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[Disney Princess 6]

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[Jordan's MOM]

We did CP for lunch and found it to be a wonderful break from the parks. The characters come around at a relaxed and fun pace. The day we were there it was not overwelming at all. It was in fact the calmest character meal we did. CM is a lot more energetic. It is lounder and a more party like enviroment. We planed it for a non park day this year. I would also consider which characters your kids like the most. I would vote for a lunch in a park to give your little ones a break and a rest.


Jordan's mom

 

[KAM2]

We have never done CP but have done Chef Mickey's a couple of times. It is very noisey, active and partylike. I found it fun but also a bit stressful. Getting up and down for the buffet and worrying about missing the characters (seems they would always appear at my table as soon as I got up to help one of my kids at the buffet!!)
I much prefer character meals where they bring the food to the table like Liberty Tree Tavern, Cinderella's etc. Not sure if CP is buffet or not! This has proven to be much more relaxing with my 4 kiddos!

 

[Big V]

Why not do Crystal Palace before the park opens for breakfast and then you won't feel like you're missing park time? It's a wonderful breakfast IMHO!

 

[MissMagnolia]

Two years ago in Jan. we went to CP for lunch and it was fantastic. We have priority seating there for this Jan. as well. The food was very good, the characters actually came around twice, and it was a nice break from "fast food" in the parks. I haven't been to CM, so I don't know much about that. I like the fact CP is in MK, because then you don't waste time away from the parks traveling to a restaurant.

 

[Denine]

We went to CM in October and enjoyed it. We are going to CP next week. Our daughter just turned 14 months.

 

[wuv tigger]

We have done the CP lunch routine twice and liked it both times. We arrive early at the parks, hit our top attractions and then head to an early lunch before noon. It is a good break for the kids and gives them a chance to get airconditioned and recharged. It is a large restaurant, but we have never had a real crowd problem. I do not know how it would be at peak times.

CM is a wilder and crazier time. I really enjoyed it. We did it for dinner one night when we did not want to waste a park entry ticket and had a great time.

David

 

[mclimo]

We've done both CM & CP many times.

CM is something that I like to do once per trip to get my Mickey fix if time is tight in the parks. But all the other comments about it being loud and party like is very true. There are more characters here. Mickey, Minney, Chip, Dale, Goofy. Every half hour or so they do this party thing were they get everyone to twirl your napkin in the air. The food is good, you can get mini Mickey waffles, and don't forget the PB&J pizza!

CP on the other hand is VERY RELAXING! Yes it can be packed for lunch hours - the best time to make your PS for would be 11:00 AM or 2:00 PM or later missing the bulk of the lunch rush. Even at it's busiest times, I've never felt rushed to eat my meal. And with a long day ahead walking and touring CP is a very welcome break during the day. Food here is very good! Both are buffet, but CP food items seem fresher (I know that sounds weird, but it's true).

I reccomend that if you got the time - do both!

*I have not been to CM for any meal other than breakfast, and I've never been to CP for breakfast.

Steve

 

[kimba]

We did Chef Mickey's our first night arriving as a great introduction to the trip. We didn't go to the parks until the next day.
I love CP too. We have done breakfast and dinner. The dinner was what we did at the end of our park day. When it was over it was parade time and worked out perfectly.

Do both if you can since they are different characters.
Have fun!

 

[cocacolamom]

We were always big fans of CP until last year. We did CM for breakfast last year and LOVED CM. The food there is awesome! We always pick the 10:30 a.m slot for breakfast. We have found that it's slowing down for breakfast eaters, so the crowds are less. Hope this helps.

 

[Jestocost]

We did both last week (CM for Thanksgiving dinner, and CP for breakfast on Friday) and had a great time. Both are buffets, of course, unlike the plated breakfast at CRT, so you have more choices and can eat as much or as little as you want. Chef Mickey's seems much more hectic, which can be fun if you're in the mood, but I also can see how it would be overwhelming. CP was bustling, but I didn't get the same sense there.

We had a 9:15 a.m. breakfast at CP, so we didn't get out into the park until after 10:00 a.m. Even so, we walked over to Frontierland and found only a 10 minute wait at Splash Mountain. Adventureland wasn't bad either; no waiting afor the Tiki Room. Although things did get more crowded Pirates experienced technical difficulties and was shut down. Fantasyland was more of a problem, although we walked right into Mickey's Philharmagic. Tomorrowland was crowded and we had a long standby wait at SM, but we got BL Fast Passes when we got in line at SM and went right over there after a brief wait for our return time.

I might suggest avoiding an in-park character breakfast on an early entry day, however.

 

[chirsty'smom]

We did CP for breakfast - got a PS before the park opened and we finished just as the rope was dropped.

Plenty of characters, plenty of delicious food and plenty of room!
We went 2 yrs ago during XMas wk and didn't have 1 complaint!

We also did breakfast at MGM's H & V - again early before the park opened and this was another peak time -Memorial Wkend.
Little less room here but still had plenty of character time and great food.

 

[TandyR]

CP is a must do for my family and we only do it for lunch. We have always found it a wonderful down time during a busy park day. My soon to be 4 year old DD ask to go to CP for her birthday because she just loves it there. CP is a buffet but the charicters are paced in such a way that we have never had a problem with missing someone because of a buffet run.

We are going to CM for the first time in Feb. We decided to go for dinner the day we are planning on going to Sea World so we are able to get some Disney Magic in during a day we aren't going to WDW parks. I am looking forward to trying it but I have heard it is wild.

 

[tjmw2727]

They are both great but different, obviously the characters but also the meal and "logistics".

We love CP for breakfast if we can get a ps before park opening. This way we have a good breakfast, character interaction and are ready to go at rope drop. If we don't do CP for breakfast, like others have said, it makes a wonderful rest mid-day. Particularly on and early entry day, we hit the rides hard all morning and do a late lunch at CP. Its a great way to cool off, unwind and the food is pretty good too!

That said I have only done the CM breakfast when we stayed at CR and it was good but we like the dinner better.

We always do a CM dinner on an off day or arrival day so we get that disney character magic and don't use an admission day. My dd (7 on sunday!) loves this character meal the best esp the celebration napkin waving thing. The food for dinner is IMHO good esp for a buffet, which I am not crazy about.

OT a bit but just fYi, if I had to pick a best character breakfast it would be Cape May and I think the dinner would have to be 1900 PF. The LLT is very good as well as GG.

TJ