Chef Mickeys, 1900 Park Fare or Crystal Palace

[Karebear]

Hi everyone,

I have have been to WDW before, but never with my kids. We are going next year--my son will be 7 and my daughter will be 6. Daughter is a huge princess fan so I am planning (hopefully) to book CRT and Akershus. I was trying to plan another character meal that wasn't so "girly" that my son might enjoy. I have read that 1900 Park Faire is good, but it is princesses--so I was leaning towards Chef Mickeys or Crystal Palace. I have never been to these restaurants before. I would love some input--thanks!

 

[habg1]

We've (family & I ) have been to all 3. Here's my opinion:

Go with Crystal Palace.

1900 is great for girls. Unless you go for the breakfast buffet, thats much better for boys than the dinner.

Chef mickey's.....ehhhhhhh. so - so here. Lots of young kids...buffet could be better. But it's the basic characters. This would be my 2nd choice. We haven't been back a 2nd time. This isn't our favorite character place.

Crystal palace has Pooh, eyeore, piglet and tigger. And the food can't be beat. B, L, D, take your pick. it's all good.

 

[OhThePain]

1900 PF is only princesses for dinner. Breakfast is Mary Poppins, Alice, Madhatter, Pooh and Tigger. We are not fans of the food at just about all the character dinners so my suggestions would be a character breakfast. We actually like Donald's Breakfast Safari at TH in AK the best (a picture with Donald before breakfast, Mickey, Goofy, Daisy visit the tables all in their safari outfits). CM and 1900 PF are a toss up for our second favorite. Both breakfast and dinner at CP disappointed us this past May.

I think if you plan on doing 2 princess meals, let your son choose who he wants to see. It can be tough being a boy there (I know, I'm 26 and a kid at heart), so maybe him making the decision might make things seem less girly to him. If he wants to see Mickey, that eliminates 1900 PF. If he wants to see Minnie and Pluto, they are at CM. If he wan'ts to see Daisy or see the characters in safari outfits (the outfits might strike the boy in him), thats DBS. If he wants to see Pooh and Tigger, thats 1900 PF. You really can't go wrong, whichever way you, your son or your family choose.

 

[mjp12831]

Food at CM is golden coral quality, and it's so packed in the restaurant that the interaction is uncomfortable.

Food at 1900 I found pretty high quality for WDW buffet. Cindy is the only princess - the step sisters and step mother while females are very entertaining and give much different (entertaining) interaction from your typical princess interaction you get at Akershaus. 1900 also has Prince Charming.

Haven't been to CP

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

Personally, I wouldn't do both CRT and Akershus. They are really similar. I'd do Akershus and 1900 Park Fare OR CRT and Park Fare if you really want to eat in the castle. I think your DS would enjoy 1900 Park Fare - I haven't been, but I've heard that the antics of the stepsisters are a riot.

Then I'd do something with more boy characters. Since he's seven, I doubt he'd be too into Winnie the Pooh. My older DD is almost 6 and she thinks that Pooh is for babies (we're going to Crystal Palace though because my 4 year old wants to eat with Pooh characters). For your DS, I'd choose between Chef Mickey's (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald), Tusker House (Donald, Mickey, Pluto, and Daisy), and Garden Grill (Mickey, Pluto, Chip, Dale). Ask him what characters he'd like to eat with most.

 

[whitney37354]

Between CM & CP, I'd go with CM. However, my favorite was Ohana. I think that is boy friendly, with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo & Stitch.

 

[rubato]

We are doing all 3 when we go in January, but Crystal Palace is our favorite. We love the Pooh characters. Food's not bad. It's decent buffet food. I've never eaten good food at any buffet, so it's fine.

 

[ShuisFan584]

I've been to all three for breakfast and enjoyed all of them. Out of those 3 choices, I think your son would enjoy Chef Mickey's the most, mainly because of the characters.

 

[septbaby]

If the meal is for a 7yo boy definitely go with Chef Mickey's:

5 great fun characters
Loud, monorail running above
napkin waving routine is a lot of fun

If you want to do 1900 I'd skip the Norway meal

 

[skw444]

Since your dd is a huge princess fan, Akershus is definitely a great pick. Great princess interaction. We've never been to 1900 so can't say, but I would think that's a bit more on the girly side. We did CP and CM on our first trip and liked CP so much, we went back on our 2nd trip. CM was fine...once. Probably won't go back. Interaction at CP was great, food was good, lots of fun.

