Character Breakfast: pls help me decide

[heatherfeather24]

Hi Everyone --

I've been put in charge of dining for our group of 9 who will be traveling to WDW this Spring. We are 6 adults and three boys under the age of 5. We are not big TS people, but would like to do a character breakfast one morning.
The boys are familiar with character breakfasts as the are DL vets (Goofy's Kitchen in the DL Hotel is our usual there), but they have never been to WDW before. The adults in our group have previously done 1900 Park Faire and Crystal Palace -- but those were years (lots of years) ago.

Our two biggest priorities for this breakfast are convenience and characters that will appeal to boys.

We're staying at POR and figure that we'll be spending most of our time in the MK. I think it's safe to say that princess breakfasts are not going to be our thing. That said, where should we go?

Thanks!
HF24

 

[Bowen9475]

I would suggest Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary.

 

[troynkasey]

If you want convenience, then Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom is your best bet. Plus it has some of the best food. Chef Mickey's is another option, but you'll have to take the bus to MK and then the monorail over to CR or walk. Not a major inconvenience, but with 9 people, it could be. Especially with smaller children.

Another option is Donald's Safari Breakfast at AK. This is by far my favorite as far as food goes. Plus you get to see some of the main characters where as Crystal Palace is Pooh and Friends. Only drawback is it's at AK.

I'd go with Crystal Palace. We've been there a few times and never had a bad experience and you can get an early reservation and then you're in MK early and ready to go...

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I really like Crystal Palace at MK, Tusker House at AK, and Ohana I found suprisingly good.

 

[Rania]

Chef Mickey's @ Contemporary.

 

[tikimimi]

Hi Everyone --

I've been put in charge of dining for our group of 9 who will be traveling to WDW this Spring. We are 6 adults and three boys under the age of 5. We are not big TS people, but would like to do a character breakfast one morning.
The boys are familiar with character breakfasts as the are DL vets (Goofy's Kitchen in the DL Hotel is our usual there), but they have never been to WDW before. The adults in our group have previously done 1900 Park Faire and Crystal Palace -- but those were years (lots of years) ago.

Our two biggest priorities for this breakfast are convenience and characters that will appeal to boys.

We're staying at POR and figure that we'll be spending most of our time in the MK. I think it's safe to say that princess breakfasts are not going to be our thing. That said, where should we go?

Thanks!
HF24

Which characters are the boys' favorites? Staying at POR it is a given you will be going elsewhere for breakfast, so what will be your method of transportation? Disney or personal car?

If Mickey is a favorite, Chef Mickey's is great! He, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto appeared recently, but several folks have said the character interaction time is rushed. Donald Duck is my husband's favorite, and we have really enjoyed Cape May's DD breakfast. Goofy and Minnie are there too, and the interaction with the characters is better than at many others.

The priority for the boys really depends on who they want to see. The priority for convenience is determined more by what transportation you'll be using.

 

[ilovejsparrow]

It sounds like Chef Mickey's would be best for your group, IMO!

 

[MSLRAC]

I'd opt for Donald's Safari Breakfast at Tusker House on your Animal Kingdom day.

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

I always have to recommend Cape May Cafe, its great on the morning of a Epcot or DHS, its our favorite charater breakfast!

 

[stitchlover]

I would suggest Chef Mickey, O'Hana or Cape May. I think those characters would appeal to boys.

 

[roxiepenguin]

Let me be the vote for NOT The Crystal Palace!!!
We had the char bkfst the first day of our trip and were really let down.

We checked in at the front w/ our ADR info... behind a lady asking for walk-up ressies. They took her name/info, then got to us. Guess who was in and seated before us? Yep, lady ahead of us without ADR.

Oh well, it's not going to ruin our day.

We had a pretty late ADR time but it was interesting to see so many empty tables when we finally got in. (Did I mention where we passed a LOT of tables full of very bored-looking families obviously done with their food and just waiting for characters?!?!)

Meet server. Server with bright, alarmingly-blue eye shadow. Not very "Disney". (I think this is the point in the trip I was starting to see what all the folks on here are talking about with "Disney going downhill".) Anywhooo. Server informed us it would take an hour and 15 minutes to see all of the characters. (Thus, the bored-family syndrome is explained!)

Each trip to the buffet was uneventful and the food was cold and/or rock hard by the time we got back to the table. The 'chef' making the omelette for my DBF had zero personality, but at least the omelette stayed a little warmer.

We were on DDP and if we had paid for this OOP we would've been even more disappointed. As it was, we chocked it up to a late bkfst ADR so the CMs must've been getting tired after the rush, kitchen wasn't making fresh food... whatever.

