Help with Character meals?

[Princess Row]

Can anyone explain to me which meals they feel are best for character dining?
We are going in April and would like to make reservations for meals now. We have never been to WDW and hae NO IDEA what reservations to make.

 

[pearljim]

We've eaten at most if not all the character meals over the years and at all three meal times. Our family prefers breakfast hands down. Just seems like a great way to start off the day. Family favs are O'Hana at the Polynesian, Crystal Palace at MK, and 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.

I hope you have a wonderful vacation!

 

[jpolak]

You might find this link useful http://allears.net/din/cb.htm I would try to make your reservations quickly. Character meals fill up rather quickly and you are well inside your 180 day mark.

 

[anjalee6]

Our family really likes the Crystal Palace in the MK. It has the characters from Winnie the Pooh and is a very nice breakfast. Chef Mickey's for breakfast is my son's favorite. It has very similar breakfast items to the Crystal Palace but is in the Contemporary and has Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. They sing and dance while you are there to eat. Our kids really like it. We also like Tusker House which is the character breakfast at Animal Kingdom. It is hosted by Donald Duck. Mickey is also there, along with Goofy and Daisy. We like 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian for dinner which is dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, stepsisters, and step mother. It is really funny. (Completely different than breakfast though, which is also good, but not our favorite). I hope this helps a little.

 

[ses1230]

For princesses, I like Akershus in Norway. But if it' s your first trip, there is nothing like eating at the castle.

For Pooh and friends, Crystal Palace at MK and for Mickey and friends, Chef Mickey at the Contemporary. We also like Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club, and Tusker House at AK, too.

It all depends on what you are looking for. But like a pp said, you should do it soon since you are past your 180 days.

 

[Hootch]

ones listed by Pearljim are all good. With some meals you will have character overlap. For example, Chef Mickey's has Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. Mickey and Pluto are usually at Ohana with Lilo and Stitch. Donald Goofy and Mickey are at Tusker House along with Daisy. Goofy Minnie and Donald are at Cape May. (these last three are breakfast only. CM is breakfast and dinner with lunch during unusually heavy times.)

For some people particular characters are important. The three listed above provide a broad array of characters with Pooh and Tigger being the only overlap that I can think of.

For some, including us through this trip, princesses are important. Cinderella's Royal Table and Askerhus have princesses at all meals. One meets you at the door for a photo and four move about the dining area posing for pictures and signing autographs. 1900 Park Fare dinner is centered around the Cinderella story with Prince Charming, the step family and mice.

We have been doing Chef Mickey's and CRT the last couple of trips driven more by characters than anything else. Cape May and Tusker House are good but the character overlap and the time away from the parks was too much for the kids. The one we have done previously and I miss is Crystal Palace. There was solid food and a good variety and Eeyore and Piglet were there in addition to Pooh and Tigger.

 

[steamboat_rachel]

Akershus has great food and a great environment, plus if you are doing the dining plan it is only 1 credit versus CRT is 2. They accommodate picky eaters, I def had substitutions on my dish, loved it.

Also enjoyed 1900 park fare brunch, large variety and the characters were wonderful.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

we were inside 90 days for our december trip and went to chef mickeys, 1900 park fare, and ohana character meals. we also did biergarten and whispering canyon and those are not always easy to get either but were available and all at good times. if you can't get a adr right away just try a few days in a row and checked the cancelled adr thread.

btw, our favorite was 1900 park fare!

 

[amy-momofthree]

Tusker house! We ate at CRT for the princesses and it was ok however, we loved Tusker house breakfast. The atmosphere was neat and the food was wonderful!! Also good character interaction.

 

[RalphinSC]

Don't forget the garden Grill in Epcot. Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. Much quieter than most other character dining spots, great atmosphere and setting. The only character dining restaraunt with a better ratio of Characters to guest is CRT. And the restaraunt rotates.

