Character Meals at Disney: A small gift of sanity

Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Paris, Île-de-France, France
I will start this with a blanket statement....and then, of course, give the exceptions. OK, so here comes the blanket statement. There is no value in eating at Disney unless it is a character meal, or you really have no choice about the matter.   Why do I say this? Maybe I have lived in France for too long and am now becoming a food snob. But even before living here I was of the belief that food , or a restaurant, should be what it is..and not aspire to something that it should not be.   A hotdog at a country fair is fine..good even. But for god's sake, don't get a risotto or boeuf tartare in any establishment where you are sharing your space with livestock!!!!  (Don't get me started on the preponderance of dogs allowed in restaurants in Paris, or the title of this post will have to change).    In the same way, you should be wary of any place that tries to cater to everyone. For example, at your average Bennigans you can get Irish food, Cajun food, Mexican food, Southern Food, Southwestern food as well as your typical burgers. With all these choices, the one thing that you can be absolutely positive of is that all of it will be mediocre at best. There is no room for expertise in any particular genre.    And that is the problem with most of the restaurants at Disneyland. Sure, they have theme restaurants but everything has been flat lined in order to be non offensive to the greatest number of people.   So the food at the pseudo Mexican restaurant is not very spicy, or very Mexican. The burgers at the "American" places tend to be overcooked, probably to avoid potential lawsuits.  And the fish dishes at any of the restaurants are so flavorless that you might as well chew on a piece of cardboard for 30 minutes or so.   To top all of this off, the sit down restaurants are also just as expensive, if not more so, than eating in a proper restaurant in Paris. So, and excuse the yelling, if you are in Paris YOU DON'T GO TO DISNEYLAND FOR THE FOOD!!!   In a city where there are great restaurants pretty much every 100 feet, why would you settle for mediocre food....unless you have a compelling reason.   But at Disneyland there is one...it's called the Character Meal.   For those who don't know, the character meal is a meal offered by Disney where different characters make the rounds of the tables. They greet your children. They sign autographs. They pose for pictures. If you happen to be celebrating a birthday at one of these establishments, they will bring the cake to the table and sing.   

So why is a character meal so good that I should pay to have dodgy food? you ask. The answer is simple.  It saves you from waiting in the UNGODLY lines (a.k.a. mob) to see the characters in the parks.  Also, you are assured of getting that time with the characters... while in the park that is not guaranteed. In the park lines, if you are unfortunate enough to be toward the end of said line when it is time for Goofy to have his cigarette break, that's just too bad. So my advice is NOT to try to see them in the park. In fact, you should point, yell, dance or do anything else you have to do to distract your child away from these encounters. Instead, you should go to one of character meal and enjoy some sit down time while the excitement of being in the proximity of Mickey will entertain your kids while you have a few minutes to eat without being mercilessly annoyed.   All that is the good news. The bad news is that you don't have unlimited choices when it comes to these restaurants. You only have 4 "real" character restaurants and 1 "semi" character meal. Of these 5, only 3 are actually in the parks proper. Of those 3, only two of them are reasonably priced. So, in short, choosing one to go to, you must decide your needs and then reserve accordingly. And you MUST reserve! You can't just walk into these...even in the slow times of the year. You will not be able to get in.

So, without further ado, here is my comparison of the Character Meals at Disneyland Paris, which include Cafe Mickey, Mickey's Cowboy Cookout, Auberge de Cendrillon, Inventions and Restaurant of the Stars.

Auberge de Cendrillon: Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom


Go if you want:                                                 Don't Go if You Can't Deal With:

* A character Lunch or Dinner                           * Paying €60 a pop for adults &€ 25 a child
* Princesses Galore                                            * Not seeing Mickey Mouse
* Decent French food                                         * French food
* A more leisurely meal                                     * A longer wait for food
* To stay in the Magic Kingdom 
                      * Adjusting the settings on your camera                                                                                   


I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about this restaurant but the complaints generally bowl down to 2.... it is expensive and the food is French.   So I don't put much stock in those complaints, as these are things you already know when you walk in the door. If you don't like French restaurants, you shouldn't go.   If you can handle the cost, you shouldn't go. It's that easy.  But as for your kids, it doesn't matter whether they like the food or not. This is NOT why they should be there. They should be there to see the PRINCESSES and PRINCES.  

