Character meal help!

[Verity Chambers]

Nearly time to book the ADRs! We are doing two character meals. They will be lunch or dinner. I fancy trying a couple we have never done and are considering tusker house and chef Mickey or maybe garden grille. Any thoughts. We won't be doing crystal palace, Ohana brekkie or the princess meal this time. Thanks!! Oh and we aren't in the dining plan. X

 

[GaBelle]

Tusker House is a great choice for breakfast!
1900 Park Fare for breakfast is one of my faves, I love Mary Poppins.

 

[ellemenohpee]

We absolutely loved Tusker House for breakfast. Highly recommend.

 

[JKMJ441724]

I've done the Garden Grill for dinner. I thought it was great.

 

[GillianP1301]

I would highly recommend Garden Grille. It was our favourite character meal on our last trip. The food was good and I liked the family style instead of buffet so that you can actually sit through your entire meal. The character interaction was leaps and bounds above all the other ones we did (and we did about 6 in total). The restaurant is quite a bit smaller than the other character meal venues and we ended up seeing each character at least 4 or 5 times each over the course of the hour we were there.

I have not done Tuskers or Chef Mickeys for anything other than breakfast, but based on that experience, I would choose Tuskers for a lunch/dinner meal.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

On our trip in December, we did 4 character meals: Akershus, Garden Grill, Tusker House, and 'Ohana. Based on those experiences and experiences prior, I would highly recommend Akershus and 'Ohana (but you said you don't want to do either of those) and Garden Grill. We did Tusker House for breakfast and no one in my party of 7 enjoyed it. All said that we had no desire to ever go back. Garden Grill was a great experience, as always. I love that the characters come to your table multiple times and the fact that the meal is served family style so you don't have to worry about being at the buffet when a character comes to see you.

I did Chef Mickey's a few years ago and really enjoyed it, as well.

 

[VP037388]

Loved Tusker House for breakfast (party of 8, 3 kids under 7). Great character interaction, food was good and there was a big selection. We will definitely go back.
Garden Grille (Dinner) was OK. The character interaction was very good and they stopped by multiple times. The food was OK-hot and plentiful but nothing memorable. Very noisy.

 

[Aura of Foreboding]

Garden Grille (Dinner) was OK. The character interaction was very good and they stopped by multiple times. The food was OK-hot and plentiful but nothing memorable. Very noisy.

I would agree with this. Garden Grill was FANTASTIC for character interaction (we got to see each character three times). That being said, we will never go back (unless DD becomes absolutely fascinated with Chip and Dale I guess).

The food was mediocre and SLOW. I have a gluten allergy, and specifically chose Garden Grill because I wouldn't need a lot of changes made. The food took forever to come out, and when it did, they had stuffing on our platter (which I can't have). It took another 20 minutes to get our food, which was barely warm and not terribly good. When it came time for dessert, mine was forgotten, and I had to flag down the server to remind her I couldn't have what was brought out.

We really enjoyed Chef Mickey's - we had a spot in the corner (which was fairly quiet) and had good character interaction. The food was good.

Just my two cents - I know lots of people love Garden Grill.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I heard Garden Grill is great.

I love Tusker breakfast. Didnt care for the lunch thou.

I also love cape may for breakfast. not sure what their dinner is like thou.

 

[tinkermama117]

Of the ones you mentioned wanting to try, I vote for Tusker House. Great food and characters.

 

[showers2flowers]

We found Tusker House to be very noisy and chaotic. Some of the staff were a bit on the surly side, although our waitress was quite nice. The food (lunch) was not great, but not awful either. Having said that, the character interaction was probably the best of the three character meals that we did that week (the others were CP and Akershus).

 

[jwfla422]

Another vote for GG, Cape May breakfast, 1900 Pk Fare Breakfast and CP lunch are our fav character meals (food and character interaction).

CM nope, not for us, over-rated and over-priced IMHO especially if you are paying OOP.

 

[Disneymama01]

Id have to vote for Tusker and Chef Mickeys. Garden Grill was good for character interaction but food was not good went one time and thats all I need to go.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

Tusker House and Chef Mickey!

 

[LovesTimone]

Tusker house for Breakfast , we have done lunch there once, was good but kinda out of sorts, lots of waiting to refill items on the buffet, There was a large tour group, that took up almost 2 rooms, and they were horrible, kids running wild, and the parents not paying attention to them. They were running back and forth between the rooms, The poor CM's had their hands full that day. After that we haven't tried dinner. But breakfast is on our must do list.

Chef Mickey's is another great choice, we have done all 3 meals here, lunch during peak periods, We love the fab 5, and they are all here so whats not to love . Breakfast is probably our favorite here. A few years ago, we did have a issue at dinner, so we gave it a break for a while, had dinner there just DH and I christmas 2011 and it was back on track !!! There mashed potatoes are so yummy!!!!

 

[msmama]

The food I've had at Garden Grill has always been delicious! Probably one of the best meals I've ever had at Disney.

I like it for character interaction, too because of the way it's set up there aren't a bunch of other tables around encroaching on your time with the characters.