 

[jlk806]

Chef Mickeys was one of the very best meals of our trip this year! And last year also, but this year our son was 2 and old enough to really get into it and he LOVED it!! We have a priceless video we took of him dancing at the table, face covered in brownies as the characters danced around the restaurant to the music. All the characters were great with him too and he loved every minute. The food was good too. Everyone going to Disney wants to see Mickey and Minnie!

 

[hoosiergirl7]

You are going to get answers of all sorts on here. Personally I'm not willing to part with that kind of money to eat at CRT. I've been told by many that the food most of the time is only so-so.

Definitely do Akershus. We've never been but have heard a lot of great things about it. We did do 1900 PF last December with our then almost 6 yr old son and he loved it. He loved the stepsisters and stepmother. We thought the food was very good and there was a lot of variety. The strawberry soup is so good!

We've done CM for breakfast & dinner. I thought breakfast was pretty good. Dinner was not good at all. It is extremely crowded and we waited over an hour past our ADR time for dinner which meant we didn't get seated until almost 9 pm. At the time our son was 4 and he fell asleep waiting for our table. Getting him up to eat dinner was hard. He didn't eat much and it was a waste of money IMO. The service was bad. Couldn't get our server to clear our plates or refill our sodas. Character interaction was terrible. It was like pulling teeth to get them over to our table. I will not do CM for dinner ever again. After we left, I would've been happier had we gone to McDonald's or Earl of Sandwich in DTD.

Have fun picking your meals!

 

[amery]

Been to CRT so if you are planning on scoring that ADR, do so EXACTLY 180 days out. Crazy as that sounds, it will be well worth waking up at 6:30 am to start calling a short time later.

Also been to both CM and CP. CM is all that with Mickey and pasl as the focal point. CP (located within MK) will require park admission and is focused on PooH and his pals. The food we found to be very good at both.

Yoru decision may very well rest on what park you plan on being in each day. CM at least will only require a short monorail ride.

 

[DeniseinNS]

We did both Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace during our first trip in March. We loved both but Chef Mickey's was definatly our favorite, my kids loved it so much that they asked to go a second time before we left for home so we cancelled one of our other reservations and went back to Chef Mickey's. The food was great both times we were there and the desserts were awesome.

 

[lblume91]

We did CM, CP & 1900 on our last trip. It was our 3rd trip to CM & our 2nd trip to CP. We will quite honestly probably never go back to either. On our previous trips, the food was great & the character interaction was excellent. This time, the food was blech & the characters barely stopped long enough for a photo. We were just very disappointed. 1900 PF has better food & the characters were awesome. However, it's not exactly boy friendly. If I had to choose one, it would be CM. The monorail running through the building is very cool. Plus it is the classic characters.

Have you thought about Garden Grill in Epcot? It's a character meal with Mickey, Donald, Chip & Dale. It is served family style so it just feels less hectic since you aren't up & down to get your food.

 

[DisneyFreakz]

My kids love Chef Mickey. They insist that it be the very first place we eat every time we go. It is the Fab 5 so boys and girls love it. Crystal Palace is Pooh. If they are Pooh fans they will like it. My kids enjoy Crystal Palace but they Loooooove Chef Mickey.

 

[Disney Spaz]

I would vote for Crystal Palace as that is our top must do every trip for my DS now 19 along with my DD, 4 both love it. I will say DS has been going since he was 6 and CP has always been his and his dads favorite. Food and character interaction have always been consistantly above bar for us.

 

[cbastedo@sympatico.c]

We did both Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace during our first trip in March. We loved both but Chef Mickey's was definatly our favorite, my kids loved it so much that they asked to go a second time before we left for home so we cancelled one of our other reservations and went back to Chef Mickey's. The food was great both times we were there and the desserts were awesome.

My kids enjoy Chef Mickey's more. It is the first stop when we are at Disney

 

[asdfghjkl13]

Crystal Palace!!

Followed by CM, which was good, and 1900PF which was pretty good.

 

[Karebear]

Thanks to all who replied! Since my daughter gets the princess meals and the BBB, I decided to let my son choose the character meal. I showed him the pics and told him what characters were there and he decided on CM. Hopefully he will like it!