Can you do character dining without park admission?

Meeting characters can be an exciting part of many people's vacations, and luckily, you don't need to have a park ticket in order to do it. One of the best ways to meet characters outside of the Disney World theme parks is by booking a character dining experience.



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We'll go through an overview of each experience below, grouped by location, as well as our top tips for making the most out of your character dining experience. Remember that valid park admission and a park reservation are required to dine inside the theme parks.

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The Disney World resorts are home to some fan-favorite restaurants, and not only offer impressive spreads of cuisine, but are also specially-themed — just like in the parks! A common question is whether or not you can visit a Disney World resort restaurant without staying there, and the answer is YES!

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You will be very happy to hEAR there is absolutely no need to use park admission Tickets to dine at 'Ohana. This FABULOUS restaurant is located at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, which is outside Magic Kingdom Park. 'Ohana is one of my favorite Disney restaurants to visit for dinner.

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Reservations can be booked online or by phone up to 60 days in advance. Be sure to create a My Disney Experience account and link a credit card to secure the booking before the reservation window opens. Online reservations open at 5:45 AM EST.

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Disney Character Dining is simply a table-service (sit-down) meal where Disney characters come directly to your table while you're eating. You can take pictures. You can get their autograph. You can even ask them those heart-burning questions you've long wondered about — like asking Snow White what's in Gooseberry Pie.

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You'll want to budget about 90 minutes (plus travel time) for your meal. That gives you time to check in, be seated, and then time to eat and see all the characters without racing through anything. It may take less time than that, but for planning purposes, 90 minutes is a good rule of thumb.

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Generally, allow about 90 minutes for this experience so you have time to meet each character at least once. The last seating of the day is 8:45 p.m.

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At approximately 6:00 AM daily, new reservation booking windows become available for select Walt Disney World restaurants.

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Most characters at Disney can sign autographs, but not all. Here's a list of characters you will normally find at Disney, including at character meals, and if they can sign autographs. This list will be updated when characters change at either park.

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First things first: most characters at the Disneyland Resort are currently signing autographs! Sometimes if a character is on the move they might just have time for a quick wave, and characters in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge don't typically sign autographs.

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There are thirteen character dining locations at Walt Disney World Resort and nearly all of them have returned to normal operations. The only character dining locations that have not returned yet are 1900 Park Fare at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa and Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast at Disney's BoardWalk.

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Walk around the Disney Parks Plan what attractions you want to visit and look out for your favorite Disney characters along the way. If you're looking for rare characters this free-roaming strategy is your best bet. Rare characters never appear at scheduled meet-and-greets or character dining.

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PRO TIPS: It's not well known that you can actually take food to go at Disney all-you-care-to-enjoy meals! You are allotted one small box per person to scoop up whatever you want from your leftovers to take home or back to your room. We took boxes of wings, dumplings, and of course, the bread pudding!

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