Favorite Character Dining
- Thread starter bertegirl
- Start date
parrothead928
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2008
- Messages
- 284
Crystal Palace is our favorite! We have been doing that one since our DD was 5 years old...now she is 13! We have always had a great lunch or dinner and when we leave we are in a great mood from seeing Pooh and friends!
Tarheel girl 1975
Supposed Former Fastpass Hoarder
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2008
- Messages
- 2,754
We loved our breakfast at Tusker House. Good food, lots of character interactions. Daisy does a parade with the kids that my son really enjoyed. Later in the week we had breakfast at 1900 Park Fare and felt really rushed.
RichmondTiggerFan
Favorites: Splash Mountain, FOTLK, Tigger!, Chip
- Joined
- May 4, 2004
- Messages
- 536
Definitely go for the Crystal Palace. It has good character interaction and what has to be the best buffet on property. The characters here are Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore.
Also, are there any particular characters you are looking for? Do you prefer a buffet or a restaurant where they bring the food to you?
Also, are there any particular characters you are looking for? Do you prefer a buffet or a restaurant where they bring the food to you?
KatMark
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
- Messages
- 42,443
Crystal Palace is our favorite with Pooh and friends and we never miss breakfast there. However, if your daughter especially loves Mickey and Minnie, then I would say Chef Mickey's since both characters are there (although we prefer Cape May Cafe as our second favorite--and that has Minnie, Goofy and Donald).
THe best interating places i think were crystal palace, or Lilo and stichs breakfast at Ohanas. But...crystal palace i didnt care for the food or atmosphere much! Hollywood and vine is good also-- nice fun for the kids! Plenty of room to play!
gingerfeathers
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 583
We did dinner at Chef Mickey's and had a blast.. it's a must-do for us now!
GatorLady
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,330
To be honest, you never know what kind of interaction you will or will not get. Last trip most were just, sign autograph, pose for picture, move on. We go in the summer (very busy), so that can be a factor. We did have two meals with great interaction. I don't mean to sound like we don't like character meals, we enjoy them very much and do some each trip. Bottom line is you just never know. Which ever characters your kids like, I would pick those.
Now keep it mind, this is from an adults perspective, my DD6, is MORE than happy with an autograph and a photo.
Anything extra to her is just pure pixie dust!
mom2aredhead
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2006
- Messages
- 2,660
For food - Crystal Palace
For characters - Chef Mickey's - because Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald are all there, so that eliminates a lot of waiting in line at the parks to meet them.
Our "Interaction" has pretty much always been a quick handshake, picture, sign the book, maybe a minute or so, then they move on. The restaurants are generally crowded and the characters have a lot of ground to cover, so don't expect too much in the way of "interaction".
For characters - Chef Mickey's - because Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald are all there, so that eliminates a lot of waiting in line at the parks to meet them.
Our "Interaction" has pretty much always been a quick handshake, picture, sign the book, maybe a minute or so, then they move on. The restaurants are generally crowded and the characters have a lot of ground to cover, so don't expect too much in the way of "interaction".
I think it depends on who your children like.. are they fans of Playhouse Disney? If they are, I would recommend Hollywood and Vine. Are they crazy about the princesses. If they are, I would say Akershus. Pooh and friends? Crystal Palace.
Ask your 4 year old, would you like to meet abc or xyz, see what he/she says. I was very surprised when I asked my DD last year, because her first choice was Playhouse Disney, followed by Pooh, then Mickey Mouse...
Ask your 4 year old, would you like to meet abc or xyz, see what he/she says. I was very surprised when I asked my DD last year, because her first choice was Playhouse Disney, followed by Pooh, then Mickey Mouse...
If they are playhouse disney fans, then I would highly recommend Hollywood N Vine. It's a great breakfast, and the kids LOVE the dancing and meeting the Little Einsteins and Jo Jo & Goliath. If they don't know those shows, then Crystal Palace is also a great choice, but not as much interacting there. Hollywood N Vine would be the most interacting with the characters that I've seen.
VTNuke
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2005
- Messages
- 283
We just got back last week and I made the mistake of making three reservations a day with at least two being character meals. It was WAY too much eating, but my two year old just loved all of the characters. Made meal time an event. We had the Deluxe Dining plan and used it to it's fullest.
