Character Dining

Our first daughter, Taylor, has always loved the characters in Disney.  This is her at 8 months old with her first reaction (Tusker House @ Animal Kingdom)...

She was smitten with those "guys" and meeting them continues to be a highlight of her vacation.  Instead of waiting on many lines to meet each character at the parks, we book a dining meal with characters.  Most of the time they are buffets so we do one a day to fill up and have snacks the rest of the day.  Since we need to eat anyway, this really works out best as the characters come to our table and spend time with the kids individually.  And lately, we've been able to tell Taylor that she needed to eat the rest of her yogurt or Mickey would be upset.  She believes us and we can get something healthy in her with all the excitement going on.  Not sure if that will work much more though.  :) 

So avoid the lines at the park and use your valuable time to ride the attractions, do a few character dining meals.  Maybe we're just big Disney fans but we think the food is fairly good too.

Which character dining to chose?  In short, find out who your child wants to see and find out where s/he will be and book there to start.  I hope to do a few reviews of our favorites in future posts. 

Overall here are our "can't miss" character dining experiences:
1.  Play and Dine's Playhouse Disney Live Character Buffet in Hollywood Studios - Disney Junior characters
2.  Royal Table at Cinderella's Castle in Magic Kingdom - Cinderalla and other Princesses
3.  Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom - Pooh and characters
4.  Chef Mickey's at Contemporary Resort - Mickey, Minnie, and friends

Oh and if you're wondering if our son loves characters as well....

Not so much! :)  This was his first reaction (Crystal Palace @ Magic Kingdom) and he spent the rest of our character dining in my arms.  So try to have your children meet at large "in person" character before your Disney trip to see their reaction before booking character dining.  I have had friends book a character dining each day of their trip to find out their child was terrified of the characters.