Imagine a meal fit for royalty, surrounded by your favorite princesses. Or picture Mickey Mouse himself stopping by your table for a quick photo op while you enjoy a delicious breakfast. At Walt Disney World, character dining isn’t just a meal—it’s a magical experience that brings the wonder of Disney straight to your table.
What is Disney World Character Dining?
Character dining at Walt Disney World combines a range of foods and types of dining with unforgettable character interactions. During these meals, beloved Disney characters visit your table for photos, autographs, and fun conversations—all while you enjoy a themed dining experience.
Why You’ll Love It
- Meet Characters Without the Lines: Skip the park meet-and-greet queues and see multiple characters in one sitting.
- Perfect for All Ages: Whether you’re traveling with kids or celebrating your inner Disney fan, character dining adds magic to any vacation.
- Unique Locations: Each dining spot has its own enchanting theme, making every meal special.
Character Magic Without the Park Ticket
There are several Character Dining experiences that don’t require a park ticket. This is the perfect way to celebrate your arrival, soften the blow of your departure, or even add that extra magical touch to a resort day. Below is a list of Character Dining you will find around the resorts. And by the way, you don’t have to be a guest at these particular resorts to dine there! If you have a reservation, you can park at the resort or you can grab a bus over from Disney Springs! Make sure you factor in transportation time when you are sorting out your itinerary.
- 1900 Park Fare
- Located at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
- Buffet Style
- Serves Breakfast & Dinner
- Features Princess Tiana, Aladdin, Cinderella, and Mirabel (Characters subject to change)
- Cape May Cafe
- Located at Beach Club Resort
- Buffet Style
- Serves Breakfast & Dinner but characters ONLY appear at breakfast
- Features Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy (Characters subject to change)
- Chef Mickey’s
- Located at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Buffet Style
- Serves Breakfast & Dinner
- Features Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Pluto (Characters subject to change)
- ‘Ohana
- Located at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Family Style Dining
- Serves Breakfast and Dinner but characters ONLY appear at breakfast
- Features Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto (Characters subject to change)
- Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White
- Located at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Prix Fixe Menu (Shared appetizer, you choose your entree, then finish with a dessert)
- Serves Dinner
- Features Snow White, Grumpy, and Dopey. You can even meet the Evil Queen who has a designated photo spot (so you don’t have to meet her if you don’t want to) (Characters subject to change)
- Topolino’s Terrace – Flavors of the Riviera
- Located at Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Breakfast served Prix Fixe
- Serves Breakfast and Dinner but characters ONLY appear at breakfast
- Features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck (Characters subject tochange)
Added Theme Park Day Magic
Maybe you want to add some extra magic to a park day or maximize the number of characters met without hanging out in queue lines for hours. An in park Character Dining experience may be perfect for you. Some experiences are too iconic to miss out on, like dining INSIDE Cinderella Castle surrounded by the princesses themselves, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Below you’ll find a list of in park Character Dining. You will need a park ticket to dine at these locations and make sure if you make a reservation for, let’s say, Tusker House- that you are actually in Disney’s Animal Kingdom and not Magic Kingdom (unless you have a park hopper ticket of course).
- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
- Located in EPCOT
- Family Style Dining
- Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Features princesses like Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, and Ariel (Princess tend to rotate and are subject to change)
- Cinderella’s Royal Table *Requires Pre Payment*
- Located inside Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom Park
- Prix Fixe Menu
- Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Features Cinderella and a handful of her royal princess besties
- The Crystal Palace
- Located in Magic Kingdom Park
- Buffet Style
- Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Features Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet (Characters subject to change)
- Garden Grill Restaurant
- Located in EPCOT
- Family Style
- Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Features Chip, Dale, Mickey, and Pluto
- Hollywood & Vine
- Located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Buffet Style
- Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Features Disney Junior Characters like Fancy Nancy, Vampirina, and Roadster Goofy at Breakfast and Minnie and Friends for Lunch and Dinner
- Tusker House
- Located in Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Buffet Style
- Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Features Donald, Mickey, Goofy, and Daisy
Tips For Reserving A Magical Dining Experience
Whether you are planning to dine inside a park or inside a resort there are some important things to note:
- Dining reservations open up 60 days in advance at 6:00 am EST. Resort guests get the advantage of making reservations for their entire reservation (up to 10 days), 60 days before their check in dates. Make sure to prioritize Character Dining over most any other dining when making reservations and try to schedule those most popular experiences later in your trip so you have a better chance of snagging a reservation. For example if you are going to Disney for 10 days, at your 60 day mark you will have access to book dining for your entire trip. Scheduling things further out means there will potentially be more open reservations than at the start of your trip because others have already grabbed reservations for the tail end of their trips (that line up with the start of yours).
