Cape May breakfast or Crystal Palace lunch?

[TillyMarigold]

Warning: as DH and I are rather cynical people, this post may be a bit offensive! We love Disney, but for totally different reasons than most people do.

--
OK, we had originally not planned to do any character meals at all, but [yes, I know how bad this is going to sound!] DH admitted that he really wants to do one just so that he can send pics to his mother, who hates anything frivolous, thinks Disney is for kids (and kids whose parents have no taste, at that), and can't imagine why we're going there but it must be all my fault. (Yes, we are glad she lives 4500 miles away, why do you ask?)

Personally, I like the characters a lot, don't absolutely require them, but will enjoy meeting them if I get the chance. DH will enjoy my enjoying them but otherwise could take them or leave them. We don't need a whole lot of interaction, just a quick greeting, photo, maybe some sign language. Our primary loves at Disney are quality, service, attention to detail, etc. Oh, and good food.

So, we're trying to decide which character meal to do. We've narrowed it down to two different choices: the Cape May breakfast at Beach Club, or Crystal Palace lunch at MK.

Cape May: we would both much rather see the "classic" characters than the Pooh characters, and we really love breakfast. Also, it would probably be much less crowded and more laid-back. OTOH, it would be rather out of our way, and it seems a little silly to go all the way to the Beach Club out of spite (I guess we could go on our DHS day?)

Crystal Palace: We wouldn't have to take as much time out of our park time, and the food selection looks absolutely amazing—we don't eat red meat or poultry, but there is a ton of vegetarian and seafood dishes at CP that look really unusual (fruit and tofu curry? yum), not like the same old, same old you get elsewhere. OTOH, I'm not a huge fan of the Pooh characters, and DH really dislikes the Disney reinterpretations of them [which reminds me, I really wish you could meet the 'classic' versions of the Pooh characters! you can buy the stuffed animals, so why not?]. And CP is supposed to be extremely loud and crowded, and there have been a lot of not-very-good reviews (besides the loudness, people have complained about the food sitting too long).

So: go out of our way to see the characters we'd rather see with probably better but less interesting food in a quieter setting, or take less time to see characters we're not as interested in with more interesting but probably worse food in a louder environment?

Suggestions for other character meals we could do instead are welcome—preferably either the "classic" characters (I would love to meet Mickey in particular, but don't want to do Chef Mickey's or Garden Grill) or non-princess face characters (DH really wants to meet Mulan, but I think we can catch her in China). We're pretty adventurous eaters in general.

BTW our other plans for meals are: Jiko, California Grill, Boma (breakfast), Kona Café, Raglan Road, and Mamma Melrose. (And probably T-Rex, OOP.)

 

[MickeyNicki]

We have done Cape May breakfast alot and we love it! Have not done CP lunch but have done dinner there and it is just ok...the food is a bit salty the last time we went (Aug 08)

 

[Pakey]

I do not like traditional breakfast items and that's all that Cape May offers so I wasn't thrilled with the food choices but the meal itself was a very pleasant experience. The food was warm, plentiful, the buffet was very clean. Our server was probably one of the better servers we've had anywhere at WDW. The restaurant was quiet, the character interaction was very good, especially with Goofy.

Crystal Palace (although we have done dinner and breakfast, never lunch) is a zoo in comparison. I thought the food was okay but the place is so noisy, seating has been so far behind (15-20 minutes) and the character interaction was fast.