 

[andersonfamily]

Tusker House was my hands down fav. The food was good, the charactors were classic disney and really sweet. Plus we got a res. last minute at 8:45, but they let us in at 8. We ended up finishing as the park opened and we were first in line for the safari ride. It was really really cool.

CRT was dd (4) favorite. The food was okay, but it was expensive. It was worth it for her experience - which was once in a lifetime for her. We did it the first day after BBB.

Akersus was good. I thought we had just as much princess time there. The food was pretty good (we had breakfast so it wasn't as german as lunch or dinner are).

1900 Park Fair for dinner was one of the highlights of our trip. The girls still talk about the step sisters getting put in "time out". The buffet was pretty good.

H&V was my least favorite. We had a rough (and super hot) day at HS, so that might color my opinion. The charactors didn't seem to come around as much, and the food was pretty gross to me.

Crystal Palace... wasn't the experience I thought it would be. The buffet was fine. Our kids were never big winnie the poo fans, so it was sort of eh so what for them. I was bummed because if you happened to be at the buffet when the charactors came, they didn't come back. And they seemed to be very rushed. Tigger was the only one who had any interaction with the girls - and we totally missed Eeyore.

Sorry for the super long post - but the charactor meals were the central part of our trip last year. I would still love to go to Ohana, but we didn't fit it into this year's trip schedule either so I guess it will be a 2012 visit.

 

[sapereaude]

We've done both CRT and Askerhaus breakfast and CRT lunch, I wasn't that impressed with Askerhaus personally. The atmosphere is nice and the princesses are there, but the food was meh. The CRT lunch we had (in 08) was also meh, but the breakfast was really good and we love eating at the castle, unfortunately this time they were doing work on the back so we didn' get the view of fantasyland out the windows . The CM was sure to explained we could have more of anything we wanted, etc. We chose the stuffed french toast, but he said if we wanted eggs on the side, etc just let us know and DH ordered sausages on the side and they brought him a big plate of them. The kids plates did not have a ton of food, but he said he could bring another plate if they are still hungry, I think they just don't want to waste food when most kids don't eat more than that. The stuffed french toast was great and there was much more than I could eat, plus muffins, croissants, fruit, etc. They also do a cute little ceremony and the kids get a wand or sword and a wishing star, plus two printed pictures with Cinderella.

I think my favorite is Chef Mickey's. The food is great, the atmosphere is great and the characters are fun. We've had a great time both times we have gone.

I've also eaten at the Crystal palace twice and enjoyed that. Whenever you have a buffet you are going to have the 'when do you go to the buffet' problem with the characters, so keep that in mind, but we just kept our eye out. The characters will not come back specifically because you weren't there, but they keep coming around, so if you just take your time, the next crew will eventually come around. We missed goofy the first time around at Chef Mickey's this trip and we caught him again and saw Chef Mickey twice as well. The servers have always asked us if we got to see all the characters and the last time we came we didn't see Pluto, so they went and found him and brought him to meet us in an open area by the buffet. All you have to do is ask.

 

[lupp2217]

We have done Ohana breakfast, CP dinner, 1900 dinner and CM dinner. My DDs both say Ohana is their favorite. None of us liked 1900 food but the characters were fun. Both my DDs are shy and they were a little much for them though. We were not impressed with CM, but really liked CP with Pooh and characters.

 

[RichmondTiggerFan]

Here are my favorites:

1. Crystal Palace (any meal). Characters are Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet.

2. Garden Grove at the Swan. On Monday/Friday nights, the scheduled characters are Timon & Rafiki, other nights, the scheduled characters are Goofy & Pluto. They also have characters at breakfast on weekends. (I can only speak for the Monday/Friday nights, since I go to see Timon).

3. Garden Grill at Epcot (dinner only). Characters are Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale. This is the only location to have a meal with Chip & Dale, also, Mickey wears a farmer's outfit.

4. Ohana at the Polynesian (breakfast only). Characters are Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. This is the only location to have a meal with Lilo & Stitch, also, Mickey wears a Hawaiian shirt.

