Do I *have* to do Chef Mickey's? WWYD?

[DaughteroftheKing]

Newbie to all things Disney. Never been before.

Planning our first trip for Oct 2009. DH, Me, DS (6yrs).

I called ahead and made ADR. We do have one character meal scheduled, Garden Grill to see Mickey, Pluto, and Chip & Dale.

The other reservations I have are for:
Boma (not willing to give up)
Liberty Tree Tavern (we should eat there, we'll be at Tom Sawyer's Island half a day anyway knowing my dh and ds!)
San Angel
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Trails End

Should I try to change one of the other ADR's and do Chef Mickey's instead? We are on the regular DP and have 6 TS meals.

The only 2 that we'd really be willing to switch would be Trail's End (scheduled for a Sat night) or Whispering Canyon. But DH and DS are big hiking, outdoorsy folk, so I think DS would love the atmosphere in both. But I do hate to miss out on a Chef Mickey if it is PHENOMENAL?

Or will Garden Grill be enough of a Character meal for ds? He isn't horribly into the characters, although that could change once we get there and he sees them.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I say yes. We have done breakfast and loved it!!

 

[Ragrobyn]

I wouldn't call any Character meal PHENOMENAL That would be the California Grill, or Jilko etc.

We did not do Chef Mickey's our first time and lived to talk about it

Garden Grill food isn't as good as CM (IMHO) but nice just the same.

I wasn't that impressed with the Liberty Tree - do not understand the fuss - unless it has to do with the never ending family style meals. If that is the case, then GG is perfect for those who enjoy that style.

In the end - it is what your family would enjoy and it is just food

 

[ohiodisneydad2]

I think your son will like it and the grown ups may be pleasantly surprised. The character interaction is good so your son will get a chance to meet the Big Five in one spot. I don't know if they do it as practice but when we went for our first time we seemed to get a lot of attention. And do breakfast!

 

[scdisneyguy]

While many don't ever do and most will say Chef Mickey's is far from a "have to" for us it is. We always do Chef Mickey's for breakfast at least once a trip. Everyone has differeng opinions about everything of course, so you kinda have to go with what you think your crew will like more.

Trail's end have done breakfast ( parents stayed at Ft. Wilderness one year while we were at Wilderness Lodge) and the food is fine, I personally wouldn't trade it for Chef Mickey's if you paid my way though much less if not.

Also Garden Griill I would put in the OK category for us as well, there are many more character meals we pick ahead of it.

 

[Big Daddy Incredible]

For what it's worth, when we returned from our first trip to WDW, one of the things our kid's kept talking about was our trip to Chef Mickey's. We had gone to other very nice WDW restaurants. But the one they kept talking about over and over was Chef Mickey's

Just my opinion, if you can get a CM ADR, scrap your Garden Grill ADR and go to Chef Mickey's. Chef Mickey's will be memorable. I have never been to Garden Grill so I can't speak about it. I will say that I have seen many unfavorable comments about GG on the disboards.

If you are at Epcot, you can take the monorail to the TTC and then hop on the other monorail that will take you to the Contemporary. You will find that it is a good break for your 6 year old and yourself. Our kids loved seeing the characters, watching the monorail drive in the building and waving their napkins. The food is pretty good as well.

Good luck with your plans.

 

[stuffed with fluff]

we do breakfast in room but lunch buffett is awesome and more substantial

 

[NOLA_Tink]

I know that you didn't mention switching San Angel as an option, but I highly suggest that you keep all of the others & switch San Angel instead of dropping the others. If that's not an option for you, don't cancel Whispering Canyon! Whispering Canyon is lots of fun & the food is really great. I've eaten at San Angel a few times, and it's just subpar Mexican food. Honestly, I can get much better Mexican food for a fraction of the price close to home. The atmosphere is cool, but the food is just "okay." Otherwise, I'd consider cancelling Trail's End for Chef Mickey. You can find some of the same items at both places & Chef Mickey's offers great character interactions. I hope this helps!

