Character Meal Decision

[Samanth1234]

Hi Disboards! I am planning our first family trip to the world April 29-May 5th, 2017 and our ADR opens tomorrow morning. I am having so much trouble deciding what reservations to book. I was hoping to get some opinions!
Our family is me, my DH and our two girls C who will be 5, and H who will be almost 3.

I would like to book 3 nicer meals during our trip.
I would like to do 1 dinner on our arrival, 1 early breakfast, and 1 more.
I have narrowed it down to these 5 and why I am considering them:

1900 Park Fare dinner - I think the characters here would be fun, either breakfast or dinner. Is one better than the other?
Chef Mickey's - You get the 5 and it is close to our hotel. I was thinking this might be a good choice for our travel day.
Garden Grill Dinner - Sounds like great food, but characters are pretty close to Chef Mickey's. I am having a really hard time deciding between this and Chef Mickey's.
Akershus Breakfast - Princesses, would like to do PPO Breakfast
Ohana's - I know not a character meal, but the food sounds great. Would this meal be ok for the girls?

I am also open to other suggestions/ideas.
Which 3 would you pick?
My girls are not really into any character specifically. They know some of the princesses and like to dress up occasionally but don't have a favorite.
Thanks so much for any help you can offer!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Food is much superior at Garden Grill over Chef Mickey.

Ohana is a character meal at breakfast. I don't see why it wouldn't be fine for your kids unless your kids are vegetarian or something. My kids kept our server busy with the grilled shrimp.

I would say do Akershus or 1900PF, Garden Grill and Ohana.

 

[wishing4PA]

My (then 4 y.o.) DD was into princesses at the time of her first visit. I was very glad to have an Akershus lunch planned for our first full park day. It kept me from feeling like I needed to hunt down royalty later for autographs. It also was the most expensive meal DH and I had since our marriage, and DD barely ate anything because she was enthralled by the princesses.
GG is hard to beat, IMHO. Well worth it. Ride Living with the Land first, and the girls will probably enjoy the rotation more.
As for the others, well, I'm not a big CM fan, but it's a classic. Hard to miss.
I love Tusker House, but again, character overlap. How about the Crystal Palace for Pooh and friends?

 

[cassie58]

Akershus is a good option for princesses, and PPO is good to do Frozen ride after at opening, and then meet and greet. 1900 PF dinner is a lot if fun with stepsisters, but may not want two princess meals for 1st trip, so maybe one of these. We love CP brft with Pooh and Tigger, and great spot across from castle - also great PPO is you can get it to have some less crowded pics on Main Street, and hit Fantasyland early, or can do as late brft/brunch after getting some rides done. Also love Tusker House in AK - can do Safari and Pagani Trail, then late brft/early lunch around 10:30, then do Lion King show after - Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy in Safari gear. Chef Mickey's was our first meal on first trip - great atmosphere and Fab 5 with monorail running through, just know food reviews have not been as good lately, and it is the most expensive character meal(other than castle) if paying OOP. All that you listed are good choices, do you will have fun with any! ( And the rest you can save for the next trip!)

 

[wishing4PA]

I just realized I didn't answer OP's question, I just added in another thing or 2 to consider lol!
So okay, if I absolutely had to pick only 3 for a first visit with 3 and 5 y.o. girls, I'd give up Garden Grill.
Tusker House late breakfast when they are starting to put out the lunch food (as cassie58 mentioned, and yes, you can eat lunch food if you're seated for the late breakfast.
Akershus as early as possible for the early breakfast (unless your family is prefers something more unique, then do lunch or dinner.)
And Crystal Palace for dinner (unless you can get an early CP reservation and want to make one of the others your dinner.)

 

[Narawen]

1900PF has different character for breakfast and dinner. If you do Akershus you'll have Cinderella already, but the Tremaines at 1900PF dinner are fun. We did breakfast there last trip and really enjoyed the british character breakfast, and the mix of face and fur characters. Crystal Palace breakfast is our #1 favorite meal though.

I'd do Akershus, Ohana dinner, and 1900PF breakfast.

 

[Samanth1234]

Food is much superior at Garden Grill over Chef Mickey.

Ohana is a character meal at breakfast. I don't see why it wouldn't be fine for your kids unless your kids are vegetarian or something. My kids kept our server busy with the grilled shrimp.

