Character Dining with 18 month old

[Pmlocke]

Our 11 month old and 2 year old granddaughters loved the character meals, especially the 11 month old. I felt so sorry for Pooh at Crystal Palace because my granddaughter had just had a big mouthful of pudding and then proceeded to give Pooh a thorough face wiping on his belly. We laughed so hard.

 

[shocker]

I watched a baby break into screaming & crying every time they saw a character round the corner towards them at CP. I also watched the patents remove said screaming child from their seat & pose for pics, yep, every pic of screaming kid. After about 3 times, the parents started waving the characters past their table...no more pics.

I felt bad & I understand the parents probably planned for months & spent $$$ to get there & then the kid will have nothing of it.

If after the first meal, it doesn't go well, there should be time to cancel others.

But, overall, having gone to Disney many years, starting each of my kids at 2 1/2 yo (to get one trip with reduced cost), I find your meal schedule too heavy with characters & buffets, but JMHO, you do what you want.

I would not plan 2 buffets in one day...at any age.

I would keep GG & O'hana over others since food comes to you.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Make sure you include your child in your head count for your ADR.

 

[Jonathan Friedman]

We sure did! We just added Sanaa also

 

[tinkerbella16]

My niece was 18 months old when we went in 2016 and we did a few character meals and she absolutely loved them! We did Garden Grill dinner (our favorite!), Akershus breakfast, Crystal Palace breakfast, Cape May Cafe breakfast, Ohana breakfast and Hoop Dee Doo Revue (not a character meal but a show that she loved and is her favorite today!). We loved getting so many characters out of the way, so we didn't have to meet them in the parks.

 

[shawnh199]

Our first trip our girls were 4 years and 8 months. They both loved the character meals. And we loved not having to wait in lines to meet them, and lines back then were really not bad. Our next trip our youngest was just about 26 months old and still loved them. Our girls are now 12 and 16 and they still ask for character meals. We enjoy buffets as well, but the fact that most of them have characters are just a bonus for our family. Even with their ages now, they still get up and take cute pictures with all the characters that come by. We just don't do autograph books anymore, but we have a great collection of them from previous trips.

I am the type who believes you can never have too many character meals. If you think your child will enjoy them, go and have lots of fun, and take lots of pictures.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

In 3 weeks my wife and I are going to spend a week at Disney with our 18 month old and have the following reservations...
Tusker House lunch
Garden Grill dinner
Be Our Guest lunch
1900 Park Fair dinner
O’hana Breakfast
Storybook dining dinner
Boma Breakfast (no characters I know)
Crystal Palace breakfast

any feedback or thoughts? I know it’s a lot but we are taking everything super easy and no pressure or expectations. Anyone go with an 18 month old? Anything you’d switch?

At 12 months & 18 months, my son LOVED the characters and even tried to feed them at character meals. At the same ages, my daughter was terrified, but loved the princesses and face characters. Either way, you'll have fun memories to share. Your idea of taking it slow and pacing yourself is very realistic! Have fun & best wishes!

 

[lauraleh]

I think your line up looks great! I have four little ones and they love character meals. My favs are ones like Garden Grill where they bring the food to you but even AYCTE is fine. They are entertained with the characters while I appreciate that we can get food quickly. Yes it's nice to be served but sometimes my kids need food now so a buffet works best.