Help me pick 4 of these character meals please!

[jana616]

We will be there in September. Our group is DH and I, and two boys, 5 and just turned 2, and both grandmas. I would like to do 4 character meals in our 7 days, and I have too many (of course!!). Choices are:

-Crystal Palace (would probably be breakfast)
-Chef Mickey's (would probably be dinner)
-1900 Park Fare (dinner, remember for two boys, but people on here thought they might like it, and it's the only face character choice on here)
-Garden Grill (dinner)
-Tusker House (breakfast, and I think this one is a definite if we can get it since I'd like a meal at AK that day)
-H and V (last breakfast seating, my kids think Little Einsteins are okay and have no clue who Jo Jo and Goliath are, but would enjoy it anyway if it's fun)

I had originally planned TH, CP, CM, and GG, which worked well for our park days. But then I felt like it was an awful lot of Mickey at almost every meal, and maybe mixing in a face character meal would be a nice change of pace. Almost all of those are princesses though, and DS5 thinks they're disgusting! So help please!! Any good ones I am missing? I welcome all suggestions!

 

[taylor3297]

My choices would be:
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's
Tusker House
Ohana's for breakfast. Your children would like the Lilo and Stitch.

 

[dolfinjuls]

Hmm...I think I would do H&V, CM, CP & GG!

H&V is a lot of one on one time and I'd do it now while the boys are younger and would enjoy it. There is also a dance party that the kids loved!

CM & CP you'd get the fab 5 and the pooh characters. And GG is a little different w/ the food and they'd get to see Chip & Dale who are lots of fun!

 

[JoePa4Ever]

From your choices I would pick:

CP brkfst
CM dinner
1900 dinner
Tusker House brkfst

 

[MPHARJ]

-Crystal Palace - we enjoy any meal here
-Chef Mickey's - always eat dinner here every year
-1900 Park Fare - had dinner here 2 years ago and although the food was ok the character interaction was horrible, we had terrible service, my mom got really sick in here and when I tried to get our server to expedite our drinks that never happened, not worth it for me especialy with boys
-Garden Grill - never ate here
-Tusker House - never ate here but have heard good things
-H and V - never had breakfast here, hopefully it is better than our dinner last year, this used to be a favorite of ours but after last year, even though our service was wonderful, the food was horrible.

How about Ohana for breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, or even Cape May, we loved that meal last year the character interaction was great, food wonderful and it was not crowded.

Good luck wtih your choices!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

You definitely can't cut CP. It's one of my favorites. Also I think your boys will like GG. The characters there were great and they will like the rotating restaurant. We are going to try Chef Mickey's our next trip and Donald's Safari Breakfast is also on my list to try in the future.
I guess I would cut 1900 PF or H&V. It's been years since I've eater at 1900 PF. I remember I really enjoyed the characters but not so much the food. I've never tried H&V.
Honestly though, can you have too much Mickey?
Have a great trip whatever you decide.

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

I have 4 boys and have done most of the character meals except Akershus and GG and the new 1900 dinner with the stepsisters. I would say keep CP as that is not a Mickey one and is the only one with all the 100 Acre gang. My boys enjoy this one a lot even though at home the 3 older boys feel they are too old for Pooh. At Disney without their friends around they still love him. We love starting off the trip with dinner at CM and a ride around the resorts on the monorail. I think GG is the only one with Chip and Dale now and at TH you get Donald and Daisy so even though you will overlap with Mickey a lot you will get other unique characters with each meal. If the boys aren't into princesses then I would stick with the other meals. Now my younger DS loves the pretty princesses and the way they tell him how cute he is but he is a bit of a flirt for a 4YO.

I'm sure no matter what you choose your boys will have lots of fun at any of the choices.

 

[cmaee]

Crystal Palace - breakfast....this is great breakfast and if you can get the first seating, then you can get great photos of the castle without anyone behind you.

