Am I missing something about Chef Mickey's?

[Cass]

I understand where you are coming from... I had read the reviews and expected a so so dinner with so so character interaction.. but you know what? It was great for us, the food was much better than I thought, characters were fun and the napkin twirling song everyone enjoyed...

I don't know how people can have different experiences in the same place.. the prime rib was perfect, the potatoes hot and tasty. Either I lucked out your you were unlucky ~ because with so many varied experiences I am not sure what the norm is.

 

[PartyOf5a]

I used to be a huge fan of Chef Mickey's. However, we have noticed a significant decline in customer service, the food in general and the character interaction.

For example, we stayed at the Contemporary last month. Whenever we have stayed there in the past, we have been able to walk up at 5:00 and be seated without a problem. We didn't think this year would be any different. We dressed our daughter up in her Minnie dress and headed down at 4:45. When we got there, there was another customer arguing with a manager. I didn't realize what it was about until I went to check in and the CM said I might want to join that argument. I had no idea what she was talking about until she told us they changed the policy of no more walk ups. I asked if we could stand by in case of a no show but she said they now OVERBOOK PSs to compensate for noshows. We quickly called the Whispering Canyon to see if they would take us and they more than welcomed us.

We made a PS for the next morning. We had enough time to eat breakfast and had out to the airport. Needless to say time was of the essense. My daughter got all dressed up again, we were seated immediately but there were no characters coming around. We thought that was odd. Finally, after we all went up for 2nds, Chip and Dale came around. No sign of Mickey and more importantly for my daughter, Minnie. We say an additional 30 minutes after we were done eating before Mickey and Minnie made an appearance. Then they went the opposite way that the other characters went. We waited another 20 minutes and our waiter was getting very antsy at this point because he wanted the table to sit the next guests. I told him we couldn't leave without seeing Minnie. Finally he told us to follow him and he brought us over to Minnie. It was very awkward because I felt like we were intruding on someone else's character moment.

We are done with Chef Mickey's for awhile, maybe forever....it just lost it's charm with us.

 

[kupperman]

I too was not impressed with Chef Mickey's. We went for breakfast last December. The selection was not impressive and vast like I was led to believe. The character interaction was ok. We had reservations to go back the next morning but we skipped it and decided to save our money.

 

[gingermommy94]

Oh no We had skipped Chef Mickey's on our other trips and were planning to go on our trip in May. *sigh*

Thanks for all of the opinions though, better to know these things ahead of time. I think we'll still give it a try (maybe) with very few expectations.

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

I totally agree. The food is just not good.

However- When planning our trip in April, We told our girls, they could each pick 1 character meal. (In the past we've done several) They both yelled CHEF MICKEY'S at the same time.

I still trying to get them to change their minds. If we go, I think we'll try breakfast this time.

 

[Immelman]

I'm glad see that we're not the only ones told in no uncertain terms that the clock was ticking on the chance to buy our pictures. I'm glad we did but we've given CM's couple of chances, and never again for dinner.

 

[MinnieM3]

I feel so lonely! We have loved all of our dinners at CM! We have enjoyed the food and character interaction at all of the meals we eaten at WDW, with the exception of one time at 1900 Park Fair. The worst character interaction. (Other times there were great). And I am one to complain immeidately if something ticked me off.

We have always had friendly, attentive servers, hot delicious food, fun with napking waving, and great times with the characters. One time our little guy missed Mickey when he stopped by our table because he was in the potty. I brought this up to the server when Kevin got back and in a few minutes, there was Mickey and Kevin was one happy camper!

Maybe we're just lucky, maybe we're just happily stupid!
We have had positive experiences all the way around at Chef Mickey's!

 

[Cass]

I feel so lonely! We have loved all of our dinners at CM!

Don't feel lonely.. I am here with you and I agrree about Park Fare, we had the Villains Character Dinner there and the food was 'blech'!

 

[sha_lyn]

Don't feel lonely.. I am here with you and I agrree about Park Fare, we had the Villains Character Dinner there and the food was 'blech'!

We had the villain dinner in 2001 right before it ended. The food was amazing. The best character meal food we've had, and one of the best meals over all that we've had at WDW

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We're still going for dinner. In the UG I noticed practically EVERY restaurant listed has about an 80/20 split for thumbs up/thumbs down. One or two are better, three or four are worse (like Sci-Fi, where we are also going). By and large most people have good experiences.

DH and I don't eat at fabulous restaurants at home, so maybe our expectations will be lower! DS has never been to WDW so I think he will enjoy just about everything - it will all be brand new for him. I KNOW it is expensive for a buffet, but we would have paid the same amount to order entrees from a menu. I think it is easier to walk up and choose something else from the buffet than to send back your entree if it isn't good!

So we will try our luck at CM's and see what happens. If it is truly vile and disgusting then you can say you told me so!

