Character Dining is one of the best ways to meet the wonderful Disney Characters at Disneyland Paris and reservations are always in high demand! Having tried out all the character meals on recent visits, we wanted to share our guide to character dining at Disneyland Paris. From how to reserve character dining to which Disney Characters to expect, we’ve included everything you need to know to plan your own dining experiences!
Ultimate Guide to Character Dining at Disneyland Paris
There are currently four venues for character dining at Disneyland Paris:
Plaza Gardens: guests can have breakfast and dinner with Disney Characters at the Plaza Gardens Restaurant in Disneyland Park
Royal Banquet: lunch and dinner are served with a Royally attired Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse at the Royal Banquet in Disneyland Hotel
Auberge de Cendrillon: enjoy lunch (and breakfast from June 29 2024) with the Princesses at Auberge de Cendrillon in Fantasyland in Disneyland Park
La Table de Lumière: fine dining with the Royal Couples at La Table de Lumière in Disneyland Hotel
How to Reserve Character Dining at Disneyland Paris
Character dining is extremely popular at Disneyland Paris and the reservations are often snapped up well in advance. If you are planning to stay at a Disneyland Paris hotel (check prices now!) we recommend reserving your dining as soon as you make your hotel reservation.
Staying at a Disney Hotel
One of the benefits of staying in a Disney Hotel at Disneyland Paris is that guests can reserve dining (this includes character and princess dining) at the time of reserving the hotel. Dining reservations are exclusively available to hotel guests when they are first released and are only available to all visitors via the Disneyland Paris App 2 months in advance. So, if you reserve your hotel prior to this, you should be able to secure all your preferred dining slots. Plus the Disney Hotels tend to be less expensive the earlier you reserve so it’s win-win!
If you have already booked a hotel and ticket package at Disneyland Paris you can include character dining to your account by adding it to your reservation – click here to add character dining to your booking
If you still need to reserve, check out the hotel and tickets package on the official Disneyland Paris site – check prices now!
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Meal Plans and Character Dining
If you have a meal plan, a supplement may be payable for character dining and the amount is dependent on your level of meal plan. For example, guests of the Disneyland Hotel with a Premium Meal Plan have all character dining covered – this includes the most expensive dining options like Table de Lumiere, Royal Banquet and Auberge de Cendrillon.
Staying Offsite at Disneyland Paris
If you are staying offsite at a non-Disney Hotel, you can check for character dining availability on the app. Most dining opens 2 months in advance while some character dining reservations, like the character breakfast and dinner in Plaza Gardens, are released 3 days out.
How does Character Dining Work?
At Disneyland Paris, the Disney Characters visit guests during character dining. They make their way through the various sections of the dining rooms stopping off at each guest table throughout the meal.
You will have the opportunity to meet every character in attendance and will have time to chat, take photos, and collect autographs if you wish. PhotoPass photographers are not present at character dining.
If you have finished your meal and haven’t met one of the characters you can mention it to a cast member and they will do their best to have the character attend your table before you leave.
Note: specific Disney Characters are not guaranteed to make an appearance at any character dining experience. We have included the regular Disney Character lineups that we have personally experienced during our frequent visits over the last couple of years.
1 | Character Dinner at Plaza Gardens
Meal type: Buffet
Characters: typically Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Eeeyore, and Tigger (on some days in June 2024 we’ve seen Chip and Dale attend dinner at Plaza Gardens with Minnie Mouse absent on those days)
Price: €80 for adults, €40 for children aged 3 to 11, includes a soft drink/juice/water per person
Location: Plaza Gardens, Main Street U.S.A., Disneyland Park
Located at the end of Main Street U.S.A., Plaza Gardens is a Victorian-style dining room with antique-style furniture and high ceilings.
Mickey Mouse usually hosts dinner, an all-you-care-to-eat buffet, at Plaza Gardens. Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Eeeyore, and Tigger are the friends most likely to accompany Mickey Mouse at dinner.
On some days in June 2024, we’ve seen Chip and Dale attend with Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Eeeyore, and Tigger – Minnie Mouse has been absent on those days.
Character Dining at Disneyland Paris: Disneyland Paris do sometimes mix it up with regards to the characters: over the Christmas 2023 period we frequently saw Rabbit, Genie, Smee, Hook and Geppetto accompany Mickey Mouse at Dinner.
There are a wide variety of dishes with lots of options for starters, mains, and desserts.
For mains, there is usually a roast of the day, chicken, some pasta options, and some casserole-style dishes. Fish options include Shrimp, langoustines, mackerel, and smoked salmon and there are usually some sea snails available too.
Sides include bread rolls, Mickey-shaped roast potatoes, rice, risotto, and mixed vegetables. There is a selection of salads and dressings with smoked salmon, mackerel, and fish terrine.
The dessert selection is always excellent and there is usually a lovely variety of sweet treats. Some, like the Captain Hook chocolate mousse, are themed to characters and there are lots of Mickey and Minnie touches in the desserts.
2 | Lunch and Dinner at The Royal Banquet
Meal type: Buffet
Characters: guests meet Mickey Mouse and Minne Mouse and either Donald Duck and Daisy Duck or Goofy and Pluto
Price: €100 for adults, €50 for children aged 3 to 11, includes a soft drink/juice/water per person
Location: Disneyland Hotel
One of the most recent additions to character dining at Disneyland Paris, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse host a royal banquet with their friends in the Disneyland Hotel.