It didn't ruin our day but I CERTAINLY would not recommend this dining exp!!!

(Only real positive I did learn: DO make a later ADR time for the meal you're having! The restaurant was almost empty by the time we were done and all four characters were out and about, taking time at each table, Tigger had time (and room) to bounce around on chairs, etc.)

 

[sazzifrazz]

I would skip crystal palace unless the boys love pook characters. My son is not into it at all at age 4, he thinks its babyish. We are doing hollywood and vine with handy manny at DHS. I heard the food is just OK, but character interaction is great. We are also doing O'hana breakfast with mickey, pluto, and stitch. The food is served family style.

 

[swi1231]

I too am in charged of a group of 9 traveling during Christmas week. After much thought I have chose O'hana for Chritmas day breakfast due to the easy access the parks via Monarail and I thimk my boys (6,11) will enjoy the characters.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

My vote is Tusker House breakfast buffet (good food, great juice and less hectic to get food)

 

[ipodluvr287]

Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey are both wonderful! Love them both

 

[hbehrman]

If you want convenience, then Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom is your best bet. Plus it has some of the best food. Chef Mickey's is another option, but you'll have to take the bus to MK and then the monorail over to CR or walk. Not a major inconvenience, but with 9 people, it could be. Especially with smaller children.

Another option is Donald's Safari Breakfast at AK. This is by far my favorite as far as food goes. Plus you get to see some of the main characters where as Crystal Palace is Pooh and Friends. Only drawback is it's at AK.

I'd go with Crystal Palace. We've been there a few times and never had a bad experience and you can get an early reservation and then you're in MK early and ready to go...

I must pipe in here and say we did Donald's Safari Breakfast at AK last Friday and it was the absolute worst meal (and we have done most character meals) and experience that we have ever had at Disney and we were not alone. We had a 10:05 ressie, checked in 15 min ahead of time. waited an additional 40 minutes past our reservation t get in line for the Donald pic. As we waited I inquired and people were still waiting that had 9:30 ressies. There was little or no food on the buffets at any time, we had poor service and very little character time for the kids. My wife after going to the buffet and seeing almost no food being served, turned to me and said "Never again". I then went to the buffet and still no food, except on the kids buffet. Repeated trips with the same result. Truly a disappointment for us as we were NOT on the Dining plan and it was the kids only character meal of the trip (and our last day).

Just be warned this may not be the case all the time, but it can happen. Also the room and seating arrangements were not really conducive to the experience and it was really loud.

 

[dalstitch45]

Even though Chef Mickey's has a lot of character appeal, the food has gotten progressively worse over the last three (3) years. This place used to be my favorite, but I won't go there now. O'Hana's is a good choice for both your requirements.

 

[AlwaysDreamofDisney]

Saw here on the DIS boards that Mickey is NO longer going from table to table at Chef Mickey's! Only posing for pix out front.

 

[RCMommy]

I must pipe in here and say we did Donald's Safari Breakfast at AK last Friday and it was the absolute worst meal (and we have done most character meals) and experience that we have ever had at Disney and we were not alone. We had a 10:05 ressie, checked in 15 min ahead of time. waited an additional 40 minutes past our reservation t get in line for the Donald pic. As we waited I inquired and people were still waiting that had 9:30 ressies. There was little or no food on the buffets at any time, we had poor service and very little character time for the kids. My wife after going to the buffet and seeing almost no food being served, turned to me and said "Never again". I then went to the buffet and still no food, except on the kids buffet. Repeated trips with the same result. Truly a disappointment for us as we were NOT on the Dining plan and it was the kids only character meal of the trip (and our last day).

Just be warned this may not be the case all the time, but it can happen. Also the room and seating arrangements were not really conducive to the experience and it was really loud.

Wow, we had the opposite experience each time we have eaten at Tusker's for breakfast (3-4xs) We were seated right away. Never had an issue with the food dishes being empty at the buffet. Good service, don't really remember any negatives at all. The food wasn't our favourite but it wasn't bad. Our two kids like the character experiences at Tusker's because you get to get up and interact with the characters and not just for pictures. The last two times we were there, they passed out musical instruments and the kids formed a conga line playing music together with the chracters and then dancing in the middle. They did a similar line at the Poly with Stitch and Lilo.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

Saw here on the DIS boards that Mickey is NO longer going from table to table at Chef Mickey's! Only posing for pix out front.

That was just a test. Numerous reports have said that Mickey is now circulating again.