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Original poster

Character Dining at Disneyland Paris - worth the expense?

24 replies

littlecabbage · 19/07/2019 15:06

We are off to DLP in 3 weeks, and I am looking at whether to book character dining, assuming it isn't too late.

But for 5 of us (2 adults and 3 kids), a character lunch will be £210! I was astounded! I knew it would be pricey but was expecting more like £150.

Have you done it, and is it worth it? Kids will be 8, 6 and 4. Not Disney fanatics but I think they'd enjoy seeing the characters.

Thanks.

OP posts:

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 19/07/2019 15:37

Only if your kids are really into miming encounters with people in costumes. My kids aren't keen at all, they've always had hugs for Tigger and Eeyore but they're not mad about the rest of them so we don't really bother any more. The food certainly isn't worth the prices. DH and I find interacting with the characters excruciating (though we adore Disneyland in general).

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 19/07/2019 15:37

And if you just want to see the characters, they're all in the parade.

kimlo · 19/07/2019 15:44

we did inventions and the princess lunch, but they were included in our free meal plan.

If you want a cheaper option there is the breakfast.

If you aee staying in one of the disney hotels they have a character there each morning, and the que is pretty short.

00100001 · 19/07/2019 15:45

I'd save your money - especially as they're not mad fans. You can meet characters around the park - just look at the schedule and queue up. OR just watch in parade.

Save the money for other stuff. There's plenty of opportunity to spend mega bucks at DLP!

stucknoue · 19/07/2019 15:49

We didn't do the character dining but did do buffalo bill which was good (going back a few years) if you are looking at specialty dining check it's not cheaper to book a food package. We mostly dined at McDonald's to be honest

piefacedClique · 19/07/2019 15:52

We had the breakfast and was was a really lovely experience.... equally you can go and have a drink in the bar at the Disneyland hotel and you see them all coming in and out of the restaurant.... drinks are mega expensive tho....

Thenthatsthatthen · 19/07/2019 15:53

We’ve only ever done princess dinner but was worth every penny. One DC is princess mad and ques were often 90mins + to meet them. So me and the one DC usually go to the princess dinner whilst DP and other DC do the big rides. I believe both the princess and other characters do breakfasts now which are much cheaper (around €40pp, compared to €90 for dinner) so we will be doing one of those when we next go.

DrBuckles · 19/07/2019 15:59

Mine were always too shy to want the characters around, they’d have wanted the ground to swallow them up if they had to interact with them!

If I was going to do it I’d do inventions though as at least then you can all eat what you want and how much you want for the money.

And I’d consider just one adult doing it too, but we often do things separately in our family, dh could easily be persuaded not to go with the promise of a lunchtime nap!

Original poster

littlecabbage · 19/07/2019 21:30

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve had a look at having breakfast in Plaza Gardens Restaurant, and that is around £110 for five of us. But that is still making me wince a bit, because we would otherwise probably just eat croissants etc from local supermarket!

I’m currently trying to suss out the meal plans. We are staying at Davy Crockett Ranch, and have no meal plan included in our package. The premium dining package seems to be the only one that includes character dining, but seems extortionate (again, given that we probably don’t want daily breakfast from DLP anyway). But I’ve seen on a few random forums that people have chosen a standard dining package and paid a supplement to upgrade to character dining for just one meal. Cannot find anything about this on DLP website though. Does anyone know if this is still possible?

I have no idea what we would be likely to spend on dinner each day (we will take a packed lunch), and whether the meal plan would be cost-efficient. Can anyone recommend good but not too pricey places for evening meals (suitable for young kids) so that I can look at menus and prices?

The Buffalo Bill show does look good, but we also have a baby, so I’m thinking the gunshot noises, coupled with the evening timing of performances and lack of space to have baby in the buggy next to us sleeping, all mean we would be better off seeing this on a future visit.

OP posts:

00100001 · 19/07/2019 21:34

This website is brilliant and will give you tins of info

www.dlpguide.com/

00100001 · 19/07/2019 21:35

If you want evening meals that are cheaper, go to places like McDonald's.... king Ludwig's Castle. The website I posted above has copies of the menus.

Original poster

littlecabbage · 19/07/2019 22:02

Great, that’s very helpful. Off to have a browse.....

