Review: Marvel Character Dinner at Universal Orlando in 2023

The Marvel Character Dinner is finally back at Universal’s Islands of Adventure!

If  you’re wanting to add some extra magic to one of your Universal Orlando vacation days, Universal is offering guests the opportunity to hang with some of the iconic Marvel Superheros!.

In this post, I'll break down everything you need to know about this experience, what to expect, tips, and if it's worth the price.

Marvel Character Dinner Overview:

What:

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All you can eat buffet 
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Characters from Marvel Super Hero Island interact with guests one on one during dinner

When:

The Marvel Character Dinner is offered weekly on Thursday through Sunday nights starting at 5PM

Where:

Inside Cafe 4, at Marvel Super Hero Island, which is in Islands of Adventure

Marvel Super Hero Island is located the left of the entrance of the park. You’ll cross the bridge under The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Cafe 4 is straight ahead

Price:

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$52.99 per adult, and $29.99 per child
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Admission is not included, so you will have to have a valid park ticket to Islands of Adventure to enter

Annual & seasonal passholders can receive a 15% discount on tickets for this experience

How to book Universal’s Marvel Character Dinner:

Purchase this dinning experience by calling 407-224-7554, or online at www.universalorlando.com

What is the Marvel Character Dinner?

On select nights, you can team-up with your favorite Super Heroes after a day of adventures! Cafe4 gets the VIP treatment! You'll see the Marvel black carpet rolled out and special signage.

Go ham on the buffet  before hanging out with all 6 of  6 Marvel superheroes!

The superheroes go around table to table, taking photos, signing autographs, all while making you feel like you're part of the squad.

The Marvel Character Dinner includes 1 complimentary digital download with a character, a buffet style dinner, and one nonalcoholic beverage. The price is $52.99, plus tax, per adult (ages 10 and up) and $29.99, plus tax (ages 3 to 9).

My Friend Molly at Mammoth Club and I both wanted to experience this dinner, so we decided to attend together! Check out her side-by-side comparison video of Hollywood and Vine at Disney's Hollywood Studios to this Marvel Character Dinner.

How Long is The Marvel Character Dinner?

Plan for at least an hour for the Marvel Character Dinner.

It took us about an hour and a half to eat and chat with all six characters. We did have a few come back around to our table for a second interaction.

Marvel Character Dinner Check-In Process:

To pick up your Marvel Character Dinner tickets, follow the Universal Orlando signs to the Will Call Kiosks. These are located at the front gate of Universal Studios Florida or Universal's Islands of Adventure.

You'll just need to show  government Issued Photo ID to confirm you purchased the experience.

You’ll be given 2 tickets for the Marvel Character Dinner. One for the actual dinner, and the other is  for your digital photo download.

Go ahead and have your email confirmation with the QR code pulled up on your phone and ready to go.

My dinning reservation was 6:30PM, so I had grabbed my ticket at Will Call before I entered the park that day. This took maybe 5 minutes.

Check-in Process for The Marvel Character Dinner:

Plan to arrive to your dinning location a few minutes before your designated reservation time. ( I was ready to check in at 6:20pm for my 6:30pm dinning)

Check-in is outside the front entrance. You’ll wait outside on the Cafe4 patio for your table to be ready.

Inside the restaurant, The server explained how to get our food at the buffet and took our drink order.  They also explained how the complimentary digital photos worked.

Once at the buffet counter, there were no lines, and I loved that I didn't feel like there was anyone waiting behind me while I decided on what I wanted to try first.

What’s on the menu at the Marvel Character Dinner?

The dinner is an all you can eat buffet with Italian inspired cuisine. Tip is already included as part of the Marvel Character Dinner price.

Appetizers:

Caesar Salad - Tossed with Caesar dressing, croutons, shaved Parmesan

Tossed Field Greens Salad - Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, balsamic vinaigrette

Antipasti Pasta Salad - Al dente bowtie, red bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and pesto in an Italian dressing

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Bread Rolls with assorted spreads 
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Assorted Fresh Fruit 
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Carving Station:

Beef Strip Loin

Carved fresh to order. Choice of bordelaise sauce or horseradish crema

Entrées:

Honey-Garlic Roasted Chicken - Chicken marinated with a selection of herbs and then slow roasted

White Cheddar Mac N Cheese  - Mini shells coated in white cheddar cheese sauce

Seasonal Vegetables - Fresh veggies, roasted and lightly seasoned

Meatless Beef Stew with cauliflower rice

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Spicy Orzo and Shrimp Stir Fry  
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Roasted Marble Potatoes 
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Pizza

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Choice of pepperoni or cheese 
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Gluten-sensitive cauliflower crust available upon request

Kids Menu:

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Mini Hot Dogs 
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Two-Bite Grilled Cheese 
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Cheeseburger Sliders 
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Tater Tots
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Desserts:

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Chocolate Chip Cookies 
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Macaroons
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Key Lime Tarts 
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Spiderman Cookie 
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The food was okay for a standard theme park buffet. I enjoyed the kids grilled cheese, Spicy Orzo and Shrimp Stir Fry, and the Beef Strip Loin the most.  Desserts were basic, but better than I was expecting.

