Character Dining in Walt Disney World

When you walk through the gates of Walt Disney World, you are immediately immersed in the magical sights, sounds and smells.
Not the least of these are the Disney Characters, brimming with all of the excitement and enchantment that is synonymous with Disney. Because the characters are so beloved by children of all ages, you will very often find a line of Disney-clad fans waiting anxiously for their moment alone with them.
While this is a tradition, it can also be time consuming for those on shorter trips. Another attractive option is Character Dining experiences. These offer one-on-one time with each character in attendance, table service dining with varied menus, and the option of making advanced dining reservations (ADR).
Your little princess will truly feel like one with a dining experience at Cinderella’s Royal Table in the unforgettable setting of Cinderella’s castle in the Magic Kingdom, or Akershus Royal Banquet Hall located in the Norway Pavilion, at the World Showcase in Epcot. Both are highly sought-after, serving Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. ADRs are strongly recommended and available 180 days in advance. Another option for the princesses would be Dinner at 1900 Park Fare in The Grand Floridian. Characters at that venue will include Cinderella and Prince Charming, as well as other members of the Royal Family, which are subject to change.
A Disney Dining must is a character dining experience with the “Fab Five”. The opportunity to dine with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto are offered in more than one location. Chef Mickey’s in The Contemporary Hotel, The Garden Grill in EPCOT, Donald’s Breakfastosuarus in Animal Kingdom, Cape May Café in The Beach Club Resort and the O’Hana breakfast at The Polynesian are all options. Each include members of the “Fab Five”, if not all of them as well as some friends such as Chip-n-Dale or Lilo and Stitch. Character dining is also expanded to dining with characters that may be of particular interest to your children. The Crystal Palace in The Magic Kingdom gets you up close and personal with Winnie the Pooh and friends, while Play-n-Dine at Hollywood & Vine brings your favorites from Disney Channel's Little Einsteins and Jo Jo’s Circus right to your table. You can have tea with Alice in Wonderland and friends at the Wonderland Tea Party at 1900 Park Fare or a Bar-B-Que with Mickey and Friends at Fort Wilderness Camp Grounds (seasonal). Please visit the Character Dining section of our website to get information on menus, pricing, times and characters attending. Advanced Dining Reservations are strongly recommended.

Planning for your Walt Disney World Trip

To me planning for a Walt Disney World vacation is almost as exciting as going to Disney World….ALMOST! When my husband and I decided to take our 3 little boys to Disney World, I had so much fun planning the trip! Before the trip my husband told me “Your being obsessive”, but once we were at Disney World all he could say was “Thank You!” We saw many families stressed, and overwhelmed, but thanks my knowledge of Disney and planning in advance for the trip we had the time of our lives!

When my husband and I first decided to take the boys to Disney World, the first thing we did was sit down and looked at possible dates. We decided to go to Disney at the end of June. We knew it was going to be hot and crowded, but I was determined this was going to be the best vacation ever! We booked our trip using the buy 4 get 3 discount that Disney was offering. This means you buy 4 nights of hotel and tickets and get 3 nights of hotel and tickets free! We were excited to save several hundred dollars off our vacation right from the beginning. (Disney is offering this awesome discount again!) If you use a WDW Travels agent for your vacation, we will provide discount monitoring; this means that your reservation will be monitored daily for any new Disney discounts that might decrease your cost. If we find one, we will have it automatically applied to your reservation and will notify you of the new cost of your vacation! Once our trip was booked I then ordered Disney’s vacation planning DVD. I don’t think this DVD has been taken out of my vehicle, my boys watch it all the time when were driving, they love reliving Disney World.


One of the things I did for my boys and I do for my clients who have small children is to make a Disney World countdown calendar. I make this on the computer using a regular calendar template and just add images of Disney characters. The days that we are going to Disney World have Mickey heads on them. Every night before bed we crossed off that day, my boys loved to do this and this way they could visually see how much longer we have until we leave for Disney!

When you are vacationing at Disney, I highly recommend using one of the Disney dining plans. The plan that I most often recommend to my clients is the regular Disney dining plan. With this plan you get one quick service meal, one table service meal, and one snack per person in your party per day for a fixed price. The dining plan allows you to order what you want, without having to worry about price; it’s all been paid for in advance! If you are using a dining plan that offers table service meals, reservations for these meals need to be made in advance. Advanced dining reservations are available 180 days prior to check in for your trip. We at WDW Travels will be happy to make all of your dining reservations for you. Character meals are often a highlight of many children’s Disney vacations. If your little girl has her heart set on eating in the castle with Cinderella we need to make these reservations as soon as possible. Dining at Disney restaurants can add so much to your Disney vacation.

