Help choose 1 or 2 Character meals!

[KDsmommy]

I need some help! I would like to book 1 or 2 character meals for our trip in April. We'll be staying at WBC for 6 nights and doing MK, Epcot and AK. We'll be spending the off days at the resort and around town.

I was thinking to do at least one character breakfast (possibly lunch or dinner if that's better) at a Disney resort on one of our off days. I currently have a reservation for breakfast at 'Ohana, but I'm wondering if that is a good choice for us. DS is 4 and doesn't even know Lilo and Stitch. What are some other good choices for some more classic characters?

 

[gabzee]

If DS doesn't know Lilo and Stitch then I wouldn't go to Ohana. Personally, we prefer character meals for breakfast. We find the food to be better. There are a couple nice resort character meals. There are 1900 Park at the GF, Cape May at the BC, Chef Mickey at CR, and Ohana at Poly. Personally, we really enjoy 1900 Park Fare. They have an create your own omelet station and many other breakfast foods. The characters are the Mad Hatter, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, and Alice in Wonderland. If you want to see Mickey and the gang you could go to Cape May (Mickey is not there but Minnie, Goofy, and Donald are) or Chef Mickey.

 

[shannonstar]

I would say Cape May Breakfast for a resort character meal. Good food, quiet atmosphere, great character interaction.

 

[NickP33]

Cape May is a great spot for breakfast. We usually like to have Chef Mickey's for dinner.

We are also going in April and I think we'll try Chef Mickey's for breakfast this time.

 

[arh218]

Ive always been a big fan of Crystal Palace for breakfast. Its a great variety of food and nothing beats seeing pooh and friends first thing in the morning! Tusker House is good too if youre in the mood for something different.

 

[KDsmommy]

Thanks all! I think I'll try to get ADR at Cape May because we'd really like to see the "classic" characters.

 

[buckeyefam]

We like to do the Crystal Palace for lunch and The Garden Grill at Epcot for dinner.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

My kids preferred Chef Mickey breakfast over Ohanas. AND I got to say we had more character interaction at Chef Mickey. We did do a later breakfast so I think that is why. I am taking them back to Chef Mickey and I requested a later time so we will see what happens.

We have done the Cinderella Royal Table for dinner. I orfginally was supposed to bring my niece and MIL and I couldn't cancel two spots so I ended up bringing my twin boys who were 7/8 at the time and my (8/9 can't remember how old) and they LOVED it. DIdn't think the boys would but they had a great time.

 

[dgagnon519]

We have done every character meal offered at Disney except The chip and dale one at epcot.
Ohanas, Chef Mickeys, and Crystal Palace are must do's for us.
Keep in mind that Ohanas also has Mickey Mouse and usually Pluto too with Lilo and Stitch. You could also let your child watch the movie before the trip or watch while in the room one night.
Chef mickeys we prefer for Dinner. Crystal palace we like for breakfast.

 

[abbadabbadoo]

My kids (DS3 and DD9) love the Ohana breakfast but DD has always been a big Lilo and Stitch fan. It was very relaxing there and the character interaction was fantastic!

My entire family loved breakfast at Crystal Palace. The food was hot and plentiful, and gettting to see Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet was a definite highlight of our trip last year.

We have done Chef Mickey's for dinner twice now. I like it, but it's more for the kids. The food is okay but the characters are awesome!!!

While we enjoy breakfast at the Tusker House, we find it to be the most chaotic of all the character meals we have attended.

I think you would really enjoy the Ohana breakfast, it's more relaxed than so many of the others. Crystal Palace breakfast is my family's overall favorite, and starting a trip with dinner at Chef Mickey's is truly magical!!!!

 

[gabzee]

You should also know that Ohana is not a buffet. It is served family style. Also, the options are pretty limited. I would look at allears.com to get an idea of what they offer and what other character restaurants offer.

