Character Meal Decisions!

[griergirl2]

Ok, so I am having a TERRIBLE time trying to decide which character meals to do! I just booked a five day/four night trip in December with the DDP So I get to have 4 TS...but how in the world do I decide! I have sooo many I want to do, but I have narrowed it down to four...we are doing only character meals this time with DD 17 months at the time
1. Cinderella's Gala Feast Dinner @ GF @ 5:55pm
2. Princess Storybook Dinner @ Akershus @ 4:55pm
3. Crystal Palace Dinner @ 4:30pm
4. Ohana's Character Breakfast @ 8:50am
5. Chef Mickey's Breakfast @ 9:25am
I have all of them booked right now...should we just do all of them (one each day at the moment, in the order they are listed) and pay OOP for one? I so wanted a simple Christmas getaway...I should know better

 

[griergirl2]

Totally should have posted this on the restaurants board...I'm tired Please move it there when possible

 

[Perditamarie]

Well, I wouldn't pay OOP...I think Chef Mickey is the worst food wise (great character interaction though) and I have not read many good reviews regarding service at Cinderellas Gala feast, so I would probably delete one of those. I think Crystal Palace is the best, and the Akershus princesses are very nice and friendly.

Have you considered sprinkling a few meals for you and dh? You may get burned out on characters and when my daughter was that age she wanted NOTHING to do w/characters, especially costumed characters. Have a Plan B in case that is what happens w/you!

 

[ktlm]

I would keep Akershus and Crystal Palace for sure. My then 2 year old went nuts over the Princesses at Akershus last December. Before that she wasn't a princess nut, but ever since we had lunch there our house has been all Princess all the time. At Akershus, you will have a picture with Belle and then 4 princesses come to the table. The food at Crystal Palace is good and you can't beat Pooh. I have heard good things about Ohana, but we haven't tried that one yet. We were at Chef Mickey's in May (thanks to the 4/3 deal- we got to go to WDW twice the same year), the food at dinner was terrible, but I've heard breakfast is decent. Minnie is there, but not at Ohana. We did 1900 Park Fare in May too. We had a long wait for a table. The food was okay- not great, but not bad. It took a really long time for the characters to get around to us, but they were cute. If it were me, I would probably just pay OOP and do them all!

 

[dvcnewgirl]

never mind I just re-read your post and you already have them..

 

[Macduffy]

If you are going to DHS you might want to consider Hollywood n' Dine instead of Ohana if your DD watches Playhouse Disney at all. She might be more familiar with the characters.

We loved Chef Mickey's and it's almost a right of passage for parents of toddlers/preschoolers

 

[Pixieflip]

I agree with the Hollywood and Vine suggestion for her age. We love Chef Mickey's and think the food has been on par with all the other all you can eat breakfast buffets.

Having said that, I wonder if a 17 month old would really want to sit and cooperate with that many table service meals. Keep your reservations, but if also keep in mind you have a lot of years ahead for her to enjoy all sorts of characters at WDW! If you save some for next time, that's okay,too. I'm absolutely not telling you what to do, it's up to you! We have travelled 4 times with a 20 month old and once with an 8 month old and out best plan was always one or two character meals per trip. The days get so hectic and napping/energy levels are so unpredictable.

Whatever you decide, have fun!

 

[griergirl2]

OP here...guess I should have also stated that this will be our second trip this year and that we're doing this one more for the family time. This trip will be me, my DH, DD 17 months, and my mom We're only doing two park days (MK and Epcot) this time...when we went in May we did the whole crazy trip program (during the week of the never ending rain ). So this trip is more for spending time together and just seeing it all decked out for Christmas. We're planning on DTD to see Santa, touring the resorts, etc the other three days we're not at the parks...personally I am leaning towards just keeping all of them. The only one of those we did in May was Akershus, which at 10 months then she loved. We've done Chef Mickey's ourselves on a previous trip, but the other three would all be new to us...oh, still can't decide! Oh, and DD is amazing at meals-she is always a perfect angel and everyone comments on it, so I am not worried about her and sitting at meals...esp. when she can people watch, which she loves it do. And as to naps, she only naps mid-day now usually and has for some time, so hence why I was sticking to dinners/breakfasts to accomodate this.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Moving to the DDP board.

All good choices, OP. I don't know if I would cancel any of them unless you wanted to do a regular TS meal. The CP dinner would be a little bit early for us but I guess if you were to have a light lkunch or even just a snack that day, you'll feel hungry by then.

 

[griergirl2]

We are early dinner people anyways, and with CP having long wait times lately, who knows when we'd actually eat Spectro is at 7 that night so we also wanted to make doubly sure that we were done in time to find a spot and enjoy

 

[Dizneydaz]

We got back about 2-1/2 weeks ago and I'm planning on doing a TR inc. dining. This was our 6th time using DDP , 5th time free.

Here's my thoughts on meals in the parks, and character meals. If you are going for the food, skip the character meals and some of the in park restaurants. We ate at CP for breakfast and PF for dinner on my DD's 10th birthday. The food was just okay. PF's food quality has deteriorated, IMHO. This was our first time at CP. I liked eating at CP so we could enter the park early but I wouldn't return for the food. At 10 my DD is pretty much over most characters, though she still likes Pluto and Chip and Dale. We also ate at 'Ohana for breakfast on our last day.

I find the character meals to all be a little hectic. It's very had to get your kid(s) to concentrate on eating when characters are coming around. Also, you need to be ready yourself with autograph books and cameras.

