Best Character breakfast

[Cfraz]

Where is the best character breakfast? We have a 4 year old boy and no dining plan.

 

[Paigevon]

I've heard good things about Tusker House (Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and either Pluto or Goofy I think) breakfast (we're trying this trip) and it's suppose to be a ROL dining package option, so you could score prime Rivers of Light seating as well!

I also really want to try Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club resort (Minnie, Goofy, Donald, sometimes Chip n Dale) and it sounds like it's less booked and more low-key so you typically get more personal interactions! There is also Crystal Palace that has Winnie the Pooh Characters, Hollywood & Vine that has Disney Jr Characters.

I haven't tried any of them yet!

If you have a free evening, you can take a boat from MK to Ft Wilderness camp ground and they have a free Campfire Singalong featuring Chip 'n' Dale! They sell makings for s'mores, but if you are able to, you can bring your own s'more kit!

 

[Paigevon]

OH! I've heard wonderful things about 'Ohana too! We have a future ADR there in August! It features Stitch, Lilo, Mickey, Pluto. 1900 PF Breakfast is Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, Pooh, and Tigger usually.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/just_for_kids/character_dining.cfm

 

[Dug720]

My absolute favorite is Cape May Café - typically Minnie, Goofy, and Donald in beachwear.

Tusker House is a close second - typically Donald, Daisy, Mickey, and Goofy in safari gear.

But I have to admit even as an adult, Crystal Palace has a special place in my heart as it was my first Character Breakfast, and I have ALWAYS loved Pooh. In fact I still have my first Pooh, a twin of which was in "Saving Mr. Banks" as part of the suite full of gifts Ms. Travers was ushered into. (My sister pointed that out - "That's just like your Pooh!")

 

[tinkerbella16]

I've read reviews and seen pictures of Garden Grills character breakfast and it looks awesome!! It is on our list for next years trip.

We love Cape May Cafe breakfast. Staying at the Beach Club this year, that was a given on our adr list! Ohana is great. We do enjoy Chef Mickeys for breakfast only to meet the fab 5- the buffet is great for breakfast.

Tusker House gets great reviews. It is definitely another one we want to try next year.

 

[preemiemama]

Our favorite is Ohana with Stitch. Basic breakfast, but good character interaction and the food is usually prepared well. Tough to mess up bacon, eggs, and waffles! Stitch is one of DS’s favorite characters- so this is almost always a must-do.

Tusker House is also good- a nice variety of food and it was prepared well. Characters were good there as well, but at times it felt rushed for us.

Same is true of Crystal Palace. We love Pooh and Friends, so we typically try and go for a meal there each trip. We have had great interactions, and some where we actually had to get a handler to bring a character by our table before we left. Service has been hit or miss as well. Neither was a dealbreaker for us, and may have been better if we had gone at more off-peak dining times.

Our next trip we are having breakfast at Garden Grill. Chip, Dale, Pluto, and Mickey. We have been several years ago for dinner and it was one of our best character meals. The reviews I have seen of the breakfast look good (again, basic bacon, eggs, waffles, but also a cinnamon roll bake and nutella syrup for the waffles!).

 

[got15]

Best Character Breakfast: Cape May Cafe (Tusker House, 1900 Park Fare and Crystal Palace tied for second). We are trying Garden Grill on our next vacation and cant wait- since we have enjoyed both lunch and dinner there.

 

[imthemamahere]

We're big fans of the character meals at Tusker House. The buffet is arguably the best you'll find at a character meal, and we've had excellent interactions with the characters there every time we've gone. If I remember correctly, the most recent grouping we saw (2014) was Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy. Breakfast is our meal of choice there, though we also did lunch, and enjoyed that as well.

Our next trip, we intend to try a breakfast character meal at Garden Grill in EPCOT. We haven't done breakfast there yet (they only recently started doing breakfast, I think?), but we had a really lovely character dinner there on our last trip (also 2014) - not a buffet, but a set menu that's brought to your table and is all-you-care-to-eat. The food was fresh and tasty and the characters (Chip, Dale, Mickey, Pluto) were lots of fun.

On that same trip, we also did breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. We'd had dinner there and liked the food better at dinner, but breakfast was decent, at least. We met Alice, Mary Poppins, Pooh, and Tigger. Pooh and Tigger were... less interested in our table than I'd have liked - they appeared to be approaching their break time and I guess really wanted to get off the restaurant floor. My son (5 1/2 on that trip) was a bit bummed. A pat on the head, a character autograph, and on to the next - not even a moment for a hug or a photo with those two. On the flip side, Alice and Mary Poppins were terrific, paying that extra bit of attention and chatting in perfect character with my little guy. I don't know that we'd do that meal again, but it was more positive than negative, overall.

While I tend to see a lot of people recommending them, I personally cannot really recommend the character meals at 'Ohana (breakfast), Crystal Palace (breakfast), or Chef Mickey's (multiple meals). At 'Ohana, we thought the food was pretty poor (hot food served cold, bacon nearly raw, in general our meal was just greasy and disappointing), and the characters were rushed almost to the point of rudeness - I barely had time to take a single photo before the character was on to the next table (and yes, my camera was ready in my hand as they approached). Our experience with Crystal Palace was all-around a mess - we had breakfast before park opening and our table was dirty, the food wasn't very fresh, and the characters were mobbed a few times by overeager kids - we actually had to ask a handler to have Tigger double back, because he totally skipped our table after one of those mobbings. (I felt bad for Tigger and pretty much understood how distraction could lead to a missed table, but the nephew we were traveling with was devastated that Tigger had passed him by.) At Chef Mickey's, the food was just not good at all... but the character interaction was great, so we did repeat that one a few times. We just can't stomach the food there anymore! Obviously, plenty of people go to these meals, and many do like them... so YMMV.

