CM or Crystal Palace for Sons' Birthday

[JD698]

My sons will be turning 7 on our trip (our 1st trip to WDW) and I want to make their birthday a great one. I don't think they have a preference of Mickey and his crew or Winnie the Pooh and friends and since this is a surprise trip, I can't ask them. Anyone have any suggestions as to which would be the better place for their birthday breakfast?

Also, staying at Pop Century -how long does it take to get from there to both of those restaurants? Trying to decide what time to make the reservation.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[3pletprincesses]

We much prefer CP. We found CM to be way more noisy and the food to be cold compare to the other buffets. If you want to see Mickey, have you thought of doing 'Ohana? My girls love going there. It's a family style breakfast where the bring everyhting to your table (eggs, bacon, sausage, mickey waffles, 2 kinds fo bread) and you get to meet Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. That's my girls favorite character meal.

CP is at Magic Kindom therefor you need to have park tickets to be able to eat there.

 

[JD698]

We much prefer CP. We found CM to be way more noisy and the food to be cold compare to the other buffets. If you want to see Mickey, have you thought of doing 'Ohana? My girls love going there. It's a family style breakfast where the bring everyhting to your table (eggs, bacon, sausage, mickey waffles, 2 kinds fo bread) and you get to meet Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. That's my girls favorite character meal.

CP is at Magic Kindom therefor you need to have park tickets to be able to eat there.

My boys don't care for lilo and stitch too much. I see you have me beat - triplets. How old?

 

[buckeev]

Tough to choose only one! WE (mom--n-dad), prefer the food at CP, but my younger kids have always enjoyed both. My opinion is that the "parade" at Chef Mickey's is less structured, for whatever that's worth.
One thing to keep in mind, regarding transportation, you'll be able to time your Palace meal with your MK trips somewhat easier than the Chef Mickey, (which will require you to catch the monorail or walk to the Contemporary).
Allow plenty of time to get to either one from POP, an hour at least, depending on time of your visit.
Whichever you go with, it's a win-win!

Have a great time!

 

[OhThePain]

Breakfast is pretty standard, IMO. Each place has a dish or 2 that are unique to them, but nothing really stands out to make one better over the other. Personally, we are Mickey people so we would go with CM. I would also go with CM since it is their first trip and no first trip is complete without a meal with the mouse.

However, if you were planning on going to CP before RD, that might be something special for your DS' birthday. It is a pretty cool feeling to be walking down MSUSA and get pictures of the statue and Cinderella's castle without the masses getting in the way, so that experience might be something that interests you for their birthday.

Both restaurants will take about the same amount of time to get to. The walk from where the bus lets you off to CP is just as long as the walk from where the bus lets you off to CR. In any case, to get from the resort to an ADR in a park or on the monorail loop, we are always at the bus stop an hour before our ADR time.

 

[kehlyrsmom]

We have done both places for my son's birthday who will be turning 10 this Sept. We did the CP once for dinner and to be honest we did not really care for the dinner but breakfast is pretty good. He likes to do CP for breakfast and CM for dinner, we have so far never had a bad dinner at CM. Actually last year we switched it up a bit and did Donalds breakfast in AK and CM for dinner and both of our kids where upset that we did not have breakfast at CP, so this year we are back to CP for breakfast and CM for dinner on his b-day.

 

[tina.tina]

It takes 20 minutes by bus to get to the Magic Kingdom from Pop. Then, you'd either walk to Crystal Palace or walk/ride monorail to Chef Mickey's. Don't forget to factor in wait times for the bus (which shouldn't be too long from Pop), for the monorail for CM, or for getting through the bag check for CP.

If you go to CM, it would probably be faster to walk but it's so cool riding the monorail in. We had dinner at Chef Mickey's & thought the food wasn't very good and service was terrible. I can't comment on breakfast.

The characters were good at both places but we all thought the breakfast food at Crystal Palace was very good.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Breakfast is pretty standard, IMO. Each place has a dish or 2 that are unique to them, but nothing really stands out to make one better over the other. Personally, we are Mickey people so we would go with CM. I would also go with CM since it is their first trip and no first trip is complete without a meal with the mouse. >>>I agree, since its the first trip, go to CM.

However, if you were planning on going to CP before RD, that might be something special for your DS' birthday. It is a pretty cool feeling to be walking down MSUSA and get pictures of the statue and Cinderella's castle without the masses getting in the way, so that experience might be something that interests you for their birthday.

