Which character meals do you suggest?

[rhodehogg]

I have two children (girl-7, boy-5) that are going two WDW for first time with me and husband, grandma and grandpa and uncle and aunt. Which character meals, and child friendly sit down meals should we be sure to include. We will be there eight days. Adults LOVE good food, but we want it to be kid-friendly as well. We all have free dining. Thanks for any suggestions as we are new to all of this.

 

[kid at heart]

Crystal Palace breakfast is phenominal......

Liberty tree Tavern for a late night meal is also great when the crowds thin and the characters are more relaxed and playfull.Try the LTT as late as possible during the first of two spectromagic parades.Chef mickey's is good too.

 

[col]

donalds breakfastosarus -that is my fave character meal i have had and its been the most fun meal ive had a WDW. if you look on any threads about character meals im always in favour for DB i just love it!!!!!

cant wait to go back and go there again.

 

[DisneyMom06]

We always start our vacation with dinner at Chef Mickeys. Request of all four children every trip. Another favorite is Liberty Tree Tavern. I like this because the food is brought to the table and I don't have to keep getting up with the children. Crystal Palace is another favorite although the most crowded of the three favorites. Have a great trip.

 

[rhodehogg]

Do you know which meals count as two when using the dining plan?

 

[maelstrom]

Chef Mickey's (this is our favourite)
1900 Park Faire
Liberty Tree Tavern
Crystal Palace
The Garden Grill

 

[kennygman]

Do you know which meals count as two when using the dining plan?

This link will provide you with restaurant list and how many points and such...
http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw/images2003/languagespecific/eng/nontheme/tickets/MYWDining.pdf

Here's another link with some good info...
http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/packages06a.htm
"As of May 2006, most snack items under $4 are eligible for the dining plan snack credit. Eligible snacks will be indicated on the menu with a Dining Plan symbol."


Jiko - the cooking place
Flying Fish Cafe
California Grill
Citricos
Narcossee's
Artist's Pointe
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Hollywood Brown Derby

Dinner Shows:
Hoop-de-doo musical review
Aloha Dinner show
Mickey's Backyard BBQ

Only character meal:
Cinderella's Royal Table

Hope this helps.

 

[wdwforus]

We have done a few with our 2 girls and 1 boy. When we went in 2002 the girls were 7 and 6 and we did Cinderellas for breakfast which they loved. We also had a great time at the Crystal Palace for lunch and now this is a must do for us every time we go. We did Chef Mickeys but weren't all that impressed with the food, the characters were good though. Last year when we went the girls were 11 and 9 and the boy is 2. We did Crystal Palace again this time for breakfast which was excellent, we did Breakfasouraus which we really liked, we also did Norway for breakfast which was a very good meal also. Of course all the characters were awesome. We got to see Mary Poppins in Norway. My son loves that movie. Mulan was there also. My suggestion would be to try and do at least 2. Buy autograph books and have them sign one page and keep the facing page blank. You can take the pictures you take and paste them onto the page to go with the autograph when you get back home. They make a great souvenirs. Try doing one breakfats and one lunch or dinner. It is a good way to start your day doing a breakfast because if you can get your reservation early enough you can be standing at the rope for the rope drop when they first open and get some of the bigger and more popluar rides out of the way before the crowds work their way in.

 

[MarkeyMouse]

Try Liberty Tree

Try the Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom, It's a must for our family, the food is decent and they give you more than enough to eat, and the Characters spend plenty of time with you! Chip, Dale ,Goofy ,Minnie, and Pluto You'll have lots of fun!:wave:

 

[Aurora_25]

The Liberty Tree is fast becoming my family's favorite- even my daughter who is very picky about what she eats loved the food and the characters there.
Chef Mickey's is another good one.
Crystal Palace is good with Pooh and his friends.

 

[tracyandalex]

here are our favorites - ohana (breakfast & dinner), chef mickey's, liberty tree tavern, & donald's breakfastosaurous (sp?).

ohana story - we were there for our honeymoon and had walked up hoping to get a seat, well we got a seat in like 5 minutes. as pluto got to our table they were startingthe hula dance around the room. pluto pointed to our wedding buttons and made us get up and "dance" with him in the parade. it was the coolest thing, we felt so special and pretty upset cause we had left the camera in the room cause we were just coming for breakfast real quick (we had already eaten ohana breakfast that week).
the other time we were there that week pluto and lilo were kidding around and lilo tied pluto's tail in a knot, and stitch knocked alex's fsu hat off and pretended to pass out at me marrying him.
oh and the food is good too!!
definately do ohana breakfast if you get the chance

tracy & alex

 

[Clark Griswold]

You gotta go to Chef Mickey's!!! It's a great time and a good excuse to ride the monorail! You might also try Restaurantosaurus at the Animal Kingdom early in the morning after you get late fastpasses for Expedition Everest!



