Character dining help!!!

[bribugg13]

Hello! New here, and my parents booked our first resort vacation. DH and I took our 4 year old for a day trip to MK for his birthday (we live in Jacksonville), but this is our first BIG vacation! We're staying at the Art of Animation resort and plan on doing HS and 2 days at MK. They booked the deluxe dining plan and I've been reading about restaurants and reservations until my eyes crossed!

I really want to give my 4 year old a character dining experience with Mickey & gang, but I'm reading not-so-great reviews about Chef Mickey (which was my first choice). What would you all recommend for a fun character experience for him? Of course there are NO ADRs right now....hopefully that will change. I'm thinking Hollywood & Vine (he loves Disney JR), or Tusker House? Does Ohana's have characters other than Lilo & Stitch?

It's ALL SO OVERWHELMING!! AAHHH!!!!

Thank you!

 

[crewsn]

Are you just thinking characters or really set on the "fab 5"? At MK there is CRT or CP. No Mickey and gang.

You can hop over to one of the monorail resorts i.e. Contemporary for Chef Mickey where you will get the 5, breakfast at Ohana with LILO, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto, or breakfast or dinner at 1900 PF. There won't be Mickey there either though.

There is also Cape May breakfast with Minnie, Goofy, and Donald.

Though are you on site or offsite? Access to a car? You have to consider how long it will take to get there if not in a car or when you can get a reservation. Would it be on a day you are trying to go to the parks. Going to a breakfast during prime morning times wouldn't be best unless you can get a time before park open then go straight to the park.

It really depends on who you want to see and when. IMO I wouldn't worry about all the reviews. You are going because you want the characters right? I never go in thinking food is why I am there. Otherwise I would be somewhere else. Your paying to get to eat with the characters.

Also you mentioned Tusker House but didn't say you were going to AK. You wouldn't be able to eat there if not going to the park. This would be the same for Epcot meals.

 

[bribugg13]

We have 3 day park hopper passes, so we can essentially eat at any restaurant in the parks. We are driving up on Friday morning, and plan on hitting HS firsts. Then spending Sat/Sun at MK - with a possibility of hitting up AK one afternoon/evening if DS isn't too worn out. We are staying on site at the Art of Animation.

I'm pretty set on dining with Mickey - mostly because he's my sons favorite. The reviews I read about CM were in regards to the characters, some say they don't spend a lot of time with the tables and it was one of the worse character experiences they had. I definitely want the best character experience for my son! If I can get a character dining at Hollywood & Vine, I'd take it!

 

[Dano13]

I have never had a problem at Chef Mickeys, it is very fun and you get the big 5 character. You may even get a table overlooking the castle like we did last time. It isn't gourmet food, but it is passable and a fun atmosphere. We did he ohana breakfast last week and it was really good. My favorite character breakfast so far out of the ones we have done. The food was very good and you get Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stiitch. They have a time where the kids can do a conga line with the characters with maroccas and they all had fun.

 

[Baptist]

Don't let any bad reviews about Chef Mickey's sway you. We love Chef Mickey's! This December will be our 3rd time there. We have also done Hollywood and Vine. It's good too (especially if you can get an early reservation).

Have you considered Crystal Palace? It's Pooh and Friends for characters. I'm sure it would be fun for a 4 year old.

Have a great time!

 

[monique5]

For every bad review there's a good review. As OP mentioned do not let bad review sway you. We are eating there 2x on our next trip. However, our favorites are TH & H&V. Characters B & L. TH- Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Goofy. H&V-Jake, Handy Manny, Sofia & Doc. This is the only ace to meet Doc McStuffins.

 

[Tilnar]

As lovers of character dining (something about it makes everyone a super-happy kid again -- even my father in his 70s), we've more than once done trips where we had at least one character meal per day... So I'll highly recommend trying to get in as many as you can.

If your goal are the more "mainline" Disney characters, I'd recommend a breakfast at Tuskers and one at Cape May -- between the two, you're pretty much golden. Throw in a visit with everyone's favourite chipmunks at the Garden Grill, and you've got 3 excellent character experiences.

(Having said that, I'd personally be sad not to see Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger at Crystal Palace, but then, I'm a huge fan of that too)

 

[jmanderson10]

I'm also a total noob to this so I will just tell you what I have decided to do. I was overwhelmed with both the options and the reviews. I eventually decided to ignore the reviews. You always have to remember that these places see HUGE volumes of people and that people who have a tendency to complain are much more likely to go out and post reviews. People who have good experiences tend to just leave it at that. We are concentrating on Cafe Mickey, Hollywood and Vine, and Cape May. Now I am finding that availability is more of an issue than desire to go there!