Character Dining Canceled at Disney World
As announced a couple days ago, Walt Disney World will be canceling all existing Advance Dining Reservations, plus Free Dining and paid Disney Dining Plans through next year. Email notifications have started going out, providing additional details–including the impact on character dining and other certain experiences.
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. When Walt Disney World presented its official reopening plans, they stated that character meet and greets would be temporarily suspended. Walt Disney World has since announced that “characters will still be in our parks to entertain and delight you during your visit.”
It’s likely that these meet & greet alternatives will be accomplished via physical distancing. We’re not talking air hugs or plexiglass installed in normal meet & greet locations (a depressing prospect, to be sure). Instead, the more likely scenario is impromptu “Smile & Wave” greeting moments.
“Smile & Wave” (or “Meet & Smile”) greetings are a concept that has been popularized at Tokyo Disney Resort, where they were implemented for a different reason: high demand. There, Duffy is such a rockstar that he and ShellieMay frequently draw multi-hour wait times for (in our opinion) very poor and regimented meet & greet experiences.
The idea is similar to something like the “Move It! Shake It! Whatever It! Roaming Noise Festival” (as we call it) at Magic Kingdom. That gives a large number of guests the chance to see and engage with characters, but without the drawing power of a parade or intimacy of one-on-one meet & greets. It’s an in-between approach that would work perfectly during this temporary abnormal phase.
Since reopening, Shanghai Disneyland has introduced “Mickey Avenue Kiss Goodnight,” “Princess Balcony Greetings,” and “Wave Hello to Your Favorite Mickey Avenue Characters” as alternative character appearances that occur throughout the day.
These are little ‘magic moments’ that don’t appear on a set schedule. This is likely to prevent crowds from congregating, which would defeat the purpose of physical distancing. (Additionally, new stage shows have debuted and indoor entertainment has already returned after only a couple weeks of the park’s reopening.)
We would expect Walt Disney World to take a similar approach. (Perhaps moving to runDisney-style elevated selfie stations in a subsequent phase of reopening.)
Characters could likewise appear above turnstiles as guests enter the parks, on the Cinderella Castle balconies, catwalks in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, World Showcase windows, Main Street USA Train Station balcony (not like the train is operating, anyway) and other overhead locations.
Heck, maybe we’ll get Mickey Mouse perched high atop Spaceship Earth again! (Okay, definitely not–but that’d be something to see and would almost make all those construction walls in Future World worth it. Almost.)
Even before the latest announcement, character dining when Walt Disney World reopened never really was one of the viable alternatives to meet & greets.
For one thing, there is no physical distancing at character meals. They’re hands-on experiences occurring inside intimate environments with minimal control over guest movements. If anything, they’re worse (when it comes to current limitations and safety protocol) than structured meet & greets.
It’s easy to implement a “no hugging” rule on paper, but try explaining that to a 3-year old who sees Belle or Cinderella waltzing around the restaurant and is compelled to run over to their favorite princess. There’s no workable solution to that.
There’s also the practical reality that most character dining experiences are buffets. It’d be possible to convert these to family-style or a la carte meals, but with Walt Disney World already cutting the meet & greet components, it probably makes more sense to just cancel character dining reservations entirely for now.
Guests who booked these are paying a significant premium for the characters, so if an alternate arrangement for these restaurants is possible, it’d be better to open that to new reservations at a later date to avoid bait & switch accusations.
In any case, we now know for sure that character dining is not going to return when the parks reopen thanks to Disney Dining Plan cancellation emails. Here’s sample text of the email Disney began sending out late last night:
As we plan for the reopening of our Disney Resort Hotels and Theme Parks, we are keeping the wellbeing of our Guests and Cast in mind. And we’re here to help you as we introduce new measures focused on delivering an enjoyable and magical experience for everyone who visits.
Unfortunately, these new measures have also required us to cancel any dining reservations, experience reservations and FastPass+ selections you may have made.
As a result of physical distancing, capacity in restaurants and availability of dining experiences is very limited and certain experiences such as Character dining cannot be provided.
Because of this, we have also made the difficult decision to cancel and temporarily no longer offer Disney dining plans.
