What Are Character Meals Like Right Now?

Things are slowly getting back to normal at Disney, but things are still a little different and will be for a while. One of those things is Character Dining. Not all of these are back yet, but we were able to experience two of them on a recent trip and want to share what it was like so that you can decide if this is something you are wanting to add to your next Disney Trip.

What is a Character Meal?

At select restaurant locations around Walt Disney World, you can have your meal while some of your favorite characters come around to different table to greet and interact with your family. These are a great way to see several characters all at once while still getting a someone one on one experience.

Currently these are the locations offering character dining experiences:

Topolino’s Terrace

Cinderella’s Royal Table (limited characters)

Tusker House

Garden Grill

Chef Mickey’s

Artist’s Point Storybook Dining (Reopening December 14th)

Hollywood and Vine

Other Locations that have yet to bring back characters:

Akershus

Crystal Palace

Trattoria Al Forno

Ohana

What kind of dining will i experience?

Typically these dining locations will offer an all you care to enjoy buffet or family style dining, however some will have an individual entree option with some sort of bread service.

These restaurants are also typically heavily themed and are great if you are looking for a true dining ‘experience’. The food isn’t always the greatest, but the atmosphere is always a ton of fun!

Pricing will vary depending on where you go, but most will range from $40-60 per adult and $25-35 per child.

What Kinds of Characters can I meet?

Many of these will feature Mickey and friends, but a few have some specialty characters like Princesses, Lilo and Stitch, and even Winnie the Pooh and friends! It’s important to know what characters are available at each dining experience so that you will be able to choose the right one for your family.

What was our experience?

Topolino’s Terrace Character Breakfast

Currently this location is only offering Characters for breakfast and features Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy in their artist getups. This meal featured a variety of pastries for the family to share and then a number of entrees to choose from. I got the Steak and my husband got the sour cream waffles. (both were delicious)

We LOVED the character’s outfits! They were bright and colorful and made for some fun pics!

Currently the meet and greets are still distanced, so you will not be able to give the characters a hug or touch them, but they do come up to each table to interact with you. You are of course welcome to talk to them and take as many selfies as you like!

They also will play a song over the restaurant’s speakers and the characters do a sort of dance and parade throughout the restaurant. It’s a fun little touch that the kids in the restaurant really seemed to enjoy!

At the end of the meal, our server gave us a souvenir postcard with signatures from all the characters for us to keep. I thought this was a great alternative to getting autographs from the characters and it’s a perfect little gift that you can frame when you get home!

Tusker House Character Lunch

This location offers character dining at all three meals and features Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy in their safari gear. I LOVED the food here! They served chicken, steak, potatoes, shrimp & rice, Mac & Cheese, veggies, and a salad and bread service beforehand. AND we even received a dessert trio with a chocolate, vanilla, and lemon dessert.

This was family style dining, which means we could ask for more of whatever we liked. (which for us was of course tons of Mac & Cheese)

The restaurant is of course heavily themed like a safari base camp, so there are tons of little details all over. The characters would also come to each table and interact with you similar to that of Topolino’s Terrace.

They also would do a fun song and dance throughout the restaurant every so often that got everyone clapping and cheering!

We also received a similar type souvenir postcard with all the character’s autographs.

A fun little hack with dining reservations that we learned is that if you have someone joining you last minute, they can usually accommodate! When doing the online check in, it will ask how many will be dining and that is where you will put in the total number that are with you. Of course use this wisely and don’t take advantage, but it’s great to know in a case where you find an unexpected friend to meet up with!

Are They worth it?

Personally, I thought they were a ton of fun! As an adult, I don’t really need to give mickey a hug, and I like that the no touching thing means they are able to get around the restaurant a few times before your meal ends. However, I can see how not getting a real autograph or a hug with Mickey could be a bummer.

The best thing I would recommend is to make sure you know exactly what characters are available and that you will actually enjoy the food. Some dining options like Cinderella’s Royal Table do not have all the princesses back yet and it’s still a pretty steep price!

If these are things that are ‘make it or break it’ to you, and you know you will be back, then hold off and save it for when things are back a little more full force. If this is your once in a lifetime trip or you really want to be able to meet Mickey and Friends up close, then doing at least one of these can be a really memorable experience for your whole family!

A great tip is that Breakfast is usually cheaper (and the foods are a little more picky eater friendly). So if you are a little nervous, go for the breakfasts! It’s the same great experience, but with Mickey Waffles!

Whatever you decide, it’s still sure to be a magical time!