A character meal where DH and I will enjoy the food?

[lonegirl]

On our last trip we did lunch at Crystal Palace, where the food was decent to good. Then we did a Chef Mickey's lunch that was lousy food. We were grateful to have the free dining, because it would have been sickening to pay for that food.

Do yall have recommendations for a character meal that will be fun for the kids and include good food for us? Right now I have ADRs for Crystal Palace again and Garden Grille in Epcot. Any thoughts?

 

[havoc315]

You already made the same findings as we did. We thought the food at Crystal Palace was fairly good. We thought Chef Mickey's was horrendous. We found the food at Royal Table to be poor, but that place isn't about the food.

 

[vickalamode]

We've been to the breakfast at 1900 Park Fare twice and loved the food both times. The food is actually the reason we returned the second time, lol. However the service was really bad both times, maybe it would be better for a family but we are only a party of 2 and were basically forgotten about by our servers both times.

 

[nanni]

I like the food at both CP and GG. I also really liked my meal at Akershus.

 

[Bearybear]

Both DH & I really liked the food at Akershus. We had lunch there last time and will again on our next trip.

 

[Zarabear]

One of our favorite places was Garden Grill, and it also happened to have characters. The food was really great (in our opinion) Though we specifically asked for no fish at all.

~Zara

 

[marlaine8]

We really enjoy Tusker House in AK. Both the characters and the food for breakfast. It's the only characters meal we're having our next trip. Chef Mickeys is horrible and the last 2 times, we've been very disappointed in the food at Crystal Palace.

 

[deakam]

I agree with all the post on the Garden Grill. The food was great. We also love the Lilo and Stitch Breakfast at O'hana. Best breakfast ever. And Stitch is----well---a stitch.

 

[TDC Nala]

I would not go to any character meal if I was looking for the best food at WDW. I think the best ones tend to be breakfast, because breakfast food is pretty standard and hard to mess up too much, but I am not really interested in paying character meal prices for breakfast. Those who are mostly interested in seeing characters, I'd suggest choosing a breakfast. Akershus doesn't serve its entrees buffet style - maybe that's why it's getting some nods - and neither does Garden Grill but I haven't been to either in years.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

We've done quite a few character meals, though not all. Our favorites are Tusker House for breakfast and Akershus for lunch! Both are delcious!

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

We really enjoy Tusker House in AK. Both the characters and the food for breakfast. It's the only characters meal we're having our next trip. Chef Mickeys is horrible and the last 2 times, we've been very disappointed in the food at Crystal Palace.

This is exactly how I felt.

 

[JimmyV]

I will agree with the recommendations of Garden Grill, Akershus and Tusker House, except that I think that the descriptors above of "great" and "delicious" are grossly overstated. I think that these are the best of the bunch, and the food is better than average and you won't feel ripped off. Whatever you thought of Crystal Palace, these other places are in that same league, but maybe 10%-15% better. If that raises them to the level of "great" or "delicious" for you, then fine. But not to me.

 

[joell51868]

We love the Tuskerhouse and the Cape May Cafe at the beach club.

 

[budafam]

My vote is 1900 Park Fare as well. We have only done breakfast there but it was amazing compared to the other buffets I've been to. We're going back for dinner next time & can't wait!

 

[ThreeKMom]

We've done dinner at 1900 Park Fare and while the characters were great the food was not!

We also always try to do Crystal Palace for breakfast - it's a good buffet and you get into the park early!

We've done Cape May Cafe for breakfast and thought the food was better than the Crystal Palace and the characters were cute.

But, our favorite was dinner at the Garden Grill! We thought the food was very good, fresh and hot, try to get an early time - I've heard that at the later seatings the food was not so fresh. My DH did not want to do this one, but once the steak and the fish arrived he changed his mind! We actually got seconds of the fish and thirds of the steak!

Also, Les Chefs was a very good meal and we got to see Remy (it's not officially a character meal). Our DD7 proclaimed that was her favorite dinner of the entire trip and has asked to go back on our next trip!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Garden Grill is a great choice for a character meal and good food. We went there in April of 2010 and my family still talks about it too, more the food than the characters. The characters are great though, but the food is FANTASTIC! My dad, who is anti-Disney, still talks about that place, it's the only thing about WDW he will talk about. You definitely made a good choice going there

 

[Sani]

You already made the same findings as we did. We thought the food at Crystal Palace was fairly good. We thought Chef Mickey's was horrendous. We found the food at Royal Table to be poor, but that place isn't about the food.

I have to ask, was your Chef Mickey's experience at lunch or breakfast? I have a character breakfast scheduled next week at Chef Mickey's and I'd like to think they can't screw up Mickey Waffles that badly.

 

[Jabba20000]

As far as character meals go DH and I enjoy the ones that are family style or pre plated as opposed to buffets although we do really like chef mickey's breakfast. We like the princess storybook meals in Norway and the. ohana breakfast.