We recognize the inconvenience this poses and we’re deeply sorry. We will be modifying your package to remove the dining plan. As an accommodation, the price of the package will be adjusted to reflect a 35% savings on the room portion. This modified package and price will be provided in a new confirmation. You will receive a refund of the difference in the package price if you have already paid in full or a reduction in amount due if you have not yet made final payment.
There’s nothing you need to do at this time. We will be contacting you shortly with more details about the process to secure new reservations, including our new dining and experience reservation window which will accommodate selections up to 60 days prior to arrival to allow for planning closer to your visit.
At this time, while systems update, we are temporarily suspending all modifications. However, you have the option of canceling your entire reservation at any time. We’re putting a great deal of thought into helping you return to the magic and appreciate your patience.
In addition to the line that “certain experiences such as Character dining cannot be provided,” this should put to bed debate about whether Free Dining is being cancelled or if the 35% off discount is actually real–as we saw in many comments yesterday.
Again, this is an unprecedented time and Walt Disney World is scrambling to develop and implement new polices on the fly. Additionally, Walt Disney World isn’t transparently or consistently conveying all information on its public-facing websites or via the phone. In other words, be patient as information trickles out via official channels and don’t assume what’s published online or what you’re told on the phone will remain accurate.
What remains to be seen is how quickly character dining will return and what, if anything, will happen with those restaurants in the meantime. There are several locations that it would be awesome to see opened as normal table service restaurants again, as their themed design is something special that’s seldom seen by guests without kids.
(Ironically, we have a finished Akershus Dinner Review that’s been sitting in draft form for over 2 months because it felt odd to post…but might have renewed relevance right now.)
Ultimately, not a ton of new or surprising information about the status of character dining, but there was some uncertainty about if these meals would return. This should provide a definitive answer to that, while also (hopefully) providing insight into the types of alternative character greetings Walt Disney World will offer.
While character meet & greets and meals will not be possible in the first phase, it’s safe to say that Walt Disney World will reintroduce both as quickly as possible. These are quintessentially “Disney” experiences around which many families plan their vacations, and Walt Disney World will undoubtedly see trip cancellations because of their absence. That’s never something Disney likes to see, so expect character experiences to return in full force as some as health guidance gives the all clear.
Walt Disney World is figuring this out on the fly (several details have already changed multiple times in under 24 hours since last night’s big cancellation announcement) and is doing so with a limited staff while many people are still on furlough. The info is going to be released in a slow trickle, and specific details are going to change and evolve with circumstances. If you don’t urgently need an answer, just relax, sit back, and wait for the info to come to you—potentially with changes as subsequent updates are made. This can be a frustrating process, but this is an unprecedented time and Walt Disney World is in uncharted waters.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you surprised that character dining is being cancelled? Will the lack of meet & greets or character meals cause you to postpone or cancel your Walt Disney World vacation? Would you like to see some character dining be temporarily converted into ‘normal’ restaurants? A variety of viewpoints are welcomed here, but we will not tolerate insults, arguing, or politically-charged comments. Additionally, please do not debate the efficacy of health safety policies—all such comments (for, against, otherwise) will be deleted. Those arguments are played out and isn’t the appropriate forum for that. (Saying you will or will not visit in light of certain measures is fine.)
Character dining is one of our favorite parts of Disney. Seeing my children hug Mickey at Chef Mickey’s brought tears to my eyes because of the pure delight on their sweet faces. We are choosing to wait and see before we decide to cancel or reschedule our November trip. The lower crowds would definitely be a huge bonus but I know my kids would be very disappointed if they couldn’t hug their favorite characters. We’re going to try our best to be patient and educate ourselves on all the changes that will be sure to come over the next few months so we can make the best, educated decision for our family.
I’ve heard nothing about the water parks. Will they be open?
Well I just checked my MDE page and all but one of our dining reservations for the last week of October are gone. Hopefully we can rebook them soon.
There is nothing that makes sense. Regardless of any precautions taken, if there is a true killer virus or bacterium, mass numbers of people will die.
Clearly, this coronavirua along with others throughout time are not “Pandemic” level killers. If that’s the case, H1N1 should still be a pandemic.
There is no reason to go to the happiest place on earth and be required to obey insane rules while having to discover all if the things you will not be able to do. Wearing a mask at a grocery store is crazy enough and wearing a mask on vacation in humid heat while attempting to stay 6 feet away from people at a theme park is utter insanity. Imagine the science projects inside the restrooms alone?
