First Timers -- Character Meal Report Tony's Pooh Lunch & Norway Princess Breakfast!

[kc&dmom]

We are just back from our very first trip to Disney!! We had a wonderful time and since our kids are 6, 4 & 3 we hit three character meals.

Tony's Pooh Lunch --- We really enjoyed this meal! We had a great table in the garden room overlooking main street. The food was great and the character interaction was wonderful. Service was slow but that was just fine by us. Most of the fun for our kids was just watching the characters interact with other tables --- Live and in person! This was on our first day at the parks and all three are on the shy side and were very nervous. Eeyore was especially friendly and was a great hit with everyone in the room.

Norway Storybook Princesss --- Well, let's just say they are still working the kinks out. I had seen excellent reviews and was expecting this to be at trip highlight for our DD's 6 &4. Our plan was to attend Fantasmic the night before (we did and it was great!) and to sleep in with a slow start the next morning . Our PS was for 10:10 and we arrived at about 15 minutes early-- and we were the very last table sat at 11:00 !! Plenty of people were good and hot about the long wait. (Boy, can people be nasty--we really felt bad for the host.) We figured we would just ride it out-- the hosts were apologetic and promised the characters had plenty of time. --- Except they didn't!! Most of the princesses were scheduled to begin in the World Showcase at 11:30. (It was definitely the same Jasmine in Morocco) So . . . . we sat down at 11:00 and saw Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Mary Poppins, & Aurora --all of them before 11:20 and somewhere in there they had dropped off our breakfast which was completely cold and the kids were starving! All in all it was a disaster. All the princesses had all left the room before 11:30 and I really think half the experience for the kids is just being able to enjoy the "show".

Our waitress had received three of the last 5 tables and was swamped. Staff was busy climbing over our kids to take down the flower decorations (they must put up just for the breakfast) -- when someone really should have been assisting our waitress w/coffee and juice for the tables so she could concentrate on serving. Our advice is to have an early PS. If you arrive early you are definitely going to receive plenty of time to enjoy the characters and your breakfast -- unfortunately it is at the expense of those with later PS's. I know this seems negative overall --- I also realize we just had a bad experience. We would definitely do this breakfast again -- with an early PS.

Did want to mention -- our dinner at Chef Mickey's more than made up for our disappointment at the Princess breakfast -- we were able to watch Goofy and Donald from our table during our entire meal. Their antics and the overall fun atmosphere made this a real special end to a rainy day.

 

[nisiemouse]

Thanks for the report. I am glad to hear more feedback from Tony's. Could you tell me a little more about the food? Thanks. Sorry about the princess breakfast. We had a good experience but had an early priority seating.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Can you please give us more info about Tony's? Is this a preplated meal (like Cindy's) or family style (like OHana's)? What's on the menu? What time was your PS? Did you feel rushed here? How was the character interaction? Sorry for all the questions, I tend to get carried away with planning.

Thanks

 

[kc&dmom]

We tried . . . .

the kids had pizza and spaghetti & meatballs. The devoured their meals --- at our house anything with tomato sauce is a hit.

Bread was served with a garlic/olive oil spread as we were seated. DH and I both tried the minestrone soup it was great. (I had a second bowl) I think we also had a choice of salad or bruschetta. DH had the pasta primavera. The portion served was huge and the vegetables were crisp and not at all overdone. I had the chicken ceasar salad also a large portion a little heavy on the dressing. I was unable to finish mine, probably due to that second bowl of soup. For dessert the kids received giant warm chocolate chip cookies in a handy sleeve so they could take it with them. We ordered the tiramisu and cheesecake. The tiramisu was very soggy and the espresso flavor over the top for me--DH loved it. I would stick with the cheesecake.

 

[kc&dmom]

Disneyjunkie--the meal was preplated. The server just seemed off, we had a 1:30 ps and we were seated promptly. I think they must have come off a huge rush and our waiter looked like he could have used a good 15 minute break. So service was slow but, that was fine the kids received their meals right away and had plenty of time to sit and enjoy the characters. The room was large, bright and cherry. As I said this was our first character meal and we were very happy with the entire experience.

 

[travelitis]

Were there other desserts available, and was it included with the lunch at Tony's?

 

[tinkerbell27]

ok , I have dumb question-

Please forgive me we've never been to a charachter meal before,so when they say pre-plated does everyone get the same thing , or do they give you a few choices.I was wanting to see exactly what the choices are- I'm kinda picky!!

 

[eeyore0062]

It seems as though Storybook Princess Breakfast may be better the earlier you arrive. We like to do one of the 1st seatings, as we like to get out in the park as early as possible. You know, the early bird, gets the worm!

I am sorry that you didn't have a good time, there, and that people were upset about the wait. Hopefully that will all work out, and they will keep SBPB as a permanent fixture in Epcot. We thoroughly loved it, and I am afraid that my review may have helped lead to high expectations. If that is the case, I am terribly sorry.

