Sounds like a very wise plan to relax on your arrival date, and you can definitely do it without purchasing a park ticket.
You have three options at WDW for non-park, non-breakfast character meals:
Chef Mickey's dinner at the Contemporary Resort (with Mickey, Chip, Dale, Goofy, and other friends)
1900 Park Fare dinner at the Grand Floridian Resort (with Cinderella, Prince Charming, etc.)
Garden Grove (formerly Gulliver's Grill) dinner (Mon-Fri only) at the WDW Swan hotel (usually two characters at a meal: Timon and Rafiki, or Goofy and Pluto)
If you have a princess in your party, 1900 Park Fare is a great choice, but you can never go wrong (in my opinion) with Chef Mickey's -- it's one of my favorite spots for a character meal at WDW. I haven't personally been to the Garden Grove, but reviews I found online were the least positive of these three restaurant option.
Hope that helps. ºoº