Character Meals

[Rosenichole]

This is out third trip and i would like some advice on what character meal to do. we have a 10 boy and 6 boy and a 4 year old at the time of the trip next year. what would you recommend we have done crystal palace and chef mickey so we want to try something new. i would love to do Cinderella's royal table but with two boys i want it to be fair for them

 

[Tylerandhayleysmom]

I have a boy and a girl so I know what you mean. Our favorites character meals by far are the breakfast ones.

1. 1900 Park Fare (Madd Hatter, Alice, Mary Poppins, Tigger and Pooh)
2. `Ohana (Lilo and Stitch...and friends..Mickey and I believe Pluto was there too)
3. Tusker House (Animal Kingdom) - Donald Duck and Friends.
4. CRT (My son had fun though...he enjoyed being a Knight)
5. Chef Mickey's (which you've indicated you had before)

 

[MandiC]

We really enjoyed the Tusker House breakfast, it is one we will definitely repeat on return trips. The only other one we would repeat is Akershus, I wouldn't repeat CRT. They do give swords to the boys at CRT so they aren't excluded but the experience IMO was underwhelming. It was too noisy to hear the princess introductions or wishing star ceremony, the princesses seemed much more rushed than the ones at Akershus and we didn't care for the food at all.
One that we didn't do but I have heard is nice (though hard to get) is Be Our Guest. We ate there for lunch and enjoyed the theme of the restaurant, at dinner from my understanding you meet Belle and the Beast, so best of both worlds maybe.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

We have 3 kids boy 9, girl 7 and girl 5, and would also strongly recommend the Tusker House breakfast at Animal Kingdom. Beyond that our favorites would be:

• Crystal Palace
• Ohana
• Chef Mickey's

 

[Raenstoirm]

Another vote for Tusker House once they get this test they are apparently doing done with (less character interaction apparently but that is not normal). Garden Grove is also a good meal since it is rarely packed in there and has the standard character set. I think we had pluto, the munks and Goofy last time we went.

 

[baseballnut]

Hollywood & Vine breakfast at DHS! So fun and interactive! Also Tusker House.

 

[momneedscoffee13]

We really enjoyed the majority of the character meals this past weekend. We loved Cape May and Hollywood & Vine. TH and 'Ohana were pretty awesome, too. The only one we didn't enjoy as much (slow slow slow) was Garden Grill.

 

[Rosenichole]

Thank you all for your suggestions. i for got to ask are there any that are good for dinner

 

[MandiC]

The only character meal we did for dinner was Akershus, it is a princess meal so I am not sure how your boys would like it but for girls it is pretty awesome, I felt like the princesses there really interact with the little girls and spend a little more time.
I believe one I have heard lots of good things about is Garden Grill (I have a running list of future possibilities ).

 

[DopeyDame]

Another vote for Tusker House. We did the lunch there and it was great - 2 year old girl and 5 year old boy and both loved it. And the food is a little different/better than at other buffets, I think.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We have enjoyed Tusker House for breakfast (love getting into AK before the gates open). We also enjoyed Garden Grill in The Land pavilion at Epcot. Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale were there, the food was served family-style and I thought it was very good.

After our last visit to Chef Mickey's, it's off our list. The food just wasn't very good.

 

[thelittlemermaid2]

1900 Park Fair has great characters for boys and girls alike, that would be my top choice for anytime during the day. At dinner it becomes slightly more geared towards girls with Cinderella and Prince Charming and the seafood is not amazing, but it was still a good experience.

I also agree that Akershus is in every way superior to CRT, aside from the fact that you aren't actually in the castle. Characters are more relaxed and spend more time with each table, and the food is way better. This December will be our family's 6th trip to WDW and 5th trip to Akersus, despite the fact that we are all adults now .

 

[jfortsch]

Another vote for Tusker House. The character interaction was awesome, and the food was good too. We did breakfast.

 

[msmama]

For dinner, I love Garden Grill at Epcot. It's been my favorite restaurant at WDW since back when it was run by Kraft!! Some of the best character interactions there, I think (mostly because of the set up of the restaurant you're not almost on top of another family with kids who can barely contain themselves). In fact, characters have often snuck up on us and scared us!! When my son was a baby we saw each character 4 or 5 times because we sat right next to the door they entered and exited from. Often we see them at least twice though and we're not abnormally slow eaters.

For breakfast, I'd agree about Tusker House though.

 

[ariane37]

Another vote for Tusker House! Over the years we've done 2 lunches and 1 breakfast there and my boys enjoyed it every time. Last time we were there for breakfast, boys were 10 & 7.

'Ohana breakfast would be good character-wise. The food was fine, just nothing special and not much selection but as long as you like the staples (eggs, bacon, etc) you'd be good.

Be Our Guest dinner is AWESOME You only meet the Beast, and it's not your typical M & G as you go to him instead of him coming to you. The kids can have their picture taken with him but no autographs. We've had dinner there and met him 4x, last time boys were almost 12 & 8.

 

[Bluegrrl]

Garden grove at the Swan/Dolphin (forget which) is excellent. It's a very adult feeling place that has characters AND really good food. It's not very crowded and my little man had tons of interaction with the characters! He went running after Pluto several times, and Pluto was very kind to him - not busy or rushed. Great experience!!

 

[TinaLala]

I would say Ohanas, Garden Grill, Cape May Cafe and Hollywood

 

[Feberin]

When are you going? If you're going next May/June and it might be during Star Wars weekends and they do the special Star Wars character meals again then that might be an amazing choice. We did the meal at Hollywood and Vine with Disney Star Wars characters and my kids were in heaven meeting Jedi Mickey and the food was amazing! We saw all the character 2 or 3 times.

 

[Willabea]

Another vote for Tusker House once they get this test they are apparently doing done with (less character interaction apparently but that is not normal). Garden Grove is also a good meal since it is rarely packed in there and has the standard character set. I think we had pluto, the munks and Goofy last time we went.

Any more info on this "test"? We have reservations Nov. 15 ...

 

[Sarahbelle341]

My DS is 5. We love character meals since he is such a character nut.


Chef Mickey dinner- Food terrible. Character interaction a little rushed but loved getting to meet all the fab 5 in one spot.

Cinderella Royal Table- overpriced. small portions. castle was neat but too girly for DS taste. Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Belle in her blue dress and Jasmine when we were there.

Ohana breakfast- relaxing. food served family style which was nice. Food well prepared and plentiful but not much selection. Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto so fairly boy focused.

Hollywood & Vine breakfast- high energy. great food selection with a lot of variety. kids love dancing around with the characters. We had Doc McStuffins, Sofia, Jake, and Handy Manny.

Crystal Palace dinner- yummy food, nice location, good selection. Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eyeore. Great character interaction.

Akershus- fairly good food but not much selection. Pretty girly. Didn't see very many boys in the dining room unless they were with sisters. We had Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Mary Poppins, and Snow White.

1900 Park Fare breakfast- Awesome food. Great selection. delicious omlette station. We had Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Alice, and the Mad Hatter. A favorite of ours.

Cape May breakfast- good selection. good food. But only 3 characters Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. DS loves Donald but would like to see another character here.

Garden Grill- Food was average. Enjoyed family style service and loved the character outfits. Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. But not a lot of variety and food was just average.