 

[JoePa4Ever]

I would try for Chef Mickey's - it has a very fun/upbeat atmosphere with the occasional monorail passing by overhead, a very good buffet with a nice selection and great character interaction with the Fab 5. If you can get CM, I would cancel Garden Grill - both food and atmosphere are bland & unappealing, IMO.

 

[septbaby]

Just go online and see what you can get.

We took our 6yo boy to Chef Mickey's and it made his top 3 list of our Disney vacation. He still talked about it a year later. His list: characters, Goofy's Barstormer rollercoaster and Chef Mickey's. I think as the only meal that made the list its worth the try.

We did a late breakfast and in Sept we're back for dinner. Heck, even I'm excited for the characters and sundae bar.

 

[ktlm]

No you definitely don't "Have" to do Chef Mickey's, especially if you are talking about going for dinner. We did Chef Mickey's dinner in May and thought it was absolutely disgusting. The restaurant was dirty and the food was horrible. Not even my 3 year old DD wants to go back, as she didn't eat a thing. She couldn't even eat the ice cream which was basically ice cream soup the night we were there. It was the worst character meal (as far as food, the characters themselves were really good) we have ever been to and we have been to a lot of them. I would try it for breakfast, but we will never go for dinner again. I had really been looking forward to this one, and I was really disappointed.

Personally, we really like the San Angel. We think the food is really good. It is not Tex-Mex, so don't expect tacos, burritos and enchiladas. You can actually go on allears.net and look at the menus for any WDW restaurant if you have not done that.

 

[3boymthr]

We enjoyed the Cape May way more than Chef Mickey's, but Chef Mickey's was dinner which was absolutely disgusting. The food for dinner was horrible. Cape may was breakfast and the food was decent but not exciting. I will say we felt less rushed and less well, everything at Cape May. The only disappointment there was not seeing Mickey.

My Kids, especially my 6 yo LOVED WCC so I wouldn't cancel that.

You didn't say if you are doing lunch or dinner at LTT, but they don't have characters for dinner anymore it's just food with no kid's options something to keep in mind if your 6 yo doesn't like a roast dinner with all the trimmings. We ended up switching to Tony's Town Square because of this.

 

[DCDisney]

Personally I think sticking with Garden Grill is a MUCH better way to have a meal with Mickey. We used to go to Chef M's every year but it just got progressively dirtier (and we ate at opening every time) every year and kids run around and pester the characters out of turn like no other character meal. The food is nothing special. My kids love buffets but even they didn't like it the last time we went. It's just a total feeling of chaos to us.

 

[MHSweb79]

We did Chef Mickey's on our last trip. My DH and DD liked it a lot, and while I thought the food was pretty good (breakfast) the place was noisy and chaotic and I had a headache by the time we were done. Once was enough! Since I'm the one who makes all our ADR's, we'll be heading back to our old faves 'Ohana and Crystal Palace in the future.

Don't sweat it if you can't get an ADR there. Besides, if you make it into some kind of holy grail, it will never live up to your expectations anyway!

Edited to add: Check out allears. net for dining reviews and ratings on every restaurant at WDW. This may help you make your decisions, and you wont' regret discovering this fabulous site...

 

[DISNEY1975]

Chef Mickeys isnt that great. I was more impressed with Crystal Palace and Hollywood and Vine, foodwise. I have only been there for breakfast, so I cant speak for the other meals. But...I can say, my room was on the first floor directly over the dining room and the place was packed morning noon and night. The characters didnt spend a lot of time at the tables, just a quick picture and move on. The song "Celebrate Mickey Mouse" rings through my head until this day and I went 8 months ago.

If you want the classic characters, I suggest Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. The atmosphere is more unique and the food is pretty good.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

Chef Mickeys is a must for our family. It is my kids favorite. They love being able to pick out their own food. Having the fab 5 there kick off our stay. For us, the magic begins...