Character meals are a great experience for both young and old.  It is a great place to meet a lot of characters in a short period of time while getting fed.  Some time back, I posted my top 5 Character Meals.

When I went to Walt Disney World, a couple of weeks ago, I spent some time eating at some of the more “off the beaten” path restaurants mainly at moderate resorts.  I started thinking when I got back: “Why not add some characters to some of these meals?”  It would drive some foot traffic to these restaurants potentially increasing revenues and profits which would make Disney happy.  Disney could use some of the characters who aren’t out in circulation to bring people into the restaurants.  What did I come with?

Port Orleans is one of the most popular moderate resorts at Walt Disney World.  It also is home to Boatwright’s Dining Hall.  The restaurant could be the ideal location for: Princess Tiana’s Bayou Breakfast.

Food could be some standard Disney buffet fare with some Southern twists: Mickey Waffles and Mickey Beignets alongside some chicken n’ biscuits and grits.  Four characters could be wandering the restaurant for meet and greets.  Two obvious choices are Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen.  Louis the Alligator would also be present for autographs.  The fourth character could be a rotating character with: Ray the Firefly, Mama Odie, Charlotte LeBouff, and Doctor Facilier in the restaurant depending on the day.

Port Orleans is a great resort and the addition of a character meal would make this resort even better.

Another obvious choice for a character meal at a moderate resort is a Three Caballeros Dinner at Maya Grille.  The three characters are already seen at the resort in topiary form.

Why not bring these characters into Maya Grille for a character dinner.  They fit the theme  of the resort.  They are regionally appropriate for the resort.  Character meals are best as buffets so the menu would need to be converted into something more conducive for a buffet.  The menu could be four different “make-your-own” stations.  A make-your-own taco, nacho, fajita, and burritos stations.  And no American Southwest/Mexican meal would be complete without churros for desserts.

Fort Wilderness already has plenty of dinner and evening entertainment between the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue, Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, and Campfire Sing-along with Chip ‘n’ Dale.  A breakfast character meal with the cast of Brother Bear would fit the area nicely.

Another place where a character meal could be placed isn’t a moderate resort but it’s one of the biggest resorts on property: Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa.  Disney’s only horse racing movie as been the live-action Secretariat which doesn’t make for a good character experience.  Saratoga Springs, in the past, was a place where the high society of New York would summer at the spa.  Disney has one “high society” movie in The Aristocats,  Another direction that Imagineers could go is toward The Fox and the Hound and play into concept of the English fox hunt.

Each theme would require a different menu for breakfast.  An Aristocats meal could have a meal with a more French flair while The Fox and the Hound breakfast would be geared to a more English style breakfast.  Personally, I prefer a French breakfast to an English breakfast so I would lean toward having The Aristocats breakfasts.  Guests could meet: Marie, Scat Cat, and Napoleon.  Marie already meets guests at the France Pavilion in EPCOT but this would give guests another opportunity.

These are just my thoughts about creating some character meals at some of the moderate resorts at Walt Disney World.  I like to play Imagineer and this is pretty much a blank slate.  What type of character meals would you like to see at a restaurant which doesn’t currently have a character meal?  Leave us a comment either here or on the Dad For Disney Facebook Group.

The Dad For Disney Facebook Group is holding its first giveaway.  To enter you need to go to the Dad For Disney Facebook page and click on the “giveaways” tab.  This needs to be done on a laptop or desktop computer.  The “giveaways” tab will not show up on the Facebook phone or tablet apps.

I can also be followed on twitter: @DadForDisney