When planning your Disney vacation, you may wonder which parks do I go to on which days? Are some parks less crowded than others on certain days? Well the answer to that is yes, some parks are less crowded that others on certain days. If you use a WDW Disney travel agent, we will be happy to provide you with itinerary planning. This is a custom guide for your vacation so you can spend your time having fun! You can sit back and relax while we do all the work for you! We will recommend the least crowded parks for each day of your trip. So you can spend more time riding the rides and less time in line waiting.


Planning a Disney World vacation can be overwhelming to say the least. When do I book? Where do I eat? Which parks are the least crowded? How do I get from the airport to my hotel? What are fastpasses? What about child/rider swap? We at WDW Travels will be glad to answer any and all question our clients have. We provide each client with itinerary planning, discount monitoring, advanced dining reservations, and a care package tailored to each clients individual needs. The best part is you never pay any fees, for our magical service its FREE!!

The night before we leave on our Disney Vacation, Mickey Mouse visits our house. He usually just leaves Mickey shaped confetti and a note. My boys just can’t figure out how Mickey gets in our house with all the doors locked! This night usually rivals the night before Christmas, no one can sleep because we are so excited about what the next day will bring!

I LOVE DISNEY WORLD!!!

I LOVE DISNEY WORLD

I love Disney World. I make no secret of it and I have been known to cry when the train pulls up in front of the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning. I love Disney, and it’s magical to me. You can’t convince me or my family otherwise. Believe it or not, my family seems to calm down amidst the constant magic of Disney World. It is the measure for all successful vacations: nothing is as fun, tiring, imaginative, or inspiring as Disney World.

My family tries to go every 18 months or so. We can usually go a full 12 months before we start going into Disney World withdrawal. You think I exaggerate, but I assure you, I do not. Even my husband will sometimes look me straight in the eye and say, “How long until we go back to Disney World?” There is no higher endorsement for a vacation than that, I assure you.Here are my best tips for you if you’re planning a Disney World vacation.

1.Stay on property. It can be pricey, but it’s very worth it. There are three levels of hotels: Value, Moderate, and Deluxe. We have stayed at

• Port Orleans Riverside (moderate; New Orleans theme)
• The Yacht Club (deluxe; nautical theme and best pool on property–it has a sand bottom!)
• The Wilderness Lodge (deluxe; Grand Canyon and family resort of the 1950s theme–very Craftsman)
• The Polynesian (deluxe; Hawaiian theme; on the monorail so it’s very easy to get to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT)
• The Boardwalk (deluxe; themed like the old Boardwalks of the late 1800s/early 1900s; walking distance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT)
• Pop Century (Value; larger than life theming, great food court)

My favorite of the three resorts where we’ve stayed is the Port Orleans Riverside (a moderate). It wasn’t too far from anything, and it had a boat launch to Downtown Disney that was very convenient. It’s a great resort that isn’t too spread out. Also, if you have five in your family, it’s currently the only moderate resort on the DW property that allows five in a room (on the Bayou side). Otherwise you will have to book two rooms. FYI: Make sure when booking two rooms that you confirm they are adjoining (connecting) and not adjacent (close to), especially with kids involved.

2.Use the Dining Plan. I definitely recommend the Dining Plan. You can use your Dining Plan for one counter service meal, one full service meal (also called Table Service), and one snack for each night you are staying at a DW resort. The full service meals can be used to eat at a character meal. You are not limited to using one of each type of meal for each day. In other words you can use all your counter services in one day, or two counter services and a table service one day. Everything is lumped together on your card and just taken off as you use it which is very convenient. For the price (about $38/day/adult and $10/day/child), you’re getting more food than you can imagine. It definitely costs more if you go out-of-pocket. Keep in mind that it can cost more than $35 for one adult table service meal. So essentially you’re getting free food and snacks. Trust me, it will pay for itself.