Now wrap your mind around these things:
1. No option to swim or water parks.
2. No entertainment options like Hoop Dee Doo, Jelly Rolls, Fantasmic.
3. No Disney Dining which is a number one draw for many who go to Disney.
4. Many attractions shut down
5. No turkey legs.
6. No single riders.
7. Truncated hours of operation.
8. No socializing with strangers therefore no vacation friends.
9. No Coca-Cola cooling station
10. No live music
I have attended WDW in Orlando over 150 times since 1973 but will not be attending again unless sanity is restored in the USA including WDW.
BTW, I have 5 children all of whom have been to WDW every year since each were in the womb. I am a WDW expert so please understand that if you choose to comment.
Thank you.
YVT
I don’t blame the CMs, but I do blame Disney management for this sloppy rollout. One of the first things I learned as a lawyer is if someone asks for your legal advice and you don’t know the answer, tell them you need more time–don’t give them advice (that they are going to act on) and then try to walk it back when it is too late. As a disney veteran I knew to wait it out for the “official email”, but I’ve seen others report that they cancelled their resort reservations when Disney said on the TA site the 35% offer would be for new reservations a “later date,” only for those people to now be stuck with no way to get their reservation back or get the discount which turned out to be on existing bookings only.
I also see no justifiable defense offered for cutting the quick service plan–character meals aren’t relevant to the quick service plan, so to say their absence (or TS reservation limits generally) is what justifies pulling all dining plans is just plain dishonest.
I think the quick service DP had to be canceled because of limited seating capacity in those restaurants due to social distancing also. Most people still would like to sit and eat in QS places.
Agree though with everything you said about how Disney is handling all of this! And I agree with Tom when he wrote they should just announce everything at once…
Seating at QS will be limited and you may have to wait for a seat to open or leave and come back later, but Disney is not going to make it impossible for folks to buy food from QS in the parks. In fact, they’ve already said they are going to be enabling more options for mobile order, which confirms QS will be available. People need to eat.
True–-all good points @momotwins–I don’t know why they canceled the QS plan–although Tom did post somewhere on these threads recently in response to someone else that lack of dining plan will alter a lot of eating patterns since dining plan more food than most people typically pay out of pocket-more will do Amazon orders, eat off site etc…?!?
I’ve been going to Disney almost yearly since the 60’s. There were no dining plans, no character meet and greets or dining with characters; I have even used the ticket system (E Ticket Rides!!!) I hate to see that it has come to this but I understand it is for my family and the Disney Family’s safety. The park will be magical, the children can use their imaginations and in the future I hope that things will return and those who travel to the Magic Kingdom will appreciate all the hard work these cast mates do to make your stay a success.
People seem to be forgetting that there is a pandemic out there and Disney is doing this to keep us all safe. They don’t want to ruin people’s vacations. Disney seems to care more about your safety than some of you posters do. People will be disappointed, kids will be disappointed. That’s life and it’s full of disappointments. Kids will recover from it. I hope some of you see beyond your wants and think about the greater good of everyone. Make the best of a very bad situation. We don’t plan on going until everything settles. And yes, Disney does cost a lot of money so why go and pay for part of an experience? Unless you live local and can pop in for a little dose of Disney Magic.
We’re a month and a half from WDW having all 4 parks reopen. That’s a lot of time. Will we see a resurgence due to Memorial Day gatherings? Or will we see the virus continue to diminish? By July 15th, will many of the measures Disney is taking even be necessary?
This is just one more “last straw” for a lot of people. Character time at character dinings are a magical time for children, a cherished memory for children, parents and family members alike. For that interaction not to exist…Ouch.
Now someone might look at this post and go, “How dare you insist on putting people at risk!” I’m not saying that. I’m saying that I understand why Disney is taking this step. But I think that this will be yet one more reason for people not to return to WDW until things get back to normal, whenever that might be.
I have a trip booked for two weeks end of Sept and as of today all my ADR are still showing in my Disney experience. Is it because they haven’t cancelled Sept yet? I was expecting that they would be cancelled by now. Anyone else still see them?
