Help me pick a character meal

[Dustykins]

We're going to the World in September for my sister's wedding. It's our first time , so I've got no experiences at all. We're sharing one of the THV's with my parents so we've decided to skip the dining plan and just buy groceries and eat mostly in our room (I don't think it'd be worth it for us - DS is a very picky eater, plus we'll have at least a couple of days that we wouldn't use the DP - one for the wedding and we're taking the kids to a beach one day). I do want the kids to have one meal with characters, though, but I don't know which one to pick. I have daughter who is almost 4 and a son who is almost 7 (both have birthdays in the next couple of months). My daughter is very into princesses and fairies, but also loves Mickey & friends. DS isn't into princesses, of course, but still likes Mickey in addition to the more "boy" characters. So....if you could only pick one character meal, which one?

 

[TwistGrl101]

Cape May Cafe breakfast at the Beach Club: great breakfast buffet with Minnie, Donald, and Goofy in their bathing suits!

 

[memakwed]

WE ate at the:

Castle
a few months back to celebrate our DS7 bday. HE was not into the princesses but because he has a lego castle he was interested to see what the inside of the castle was like. It's not girlie on the inside at all. YOu meet Cinderella and get your pic before you go up to the dining room. Upstairs are ariel, princess aurora, belle, and snow white. The food is alright. Nothing to write home about and the price for dinner for us makes this a one time special event as he is a boy and the curiosity of the inside is gone. Boys get swords and girls wands and both wishing stars to make a wish during the time there. Kids food is alright as well. Nothing special for the price. We did enjoy ourselves but won't need to go again.

Crystal palace- Most of the pooh characters. Buffet. It was again alright but we didn't do it this trip so it wasn't a must do. There is a children's buffet and I remember my husband enjoyed the Salmon but I can't say anything was amazing but the interaction was nice.

1900 Park Fare- This we enjoyed !!! and have decided we must do again next trip. It has cinderella, prince charming, evil step mother, anastasia, and drizella. We went for my bday dinner actually. I'm 36. The chicken Marsala was good according to my mom, the strawberry soup was good too but a little thick, and I never eat Salmon NEVER and it was yummy!!! I got more. Again it is a buffet and it had pizza for kids mac/cheese ect. My son liked it becuase rarely are prince's featured and the steps family aren't all princessy either but for your girl there is the Cinderella factor!! It's at the GF so close to MK too.

Chef Mickey- we've only done for breakfast. It has Mickey, donald, pluto goofy. I found it loud in there overall. Again it is a buffet. Not sure if we will do this ever for dinner. But did enjoy breakfast alot and couldn't get ADR"s last trip at all.

Garden Grill- We tried this last trip in EPCOT and were pleaseantly surprised. My dad wants to go back next trip. Here you will find Mickey in Farmer attire, chip dale and pluto. This restaurant is family style and they bring the food to you and bring you all you want/need. There are chicken legs. sweet potato fries and mac/cheese for the kids and for adults salad, fish, turkey, meat, mashed potato, rice veggie for adults. The restaurant slowly rotates aorund the ride in the land. Characters came around twice and we're lovable and very interactive. A great experience and will do next trip. It was sucha surprise since there are so many great places in WS so for us to not eat there it was a pleasant surprise to have sucha good time.

Ohana- My mom loved the scrambled eggs for breakfast here and my husband loves the sweet bread and I love the juice and my DS7 loves the sausage. We saw lilo stitch mickey and pluto. The kids join in a parade areound the restaurant. First time we went I was hesitant to let him participate just being an overprotective parent but this time I was ok. It's a very easy going environment. Everyone gets a lai and you should have your pic taken but we avoided that. It is a family style restaurant that brings your breakfast to you. Mickey waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage. Simple breakfast but yummy. We have done this the last two trips and will do again. I think this is a favorite for my son becuase he likes lilo and stitch and pluto is a favorite too and then there's mickey in a hawaiin shirt. Can't go wrong with this at all.
We have not done akerhaus or cape may not sure if we will or not in the future.

I hope this gave you some insight into some of character meals.

 

[happy place]

As I typed away, I realised we've probably eaten at most of the character meals in disney over the last 5-6 years.