Royal Banquet reservations are typically open to guests of all Disneyland Paris hotels (check out the Disneyland Paris hotels here) although sometimes reservations are restricted to Disneyland Hotel guests only.
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The buffet-style banquet consists of a lavish fish table, cooked meats and vegetarian options and a royal-themed dessert table. There are even some Fleur de Lys-shaped vegetables on offer.
During our most recent visit, Mickey and Minnie Mouse were accompanied by Daisy and Donald Duck during the lunch service and by Pluto and Goofy for dinner.
3 | Princess Breakfast and Lunch at Auberge de Cendrillon
Meal type: Fixed Menu
Characters: guests meet Cinderella and typically 3 (dinner) / 2 (breakfast) other Princesses and Suzy and Perla, Cinderella’s mice
Price: €95 for adults, €50 for children aged 3 to 11 (children’s menu includes a soft drink/juice/water)
Auberge de Cendrillon, or ‘Cinderella’s Inn’, is the setting for princess dining in Disneyland Paris. It is an absolute must for princess fans and it is one of the hottest reservations in the park. During Princess Dining, guests are treated to meet and greets with 3 or 4 of the Disney Princesses and Cinderella’s mice, Suzy and Perla.
Character Dining at Disneyland Paris tip: we’re often asked about Princess Breakfast and the great news is that the Princess Breakfast is set to return to Auberge de Cendrillon on June 29th 2024. We attended one of the final Princess Breakfasts in Auberge de Cendrillon at the end of 2023 and it was wonderful so we can’t wait for it to return.
The princess dining is served in the beautiful Auberge de Cendrillon dining hall, a medieval banquet hall. It’s a magnificent backdrop with stone archways, princess-themed artwork and stained glass windows. Cinderella’s Carriage resides in the courtyard outside.
Guests are served a 3-course sit-down meal focused on fine French cuisine. Starters include scallops, Pâté and pumpkin soup and the mains are beef casserole, turbot, roast chicken and a pea and herb vegan option. The desserts are a highlight, especially the Cinderella themed desserts. The kid’s offerings include a pasta dish in tomato sauce – you can check out the full menu here.
Cinderella almost always holds court at Auberge de Cendrillon, which is no surprise given it’s her inn!
The other princesses in attendance tend to vary every day so it’s impossible to predict who you will meet. Ariel, Aurora, Rapunzel and Snow White make frequent appearances with Belle, Jasmine, Merida and Tiana a little less frequently. Mulan makes rare appearances and Moana, Raya and Pochahontas are quite unlikely. Minnie Mouse occasionally attends in her princess outfit.
Read more about Princess Dining on the official Disneyland Paris website here!
4 | La Table de Lumière
Meal type: Fixed Menu
Characters: guests meet 3 Royal Couples
Price: €120 for adults, €50 for children aged 3 to 11, (children’s menu includes a soft drink/juice/water)
Location: Disneyland Hotel
La Table de Lumière is an exclusive fine dining experience for guests of the Disneyland Hotel – reservations do open up to guests of all the Disneyland Paris hotels but we’ve found it changes regularly.
With 3 Royal Couples in attendance, it is an amazing opportunity to meet the Royal Princesses and Princes and it was one of the highlights of our recent stay at the Disneyland Hotel.
The restaurant is inspired by the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles with Beauty and the Beast touches. Belle holds court with Prince Adam and Cinderella and Prince Charming, Ariel and Prince Eric and Aurora and Prince Phillip also attend. Snow White and Prince Florian and Tiana and Prince Naveen have also been in attendance.
The fine dining menu has a wide selection of dishes including lobster to start and sole, lamb, sea bass, beef and chicken for mains. There are also vegan options.
The themed desserts are a highlight.
5 | Character Breakfast at Plaza Gardens
Meal type: Buffet
Characters: guests typically meet Geppetto, Pinocchio, Tigger, Captain Hook and Mr Smee
Price: €50 for adults, €40 for children aged 3 to 11
Location: Plaza Gardens, Main Street U.S.A., Disneyland Park
Geppetto, Pinocchio, Tigger, Captain Hook and Mr Smee are the regular breakfast character lineup at Plaza Gardens. Occasionally the characters change significantly but the lineup has been consistent in 2024. Towards the end of 2023 we did see a shift in the breakfast lineup to include Mickey Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Eeyore and Pluto but it has since reverted back to the usual characters.
The buffet breakfast is excellent and includes a wide selection of hot and cold items together with the ever-popular waffles, pastries and pancakes.
Guests who stay at one of the Disney Hotels (check Disney Hotel prices here) can exclusively reserve the first breakfast sitting at 8:15am – this means you can enter the park through a special breakfast line (usually in the centre) and, because there’s no one else in the park, you can take some spectacular photos of the castle.
We also love the 9.15am sitting as you can take full advantage of Extra Magic Time and then sit down to a lovely breakfast without leaving the park. Most of the quick service and table service dining options open at 11am so the character breakfast is the only chance for a sit-down breakfast without leaving the park.
