Character Dining??

[LaCroix101103]

Hello I have been to WDW 2 time's, this Sept will be my 3rd, but 1st with my 4 year old son. I was wondering if I could get some help choosing which ones to go to. My wife and I have looked at these 4 :

Crystal Palace
Playhouse Disney at Hollywood & Vine
Tusker House
Mickey's backyard BBQ

If you guys could please rate best to last, or even tell us about some other good ones you might know about, you would help my family have an even better time at the World..

thank you very much.

 

[stormer]

We have done two of those - Crystal Palace and Playhouse Disney at Hollywood & Vine.

CP is very nice, good food (we did breakfast) and nice character interaction. If you like Pooh and friends it is a good choice.

Playhouse Disney we did for lunch. The food was average but the atmosphere was our favorite. The characters were great. They had the kids up and singing and dancing. Definately a good time. if your kids like these characters they will love this meal.

 

[scrappinstevie]

What characters does your son favor?

My son loves Donald Duck so we are going to the Tusker House breakfast. We also like Crystal palace....didn't care for Hollywood and Vine and have never gone to the BBQ.

 

[Poohbeck]

We did CP and Tusker House when our boys were younger; they absoulety loved it. They are 9 and 11 now.

They loved the CS at Pizza Planet too!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We've done Crystal Palace for dinner twice and enjoyed it. We did the Play-N-Dine last September for breakfast and I thought it was just average. The characters were good, though, despite that Jo-Jo and Goliath are not in the prime viewing hours and my toddler had no clue who they were.

I really thought Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary was the best character meal we had.

 

[KatMark]

We do Crystal Palace for breakfast every year...it is our favorite--food wise, service wise and character wise. We have done Chef Mickey's in the past and enjoyed it as well. This year we are trying Cape May Cafe for breakfast becasue we hear it is terrific.

I think it all depends on what characters your son likes the most.

 

[Mkrop]

We did CP for lunch and it was great, very good food and the charcters were great.

Playhouse Disney was breakfast and once again pretty good and DS5 was star struck with Leo.

We also like Garden Grill at Epcot, family style, with Farmer Mcikey, Pluto, Chip and Dale.

Chef Mickey we did for breakfast and liked that too.

 

[mla2177]

I've been to Cp for lunch and thought the food and atmosphere were good. I also did Hollywood and Vine for breakfast and must agree with others that the food was average, but the character interaction was great. I did Chef Mickeys for dinner and hated the meal. I had an ADR, but didn't get seated for 30 minutes after our reservation time. Out of four adults, no one liked the food, but the characters were great.

I did notice you did not list Liberty Tree Tavern as an option (dinner only). I don't know if you've already been, but it was one of our favorite meals from our last trip. The food was good, like Thanksgiving dinner (my very picky three year old ate almost everything), and the character selection is good (Micky, Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale). Just an idea!

 

[LaCroix101103]

I just wanted to say thank you to all that responded. These were the places that has the characters that my son likes, I was just wondering how these places were. If any one else would like to add their 2 cents worth, I would be thankful.

 

[TiggerandBelleFanMom]

I can't rate them as the only one we've been to is Crystal Palace, however, I can say that that is my overall FAVORITE Disney World restaurant. (1900 Park Fare @ Grand Floridian would probably be second. We've also been to Hollywood Brown Derby in MGM, Cinderella's Royal Table in MK, Liberty Tree Tavern in MK, Restaurant Akershus in Epcot, Cape May Cafe @ Beach Club, Gulliver's Grill @ Swan.)

We've been twice, once for breakfast before park opening (March 2006) and once for dinner right before MNSSHP (October 2007). The characters were great both times. One time, due to our arriving when a character was already near our table, they almost missed us, but our attentive server called their attention to us, which I thought was nice and above and beyond the call of duty. The characters also do a little parade around the restaurant, maybe once every 30-45 mins. My child was a little shy about this, but said she would if I would do it with her...so I did.

The food is great. At breakfast, they do all the standard stuff (e.g., scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, breakfast meats, breads, mini muffins, assorted fresh cut fruit) plus some extras, like Pooh shaped waffles, breakfast pizza. It was so great for my dd, who just loves strawberries...and who doesn't love Tigger?

At dinner, I particularly liked the salads, including one Southwest style salad and one with blue cheese and red onion. I samples some salads and broccoli and wound up liking them so much that I wound up having a second helping of salads instead of sampling the warm dishes. For dessert, I had two chocolate chip cookies. Yum. DH had some of the hot foods and those were apparently good too.

It is a buffet and a character meal, so you have to like buffets and not mind a certain degree of noise. (Not a problem for me!) If you are fine with those, you should have a good time.

 

[challer]

I did "Pooh & Friends" brekfast at CP (2005) and "Donald & Friends" at Tusker House(1/2008). Cp had Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eyorre (spelling?). TH had Mickey, Donald, Goofy, & Daisy in their safari gear. (They warn you - all are subject to change.) Similar experiences except for both times we made relatively last minute ADRs - CP had a 10:15am reserv available (not great for a 3 yr old), TH had a 9am reserv available (perfect - at Park opening!) The TH experience convinced me that character meals are a must at least once per trip.

Can't comment on the food - we had the kosher option.

 

[LaCroix101103]

i just want to say thank you to everyone who responded you have been a big help.

 

[danielle782001]

We have been to all and we really love Tusker House for our small boys. We love getting the 8 AM reservation and heading right to the Safari when it opens at 9 AM... Character interaction and food is excellent... It is a bit loud and crowded.

We also really like the CP.... Food is wonderful and the selection is tremendous.... This place is also loud but fun.

H&V has a smaller selection of food and it is not as good as the others... Character interaction is good... Is your son into Playhouse Disney characters? Because I would not go if he really is not. It is a good one just not the best.

We really did not like Mickeys BBQ. If you are looking for a character experience that is not a buffet with Mickey, I would suggest: Liberty Tree Tavern in MK or Garden Grill in Epcot.