Chef Mickey's - dinner...this is a good place for dinner and I love their desserts

Garden Grill - dinner...this is our favorite character meal, it is family style, all-you-can eat, and there is no getting up to go to a buffet line...very relaxing

1900 Park Fare - dinner...I have never ate here, but have heard great things about here. I remember reading a post somewhere that someone said that they told the stepsisters or Lady Trumaine that their boys were rich, single, princes and they made a huge deal over them. The next time we go, we plan on eating here to try this out. My brother's family ate here and they said it was great food. They have a funny picture with the one of the stepsisters giving them grief.

 

[GatorLady]

CP
CM - we prefer breakfast there.
GG
TH

With 'Ohana breakfast as an alternate if you can't get an ADR on one of your choices.

 

[jana616]

I only have a second, but I wanted to say thanks for all the ideas so far! You've given me a lot to think about. H&V was one I was not really leaning toward anyway, since my kids aren't too into the characters. Tusker House works really well for our AK day, and I'd heard it was good, so I'm pretty set on that. I was also pretty sure on CP, since the Pooh characters will be great for both boys and they're a little different from the Mickey set. So the real choice is to do 1900 Park Fare or not, and if we do, whether to cut GG or CM. I love the idea of telling the stepsisters my boys are rich princes-too cute! More to ponder!!

 

[DisneyTinkerbell]

Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's
1900 Park Fare
Tusker House

I would cut out GG. The boys will enjoy CM.

 

[Chevyscool]

I'd definitely do Donald's Safari Breakfast at TH...the food is great, plus you mentioned you wanted a meal at AK anyway. We love it...do it every year.

CP is also a must. It's different from Mickey and the gang, plus the food is awesome (especially the Puffed French Toast, made to order omelets and custom pancakes).

My kids love Playhouse Disney, so we do the H&V breakfast and my two have a ball! Plus, it's different characters than the Fab 5 and like another poster said, I'd do it while your boys are younger and still somewhat interested.

All the character meals you selected are all good in their own way. Have fun!

 

[ilandrazdsw]

My choices would be:
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's
Tusker House
Ohana's for breakfast. Your children would like the Lilo and Stitch.

My kids wern't familiar with any characters at H&V, but stll had fun. Top 4 were some of our favs.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

My choices would be:
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's
Tusker House
Ohana's for breakfast. Your children would like the Lilo and Stitch.

I agree!

 

[JJ&JHsmom]

CP- we loved our breakfast and characters were great.

CM-we went for breakfast and dinner, we preferred breakfast-character interaction was way better.

TH- we loved the food and the fact we could see Daisy.

GG- we loved the food and the characters

1900PF we had dinner, characters were great, food not so great, 45 minute wait for ADR was not nice. Did not get seated until after 9PM!!!!

Hope this helps.

 

[jana616]

OP here-thanks so much to all of you for the suggestions and opinions! Well, I think CP and TH are a must, though CP may be for lunch depending on our schedule. GG will work out well for us on our Epcot day, so even though there might be others I would like as well or more, convenience-wise I think we'll probably end up with that one (plus I like the idea of a non-buffet for a change). I am still a bit undecided on CM vs. 1900 Park Fare. We've never been to a character meal, and this will be my kids' first trip to WDW. I feel like CM is kind of the quintessential Disney meal from what I've seen. However, if it's not available, I think I would take 1900. I would kind of like to see Cinderella (and yep, I'll be 32!), and it would be different at least. However, I did ask DS5 tonight who he would like to eat with (crazy, I know!) and he said Mickey, over and over. So he'd be fine with him a few times, it seems!

BTW, I like the idea of 'Ohanas for breakfast, but dinner there is my #1 must do, and I was trying not to repeat places. Plus my kids haven't seen Lilo and Stitch yet, so I didn't think they'd dig that one too much. Maybe I'll read up on it more to see about it as a back-up.

Thanks again!

