Quick Service, Character Meals, Dining Plan

Mangiare! Mangiare! or Eat! Eat!

One of my favorite past times at Disney!

This past summer was my first summer to really experience DISNEY DINING! Lets start with what I have experienced, then I will give you some details on what I have researched!

Character Meals!

Last summer we ate at Norway! We dined with the princesses at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

When we arrived we parked our stroller and unloaded "Snow white" and "Tinkerbell" (Madyson & Aubrie)

We let the cast member know that the Broadus' had arrived and she took us right in. There we stood in line for about 4 minutes and met Belle, in her BEAUTIFUL gold gown. We took a picture and she signed our book! We were then escorted to our table (which was in the back in a nook) and our server came to explain our dinner. We first went to the buffet for appetizers, then they brought the entree, then a family style dessert. Which is 1 plate with 3 desserts.

We skipped on most of the appetizers, we had some fruit and cheese but that was about it.

While we waited, we were visited by Sleeping Beauty & Ariel in her ballgown.

Dinner arrived. Todd had the chicken, I had the pork chop. Mine was the better of the two. Madyson & Aubrie shared a child's plate of chicken nuggets.

During this point, Snow white visited with us and they brought us a free photo set of our picture with Belle!

During Dessert (Rice Creme is the BEST dessert out of the 3) we had a surprise visit from Cinderella! It was so magical to watch the girls faces as the princesses sat and chatted with them like they were old friends! Snow white even gave Madyson a kiss on her forehead ( like she does in the movie) Cinderella was too cute. She commented on Aubrie Kate(who only had on 1 shoe) "Oh I see you have a problem keeping your slipper on as well." Totally worth the money.

The next morning was mine and Madyson's birthday (yes we share a birthday) we ate at Chef Mickey's! 1 buffet full of fruit, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, everything.

Here we met Chef Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. The food was great! The restaurant was large and they even brought us cupcakes for our birthday! Here they will take your picture before the meal, it is not free like at Akershus.

My tip for this restaurant is to ask to be seated on the main floor if you are there for the characters and on the top floor (2 steps up) if you are there for the food. Although you get characters at any spot they seemed to hang out on the first floor a little more and it wasn't so congested.

We also ate at Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kingdom and some quick-service places during the week. More on that later.

With Character Meals you must remember that most Characters can change. We are hoping this summer we might get to eat with Mulan or Jasmine at the Princess Dinner!

Quick Service!

Quick Service meals are for us everyday folks who aren't on the dining plan and didn't budget alot for each meal. Think of Quick Services places like fast food restaurants. They usually have chicken tenders/nuggets, salads, sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, pizza...you know the basics.

My favorite Quick Service Restaurant is The Pinocchio Village Haus. If you sit on the left side towards the back you can see the "It's A Small World Ride" it is really neat!

Dining Plan!

The Disney Dining Plan is offered to Disney Resort Guests. This allows you to pay for your food before you go to Disney so it is one less thing on your plate.

Last summer, Madyson was under 3 and Aubrie was a baby so they didn't qualify for the Dining Plan and Todd and I did the Math and found out it was cheaper for us to just pay out of pocket.

This summer, Madyson is old enough for the dining plan and Aubrie will share from our plates but Yes we will have it this year!

There are alot of Options on Dining Plans for Disney. So please be sure to read them all!

But here are a few

QUICK-SERVICE. Great for the family that doesn't like sit down dinners to slow them down! 2 quickservice meals and 2 snacks per day.

DINING: 1 quickservice meal a day, 1 table service meal a day (like a character meal), 1 snack a day.

DELUXE DINING PLAN: 3 meals a day (quick service or table) and 2 snacks

This summer we are so excited we are dining again at Norway (Yup, its a repeater...that's how good it was) Cinderella's Royal Table!! (GOING TO THE CASTLE!!...I can mark that off my bucket list) Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's (Madyson's Request) and Ohana!

We will probably add Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney to this list but for now these are the ones I have already made reservations for!

"WAIT RESERVATIONS?!?!?" Yup, It is recommended that you have reservations for the restaurants mainly because they fill up fast! You can make reservations over the phone or online! We were able to make ours 180 days before!!! (last summer it was 90, so its a good thing I booked early!!)

When you make a reservation, they give you a confirmation number and send you an email that way you can print it out and bring it with you. I had all of mine last year in my "Disney Binder" which you will hear more about next time.

Disney has tons of fabulous restaurants for every age! We like to stick with Character meals right now bc our girls are so young and its a great way to see the characters without searching for them in the park. But if your kids are older there are meals without them...although I personally believe NObody is too big for character meals =)