This Is Why You Shouldn’t Skip Disney Character Dining with Your Teen

Character dining involves different Disney characters going around the restaurant greeting guests and some teens might not be up for such an experience! It’s not unusual to wonder if your teenager is too old for character dining at Disney.

It’s hard to watch your teens grow up but it’s important to remember they are still kids at heart. One thing I love about taking teens to Disney is seeing them be kids again which is why you shouldn’t skip the character dining experience with them!

READ MORE – 11 Unwritten Rules of the Disney Parks You Really Need to Follow

Character Dining with Teens is Nostalgic

We recently did character dining with my 15-year-old and it ended up being such a positive experience. My teen has grown up going to Disney so he’s already familiar with the characters and the interactions, which is helpful, but he was still groaning a bit about going.

Since it was Thanksgiving Day, I thought this would be a good time to have a nostalgic character dining moment since he’s grown up going to Disney. One of our traditions is to enjoy character dining if we are there on a major holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. It turns out this was a good move as his familiarity with the characters, especially his childhood favorites like Tigger and Chip ‘n’ Dale, put him in such a good mood.

This moment is also sweet for the parents, it’s nostalgic for everyone to see their teens interact with their childhood favorite Disney characters.

Characters Know How to Handle Teens

I was so impressed at how the characters handled my son’s less-than-enthusiastic teen demeanor. In typical teen fashion, he was playing games on his phone (likely to try and avoid character interactions) and the characters leaned into it so much.

In one hilarious moment, Dale came up and started playing the game on his phone with him. It was such a fun moment, Dale stuck around and watched his game and by the end of the interaction, my teen was laughing.

Tigger wasn’t done joking around with my teen either! When it was time to go and he was packing up his backpack, Tigger ran over and started sticking his nose inside. The characters were pros at getting my son laughing which turned an experience that I was worried he had outgrown into a fun moment for all of us.

You Can’t Go Wrong with Food Buffets

You also can’t go wrong with a nice all-you-can-eat buffet and that’s what most character dining at Disney offers. My teen usually will never complain about a character dining experience mainly because of the food.

This is especially helpful if you time your character dining with your teen after a long morning of rope drop. This is why Minnie & Friends – Breakfast in the Park is my favorite to do at Disneyland after rope drop.

Stick with Costume Characters Instead of Face Characters

I also think the success of revisiting character dining again now that my son is older is because we did the character dining with the “costume” characters rather than “face” characters. There’s no need for awkward chatter with these characters (which can be intimidating even for shy adults!) so this is a better choice for teens as well.

READ MORE – 5 Best Easy-to-Book Disney World Restaurants That Actually Have Good Food

This experience was great and my son left laughing instead of complaining that we just did something he was “too old” for. Don’t skip the character dining at Disney even if you have teens, give it a chance and you may be surprised at how much they enjoy it.

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