Our Favorite Character Dining Restaurants in Walt Disney World
I am dreaming of the day that we can have ‘normal’ character interactions again. You know, hugging Mickey, pictures without masks, autograph books, etc. (you can keep your buffet set ups though, Disney!). Today I wanted to share some of our favorite character dining restaurants in hopes you can plan for some of these reservations for your next trip later in 2021 or 2022 when these are all open again. One pro tip I will share with you to start is to consider character dining for breakfast. Character meals are expensive. If you take a look at the price points, breakfast is typically at least $10 less than lunch or dinner! Below you will find my top pick for if you want to dine with Mickey, the Princesses, my favorite character meal of all time, and a fan favorite that is worth the hype.
My pick if you want to dine with Mickey
TUSKER HOUSE IN DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM
- Buffet Style, Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Breakfast Prices: Adult: $42.00/Children 3-9 $27.00
- Lunch/Dinner Prices: Adult: $55.00/Children 3-9 $36.00
- Characters: Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy
One of the best ways to meet Mickey is during meal time. You won’t have to wait in a long line and typically you get to spend a little more time with him while he comes and visits you at your table. Our favorite character dining restaurant to meet Mickey and some of his pals is Tusker House in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Tusker House is the one buffet style meal that I would happily go back to. Located in Africa, this restaurant is themed after a Harambe market eatery filled with African inspired dishes. You will find entrees like peri peri salmon, basmati rice with curry chicken, and tabouli and hummus dips. If adventurous eating isn’t your jam, you can still find classic items like chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, and corn dog nuggets. As I mentioned earlier, this is a buffet style restaurant where you get seated and can immediately go up and grab your food. While you are enjoying your meal, Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy will come around to visit in their safari styled outfits. We love this location because we love trying new food. We found that the quality and variety of the dishes were the best of any other buffet we have been to on property. Not to mention, when you are at Disney, you are typically eating some pretty junky food. Tusker House gives you the opportunity to eat some healthier options to fuel you for the rest of your day. It’s important to note that Tusker House has not reopened since the closure in 2020, but I’m hoping it will make a comeback later this year.
Honorable Mention: My honorable mention to meet Mickey and the rest of the fab five is Chef Mickey’s. It’s such a classic character dining experience and in my opinion, a must do at least once. Located in Disney’s Contemporary Resort, you can watch the monorail drive through the hotel as you enjoy classic American cuisine with your favorite pals. Now the reason why this isn’t my top pick is because pre-pandemic, this was another buffet option and the food just wasn’t that great. Chef Mickey’s is currently open with a modified character experience. This means characters will still come out and come to tables for socially distanced selfies, but there are currently no autographs or hugs for Mickey. There has also been a change to how your food will be served. Instead of a traditional buffet style, this experience has shifted to family style. This means you will receive platters to your table and they will continue to refill your items for an ‘all you care to enjoy experience.’ I think this is a huge upgrade and will report back when we experience this for ourselves on our spring break trip!
My pick if you want to dine with Princesses
AKERSHUS ROYAL BANQUET HALL
- Family Style, Serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Breakfast Prices: Adult: $53.00/Children 3-9 $34.00
- Lunch/Dinner Prices: Adult: $63.00/Children 3-9 $41.00
- Characters: Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Princess Aurora, and Ariel
It’s every little girl’s dream, isn’t it? To go to a beautiful castle and meet her favorite princesses? Again, a great way to knock out multiple princess meet and greets is to do a princess dining experience. There are plenty to choose from, but the biggest bang for our buck was Akershus Royal Banquet Hall located in the Norway Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase. Every meal at Akershus starts with “a taste of Norway” which is a buffet style appetizer where you can get a collection of Scandinavian seafood, meats, cheeses and fruits to start your meal. If you dine there for breakfast like we did, you will then receive an all you care to enjoy family style skillet filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, and an amazing cheesy potato casserole. If you find yourself here for lunch or dinner you will start with the same appetizer buffet and then get a menu to choose an entree from the menu. Some sample entrees include Tradisjonell Kjnottkake (Norwegian meatballs), Scandinavian dumplings, or Laks. If this sounds good to you, but you are nervous your kids may not like the options, do not worry! Every dining location has a children’s menu where you can always find fan favorites like pizza and mac and cheese. This isn’t my favorite in terms of food, but if you have a little one where meeting princesses is high on your list, this is a really great way to see all of your favorites. Don’t get me wrong, the food isn’t bad but there are some better options.
Honorable mention: This leads me to my honorable mention for princess dining: Trattoria al Forno. Trattoria al Forno is located at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort and you can meet Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Ariel, and Prince Eric. Trattoria offers a character experience at breakfast only. Upon arriving at your table, you are greeted with a frying pan (Rapunzel themed, get it?) full of pastries and then get to pick an entree of choice. Entrees include some pretty cool options like the King Triton breakfast calzone or Rapunzel’s pancakes with fruit compote. The food here was way better than any other princess meal we’ve been to and it was fun to see some prince’s too! Unfortunately, both of these experiences are currently unavailable.
Our Favorite Character Dining Experience – EVER!
STORYBOOK DINING AT ARTIST POINT
- Table Service, Serves Dinner
- Dinner Prices: Adult: $60.00/Children 3-9 $39.00
- Characters: Snow White, Evil Queen, Grumpy, and Dopey
This Snow White themed dinner at Artist Point has been, by far, the coolest character dining experience we have done on property. Artist Point is located at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and has recently gone through a renovation and was reimagined into this character dining experience. The decor has been updated to make it seem like you are in the woods at Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cottage. The restaurant is a traditional table service experience where you start off with an appetizer sampler, choice of entree, and a trio of desserts.