- You MUST include EVERYONE dining in your party. Even the smallest of babies need to be added to your reservation. I get your 3 month old isn’t going to be noshing on a chicken tender, but Disney has to make sure there is capacity for your party. Don’t worry, just because a baby is added to the reservation, doesn’t mean you’ll pay for them.
- Speaking of money, when you reserve a spot at any table service restaurant, you’ll be asked for a credit card number to hold your reservation. You won’t be charged at that time (unless explicitly stated for places like Cinderella’s Royal Table). You will be expected to cancel any reservation you won’t make it to in the appropriate amount of time before the reservation (normally 2 hours but you can check out the cancellation policy on the Disney website) or you will be charged a no show fee, which is typically $10 per person on the reservation.
My True Thoughts
I have dined at many a character meal and here’s what I’ll say: They aren’t created equal. To be honest, I don’t know of many people who are expecting a 5 star meal when making one of these reservations, but once you see the price tag a little bit of good food is envisioned. Breakfast is nearly always the safer option because who doesn’t love trays and trays of Mickey Waffles and those delicious cheesy breakfast potatoes. I want you to know though, sometimes those iconic meals can fall flat.
I had looked forward to the loud, crazy, boisterous atmosphere of Chef Mickey’s for a while before I actually experienced it. When I finally made it over there…well, the food was not great. It could be because we went towards the end of the night. Or it could be because their gluten free options left something to be desired. The dinner itself was not it for me and then they brought me a plate of gluten free desserts that were inedible. And you may be thinking, Sam gluten free food is hard to get right- I get it but I have dined at many many Disney restaurants that were a gluten free dream. Maybe breakfast would have been better, but yeah, it’s not on my returning favorites list. The food was not good and the character experiences were a bit cold, once again, maybe Donald was just tired at the end of the night.
On the flip side of the coin, 1900 Park Fare has probably been my favorite so far. It’s decor is beautiful, the characters were great, and plus you can get all the strawberry soup you can eat. I will say I dined here during breakfast- the safest buffet meal in my opinion. Our server was attentive and took our allergies seriously which is, of course, a huge plus. I don’t want to harp on Chef Mickey’s too much but the 1900 Park Fare experience was just way better for our group. To be honest, it’s much easier to interact with face characters (human characters like princess, as opposed to fur characters that can’t talk). But if you don’t want to socialize, maybe a fur character meal like Toppolino’s Terrace might be more up your alley.
The Price of Character Meals
The sticker shock of these meals might take you for a ride. To dine in Cinderella’s castle for dinner you’re going to have to cough up $88 for everyone 10 and up and $52 per kiddo ages 3-9. You can save a little at most of these restaurants by booking breakfast instead of dinner (one more advantage of breakfast!). But let’s be honest, these meals are splurges for the experience. The food just happens to be there too. A character meal is such a great way to immerse your group into the magic of a Disney story. If you can work it in to the budget, I would encourage you to do it.
Speaking of budget, you can use your Disney Dining Plan (DDP) on character meals. However, be mindful that some will take 2 table service credits depending on the restaurant and meal. Make sure you do the math to decide what make more sense for your group, or ask your handy travel advisor.
Ready To Create Your Magical Moment?
A dining experience at Walt Disney World is more than a meal, it’s a chance to create memories you’ll cherish forever. As your Adventure Concierge to all things Disney magic I’m here to help minimize the stress and maximize the joy. My services are complementary with any Walt Disney World vacation package I book on your behalf!
Let’s create the magical getaway you’ve been dreaming of; from magical dining experience and thrilling park days to chill resort days lounging by the pool in style.
✨Click here to get started today!✨
Talk to you soon!
-Sam
p.s. don’t forget to check out the Free Resource Library!
