Favorite Specialty or Character Dining not in a park

[Gentry2004]

We are thinking of heading to Discovery Cove over spring break because my daughters have been wanting to go. We will not have any Disney tickets this trip. I was thinking of doing either a dinner show or character dinner at a Disney resort (or just a regular dinner if its worth it). My girls will be 11 and 8 at the time and are experienced Disney goers but we haven't done much sit down dining.

Which dinner would you recommend for us and why? (We might even do 2.)

Thanks!

 

[NYCgrrl]

For character dining at a resort you can always go to Swan Dolphin. Never eaten at any of it offerings but I've heard there are character meals there.
At Disney resorts you have:
1900 Park Fare @ GF
Cafe Mickey at the Contemporary
Cape May at BC or maybe YC

Could be more but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

As far as dinner shows you have Spirit of Aloha, HDDR, and Mickey's Backyard BBQ.
My traveling kiddos are past the character dining age so the only place of the above we've eaten at is HDDR which we throughly adore.
HTH.

 

[ktate82]

Our two favorites would be 1900 Park Fare and Hoop De Doo Musical Review.

 

[gypsy_at_heart]

I haven’t done it previously, but I did book a garden grove seafood buffet dinner at the swan that looks good. They seem to have Pluto, goofy, chip & dale as far as characters go ( if someone has been and I’m wrong, please correct me)

 

[arminnie]

I haven’t done it previously, but I did book a garden grove seafood buffet dinner at the swan that looks good. They seem to have Pluto, goofy, chip & dale as far as characters go ( if someone has been and I’m wrong, please correct me)

My DH and I ate at the swan’s Garden Grove earlier this year, and it was HORRIBLE. Not just “not good”. but virtually inedible. We literally could not chew the lobster enough to swallow it was so old and over cooked. The crab legs tasted old and off. We both said it was like it was left over from the previous week.

 

[mom2grace]

Sanaa or Boma at AKL. Interesting food plus the animals!

 

[chicagodisfan]

The new Storybook Dining at Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge might be fun for them (Snow White, Grumpy, Dopey and the Evil Queen). It isn’t starting until December but available to book now, so no reviews yet. We enjoy the dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian (Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters and Stepmother). The stepsisters and stepmother are totally in character and can be a really fun interaction. And I agree with Sana’a! That is one of my favorite resort restaurants. It’s beautiful and unique, great food and the ability to see animals and explore the resort is amazing. They have tours, interactive music shows and night vision binoculars that you can participate in before/after dinner. For fur characters, the only dinner at a Disney resort I can think of is at Chef Mickey at the Contemporary but I wouldn’t recommend that. The characters are fun (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto) but the food is average at best.

 

[ForMyBoys]

What about the brunch at Ohanas? My boys love Stich so we really enjoyed that character breakfast.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

We loved the breakfast at Garden Grove and the character interactions we're awesome! Plus, they offer a 20% AAA discount. Everything was super fresh and lots of tasty options. It was our favorite meal of the entire trip.

 

[Nancyg56]

I love character dining! If the girls like fun, 1900 Park Fare at the Grand features the Tremaine family, and they are hysterical! The food is pretty good too.

As was pointed out upthread, Storybook dining is available to book at Artist Point in Wilderness Lodge. No one knows anything other than the menu and that it will feature Snow WHite and some dwarfs. Maybe the Evil QUeen. I have it booked and would suggest that if you are considering it, book it. You can cancel if the reviews are not what you are looking for.

You can also head over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and dine at Boma. Not a character meal, however the Lodge is spectacular, and the girls can check out the animals that live all over the Savannahs.

Over on teh Boardwalk Tratorria al Forno has a character breakfast featuring Rapunzel and her Prince. The reviews are good, however I have not been.

 

[NashvilleMama]

My girls (10 and 8) loved Hoop De Doo this past spring.

 

[Nancyg56]

My girls (10 and 8) loved Hoop De Doo this past spring.

My DGD was 10 or 11 when we took her. DD hates it so she and DSIl went elsewhere. I am not going to lie, the child was having a blast, but I think it was at the expense her Pa more than the show, because he was laughing so hard he was crying. The cost was worth it to me just for her reaction to him, never mind that we enjoyed it as well.

 

[Yujailec]

We recently did breakfast at Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club and we all enjoyed it. The food was great, I especially loved the breakfast potatoes and made to order omelettes. The characters (Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy) were great, we did not feel rushed at all and some even came around twice!

 

[ttintagel]

I love, love, love the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. The show is corny, but it's the best, highest-quality corn around. It's good, clean fun, with the emphasis on fun. I've never seen anyone of any age leave without smiling.

I'm no gourmet, but I like the food, too. I've got the recipe for the sweet corn bread, and I've made it and taking it to parties where it's always ahead. Sure, the beer isn't fancy artisinal craft beer, but it's cold and it comes in a cute glass with free refills. And where else can you play the washboard at the dinner table?

If I could afford it, I would go to the HDDR every trip.

 

[ttintagel]

(There are a bunch of you tube videos of the HDDR if you want to get an idea of what it's like.)

 

[sapphirerose915]

Kids that age I'd say hoop de doo!! a fun dinner show I think would be awesome!!