 

[twoksmom]

Thanks for the info on Tony's.Can't wait to try it.April

 

[DisOrBust]

PLEASE give them feedback on your experience with the Princess breakfast. They will never be able to work the kinks out if management doesn't know what happens. You shouldn't have had to pay for that meal and I would tell them that. If they are unable to accomidate at 10:10 ps thats a big problem!

 

[DonnaDavid]

We ate at Tony's for the 1st time this summer also. I had always avoided it in the past because I thought the prices were kind of high for a plate of spaghetti. However, I made the ressie this time so my DD could see the Pooh characters. I didn't realize that those prices were for a salad/appetizer, main course, and dessert. As I recall, the selections were pretty good (3 or 4 choices per course). The food wasn't outstanding but it was good, and the atmosphere was fun. We had good character interaction and the band came in from Main Street and played while the characters danced with "volunteers." We sat in the back - the room right next to Main Street would have been more pleasant. We had a good time, and I would go back again.

 

[kc&dmom]

Disorbust -- They did provide a customer comment card which we filled out. Believe me there were enough irate people all over the floor manager. At the time I figured the kids were not aware of any problems they were happy to see the princesses and decided to just let it go at that. I posted to strongly recommend to everyone an early PS. After all it is a "test" period and with having a totally different luncheon set up immediately following they will need this test time to make it all work.

 

[kalamazoo]

I wonder if the rushed atmosphere is something of a problem at the end of any character breakfast. We had a ps at Chef Mickeys for quite late in the morning (I think 11 am) and, though we did not have to wait to be seated, I did feel kind of like they couldn't wait for everyone to leave so they could get set up for lunch. The service was still very good and all but there was definitely that "last guest at the party" feeling. For that reason I don't think I would ever do a character breakfast that late again.

 

[travelitis]

I know this sounds trivial, but does anyone remember what the dessert selections were and if they included ice cream? My ds is trying to decide whether to celebrate his bday at Tony's or 1900 Park Fare, and this is important to him. His top pick for character meals without Pooh is, get this, CRT. Of course he's very sure his little sister would much prefer CRT over the Storybook Princess Bfast in Epcot. uh-huh!

 

[eeyore0062]

I wonder if the rushed atmosphere is something of a problem at the end of any character breakfast. We had a ps at Chef Mickeys for quite late in the morning (I think 11 am) and, though we did not have to wait to be seated, I did feel kind of like they couldn't wait for everyone to leave so they could get set up for lunch.

We felt the same way the last time we ate at the Artist's Point Pooh and friends character breakfast. I just attributed it to the fact, that we were the ones who decided not to eat until the last seating. All of the servers were accomodating once they decided who was getting our table, and the characters did hang around for pretty fair amount of time.

Personally, I think the earlier you go, the better time you will have, and the less rushed you will feel!

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

kc&dmom,

Thanks for your reviews. Always good to hear the good and the "constructive" to help us all prepare for our own trips. I will definitely be trying for an early PS at PSB if it is extended into January for our trip.

Kalamazoo,

It is odd that you would have that experience at Chef Mickey's only because they don't serve lunch. They only serve breakfast and dinner at CMs so all I can guess is that they were anxious to get breakfast cleaned up and close the restaurant. Still not acceptable though as every guest is entitled to good food and service regardless of the time of their PS.

 

[DonnaDavid]

My husband remembers the kids having ice cream at Tony's . I bet if you ask over on the Restaurant board, you'll get lots of answers.

We ate a late dinner at Garden Grill last August and had a similar experience with the characters. We usually have our best character interactions there, but I did feel rushed there this time. I'm going to avoid late seating for character meals.

 

[4kidsandadog]

Originally posted by kalamazoo
I wonder if the rushed atmosphere is something of a problem at the end of any character breakfast. We had a ps at Chef Mickeys for quite late in the morning (I think 11 am) and, though we did not have to wait to be seated, I did feel kind of like they couldn't wait for everyone to leave so they could get set up for lunch. The service was still very good and all but there was definitely that "last guest at the party" feeling. For that reason I don't think I would ever do a character breakfast that late again.

Wow, we had exactly the opposite experience at Chef Mickey's! We had one of the last breakfast seatings of the day and were almost the last family to leave the restaurant. We got EXTRA attention from the characters, especially as we were trying to leave. All of them interacted with my kids out near the waiting area for several minutes as we were leaving. I have pictures of Chip/Dale sitting in the floor holding our youngest (he was 2 1/2 months at the time). Goofy made lots of fuss over us and kept asking the kids' ages and suggesting that they kept me really busy (we had fun learning character sign language!).

I've always recommended a later seating at that restaurant in particular, but I guess YMMV.

Karen

 

[travelitis]

Thanks for your review. I made 8:30 PS for the Storybook Princess Breakfast.