Moments of Marlowe's: Character Encounters

Before our trip, I researched doing Disney with little ones for months. I wanted it to be a memorable trip for the kids, but I also wanted it to be as stress free as it possibly could. One great tip we took advantage of was booking character meals. They may seem kind of pricey but the fact that you get a great meal AND you get to meet characters in a quieter, smaller setting was awesome. Then when we were actually at the park, we didn't have to use much time trying to see our favorites, we could ride rides!

Chef Mickey's Breakfast

We had breakfast with at Chef Mickey's on Tuesday. Our reservation was for 7:20 am, it was close to our normal breakfast time so I thought what great timing. I didn't think about that the fact that we had to catch the bus there and they like you to be there 15 minutes or so early. SO we left our hotel room at 6:15 to catch the 6:30 bus. It worked out great, but it was an early morning.

At the Animal Kingdom, we happened to walk by a wait sign that said 5 minutes. Of course, we stopped to see what it was. Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore were tucked away in a hidden spot and since the line was so short, we went on in to meet them!

We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom and on the first day I noticed that the Storybook Princess's Meet and Greet had a fast pass line.(this is the only place I saw a fastpass line for meet and greets- the regular line was typically 50 minutes) On our second day there, I went ahead and grabbed those tickets first thing and enjoyed some rides before coming back to meet Rapunzel, Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella. Reagan really enjoyed the princesses (I think it helped they were people) She met them all and introduced them to cat (her lovie).

Although he wasn't excited to meet the princesses, Mason insisted on giving Cinderella a hug.

Disney Junior Dine and Play

When I read about the Disney Junior Play and Dine, I knew we had to go. How could you not meet Handy Manny, Oso, Jake and June? I have to say this was my favorite character meal. The food was amazing. I mean really amazing AND every 10 minutes or so the characters and some Disney Junior staff would get up and lead the crowd in songs and dancing. So not only did you meet the characters when they came to your table, you could dance and play with them throughout your meal. Plus, it was never fully packed and the pace was really laid back. A must for anyone with a Disney Junior fan!

By this day, Reagan was okay with the characters coming to our table, but she didn't want to meet them. However, during one song she wanted to dance with me, so we headed up front to dance with Jake. He had already visited our table and knew Reagan was shy. After a song finished he came up and gave us both a hug. Steve snapped a picture quickly and although it's blurry it's one of my favorites. Again, the small touches at Disney are amazing.