I would say do Akershus or 1900PF, Garden Grill and Ohana.

Thank you for your help! I guess I was just wondering if O'Hana will get a little long for the kiddos. Also, they are not the most adventurous eaters so not sure if they will eat anything there.

 

[cassie58]

Deleted

 

[nursejackie]

Our breakfast experiences:

Chef Mickey's - we used to always have a 7am booking as it gets very busy so we were usually seated first or second, saw all the characters and left. Good choice of food at Breakfast.

Tusker House - bad experience as the characters were just not interested, we actually complained to management and would not go back. Maybe they were just having a bad day.

Cape May - lovely and quiet, the characters usually get to our table twice at breakfast. Lovely resort and you can walk to Epcot after breakfast.

Garden Grill - our new favourite, the food and characters come to you, it's more peaceful than some others and you get to 'ride' Living with the Land while eating breakfast. We eat at 8am PPO then get in line at Soarin' for 9am opening.

Crystal Palace - our absolute favourite - PPO 8am breakfast, lovely restaurant, great choice of food, but 9yo boy 'over winnie the pooh'

Ohana - I never went but other party members did, food not the best but character interactions good, I am told.

1900 Fare - we have our first booking this year (breakfast and new brunch - will drop one) and we are really looking forward to it. The Mad Hatter and Mary Poppins being the draw for us.

Our choices were always based on the characters, rather than the food quality as it was important to our now 9yo. I think time is running our for us though and next year or possibly year after he will be 'over them' unless they start a Star Wars breakfast year round!

 

[Nancyg56]

Im in the minority, but our arrival dinner with children is always Chef Mickey's. We take a spin on the monorail, check our the view and then dinner in the CR, at CM. For my family, you cannot get more Disney than that.

PPO breakfast would be AKershus. It is my new favorite for early morning Princess meals.

'Ohana dinner is not a favorite of mine, but my family loves it. I think it gives you plenty of food, a chance to visit the Poly, and can be fun.

I think that 1900 PF is a great choice at dinner. The Grand is splendid and you can have more fun with teh Tremaine Family. Cindy and Charming are there, but for us, the draw is the Sisters. They are a hoot!

If you need to make a choice between GG and CM, and you are in EPcot at lunch or Dinner, Garden Grill is pretty darn sweet. The Chipmunks are fun adn the meal is brough to you, which is a treat when you are balancing children adn food and character interactions. I find GG more relaxing.

 

[Samanth1234]

Thank you everyone for your help! We decided to go with Chef Mickey's for our arrival day supper. I chose this because it just seems easier and since we aren't going to any parks that day I thought it would be fun for the kids. I also got a Crystal Palace PPO because so many of you recommended it - can't wait for Pooh! We also chose Akershus late breakfast on our sleep in day - because Princesses I really wanted to get some better meals for food in, but I am hoping to be back again so I figured we can do those when the kids are older. I honestly am not super excited about Chef Mickey's on arrival day because I would rather do O'Hana's for the food or 1900 Park Fare for the characters but I think the kids will like Chef Mickey's the best and we can walk there. I will probably change this reservation 10 times before we leave though.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I think BOG dinner is delightful. Dinner at the beasts castle amazing. Or consider one meal here. They do breakfast and lunch also.

Love Chef Mickey choice.

We like Prime Time also not characters but it is fun!

Also maybe sneak in an ADR for beaches and cream? The kitchen sink!

 

[Nancyg56]

Thank you everyone for your help! We decided to go with Chef Mickey's for our arrival day supper. I chose this because it just seems easier and since we aren't going to any parks that day I thought it would be fun for the kids. I also got a Crystal Palace PPO because so many of you recommended it - can't wait for Pooh! We also chose Akershus late breakfast on our sleep in day - because Princesses I really wanted to get some better meals for food in, but I am hoping to be back again so I figured we can do those when the kids are older. I honestly am not super excited about Chef Mickey's on arrival day because I would rather do O'Hana's for the food or 1900 Park Fare for the characters but I think the kids will like Chef Mickey's the best and we can walk there. I will probably change this reservation 10 times before we leave though.

