Too many character meals?

[FSU Girl]

I’m second guessing my choices my mother thinks I have too much planned for the week. We have a character meal planned once a day each day except our arrival and departure days. But we’ll have a baby and 3 year old who loves characters and doesn’t do well with waiting in lines so it’s the best way for her to see them. My mom was saying breakfast should be something quick and small and most of my character meals are breakfast. Do you think I’m over doing it?

 

[AnnaS]

Some trips with the grandchildren now - usually one or two character meals for the week is good for all. I guess this is a personal choice.

 

[mom2rtk]

If money isn’t an issue, I would do a character meal every day. Including arrival and departure days.

It all goes way too fast. Take lots of pictures and enjoy the memories.

 

[DisTXMom]

You have not said what meals you’re doing but we love character breakfasts. We never waited in line for characters because we always met them at meals. It would not be unusual for us to have Cinderella’s Royal Table, Crystal Palace, Akershus and Tusker House breakfast all in a 6 day trip when our kids were 3-7. Have not traveled with a baby so can’t comment on that.

If you have a lot of overlap in characters you could cut some based on that. We doubled up on princess meals because we have 2 DD’s.

 

[highlander357]

When my kids were young we would do a late Breakfast at Crystal Palace and that would be our big meal of the day. It’s a little cheaper than a character dinner too. Some will say that a sit down breakfast wastes time in the morning when the lines are shorter but with the age of your kids I don’t imagine they are expecting a ton of rides. Your breakfasts will make it harder for the adults to do a bunch of rides but I don’t think it will negatively affect the kids experience. I say you do you.

 

[FSU Girl]

You have not said what meals you’re doing but we love character breakfasts. We never waited in line for characters because we always met them at meals. It would not be unusual for us to have Cinderella’s Royal Table, Crystal Palace, Akershus and Tusker House breakfast all in a 6 day trip when our kids were 3-7. Have not traveled with a baby so can’t comment on that.

If you have a lot of overlap in characters you could cut some based on that. We doubled up on princess meals because we have 2 DD’s.

We’re doing:

Tusker House
Garden Grill
Topolinos
Cinderellas Royal Table
Ohana

We did Topolinos in August I was able to pick up a reservation right before a trip we did not at Disney and my baby loved the characters it was her first experience with them

 

[FSU Girl]

If money isn’t an issue, I would do a character meal every day. Including arrival and departure days.

It all goes way too fast. Take lots of pictures and enjoy the memories.

Definitely goes by so fast! I figured not booking anything on arrival and departure would make things less stressful

 

[flav]

When our kids were 1.5 & 4, then 3.5 and 6, then 5.5 and 8, we were on the Deluxe Dining Plan… so up to three TS a day. One character dining a day is not too much. It was a time to rest and cool down and still enjoy the Disney magic as a family.

 

[scrappinginontario]

How important is time in the parks? By booking character breakfasts you are avoiding lines to meet some of the characters but also missing the shortest attraction/character lines in the parks.

The other thing to consider is travel time to meals. You often need 60-90 mins travel time from your resort to a meal. What time will you be waking up your family each day to arrive at these character meals?

And then there is the cost financially. Personally I cannot justify the cost of 5 character meals to miss a bit of time in a line. Character meals are fun but not relaxing.

Many things to consider but since you asked, 5 character meals in 5 days would be too many for our family. 2-3 max for us when my daughter was younger.

 

[FSU Girl]

How important is time in the parks? By booking character breakfasts you are avoiding lines to meet some of the characters but also missing the shortest attraction/character lines in the parks.

The other thing to consider is travel time to meals. You often need 60-90 mins travel time from your resort to a meal. What time will you be waking up your family each day to arrive at these character meals?

And then there is the cost financially. Personally I cannot justify the cost of 5 character meals to miss a bit of time in a line. Character meals are fun but not relaxing.

Many things to consider but since you asked, 5 character meals in 5 days would be too many for our family. 2-3 max for us when my daughter was younger.

The plan is to buy the fast pass so we’ll have our 3 rides before. We like rides but definitely don’t do park open to close anymore now we have kids. I think the only one we’re doing that could be an issue with time would be Tusker house in animal kingdom since we’ll need to take the bus or car from riviera. Topolinos will be in the same building so quickest to get to.

 

[OKW Lover]

I think the decision about "too many" character meals is pretty much in the eye of the beholder. For me, one or two would be enough.

 

[fly girl]

I swear it goes in a blink of an eye. If seeing characters is your 3 year olds favorite part and you don't mind the expense to skip the lines, book them! I can see your mom's point too, but unless grandma is paying for it all I think it is your call.

I agree with many, what constitutes too many is a personal preference. You do you!

Big thing: you can always cancel a few if you find it is too much. If it's too late to do it online, just call. I have never had to pay the no show fee and I have to make the call to cancel before.

Enjoy your trip!!

 

[DisTXMom]

We’re doing:

Tusker House
Garden Grill
Topolinos
Cinderellas Royal Table
Ohana

We did Topolinos in August I was able to pick up a reservation right before a trip we did not at Disney and my baby loved the characters it was her first experience with them

Your list sounds great. If you don’t eat there you’re eating at some counter service place. We like the convenience of a seated meal, even with the higher cost and time commitment. Have a great trip!!

 

[patty57]

Is your issue with Tusker House that it's an early ADR?

 

[MICKIMINI]

If it works for you do it! Sounds like fun!

 

[FSU Girl]

Is your issue with Tusker House that it's an early ADR?

Ya. I want to do a capture your moment and the breakfast. I don’t want to do the pictures first because my 3 year old can get hangry without food and isn’t much of a morning person. She has to wake up at 7 for school so she’ll probably be ok with it but if I let her she’d sleep until 11 every day

 

[Bellex917]

When my kids were younger we did as many character meals as possible. It's such a unique experience! Now they're older, but I still do one every do often for MY sake lol. My kids are 12 and 9 and aren't as into the characters, but I enjoy one per trip haha!

 

[TwoMisfits]

If it were me, I'd just do character lunches with a 3 year old and a baby b/c you never know how your mornings are gonna go, and who wants to stress about hitting an early ADR, when a baby might not sleep all night?
'
And since they'd be lunches, I'd want to stay in the parks, so I'd dump the non-park ADRs (except for the one at your hotel) at Ohana and Tusker House, and keep 3 meals.

 

[VGCgroupie]

We love character meals, we spend time and money eating anyway may as well have characters there. Some of our fondest memories of Disney when my son was younger was at character meals. We did the same character meal twice when at Aulani. This month we have 2 characters meals planned in our 2 day trip to Disneyland.

 

[Disneydawg74]

I would switch the Tusker House to lunch, if possible.