Best character meal buffet that's not Tusker House

[MeganMango]

What is the next best character meal that is not Tusker house? I was just in WDW in March and did TH and CP. I love both but would like to see new characters.

Breakfast is def preferred since it's cheaper. Must be a buffet of all you can eat.

 

[Barbydoll8]

Crystal Palace in MK will get you Pooh & Friends. Pretty good food too.
Garden Grill in Epcot will get you Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. (great Character interaction and food is good too).
Ohana is not buffet but it is all you can eat. That will get you Lilo & Stitch
Hollywood & Vine in HS will get you Handy Many (I believe this is still accurate) characters but for breakfast only.
Cape May gives you the Fab 5 and so does Chef Mickey's. Cape May food is better though.

 

[MeganMango]

Crystal Palace in MK will get you Pooh & Friends. Pretty good food too.
Garden Grill in Epcot will get you Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. (great Character interaction and food is good too).
Ohana is not buffet but it is all you can eat. That will get you Lilo & Stitch
Hollywood & Vine in HS will get you Handy Many (I believe this is still accurate) characters but for breakfast only.
Cape May gives you the Fab 5 and so does Chef Mickey's. Cape May food is better though.

Thank you!!! Have you (or anybody else) done 1900 park fare for breakfast? Do the characters look like the actual characters? Good interaction? Good food? I've done the fab 5 before and trying to meet some "new" characters this trip. I don't think I could ever bring myself to eat at chef Mickey's after reading some horror stories

 

[TexasTSL]

Don't let bad reviews scare you. I just went to Chef Mickey's for the first time last year because I had avoided it for my five prior trips due to bad reviews. Turns out, it was not bad at all. In fact, we loved it and are doing it again this year!

Surprisingly, we didn't care for Crystal Palace. We had lunch. It was just okay.

We love Garden Grill, and I do think the food quality is better than Chef Mickey's. There is also Cinderella's Royal Table and Akershus for princesses. We have done both, and they were okay, but most likely just a one-time thing for us.

We liked Ohana for breakfast.

And I know it's not a character meal, but I understand there is a Chip & Dale Campfire Sing Along at Fort Wilderness that is free. We've been meaning to try that one.

There is also Mickey's Backyard BBQ. We haven't tried that one.

 

[MeganMango]

Don't let bad reviews scare you. I just went to Chef Mickey's for the first time last year because I had avoided it for my five prior trips due to bad reviews. Turns out, it was not bad at all. In fact, we loved it and are doing it again this year!

Surprisingly, we didn't care for Crystal Palace. We had lunch. It was just okay.

We love Garden Grill, and I do think the food quality is better than Chef Mickey's. There is also Cinderella's Royal Table and Akershus for princesses. We have done both, and they were okay, but most likely just a one-time thing for us.

We liked Ohana for breakfast.

And I know it's not a character meal, but I understand there is a Chip & Dale Campfire Sing Along at Fort Wilderness that is free. We've been meaning to try that one.

There is also Mickey's Backyard BBQ. We haven't tried that one.

That makes me feel better about chef Mickey's! I love Mickey waffles haha.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

