1900 Park Fare or Chef Mickey's?

[jana616]

Trying to plan on our last character meal for our September trip.

Character meals we are definitely planning on are: Tusker House breakfast, Crystal Palace dinner, 'Ohana breakfast.

Non-character meals are Tutto Italia, 50's Primetime or Sci-Fi, and 'Ohana dinner.

Our group is me, DH, two boys ages almost 5 and just turned 2, and our two moms. I was originally opposed to 1900 since it's Cinderella (and princesses can be "yucky" according to my son's mood on a particular day), but I thought it might be fun to change it up a bit and get some face characters we won't see other places. But CM seems kind of iconic to me, so maybe we'd miss it, plus I know they'd love those characters-most of whom they will see at the other meals, though. We've never been to any TS meals here. I've seen a couple of reviews where people with little boys said 1900 was pretty fun for boys (say they're rich, single princes?). Plus I'm a mommy of two boys, I may never get any closer than 1900 for my princess fix!

So...which one has better food? Character interaction? Is easier to get to from MK? All opinions are welcome-this is (for now!) the last meal to choose!

 

[TheLittleRoo]

I'm going to be blasphemous here, and say I found the food at Chef Mickey's to be very boring and not even tasty. We were so surprised that our friends had raved about the food at CM! The characters were good, but I wouldn't be upset if we never ate here again, if only we could get to see the same characters somewhere else.

I have not eaten at 1900 PF, but it's on our list this time. I've heard good things about it, especially for dinner, but have also heard the buffet items can rotate quite a bit, so you may go expecting x, y, and z and find they're serving p,d, and q that night. For boys, though, there are the Wicked Stepsisters who come by talking trash on Cinderella (which could be quite hilarious to boys!) as well as the mice and the Wicked Stepmother. My vote would be for 1900 PF since you are seeing the Mouse twice I think, as well as Donald and Minnie right? Or change a TH or Ohana b'fast to Chef Mickeys?

For distance from MK, I'd say it's almost a toss up since both Contemporary and Grand Floridian are on the monorail. GF also has a boat ride which might be fun?

Choices, choices... but delicious dilemmas are fun!

 

[Turtle31]

Ok here's my nickel on the subject !! Skip Chef Mickey's if you are looking for a good meal - sorry. We love the place for breakfast and will still go back for dinner. But we are there for 12 days on deluxe and I have way to many nights to fill.
1900 Park Fare was no doubt our favorite meal of our 11 day deluxe trip last August. My son who was 9 thought the step-sisters and step-mother were hysterical. My daughter who is 5 got to dance with Prince Charming. It was my DH's b-day and they had him wear a crown and gave him a placemat to bring home. Maybe you could tell them it's your DH's b-day and he could get into the whole crown thing himself. As far as the food - the best buffet - and we ate at plenty. It had really adult choices, prime rib,ceasar salad, the deserts were so neat looking you didn't even want to touch them.
And if you have never seen the inside of this resort - it is a must see. Maybe convince your little boys you need to take a detour to the bath shop- they sell these to die for bath bombs- something for a mom to love !
Now, about Chef Mickey's. It is very fun, very kid loud. About even hour music plays, eveyone waves their napkins in the air, the characters dance about - a mini party if you will- very fun. As far as the food - very limited choices - I thought it was a very small buffet, two sides both with re-peat choices. The deserts here are for sure more kid friendly - rice krispies,cupcakes,cookies and cakes. The park fare was more of a key lime tart and fancy chocolate dome type of desert if I remember correctly. My kids thought it was funny that the had mickey shaped ravioli and goofy shaped mac and cheese - but neither of them would eat it !
As far as distance I would say it is the same.

So far - 2 voted Park Fare 0- Chef Mickey ( sorry Mickey- I still love you !)

 

[DisneyTinkerbell]

We like the food at both places. The character interactions are great at both places. Both places are easy to get to from MK because both are on the monorail route. My DS15 likes going to both places also. Last year when we went to 1900 Park Fare, Anastacia (one of the step sisters) got my son to dance with her. It was a blast. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

 

[mncherokee]

We like the food at both places. The character interactions are great at both places. Both places are easy to get to from MK because both are on the monorail route. My DS15 likes going to both places also. Last year when we went to 1900 Park Fare, Anastacia (one of the step sisters) got my son to dance with her. It was a blast. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

Oooh.... I'll bet I could get DS15 to dance with her!

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I like the food better at Park Fare, however I think boys would prefer CM.

 

[StratMan]

I would do 1900PF. As an overgrown boy myself, I can tell you that you don't have to be a princess to enjoy it. I thought the character interaction was uniquely entertaining and fun - the best of our trip. Beyond that, the food is quite good by buffet standards and going to the GF is a treat anytime. Oh, I almost forgot. The frozen adult beverages really hit the spot. Just don't drive the monorail after.

 

[WannaBeImagineer]

I have to agree 1900 PF, I like the food and the characters, plus it gives you an oppurtunity to check out the GF.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We have had terrible food at both 1900 PF and Chef Mickeys dinner....will never go back to either place for dinner....but the character interaction at both was great

Chef Mickeys breakfast was awesome, the food was fantastic. 1900 PF food was terrible

 

[Karebear6505]

My college room mate and I went to WDW last week. We ate at Chef Mickeys the one night (least favorite meal of the week). Food not great but it was still fun. Goofy skipped right past our table. We didn't know if he couldn't see us or since we didn't have any little kids with us he just didn't think he needed to come over. The next table tried to tell him but it didn't work. Oh well, it was still fun but wouldn't go again based on the food.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Been to both & like 1900 but Love Chef Mickeys

 

[jamaunt]

My vote is for 1900 PF also. MUCH better food(Strawberry Soup!). I'm not crazy about Chef Mickey's. I think it's overrated.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

My family and I have not been to 1900 Park Fare, however we have had dinner a few times at Chef Mickey's and each time was great. Also Chef Mickey's will be easier to get to when coming from the Magic Kingdom. You can take the Resort Monorail to the Contemporary and it will be a less then 1:00 minute ride, plus Chef Mickey's is on the other side of the 4th floor when exiting the Monorail station. The other option you have when leaving the Magic Kingdom is using the walkway to the Contemporary, which takes about 8 - 10 minutes.