This is the only restaurant where you can have an encounter with Disney Royalty, and it is a quality encounter.  One is greeted by Cinderella. Then there are Cinderella's mice, who were soooo friendly that Seb (then 1) developed a little obsession with them. I have tried not to think about the psychological implication of that one (uh, oh, having weird flashbacks to weird movie featuring mice men owned by a friend in college..must stop thinking NOW!).  After this, the Princes and Princesses make the rounds every 15 minutes or so. As there tend to be fewer people here, the boys got LOTS of attention. Kisses, and even some dancing, from Princesses. Handshakes from the Princesses.  The food was actually excellent, if a bit over the top for the kids. As an added bonus, we have never felt rushed here.  I have been with my boys on a few occasions and have had a wonderful time each time.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that this is a French restaurant in France. As such, you can expect the same culture and rules to apply.   So here are a few. 1) Lunch or dinner here is not a rushed affair. So don't show up with kids are ravenous. Give them some popcorn to hold them over. 2) The food is upscale French food, so don't feel that you must force your kids to eat things they may not be into ( see above). 3) You can also expect that your server will NOT have that over the top sugary sweetness that one comes to expect in the US. Generally, the servers in Disney are warmer than those on the Champs Elysees, but that's really NOT saying much.   So adjust your expectations, and you behavior, based on this knowledge.   4) There are courses. You can't just grab all your food at one time and woof it down so you can make your FASTPASS to Peter Pan. 5) The lighting is designed for creating an ambience, not for taking pictures...so make sure that you know how to use your camera's settings or you will end up with dark blurry photos like I did the first time.

Cafe Mickey:   Disney Village

Go if you want:                                            Don't go if you can't deal with :

* A character Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner        * Banal Lunch and Dinner food
* A sit down experience                                * All the NOISE, NOISE, NOISE, NOISE
* A bit of a parental break                                * Your kids not eating their food
* Easy photo ops                                            * Your kids eating, but only the sugar
* An energetic atmosphere that is kid friendly    * Your kids having the option to zone out
* A birthday celebration with Mickey Mouse         to TV
                                                                    * Having to leave the park to get your food

 


Cafe Mickey seems to be the birthday spot of choice at Disneyland. Every time we have gone, which has happened on multiple occasions, at least 25% of our time there has been taken up by singing "Happy Birthday" to someone.  Here the characters visit the tables, they sign autographs, they give hugs. Mickey even "get's down" every time a cake comes out.  The atmosphere is bright. The lighting is good for photos. For those of us who subscribe to the school of parental realism, they have TV's at various points on the wall.....in case you need additional distraction. In addition to all of the above , this is the ONLY restaurant that has a Character Breakfast, which is actually much better than the lunch or dinner. This brings us to the bad news.

 So, on the bad news side, there is the food. I can't say this delicately, so I won't try. The food is amazingly mediocre. It's like there is someone in the back tasting each dish and saying "Oops, that one's too bad, take it back. Damn, that one's not bad enough. Take IT back".   Really, it is so generic that most of it could come out of a white can labeled  "FOOD".   Another issue is that this place is also VERY VERY loud. As most of you reading this probably have kids, you likely won't care. In fact, it should be a relief not to have to worry about the noise YOUR kids are making.   However, if by some weird happenstance, there is a non parental introvert now reading this...STAY AWAY. You won't like it there and the parents will just get pissed off by your surly attitude.  This is also NOT located in the park. It is in Disney Village. So you should organize your time so that you go BEFORE you plan to go into the park or when you are leaving. Otherwise, the transit time makes it not worth it.   On the bright side, it also means that you don't have to pay to get into the Park to eat there!!

Mickey's Cowboy Cookout: Frontierland, Magic Kingdom

Go if you want:                                                         Don't go if you can't deal with :  

* A character Lunch                                                        * Adjusting settings on your camera
* To stay in the Magic Kingdom for your meal               
    * Paying for banal pseudo barbeque
* To see Mickey, Minnie and the Toy Story Characters  
     * Eating on benches
* To be able to let your kids run around in a restaurant   
   * A general "Lord of the Flies" feel
* To be able to leave without having to ask for the check.
  * Your kids stalking characters



Mickey's Cowboy Cookout is IN the Magic Kingdom, near Woody's Round up Village.   It is the one "fast food" entry into the Character Meals.  There is a line where you order and buy your food, and then you pick it up from the counter. I am not sure that this is really any "faster" than eating in a sit down restaurant, but it is easier to manage your own time. You can send one or two members of your party to get the food while your kids stalk the characters around the room. There is nothing like running head first into Woody a couple dozen times to burn off a little energy. As far as characters go, this is where you will meet the aforementioned Toy Story characters (sans Buzz Lightyear) as well as Mickey and Minnie dressed up in cowboy gear.  They are all fairly friendly and will spend time with your kids.  On occasion, there is even some bluegrass music being performed

