Any experts out there on Chef Mickeys???

[micmacmissy]

We are going in January and have 2 character meals planned, for LTT and CRT.

I'm thinking of adding a Chef Mickeys, because the kids love taking the monorail through the Contemporary and also because I hear this is a must-do character meal.

So my questions are...

1) Is it ALWAYS absolutely chaotic there? Are there better times to go in terms of crowds/noise?

2) Do they have characters at breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Are there any differences between which characters show up at each meal?

3) How is the food? Buffet?

Anything else I should know?
Thanks!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

I am by no means a "Chef Mickey's expert," but I will give you my opinion. We ate there for dinner a few weeks ago and were not at all impressed by the food. But that's dinner and that's just me!

 

[acourtwdw]

I have celebrated many of my bdays at Chef Mickey and I'm 37. We love it. The food is buffet but there are plenty of options. Every half hour or so they have a celebration that is quite active. Your kids will like. The character interaction is just okay. We will probably try to do a walk up when we are there in October.

 

[KatMark]

We have done both the breakfast and the dinner buffet. The dinner buffet is okay; but we think the food at the breakfast buffet is pretty darn good. As far as character interaction, whenever we went, the kids were able to see all the characters...we were usually there for about 70 minutes or so. The celebration that they do every 30 minutes gets the kids real excited and everyone, including adults, have a good time (just ask my then 18-year old son and his then girlfriend when we took them in 2004...they had a blast during the character celebration).

 

[MickeyNicki]

1) Is it ALWAYS absolutely chaotic there? Are there better times to go in terms of crowds/noise? We did dinner there for my birthday last year with 2 Dnieces...went at 5 ish, right when they opened. It was not loud or chaotic for us at all..we had fun

2) Do they have characters at breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Are there any differences between which characters show up at each meal? For dinner (Oct 06) we saw Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Chip and Dale. Donald was greeting people up front.


3) How is the food? Buffet? This was the disappointing part, the food was terrible..even the kids did not like it. The salad was wilted, the soup way to salty, the rolls hard, the chicken and pizza was hard and dried out, too much sauce on the pasta. The prime rib and potatoes were good and the Bday cake but that was it.

We did have a good time but I would not go back for dinner. I tried to get into it for breakfast in Oct but they are sold out

 

[kimbac3]

We went last year at 7:20am. (Much to the moaning and groaning of my teenager ) I have to tell you it was NOT chaotic! It was fun but there where no kids running around screaming or anything. The character interaction was great because the place wasn't full yet. We loved the food, the characters, everything!!! We are going back in oh...about 10 days or so!!
We will be celebrating a birthday this time too so we'll see how that goes.

Have Fun!!
Kimba

 

[fumipappa]

we ate dinner at Chef Mickey 4 times . I am not sure I am 'expert' but here is my opinion/answer. And my opinion/answer is based on Dinner experience only...

1) Is it ALWAYS absolutely chaotic there? Are there better times to go in terms of crowds/noise?

All my visit were off-season, like 1st week of December or in January, yes restaurant was packed but not chaotic. Actually this place is not to enjoy the meal with relaxed atmosphere. You don't want to eat at "empty" Chef Mickey.

2) Do they have characters at breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Are there any differences between which characters show up at each meal?

I think they are opeing lunch now but usually only BF and Dinner. Characters were always Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie,Chip and Dale

3) How is the food? Buffet?

I actually like them and my DW, my DDs like them. It is buffet. And food is much better than any other 'normal' buffet. Of course you cannot expect the level of Coral Reef or Le Celler....

 

[kldmom2000]

We ate there for the first time last week for dinner. We had our seating right @ opening for dinner. We found this worked out wonderfully as the buffet line was not crazy yet and the food was fresh The character interaction was wonderful-we got visited 2 or 3 times by each character in the hour we were there (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto). The food was fine-nothing marvelous, but good and hot (at the time we went). Would definitely do it again

 

[CamColt]

We go for breakfast on just about every trip and have tried dinner on our last 2 trips (July & December). While I know most people say you dont go there for the food, we enjoy it very much.

 

[goofy4tink]

Chef Mickeys has routinely been our first meal when we arrive. We have eaten both breakfast and dinner there, multiple times. We even ate a Thanksgiving dinner there in '04!! We just ate there in mid-August. While it is always chaotic, the food has been okay. At least that is up until our last meal there in August. We had dinner there, on a Sunday evening, around 6:00ish. It was the worst Chef Mickeys experience we have had to date. The food offerings were mediocre at best. There didn't seem to be the same variety as before. Our server had trouble getting us refills in a timely fashion. She did have several large parties that were a bit obnoxious so that could have impacted her attention to us. Guess the squeaky wheel does, in fact, get greased. But, that's just not my style.
There are kids running all over the place, characters getting literally assaulted by kids....seems the parents don't believe that the characters will get to their table..the kids do not have to stalk the characters while they are visiting other children at their tables. The characters are Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, sometimes Pluto, and Donald is usually wandering around. The chipmunks aen't there anymore, at least they weren't there when we were, and they were every other trip!

So....go in understanding that it will not be a quiet meal, that it will be noisy and chaotic, and the food offerings will be 'okay' but nothing special. I used to be a huge supporter of Chef Mickeys but I'm changing my tune after the last few meals there.

