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Original poster

Disneyland paris - Characters Meals - are they worth it ?

17 replies

ICantFindAFreeNickName · 28/09/2009 11:04

We are off to Disney in a few weeks & I wondered whether it's worth booking one of the characters meals & if so which one. I originally thought about doing the breakfast, but then saw they also do lunch, afternoon tea, & dinner. They are all very expensive so I thought I would get some reccomendations before booking anything. My dd is 7 & has never been to disney, so hopefully everthing will be magical to her.

OP posts:

Anniek · 28/09/2009 11:39

Not sure how much it costs in a Disney hotel, we did the Santa Fe when we went.

It cost for me, DP & DS 70 Euros to dine at Cafe Mickey's, for the meal yes I thought that was expensive, but for the characters completely worth it.

DS got to have his picture taken with, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale, and there were loads of other characters walking in the restaurant so he loved it.

Although I will say having been to Florida as well, I thought Paris was much better for the characters just genrally being around the hotel and park, so if you are struggling on budget, you might not have to pay specifically for your DD to see characters.

TheButterflyEffect · 28/09/2009 11:55

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bluesky · 28/09/2009 13:49

breakfast was great as you were also able to get into the park a little bit earlier.

it took the stress off the day of looking for characters and queuing for photos etc.

would def do it again.

Champagneforlunch · 28/09/2009 15:04

We did the princess one for Dds birthday. It was a really nice treat, she still goes on about the princess brining her her birthday cake (don't think we'll ever be able to best that one). if you are half board you can use your meal vouchers towards the cost which softens the blow slightly as it was something like £50 a head. The food was great however and made a nice change as we ate at the hotel every other night and the unlimted wine made it for my husband. One thing I would suggest is trying to get the last sitting as you won't be hurried out for the next lot of people coming in.

LIZS · 28/09/2009 16:37

We did a breakfast one year and Princess dinner another . Princess dinner was nice, food ok if probably not to everyone's taste, but restaurant was running late and dd missed much of the dancing etc. This was over 100e for 4 Breakfast was probably more relaxed and we got into the park early.

Drayford · 28/09/2009 22:30

I went to DL Paris years ago with my DC (then 7 & 9 - yikes seems like only yesterday ) and it was well worth the breakfast for the sheer look of joy on DS's face when confronted with Pluto coming to sit opposite him for a couple of minutes - his hero at the time!! He's 15 now and still remembers it with fondness!

I seem to remember that we got into the park early (which was well worth it on a 2 day break when you are required by DC to have at least 2 turns on pirates of the caribbean and small world).

PS: Don't know if it's still going but we had a truly memorable meal (I mean for the experience for our DC, not the food) at the restaurant inside Pirates of the Carribean!

Wish I could go to DL again (Paris or Florida) as I loved it ... guess I'll just have to wait for grandchildren to take now!

islandofsodor · 28/09/2009 22:48

We did the breakfast at Cafe Mickey and it was definately worth it for dd and a nice change to have a cooked breakfast after the continental ones we had. There were about 4 or 5 charachters who came and spent time with each child.

L'auberge none of the children would have eaten anything as it is a very fancy menu

Original poster

ICantFindAFreeNickName · 29/09/2009 10:10

Thanks for all your replies. I just have to persuade dp that it's worth the cost now. I think I will go for either the breakfast or the afternoon tea as they seem cheaper & the kids are more likely to eat the food.

OP posts:

stealthsquiggle · 29/09/2009 10:18

Definitely definitely worth it - if your DP needs convincing, then you might point out that to meet any of the main characters other than when dining it will be a 45min+ wait (the Rene from Ratatouille/Sullys of this world are easier - ~10min wait)

Personally I found dinner at Cafe Mickey a better deal than breakfast - the food was good and the characters spent loads of time with the DC (although the 2yo old DD, asleep and clutching her cuddly Goofy, was slightly freaked to wake up and find the 'real' Goofy standing there waving at her ) but that may be because my DC are not morning people.

We did the Auberge du Cendrillon with friends and their DDs on their first visit and it was absolutely the highlight of their trip. If your DC are fans of 'plain' food then it is definitely the quality time with princesses you are paying for and not the food as they may well not eat it (it is good food, though!). The princes are complete wimps though, much to DS's disgust - my DH described them as the sort of princes that the real princes knew it would be entirely safe to leave their princesses with whilst they went off to slay dragons .

With only DD to vote for princesses, I think we will be sticking to Mickey & co this year.

buktus · 29/09/2009 13:32

We have been every year foir the past 5 years and we usually do cafe mickey, not a great selection on the menu but the food was nice. The characters spend a long time with each table and rotate through the restaurant, last year we did lucky nugget food wasnt that great very similar to service stations and it was all very crammed in and you didnt get the same sort of feeling out of it. IUnventions in the disney hotel is fab but pricey - which hotel are you staying in?

mumoverseas · 29/09/2009 13:58

we went in July and did dinner in Cafe Mickey and felt it was very overpriced. Around 120 euros for myself, DH, two teenagers and a 2 year old. Food a bit naff too.

We did see a lot of characters but some of them hadn't quite learnt the Disney smile and were not nearly as friendly as the ones in Florida. We were trying to get autographs for DD2 and one of the characters actually threw the book back at us across the table. Makes you wonder why they sell the damm books if they don't want you getting autographs

Don't get me wrong, its a good way to get photos (and if lucky and characters in a good mood) lots of autographs but it is expensive but saying that, most things are out there at the moment

Geocentric · 29/09/2009 14:00

I haven't been yet, but someone gave me what seems like a great tip; book the breakfast at the latest possible time slot and use it as lunch, since the servings are large (would work for my DCs as they don't each much in the am). I think that breakfast is also a bit cheaper...

Hulababy · 29/09/2009 14:01

As a way of meeting the characters - yes, great. For the food - at the Paris ones - probably over priced.

The character meals in Orlando are better IMO.

However, for a 7y meeting the characters - she'll love it

stealthsquiggle · 29/09/2009 14:20

Everything All food in DLP is over-priced, especially at the moment. Once you accept that, character dining starts looking like a (relatively) good deal

liliputlady · 30/09/2009 10:02

Definitely worth it - we liked lunches, as it's a chance to sit down after morning of walking round theme park. It is the real highlight of your time at Disney. Out of the princess lunches and normal character lunches, I personally prefer the general character ones. At 7 and 4 my dd's didn't really know what to say to the princesses - it was slightly awkward!!! But the characters hug and pat you and it's much more fun IMO!

MintyCane · 30/09/2009 10:13

Yes it is worth it or your kids will want to queue to see them elsewhere. That way you can rest your tired feet and just take photos. Cafe Mickey is the best place to go.

Leslaki · 03/10/2009 22:16

cafe Mickey is def the best - Lucky Nugget is overpriced school dinners and only the people who have prebooked the seats down in the food area get the best interaction with the characters. We were slightly higher and only got a passing nod from characters. In cafe Mickey however dd ate her dinner on gepetto's knee!!!! She thought it was brilliant sitting there like Queen Bee!

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