ADR help: Chef Mickey's or Crystal Palace for lunch/brunch

[whirlthepearl]

I just secured a last minute reservation at Chef Mickey's for Saturday brunch at 12:50. But we already have a 1:20 res at Crystal Palace. I'm wondering which to keep. We are planning on rope dropping at 8am, touring, then eating lunch and heading back to the resort, so I don't think 12:50 at the Contemporary will be an issue. But I hadn't been planning on it, so I don't know much about it (but my kids 6 and 2.5 LOVE meeting characters and we've never done a character meal). Thoughts??

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

I prefer the food at Crystal Palace much more than Chef Mickeys; but if this is primarily to meet characters, I would choose based on which set of characters your children would prefer to meet. I’m pretty sure that both locations would be serving exclusively lunch items by those times.

 

[Pumbaa_]

CM is on my never ever list

I would stick w crystal palace

 

[DisneyWishes14]

It really depends, IMHO, on which characters you would prefer to meet. For food, I would give the slight edge to Crystal Palace, but if you want to meet Mickey and the gang, CM is the way to go.

 

[mster425]

Crystal Palace is the only place in the park to meet Piglet, so we always have to go there. if your kids dont care as much about Pooh, CM wins.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We had a great lunch at Crystal Palace in February

 

[Criickette]

We did CM brunch a couple of weeks ago and my girls LOVED it! My daughters range in age from 9 months to 6 years old so they seem to prefer the Fab 5. The characters spent a lot of time with us and the food was fine.

I really wanted to go to CP this upcoming trip but I was told that we have to do CM’s again.

 

[GAMom2]

We went to Crystal Palace last Wednesday and my kids loved it. My 3 year old had no idea who most of the characters were but was sooooo happy to see them and give them hugs. It was the best character interactions we had the entire trip with him. We did a lot of character dining and my 7 year old daughter (turning 8 in two weeks) posed with Mickey and the princesses mostly by herself because my son wasn’t into it very much this year. But he loved everyone at Crystal Palace. I also think it is one of the better buffets with plenty of choices for everyone.

 

[isabellea]

Easy choice: Crystal Palace 100%!

 

[SG131]

For me, the food isn’t dramatically better or worse at one than the other. I’d make the decision based on which characters your kids will be more excited about.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I'd pick based on the characters they want to see. CP is very pretty inside, and the location is convenient. Ive always liked the food at CP better than CM. But if your kids love CM characters more (the fab 5), then you should go with that. They'll love it!

 

[Pmlocke]

Who do you love more, Mickey and friends or Pooh and friends? I can't believe the food is that much differant.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We always had better character interaction and service at Chef Mickey's than Crystal Palace.

FWIW, CP was the worst interaction and service we've had on property and there was mediocre food...I would choose Chef Mickey's.

 

[pattyw]

I'd go with Crystal Palace- good food and Winnie the Pooh characters!

 

[Boulie]

For me, the food isn’t dramatically better or worse at one than the other. I’d make the decision based on which characters your kids will be more excited about.

This. We have eaten regularly at both through the years, and both are favorites with my kids. I find the food to be comparable. We have found character interaction to be great at both restaurants, and each restaurant offers something interesting (CP is charming; CM has the monorail running above).

CM will require you to leave the park by around 12:30; if you were planning to leave at that time anyway, then this likely isn't a problem for you. But the commitment to leaving the park is at least something to think on.

One other piece of advice: I don't know about your family, but my family tends to get hangry in Disney by mid-morning (i.e., angry/grumpy due to being hungry; especially with the heat and all the activity). If we were starting at 8:00am and if our ADR wasn't until 1:20, I'd plan on finding some snacks/shade somewhere in mid-morning just to keep everyone from melting down.

 

[whirlthepearl]

Thanks everyone! I realized that we have another ADR at Hollywood and Vine in HS for Minnie's Bash (or whatever it's called, lol). So DUH it makes sense to do CP since we'll see the Mickey gang over there two days later. Everyone added important factors to consider so THANK YOU!

 

[Louie7080]

I think you made the right decission, the food at Chef Mickey's is really bad and I didn't care for the set up or ambiance even though I love the Contemporary. The only other character dining I've done was in Disneyland at Plaza Inn which I think is similar to CP and I really enjoyed that.