Our favorites in no particular order:
The Tusker House for Breakfast - Typical Breakfast food, but had Mickey, Donald and Goofy.
Princess Storybook Breakfast in Norway - Belle, Ariel, Mulan, and Snow White. The food was good and you don't get to see these Princesses as often. We also got a 8x10 of my daughter and Belle as part of the meal.
Cinderella's Castle - First of all, I called at the 180th day out and we were lucky to get the reservation. So worth it, but I did not research it enough. It was our first meal and we had just gotten off the plane. My daughter looked exhausted in the pictures with Cinderella. That place was a madhouse as well, but you can't beat eating in the castle with your two year old princess.
Crystal Palace - The characters were fun, but the food and the service really puts this one at the top of the list. We did lunch there and the waitress noticed we had seen all of the characters except Pooh. She arranged for us to go see Pooh "out of order". I know they were probably trying to clear the table, but we really appreciated it as we were ready to get out of there.
Cape May Cafe Breakfast - Minnie, Donald, and Goofy were the highlights here and my daughter really loved Minnie. Breakfast was typical.
Ones I won't be doing again:
Probably any of the dinner meals except at Crystal Palace.
Liberty Tree was really bad food and we can see those characters other places.
Harvest Dining at the Land with Chip and Dale was ok. The food was so-so, the characters were fine, service was good, and the spinning was an experience. But, it took forever and again we can see those characters elsewhere.
Character Tip: One of our group purchased a HUGE pen with a ball on top for my daughter to use with the characters. They really used it to interact with her. I think they appreciated actually being able to use a pen that fit their gloves.
We also ate at Teppen Edo's, Spoodles, ESPN Zone, Sci-Fi Diner, Captain Jacks, Big River Grille (probably my favorite non-character meal), and Rainforest Cafe (not on the dining plan). Like I said, we ate a lot!
We've already decided next time we'll only do breakfast reservations and then try to do a 2 TS meal for dinner. We were chugging waters at the end of the trip just to use up our snacks.
Our favorites in no particular order:
The Tusker House for Breakfast - Typical Breakfast food, but had Mickey, Donald and Goofy.
Princess Storybook Breakfast in Norway - Belle, Ariel, Mulan, and Snow White. The food was good and you don't get to see these Princesses as often. We also got a 8x10 of my daughter and Belle as part of the meal.
Cinderella's Castle - First of all, I called at the 180th day out and we were lucky to get the reservation. So worth it, but I did not research it enough. It was our first meal and we had just gotten off the plane. My daughter looked exhausted in the pictures with Cinderella. That place was a madhouse as well, but you can't beat eating in the castle with your two year old princess.
Crystal Palace - The characters were fun, but the food and the service really puts this one at the top of the list. We did lunch there and the waitress noticed we had seen all of the characters except Pooh. She arranged for us to go see Pooh "out of order". I know they were probably trying to clear the table, but we really appreciated it as we were ready to get out of there.
Cape May Cafe Breakfast - Minnie, Donald, and Goofy were the highlights here and my daughter really loved Minnie. Breakfast was typical.
Ones I won't be doing again:
Probably any of the dinner meals except at Crystal Palace.
Liberty Tree was really bad food and we can see those characters other places.
Harvest Dining at the Land with Chip and Dale was ok. The food was so-so, the characters were fine, service was good, and the spinning was an experience. But, it took forever and again we can see those characters elsewhere.
Character Tip: One of our group purchased a HUGE pen with a ball on top for my daughter to use with the characters. They really used it to interact with her. I think they appreciated actually being able to use a pen that fit their gloves.
We also ate at Teppen Edo's, Spoodles, ESPN Zone, Sci-Fi Diner, Captain Jacks, Big River Grille (probably my favorite non-character meal), and Rainforest Cafe (not on the dining plan). Like I said, we ate a lot!
We've already decided next time we'll only do breakfast reservations and then try to do a 2 TS meal for dinner. We were chugging waters at the end of the trip just to use up our snacks.
Chef Mickey
we have in 4years have not been to Chef Mickys
we are planing to do both dinner and breakfest this march
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