 

[jkluttrell]

In October we ate at Garden Grill (dinner), 1900 park fare (dinner), Tusker house (breakfast), Crystal Palace (dinner) and Ohana (breakfast, we also ate there for dinner but it is not character). Of these I thought the food and atomosphere at Tusker house were really good, not that the others were bad but this one was my fav. I thought the character interaction at Garden Grill was the best of the whole trip (again the others were good but this one was my fav). The characters came by our table 3 times and really took time playing around with my kids. Pictures are on my blog (link in my siggy).

 

[princessbrulee]

In August we ate breakfast at 'Ohana (Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, Goofy), 1900 Park Fare (Mary Poppins, Pooh, Tigger, Alice, and The Mad Hatter), and Tusker House (Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Daisy). We ate dinner at Crystal Palace (Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore), Cinderella's Royal Table (various princesses), and Akershus (various princesses).

We LOVED 'Ohana. Hannah's been a HUGE fan of Stitch since she was a toddler. She nearly hit the roof when she realized he was there. The food is brought to you family style (scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, mickey waffles, fruit) and is quite tasty. Since it's not a buffet, there was no worrying about missing a character. Our waitress was so wonderful that my youngest even insisted on posing with her for a picture and they both had her sign their autograph book!

1900 Park Fare was awesome for the characters. I thought the interaction between Alice and the Mad Hatter was wonderful. The food was decent for a buffet. Nothing to write home about. I did enjoy the strawberry soup.

Tusker House was ok. The food was good, but I have to say I thought it was WAY TOO LOUD. Our waiter was nowhere to be found most of the time. We could only meet Donald outside so unless we wanted to buy the photo package we couldn't get a picture with Donald. I didn't love it.

Akershus was nice, the food was VERY good, IMO. Cinderella's Royal Table had amazing ambiance (how could it not, being inside the castle?) but the food was downright horrible. I like salt on my food but it was inedible due to oversalting. The girls loved it though, so we'll probably be back. Character interaction was about the same in each. Possibly slightly better at Akershus.

Crystal Palace has wonderful food. The characters were decent. Not too loud considering it was a buffet and it's really a beautiful restaurant.

Good luck and have a wonderful time!

 

[Rose.Red]

Last week, my mother and I ate at Akershus and Cape May Cafe (at the Beach Club) and really liked both... If you're looking for princesses, I think Akershus is really good. Belle was at the front, and 3-4 other princesses circulate the room (we had Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, and Ariel). The character interaction was fun, and they paid a lot of attention to us despite the fact that we were adults. Also, though I've heard some complaints about the food, we really really enjoyed it (and thought it was better than CRT's when we went there several years ago). I will acknowledge though that my grandfather was Norwegian, and my mom and I both have eaten a lot of the stuff on the cold buffet before and aren't particularly picky. Though there is some stuff on there that might not appeal to everyone (i.e., the gjetost, or, I think, goat cheese, which I actually liked, but may not be for everyone, haha), there were quite a lot of options. The entrees were good as well; my mom said the kjotkakke reminded her of her grandma's cooking, and the open-faced chicken sandwich I got was, though nothing particularly out of the ordinary, tasty.

Cape May Cafe has a nice, lower-key character breakfast... Good food, nice character interaction. No Mickey, but they normally have Minnie, Goofy, and Chip and Dale, I think (Donald was there instead of the chipmunks when we went this time). It was a lot of fun, and since we were there rather early in the morning (ADR was for 7:30, opening time), all the characters came around twice. I'd definitely recommend it!

 

[Princess Row]

Thank you everyone for the responses!

I decided this morning on the character meals. We chose 1900 for dinner, and crystal palace for dinner. We thought breakfast was a bit too early because of how long the bus takes from the Animal Kingdom villas. We also chose Akershus SP?*, we thought that was the best pick. Although eating in the castle sounds great Cinderellas Royal Table is a bit pricy and I have read all over about the food not being good. This si only our first trip to WDW so our next trip we can try others.