Characters Back at Liberty Tree Tavern

Just read this today:
Many Magic Kingdom fans were saddened when the Liberty Tree Tavern stopped serving its Goofy’s Liberate Your Appetite Character Dinner back on January 4th. So much so that a significant number of them actually stopped going to this WDW eatery.
Consequently, the Liberty Tree Tavern went from being a restaurant that literally did turn away business to becoming one that wound up with almost 100 empty seats every night. Which then translated into a $250,000 drop in revenues for both the months of January and February.
In the face of those sorts of losses … WDW officials had to admit that they’d made a mistake. Which is why – just last week – Magic Kingdom managers quietly okayed the return of character dining at the Liberty Tree Tavern.
Mind you, Goofy and his friends won’t be returning immediately. These managers first had to amend that theme park’s global schedule bid. In essence put in a staffing requisition for the proper number of Zoo Crew members necessary to staff a character dining venue like Liberty Tree Tavern.

http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/image...minnie-web.jpg
Please raise your hand if you're happy to hear that character dining will soon
return to the Liberty Tree Tavern. Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved

Then – given that there are Cast Members who literally performed as characters at this Magic Kingdom eatery for years – WDW officials would like to give these veteran performers first crack at their old jobs and then fill any vacant positions.
Anyway … Long story short, what with all of the staffing issues and scheduling changes involved with bringing character dining back to the Liberty Tree Tavern, it may take as long as the second weekend of April (To be specific, Easter) before Goofy’s Liberate Your Appetite Character Dinner is up and running again.

And just so you know, this news has not been officially announced yet. So if you call (407) WDW-DINE today and then tell them you're looking to make reservations for character dining at the Liberty Tree Tavern, that call center rep is not going to know what the heck you're talking about. But trust me, folks. These WDW Cast Members will be brought up to speed shortly. So if you're looking to Liberate Your Appetite anytime soon, you'd best make some reservations ASAP.

'Bout time!

Michele, Thanks so much for giving us the good news. It saddened me terribly when I had heard they were taking the characters away. I thought to myself, I will never eat there again. Apparently, a lot of other people felt the same.

That's REALLY interesting! I can't believe the place took such a big hit from the loss of character dining, that's awesome that the characters are coming back though!

I always enjoyed this character meal. It was totally the atmosphere here, definitely not about the food. :lol:

Huzzah!! This is great news!! :yahoo:

I am so happy they are coming back. LTT was always one of my favorite character meals.

Yay!! We've been there our last 3 visits. We didn't plan on going this year for the same reason - no characters. Thanks for the update!

Oh wow this is great news.. I have reservations for May.

That's GREAT news!
We dined here several years ago and again last fall on MNSSHP night. LOVED the characters- and the food was pretty good too.
I had so wanted to go here this coming December on MVMCP night, but not without characters.

Glad to hear they are admitting their mistake! :yahoo:

We just might consider re-shifting our dining reservations if we have another option to dine with characters! Never been there, but thought it would be dull for our young boys unless there were characters...

We were there in October, 2008, before we went to MNSSHP. The characters spent quite a bit of time with the kids, food (served family style) was good and plentiful, and it was a great atmosphere for kids.

IF we get to go this September for MNSSHP we are going to hit this one! I'm very excited!

Now I heard another rumor yesterday that the characters will NOT be returning.

Cajun - I read a post somewhere that the characters may not be back as quickly as initially reported; something about contacting former CM about returning.
I hope, hope, hope the characters will be back.

Any more info on this? This is the one we want to do the night we go to the Halloween Party!

ooo, i hope its true that they're coming back!! i was so disappointed when we made our reservations for May that there would be no characters, but i wanted to eat there anyway. now they may be back when we go!!