We started off with some cocktails and non alcoholic specialty drinks for the kids. Andrew opted for ‘The Smoking Mirror’ which was a mixture of Johnny Walker Black, Wildberry, Lime, and Rosemary Smoke. The smoking of the glass presentation was done table side which both the kids and adults thought that was pretty cool. I opted for the safe option of ‘The Antidote’ which was basically a Moscow Mule. Vivienne even got in on the action and she got a non-alcoholic specialty drink that was also prepared table side. She ordered the “Transformation Potion” which was yellow lemonade and ‘blue potion’ (I can only imagine it was a blue raspberry syrup) where they mixed it at the table and turned the yellow drink a deep purple tint. It was such a fun start to the meal and we all felt really festive.
The cuisine is American fare and is themed to Snow White. The appetizer sampler included a mushroom bisque, wicked shrimp cocktail, and a huntsman terrine which included chicken, black truffle, stone fruit preserves, and house made pickles. There are many options for your entree that include, but are not limited to prime rib, butter poached fish, or pork shank. We ordered the pork shank and prime rib and both were delicious. The trio of desserts were as delicious as they were cutely themed. They included gooseberry pie, Miner’s Treasure (sponge cake with gem chocolates and panna cotta), and Poison Apples (chocolate truffles made to look like apples). All three of these were absolutely decadent desserts but the Poison Apples were definitely our favorites.
While we were eating, Snow White, Dopey, and Grumpy came around in a traditional character dining experience. Drake even got his very first kiss by Snow White during this dining experience! The characters were so fun and really took a lot of time interacting with us and the kids. After we finished our trio of desserts, we received a box with a card. The box was the “Huntsman’s gift to the Queen.” If you don’t remember the movie Snow White, the ‘gift’ is supposed to be Snow White’s heart (seriously – this movie was a bit terrifying at times!). Obviously our waitress didn’t hand over a harvested organ to us, but instead a box filled with chocolate hearts and caramel popcorn. Again, I can’t speak enough to the theming of this whole experience from the atmosphere, decor, esthetic, and food. The card that came with the box was an invitation to go meet the queen. The Evil Queen. Rare character meet and greets are always so special, but this one was definitely the best one I can remember. The Cast Member who played the queen was so on point. Her facial expressions, her rudeness, everything. She absolutely killed it. She encouraged Vivienne to ask us to stop buying her princess outfits and start purchasing more villainous outfits instead. I truly believe this is when Viv started her obsession with the Disney villains.
Again, I can’t rave enough about our experience here. If you are staying at the Wilderness Lodge, Copper Creek or Boulder Ridge Villas, you have to put this on your must do list. With this restaurant being located in a resort and not in a theme park, it’s a little bit ‘off of the beaten path’ and doesn’t get the credit it deserves in my opinion. It is my only hope that this experience opens back up when the hotel side of Wilderness Lodge does.
A fan favorite that lives up to the hype
OHANA – BEST FRIENDS BREAKFAST
- Family Style, Breakfast
- Breakfast Prices: Adult: $42.00/Children 3-9 $27.00
- Characters: Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, Pluto
I’m usually not the type of girl to jump on a trend. I’m always the last person to read that popular book and typically watch the must-see TV series 5 years after it premieres because by then it is free to stream on Netflix. I say all of this because I typically don’t like to like the most popular things or the most popular places. But when it comes to Ohana, I can’t help but love it. Ohana is a reservation that I’m eagerly trying to book the second our booking window opens for both breakfast and dinner during our trip. Dinner deserves a whole other post so today, I’m going to focus on the Best Friends Breakfast.
Ohana is located at Disney’s Polynesian Resort and is Lilo and Stitch themed. When you enter Ohana, you are greeted by a ‘cousin’ (you know, because ohana means family) who picks up freshly made pineapple coconut sticky rolls and takes you over to your table. From there, another cousin comes over (aka your waiter) and brings out a family style helping of eggs, waffles, ham, potatoes and fruit. The food here is pretty standard but there are two things that make this a stand out. That bread I mentioned when you first entered and POG juice (also known as Stitch juice). POG juice is a combination of passionfruit, orange, and guava juice. Alone its a refreshing accompaniment to your meal, but make it a mimosa and you just made this cute little breakfast a boozy brunch.
While you are enjoying your breakfast, you get to meet Lilo, Stitch, Mickey in his hawaiian shirt, and Pluto all while listening to polynesian music and staring at Cinderella Castle from across Seven Seas Lagoon. They even have some entertainment and activities for the kids. Typically during character meals there is a ‘parade’ of some sorts. At Ohana, your cousin passes out maracas and kids have the opportunity to march around the restaurant hand in hand with the characters. They have even hosted some coconut bowling activities when we have been there.
Overall, this is a great start to a Magic Kingdom or Epcot day. If you are staying at the Poly, it’s a must do. Even if you aren’t – it’s always a must do for our family, sometimes twice!
Character meals are such an important part of our trips. We love the break from the hustle of the parks and the interaction with the characters can’t be beat. Some of my favorite memories have come from these meals. While they are expensive, if you can afford to do one or two during your trip, I highly recommend doing so. Don’t forget – character meals are hard to get dining reservations so be sure you plan ahead and book these bad boys as soon as your booking window opens (currently 60 days in advance at the time this post is published). Does your family like to do character meals? Which restaurants/experiences are your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!
-Melinda
