Character Meal Suggestions

[lilmakattack]

Just looking for suggestions. We have been to Disney several times but have never eaten at a character meal. We'd like to incorporate a few in our trip this summer since we'll be on the dining plan. It doesn't matter what meal....breakfast/lunch/dinner. Our kids are 10 and 6. Really wanted to do Chef Mickey's but everyone's reviews are poor. Also considering Minnie's Seasonal Dine and Garden Grill breakfast. But I don't want to do all character meals so which are truly THE best!

Thanks!

 

[PSULion]

We just did Garden Grill breakfast a few weeks ago and LOVED it. Food was great, and character interaction was best we've ever had... And we've done almost every character meal. I think the biggest plus there is that it's family style, as opposed to buffet. The buffets are always a bit stressful with everyone trying to get their food without missing any characters. With family style we still got a good variety of food, but never had to leave our seats. So much more fun and relaxing.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Tusker House at AK has good food by buffet standards, plus Goofy in a safari suit.

 

[mkla2015]

Tusker House is our favorite character meal. Character interactions are great, service is good, the food is fresh and well prepared. We usually have breakfast pre-park opening on our AK day.

 

[PSULion]

We love Tusker House too!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

In my opinion, which is mine alone:

• Breakfasts are the meal it is hardest to make gross on a buffet.
• If you have kids, Garden Grill at Epcot, Akershus at Epcot, and Ohana breakfast are all treasures because they are served (mostly) family-style, meaning they bring you all you care to eat. No juggling plates with littles at a buffet!
• Hollywood & Vine is notoriously inconsistent; your best results there will be an early dinner seating before it gets weird. If you want to do Fantasmic!, the H&V Fantasmic dinner is a good value on DDP.
• I like Pooh.

 

[caliope]

In my opinion, which is mine alone:

• Breakfasts are the meal it is hardest to make gross on a buffet.
• I like Pooh.

I agree with you on these 2 points in particular! We've found breakfast character buffet meals to be the most palatable in terms of food presentation and price. We also try for early breakfast times to reduce the potential of everything being picked over.

And, we also like Pooh! That's why the Crystal Palace is our favorite character meal, even though I've heard the food is better elsewhere.

On a side note, we saw the poor reviews for Chef Mickey's but gave it a try because (other than Pooh) Mickey and friends are some of our favorites and we were close by at the Poly. We had an early ADR (7:15), were seated at 7:05, got a table right near where the characters start their interactions, and found the food at the buffet probably at its best quality of the day. We were in an out of there in less than an hour after seeing all 5 characters and having enough time to eat. We considered that a great success. We'd do it again under those conditions.

 

[Neesy228]

I always say that if you go into Chef Mickey's with the right expectations, then you'll be fine. It's not gourmet dining, but you do get to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald and it's quite fun.

I would agree with PP who mentioned Garden Grill and O'hana as excellent options for simplicity and quality.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Most buffets are best at open, honestly, regardless of meal.

 

[snowybelle]

Which characters do you want to see?

I love Crystal Palace, but I also love the Pooh crew. (Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet)
I had a pretty good experience at Tusker house, and I think that's a great choice if you are looking for the classic characters. (Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Goofy)
I haven't done 1900 Park Fare yet, but THAT is the character breakfast I am most interested in trying and I am definitely making a reservation there for my next trip. (Alice, Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, Pooh, Tigger)

 

[got15]

For us we do tons of them: our standouts- Garden Grill- we have done dinner and lunch (and breakfast next trip), Cape May Breakfast, and Tusker House lunch. Garden Grill has good food- relaxing- and BEST interaction ever. Tusker House- wonderful food for lunch (we have done breakfast there- but enjoyed lunch much much more) and atmosphere. Cape May Breakfast- food wonderful and characters are fun.

 

[dancemonkey]

1900 Park Fare was fun! There was a great omelette chef there too! Apparently he's been there a long time!

 

[Lisa F]

in my order of favorite:
Tusker house for food
Ohana for good basic breakfast food, and STITCH (I like it when you can see someone besides the fab 5)

we are also looking forward to garden grill, consistently good reviews and chip and dale

TOTALLY agree about the benefit of family style vs. buffet. not as much variety but you won't go away hungry. food quality is prob a bit better as it is brought out hot and freshly prepared rather than at the mercy of buffet turnover.

 

[LSLS]

Cape May for Breakfast is great. It never feels too busy, you get the main characters, and the food is great. My wife loves Ohana (not a big fan because I don't like eggs which really limits me on breakfast family style). If you are princess people, stick to breakfast at Askerhaus (though the dinner quality went down last time we were there). 1900 has great food (breakfast and dinner). The character interactions are amazing between Mad Hatter in the morning and the step sisters for dinner.

 

[MrPTato]

Our favorite was a lunch res at the Crystal Palace to see Pooh and his friends. Food was real good and the characters are always swinging around and interacting. H & V in HS was pretty good. They have the Disney Junior characters.

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

We have gone to most every character meal. We ate breakfast at all of them except at Hollywood & dine holiday meal with Minnie.

My favorite is Garden Grill for breakfast. Awesome food, service & characters.

Runner up & a favorite is Chef Mickeys for breakfast. We have repeated this one a lot. Great breakfast buffet & fun characters. ( we waited several years to try it because of poor reviews but finally went & loved it. We go right at opening time)

3rd is Cape May breakfast. Loved it but it was difficult to get there by bus transportation.

Ohana breakfast, Tusker house breakfast , CP breakfast & Ohana breakfast we did several times but the listed above were way better for characters & food so we took them off our repeat list.

CRT breakfast, Hollywood & vine Minnie holiday dine supper. These 2 are been there & done that! The food at both was just not very good at all.

Also, my favorite characters are Mickey. & friends so I tend to enjoy these places more.

 

[hulk51382]

Our favorite is 'Ohana breakfast. Love the atmosphere and character interactions.

 

[apr9twins]

We love the Crystal Palace - so much fun interacting with Pooh and friends. We had a great breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. The Mad Hatter wasn't there, which was sad, but my daughter had so much fun talking with Alice and Mary Poppins - it was wonderful. And Tigger was so funny - gave everyone hugs, and helped my husband (who was celebrating a milestone birthday) with a selfie. We've gone to O'hana and Chef Mickey's also - both very fun. The Norway breakfast was really nice - we had great character interaction, especially with Snow White and Mulan. Mulan talked with my son quite a bit about how she was a warrior and all the things she had learned and done. He was so engaged in the conversation (he was 6 at the time (now 14!) - it was very heart warming, and helped him get over the whole going to a "princess breakfast" for his twin sister.

 

[whitestavern]

Our favorite is the 1900Park Fare breakfast. There are a lot of characters and the food is decent.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I highly recommend tusker house and 1900 park fare for breakfast...

I do like garden grill and look forward to going back to it after a nearly 15 year Hiatus (breakfast...that is)