Chef Mickey's OR Garden Grill???????

[Emily & Sarah's Mom]

We are looking for a spot for dinner after an afternoon at Epcot our first day at WDW. I would like it to be Disney-ish and be enjoyable for my DDs (9 and 4).

I thought we could either take the monorail to CR or eat at the Garden Grill.

Your thoughts and experiences would be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[LoveStitch]

Are you traveling that day (i.e., might you be tired by then)? What hotel are you staying at? The answers to both questions might bring up different thoughts.

Since you're already at Epcot, it would be least tiring to stay there and eat at Garden Grill, if you might be tired from traveling. On the other hand, if you have to go by or near the Contemporary to get to your hotel, it wouldn't be out of the way.

I think your girls (and you) would enjoy either restaurant, but I would bet that Chef Mickey's would be the most fun for them. It also has a greater variety of food, since it's a buffet. If this was going to be your only chance to go to CM's, then I would definitely recommend it over GG. If you have a chance to go there later in the trip, your girls will still get a character experience at GG and will enjoy it, I'm sure, and it may be less stressful.

Either way, you'll have a good time!

 

[frannn]

This is a must do for us each trip. Not because of the food, but the character interaction is priceless. We enjoy dinner there. It is very loud, and festive, with napkin twirling to celebrate special occasions. The ribs there are one of my favorite things to eat while at WDW. If you are pretty tired after being at Epcot, though, you may wish to stay local.

 

[ZanneMarie]

I am thinking that since you are already at Epcot why not eat at GG. We really enjoyed GG and CM and my kids want to do both again on next trip so I don't think you could go wrong with either. CM is a little louder, more high energy feeling place and GG is a bit more subdued but still really cool because of the revolving restaurant. We had repeat charecter visits at GG and at CM they all came around only once. But again for simplicity and less travleing I would go GG. Hope that helps!

 

[Schachteles]

Personally I would go for the Chef Mickey's...but I would highly suggest that you make a decision soon if you are "picky" about your ADR times, I called about CM dinner reservations a month ago for our trip coming up in May and the earliest time I could get was 7:40pm!!

 

[DVC Sadie]

It depends! Are your children used to going out to eat? If not please have your children eat at an earlier hour!!

 

[Emily & Sarah's Mom]

We are staying at POR and will be arriving at MCO around 10:30. We will be at Epcot for two days later in the trip.

How long will it take for us to get to CM by monorail? 20 minutes or so?

 

[LoveStitch]

I would definitely give it more time than that...I'd probably start out 45 minutes before your reservation.

You have to walk to the front of Epcot and exit the park to get on the monorail. Take the monorail to the TTC. Then wait (probably not very long) for another monorail to the Contemporary. Then find your way to CM's. It seems like it shouldn't take that long, but it usually does...especially when you have kids, and someone always needs to stop at the restroom or something!

To go home, if you'll have a rental car at Epcot you can just take the monorail back. If not, you could walk to MK and take the POR bus from there. Or you could take the monorail back to the TTC (or GF or Poly, if you wanted to look around) and then take the POR bus home. Lots of options!