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Mom and daughter on Expedition Everest; Animal Kingdom
  • On Sep 21, 2009
    Stephanie from MD Asked Note: This answer was provided prior to the change to planDisney and may still contain references to Disney Parks Moms Panel.

    Experiences, policies, pricing and other offerings are subject to change and may have changed since the date of this answer.

    Hello. I am trying to plan our first trip and want to do pretty much everything. We are looking at staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I want to do all the character meals. How should I plan our days for 2 weeks?

    Hi Stephanie!

    I just returned from two and a half weeks at Disney World, and it was wonderful to have so much time to do all of the things we wanted to do. My daughter loves meeting the characters so we also ate at all of the character meals available during our trip. Here is how I planned our schedule.

    First, I made a list of all the character meals that we were interested in. There is at least one in each park, and then a handful located at various resorts:

    Magic Kingdom - Cinderella's Royal Table (breakfast and lunch), Crystal Palace (breakfast, lunch and dinner).
    Epcot - Akershus (breakfast, lunch and dinner), Garden Grill (dinner)
    Hollywood Studios - (breakfast and lunch)
    Animal Kingdom - Tusker House (breakfast)
    Grand Floridian - 1900 Park Fare (breakfast and dinner - different characters appear at each)
    Contemporary - Chef Mickey's (breakfast and dinner)
    Beach Club - Cape May Cafe (breakfast)
    Polynesian - 'Ohana (breakfast)
    Swan - Garden Grove (breakfast on Sat. and Sun., dinner nightly)

    Once you decide which meal of the day you'd like at each restaurant you can study the park schedule for your dates to determine which days have extra magic hours and what day you'll be at each park. For the meals at resort hotels, try to plan to visit the park closest. For example, the Magic Kingdom after 'Ohana or Epcot after Cape May Cafe. On days that we dined at resorts we would also just head back to our hotel for some pool time to relax or to Downtown Disney for a change of pace.

    If your family are early risers, I highly recommend booking one of the earliest seatings at each restaurant. We did this a number of times and were always seated right away with no waiting and saw the characters one after another. When this happens you won't have to hang out after you've finished eating so that you can meet with all of the characters.

    Have fun!
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Meet the Panelist: Amber, Pennsylvania

My name is Amber and I’m a stay-at-home mom from southwestern Pennsylvania. Planning my family’s Disney vacations is always so much fun. I love spreading the magic by getting others excited for their trips.
 Learn More About Amber

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