Character Dining at Disney World
- Sara Farwell
- Jan 1
- 5 min read
I love meeting characters but I don’t really enjoy waiting in lines to meet them when my children want to just ride the rides. Since I booked under the free dining promo which got me the free quick service plan, I had originally just planned on doing two table service meals, Hollywood & Vine and Cinderella’s Royal Table. After doing something, I figured out that upgraded to the table service dining plan would be cheaper than those two meals alone. So my family upgraded our dining plan and ended up with four character meals during our trip.
During our Animal Kingdom day, we made lunch reservations at Tusker House. This restaurant is in the Africa section of the park. You get to meet Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy in their safari themed outfits. The food is African inspired with some American dishes for the less adventurous eaters. I have one adventurous eater in my group of children so she tasted new things and enjoyed her lunch. My other two children stuck with the kid favorites, chicken tenders, regular meatballs and such. This is a buffet and it is not too crowded as the buffet is in a nice large room. My husband and I enjoyed the different items they had such as the naan bread, salmon, chicken and the couscous salad. We definitely had plenty of food at this restaurant and our waiter was splendid. We got to see all the characters and they do sign autographs plus everyone got a postcard as well. Overall, I liked this character meal and it is the only one in Animal Kingdom.
During our Hollywood Studios day, we made lunch reservations at Hollywood & Vine. Now, we did go the the Halloween party Sunday but we didn’t see any characters but we also knew we would see Minnie and her friends in their Halloween outfits at this restaurant. Here, we got to meet Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto all in their Halloween costumes. The buffet food is American, and they have chilled shrimp, prime rib, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and chicken tenders plus other delicious items. We all found plenty to eat but I think our favorite was the soft serve unlimited ice cream with Halloween sprinkles. The girls all got a bowl of that and I got some vanilla ice cream with my warm apple cobbler. It was delicious. All the characters came to our table and took pictures with the girls and signed autographs (we did not get duplicate autographs from characters we had already met). Overall, we enjoyed this nice and relaxed lunch and had fun meeting the characters and they have a photo op when you walk in with a seasonal backdrop, which was fun.
We did schedule a rest day for our third day so this character meal was not in a park but was at a resort. We decided to dine at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian for dinner. Here you get to meet Aladdin, Cinderella, Mirabel and Tiana. This is also a buffet with typical American fare. They did have some Tiana inspired dishes as well such as gumbo. They had prime rib, chicken, salmon, cornbread, salads, mashed potatoes and other American dishes. Two of my kids enjoyed the gummy bears that they had for dessert. They had some delicious, chocolatey brownies and strawberry soup which my oldest enjoyed. This restaurant was definitely the most crowded but our waiter was extremely attentive. My sister joined us for this meal and she was able to find plenty of food that met her dietary needs as she is gluten free. The characters were so fun and interactive with us. I think our favorite was Aladdin though as he got to meet our princess Jasmine and had such fun with that and it was so cute. Overall, this was a fun and delicious meal and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Our last character meal was on our Magic Kingdom day at Cinderella’s Royal Table for lunch. We were all very excited for this one. I will say that this meal took the longest as when you are checked in and you get alerted that your table is ready, you first wait in line to meet Cinderella as your table is not quite ready. Once we met Cinderella and got our pictures with her, our table was ready so we were led up the staircase. We were seated next to the window so we were able to look out at Fantasyland. This restaurant is not a buffet. It is a three course meal where you order everything right at the start. Everyone gets an appetizer and two ordering off the children’s menu got cheese and fruit, my oldest got the pork belly and my husband and I got the shrimp. All very delicious. Then the entrees, which for my two children under 10, they both got the macaroni and cheese with mashed potatoes and corn, my oldest for the catch of the day, my husband got the lamb chop and I got the filet. Everything was delicious as the filet was so tender and cooked to perfection and my husband enjoyed the juicy lamb chops. For dessert, everyone but the youngest got the cheesecake and she got the sword in the sweet. The cheesecake was creamy and not too rich, and we all enjoyed it but the chocolate mousse was extremely rich but thankfully they also brought her out a birthday cupcake so she enjoyed some of that as well. The characters were amazing and we had such fun with them. We saw Merida, Ariel, Jasmine and Aurora. We all got either a wand or a sword as well. This meal was by far our favorite as it was just so “magical” to eat in the castle with the princesses.
Overall, I am glad we did the character dining as we met the top characters that we all wanted to see while being able to enjoy some down time in the middle of our park days. Lunch tended to be the least crowded meal time and it was a nice break from the heat and humidity. My goal is to eat at each character dining experience at least once but some of these might end up being repeated as they were just so fun and delicious. I did book all of these at our 60 day mark and as a travel agent, I can do the same for you. Don’t forget, I love to take the stress out of family vacation planning! #neverlandingtravelbysara #disneyworld #tuskerhouse #hollywoodandvine #1900parkfare #cinderellasroyaltable #characterdining #diningplan
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