Compare Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's... Please!

[Brygida]

To those who have eaten recently at Crystal Palace... would you say that the food quality is pretty much identical to Chef Mickey's? If not, which was better? The Unofficial Guide said they were pretty identical... but I did not care for Chef Mickey's and do not want to eat there again.

I was wondering if Crystal Palace really is becoming a viable eating option inside Magic Kingdom. ( I normally go to a resort to eat....).

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

We ate at both during our trip last August, and yes the food is pretty much the same. However if you have little ones that are into the characters, it will pretty much depend on which characters they prefer. At Chef Mickey you will find Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. At Chrystal Palace you will find Winnie the Pooh and friends.
Chef Mickey does these little chocolate Oreo, Mickey desert treats that are great though!rotfl2:

This year we made ADR's for Crystal Palace again just prior to MNSSHP.

 

[Brygida]

We ate at both during our trip last August, and yes the food is pretty much the same. However if you have little ones that are into the characters, it will pretty much depend on which characters they prefer. At Chef Mickey you will find Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. At Chrystal Palace you will find Winnie the Pooh and friends.
Chef Mickey does these little chocolate Oreo, Mickey desert treats that are great though!rotfl2:

This year we made ADR's for Crystal Palace again just prior to MNSSHP.

Thank you for the reply. Very helpful.........

 

[Leslieann1024]

We ate at both during our trip last August, and yes the food is pretty much the same.

This is just a personal opinion, and it may have something to do with the timing of our visits, but the type and quality of the food at the CP seemed better than CM on our last 3 or 4 visits. We've done breakfast and dinner at both. I thought that the CP had a better replenishment (and therefore freshness) rate. The food at Chef Mickeys seemed more of a "typical made-in-bulk comfort food" type, while there was a dish or two at CP that was just a wee bit different.

 

[sparkysfriends]

I would choose Chef Mickey over Crystal Palace every time. Because of the tiled floors and lack of table cloths at Crystal Palace it is incredibly noisy! Also, the kids don't seem to get a chance to interact with the characters nearly as much at Crystal Palace because their are fewer Pooh Characters. I'm glad we went, but once was enough, wher I will always include a character breakfast at Chef Mickey.

 

[MickeyNicki]

CP dinner is soooo much better than CM

 

[mdoc]

I thought the food was better at Crystal Palace. We found the character interaction to be lacking at both, but Chef Mickey's was better.

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

When comparing dinner meals, we preferred the food at CP to the food at CM. We enjoyed the characters at both places.

 

[brown eyed girl]

I have been to Chef Mickey's for dinner and while the characters were great I thought the buffet was awful. I have heard that the breakfast there is much, much better. We are doing CP for dinner this year.

 

[ransom]

We normally do one breakfast at each, and the quality seems equivalent. BUT...

At CP, you can have your eggs made to order, and there is also a much wider selection of fresh fruit.
At CM, you can get Mickey Head waffles (at CP, it's Pooh and Friends waffles).

So, minor differences, but they're both WDW buffet restaurants, so the basics are going to be very similar.

 

[Legend]

Dinner is better at CP for sure. More 'different' food. They had a macaroni dish that was excellent and the salmon was real tasty, too. Leaving in 13 days and having dinner there the first night..CANNOT WAIT!!!!

 

[jenb1023]

For dinner, the food is definitely better at CP than CM.
Breakfast at CM is fine.
For characters, CM is better. CP is so large that we were done eating and just sitting and waiting for all of the characters to get to us.

Enjoy either way!

 

[cwt580]

this thread is making me want to cancel my CM dinner on this sunday and try and get something else.....i know ill never find anything this late for 4. 2 teens and 2 adults..........would be kind of crappy Fathers day dinner for myself even though i scheduled it...i just like the atmosphere at the "Contemporary" for our first night at WDW....always like seeing the monorail.

maybe try and get a res at the "Wave"......

maybe someone might want to trade an ADR? this Sunday 6/15/08...off the top of my head its around 6PM.

already have: WCC,OHANAS,BOMA,ARTIST POINT,CORAL REEF,GFCAFE',SCI-FI,CRYSTAL PALACE

 

[thomas998]

this thread is making me want to cancel my CM dinner on this sunday and try and get something else.....i know ill never find anything this late for 4. 2 teens and 2 adults..........would be kind of crappy Fathers day dinner for myself even though i scheduled it...i just like the atmosphere at the "Contemporary" for our first night at WDW....always like seeing the monorail.

maybe try and get a res at the "Wave"......

maybe someone might want to trade an ADR? this Sunday 6/15/08...off the top of my head its around 6PM.

already have: WCC,OHANAS,BOMA,ARTIST POINT,CORAL REEF,GFCAFE',SCI-FI,CRYSTAL PALACE

just keep calling the reservation office every day from now until sunday... there is a good chance that someone will cancel... as long as your flexible on the exact time... if your not time flexible then I'm afraid to say you may be SOL

 

[Mickey_Man]

To those who have eaten recently at Crystal Palace... would you say that the food quality is pretty much identical to Chef Mickey's? If not, which was better? The Unofficial Guide said they were pretty identical... but I did not care for Chef Mickey's and do not want to eat there again.

I was wondering if Crystal Palace really is becoming a viable eating option inside Magic Kingdom. ( I normally go to a resort to eat....).

If you are comparing on food quality, selection and taste, IMO there is no comparison - CP is good and CM is not. People are drawn to seeing Mickey Mouse, but I doubt anyone is drawn there for the quality of the food. Similarities - characters (albeit different ones), buffet, noisy. That is where the similarities end though.

 

[tinknsnow]

Hmm...

Been to Chef Mickey's for both dinner and breakfast (on different trips). I preferred the breakfast by far, in terms of food.

I've done Crystal Palace for lunch twice, and most recently breakfast. I would say the lunches were very tasty-- breakfast not so much.

On our most recent trip, I was slightly let down by the CP-- service was poor and the food was "meh". It took us two full hours to get through our meal (at an 8 AM seating). I am still willing to try again, but for lunch.

I would advise CP for a lunch buffet but if you're looking for good Fab Five interaction, go to Chef Mickey's for breakfast.

 

[tinkgurl]

I really don't think there's much difference in the food between the two places. However, Chef Mickey's comes with Mickey and friends. The Crystal Palace somes with Winnie the Pooh and friends.

 

[SophiasDad]

IMO food is much better at CP than Chef Mickeys. Better variety too, especially for adults. Far as character interaction and atmosphere, Chef Mickeys wins out!

 

[JoePa4Ever]

We've eaten at both CM & CP for breakfast and they both rank as our favorite breakfasts at WDW. We like them both almost equally & we would be hard-pressed to choose one over the other if we had to. I would say the food at both is very similar, however CP has puffed french toast which is something we always look forward to on our trip. The character interaction at CM has been slightly better than CP - sometimes at CP, we might have to wait for a character as they seem to be a bit slower there. Both places have fun atmospheres & we've had good service at both.

 

[LuvnWDW]

Crystal Palace breakfast
Chef Mickey's dinner