 

[Goofy22]

We will be there in September. Our group is DH and I, and two boys, 5 and just turned 2, and both grandmas. I would like to do 4 character meals in our 7 days, and I have too many (of course!!). Choices are:

-Crystal Palace (would probably be breakfast)
-Chef Mickey's (would probably be dinner)
-1900 Park Fare (dinner, remember for two boys, but people on here thought they might like it, and it's the only face character choice on here)
-Garden Grill (dinner)
-Tusker House (breakfast, and I think this one is a definite if we can get it since I'd like a meal at AK that day)
-H and V (last breakfast seating, my kids think Little Einsteins are okay and have no clue who Jo Jo and Goliath are, but would enjoy it anyway if it's fun)

I had originally planned TH, CP, CM, and GG, which worked well for our park days. But then I felt like it was an awful lot of Mickey at almost every meal, and maybe mixing in a face character meal would be a nice change of pace. Almost all of those are princesses though, and DS5 thinks they're disgusting! So help please!! Any good ones I am missing? I welcome all suggestions!

I would definitely Do Chef Mickey's and Garden Grill and Tusker House and Crystal Palace. I would do away with 1900 Parkfare since you have boys( and they are princesses except prince charming) and that buffet is not much different from CM or CP. And H & V I wasn't to impressed with dinner here but never did breakfast! Or you could drop CM's and do O'hana with Lilo and stitch!

 

[amandelba]

I have done just about all of the character meals with my DW and twin 4 year old girls save Cape May which we will do in August. Here are my thoughts:

-Crystal Palace - probably the best breakfast buffet foodwise - lots of choices. My DW loves Pooh's french toast. Good character interaction.
-Tusker House - good breakfast buffet with good characters, though the interaction could be better
-Chef Mickey's - I've never done dinner, but enjoyed breakfast there.
-Garden Grill - only okay, but gets points for being non-buffet - much easier with 2 kids. Also points for make your own cupcakes for the kiddos.

I would forget about 1900 Park Fare dinner - the food is dreadful and the characters are very weak, especially for boys. Except for Cinderella, the others are D-listers. You may want to consider breakfast here though, the food is much better and so are the characters, especially the Mad Hatter who is great with the kids.

For what it's worth, Ohana breakfast is my favorite Character meal.

 

[that's nice]

We will be there in September. Our group is DH and I, and two boys, 5 and just turned 2, and both grandmas. I would like to do 4 character meals in our 7 days, and I have too many (of course!!). Choices are:

-Crystal Palace (would probably be breakfast)
-Chef Mickey's (would probably be dinner)
-1900 Park Fare (dinner, remember for two boys, but people on here thought they might like it, and it's the only face character choice on here)
-Garden Grill (dinner)
-Tusker House (breakfast, and I think this one is a definite if we can get it since I'd like a meal at AK that day)
-H and V (last breakfast seating, my kids think Little Einsteins are okay and have no clue who Jo Jo and Goliath are, but would enjoy it anyway if it's fun)

CP- This is a must do. We ate there for breakfast and dinner last trip and the food was great both times!
CM- It is loud. It is crazy. It is great!!!! The best part are the desserts. There are so many choices, plus you get to see the mouse himself!
1900 PF- We had breakfast and dinner here last time as well. The stepsisters were a riot! They were fighting over a boy (must of been 10yrs old). It was so funny. The Mad Hatter is great and crazy!!!! It is worth going just to see him.
GG- never done it.
Tusker House- We will be doing this next trip.
H&V- I would suggest doing it now while your kids are still young. The food was good. They play all the songs from Playhouse Disney have dancing with the kids too.

Check out my TR..... We did so many character meals on our last trip.

 

[enchantingodin]

We did FD for the first time last year and did a character meal each day too. I gotta be honest for my 2 boys (5 and 4 at the time) it was total overkill. They actually got tired of them and just wanted to sit and eat. I was TOTALLY shocked by that! So this year we are doing one everyother day instead:
MK day - CM dinner
HS day - Mama Melrosa Fantasmic package
AK day - Tusker House breakfast
EC day - Le Cellier dinner
Off Day - 1900 Park Fare breakfast (this one is more for mommy of course )

I'm not trying make you totally rethink your plans or anything. I mean you know your kids best. Just wanted to share my experiance. Hope you guys have a BLAST on your trip!