Character Dining Pro's and Con's

When making your choices as to where to eat during your Disney vacation, many people automatically jump to character dining. It's what Disney shows you in commercials, it's what all your friends come home talking about and you just know you HAVE to book it!  Today I'm going to talk a little about the pro's and con's of character dining to help you decide if character dining is for your family!

Lots of characters
I think the first obvious pro to character dining is, well the characters! It's true! By booking a character dining experience you can guarantee that you'll see some characters up close and personal. There is a variety of experiences available including:
-Princess
-Pooh and friends
-Mickey and friends
-Playhouse Disney

Time Consuming
While these experiences can be a great and intimate way of meeting the characters, keep in mind they can be time consuming. Character dining can often take 1.5 to 2 hours and depending on what time of day you've booked, that's precious park time!  If you are traveling during a slower season, meeting the characters in the park might be a quicker experience!

Quality of food
The quality of the food at character dining restaurants can be hit or miss depending on the location and meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner).  Many folks visit these restaurants simply to meet the characters regardless of how good the food is. Personally I've been happy with the few character meals we've been to, but they've all been breakfast. Do you research beforehand and know what to expect.

Location
Many great character dining experiences take place at some of Disney's Deluxe resorts. What a great excuse to check out some amazing locations and they are often very easy to get to from one of Disney's main theme parks (like Disney's Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian and Beach Club)!! You'll of course still have options within the theme parks for convenience but don't forget those outside the parks too!

Cost
Depending on if you are on the dining plan, the cost of character meals can be a bit daunting. They also might not be the best bang for your buck on the dining plan. For instance a character breakfast will run an adult approximately $25-$28 plus gratuity, although dining at Cinderella's Royal Table will cost you nearly double that!  Dinner's at most character dining locations will be closer to $40 per person.

Will your kids like the Characters?
In order to get into the most popular character dining locations, you'll need to book several months in advance (often 6 months!). For first time visitors, especially those with small children, you may not know how they'll react to the characters. For this reason I often suggest not booking EVERY meal a character experience just in case they don't warm up to the idea.