Crystal Palace or Chef Mickey's?

[bangzoom6877]

Last July we absolutely LOVED the dinner at Crystal Palace and the breakfast at Chef Mickey's. When we go back to WDW, we definitely want to go to both restaurants again. The classic Mickey characters are the Winnie the Pooh gang are some of my children's favorites so these 2 places are must-do's for us.

I am debating about a few things regarding these restaurants. From what I have read, Crystal Palace has an amazing breakfast as well as dinner, and Chef Mickey's is better to go to for breakfast than for dinner. We love our food, but we are not super-picky. We just like some variety and good quality, and we certainly do not expect a 5-star restaurant at a character buffet! So, here are my questions:

1. Is the food terrible at Chef Mickey's dinner?
2. Is it more chaotic at dinner when they first open at Chef Mickey's than it is at an early breakfast when they open?
3. Is the breakfast really that good at Crystal Palace that it is worth going to instead of the dinner there?

We would have to decide between either breakfast or dinner at Crystal Palace. We will not be able to do both. We are planning 2 days at MK...one of those days will be an EMH morning (I refuse to do a breakfast during EMH) with dinner at the castle, and the other day will be a non-EMH morning with either breakfast at Chef Mickey's at opening time or breakfast at Crystal Palace before the park opens. If we do breakfast at Crystal Palace we will not go back there for dinner, and we would just do dinner at Chef Mickey's. However, if we do breakfast at Chef Mickey's early that morning, we would do dinner at Crystal Palace that evening.

So, what would you do if you were me? I know it is easier to go to breakfast at the park before it opens than drive to the Contemporary for a 7AM ADR at Chef Mickey's and then drive to MK for the 9AM rope drop, but we are willing to do that if necessary. We don't want to be disappointed.

 

[KatMark]

I love the CP breakfast for many reasons. 1) an 8:05 a.m. ADR gets you on Main Street and unobstructed photo opportunity of the castle, etc.; 2) the puffed french toast (in the kiddie section) is reason enough to go to CP for breakfast; 3) also like the potato casserole and the made to order omelets.

I prefer Chef Mickey's for breakfast over dinner. But then after two horrible experiences at H&V, we no longer do lunch and/or dinner buffets (except for Biergarten in World Showcase). The last time we did Chef Mickey's for dinner was in 2004 and it was so-so.

 

[alan_renfroe]

We ate breakfast at both Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's on our latest trip, and I have to say that I prefered Crystal Palace. The food was better, the Pooh characters were adorable, you are in the Magic Kingdom, etc. Chef Mickey's was fun too but it is soooo crowded, there is always a wait....I feel like I would rather be spending that time inside a park.

Just my opinion!

Alan

 

[ROEDISNEY]

1.NO
2.NO
3.NO
Been to both places many of times for breakfast & dinner.
Good food & fun at both places always.

 

[djp0630]

I haven't been to any, but am doing CP breakfast (early), CM breakfast & dinner in Sept.

Personally, I would do the CP breakfast on non-EMH day trying for 8:05. I've heard great things, plus you can be there on an empty main street. Then do CM for dinner. As long as you aren't expecting the best dinner, and are happy to go for the atmosphere as well as decent food, then you probably won't be disappointed. I am trying the dinner at CM because I think it'll be fun and probably good enough for me.

 

[cruiselovinbunch]

For our family, we LOVE Crystal Palace for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We've done all three and they are all fantastic. There's a lot of variety, the food is always fresh and flavorful, it's hot if it's supposed to be hot and cold if it's supposed to be cold, and the service has always been great.

A number of years ago (it was back in 2000 to be exact) we had dinner at Chef Mickey's and the food was barely edible. It seemed like almost everything on the buffet was the same lukewarm temperature. I didn't care for the quality or taste of the food and my DH was ill for most of the night over something he ate there. Neither of our DD ate much (which was probably best). I noticed a lot of people leaving full plates. We haven't been back so I don't know if it was an "off night" or if what we experienced was typical.

One thing is for sure -- I can't recommend Crystal Palace highly enough.

Have a great trip!

 

[Hallowishes]

i personally enjoy both rest. i guess it depends on what exactly you want. crystal palace is SO BEAUTIFUL and its in the MK so id say its a bit more convenient. however, if you or your family arent into the pooh characters, then id say this isnt the right one for you. if youre looking to meet "the big cheese" himself chef mickeys is where its at! id say the breakfast has about the same food at both

 

[bangzoom6877]

I am still torn between the two, which one to do for breakfast and which one for dinner.

Our boys both LOVE the Winnie the Pooh characters and they both LOVE the Mickey classic characters as well. Like I said, they really enjoyed dinner at CP last summer and breakfast at CM as well.

What I loved about Crystal Palace dinner that makes me want to go back...you are all gonna laugh....that salmon on the buffet was just so darn good!! And I really loved the dessert selection as well. But, it would also be nice to do the breakfast and enjoy an empty Main Street and photo ops before rope drop.

Maybe we will do breakfast at CP on the non-EMH morning at MK, and do CM on a different, non-park morning. And then we could choose a different place for dinner on the MK day...suggestions anyone? CRT is out of the question, as we are doing that for dinner on our other MK day, with my sister, parents and nieces (so we can't change the day of the CRT dinner either, as they will be home already by the time we go to MK again). And there are no other character dining locations at MK besides CRT or CP. We went to Liberty Tree Tavern last year for dinner but that was when they had characters and I wouldn't go back without the characters. Tony's is out of the question as I know we wouldn't like the food there, and we are not interested in Plaza Restaurant. It's just plain silly to do both breakfast and dinner at Crystal Palace on the same day right? How about one of the resorts? We will have our car so it is not a big deal for us to drive somewhere. But we would like to be back in the park for SpectroMagic.