Askerhaus was a treat for my daughter's 8th birthday. Food was good, lots of selection, and it's combo buffet for the cold items, and pastries. while the hot food, eggs, sausage etc is delivered to the table family style. You get a photo with the princess included, and all of the other princesses come to your table. My older son tolerated it and enjoyed the food. ariel said he looked like her Eric , and made him blush. we were in epcot before it opened because of the early reservation and the we all found that kind of neat - walking through a mostly empty park.


There is also a character meal in Hollywood studios with playhouse disney chacters, and alice in wonderland characters at the 1900 park fare breakfast at the grand floridian, and lilo and stictch with mickey and a few others over at the Polynesian resort. The juice at the polynesian is very good, and it was probably one of our favorite character meals. Crystal palace in Mk also has the Winnie the pooh characters for breakfast.

With character meals, it's more about the characters the kids are going to meet , than the food, usually.

Your family will enjoy whichever set of characters you choose to meet.

 

[mickeyplanner]

We have eaten at every character meal at WDW including some that are not offered anymore. Since both of your children like Mickey and Friends, I would recommend Ohana for breakfast since everyone gets a lai ( that should make your DD feel special), it is served family style so everyone can relax a little instead of a buffet and enjoy the juice served, Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch visit the tables. This is a great meal to start your day at either MK or Epcot because of location.

My second recommendation would be Cape May especially in September. We have done it twice that time of year and had the characters to ourselves basically.

My third recommendation would be 1900 Park Fare for Breakfast and try the strawberry soup and lobster egg benedict, characters are Mary Poppins, Alice, Mad Hatter, Pooh and Tigger. Another great way to start your morning before going to MK or Epcot.

Just remember with the dining plan, you can use all your credits in one day if you want or not use any on certain days. You are tied down to using a certain number of credits each day.

 

[blana]

I'd recommend Garden Grill over any of the others. When I was planning meals for our last trip, that was the only one DH requested from our previous trip. Decent food, great character interaction, and the restaurant turns!

 

[L-Harper]

Tusker House is now offering characters at lunch. They have awesome food so you can go for breakfast or lunch to get characters. That would be my top recommendation since we haven't gone to Garden Grill yet. Tusker House has Mickey, Daisy, Goofy, and.... I'm blanking. I know there is at least one more character.

If you can sway your son into a princess meal, my 2 and 4 year old boys absolutely LOVED Akershus. My husband and I also enjoyed it because the food was really good. Each of the boys got a kiss on the cheek from a princess.

I would actually NOT recommend Chef Mickey's for dinner if you care about food quality at all. The characters were awesome, but I honestly filled up on chicken nuggets because most of the food wasn't very good. I'm typically not a picky person either.

Good luck with your decision and I hope you have an amazing vacation!

 

[tanyaandallie]

I think you really have to decide if you want to take your little girl to see princesses or not. That's really the deciding factor. If you do, either Cinderella's Royal table or the Princess Storybook lunch/breakfast are great.

If you want to see Mickey instead, I'm a fan of Tusker House as well. We had breakfast and LOVED it.

There really are so many to choose from and most are great! The only one I'd skip for sure is the character meal at Hollywood & Vine at DHS. Our last fav dining experience.

 

[noahdove]

Chef Mickeys for either breakfast or dinner, Crystal Palace breakfast, 1900 Park Fare dinner or breakfast. I personally think the Castle is way over priced and the food is ok.

 

[princessbrulee]

Another vote here for Ohana. Awesome character interaction, and no need to worry about timing buffet trips correctly.

We also really enjoyed the Garden Grill dinner. The food was delicious (again, no buffet trip timing, it's served to you family style), and Chip and Dale were hysterical!

If you decide to do princesses, I'd recommend Akershus over Cinderella's Royal Table (castle). Despite it being awesome to eat in the castle, the food is just not good. And you see basically the same princesses at each.

 

[DLFT]

Tusker House is one of the more underated character meals, a buffet, has added character lunches in addition to Breakfast and not as crazy or crowded as chef mickey's. Chef Mickey's is a classic however, and the Garden Grill at Epcot is family style and quite enjoyable. The Crystal Palace also has a good buffet if they are into Winnie the Pooh characters, and is a good backup plan at all three meals. I guess for me it depends on which meal you want to eat...
Breakfast, I would got with Chef Mickey's or Crystal Palace
Lunch, I would go with Tusker House or Crystal Palace
Dinner, I would go with Garden Grill or Crystal Palace (and judging by other reviews, NOT Chef Mickey's)
Hope you enjoy whatever meal you choose!