OUR WDW CHARACTER MEAL & BUFFET RANKINGS (*rev: March 2016*):
Results are listed from best to worst
Best Food (quality first, then variety):
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Ohana
. . . Garden Grill
. . . Tusker House, breakfast-Lunch (moved from #1 Spot due to menu changes)
. . . Garden Grove Swan-dinner
. . . Akershus Royal Banquet
. . . Tusker House, Dinner
. . . Cape May Café
. . . Hollywood & Vine
. . . Crystal Palace
. . . Cinderella Royal Table (since new menu)
. . . Chef Mickey's
Best Character Interaction (time with guest first, then friendliness):
. . . Tusker House, Breakfast-Lunch
. . . Akershus Royal Banquet
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Garden Grill
. . . Tusker House, Dinner
. . . Ohana
. . . Garden Grove (Swan, dinner)
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Chef Mickey's
. . . Cape May Café
. . . Hollywood & Vine
. . . Cinderella Royal Table
. . . Crystal Palace (barely enough time for a photo)
Best Atmosphere (surroundings and ambiance):
. . . Cinderella Royal Table
. . . Tusker House, Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner
. . . Akershus Royal Banquet
. . . Ohana
. . . 1900 Park Fare
. . . Garden Grill
. . . Crystal Palace
. . . Hollywood & Vine
. . . Cape May Café
. . . Garden Grove (Swan, dinner)
. . . Chef Mickey's
.
NOTE: Results are listed from best to worst. Overall, Tusker House wins due to best food and the length of time the characters stay at each table. A close second is 1900 Park Fare. By far, Chef Mickey's is the loser, due to mediocre character interaction and almost terrible food quality. The very distant second worst is Cinderella Royal Table, for brief time at tables by characters and the new menu. For non-character breakfast buffets, we prefer The Wave (CR) or Trail's End (FW).

 

[amy1981]

1900 Park Fare Breakfast is one of our favorites. They have Mary Poppins, Alice, The Mad Hatter and Tigger & Pooh. The face characters are funny & very interactive and have always gone out of their way - especially when my kids were younger and a bit shy. The food has always been great as well, the strawberry soup is a must do for my kids...on our first visit the Mad Hatter asked my daughter "if it's called strawberry soup don't you need to eat it with a straw? Otherwise they should call it spoonberry!" She still laughs about it and has to have 'spoonberry' soup on every trip. The fact that it's in the beautiful Grand Floridian and a monorail ride away from MK or Epcot is also a big plus for us.

 

[melana]

1900 Park Fare Breakfast and OHana Breakfast are my two top picks.

 

[LBlovesM&WDW]

We've done 1900 PF for breakfast and thought it was very good, food wise and character interaction.

 

[BanditsMommy]

I'm a huge fan of the Crystal Palace. I'm a huge Pooh fan though. Getting a PPO reservation and feeling like you have the Magic Kingdom to yourself is a great added bonus as well!

Oh I also always do breakfast and they are, I believe, the only location that serves chocolate mickey waffles. YUM!

 

[Momof2Singers]

A vote for the GARDEN GRILL, ours used to be Crystal Palace, depends if you want a buffet, we love CRT and BOG, but you really go there for the environment.

 

[TristiK]

We loved Cape May. The food was very good and DD loved seeing the characters in their swimsuits. It was Minnue, Donald and Goofy.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

we've done 1900 Park Fare for breakfast and the characters are great interactions there! Here's our list of character dining preferences!

1. Crystal Palace - Breakfast
2. 1900 Park Fare - Dinner
3. Ohana - Breakfast
4. Garden Grill - Dinner (they now serve breakfast but we have not tried that yet. We are anxious to do breakfast on our next trip though)
5. Akershus - Breakfast
6. Tusker House - Lunch (we have only eaten lunch here, but plan on trying breakfast for the next trip)
7. 1900 Park Fare - Breakfast
8. Chef Mickey's - Breakfast (this is a solid choice, but its low on my list bc I just feel tired of it, lol)
9. Hollywood & Vine - Breakfast (they have a new dinner, but I still pick breakfast bc we see enough of Minnie and friends, lol)

There is also Cape May Cafe which we have heard wonderful things about for breakfast but we have never actually eaten there so I can't really put them on my rating list, lol...We usually eat at all these places each trip, lol...well next trip we are skipping 1900 Park Fare breakfast, bc we are trying Boma instead but its ok bc my kids still get to see Pooh and Tigger at Crystal Palace and they really don't know who Alice in Wonderland characters are or Mary Poppins so I felt ok dropping that from our normal list, lol

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Crystal Palace

 

[Malibustyle23]

My vote would be 1900 for breakfast or Garden Grill for dinner or lunch.

@TheRustyScupper how does the rankings get listed in the system? Surveys? When? How?