Dining with characters is a pretty big deal at Disney World. Some guests love the idea of dining with favorite characters and can’t wait to book reservations. Others sometimes think that it’s not something their children will be interested in doing.

I have mixed feelings about character dining. As a boy mom, I never thought much about meeting characters or character dining. However, when my niece started visiting with us, I booked a meal to dine with princesses. Well, as it turned out, we all loved character dining and now regularly include dining with characters in our plans.

Why the mixed feelings? It’s expensive, the food isn’t always great considering the price, and it can be difficult to choose the right experience. In our character dining guide, I wrote the following excerpt.

When it comes to character dining at Disney World, it can be challenging to select the right experience. Many guests book meals based on what they’ve heard others recommend. While it’s great to take recommendations from friends and family, knowing that a meal like this is an investment is essential. An average family of four typically spends $250.00 or more on one character dining experience. That money could go toward other extras like adding a day to your park tickets or upgrading to the park hopper option.

So, it’s wise to research and find the meal that best works for your family. That might be a meal based on what characters are available. Or, you could choose a restaurant based on the food quality, with the characters as a bonus.

If you’re interested in character dining, your homework is to read our Disney World Character Dining Guide. It will teach you the following:

• Character Dining Locations
• Characters at Each Meal
• Prices for Each Meal
• How the Experience Works
• Taking Photos at the Table with Characters
• Getting Character Autographs
• How to Get to Various Locations that Offer Character Dining

We also have photos and link to individual reviews of our experiences if you want to learn more about a specific restaurant.

For reference, here is a list of the character dining locations at Walt Disney World.

• The Crystal Palace
• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
• Garden Grill Restaurant
• Hollywood and Vine
• Tusker House Restaurant
• Chef Mickey’s
• 1900 Park Fare
• ‘Ohana
• Storybook Dining at Artist Point with Snow White
• Cape May Café
• Topolino’s Terrace, Flavors of the Riviera
• Be Our Guest *

*Disney does not consider Be Our Guest a formal character dining location. However, the Beast is known to appear during dinner. Unfortunately, his appearance is not guaranteed.

In our next lesson, we’ll discuss Signature Dining (AKA fine dining) the most expensive meals at Disney World.