Best Character Meals??

[Malynda1010]

Hi!!

I wanted to know if anyone could tell me what character meals are the best ones so far. I just made reservations for Chef Mickey's and Akershus in Norway. I am traveling with my husband 3 kids (1, 8 &13) as well as my in-laws. I want my daughters to experience meeting the princesses and I figured everyone would be satisfied with meeting the original characters at Chef Mickey's. Since my son is 13, he's not really interested in any specific characters. Am I heading in the right direction or should I make some adjustments?? Please help!! Some on the reviews I recently saw have my feeling a little skeptical... THANKS!!

 

[Mariep26]

Hi!!

I wanted to know if anyone could tell me what character meals are the best ones so far. I just made reservations for Chef Mickey's and Akershus in Norway. I am traveling with my husband 3 kids (1, 8 &13) as well as my in-laws. I want my daughters to experience meeting the princesses and I figured everyone would be satisfied with meeting the original characters at Chef Mickey's. Since my son is 13, he's not really interested in any specific characters. Am I heading in the right direction or should I make some adjustments?? Please help!! Some on the reviews I recently saw have my feeling a little skeptical... THANKS!!

We enjoyed Akershus very much. The character interaction was great. The food was hit or miss but we did dinner so I can't comment on breakfast. We are doing Chef Mickey on an upcoming trip. The only other one to consider for core characters is Tusker House. The food is very good and I liked the character interaction...the handlers were good about telling us when a certain character would be along so we could be back at the table from the buffet.

 

[lovingeire]

I have all boys so I haven't done princess meals yet, but the character interaction and service were fabulous at Chef Mickeys. Plus my kids liked riding the monorail over to MK afterwards. In all honesty the food was disappointing, however we all agreed the experience either character was why we went and the most important part. Our favorite character meals are crystal Palace, even my 13 year old enjoyed it surprisingly since we did it for the two year old! We also really like the Cape May Cafe, but again no princesses! Maybe someday they'll all humor me!

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

We've eaten at lots of the character meals:
CRT breakfast
Cape May breakfast
Tusker House breakfast & lunch
Crystal Palace breakfast & lunch & supper
Ohana breakfast
This December we finally tried Chef Mickeys breakfast for the first time.
We'd booked it before but always cancelled because it gets bad reviews.
It ended up being one of my very favorite restaurants.
The food was good & the characters awesome.
These are my favorite characters & they just seemed to take more time at your table.

 

[Tinkerkell123]

We have done Crystal Palace Pooh Breakfast several times and always enjoy it. There are 2 buffet lines, I believe there is an omelet station food is good and even when it's packed the food lines move quickly. You meet Pooh, Tigger, Piglet & Eyeore.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Our favorites in order:

-Crystal palace breakfast, my fave (lunch & dinner is good too thou)
-Tusker house breakfast (don't care for their lunch)
-Cape may breakfast
-Ohana breakfast

 

[CJ1010]

Another one to consider is 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella, step-sisters, and Lady Tremaine. The step sisters are a hoot! Your DD can meet Cindy and the step sisters will pick on your son. We all enjoyed both the interaction and the food. Definitely recommend this one for a family with girls and boys.

Garden Grill - GREAT character interaction!

Crystal Palace - must do for us: breakfast at 8am! Love it.

I also cannot think of a character meal we did not like - have enjoyed them all in some way. The above recommendations only touch on a few you don't have listed. Don't worry about your son - he'll love the attention he gets from the princesses! Your current ADRs are good!

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[G8r4evr]

Crystal Palace was very good, as was Tusker House. We also really enjoy Hollywood and Vine. Memories make the meal and DD squealed so loud when she saw the Little Einsteins and OSO that my husband actually teared up. Definitly a memory I will never forget.

We are trying 1900 Park Fare and Akershus for the first time this month. So excited!

 

[disneybliss2]

Our very favorite character meal is Akershus. We also really like 1900 Park Fare. We think the food there is very good and the character interaction is by far the best on property. It has Cinderella, Prince Charming, stepmother, and stepsisters. The stepmother and stepsisters play their role so well. It makes it for a very memorable dining experience. Though the food is just average, my kids have always loved Chef Mickey's for breakfast. Lots of the great characters there and a fun, party atmosphere.

 

[Malynda1010]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!! I'm so excited I wish I could try them all!!

 

[momto3boysillbe]

Garden Grill - GREAT character interaction!


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I have to agree on this one. It's such a small restaurant that we saw the characters several times and Chip and Dale are the cutest! Definitely one of the best character experiences we've had!

 

[shell8558]

Our favorite is CP breakfast, the food is great and characters are fun. We go before the park opens at 8:05 and are always finished before rope drop. We have tried Chef Mickeys and we like the character interaction, but the food was awful! Our family also had mixed reviews about the food at Akershus, but it was worth going for the princess interaction. We got some great pics.

 

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

My favs were a tie between Akerhaus (breakfast) and 1900 PF dinner. The character interaction at 1900 was amazing - it blew Cindy.s Royal Table out of the water! The Fairy Godmother is there and my 4 year old still talks about meeting her! I was actually bummed about the castle, it wasn't nearly as great as I hoped, these 2 were much much better!

 

[G8r4evr]

My favs were a tie between Akerhaus (breakfast) and 1900 PF dinner. The character interaction at 1900 was amazing - it blew Cindy.s Royal Table out of the water! The Fairy Godmother is there and my 4 year old still talks about meeting her! I was actually bummed about the castle, it wasn't nearly as great as I hoped, these 2 were much much better!

yay, those are the 2 we booked for this trip!

 

[rymahoney]

We just got back. I can tell what we liked

1900 park fare dinner. good food good character interaction
Tusker house breakfast. Food stunk.
Chef mickeys dinner. Good food great character
CRT breakfast. Steak and eggs really good. Character interaction was so so. Wife didn't like her food.
Be our guest dinner. Was our favorite. Food great meeting beast at the end was cool. But the castle is amazing.
Akersush breakfast characters interaction was good. But food was bad we won't go back.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

OUR WDW CHARACTER MEAL RANKINGS, MAY 2012:

Best Food (quality first, then variety):
. . . Tusker House
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Ohana
. . . Garden Grill
. . . Garden Grove
. . . Akerhus Royal Banquet
. . . Cape May Cafe
. . . Hollywood & Vine
. . . Crystal Palace
. . . Cinderella Royal Table (since new menu)
. . . Chef Mickey's

Best Character Interaction (time with guest first, then friendliness):
. . . Tusker House
. . . Akerhus Royal Banquet
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Garden Grill
. . . Ohana
. . . Garden Grove
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Chef Mickey's
. . . Cape May Cafe
. . . Hollywood & Vine
. . . Cinderella Royal Table
. . . Crystal Palace (barely enough time for a photo)

Best Atmosphere (surroundings and ambience):
. . . Cinderella Royal Table
. . . Tusker House
. . . Akerhus Royal Banquet
. . . Ohana
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Garden Grill
. . . Crystal Palace
. . . Hollywood & Vine
. . . Cape May Cafe
. . . Garden Grove
. . . Chef Mickey's


NOTE: All the above locations were visited from 3/1/12-5/1/12.
Results are listed from best to worst. Overall, Tusker House wins
due to best food and the length of time the characters stay at
each table. A close second is 1900 Park Fare. By far, Chef Mickey's
is the loser, due to mediocre character interaction and almost terrible
food quality. The very distant second worst is Cinderella Royal Table,
due to the brief time at tables for charcters and the new menu.