Character Dining

[winterwonderland2011]

Hello All,

I have several ?'s about character dining. I am wanting to choose the best two. My DD (3) is a fan of Pooh and Friends and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I saw the Crystal Palace offers Bk, lunch, dinner dining... do these all include the characters??? And also is Cape May Cafe better or Chef Mickeys? Trying to decide what time of day and which ones to take her to. Thanks for the help!!!!

 

[OhThePain]

Yes. At CP all the meals have WtP, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger. I would suggest breakfast over the other meals since the last 2 dinners we had were increasingly disappointing. 1900 Park Fare breakfast also has Pooh and Tigger (along with Alice, the Mad Hatter and Mary Poppins, incase you wanted more of a variety).

We haven't made it to Cape May for breakfast yet. I have heard good things about both breakfast and dinner there (I believe only breakfast has characters). Unless staying in that area it could be a tough place to get to. CM has a decent breakfast. It is the only meal that allows you to see each of the Fab 5.

Another option is Dnald's Breakfast Safari at TH in AK. You get a picture taken with Donald outside. Mickey, Goofy, Daisy and Minnie (I think, I can't remember) visit the tables. We like the food better there then at CP or CM, but that's just our opinion.

 

[PictureJumpr]

Crystal Palace is one of my personal favorites, I usually book us for a late breakfast (early lunch) and we enjoy 'brunch' with Pooh and the gang. The characters are at all three meals for this restaurant.

Cape May is a good breakfast - just be aware, Mickey is not there. Minnie is, as are Donald and Goofy, but no Big Cheese.

We avoid Chef Mickey's like the plague because it is always such a madhouse, and the food quality does not make the effort worthwhile.

Mickey appears at the Ohana breakfast along with Lilo and Stitch (family-style = all-you-can-eat platters served to your table, no buffet line at this one), and he appears at the Garden Grill dinner along with Chip, Dale, and Pluto (also family-style rather than buffet).

 

[Hootch]

are at all meals at Crystal Palace. Cape May has better food and a quieter atmosphere, however you pick up Pluto and Mickey at CM. Pluto's a must for us so we go to CM every trip.

 

[Pakey]

Another thing to consider regarding Cape May is the logistics of getting there. We stay in the Epcot resorts so it's easy but if you are staying elsewhere and relying on Disney transportation, its a bit of a pain to get here.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

We are doing Crystal Palae for Pooh and Chef Mickey's for Mickey and Friends. I hear that the food at Tusker House is way better, BUT Tusker House doesn't have Minnie. Minnie is important to my DDs so we went with Chef Mickey's. Minnie is at Cape May too for breakfast, but the logistics will be difficult as far as getting there in the morning (we're a family of 5 and not early risers), as we won't have a car. Chef Mickey's is really easy to get to. The food is only supposed to be so-so, but we're going for the characters, not the food. I'm sure we'll find something decent to eat!

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

Yes. At CP all the meals have WtP, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger. I would suggest breakfast over the other meals since the last 2 dinners we had were increasingly disappointing. 1900 Park Fare breakfast also has Pooh and Tigger (along with Alice, the Mad Hatter and Mary Poppins, incase you wanted more of a variety).

We haven't made it to Cape May for breakfast yet. I have heard good things about both breakfast and dinner there (I believe only breakfast has characters). Unless staying in that area it could be a tough place to get to. CM has a decent breakfast. It is the only meal that allows you to see each of the Fab 5.

Another option is Dnald's Breakfast Safari at TH in AK. You get a picture taken with Donald outside. Mickey, Goofy, Daisy and Minnie (I think, I can't remember) visit the tables. We like the food better there then at CP or CM, but that's just our opinion.

Minnie is NOT at Tusker House. It's Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Daisy.

 

[winterwonderland2011]

Many thanks! these posts will help SO much! I am not going till March 2011 but am trying to get all the information that I can about everything!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you! Any and all info greatly appreciated!

 

[crostorfer]

We did all of the character meals with the exception of the Garden Grill, 1900 Park Fare, and the one at the Swan on our last trip. Hope my dining review helps you, here is the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2568433

 

[OhThePain]

Minnie is NOT at Tusker House. It's Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Daisy.

Thanks. I couldn't remember. We did 5 character meals this past trip and for some reason I lost track of who was at TH.

 

[Brian J.]

We have 3 daughter's and they have always loved both CP and Chef Mickey's. The food at Chef Mickey's always gets bashed but honestly we have eaten there more than ten times and it always has been fine. Have fun!!

 

[winterwonderland2011]

Good to know! CP amd CM are two that I know we will go to. What are your opinions on TH?

 

[Hobbes]

I agree with the post who said go for a late brekkie at CP-DBf and I went around 10.15, and its bliss as its fairly empty by then (It really does get like a madhouse earlier)
Only thing is, I can't remember if they still do the parade then-all the little munchkins get to march around behind pooh and Tigger doing (I think) "The hunny-pot parade" but i don't recall whether they still do it that late in the morning-a lot less little munchkins! On the other hand, less kids =more character time for your little munchkins-just try NOT to be eating sausages and bacon when Piglet comes to visit you!

 

[Hobbes]

ignore-dup posting!

 

[jchrapcyn]

We did dinner buffet at Garden Grove at The Swan. We took the boat over from DHS- my daughter loved the ride. The Swan and Dolphin are lovely hotels. The buffet was good but overpriced IMO. We had a $25 restaurant.com certificate and the bill was still $80 for 2 adults and one child. All my daughter ate was 2 mini corn dogs. I liked the marinated skirt steak and the sauteed green beans, the mini lemon meragne tarts were good too. We saw Timon and Rafiki on a Monday night- the place was only half full. We had a very rude family next to us- the kids were crazy out of control and at one point the mom said very loudly "I can't believe we paid bleeping-bleep to see a rat and a monkey- let's go!"

 

[yaksack]

Chef Mickey and te Crystal Palace are my kid's favorites. My DD10 and DD5 have been going there for years.

 

[Kris10grl]

We just got back from Disney this week and ate at Chef Mickeys. Honestly after reading the reviews I was scared because they were terrible. They were late getting our table ready but we had a party of 8. I thought the food was really good it was fresh and hot and and no time did we feel rushed we actually saw the characters twice. Goofy noticed my daughter was afraid and went through the trouble of going down to the buffet and getting an orange to play fetch with her to get her to warm up to him I swear he was at the table for 10 minutes. We had a great experience there and you see all of the characters. It is loud but we really didn't notice. We would definitely go back for dinner.

We have eaten at Chef Mickeys for breakfast and at 1900 Park Fare on a previous trip back in May and it was O.K. We got there at the tail end of breakfast and it was cold and not that fresh. So if you do breakfast I would advise going earlier.

 

[winterwonderland2011]

I want to say thanks to all of you who have posted and helped with these decisions! There are so many to make!!!! LOL

I have decided to do CP for breakfast and Chef Mickey for dinner for sure, the other I am still pondering on. Dont want to do too many but that is only 2 in 6 days! So I may throw in another one!

Thanks again!!!!