I was thinking this must be the reason - and you can’t very well have TWO sets of characters moving about! 
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In May '24 we were 2 hours at Crystal Palace in order to see each character once. It’s out of the rotation for now.
One of our preferred AK touring plan includes Tusker House at about 10:30, after we’ve done some attractions. Any meal is good, tho we really like an ADR as close to park closing as possible. Walking out of a mostly empty Animal Kingdom is wonderful.
I was pleasantly surprised at how good the food was at Chef Mickey’s in July '24 at supper.
October '24 we had lunch at Hollywood and Vine mostly to see the characters costumes. But we decided we’d eat here again as we liked the food and restaurant in general.
Whispering Canyon does not have characters, as such, but it is fun for kids and is not a buffet or in a park. We had an entertaining supper in December '24 and again in October '25.
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+1 for Topolino’s (great food) and Crystal Palace (characters).
We also really enjoyed ‘Ohana breakfast as the most guaranteed (only) time in our trip to meet Stitch, which was non-negotiable. I also prefer family style meals to buffet. We were staying at Poly at the time, which made it easy.
I kind of consider Trader Sam’s and now Beak and Barrel to be adult character meals. 
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Me too. Food is great and characters are so friendly. Below is a picture of Daisy Duck giving me a spontaneous hug the last time we were at that restaurant after I asked her as she walked by our table if she remembered me from a previous visit. Another wonderful Disney cast member walking with Daisy sat down at our table, picked up my phone, and said “May I ? “ and snapped another 5 photos of Daisy and me besides this one. Honest!!!
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Oh, I miss that one sooo much!
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Totally agree with this.
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Absolutely. Between the muffins/croissants they start you with and an entree (plus they will add on something to it like a meat or eggs or a piece of the french toast), I can never finish a meal there. The steak and eggs is great, as is the quiche. We always leave stuffed.
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I agree that Topo is a great one, and the food is plentiful
I held back on recommending it because I think it’s a little more “grown up” but OP has that on her radar already anyway!
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I still think about my meal
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It is definitely non-traditional breakfast food so I think everyone who recommends it should advise to study the menu. I like my breakfast classic and the menu just doesn’t appeal to me.
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Talked to DH and he agrees that buffets don’t sound like the type of vacation vibe we’re going for. We landed on (for now)
Story book dining at artist point for our arrival dinner.
‘Ohana for our resort day breakfast.
And Topolino’s for our departure day breakfast.
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Great choices all! Can’t wait to hear about them
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I agree that is difficult with littles. I also don’t like the AYCTE of ‘Ohana because they bring so much food to the table. But it is easier, for sure.
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I always liked buffets because they could see the food vs guess from a menu what would truly show up. And if they didn’t like what they got, they could get something else. It did make for more walking for me, of course.
Do your kids like Snow White @Broph1988 ?
Our meal there was so special. I will always remember it fondly.
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They don’t know anything about Snow White outside of what we’ve read from the Brothers Grimm. Lol
I’ll show them the movie before we go though
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Yes with kids buffets are the best. They can actually try something new and if they don’t like something they can get something else. My kids don’t say they’re hungry an hour later when we do buffets.
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I tended to find with my kids at buffets that they ate less because everything was so distracting (up to the buffet, back to the table, where are the characters? Etc.). Of course it’s child specific. 
Even though meals like Topolino’s or ‘Ohana breakfast still charge a buffet level price, at least I feel like I can relax a little more.
I don’t even remember the food at ‘Ohana. 
. But my super picky dd8 (at the time) only remembers the Stitch breakfast (“it had really good food! And Stitch!”) and has zero recollection of Topolino’s (I guess that one was for me ).
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Haha! Thats awesome!!
Though I have since changed back from Ohana to 1900 park fare 
I’m so fickle! I also made a backup res for Boma breakfast… might throw a third character dining meal out the window. As DH reminds me, we need a new van soon 
BO-RING.
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Your DH sounds like mine. LOL