On the bad side, this place is very dark inside. You WILL need to adjust your camera for it. There is also the negative side to the fact that the kids are not contained in chairs, which is that someone will have to tag after them, and potentially be embarrassed, as they torture the characters.   Personally, I opt for "Dad" on this one, but that depends on family dynamics.   And then there is the food. This is supposed to be "Tex Mex". But for those who have HAD Tex Mex, this is not even a second cousin once removed. It is an attempt at BBQ...that's it. It's not good but there is a LOT of it for the money so it should appeal to anyone who likes places like Golden Corral (meoww). But, once again, think of all this as paying for the character experience and NOT the food.  


Restaurant des Stars: Studio Backlot, Walt Disney Studios

Go if you want:                                            Don't go if you can't deal with :

* Better food in a kid friendly atmosphere           * Kids freaking out because there is no Mickey
* The ease of a buffet                                        * Your kids leaving the table a lot without you
* Your kids to actually eat something.                 * Waste, as you know that you are going to be
* The ability to stay as long as you want               losing money on the whole "all you can eat"
and leave when you are damn well ready                thing.
* To stay in Walt Disney Studios                        * Carts carrying rodents




Initially, I would never have included this in the category of "character meal".   But I decided to i nclude it for several reasons. The first is that it is the only thing even remotely resembling a character meal on the Walt Disney Studios side of the house. The second is that the food is very decent.  The last is that, although the "character" interaction is minimal, it seems to have big impact. Said encounter consists of "chefs" who wheel a desert cart around the room.   When they lift the lid on it, there is Remi. Kids are then allowed to crowd around the cart and watch Remi as the nods to questions and eventually dances to MC Hammer.   So it is not much but on the occasions that I have taken the boys, they have loved it and talked about it after the fact. The other advantage of this is that there is a "character" but not so many as to distract from eating.   So your kids are more likely to have a semi proper meal, even if it is over multiple plates of half eaten food.    You can reserve here, but you can actually just walk in. If you are there around noon, it is fairly empty as lunch starts later in Paris...even if it is at Disney.

If seeing a rat sitting on a dessert tray makes you squeamish, you can just avoid it. Actually, if seeing a rats makes you too squeamish, you might want to avoid Europe in general.


Inventions: Disneyland Hotel, Magic Kingdom

Go if you want:                                                            Don't go if you can't deal with :

* A Sunday Brunch or Dinner Buffet with Characters        * Paying Roughly 200 Euros for 2
* To stay in your hotel, if you are one of the .01%             adults and 2 kids.
of the population that can afford to STAY at                    * A dinner buffet that is only fair.
the Disneyland Hotel.                                                 * A somewhat snotty attitude
* A slightly more upscale environment


This one is not one of my favorites. Why? Because for every strength it has, there is another restaurant that does it better.   For breakfast, Cafe Mickey is better and cheaper.   If you want something fast, Cowboy Cookout is better and cheaper. If you want a buffet, Restaurant of the Stars is a better and cheaper. If you want really good food, the Auberge de Cendrillon is better at the same price.. and with better character interaction.   To add to this, you have to schlep your way through the Disneyland Hotel to get to Inventions, which is a bit of a maze to me. OK, I did get lost every day for 4 years in a square high school, so keep that in mind, but still it isn't necessarily intuitive.   The only time this one might be worth doing is if you simply MUST have a Sunday Brunch Buffet.   Or if you happen to be staying in the insanely priced Disneyland Hotel anyway. If that's the case, then the cost of this place won't bother you at all. In fact, you can send your servants down with the kids and just get them to videotape the event for you. Yes, yes, that was snarky...but probably true.

So, to sum all this up I would say the following. If you are going to eat at Disney, the best approach is to pick an extreme. Either take the "carnival food" approach and bring your own food or eat at the kiosks.  This likely means that you will have popcorn for an appetizer, a crepe for a main course and two chocolate muffins for dessert.   Or you will pack sandwiches which will be soggy by the time you eat them and will most assuredly be refused by your darlings. So, the whole "basic food groups" thing is thrown to the wind, but it can work. We do this roughly 50% of the time.  Or you can go the route of the character meal, which is expensive but will make your kids much more amenable to other activities later...including leaving. I mean, after a 4 year old has danced with Mickey, it's all a bit downhill after that.     And that, my friends, is a good thing!
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