There wasn’t any special themed menu offerings, but the food was warm, well cooked,  and enjoyable. Your kids will leave full & stuffed!

Marvel Character Dinning Experience:

The best part, and the reason I booked this dinner was for the one on one character interactions. The  6 superheroes rotate around Cafe4, interacting and taking photos at each table. You'll meet 4 X-Men characters, and 2 Avengers.

It seemed  like 3 came out at a time before rotating.

Cafe4 wasn’t crowded at all making it a really relaxed and intimate experience. This is a great option if you have kids who might be on the shy side but still want to meet their favorite hero’s.

Marvel Superheroes:

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Captain America
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Cyclops
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Spider-Man
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Storm
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Rogue
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Wolverine
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You get a good 3-5 minutes with each character, which was amazing.

Yes, you can meet these characters during the day in Marvel Superhero Island, but you almost never get that much one-on-one time with them. Nor is it always guaranteed that they’ll come out for a quick meet and greet, or even stroll around Marvel Super Hero Island during the day.

All the characters were so engaging and entertaining. This Spider-Man gave me Tom Holland personality vibes, and modeled wearing  sunglasses while he sat  with us.

If you're awkward like me, I  really appreciated that every character taught you how to pose like them before taking photos. Captain America even let Molly hold his shield for a photo op!

Wolverine and Cyclops were making fun at each other from across tables. Captain America and Spider-Man were often cracking jokes with one another.

They took the time to answer all of our questions, and they ALL asked if we'd like to take a photo with them before leaving the table. I’d recommend brushing up on your X-men character knowledge for a more personable interaction.

There were 2 “My Universal Photos” photographers walking around with a few of the superheroes if you wanted to get some higher quality photos. You can download your photos at  at myuniversalphotos.com.

**Molly cashing in on 1 of her digital photos with Captain America!**

The Universal Orlando website says that you get 1 digital photo, but I was given a card with all of our images on them. This may change at any time, but I was shocked both Molly and I got to get to keep all the images, versus the just 1 included.

For the rest of the characters, you’ll just use your own camera for photos.

Best Tips for Universal Marvel Character Dinner

Booked your reservation about a month in advance, to prevent any issues getting your desired date and time. In-park reservations at Universal can be made 30 days in advance.

I’d recommend thinking of some questions you want to ask them ahead of time to keep the conversation fun not awkward . Molly was able to keep the conversation going, and the character's personalities really started to come out.

Play along and really buy into the storylines

Disney owns Marvel, so the superhero's don't interact like the recent MCU movies. They dressed and talk based off the Marvel comic books. They did however chat a little when we asked questions that pertained to the most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

Things To Keep in Mind Before Booking The Marvel Character Dinner

Prices, dates, times, experience details and benefits are subject to availability, change and/or cancellation without notice.

Tickets are not refundable, not transferable and not exchangeable

Purchasing the Marvel Character Dinner does NOT include admission to Universal's Islands of Adventure. A Separate park ticket for the same date required. If you want to book this experience you can do so HERE

With Captain America and Spider-man being the most popular characters, ultimately it’ll come down to whether or not you think your kids will enjoy meeting, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Rogue, from The X-Men.

Is Universal’s Marvel Character Dinner Worth It?

Currently, this is Universal Orlando's only year-round character dining experience. With  that in mind, and all that's included I think its 100% worth the cost.

The pricing is pretty similar to a Disney Character Dining Experience, so it’s worth factoring into your vacation budget.

You are not booking this dinner for fancy mind blowing food. It’s essentially for that precious time with the Marvel Superhero’s in my opinion.

To me the price is worth  meeting and enjoying these Marvel Characters without the stress of trying to figure out when they'll be out roaming in Marvel SuperHero Island.

You also won't have to stand in long lines, that are often out in the hot Florida Sun.

Although the buffet wasn't spectacular, the food was better than I  expected, so it’s well worth the cost in my opinion. Rest assured there’s plenty of options for kids to choose from. Even picky eaters.

Overall Review of Universal's Marvel Character Dinner

Booking the Marvel Character Dinner should definitely be on your Universal Orlando bucket  list!

I never felt rushed.  We had so much time with each superhero and really enjoyed how real the interaction felt. Spider-Man in particular would walk around frequently keeping everyone laughing with jokes while you waited for your turn with a superhero.

 If you have kids or family members  who love Marvel and the Marvel Comic books… you’ll 100% get brownie points for booking this Character Dinner!

While the buffet is theme-park average, the low crowd environment and intimate interactions with the characters makes it worthwhile.

The Marvel Character Dinner is an unforgettable experience that’ll come with lots of good belly laughs.  I whole heartedly recommend doing it at least once.

I don’t think I'll have the desire to book this dinner anytime soon, unless new characters/entertainment are offered, but the character interactions and photos alone are worth the price for any Marvel fan.

If you’d like to see see our Molly and I’d awesome interactions, you can watch her Youtube review here:

Review: Marvel Character Dinner at Universal Orlando 2024