Planning your dining experiences for your Disney World vacation can take a lot of work, especially if you are on the dining plan. This Character Dining Guide will, hopefully, help to cut down on some of that work.
Yesterday we posted a poll asking what your favorite character meal is (Chef Mickey’s is in the lead, by the way), so this felt like a good post for today.
It can be difficult to figure out where you want to eat 180 days in advance, but sometimes there are certain characters that the kids (or adults) want to see, that’s where character dining comes in handy. Disney has a fair amount of character dining experiences, with a variety of characters.
In our Planning Guides section we have a Character Dining Guide. The guide gives you a list of the character dining experiences available, the meals that during which the experiences are available, and the characters that are usually there.
Character Dining Tip
I’ll give you a rundown of all the character dining locations at the end of this post, but I want to give a tip about character dining first. While the experience is fun, it’s also a very helpful way to see how your child will react to the characters.
When my daughter was two, we made reservations for Cape May Cafe (Beach Club) to test out her reaction. Luckily she loved seeing Minnie, Donald, and Goofy, so we knew we were safe for the parks. If your child is scared of the characters, at least you didn’t waste time waiting in line only to make a quick exit, because they are scared.
Plus, you get to enjoy a good meal. We loved the breakfast at Cape May. The atmosphere and the food were great. We loved the beach theme and were seated by one of the sandcastles; the kids loved looking at that.
The characters will stop by your table for, at least, a few minutes. They take pictures and sign autographs, but if your child is afraid of the characters they will skip your table. This allows you to enjoy your meal without your child getting scared every time a character stops by the table.
So, if you are not sure how your child will react to the characters then I definitely recommend booking a character dining experience before you hit the parks. If anything, at least you get to enjoy a nice meal.
Character Dining List:
These lists include the characters that usual appear at the character meals. There is no guarantee that certain characters will appear.
- 1900 Park Fare – Grand Floridian
- Breakfast:
- Mary Poppins
- Alice in Wonderland
- The Mad Hatter
- Tigger
- Winnie the Pooh
- Dinner:
- Cinderella
- Prince Charming
- Lady Tremaine
- Step Sisters
- Breakfast:
- Arkershus Royal Banquet Hall – Norway Pavilion, Epcot
- Snow White
- Cinderella
- Belle
- Princess Aurora
- Ariel
- Mary Poppins
- Cape May Cafe – Beach Club Resort
- Breakfast Only (characters in beach attire):
- Minnie
- Donald
- Goofy
- Breakfast Only (characters in beach attire):
- Chef Mickey’s – Contemporary Resort
- Mickey
- Minnie
- Pluto
- Donald
- Goofy
- Cinderella’s Royal Table – Inside Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
- Cinderella
- Various Princesses
- The Crystal Palace – Main Street U.S.A., Magic Kingdom
- Winnie the Pooh
- Various Winnie the Pooh characters
- The Garden Grill – Future World, Epcot
- Chip
- Dale
- Various Disney Characters
- Garden Grove – Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Good Morning Character Breakfast (Saturdays and Sundays)
- “A duo of Disney Characters will pop in”
- Dinner (daily):
- “A duo of Disney Characters will pop in”
- Good Morning Character Breakfast (Saturdays and Sundays)
- Garden View Tea Room (My Disney Girl’s Perfectly Princess Tea Party) – Grand Floridian Resort
- “Rose Petal”
- Princes Aurora
- Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy and His Pals – Ravello at The Four Seasons
- Breakfast (Thursdays and Saturdays)
- Goofy
- Various Disney Characters
- Breakfast (Thursdays and Saturdays)
- Hollywood & Vine – Echo Lake, Hollywood Studios
- Disney Junior Play ‘n’ Dine
- Breakfast:
- Doc McStuffins
- Sofia the First
- Jake and the Never Land Pirates
- Handy Manny
- Breakfast:
- Minnie’s Seasonal Dining
- Dinner and Lunch (different themese throughout the year):
- Mickey
- Minnie
- Donald
- Daisy
- Goofy
- Dinner and Lunch (different themese throughout the year):
- Disney Junior Play ‘n’ Dine
- Mickey’s Backyard BBQ – The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- Dinner:
- Mickey
- Minnie
- Goofy
- Chip
- Dale
- Dinner:
- ‘Ohana – Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Breakfast:
- Lilo
- Stitch
- Various Other Disney Characters
- Breakfast:
- Tiana’s Riverboat Party – Ice Cream Social and Viewing Party – Liberty Square Riverboat
- Available for Parade Viewing Only
- Princess Tiana
- Prince Naveen
- Available for Parade Viewing Only
- Trattoria al Forno – Disney’s BoardWalk
- Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast (Breakfast Only)
- Disney Couples (like Rapunzel and Flynn, and Ariel and Eric)
- Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast (Breakfast Only)
- Tusker House Restaurant – Africa, Animal Kingdom
- Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner (characters are dressed in safari attire):
- Donald
- Various Disney Characters
- Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner (characters are dressed in safari attire):
Hope that helps!
Thanks for reading!
*Liz*
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Liz
I love all things Disney, but my main love is for Disney World and I'm always planning for the next trip. Before becoming a Disney blogger, I was a radio DJ, so I guess I'm just continuing in the communication industry, just in a different form. I love talking Disney and I could talk about Disney all day. That's why I started blogging and created the Facebook group. The Disney community is full of friendly, helpful, and happy people...and I love being a part of it! If there is any Disney subject you would like to see covered just let me know! Need help planning your Disney vacation. Feel free to contact myself or Melissa at Never Stop Dreaming Travel Co. We love helping people plan their trips! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to check out our Countdown to Disney app! Feel free to email me with suggestions of things you would like to see in the app :-)