"We must not lose sight of the fact of one thing...it was all started by a mouse."

 

[kennygman]

Someone PM'd me to ask about the free picture package I mentioned earlier at the Castle. Here's the details in case someone else is interested...

Here's the details of the photos per Allearsnet...



As of February 1, 2006, Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast remains a Disney Princess-themed character meal. However, when you arrive at Cinderella Castle for your reservation, a photographer will be on hand to take pictures of your group in the lobby, before you are seated in the dining room.
A package with four 4x6 prints and one 6x8 print of your photo, as well as one 6x8 print of Cinderella Castle,in a Cinderella photo holder (valued at $29.95 plus tax) will be delivered to you during your meal,
which will be from a fixed-price, set menu.
(One photo package per party of 1-4;
two photo packages for parties of 5-8, etc.)

Additional photos may be purchased.

This is a Signature Dining Experience
which takes two Table Service credits when using the
Magic Your Way Dining Plan.

You MUST Make Reservations in Advance!
Admission into the Magic Kingdom is required.

 

[december]

We just got back from Disney World Friday. Thanks to these forums it was wonderful! We did 4 character meals-breakfast at the Castle (wonderful, by 6 yr old was in heaven), Crystal Palace dinner (my kids loved getting to parade around the restaurant with Pooh and friends), Donald's Breakfastosaurus (great selection) and Garden Grill. Our favorite by far was the Garden Grill. It was my son's 9th bday, and he got so much attention. Instead of coming by once just to sign the books and get pics, the characters came by lots of times. Pluto growled and played with the kids, Chip and Dale snuck up on them while they were watching scenes of the Land from the railing and watched with them, and Dale brought my son's cake and a card signed by all the characters. And we loved that it was "private." You couldn't see anyone else because of the shape of the booths. The food was great, too.

We also stayed at AllStar Sports. We got towel animals every day but my son's bday. That day he got balloons and a signed pic of Minnie and Mickey inside a card. The transportation was great, never had to wait over 10 minutes for a bus.

Have fun!

 

[LoriMistress]

The Crystal Place at MK is wonderful. All you can eat buffet with the Winnie the Pooh characters. Donald's Breakfestsaurs is an all you can eat buffet as well, but it's a bit crowded (to me at least).

 

[OliveMcFly]

We enjoy the Ohana at Polynesian character breakfast with the kids. They have a parade and all the kids can dance around the restaurant with the characters. It's a lot of fun to watch.

 

[pinkabell_87]

i loved chef mickey when i was younger my mum and dad took me and my sister when i was 10 and she was 8 and we loved it, i always remeber having to wave our napkins in there air! :sohappy:
hope you have a good time :wave:

 

[wdwhoneymooner]

It'll be hard to choose a character meal that's not fun. I suppose a factor to consider are your children's favorite characters. Here are my family's favs and the characters we usually meet:

1. Crystal Palace - Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger
2. Hollywood and Vine (I have a 2 y/o and 5 y/o) - JoJo & Goliath, June and Leo
3. Garden Grill (My favorite) - Mickey, Goofy, Chip & Dale
4. Ohanas - Mickey, Goofy, Donald
5. Chef Mickeys - Same as above

Enjoy yourselves where ever you end up.

 

[hal1736]

Donald's Breakfastasauras and Chef Mickeysare excellent and for Donald's you can get an earlier reservation and get the park before it opens!

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Definately O'hanas character breakfast. The food is awesome. The atmosphere of the Polynesian is beautiful. We always love to have the character breakfast there and hop right on the monorail to the MK for the day. Thats really my favorite part of my vacation.

 

[ChuckElias]

I'll agree with those who said Chef Mickey and Liberty Tree Tavern. We like Chef Mickey, but I actually enjoyed the characters more at Liberty Tree. It was the last character meal we did before my mom died, and she just LOVED the colonial garb. She even got "scolded" by Pluto for accidentally calling him Goofy. I like the different costumes at Liberty Tree better and I also liked NOT having to twirl my napkin when the song played. (I'm a fuddy-duddy. What can I say?)

The absolute BEST character breakfast, however, is in Parrot Cay onboard the Disney Magic. Nothing like it. :king: