When did character dining become so big at Disney restaurants?

[DodgerGirl]

I never figured out when character dining started becoming a popular fad at Disney restaurants and now it seems to be booming more than ever? Is it because people like to do character dining as a faster way of meeting characters so they don't have to worry about long long lines at the parks to meet characters? Because I can never understand why restaurants like Chef Mickey's or Cinderella's Royal Table and Ohana always get sold out for breakfast and they always seem to be full all the time. Is it because those restaurants are the most popular to eat at or is it because those restaurants are top draws for character fans? The second thing that I can't figure out is why do some restaurants always have one set of characters do character dining and that seems to draw character fans to them? Take for example why does Crystal Palace always have Winnie The Pooh characters at their restaurant and for reasons unknown Winnie The Pooh character dining at Crystal Palace is popular but they should have another character dining experience and retire the Winnie The Pooh character dining and Crystal Palace should replace it with a character breakfast/dinner with Mary Poppins and Alice In Wonderland and The Mad Hatter and that would be a smart idea for Crystal Palace to do. I also noticed that Princess character dining is increasingly becoming very popular and it seems that ever since character dining has returned with meet and greets to Cinderella's Royal Table since being suspended due to the pandemic Cinderella's Royal Table is almost always sold out and I do not see what the big hype is about Cinderella's Royal Table. What I think they should do is add more princesses to the roster of Cinderella's Royal Table like Moana Mulan Tiana Raya and Elena Of Avalor to join Cinderella and also add the princes like Prince Eric Prince Naveen Flynn Rider Aladdin and Prince Phillip because it is shocking that at Cinderella's Royal Table you only see the princesses and not the princes and the princes should be important to Cinderella's Royal Table. What I think Disney Parks should improve on their character dining and this alone is the reason why the character dining is so hot is lowering the prices. Because when you get the general picture most children are picky eaters and most children do not finish a whole meal and the people that do eat a lot at these character dining experiences are teens and adults but I think the children are mostly attracted to the characters and I think they distract the children from eating their food. But I think some Disney restaurants with character dining are alright while some fail. Take for example when 1900 Park Fare reopened with their new character breakfast last year the prices were sky high and were always sold out but when the new character dining debuted at 1900 Park Fare it just wasn't what it was gonna be especially with characters like Aladdin Mirabel Tiana and Cinderella and what they could've done was replace Cinderella with Asha and put Jasmine and Genie with Aladdin because that would've been a interesting choice of characters for 1900 Park Fare to use with their new character dining. But I think we will continue to see character dining still a big fad in the years to come