Character Meals

Character Meals:

At character meals, you can select from a variety of themed restaurants for your dining experience.  During your meal, characters come to your table and spend time chatting with you and your children, posing for pictures, and signing autographs.  This is a great “double duty” event, where you can feed the family and meet with some of your favorite characters without having to stand in line.  Character meals range in price depending on location and meal time, and characters may vary and are not guaranteed to be at your selected meal venue.  We recommend the AllEars.Net website for up to date pricing, menus, reviews, and information on character meals.

There are three types of meal service, depending on the location you select:

• Buffet: serve yourself, all you can eat
• Pre-Plated: select a meal from a set menu of options
• Family Style:  large platters of food are served at your table, all you can eat 

While buffet style meals are a good value, allowing you to select your favorites and really fill up, sometimes the pre-plated and family style meals are easier to manage with young children, since the food is served right to you at your table.  Also, with buffets, you have to time your trips with the character rotation to ensure you don't miss someone.

Tips for successful character meals:

• Use the Advanced Dining Reservation system to select a location and time the best suits your family’s needs
• Review the menus in advance to ensure the location offers something to eat that interests your child
• Have cameras, autograph books, and pens readily available – we keep them on or near the table for easy access
• Don’t hesitate to let the character helpers know about your child’s special needs.  This way, they can take more time if necessary to ensure your child has a magical experience.
• Never force a child to meet a character
• Select a pre-plated or family style meal to allow you more time with your children and the characters
• Don’t forget to eat!

Things to be aware of:

• Noise levels in some venues can be extremely high.  If noise is a concern, speak to the cast member as you check in about possibly being seated in an out of the way location to minimize the noise.
• Children may prefer to eat than to interact with the characters (ours usually do!).  We gently encourage our children to at least make eye contact and stop for a picture.  Characters are very skilled in relating to children of all abilities, and will try to encourage your child as well.
• Alternately, children may be so focused on the characters that they refuse or forget to eat.  This happens for many children, not just children with autism.  We suggest you “go with the flow” and have a backup plan for snacks if needed.
• Buffets can be difficult to manage unless you have helpers or your children are old enough to carry their own plates.  You may wish to select a pre-plated or family style meal service instead of a buffet.
• Some character meals include photo packages.  Be sure to alert the photographer to your child’s special needs – they often will take a few extra shots to ensure you get a good one for your photo package.