Mine are still showing up for November under My Plans on the app too. I tried to modify one and it didn’t work. I figure that us still being able to see them is just a glitch
We are booked for July 11-18 and all my dining res and fast passes have been cancelled by Disney but not the light saber workshop for the 12th. Very strange when I know HS will not be open until the 15th.
Just got email from Disney on 2 of my ADR but not all of them – yet. They cancelled my Disney Springs and my Luau Cove – so far. The others are at parks and hotels. Not sure why just 2 of them.
The email I received on the Luau cove – indicates all pre-paid reservations refunds will be processed within 7 days or sooner of your reservation date. My reservations date is Sept – so am I not getting the refund until Sept? I hope I get my $316 back sooner.
I got the same email about refund 7 days from reservation, they canceled my ultimate day of thrills tour (2 days ago) for September and refund was there today.
S.Luke – nice thanks
P I S S E D O F F !!!!!!
About no character dining? Or Disney dumping people’s free dining? I’d be pissed about the latter but the former was inevitable. Please elaborate
I was planning to use the dining plan for the first time in August. I didn’t necessary think it was a great deal, but thought it would be fun to do a lot of character dining paid in advance and not worry about the cost of each meal. I did receive the email saying I would receive an early opportunity to rebook. Like many others I got up early 180 day out after reading many reviews and hours of research to make these initial reservations. That wasn’t really fun. Trying to rebook probably won’t be either. Disney could have reached out to reservations to ask people to cancel and then kept the seatings based on the order reserved. I don’t really like buffets in general and never eat buffet outside of Disney. I was excited about Artist Point and O’hana and think Disney could make more dining options that are family style. Character drive bys or waiving from the balconies would also work my family but I would hope the prices would decrease to reflect the change in experience.
It may just be a delay, but I checked the app, and all of my reservations are off except for 3 – Cinderella’s Royal Table, Be Our Guest Dinner, and Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot. I had 5 other reservations plus BBB that they did cancel since those aren’t showing up anymore. I thought maybe they just cancelled anything outside of the parks, but they cancelled my dining in Animal Kingdom too. Just found it curious that those 3 are still in my plans. I’ll keep an eye on it to see if it’s simply a delay in the system.
Update: it was just a delay. They’re all gone now. Here’s hoping we can get what we want at the 60 days out rebooking.
Random question Tom – how come there isn’t a Diamond Horseshoe review on the Dining page?
This is taking the fun of Disney World away from the kids and parents. If guests were actually that worried about close contact, they would not choose to have that experience or go to Disney. Families spend a huge amount of money to provide these park experiences, meet and greets with the characters, and ride experiences. If Disney wants the most out of their members and guests, all opportunities should be available. No one wants to stand in line wearing masks either. I’m sad for the children and families. This is taking all of the FUN away from everyone involved.
Sure take the “fun” away from kids and parents. Maybe try thinking about others. How about having a healthy, active 35 year old spouse who was family isolating but went to the grocery store and someone without a mask who was asymptomatic passed this disease along and killed this parent. Proven from contact tracing. Maybe if that asymptomatic person was wearing a mask that spouse would still be alive and these kids could still be having “fun”
What about keeping cast members out of close contact with guests? It’s not just about the guests.
I’m sure their cast members would not find it fun laying in a hospital bed hooked to a ventilator because people of your thinking ONLY think of themselves and don’t wear masks because they feel okay. I hope your children learn compassion and to think of others somewhere as those lessons aren’t being taught in your house. If you don’t like the rules then don’t go or expect your family to be humiliated when asked to leave for not abiding by them.
Lori and Lisa, exactly.
Hopefully, today’s children are a bit more resilient than expecting there will be NO FUN. We are going in December (and really have no choice but to go unless the park is shut down again as we rented through David’s). Our 10 year old already knows that there will be many changes to our last experience. Sure, she was a bit disappointed when we told her there might not be character meet and greets, but if you ask her if she would rather not go at all, she would say she still wanted to go. (though I think a closed resort pool might be a deal breaker…..not really, (LOL) but that possibility elicited a bigger complaint from DD)
I get not wanting to spend the moulah for lessened experiences. If we weren’t already committed because of the no-refund thing, we might not still be planning to go but the larger picture to my mind, is guest and cast member safety. I think Disney, though certainly driven by stakeholders, is doing everything they can to ensure that both fun and safety can occur.
