Help with Character Dinning

[Jedi5]

Hello everyone.
Going to WDW for the first time next month. Doing so, I would like to take my son to a character meal. Not sure if I want breakfast, dinner, or both.

If read on Chef Mickey and Cape May. I am about one month away from my trip. Is there still time to book? If so, who would I contact to get this squared away. I am staying at the AKL... would AKL be able to arrange this for me?

Thanks to all.

 

[PrincessBear]

I just called 407-WDW-DINE and booked mine. We love Chef Mickey! The food isn't the best but it is a great atmosphere.

 

[nklooz]

Chef Mickey's is a GREAT character meal, with the classic Disney characters. And a fun buffet that kids love, espeically the big dessert buffet.

I would call ASAP and try to book, you will likely have to be pretty flexible w/day and time to get one at this point.

Good luck.

 

[Nezgrrl]

Breakfast at Donald's Safari Breakfast at Animal Kingdom was great. The food was really, really good, and the characters were Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Mickey. I really liked it better than Chef Mickey's -- the food at CM is really poor in quality.

 

[Jedi5]

Thanks to all for this info.
I will call ASAP. My trip is less than one month away.

Now, if for some reason I can't get in, will AKL be able to work some magic and squeeze me in at Chef Mickey if I ask them?

I'm kind of bummed. The agency I was working with stopped returning my emails. They were going to square this away for me but I haven't heard from them in weeks.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

January is not a very busy time. If you are flexible about date, time, and which character meal, you are sure to find something. Also, people do cancel, so you can keep calling and may have luck that way.

The hotel will not be able to help you if the restaurant is truly booked solid.

Have a great trip!

 

[binwinbinwin]

We came back Dec 18 after doing 5 character dinners in a row:
1) 1900 Park Fare cinderella, prince charming
2) Garden Grill chip and dale, mickey
3) Crystal palace, winnie, eeyore, piglet, tigger
4) chef mickey, minnie
5) Liberty Tree Tavern, goofy, chip and dale,
I highly recommend any of the above dinners, some of which we had as early as 4 pm or as late as 9 pm, depending on our reservation time (food, ambience and characters were great). The kids and parents loved the interaction with characters. BEST TIME FOR US TO GO WAS AROUND 4 PM FOR DINNER SINCE IT WAS LESS BUSY IN THE RESTAURANT (MORE TIME TO INTERACT WITH CHARACTERS) AND GAVE US PLENTY OF TIME IN THE EVENING TO WALK OFF THE BIG DINNER. Dinner cost is about $30 per adult and $18 per kid.

 

[Jedi5]

Thanks again for the input.

One more question I forgot to ask...

I'll be staying at the AKL. So if I wanted Chef Mickey, I would need a hopper pass to enter that park, is that correct?

 

[debbiedoo]

No(no hopper pass needed in a resort), take a bus to MK, then get on the RESORT Monorail to get to Chef Mickey's or any of the monorail resort.

Allow yourself at least an hour to get over there, the monorial loop is 20/30 minutes?? I want to say 22

or you can take the walkway to the contemporary

 

[Shmily1]

I would suggest Cape May. The food is great and it's not crowded so the characters have more time to visit. Goofy sat with us for a while and cut up with us while we ate. We loved it so much, we called the ressie line and made another ressie for the next morning!

 

[Harambe]

Another idea is the character meal at 'Ohana at the Poly. It has Stitch and Mickey, chip and Dale (I think). Same as getting to Chef Mickey's only you take the resort monorail to Poly.

Then after your breakfast, you can hop on a Poly bus for any park, or take the monorail or boat to MK. Very convenient!

 

[katiesmom2]

Thanks again for the input.

One more question I forgot to ask...

I'll be staying at the AKL. So if I wanted Chef Mickey, I would need a hopper pass to enter that park, is that correct?

Chef Mickey's is at the Contemporary Hotel, not at one of the parks.

We love CM! We usually go there and then spend the day riding the monorail and visiting the Polynesian and Grand Floridian hotels and then we head over to Downtown Disney for some shopping. We book a nice dinner somewhere and have just the best day.

Disney Dining will be very helpful to you with all of your meal plans - it's quite painless!

Enjoy your trip.

 

[VrBchJ]

Anyone have an opinion on character lunch at Hollywood and Vine? My nephew's love the Little Eintsteins so I thought they might enjoy H&V.

 

[Jedi5]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
I found this site that lists the character dining options and menu.
I'd like to believe that there are more to the menus than what they listed.
Looking at Chef Mickey and the Donald at AKL.
For Chef Mickey, I'm sure they have the usual burgers/pizza/etc... right?

Thanks again.

 

[handicap18]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
I found this site that lists the character dining options and menu.
I'd like to believe that there are more to the menus than what they listed.
Looking at Chef Mickey and the Donald at AKL.
For Chef Mickey, I'm sure they have the usual burgers/pizza/etc... right?

Thanks again.

We've done CM's 3 times (twice for dinner and once for breakfast). DW would go there every night for dinner if it were up to her (or at least alternate it with Crystal Palace).

We really enjoy the carved prime rib and parmesan mashed potatoes. The carved pork was also good (they sometimes switch that with carved ham). The steamed broccoli was also good. Great cookies for desert and a bunch of other stuff.

This along with Crystal Palace will be a must do dinner on any future Disney trips.

This site might help you more with the menus:
http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm It gets updated regularly.

We ate at Donalds a few years ago and thought it was ok. I felt the characters were much more rushed there than at Chef Mickey's or Crystal Palace. Chef Mickey's is one of if not the best for character interaction.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I am always able to grab a Cape May breakfast ressie no matter how short notice our trip is....cannot say that with Chef Mickeys

 

[Birdiegirl]

Breakfast at Donald's Safari Breakfast at Animal Kingdom was great. The food was really, really good, and the characters were Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Mickey. I really liked it better than Chef Mickey's -- the food at CM is really poor in quality.

Does this require one or two DDP?