3.Make ADRs. ADR stands for Advanced Dining Reservations. You can make your ADRs 90 days from your arrival date and I highly suggest you do. Without ADRs you’ll end up waiting for a table that may never become available. First priority is given to those who have an ADR. I have even made an ADR, gotten the time wrong, showed up at the restaurant and explained myself, and was put ahead of others without an ADR. It pays to make the ADR. It’s an especially good idea to make your ADRs as soon as you can if you would like to eat at Cinderella’s Castle or are planning on attending a hard-ticketed event. For example, many people love to eat at The Liberty Tree Tavern just before Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Therefore it fills up fast. To ensure you have a table, you need to make your ADRs 90 days from your arrival date.

4.Buy the Park Hopper. It isn’t that much more than a regular park pass, and the more days you are there, the cheaper it is to add a day or utilize the Park Hopper option. The Park Hopper option allows you to visit more than one park on any given day and gives you great flexibility. If you’re done with Animal Kingdom by lunch (and you very well may be) you have the option of visiting another park later in the day. Or if you’ve just had dinner and were at EPCOT all day but are close to Magic Kingdom, you can pop over to see the fireworks that night. We’ve done this several times.

5.Plan your route. Know which park you’re going to on which day. This helps with your ADRs and also with how your day will go. Make a loop (start at one end and work your way around) instead of criss-crossing. Seriously, get the map and map it out. Look at the shows and parades and decide what you want to see and when you need to be there. Understand that there is too much to do and you cannot get it all done in one trip. Don’t try! We’ve been five times and we have yet to do it all. I think you could go every year and still have something new each time.

6. Seek out the Magical Moments. My family were surprised by how many times “special” things happened to us on our trip. Some of it was the pixie dust that Disney sprinkles around , but most of it was stuff I researched ahead of time. Small things like wearing matching Mickey family shirts got us a lot of attention from the cast members and characters with the added bonus of making my kids easier to spot in a crowd. Getting there early to the Pirate Tutorial as well as the Jedi Training shows secured us a great spot to be chosen to participate. (A sign scrawled on a napkin that read “the force is strong with this one!” didn’t hurt either!) When we stumbled onto the Kim Possible Adventure and signed up to help save the planet- my kids were thrilled and thought this interactive espionage mission was a highlight of the trip…most of the Disney visitors were asking us where to get a “kimmunicator” and how did we find out about it… the answer is all in the planning!

If you’d like help in planning a trip as wonderful as mine turned out to be, I’d be glad to help! I can give you any and all details on how to make it happen- heck, I can do it all for you and all you have to do is show up and enjoy it! (Come to think of it, that’s just what my husband does! ;0)

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No Worries.........Dining is FREE!!!!!

Buy this Disney vacation package with hotel and Theme Park tickets and get the Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan FREE!
You can get FREE dining when you book a full price Walt Disney World vacation package for check-ins most nights 9/27/09-12/17/09 (11/25/09-11/28/09 may be blacked out). To qualify, you must purchase a vacation package that includes at least 3 consecutive hotel nights at an official Walt Disney World resort, plus at least a one-day theme park ticket. You must use your Disney Rewards Visa to book and pay for the package.
With this offer:
· If you stay in a Disney Value resort, you get the Magic Your Way Plus Quick Service Dining package for the price of a regular Magic Your Way package. For those staying in a Value resort, this deal saves a family of four (2 adults, two kids ages 3-9) $77.96 per day -- the cost of adding the Quick Service Dining Plan to a basic vacation package.
· If you stay in a Disney Moderate or Deluxe resort, you get the Magic Your Way Plus Dining package for the price of a regular Magic Your Way package. For those staying in a Moderate or Deluxe resort, this deal saves a family of four (2 adults, two kids ages 3-9) $101.96 per day -- the cost of adding the regular Dining Plan to a basic vacation package.
To qualify, you must purchase a regularly priced Magic Your Way package consisting of at least a 3-night stay at an official Walt Disney World resort hotel, PLUS at least a 1-day Magic Your Way Base Ticket.
If you want, those staying in a Value resort can upgrade to the regular Dining Plan for just $10 per adult per night and $2 per child (3-9) per night, or to the Deluxe Dining Plan for $42 per adult per night and $12 per child (3-9) per night; those staying in a Moderate or Deluxe can upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan for $32 per adult per night and $10 per child (3-9) per night.
(The upgrade fees represent the usual price difference between the various dining plans.)
You can also add the "Wine & Dine" Plan to this package, at full price.