 

[XGrumpy1]

I love Chef Mickey's and I bet your kid's will too! A great place, a lot of fun.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Our fave character breakfasts are Crystal Palace (prepark opening), 1900PF, Chef Mickey's, and Hollywood & Vine. If I had to pick two out of those from a character perspective, it would be Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace. We've had mixed service experiences at 1900 PF and H&V has great food and service + the characters spend TONS of time with the kids, but the character there just are not as popular.

We have had breakfast at 'Ohana and while the service and characters were good, the food was sub par. Tusker House was probably the worst character breakfast we've done- horrible food, bad service, and the characters just weren't into it.

EDIT- if you do dinner, I would not recommend Chef Mickey's. The food when we went was horrible.

 

[princesspooh323]

There are still a number that we have not tried, but of the ones that we have done my boys (8 and 3) love Chef Mickey's the most. It has all of the classic characters. We have only done breakfast there, but we are trying the dinner in August. The food and service is okay, but like I said my boys really love it.

Crystal Palace is beautiful. We have only had dinner there, but have heard very good things about the breakfast. We loved it when we went in 2009, but last year we found the service and quality of the food was not quite as good. The characters were wonderful, though.

I also enjoyed Garden Grill.

We have added Tusker House and 1900 Park Fare to our list this year.

 

[colinsdad]

If you're doing this on an "off day", I'd suggest Mickey's Backyard BBQ.

I took my son to it when he was 4 and he loved it (so did I). It's a little crazy at first when the characters come out all dressed up in their western costumes and everyone wants to dance and get pics with them, but after everyone realizes they come back again and again throughout the dinner it mellows out a little. The food was good, and the price included beer , wine and gratutity, so I thought it was a pretty good deal for what you get.

From the Disney site:
Mickey's Backyard BBQ Dinner Show is an all-you-care-to-eat Disney Character dance party with live entertainment at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.

Frolic with Mickey, Minnie and Friends at this neighborly outdoor picnic in the middle of the covered, open-air Pavilion at Fort Wilderness. With foot-stomping music from a country-western band, line dancing, rope tricks and kid-friendly fun, you won't sit still for a second. Little ones can even dance a jig with their favorite Disney Characters on the dance floor!

Enjoy a delectable buffet featuring all your beloved country vittles: barbeque smoked ribs, smoked chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs with all the trimmings, corn on the cob, watermelon and more. It's a mouth-watering, knee-slapping good time!

 

[LynneyPooh]

If you read through here you'll see very mixed reviews- however I agree skip the lilo and stitch- since your darlings don't know who they are Stitch can be scary for young children- who am I kidding as a 40 year old stitch scares me (but DD9 more)!

Garden Grill is the only none breakfast character meal we've done, and is DD's favorite. She loves Chip and Dale! Then they have Mickey and Pluto also. Pretty good food, and we've had awesome interactions both times!!!!

We've enjoyed Chef Mickey's (jan and June), Tusker House(oct) and Crystal Palace (june). We've also done CRT and Akerhaus for the princesses, but not sure if DS likes them.
Chef mickey's (fab four MM, DD, Minnie and pluto) was better interaction in jan-less people and later time. In june we did a 9:00/9:30'sh time and it was BUSY!!(and rushed).
CP was a later time also and DD had a blast with tigger, eyore, and Piglet! Pooh I think was having an eyore kind of day but it was still a great experience.
For us Tusker house had good food and great service. and good charecter and the main ones (MM, Donald, Daisy, Goofy). But attendence was off that morning due to the weather I think, and once again a a later time. (we're not a rope drop kind of family).
My advice is do the charecter meals @ breakfast. DH, and my brother actually agree on this one!

 

[disney-akj]

My DS5 loves Jake and Handy Manny so we are doing Hollywood and Vine for the first time on our next trip. We love Donald's Safari Breakfast (and now lunch I believe) too and it will have almost the same characters as Chef Mickey's, just different attire (safari vs. chef). Crystal Palace is ok if your son like Pooh characters, if not I might skip it?