Best Character dining?

[Belle_princess]

My friend (30) and I (31) are hoping to go to Disney in September. What is the best character dining? I was thinking O'hana or Crystal Palace. Do you have a favorite (not just of those two but character dining)? What are your suggestions?

 

[HunnyJar]

Well, I would have used to say Liberty Tree Tavern, but they no longer have character meals. Our current favorites are 'Ohana for breakfast or Garden Grill for dinner. We had such amazing character interaction at both restaurants during our last trip (Feb/March of this year). If you asked me which has better food, 'Ohana would win that round. But both meals were very good.

 

[Fall1]

I thought the character interaction at Chef Mickey's breakfast was great!

 

[Faldred]

My favorites were the four in-park ones, in no particular order:

Crystal Palace -- Great if you love Pooh & Co., and great food (especially for breakfast).

Hollywood & Vine (breakfast) -- food is just fine, and while the characters a more specialized, it's typically not crowded so they interact a LOT.

Tusker House -- Good food, good characters. Get there at 8 AM and walk right onto the Safari after breakfast.

Akerhaus (breakfast) -- Princesses, of course, but decent food as well.

I was less impressed with Chef Mickey's -- nice experience, but crowded and we had better food at the others.

 

[JoePa4Ever]

We love Crystal Palace, Ohana & Chef Mickey's for breakfast - we do all three on our trip.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Chef Mickey's has the best character interaction . Love this place. Gives you that great Disney feeling when I'm eating there.

 

[Snurk71]

I think the best "character" meal is 1900 Park Fare dinner, especially for adults. The face characters of the stepsisters and stepmother are the most entertaining as they can interact with the characters. PF also has a few face characters at breakfast - Mad Hatter has always been a riot when we've been there.

Food-wise, different story. I think we've finally had it with PF's dinner (been every year for about 10 years). The food just isn't that great any more, and DD9 is kind of past the Cinderella stage.

 

[coconut1]

I think Chef Mickey's if really good for meeting the characters.

 

[Missy Mousie]

We love the Ohana breakfast. We have also done Crystal Palace for lunch, Cindy's castle for lunch, Norway for Dinner, Chef Mickey's for breakfast, Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner, and 1900 Park Fare for dinner. Of those, my favorite is Ohana's. If you like buffets, we liked both 1900 and CP for good selections. My girls want to eat in the castle again, however, I did not like my lunch, and for the price....I think maybe breakfast next time (if we do it again this fall). I must tell you that none of us liked the main course in Norway. The character interaction was rushed too. It was a very busy day, but still, my kids enjoyed it because they got to see all the princesses.

We are going to do Cape May for breakfast this fall, Ohana's (not sure which meal yet) and possibly Cindy's, but that's probably it for character meals this go round.

 

[RichmondTiggerFan]

My favorites (in no particular order):

1. Garden Grove at the Swan: On Monday & Friday nights, they have an excellent seafood buffet and Timon and Rafiki are the characters (which I especially like because Timon is one of my favorites & he can be difficult to find in the parks). Also, the character interaction is the best - they are not rushed & they'll come around to your table multiple times.

2. Crystal Palace: The buffet has an excellent variety (for all 3 meals) and good character interaction. (not to mention Tigger is one of my favorites, too)

3. Garden Grill: Has good food and good character interaction. Also, this is the only character meal with Chip & Dale.