 

[Linda T.]

Our favorite breakfast is Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends.

 

[beck00]

Our 1 1/2 year old and almost 6 year old both LOVED Crystal Palace, and weren't really even that familiar with Pooh & friends. Our latest trip, they were almost 3 years old and 7 years old and were excited to return. The first time was a pre-park opening and character interaction was perfectly paced and satisfying. This last time we went closer to 10 a.m. and the characters took a while to get around. We actually left before Tigger & Piglet came by, b/c we'd waited so long. Having said that, we won't hesitate to return. This last trip we also did Tusker House a little after park opening, and it was fantastic! We had a party of 8, and all were pleased with food, beverages, service & characters!

 

[mzsarah10]

Crystal Palace is our favorite. My kids enjoy the characters at Hollywood and Vine but the food is just average.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

We love Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom. Can't go wrong with it.

I have also heard wonderful things about Garden Grill in Epcot.

 

[richkaryn]

We love 1900 Park Fare breakfast and do it every trip. Our DS (now 8) always asks to make sure we don't leave it out when we start making our plans.

 

[mkla2015]

We love Tusker House Breakfast... It has become a must do on every trip.

Ohana breakfast is really good too if you like Lilo and Stitch.

 

[LSLS]

I think it really depends on the characters you want to see. If Disney Junior is big, I would head for Hollywood and Vine. It's chaotic, but the food is pretty good and it's all Disney Junior (Handy Manny, Jake, Doc Mcstuffins, and Sofia). If you are more into Chip and Dale, head for the Garden Grill. More of a classic Minnie/Donald/Goofy thing, I think Cape May is the best (full disclosure we have not tried Tusker House which gets great reviews, but I take it over Chef Mickey). More of a Winnie the Pooh fan, head for Crystal Palace. Being it's a 4 year old son, not sure he cares about princesses, but if so, Akershus is really good for breakfast (not a fan of their lunch/dinner though). Lastly, if you are more of an Alice fan, head for 1900 Park Fare. Honestly, I find most of the food options pretty similar. Certainly there are ones that I think have better quality, but for our family, the quality isn't a large enough difference to be more important than the characters we want to meet (if that makes sense).

 

[GillianP1301]

Our two favourites are Ohana and Cape May and I would give a slight edge to Ohana because it's family style as opposed to buffet and therefore a bit more relaxing. Also, there are many different opportunities to see the characters at Cape may elsewhere, but Lilo & Stitch at Ohana, not so much.

 

[mickeynut1]

Where is the best character breakfast? We have a 4 year old boy and no dining plan.

Our favorite is Cape May, followed closely by Ohana.

 

[msmama]

Garden Grill is great, but if you're bothered by wasted food you may want to skip it. They brought us SO MUCH food for 3 people it was ridiculous. I'd rather smaller plates and have to ask for more if I need it. I'm not one to be bothered by something like that usually, but it was SO MUCH food. Good food too!! I always find Garden Grill to be a lot more private, definitely in the booths on the lower level, but even the tables at the upper level seem more intimate a character experience. Garden Grill is my favorite for any meal!!

Tusker House is fun and it has a lot of different stuff, besides just the old favorites. I could drink my weight in the special juice they serve there! It's louder and busier though.

I found Cape May to just be kind of "meh." There wasn't anything bad about it, and the character interaction was great but the food wasn't anything special.

It's been several years since I've done Hollywood and Vine, but that was one of the best buffet meals I'd ever had at WDW. They had some potato dish that was amazing!! I ate so much that it made it very uncomfortable walking around the rest of the day. That said, I've heard lots of people who don't like it.

Crystal Palace is always good because you can't go wrong with pooh characters. That said, I have zero recollection of how the food was.

 

[goofyintoronto]

My absolute favorite is Cape May Café - typically Minnie, Goofy, and Donald in beachwear.

Tusker House is a close second - typically Donald, Daisy, Mickey, and Goofy in safari gear.

But I have to admit even as an adult, Crystal Palace has a special place in my heart as it was my first Character Breakfast, and I have ALWAYS loved Pooh. In fact I still have my first Pooh, a twin of which was in "Saving Mr. Banks" as part of the suite full of gifts Ms. Travers was ushered into. (My sister pointed that out - "That's just like your Pooh!")

I agree with all of these, in the same order!! I looove Cape May, food is great and its very low key. Such a pretty resort.

Tusker House has great food at breakfast. Love the characters.
Crystal Palace is also great. Actually I just might put this one tied for 2nd place with Tusker House. I love them both equally!

 

[Dug720]

I agree with all of these, in the same order!! I looove Cape May, food is great and its very low key. Such a pretty resort.

Tusker House has great food at breakfast. Love the characters.
Crystal Palace is also great. Actually I just might put this one tied for 2nd place with Tusker House. I love them both equally!

Yes! The breakfast lasagna at Crystal Palace can't be beat!!