Both restaurants will take about the same amount of time to get to. The walk from where the bus lets you off to CP is just as long as the walk from where the bus lets you off to CR. In any case, to get from the resort to an ADR in a park or on the monorail loop, we are always at the bus stop an hour before our ADR time.

I normally suggest CP over CM's....but since its his first trip AND his bday, i'd go with CM's. Seeing the Fab 5, esp on his bday, is pretty special. I think every kid should go to CM's for their first trip. Have fun!

 

[JD698]

Thanks. I just made a 10:30 reservation for CM on the boys' birthday. They will be so excited. Hoping they make a fuss for their birthday. My twins are so different - one loves Mickey and the other one always trying to be "a big boy" says Mickey is for kids. (I put Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tonight and at first he turned his back but w/in a few minutes he was transfixed on the tv.)

Was thinking CP might be better for dinner as I see they have pizza on the buffet that actually looks like somewhat like regular sized slices which is one of the few things he will eat.

 

[OhThePain]

Was thinking CP might be better for dinner as I see they have pizza on the buffet that actually looks like somewhat like regular sized slices which is one of the few things he will eat.

Looks can be deceiving. Seeing as that you are from Brooklyn, I am going to assume you and your family know pizza (I go to Brooklyn for work every now and then and have found some fantastic slices). Disney's best pizza can't compete with some of Brooklyn's worst pizza. It's more on the line of pizza you might find in the freezer section of a super market. Just try to explain that it will not taste like the stuff at home. If he bites in expecting what he gets at home, he will be disappointed which may or may not become a problem.

Also remember, when it comes to character meals you are paying for the experience of having the characters come to your table, not the food. Will you go hungry, probably not, but you may have to settle on just 2 or 3 dishes to make up your meal.

 

[IncredibleboysMom]

My 6 and 7 year old boys would prefer Chef Mickey's. There is a great party-type atmosphere there. We celebrated my now 7 year old's, 6th birthday there. I had a cake delivered which was special (but completely impractical as we were all too full to eat it).

Especially with the "big boy" attitude you talked about, I think Pooh and Friends might not be as fun.

 

[JD698]

Looks can be deceiving. Seeing as that you are from Brooklyn, I am going to assume you and your family know pizza (I go to Brooklyn for work every now and then and have found some fantastic slices). Disney's best pizza can't compete with some of Brooklyn's worst pizza. It's more on the line of pizza you might find in the freezer section of a super market. Just try to explain that it will not taste like the stuff at home. If he bites in expecting what he gets at home, he will be disappointed which may or may not become a problem. With my son, it is initially often more a matter of how things look than how they actually taste. For a while he refused to eat reheated pizza because of how it looks and will often not even taste things. He won't eat domino's or papa johns pizza or cicis either. i'm hoping b/c from what i was able to see, they look more like full sized slices than most other places around wdw that he will actually try it and eat it.

Also remember, when it comes to character meals you are paying for the experience of having the characters come to your table, not the food. Will you go hungry, probably not, but you may have to settle on just 2 or 3 dishes to make up your meal. On a non breakfast buffet - he would only eat pasta with sauce and fruit (grapes, apples, watermelon) He is very very picky.

But, having said all that, I think I will probably go for breakfast to CP and CM and maybe 1900 Park Fare or Cape May Cafe character breakfast or Whispering Canyon for breakfast. I'm trying to balance breakfast and lunch/dinner for our TS meals and I am thinking of Mama Melrose, Trail's End for dinner and maybe 1900 Park Fare for dinner instead of breakfast.

Oh the decisions that have to be made - LOL

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I just asked my 6 yr old son which he would choice (he has gone to both many times). He said he likes CM better b/c of the characters but not the food. Since its their first trip I would take them at CM. He likes CP too but if he had to choice one its CM but then he wants to go to both
For the experience go to CM.

 

[dsnymnky86]

at that age food is probably the least important part of it
CP is just cool and it is in the MK
walking there will be fun and part of it

 

[tink18]

IMO you will be better off in Crystal palace, over the years for my family they have been far more accommodating of celebrations that chef mickey. There is much more effort put in and the servers join in too. Also it is a lot quieter than Chef Mickey which we found when celebrating is a lot better