Character Dining changes coming

[cindy_k]

Has Disney ever done this before? I mean have they ever discontinued a meal less than 180 days out? I could understand them making an announcement that a meal is being discontinued more than 180 days out. But alot of people already have adrs for lunch at Garden Grill for October, November, and December.

Disney cancelled the Villian Character dinner when I was 2 weeks out, about 5-6 years ago. (might be longer)
Narcossee's was still serving dinner, but it was changed to a Winnie Pooh and Friends. I had to call at the last minute and get a new location to eat.
The only reason I knew this had happened, was because of these boards. Think of the disappointment if we had shown up expecting Captain Hook and got Piglet.

I wrote Disney a letter about that one.

You would think Disney would learn.

Have a nice trip.

 

[bayoumoon]

A few tidbits
-Starting in October 2008 Garden Grill at Epcot will only have a character dinner. Lunch will no longer be available.
-Starting in January 2009 Liberty Tree Tavern dinner will no longer be a character dining experience.

Thanks for the heads up I had ADR for the Garden Grill expecting a character experience. I am so upset and in search of an alternative. Back to planning, I thought I was finished.

 

[captainkidd]

I'm shocked and extremely upset about LTT. That is a must for us on every trip. It's our favorite character meal.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

I don't know if this would work, but what about trying to make a restaurant cater to those who want characters as well as those who don't? If I remember right, there's about 6 different "areas" at LTT. What if say, the upper rooms (on both sides), didn't have the characters. It's easy enough for the characters to skip those two rooms in their rotations, and when someone calls to make a reservation, they are simply asked whether they would like characters or not. (Kinda like at a regular restaurant, where you've got your choice or smoking or non). Depending on what the ratio is of people who want characters vs people who don't, you could even set it up so that the characters only visit one half of the restaurant. Then those who don't want the character experience will be seated on the other half.

The only problem I could see with this would be you'd have two different pricing scales- but that shouldn't be too hard to work with. Besides, if they're really leaving the price at the same amount once the characters leave, then it looks like they don't care much about making it "fair"


Man, I'm still so upset about this.....

Nice idea....but think of Disney guests. How many people would be sitting in the "regular" area and send their kids over to the character dining...it would be pandemonium.

While I understand your position and others who love this location, I think the issue raised about balancing character/regular dining is the major issue. Sometimes I like to sit down for a meal without Chip and Dale trying to steal my tea...no matter how cute that might be. There is also the increased noise factor and the kids who can't quite wait for someone to visit their table.

 

[Ausdaddy]

It was just a rumor, but a possible one at that. I want them to bring back a Disney Stars meal like they used to have at the Soundstage. You could have anyone from Quasimodo and Clopin to Aladdin and Genie.

Exactly. I always thought they missed the boat by not doing a "House of Mouse" character meal. You would never know who you were going to get. Now that they've pushed that show by the wayside, it won't happen. It would have been good.

Nice idea....but think of Disney guests. How many people would be sitting in the "regular" area and send their kids over to the character dining...it would be pandemonium.

.

Can you imagine? No one would follow the rules. It would be crazy.

 

[fmingo36]

Character meals are a cash cow!
Why Disney would want to elimate two (with the LTT being VERY popular)is beyond me.


:shrug:

 

[WildcatDen]

For example, not once in a million years would I pay that much for breakfast as one does at Norway for the food that is brought. You pay the money to see the Princesses.

Amen to that. When we went my older daughter (9 at the time) would not eat anything from the communal plate, so she ended up with a bowl of Rice Krispies. Most expensive bowl of cold cereal ever. Of course, their smiles made it all worth while.

 

[Ausdaddy]

Character meals are a cash cow!
Why Disney would want to elimate two (with the LTT being VERY popular)is beyond me.


:shrug:

Because they are getting the same cash WITHOUT the characters. Which means even more cash.

 

[Epcotian]

Well for Disney's sake I hope it works, but speaking for fans of character meals they will be thinking twice before making their dinner reservations now. I know I will be...I eat at many non-character meals away from the parks so when I come to the MK I want the choice to dine with the characters & by Disney taking that away makes me look elsewhere to dine with those characters. LTT will probably still do well because the menu is staying the same, but for me I don't have any reason to dine there now that the characters will be gone.

We're the same way. We now only eat at Disney sitdown restaurants for character meals. After sampling many Disney restaurants, my feeling is that if I'm only paying for the food, I can drive a few miles offsite and get a much better quality meal for a fraction of the price. We visit in the summer, so we're out of the parks mid-afternoon for a break anyway. The time spent going offsite makes no difference to us because of that. LTT is now off our list for the next trip.

 

[joanna71985]

-Starting in January 2009 Liberty Tree Tavern dinner will no longer be a character dining experience.

Nooooooooo!!!!

 

[bugsbunny]

Been eating dinners at Liberty Tree for as long as I can remember now. Halloween and Xmas were always fun if you could get a table there just before the MNSSHP or the Xmas party. Everybody would be leaving and you could eat dinner in peace and back into the park with nobody in it.

I booked dinner there for this coming Dec 08. Looks like it will be my last heaping of turkey and that scrumptious salad. If they are still going to charge $30/head but have no characters, I'll just take the boat over to the Trail's End to save a few dollars, have less a crowd, and still have a kicking buffet experience.

 

[AEfx]

I booked dinner there for this coming Dec 08. Looks like it will be my last heaping of turkey and that scrumptious salad. If they are still going to charge $30/head but have no characters, I'll just take the boat over to the Trail's End to save a few dollars, have less a crowd, and still have a kicking buffet experience.

Precisely. I think a lot of people will feel that way. I like the food there too, but not at $30/whack with no characters.

AEfx

 

[formercast84]

Precisely. I think a lot of people will feel that way. I like the food there too, but not at $30/whack with no characters.

AEfx

I think that if they drop the character dining there, they will replace it with a standard dinner menu. They used to have a very good colonial dinner concept menu at dinner a number of years ago. But with Disney prices anymore, even non-character sit down dining tends to be $30+ per adult.

 

[disnyfan89]

I think that if they drop the character dining there, they will replace it with a standard dinner menu. They used to have a very good colonial dinner concept menu at dinner a number of years ago. But with Disney prices anymore, even non-character sit down dining tends to be $30+ per adult.

The servers at LTT were told by upper management that the menu is not changing.

 

[formercast84]

Now that would be strange. I still bet they go back to the previous menu or something similar. But you never know. But as far as the prices go, I used to say that the prices aren't what surprises me. It is the fact that people are willing to pay the prices that amazes me.

The servers at LTT were told by upper management that the menu is not changing.