Character Meals worth it for non-Japanese speaker?

[Solomani]

Curious what any non-Japanese speaker thought of any of the character meals?

Myself and wife can speak passable Japanese but kids can not. So curious what non-natives thought?

Thanks.

 

[DreamSweetsLove]

Curious what any non-Japanese speaker thought of any of the character meals?

Myself and wife can speak passable Japanese but kids can not. So curious what non-natives thought?

Thanks.

I speak the language but wouldn't have any regrets bringing a non Japanese speaker to the character meals! The characters are great and I can't think of a reason where language would be an obstacle in this case. Do you mean the character lunch/dinner shows or just the dinning where the characters come around to the tables?

 

[Solomani]

Thinking more of the shows. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[DreamSweetsLove]

The Diamond horseshoe "Mickey and Co." has parts in English and parts in Japanese so it should be pretty good! "Mickey and Minnie's Polynesian Paradise" is all or mostly Japanese but it is a lot of dancing so I think it's quite enjoyable even if the kids don't speak the language. At TDS I'm not sure how much they would enjoy "My friend Duffy" because there is a more dialogue in Japanese but it's a free show with the meal so if there is no line you could give it a try.

 

[Solomani]

Thanks Dream, will give it a go. Planning on visiting in June. Spur of the moment thing so need to get myself organsied.

 

[Karin1984]

It's easier for children to adapt than adults. I remember during summer holidays, me and my family always went to France. As an 8-year old I didn't speak French (besides yes, no and thank you) but it was no problem at all to play with the French kids for days. Without understanding what the other said we invented games to play.

I'm sure your children will fill in the blanks they don't understand.

 

[Solomani]

We ended up booking two lunch shows and Fantasmic viewing from S.S. Columbia. Will also try and book a late lunch at Oceano to watch Terra Mythica.

20 days and counting

 

[DreamSweetsLove]

Cool! Sounds like it will be a lot of fun!

 

[ky71]

Last year we did the Polynesian Luau with Mickey and Friends (food was horrible) and the main parts were in English!

Duffy show at Cape Cod is a continuous series of short acts that runs all day. During peak hours CMs show you to your seats, in lower volume, you choose your own seat. Nobody can enter until entire party has the food/bevs all together (eg no saving seats). I'm sure shows we saw at the end of the day were in English (I could be wrong, it was a very simple storyline about Duffy's creation).

Last character meal we went to was Woody's Roundup at the Diamond Horseshoe. Lots of English banter and songs. Free bandana! I do remember some Japanese but our server spoke in English to us about drinks. Food is served family style and is refilled if requested.

Overall we did not have any issues with language at either park accept the show next to Sinbad's Voyage had run out of the English translator machines during our show but we had been previously so had seen it before.

 

[Solomani]

Thanks for the feedback. 5 days before we visit. Kids very excited.

 

[Solomani]

Hit the Polynesian Terrace for Lilo's Laua today. Was fun. Between the English speaking server and our passable Japanese it was fine. Kids had fun. I am not sure you really need any Japanese. "Get up and dance" as well as "Character Pictures for an hour" translates well in any in language. It's also nice to get pictures with characters not seen in HKDL which is our "home" DL.

 

[Solomani]

Golden Horseshoe for lunch today. This was much more show than character meal vs the Polynesian Events. Characters didn't really pose for shots though they did visit each table at least once and you had a small window to take a picture but since each character was part of the show and the show never stopped there wasn't much time. All the songs are in English as is some of the dialogue. Again I didn't think it was relevant as it was understandable in any language really.

Final verdict - kids liked the Diamond Horshoe over Polynesian Laua because there is a story that goes with the show and they found it "more surprising".