OP posts:

Sweetooth92 · 19/07/2019 22:10

We did a character meal, was the highlight of our trip. Seeing DS light up at them was something really special and he was fascinated! He was only 12 weeks old but thought tigger was amazing, still sleeps with his toy one he brought back now, SD was 9 and also enjoyed. We have said when we go again we will do the premium dining so we can do several character meals

UsuallyJustLurk · 19/07/2019 22:11

We went to DLP in March this year and had the standard food package which we upgraded for one breakfast at the Plaza Gardens. Neither of my girls (7 & 2) were into the characters before we went but absolutely fell in love with everyone we met. 6 characters worked the room and the staff were really good at making sure everyone had a chance to meet, have a pic and autograph signed. Some of my most treasured photos are of the girls hugging those characters. Honestly, It was so worth the money for us and even I (a pre-Disney cynic) came away utterly loving Daisy Duck
We didn't get to meet the Princesses because the queues were astronomical (didn't go under 2 hours and we were there term time) and I do wish I'd bitten the bullet and booked the Princess Lunch. Maybe we'll go back one day.... whatever you do, have fun! Oh and looki into and get the Lineberty app to book meet and greets in the Studio Park

TickleMyTitsTilFriday · 19/07/2019 22:34

We stayed at the Disneyland hotel and they were all there at dinner time so that was great!

SJane48S · 20/07/2019 07:13

We did the Princess lunch for my DDs 5th. The food wasn’t great (my DD only ate the bun) but it was definetely worth the money as she was completely starstruck! You did need to book it in advance though. We did a meal plan but took lunch, drink and snacks in with us as they cost a lot in the park. Other tips to save cash - buy autograph books at home & if they like dressing up, bring your own/ buy some from Asda. A lot of the kids walk around in costume & the one you can buy in the park are great but very expensive!

lornathewizzard · 20/07/2019 07:25

We did Inventions dinner in march, upgraded from a standard dining plan, cost us about £175 for 2 adults, one 16yo, one 4yo, one 2yo (2yo was free apart from juice).

We'd budgeted about £100 for it but even with the overspend I do not regret a penny of it. Kids absolutely loved the interaction (as did me and my sister 😂😂). Food was nice too.

We knew we likely didn't wanna queue for characters with two littleys, so this was perfect. Only other character meet we did was Spiderman (through Lineberty app), who was amazing.

There are Facebook groups with loads of info

Original poster

littlecabbage · 20/07/2019 10:23

Thanks all, still umming and aahing! If we go for it, think we’ll do standard half board dining, and just upgrade for one character breakfast. It appears that that would be the best value for money.

OP posts:

Knittedjimmychoos · 20/07/2019 14:17

I'd only bother with princess one because you see all the other characters around the the park, either in queues or just going to abd from places.

The Princess are harder to see and I think auberge would be better memory than inventions etc.

However I booked it and cancelled it, I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on it

Singleandproud · 20/07/2019 14:27

We did all of our meals as character dining as we got a really good deal on meal plans when we went. The bonus of it was we didn’t stand in any queues to see characters.

The buffalo bill western show was really good and I’d recommend that and Princess dining if you were going to do any. DD got her hair and face paint done at the big Disney hotel before we went in too.

You could save some money by only paying for one adult and the children. When you have a dining plan they give you a voucher which can be used against the cost of the meal, the premium plan covers it but the others you will add a supplement to on the day.

Singleandproud · 20/07/2019 14:28

We also stayed in the cheapest accommodation in order to have the character meals, we were only sleeping there after all.

The breakfasts in the park are large and everyone take stuff for lunch so if you do go for a dining plan pack some freezer / sandwich bags.

Cliffdonville · 20/07/2019 16:47

I would absolutely book it, saves queueing to meet characters. The best one for interaction for us was Inventions, but the Princess lunch and Plaza breakfast were good as well.

Knittedjimmychoos · 20/07/2019 18:30

No one has to queue to meet characters at all. Mine really loved spotting them around the park.

To see princess you could get to the rope at dead on 8.3o and do the Princess dash. We saw Princess in 2o min. I'm not a great runner either.

Just want to point out some dc enjoy the characters without the queue and hug.

I'm nervous about the meal plans I think you can do it all far cheaper with mix of self cater and cheaper counter service.

Then if yiu want have your splurge.

Roughly 13 euro for 2 courses and drink counter service.

Satsuma1234 · 28/07/2019 09:36

We always do inventions when we go but I haven’t done Plaza Gardens. Considering this for our November trip.

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