First night: Chef Mickey's or 1900 Park Faire?

[Jen D]

My upcoming trip is just me and my five year old. On our first day in the world, we are not doing the parks, but we have decided to do dinner at a monorail resort and then watch fireworks. Since she is 5, I think a character meal is in order! But where? My first thought was Chef Mickeys-- the Contemporary is cool, Mickey welcomes us our first night, and I've heard the character interaction is great! But I'm scared about the food. Really, that's pretty expensive for mediocre fare. I've read so many bad things here!

Then 1900 Park Faire-- in general I read better things (although it has its detractors too) but I am worried about characters. The kid is a Cindy fan, but the CRO person told me about the dinner and said you were "guranteed Cinderella and at least one other characters." Only two characters? I guess we're spoiled, we did CRT last time and saw six characters in all! I thought I'd read a couple negative notices about that dinner on RADP. Opinions? I'm leaning toward CMs, but don't want to be disappointed.

 

[hockey mom]

For me it was the other way around. We enjoyed the food at CM and were dissappointed at 1900 park fare. We always do CM because my kids love the napkin dance and decorating a cupcake with Goofy. We tried 1900 twice, once the villian dinner and the othe the peter pan crew, and after giving it a fair shake have decided to never go back.

 

[bcvprincesses]

We just ate dinner at 1900 Park Fare and I was very disappointed. The food was ok but the character interaction was horrible. We had ps for 5:30 so we could watch the fireworks. We checked in an we were told it would be a 20 min wait. We stood in line to meet Cinderella and the prince and it took over 15 min in that line to have one rushed picture. It took over 30 min to be seated and we saw the mice and then after we were done eating we waited for the fairy godmother for another 20 min. My dd's really wanted to see her so we waited and waited. When she finally made it to our table we took one picture and she had to leave to go to another table for a birthday cake. My girls were very disappointed and we asked for her to come back and we were told that she could only spend a few seconds at each table and we had already had our turn. She spent a lot longer at other tables so we were upset about it. We also missed the fireworks because it all took so long.

 

[goofy4tink]

We also prefer Chef Mickey's to 1900 Park Fare. At least for dinner. Haven't tried CM's for breakfast yet, but we will. We did both spots for dinner on our last trip. The food at CM's was terrific. My dh is somewhat critical of his food and he found nothing to complain about!! Loved the mashed potatoes. While at 1900 PF, we found the food to be just so-so. While both restaurants are crowded and busy, it seemed to us that 1900 PF was a lot noisier and chaotic. In fact, my dd, 9, says she doesn't want to do 1900 again!

 

[MommieMommie!]

We, too, were disappointed in 1900 Park Faire for dinner. We had 7:30 PS on 1/31 and have never been so disappointed in a character meal. Character interaction was terrible -much better to see Cindy, Mice, & Fairy Godmother in the park. We were well pleased with the breakfast at 1900 - but will probably not do the dinner again.

We have not tried CM, so can't give you a comparison, just our experience and opinion on 1900 Park Faire.

 

[cd&kids]

Wow...after reading your question, I thought I'd be the only one to say he was disappointed with 1900...but I guess not. Honestly, it was probably our least favorite dinner of the 7 we had our last trip.
We've never had Chef Mickey's for dinner...but for breakfast, it can't be beat. The whole Chef Mickey's experience is classic Disney!

 

[DisneyObsessed]

Cd..Well put. Chef Mickeys is definitely classic Disney. To us there is no other way to start our vacation!

 

[cd&kids]

Agreed, Dawn....Chef Mickey's is always, to us, the place to start your Disney trip! The characters are great....and where else on the planet can you eat surrounded by Disney characters and a monorail periodically pulling thru the facility?! I can't imagine anyone ever going to Disney and not eating at least one meal here!

 

[Kaitysmom]

So I should cancel my 1900 PF reservation and try Chef Mickeys? What was wrong with the food at 1900 PF?

 

[Jen D]

Well, you guys have convinced me, I'm keeping my 6:15pm ps for Chef Mickey's our first night. The kid will love it. I'll just keep my expectations for the food low and maybe I will be pleasantly surprised!

 

[cd&kids]

Kaitysmom....don't fret. 1900 was okay....I just put it right around the bottom of the list of our 7 dinners....but even that doesn't mean it was horrible. My kids liked is....so it's just personal opinion. If you're set on 1900, I wouldn't change it...!!

 

[crs7568]

Thanks for asking this question, Jen D. I assumed it was a good place for dinner. In fact, I just made reservations there for Easter dinner. Sounds like I should think about changing them. There has not been one really positve reply to your inital question. Any suggestions?