Chef Mickey's 1st night

[huey duey & luey]

I was thinking of making a PS for Chef Mickeys on our 1st night. We will be arriving late afternoon, and will not be going to apark that dsy. My kids will be 2 1/2. Do you think it will be too much for them after travelling (plane), or should they be OK? Thanks
Tara

 

[Schminston-Mo]

We did Chef Mickey's our first night on our last trip and will be doing it again this year too. On our last trip DD was about 2 1/2 and DS was 4 1/2. We also just flew in that morning arriving mid afternoon. We had dinner and took a monorail ride.

It was a great introduction to the characters and it was helpful for not waiting in line at the parks. "Oh look! They are waiting to see Mickey...we just had dinner with him last night!"


Have fun!

 

[Amirah95]

I wish we could do Chef Mickey's for dinner on the first night, but unfortunately we are staying offsite again. But were are doing it for breakfast the next morning. How long is the flight? I'm sure that they will sleep on the plane, right? If your children are not cranky after travelling, go for it!

 

[nyfinfan]

We'll be doing the same. We land @ 1:30 and are heading over to CM with DS(4) and DD(2). Do the little ones get a kick out of the monorail?

 

[alloyd1170]

One thing to consider is how your children (mainly the younger one) are around characters (ie Santa, Easter Bunny). My 2 yr old would not tolerate Santa last Christmas so I knew the characters would be scary for him. I got the Sing Along Beach Party video and the planning kit dvd to prep my son for our trip. The first few days he would not approach the characters unless I walked him up and held his hand. The only one he did run up to was Mickey. By the end of our 3 day visit, he was fine with the characters. It was suggested on these boards to do Chef Mickeys later in the trip to give the young ones time to get used to the characters. We did it for breakfast on checkout morning. There was no rush to get to the park, our son was well rested, and we all had a great time. He did great with all the characters too (quite a ham).

alison

 

[LisaZoe]

Just wanted to add my bit as a follow-up to what alloyd1170 said about characters being a bit scary. I took my DD, then almost 2, to DLR last year and she never did get comfortable with the characters that had their heads in a big costume head. The "face" characters, such as the princesses, were OK though. In preparation for our trip to WDW in Sept., I've started talking about eating with Mickey and other characters. I've also told her that the characters are as "big as mommy or bigger" so she won't be totally surprised when they tower over her. When we look at pictures or the WDW vacation video, I make sure to point out that the characters are bigger than the kids, and many "grown ups" - again to start getting her more comfortable with the idea that they'll be big.

In theory, she seems to be OK with this but I'm going to try to hold off on the "full costume"character meals until we've been at WDW a couple of days in hopes she'll see a few at the parks to see them in person before we try to meet them. I have, though, scheduled a PS for the 2nd morning or our visit at PSB since all the characters are of the "face" type.

I think a lot depends on how your child reacts to chracters as well as how tired or wound up he/she may be.

 

[myboysmom]

We did it our first day, and we had been driving in. We got into our resort about 12, spent the afternoon swimming. Got into our room about 3 and then sort of had a rush getting ready for dinner- we did 5:00. Silly me thinking earlier would be better! My boys are 5 and 10. It was great. We ate, took the monorail for a spin and then to Downtown Disney.

We found it a great way to kick off our vacation.

 

[carol9999]

we are coming in on our flight about 2pm and then will get a car and check into an off site hotel..... would it be possible for me to make reservations at chef mickeys and just drive to the contemporary and park there to eat dinner? someone above mentioned that they couldn't do this because they were off site. why?

 

[cathy59]

We did Chef Mickey's on the first night of our trip when my DS was 5. I was concerned that he would be too tired, but he LOVED it.

It was a lot of fun, a lot of charachters, and the food was actually decent. He loved the Mickey Mouse shaped mac & cheese, and we loved the peel-and-eat shrimp. Ha!

It was a great way to do something Disney that wasn't too taxing.

 

[alloyd1170]

If you do decide to have dinner there, stick around the shops or ride the monorail until about the time Wishes starts in MK. Sometimes on the 4th floor opposite of CM they open the balcony and you can see some of Wishes from there. That way you can say you saw it and free up a night to go watch another show. After Wishes, head down to the beach near the wing rooms to watch the Water Parade (this is pretty late and may be too much after a long day).

alison

 

[huey duey & luey]

Thanks everyone. I am going to give it a try. My kids so far have been good with the characters. We took them to Sesame Place and we had to drag my dd off Elmo kicking and screaming.
Tara

 

[carol9999]

is there a really good view of wishes from chef mickeys and also, when do they have the water parade at night...thanks (i was thinking of going to chef mickeys on our 1st night Oct 12 tues) thanks

 

[mskani]

Chef Mickey's is a perfect way to begin your WDW vacation. We took my 9yo nephew--who has never been to WDW--and as tough and cool as he tries to act, his eyes lit up when Mickey came over to our table. That was priceless.

On the other hand, the food was not as good as the last time. We will probably do the breakfast next time.

 

[newholiday]

We have Chef Mickey's booked for our first night Oct 2nd
We booked CM for our first night in Oct 01
When our Nov 02 cruise was "rebooked" the main thing DS wanted to make sure we did at WDW was Chef Mickey's!

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Originally posted by carol9999
we are coming in on our flight about 2pm and then will get a car and check into an off site hotel..... would it be possible for me to make reservations at chef mickeys and just drive to the contemporary and park there to eat dinner? someone above mentioned that they couldn't do this because they were off site. why?

Yes, you can drive there and park in the Contemporary's parking lot ... just tell the guard you have ressies at Chef M's.

We stayed at ASMo in January and drove to the Contemporary rather than trying to use the Disney transportation.

 

[alloyd1170]

Chef Mickeys is on transportation center side of CR and MK is at the other end (all on the 4th floor). The balcony where we viewed Wishes is located just past all the shops. There are doors on either side of the big window. Its like this:

GF
Poly lagoon
TC [ CR ] MK
lagoon
FW

As for the water parade, CR is the last stop I believe so it comes there late (back in Feb it was a little after 10pm). Check the resorts newsletter as it lists the times.


alison

 

[The Disney Bunch]

We generally do not visit the park on our first day of arrival and always start with Chef Mickey's! This way we can get to our hotel, relax, do some shopping, AND get our character fix!! We love Chef Mickeys!

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

I have a 3 and 4 year old and we always do Chef Mickey's the first night. It gets them so excited about the upcoming days and they love to make the ice cream sundaes.

Also, after dinner we ride the monorail around the park or watch the fireworks from the Contempory resort.

 

[huey duey & luey]

Thanks Everyone.
Just made my Chef Mickeys PS for our 1st night
Cant wait
Tara