. Now I only make 1 character breakfast per trip. He’s older now, so the characters don’t bother him as much, but he still doesn’t like them.

 

[dancergirlsmom]

I don't think it's too many but we love the characters and a big part of our vacation is spending time with them. My DD 19 (see Avatar) is a huge character fan and always wants to go to the character meals. We have our favorites and like to add new experiences too. We have eight for our trip in August. On the other hand my husband would go crazy at all of these meals. This is a girls trip. Lol.

1900 Park Fare (Dinner) (New)
Storybook Dining (Dinner) (New)
Garden Grill (PPO - a must do)
Akershus (Breakfast)
Ohana (Breakfast) (New)
Tuskar House (Breakfast) ROL Package
Crystal Palace (Breakfast) Traditional last day meal
H &V (Dinner) Fantasmic Package

 

[CynBeth]

We are adults and love character breakfasts. Our favorites are Crystal Palace, Tusker House, and Cape May. We also enjoy BOG dinner. I do recommend if you can fit it in to do breakfast at WCC we love it!

 

[TOBS2010]

I don't think that is too many---I would have to imagine it is a good age for your kids as well. They likely won't be terrified of the characters like younger kids and not quite "over" them yet age wise either. However, I just want to throw out there that breakfast at 1900 park fare--are those characters that your kids would enjoy? For mine, they don't really know who Winnie and Pooh and Alice in Wonderland are. I would recommend trying to get in at Tusker House in animal kingdom, even if it is a later time. Breakfast at Ohana is always one of our favorites. And I would definitely keep Storybook Dining since it is at your hotel---great advantage to not having to factor in travel time to another location for a meal, especially on a rest day. Plus, I have heard rumors that they may consider upping this one to a 2 TS credit meal down the road. Not sure if that's the case, but we are going to check out the location this summer while it's still one credit. Not that you want to hold up reservations that you aren't using---but if you get through your first character meals and find that your kids are really not into them---then you can cancel the others as long as your are within 24 hours or more without penalty and save yourself the money.

 

[donan1212]

Thanks everyone - I feel better now! We don't plan on really meeting any characters in the parks, so I had wanted to make sure we got some character interaction at meals. I want to make sure we are enjoying our park time and not feeling beholden to ADR's, but at the same time, it will probably be nice to get some AC indoors for meals

 

[LoriWV]

Sounds like the balance will work well for you. Enjoy!

 

[robinb]

I personally think too many character meals ‘gild the lily’ and make them less special. I would not add another. Instead, I would find a more themed meal inside the parks like the SciFi DineIn at DHS. Still fun, but no characters.

As an aside, I would probably change one of your princess themed meals to a Fab 5 meal.

 

[bootlord9000]

I would recommend trying to get in at Tusker House in animal kingdom, even if it is a later time.

I was going to say this. I can't remember who all of the fab 5 are at TH but if you're going to AK anyways, I think you could pull off a late breakfast here and have a great time. It's a pretty standard breakfast buffet, so if you've got picky eaters, that wouldn't be a problem. Just throwing Tusker House out there as a suggestion; you're definitely going to know your kids better than some stranger on the internet.

As a group of two introverted adults, I don't have any idea on whether or not that's too many character meals for your kids. We definitely found the non-speaking characters easier to interact with, though.

 

[Dakota731]

We did four last year and had a great time. This trip we will do four different ones for variety. We found the food better than we expected which was a nice bonus!

 

[10CJ]

I think that would be too many for us. I would probably drop 1900 Park Faire and book Yak and Yeti or Tiffins at AK instead.

 

[GillianP1301]

I don't think it's too many at all, as long as you enjoy characters. We do 7 - 8 per trip (10 nights) out of what is usually about 24 - 26 meals in total, so about 30%? It think that's a pretty good balance.

 

[sbd78]

We are also doing 4 - Chef Mickey's dinner, Trattoria al Forno breakfast, Storybook dining at Artist Point and CRT lunch. My kids love character meals and can't get enough of them so I say go for it!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I am trying to finalize my dining plans for our August 2019 trip... and I'm driving myself crazy!

We are staying seven nights and I have four character dining meals planned... is that too much for my kids (ages 8 and 9)?

Should I try to do a 2 credit meal so we don't have so many sit-downs or maybe a sit down breakfast at our resort one day instead? The only reason I didn't do breakfast at our resort is that we are doing Whispering Canyon for dinner on our arrival day and wasn't sure if we should go back again for breakfast.

We have (on different days) - dinner at Akershus, breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, Storybook dining at Artist Point (we're staying at WL and doing this on our day off from the parks) and breakfast at Ohana.

I originally thought Storybook dining was 2 table credits, but realized I had an extra credit when I found out it was only 1 credit, so I made the 1900 Park Fare breakfast (late breakfast) for our Animal Kingdom day when we were planning on going to the park a little later on in the day.

I don't want to overstimulate my kids or plan too much. Thoughts?

It really depends on your kids. For my DS, that would be too much, plus by age 9, DS wasn't terribly interested in characters anymore. Personally, I would cut it down to 1 princess meal and 1 Mickey meal. I would also reconsider the resort breakfasts. Unless you are using lyft/uber/Minnie Van, getting from WL to GF and Poly isn't terribly convenient.

Personally, I would drop 1900, O'hana and Storybook. Add Tusker House to your AK day and then consider Cali Grill or HDDR on your resort day. You can take a boat from WL to CR and Ft. W. My DS11 loves the view from Cali Grill and thinks HDDR is hysterical. Ft. W itself is really fun to visit and you can see the WDW horses at the stables.