Best character dining?

[tommygunn]

Hello fellow Disney nerds!!

I'm taking my kids (3 and 1) to disney in a few weeks and wanted to get recommendations on the best character dining.

My kids are really not into the whole cinderella thing, they are more into mickey, pooh, pluto, etc. Any kind of animal.

Any recommendations?

 

[gonemousin']

We've done the Crystal Palace for breakfast and dinner (Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore, and Piglet) and it was wonderful. Character interaction was great and the food was worth the money. We also did Chef Mickey's for breakfast once (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale) and the character interaction was great, but the food was only so so. Our ADR was early in the AM, when they first opened, and somehow the food STILL wasn't very fresh (go figure). But, Chef Mickey's has all the classic characters and our two DD's loved it...so that's really what's worth paying for, right?! Good luck!

 

[vicceja]

Hi!

We loved Chef Mickey just for the Character Interaction - can't beat it . We had breakfast at the Castle with Princesses and to my surprise my DSs (9,7,4) loved it as well.

 

[mamaprincess]

A second vote for Crystal Palace at MK. The buffet there is very good for all meals and the interaction with Pooh and friends is very good as well. I've also heard good things about liberty tree tavern. Does anyone know if Donald Duck is there? I know Minnie usually is. Cape may at the beach club has good character interaction with Goofy, Chip and Dale and Minnie. In AK I belive the resterautosaurus is what its called has Donald and others perhaps someone has a list of characters that usually appear there.

 

[mamaprincess]

Hi!

We loved Chef Mickey just for the Character Interaction - can't beat it . We had breakfast at the Castle with Princesses and to my surprise my DSs (9,7,4) loved it as well.

How could I have forgotten about Chef Mickeys!

 

[mommic32]

o.k. NOw this is just my opinion and I just returned 2 days ago from DW. Now we did Chef Mickeys and Liberty Tree Tavern and I can honestly tell you that we enjoyed Liberty Tree better than Chef Mickeys. The Charatcers were much more attentive at LTT, they came around at least 2-3 times, and it was also much more quiet! And we also enjoyed the Turkey, pork and flank steak.. If I have to chose again,,, I would do LTT before I do Chef MIckeys again..Also,,,, the server at LTT, was the best server we had all week.. She deserves a thumbs up,, our glasses were never empty and she seemed to always be there when we needed more food brought to the table...

 

[rcyannacci]

I preferred Chef Micky's to the Crystal Palace, but if I wanted to stay in the parks, I'd probably go with the later.

We also had a great breakfast at Donald's Breakfastasaurous at the AK, although I've read a lot of mixed reviews on this one.

 

[pamouselover]

Crystal Palace and chef Mickeys!

 

[BankBunny]

DH and I always go to Crystal Palace (Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet) for breakfast. We love the buffet and the characters--Pooh is my favorite and Eeyosr is my DH favorite. We also tried the dinner ar Liberty Tree Tavern and loved it. The family style dinner was great and so were the characters (Minnie, Chip & Dale, Pluto and Miko). We timed dinner so we got out in time to stake out a great spot for the SpectroMagic parade right outside.

 

[MHTeacher]

My vote is for Crystal Palace, especially with the ages of your little ones.
We've eaten breakfast at CP and at 1900 Park Faire with Mary Poppins. We've had dinner at Chef Mickey's. It is also a lot of fun. The characters are great and spend a lot of time at your table at both Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's. Have a wonderful time

1983-1985-Off site as a teen
May 2001-All Star Sports
July 2003-CSR
Nov./Dec. 2005-Wilderness Lodge
(Me) (DH) (DD9) (DD11)

 

[ainmama2001]

Chef Mickey's is KEY for the staple characters. If you want another spin with them, try the Liberty Tree Tavern. They have Minnie, Goofy, Chip, Dale and Pluto.

 

[Luthien]

Crystal Palace is great - lots of fun and great character interaction. Liberty Tree Tavern is great fun and the food and atmosphere are also top-notch. There is also the Garden Grill in the Land Pavillion at Epcot which features "Farmer Mickey", Pluto, Chip and Dale. We also enjoy breakfast at Cape May with Goofy, Minnie and Chip and Dale.

~Luthien

 

[IwannaseeMickey]

I vote LTT first, we were there last week and had great char. interaction, good food, and a good waiter. We liked Chef Mickey's okay, nothing bad about it, good food, good waiter, we just liked LTT better.

The food was great at Crystal Palace last Sat. morning, but the char. interaction was HORRIBLE. We sat for 1 hour and 10 min. before one char. came to our table. We saw Piglet b/c he was out in the lobby. IMO, that was way too long to see anyone even on our side of the room. It would take convincing to go back, I'd see char. somewhere else!

 

[F1Julie]

Having now been to all the character meal restaurants, our favorite breakfast is 1900 Park Fare and our favorite dinner is Garden Grill. The character interaction is great at both (characters come around multiple times and spend more time at your table than most other restaurants) and the food is good too.