 

[fumipappa]

Chef Mickeys has routinely been our first meal when we arrive. We have eaten both breakfast and dinner there, multiple times. We even ate a Thanksgiving dinner there in '04!! We just ate there in mid-August. While it is always chaotic, the food has been okay. At least that is up until our last meal there in August. We had dinner there, on a Sunday evening, around 6:00ish. It was the worst Chef Mickeys experience we have had to date. The food offerings were mediocre at best. There didn't seem to be the same variety as before. Our server had trouble getting us refills in a timely fashion. She did have several large parties that were a bit obnoxious so that could have impacted her attention to us. Guess the squeaky wheel does, in fact, get greased. But, that's just not my style.
There are kids running all over the place, characters getting literally assaulted by kids....seems the parents don't believe that the characters will get to their table..the kids do not have to stalk the characters while they are visiting other children at their tables. The characters are Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, sometimes Pluto, and Donald is usually wandering around. The chipmunks aen't there anymore, at least they weren't there when we were, and they were every other trip!

So....go in understanding that it will not be a quiet meal, that it will be noisy and chaotic, and the food offerings will be 'okay' but nothing special. I used to be a huge supporter of Chef Mickeys but I'm changing my tune after the last few meals there.

Do you think it is because of season you visited? Summer time at WDW sounds chaotic, not only park, also restaurant, shop everywhere....

 

[SharonLowe]

We go almost every time we go to WDW for dinner but it has about the worst food of all the buffets. Also, the character interaction has gone downhill and they barely spend a minute - quick autograph and photo then on to the next table. Even the "celebration" felt canned and not the least bit fun the last time we were there. It is not on our list for our next 2 trips.

 

[goofy4tink]

Do you think it is because of season you visited? Summer time at WDW sounds chaotic, not only park, also restaurant, shop everywhere....

No, I don't think so. I've been to WDW three times in Aug, as well as once in mid-June, and eaten at Chef Mickeys, at least once, each time. Not to mention my Thanksgiving dinner there, on Thanksgiving. You don't get much more chaotic than T-day at mealtime in WDW!! This time the quality of the food was not great, the service was mediocre. Someone just posted that the celebration almost seemed 'canned'...I had the exact same thought. It almost seemed as if they were just going through the motions...as if they were saying..."Okay, time to swing our napkins..yippee.."
I'm not sure what the reason is...I don't know if Disney is trying to save costs and using fewer servers, so the servers are getting tired, or if they are limiting the choice at the buffets in order to keep costs downt that way.
Buffets are my dh's favorite thing at WDW...says it's the only time he can eat all he wants and I can say nothing negtive!! So true. But, even he has seen, and commented, on the changes.
I'll be back in Dec and then again in May. We'll see if there are any changes for the better. Well, that's if I decide to head back to Chef Mickeys!!!

 

[Goingtoseethemouse]

We have eaten there about 5 times. My kids love it because of these reasons:
1. Kid friendly food
2. HUGE dessert bar
3. It is like one big party
4. They get to see so many characters
5. They like riding the monorail to get there
6. They like stopping at the HUGE arcade (which is now on the same floor) while we wait for our table

But I am not crazy about it for these reasons:
1. The food is just "okay"
2. It seems like they rush you out
3. Very bright inside & kind of hectic (which I guess could be good or bad depending on your mood)

But that did not stop us getting reservations for New Years Eve. We did it for the kids, to try to keep them awake and in the party mood till midnight!

 

[scrappinmom]

1) Is it ALWAYS absolutely chaotic there? Are there better times to go in terms of crowds/noise?
It is one of the nosier places to eat. However, my kiddos have always had so much fun, dealing with the noise for an hour or so doesn't bother me

2) Do they have characters at breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Are there any differences between which characters show up at each meal? Yes the characters are there at all 3 meals. I haven't noticed a difference of who is there, the only one change is sometimes it's Donald sometimes it's Pluto...but Mickey, Minnie, Chip,Dale & Goofy seem to be the standard

3) How is the food? Buffet?Yes it is a buffet. I personallly think the breakfast is actually pretty good. Lunch is probably my least favorite. Dinner, while the food isn't all that great...being able to have a cocktail with dinner IS, so while my kids are eating pizza & mac & cheese, I can have a glowing martini & an o k meal

CM's is on our must do list for every trip we've done all three meals there. My girls are now 7 & 13 but we started going when the oldest was 3 so they've been there at all ages.

 

[Joanna71985]

I ate at CM for breakfast, and I really enjoyed it. The food was pretty good, and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. The characters were Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto (I believe Donald was also supposed to be there). I am pretty sure the characters are the same for dinner.

 

[lovindonald]

We ate there on 8/21 about 8AM and it wasn't chaotic at all. The pancakes were the best I had ever had and the other food was pretty good too. I have never had dinner there so I don't know about that. I think if you get ahead of the rush times, it isn't so bad there.

 

[dmiller882]

We have done the breakfast and yes it is loud and entertaining. I wouldn't call it chaos it is just the way it is designed which is it's a party and it's loud fun.
I believe only Minnie is missing from the dinner other wise they are the same characters

It's ranked number 3 out of all the character meals.
Characters Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto and Goofy.

 

[Joanna71985]

Chip and Dale are no longer at CM.

 

[LoveTheWDWMagic]

We've always gone to Chef Mickey for dinner on the first night we arrive at WDW. We were there on 8/6 and it will be the last time we eat there. The food was terrible!! Also Chip and Dale are not there anymore...only Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald Duck. I would have asked for my money back if we were not on the dining plan. If you want a dinner buffet, one with no characters, I would recommend Cape May at the Beach Club.