Which 1 Character Meal should we do ???

[wendlle]

I haven't been back to WDW for 5 years.
We usually go for 2 weeks at a time, and during this time we would typically do 5-10 character meals.
The price has skyrocketed now and we can only afford 1 this upcoming trip in May. We are going to be strictly eating at QS restaurants due to budget but I'd like to give the kids 1 Character Meal.

Over the years we have done every single Character Meal on offer, except for any that have appeared in the last 5 years.

I'm thinking a late Breakfast one would be best, then we can skip lunch and have a small QS dinner, and that seems to be the cheapest meal as well.

Which one would you recommend ? I'd prefer a buffet and one that is not going to try and rush us out. I want to be able to get a few plates of food for my money.

The only one I don't really want to do is probably Crystal Palace, I'm not too into Pooh and Friends. I was thinking Cape May Cafe, we did enjoy that one last trip ?? But open to everyone's recommendations.

 

[lovemy2girls4eva]

I was going to say Cape May Cafe or if you are doing AK, Tusker House! You can schedule towards end of breakfast so you can try some lunch items too!

 

[wendlle]

I was going to say Cape May Cafe or if you are doing AK, Tusker House! You can schedule towards end of breakfast so you can try some lunch items too!

oh, yes I forgot about Tusker. I didn't have a great meal there last time, but my baby at the time was fussy so I didn't get much food.
It would be good to go to one where we could sample both breakfast and lunch items.

 

[mom2rtk]

How about trying something new? We really enjoyed Topolino.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Mt favorite is Toopolinos but if you prefer a buffet I would go with cape May buffer

 

[pks_domer]

How old are the kids, and what characters are they into? Ours are 4 and 7, and the one we hit pretty much every trip is breakfast at 'Ohana. It's not a buffet, but we always leave there stuffed. I also like Tusker, though it's not high on the family's list.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We really liked Tusker House character breakfast. The characters are fun and the food is good.

 

[_19disnA]

If you have done every character meal in the past, I would choose the one your family liked best that fits your budget. While the menus might have changed, I don't think the nature of the character interaction is that much different compared to 5 yrs. ago. Breakfast character meals seem more hectic and crowded since people are in a hurry to eat and race off to a park. Dinner seems more leisurely in our experience.

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

I like 1900 Park Fare at GF. The characters are different than what you often see and the food is better than most of the character buffets we have been to.

 

[MillauFr]

We went to 1900 Park Fare last month. Food was pretty good. Character interaction was rushed. We got spoiled with the characters at Disneyland in the park. The interaction between Hook and Pan is outstanding. Also the Mad Hatter and Alice love to play games with the kids. Far superior to any interaction we have gotten at WDW restaurants.

 

[wendlle]

How old are the kids, and what characters are they into? Ours are 4 and 7, and the one we hit pretty much every trip is breakfast at 'Ohana. It's not a buffet, but we always leave there stuffed. I also like Tusker, though it's not high on the family's list.

My kids are 9 and 6. I've ruled out 'Ohana it's just WAY too expensive for us.

We went to 1900 Park Fare last month. Food was pretty good. Character interaction was rushed. We got spoiled with the characters at Disneyland in the park. The interaction between Hook and Pan is outstanding. Also the Mad Hatter and Alice love to play games with the kids. Far superior to any interaction we have gotten at WDW restaurants.

Actually I am now thinking, maybe we will wait and do Minnie's Breakfast at Disneyland - we are actually headed there for 3 days after our WDW trip on the way home back to Australia. We always enjoy the Minnie breakfast there, the characters are never rushed and there are so many of them.

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

We went to 1900 Park Fare last month. Food was pretty good. Character interaction was rushed. We got spoiled with the characters at Disneyland in the park. The interaction between Hook and Pan is outstanding. Also the Mad Hatter and Alice love to play games with the kids. Far superior to any interaction we have gotten at WDW restaurants.

Agree. Everything at Disneyland feels less rushed to me. I suppose that’s the benefit of it being a more “locals” park.

 

[pks_domer]

My kids are 9 and 6. I've ruled out 'Ohana it's just WAY too expensive for us.

Actually I am now thinking, maybe we will wait and do Minnie's Breakfast at Disneyland - we are actually headed there for 3 days after our WDW trip on the way home back to Australia. We always enjoy the Minnie breakfast there, the characters are never rushed and there are so many of them.

Fair enough! FWIW, I just checked breakfast prices, and Cape May, Garden Grill, Hollywood & Vine, and Tusker are all the same/cheapest ($49/adult, $33/child).

Agree with you on breakfast with Minnie at DL-- we loved that.

 

[Skippyboo]

Hollywood and Vine has Disney Jr characters for breakfast. Cape May is only breakfast and then non character dinner so there’s no switch over to lunch. I know some love to do a late breakfast and then stay for the lunch crossover.

I like Garden Grill because I love Chip and Dale, Pluto and Mickey. My friend and her family went to Tusker House for dinner towards the end of day at AK and had great character interactions because there wasn’t a lot of people there. Dinner is more expensive than breakfast but probably will have less people especially at AK where people tend to go in the morning and leave to park hop as it gets later.

 

[wbleek]

We had a very good experience at Cape May Cafe around noon. I think our reservation was for 11:30 and we had more than an hour to enjoy the characters and the buffet. We like the buffet very much and the bread they serve with the coffee is extremely delicious.
Our kids (9 and 13) liked the food very much and found something at each station.
The location was also very convenient since we started early at Hollywood Studios and were then able to continue in Epcot.

 

[_19disnA]

We ate dinner at O'hana's a few years ago and thought it was just OK, nothing special. Some rave about it but not sure we would ever go back and the newest menu has changed up what they are offering. As I recall, breakfast was a character meal, but when we ate dinner there it was not.

 

[BrianL]

My favorites are Tusker House or Garden Grill - both are very good food-wise, though I have only ever done lunch at GG, not the breakfast.

 

[Brian Noble]

I would pick based on your overall itinerary. Pick a day when it would be timely to sleep in a little bit, so you'll be fresh for the character meal and no one will be tired and over-hungry (or "hangry"). I would choose a resort meal, so that no one in the family feels like they need to be outside riding rides or seeing shows.

Then, see which resort seems to have the right vibe given your plans in the day before/after and the evening of.

 

[petrola]

For breakfast character meals our two favorites are Cape May and Tusker House. We've eaten at Tusker House a number of times now, for both breakfast and lunch and never once have we felt rushed. The characters spent so much time with my kids - it's definitely one of the better character meals IMO.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

I was going to say Cape May Cafe or if you are doing AK, Tusker House! You can schedule towards end of breakfast so you can try some lunch items too!

This is the correct answer when you have to pick just one...which in turn gets you two

Obviously with the caveat that you have to like the flavors although they still have some blander items on the lunch menu