Welcome to planDisney, Sheila! You brought such a great question to us! I love
Disney Dining! I am happy to share what the “modified” Character Dining experiences are like at the Walt Disney World Resort!
Just a few days ago, I had the privilege of “dining with” Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto at
Chef Mickey’s located in Disney’s Contemporary Resort! All of the characters will visit your seating area throughout the meal period. In fact, all of the characters came through our area twice during our meal! When the characters visit, Guests are asked to stay seated and not approach the characters. The characters at Chef Mickey’s are very attentive to each individual family and table. They will interact with you and others seated at your table. This includes posing for photographs if you want to take selfies with the characters behind you. All of this is done from a few feet away. I was pleasantly surprised by how special the interactions were with the characters. Please note that characters are always subject to change when booking a Character Dining experience.
As a special touch, at the end of the meal, we were presented with a special card containing the autographs of all of the characters we saw at the restaurant that night. The card now hangs in my office as a happy memory of a fantastic experience at the Walt Disney World Resort!
Hakuna Matata! Jonathan