Character meals - dinner

[teamhayes]

Forgive me if this has been asked before
I scrolled through the first page and didn't see anything

What is your favorite character meal for dinner?

We are hoping to go mid/late November so I'm starting to research restaurants with the hope of scoring free dining next week

I am leaning towards hoop de doo review or mickeys bbq

What's Ohana aloha Party all about? Is "basic" Ohana just as good for a non character meal table service option?

Are the two meal credits worth it? Would you go to more than one character dinner or is it over kill?

Then nights you go to these character meals that are at hotels what park do you go to that day? Do you leave the park early to go back to hotel to change or just go right from park? What seating time should I aim to get?

If we also did a character breakfast that is 2 credits are we going to be really short on food if we do meal plan?

[teamhayes]

How many 2 credit meals is too much ?

How many character breakfasts too much?

Any great quick service restaurants that are a must?

What park do you go to the day you go to Disney springs for dinner?

Sorry for the question over load

I'm trying to figure out is free dining is a good option if we even get it

[autumnfire]

Following we're going Nov 7th through 11 th and was wondering the same things

[ribollita]

I have never been to a character dinner. If I had to choose one I would do Akershus, Tusker House, or maybe 1900 Park Fare.
I do LOVE OHana dinner and thought Hoop De Doo was extremely cheesy.

[ilikedonuts]

We've done Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, CRT, Akershus. 1900 park fare and a garden grill for dinner. CRT is our favorite for dinner but it's $$$$. 1900 ParkFare has more seafood on the menu now which we aren't fans of but we love the character interaction there.

[Amy]

Some of the better character meals, I feel, are 1900 Park Fare, Tusker House, and Crystal Palace. Honestly the food isn't going to be great at character meals so just choose based on which characters your kids will enjoy.

Depending on the time of year you are going, I'd do HDDR over Mickey's Backyard BBQ

We typically do more than one character meal per trip. We like character breakfasts because the kids tend to be in a better mood than they are by dinner (but we don't break for naps)

We go directly from the parks to the hotel reservations, even 2 credit meals. It just takes too long to go back and change. Everyone is there in park gear, no need to dress up (unless you want to)

Some 2 credit places are great, some aren't - which are you considering?

Time is really up to you and how your family functions, I'd aim for a bit earlier than you'd ideally like since you may have to wait to be seated.

Which dining plan do you have?

As far as how many character meals are too many, it really just depends on your kids and how much they like characters and also how interested you and your DH are in having good food.

Quick Service recs :
Columbia Harbor House
Sunshine Seasons
The QS places around World Showcase
Flame Tree BBQ

[Amy]

oh and Animal Kingdom day or check in day is when we do Disney Springs - that may change with the new nighttime AK show

[bronxgirl]

when I went in 2013 we were on the dining plan (unfortunately not free) and did a character meal for all of our table service meals. We went to Crystal Palace, Tusker House, Akershus, Hollywood and Vine, 1900 Park Faire, and Chef Mickey's. Akershus was definitely my favorite. great character interaction (princesses) and pretty good food. When we went to 1900 Park Faire (in Grand Floridian)we went to MK that day b/c they are very close. Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary is also close, but we did that on a non-park day.

[teamhayes]

Is
It better to do crt for b l or dinner? I read breakfast is the best there bc you get into the park earlier but I'm not a huge breakfast fan and thought the boys would prefer chef mickeys if we did a character breakfast but if we get in early maybe we would do crt for breakfast and they love princesses

[littlemermaid]

Apr 19, 2016 15:41:18 GMT -5 teamhayes said:

On the website www.allears.net you can look at the menus for all the character meals and restaurants and it gives a description too.

What is your favorite character meal for dinner?
The Royal Table, the food is delicious!

Are the two meal credits worth it? Would you go to more than one character dinner or is it over kill?

We did multiple character meals.  Sometimes we wouldn't do 3 full meals a day.  If we had a big breakfast we would do something really small(snack) for lunch and then just have an early dinner.  On our last trip this past June we did multiple character meals and we were only short our last morning's breakfast.  

Then nights you go to these character meals that are at hotels what park do you go to that day? Do you leave the park early to go back to hotel to change or just go right from park? What seating time should I aim to get?

If the meal was at a hotel we did a park that wasn't an all day park.  We did both- going back to hotel to change and also go straight to the meal from park.

I am leaning towards hoop de doo review or mickeys bbq

We went to Mickeys Backyard BBQ.  I wasn't really impressed.  The food was ok.  It's outside under a pavilion, you eat at picnic tables.  Lots of flies flying around the buffet and while you were eating.  The entertainment and character signing was good but I wouldn't do it again.