Of the ones you've mentioned, the only one I haven't done is CM. Of the ones I've eaten at, I like PSB the best, for the food. Lunch or dinner. I wouldn't worry about what your DD will eat, I would chose the place I wanted to eat based on the menu. At 17 months your DD may not be that much into the characters. I would only do 1 or 2 and use the remaining TS for a better meal.

We ate for the first time at Wolfgang Puck Cafe (DTD) this trip and ended up eating there 3 times. 2 dinners and one late lunch. We thought it was that good. Also pretty good, at EPCOT, was Tokyo Dining. Added benefit we had a window seat for Illuminations.

So, those are my thoughts, for what they are worth.

 

[gigi1313]

here's my question... do you really want to do that many buffets w/a 17mos old? i know for me, it's a hassle and prefer the family style character meals... ergo, i would ditch Chef Mickey... besides, based on the time, CM's cuts way into peak park touring time, esp fantasyland (before the crowds) for your dd!

 

[griergirl2]

As I said, we're only planning on doing the parks two days this trip (Tues at Epcot with Akershus dinner, Wed at MK with CP Dinner)...so the other days would be DTD/resort hopping/relaxing what not. We're still debating whether or not to tackle MVMCP on Thursday night or not-lots of crowds and it is just sooo late with a little one. DD really liked the characters in May..we have some amazing pics at the Epcot Character station with her with Mickey and at Akershus and Cinderella's Royal Table with the princesses And we're not really doing them for the food at all. We are not really food people at all...more going for the experiences and the fun family time.

 

[SandrA9810]

If it wasn't for the princesses... Garden Grill is really good, and I enjoy the characters there. It's a much smaller place, or at least it feels that way. And the menu changes seasonally through the year based on what's growing downstairs. And since you're going in december, you could always book at dinner package to watch the candlelight processional. (but I don't know if all levels are worth 2 TS credits or not, Garden Grill is lowest on the tier, so it might be one credit).

There's a ton of things to see at the resorts, you won't miss much in the parks.

Since you'll be in the monorail loop your first and final day for, you could tour all the MK resorts. So instead of Ohana's, try Cape May at YBClub, so you can tour the Epcot resorts. And there's a giant chocolate carousel there too.

1. Cinderella's Gala Feast Dinner @ GF @ dinner
2. Princess Storybook Dinner @ Akershus @ dinner (just remember they serve Norweigen dinner, and American breakfast. You didn't say which meal you had last time... but some people forget the menu when they book it.)
3. Crystal Palace Dinner @ dinner - I've always loved the food here. And I think it's one of the best places at the Magic Kingdom, but Liberty Tree in used to be second...
4. Ohana's Character Breakfast @ breakfast - if you do this one, pay it out of pocket, I think it's cheaper than chef mickey's. The price of the meals go up as the day goes by, so breakfast is usually going to be the cheapest.
5. Chef Mickey's Breakfast @ breakfast

 

[TDC Nala]

Moving from the DDP board to the regular restaurant board, as the question is about which restaurant to choose, and not about the dining plan.

 

[griergirl2]

Thanks for the move again...at least I keep finding it Thanks for the opinions everyone, but for now I think we will just keep all of the reservations. This is apparently the trip of indecision, so in my lack of ability to decide, I decided to keep them all Should be fun though. For us, we are down to kicking out either Ohana's or Chef Mickey's, but simply want both! So both it is for now

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

IMO I like to use my dining passes for dinners/lunches because breakfast just is not as good of a deal dollar wise. Plus, I am not a breakfast person, so I end up eating 1 bagel and that is not worth it to me

I will say Chef Mickey's is my oldest son's FAVORITE! Not only do you have characters, you have a monorail flying past every few minutes! The food is ok, nothing super special, but the dessert selection is pretty good.

Crystal Palace is great too, lots of character interaction, but recently it got a bit more packed in there (I think they added additional tables to accommodate the rise in reservations).

There is also Chip and Dale's Garden Grille in EPCOT. It is on a revolving platform, so I know some people feel a bit queezy on it.

We have only boys, so I have little experience with the princess ones, but I have heard from other friend that they would choose the Storybook dinner over Cinderella's castle (plus it cost 2 DD credits). There is also another Cinderella dinner at the Grand Floridian's 1900 Park Fare. It only takes 1 credit.

HTH

 

[Sleeping Becca]

You have some good choices.

I would switch Ohana to Hollywood Play and Dine breakfast and pay OOP for that one.

I would also recommend doing Alkershus for breakfast rather than dinner, and doing dinner at Chef Mickey's instead of breakfast.

 

[griergirl2]

We're only doing MK and Epcot this trip, so Playhouse Disney isn't an option at DHS. And I don't want to do breakfast at Akershus because we always to Epcot Future World in the morning, have lunch, finish up and then do World Showcase in the afternoon. Also, I hate doing sit down meals in the mornings in the parks since it's soo much better to do rides then, IMO. If we're doing several days at each park then I'm fine with it, but this time we're only spending one day at MK and one day at Epcot. And I am just thrilled to have gotten a Chef Mickey's reservation at all...so breakfast it is there. If dinner happens to open I'd snap it up, but as it is nothing else is open that week at all.

 

[RitaFaye94]

On our trip last year, we did Chef Mickey's, Ohana, Crystal Palace, and Tusker House. They were all great - my DS (33 months at the time) loved them all. I thought dinner @ CP had the best food (except for Jomba Juice @ TH - I still taste it!) We tried to scatter them between breakfast & dinner so we weren't blowing all of our TS on breakfasts - I'm a foodie, so I wanted to have some of the memorable meals, not just scrambled eggs and bacon.

I agree with the previous post about being scared of some characters - my son is still not sure about Santa at picture time.

Can't comment on any of the princesses - we just saw them throughout the parks. Good luck!