 

[Carrieberry]

We have always enjoyed Chef Mickey's. In fact I scheduled a dinner for our first night there (two weeks from tomorrow-yipiee!) and a breakfast before we head to the airport on departure day. After reading this thread and realizing that we have not been there since 2000, I think we will skip dinner and head to a park or DD instead and just have our last meal at WDW there. My son will NEED to see Mickey before we leave, and it sounds like beakfast is the way to go here. Plus it will save us $35 which is almost enough for two 1/2 hour rides on the Sea Rays!!

 

[Magalex]

I was thinking about having a PS for our arrivel night on 4/22 for Dinner at Chef Mickey's!. We are not going to the parks that night and it is grad night at MK.
It is my DS's first trip to WDW and he is 4. I thought it would be exciting for him to have dinner with Mickey and friends for the first thing we did! We are staying at POP. Should we spend the evening at Downtown Disney and go to dinner at the Rainforest? Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks
Magalex

 

[sha_lyn]

My kids love rainforest, and that is what we have done in the past. However we really enjoy the food at 1900 PF. I'd suggest the character dinner there. If they are running wishes (or what ever they are calling the fireworks now) you can view them from the ferry dock at GF. If the EWP is running that night (think they stopped it for awhile) it can also be seen from there.

 

[crisi]

I was thinking about having a PS for our arrivel night on 4/22 for Dinner at Chef Mickey's!. We are not going to the parks that night and it is grad night at MK.
It is my DS's first trip to WDW and he is 4. I thought it would be exciting for him to have dinner with Mickey and friends for the first thing we did! We are staying at POP. Should we spend the evening at Downtown Disney and go to dinner at the Rainforest? Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks
Magalex

Don't base your decisions off what is basically a negative thread. A lot of people love CMs. A lot of little kids don't like the Rainforest (thunderstorms scare them).

But here are some things you may want to consider:

Some people (including myself) recommend waiting for character meals until later in the trip with small kids. My son was scared of characters at 3 1/2 - starting him at Chef Mickey's would have been traumatizing.

Personally, we avoid the MK area with our kids until we are ready to visit the MK. One look at the castle and we can't distract them from wanting to enter the parks.

Personally, I try and schedule something "lower impact" for arrival day. We are always exhausted and hungry and I really like something that is less hectic than either CMs or Rainforest.

 

[DMRick]

We love Chef Mickey's. Apparently my taste buds are off..we think the food is good!
A trip to Disney with the grands is never complete without a visit, and all 9 of us are going when we go for our Magnical Gathering in February.
Do I think it's sometimes messy? Yes, but it doesn't start the night off that way. I see them scurrying trying to keep in neat, but so many little kids go up to help themselves, and spill, it's a never ending battle. And the messes on the floor get there because people spill, and don't pick up. I've seen so many messes being made, and the waitresses work so hard to try and keep it neat..maybe they need evern more help than they have....or perhaps parents need to start picking up after the kids. We've been lucky and the desserts are generally kept full when we visit, but I'm sure it's frustrating to see just empty plates.

 

[Magalex]

I will consider the thunderstorm sounds at RainForest..I don't have to be concern about my DS being afraid of the characters. We have been to many local parks with characters and he automatically hugs them. I will take in the advice about him seeing the castle from a distance and wanted to go then. MK will be closing that evening for grad night.

Thanks
Magalex

 

[iowa mommy]

you missed it because you went for dinner, i only think it is fab for breakfast and my kids ages 4,9,11--asked if we could eat there everyday on our next upcoming trip

 

[SandrainNC]

We went to Chef Mickey's at the beginning of December and really enjoyed it. I have no other character meal experience to compare it to, but I thought it was a very fun place. The food was pretty good I thought. We really liked the mashed potatoes and the meats were really tender. The lady who came by with the picture did kind of stand there and look at me and I asked her if we could think about it. She probably waited about 15 minutes before she came back and I asked her can we not just get one picture because who needs the whole package? And she said yes, so that was fine. I have to agree that I would rather look at the picture when I am done than them bringing the picture to my table while I am eating and having to pay for the picture while I am trying to eat, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Most of the characters only came by once, but Minnie came by 3 times while we were there. Donald was also greeting people at the waiting area the night we were there and he was a lot of fun. My son really enjoyed the napkin swirling too. I would definitely go again.

Sandra

 

[PamNC]

but then again we don't have kids and it's truly a kid-type of character meal. A bit loud and crazy for us...although cute at times. Didn't think the food was great. I'm glad I tried it, but I doubt we'll do it again. We usually don't like buffets, although Fresh and Garden Grove at the S/D are the exception.

PamNC

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We have a Rainforest Cafe here, and you want to talk about overpriced and poor food quality!! And it is LOUD. Loud like you can't hear yourself think. Loud like you can't hear the person seated directly across the table from you. And it is dark. We think it is a huge tourist trap.

It is a neat place, absolutely. They have really cool stuff to look at and cool stuff to buy. But we do not care for the food.

I imagine it is like any other chain. We have a TGI Friday's across the street where the service is abyssmal and the food is barely edible. It has been that way for YEARS. But I really enjoy going to other TGI Fridays, so maybe the Rainforest cafe at Disney is better than ours.

We'll keep our dinner PS and let everyone know how it goes!