This is very unfortunate. I was an annual pass holder for the past ten years but I have asked for a refund when given the option. I will return when it appears to be fun.
Well that’s an unfortunate attitude. Why not keep your annual pass going to support the Disney staff and workers?
I don’t think Disney is doing any of this to punish guests. I think they are doing the best that they can do given the circumstances.
The best way to support Disney cast members would be by making a gift to a non profit that is currently assisting them. Disney is a multi billion dollar company. (11 billion in net profit for 2019) They will prioritize saving the company before caring for cast members. As much as many of us have warm feelings for Disney their first responsibility is to their shareholders.
I would love to see things return to the Disney from when I was in 4th grade – early 90s. There weren’t 5 hour lines to see the characters; they would randomly be walking around the parks with cast members in normal clothes to help organize photos and autographs.
Character meals were only in a few locations, and most of those locations had times without the characters as well so the people who didn’t want the characters could still enjoy the wonderful restaurants.
Now the characters seem to have taken over – rides have been taken out to make room for character meet and greet areas, and there are very few table service options outside of Epcot that aren’t character meals.
It would be wonderful to have the spontaneity of happening across a favorite character without waiting in a long line again, and be able to have a meal at the Crystal Palace or Cinderella’s Castle without paying for the characters.
There are a crazy amount of table service restaurants outside of Epcot that are not character meals. Do a little research for your next trip (when this crap is all over) and you’ll be happily surprised with the many many non-character options. Just off the top of my head : Animal Kingdom – Yak & Yeti, Tiffins, Rain Forest. Hollywood Studios- 50s Prine Time, Mama Melrose, Sci-Fi Drive in. Resorts: California Grill, The Wave, o’Hana (dinner), Trail’s End, I mean it goes on and on…
I agree with you about the early 90s from a spontaneity viewpoint. It would be so nice to start your day at Disney World knowing that you had a real chance of experiencing anything that they offer…as it is now, about 25% of things are booked solid by that point. While I can be happily satisfied with the remaining 75%, the truth is, spontaneity can be really MAGICAL. By making most things same-day-reservations, we might even gain some of that “California chill” that Tom has mentioned. If there’s one good thing that comes out of this whole mess, I hope it’s spontaneity.
One of my fondest memories of being a dad and taking the kids to Walt Disney World, was hanging out at Bay Lake Tower, and all of a sudden, Captain Hook and Smee show up to hang out with all of us in the community hall! They sat down with my kids, drew pictures, and even turned on some music to dance with the kids.
I agree 100% – the surprise of that moment is what truly made that trip in particular extremely magical and memorable.
I’m not surprised character dining has been suspended. It makes sense with the Disney Dining Plan being wiped out. Character Dining is the only reason that my family ever utilized the Dining Plan.
Things will be quite different at Walt Disney World. But give it some time and things will eventually return to (almost) normal.
Zachary, you must be exactly my daughter’s age! We went to Disney World for her first time when she was almost 5- in 1989. I got her a little Mickey Mouse autograph book, which I still have, and she got like 25 autographs. I took pictures of her with probably 20 different characters we encountered walking around the Magic Kingdom. We went to the 1900 Park Fare breakfast and Mary Poppins talked to my daughter, hugged her, wrote a nice message in her autograph book and posed with her for a picture. Magical!
Hoop dee doo & Luau are assigned seats & not buffets. Are they cancelled until next year and will 60 day ressies apply? Concerned park tics and room will be adjusted to to higher price when new ressie numbers are created when paid dining is removed.
I am sad for the loss of character meet and greets for the sake of all of the children who want to meet their favorite princess or character. That said, it might be nice to eat in some of those restaurants without having to pay the premium price charged for character dining.
I have free dining and never received an email.
Probably wont until closer to your reservation. Will the 35% offering be only for the room price or package price? (room and tickets)?
Gee… That is a bummer. I wonder when they will return.
We are so excited to go for our September trip even with the new “normal” our trip is a reschedule from last September because of my cancer so even if we just hang at the resort (boardwalk) or get lucky and get to go to one or two parks we can’t wait!! I wore a mask all last summer because of chemo so that’s not a deal breaker for us! WDW here we come!
I love your positivity! I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip.
I love your post! We need more positive reactions like yours. I hope you have a magical trip and are feeling better!