If it makes you feel better, last August 'Ohana was the worst meal of our trip, and honestly was the worst we have ever had in over ten years of Disney Dining, amd Chef Mickey's was the best experience for my girls. The dining roster included Akershus, 'Ohana with Lilo and Stitch, 1900 Park Fare breakfast and dinner, and CRT dinner. Make the meal an experience by giving yourself plenty of time to take the Epcot loop of the monorail, and then the resort loop. WE have found that is a really fun way to get the party started.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

IMO, 1900 Park Fare dinner is not to be missed (if you enjoy characters).

My other favorites are Crystal Palace (any meal) and Tusker House (breakfast).

 

[Samanth1234]

I think BOG dinner is delightful. Dinner at the beasts castle amazing. Or consider one meal here. They do breakfast and lunch also.

Love Chef Mickey choice.

We like Prime Time also not characters but it is fun!

!

We
I am hoping Chef Michey's will be a fun way to start off the trip
Also maybe sneak in an ADR for beaches and cream? The kitchen sink
are going to do a lunch at BOG. I want to see the inside.
Prime Time and Beaches and Cream are definitely on my list for next time!

 

[Melwhit16]

I think you did great!
Crystal Palace has great food and we loved the characters. We ate for dinner.
Akershus was a must for our princess. We did lunch but the kids hated the food buffet. Loved Belle and the princesses.
Chef Mickey- kind of crazy but the food was good and the fab 5 a must!

1900 for breakfast had great characters. But I love Mary popping and everyone loved the mad hatter he was funny.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Thank you everyone for your help! We decided to go with Chef Mickey's for our arrival day supper. I chose this because it just seems easier and since we aren't going to any parks that day I thought it would be fun for the kids. I also got a Crystal Palace PPO because so many of you recommended it - can't wait for Pooh! We also chose Akershus late breakfast on our sleep in day - because Princesses I really wanted to get some better meals for food in, but I am hoping to be back again so I figured we can do those when the kids are older. I honestly am not super excited about Chef Mickey's on arrival day because I would rather do O'Hana's for the food or 1900 Park Fare for the characters but I think the kids will like Chef Mickey's the best and we can walk there. I will probably change this reservation 10 times before we leave though.

We always do CM on arrival day. It is my DS16 favorite place to eat. We've done dinner and breakfast and never had a bad meal. Last trip the food was REALLY good for dinner. We try to make the ADR around 5ish before it gets too chaotic.

 

[Samanth1234]

We always do CM on arrival day. It is my DS16 favorite place to eat. We've done dinner and breakfast and never had a bad meal. Last trip the food was REALLY good for dinner. We try to make the ADR around 5ish before it gets too chaotic.

Thanks! This helps!

 

[Corbinator]

Thank you everyone for your help! We decided to go with Chef Mickey's for our arrival day supper. I chose this because it just seems easier and since we aren't going to any parks that day I thought it would be fun for the kids. I also got a Crystal Palace PPO because so many of you recommended it - can't wait for Pooh! We also chose Akershus late breakfast on our sleep in day - because Princesses I really wanted to get some better meals for food in, but I am hoping to be back again so I figured we can do those when the kids are older. I honestly am not super excited about Chef Mickey's on arrival day because I would rather do O'Hana's for the food or 1900 Park Fare for the characters but I think the kids will like Chef Mickey's the best and we can walk there. I will probably change this reservation 10 times before we leave though.

I bet you will love CP for ppo bf. My kids enjoyed it. Great choice. It's a classic. The buffet had way more choices than I expected. You can even have chocolate ice cream for breakfast if you want And getting a head start at MK is essential. Go to bed as early as you can every night.

 

[Lavitz]

Akershus with 2 young girls is perfect, it's probably our favourite restaurant. One thing to note, for breakfast they have a few hot items they serve family style, and they have a cold buffet with non traditional breakfast food. The cold buffet doesn't sound like our thing, so we go to lunch/dinner because the food is always amazing then. Google a breakfast review if you it worries you.

Besides that I can only mention what I heard, as I'm trying GG, CM and Ohana for the first time this trip. Most say Ohana is great no matter when, but I chose breakfast since the kids love Lilo and Stitch and breakfast is pretty much the same most places. I'd choose GG over CM only because most people tend to agree it's better, but you should be fine either way and I'm sure I'll be loving bother after this trip.