If you can only pick 2 character meals

[PIRATEGIRL007]

what would they be and why? We are only doing 3 TS meals for our summer trip and are going to pick 2 charector meals for the kids. Other TS meal is reserved for Wed rib night at Boma's or DH might riot and not come back.
Our kids will be DD 8 and DS 5 at the time. DD isn't really into princesses but she likes them well enough so that would be ok. DS doesn't care about princesses but won't put up a fuss at all no matter where we go. Neither have any charector fear issues.

before I have done:
Crystal Palace dinner & breakfast
Chef Mickey's breakfast
Askerhus breakfast
Hollywood & Vine breakfast before playhouse disney took over
Ohana Breakfast
Liberty Tree Taver dinner

Give me your recommendations for place and which meal?

 

[ses1230]

I would do Askerhus breakfast, because I enjoyed the food and character interaction, and I have 2 little girls.

I also enjoyed Tusker House breakfast, but since the last time I went I heard that Donald is only outside now. Not that that's a deal breaker for me, but fyi.

I might try CRT dinner in the future since they are changing the format, though.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

I've only been to 2:

Akershus - OMG - THIS WAS GREAT!!!! My husband and son were all pink-faced and sweet on the princesses. My son had all the shrimp he could eat and was in 'hog heaven'! The food was really good (in my humble opinion - I'm Norwegian by my great grandparents but it's not the usual type of food I eat!). My daughter was just giddy with delight AFTER her initial bought of shyness. And me??? I was so happy. I've never interacted with all the princesses like that at once! I asked everyone of them a 'personal' question. My favorite was Snow White. I asked which animal was her favorite and I can't even describe how accurate her answer was! You have to ask yourself They are all 'face' characters so they could all 'talk' and this made it better - for me!

Chef Mickey's - Horrid, horrid, horrid. We went for dinner. I was scared of the food and could hardly eat it looked so disgusting. It was loud, crowded, and bad service. The characters were not even willing to spend much time with us and acted like my kids had cooties. My kids did like it and enjoyed it so I keep my mouth shut. But my husband and I are in agreement - NEVER again.

 

[shawnh199]

Definitely try Tusker House breakfast at Animal Kingdom. It was great and had a lot of variety. The characters are Mickey, Goofy, Daisy and Donald is outside.
Try to get an ADR as early as possible (805 or 815am). Tusker is located right next to the Safari ride so you can eat and get on the safari rather quickly since you will be getting there close to rope drop. Our ADR was for 905am but we got in around 830am by showing up a little early. We finished our meal and saw all the characters in about one hour's time. The line for the safari ride was about a 15-20 wait at that point.

Another option if you get there later, but still around 9am is to grab a fast pass at 9am (rope drop). You can get on the ride after you eat at that point with no wait.

 

[cbg1027]

I've only done 3 character meals recently but 2 of them were better than the 3rd.

'Ohana (breakfast) was just ok - food wasn't that good. Loved Mickey and Pluto, but I hate Lilo and Stitch.

Cape May Cafe (breakfast) and Crystal Palace (breakfast) were both great. Food was delicious, and characters were all fun.

I see you haven't done Cape May yet, so why not try that? They have Minnie, Donald, and Goofy in their beachwear. Plus, it's easier to get an ADR for than a princess meal!

 

[kamikazecat]

We loved Chef Mickey's Breakfast when we went. The only other characters we did were Hollywood and Vine (which was also great but your kids are probably too old) and Ohana breakfast where we had a less than stellar experience...

 

[abubu919]

My favorite is Crystal Palace Breakfast! I love Pooh Bear and Friends and they have great character interaction with us every time we go. I also love the food too, especially on the kids line the Puffed French Toast, delicious

Second I would say Cape May Cafe or 1900 Park Fare Breakfast. Both are great character breakfasts located at the hotels, one BC and other GF. Can't go wrong.

Also, I have heard great things about Garden Grill at Epcot, I am hoping to get there sometime soon as I heard the character interaction there is best!

 

[KevGuy]

Tusker House breakfast and Chef Mickeys!! Both are the best character meals imo.

 

[KatMark]

We've done the following over the years: Crystal Palace (breakfast), Chef Mickey's (breakfast and dinner), Garden Grill (lunch...which I believe they no longer do, but only dinner?), Norway (lunch), Cape May Cafe (breakfast).

Crystal Palace for a breakfast is a must do for us every trip...love the puffed french toast and, of course, Pooh and friends; we also really enjoyed Cape May Cafe with Minnie & Goofy (and now Donald, although when we were there last it was Chip & Dale).

Those are the two we enjoy the most. Next would be Chef Mickey's for breakfast and the rest could fall in any order (we don't do lunch/dinner buffets at Disney after two horrible experiences at H&V and we just didn't care for Norway all that much).

 

[mouseyemmy]

For breakfast, my favorite would have to be Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. It's also known as Donald's Breakfast Safari.
For dinner, my favorite would have to be Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort.

 

[acourtwdw]

Cape May for the character interaction. When we go around 7am, it's not bery busy and the characters take time at the table with each guest.

Crystal Palace for any meal cuz who doesn't love POOH?

 

[ibela]

This trip -
CRT - overall mediocre. Food was OK but overall very rushed and not worth a repeat (IMO).
Crystal Palace dinner, similar to lunch - food was great but the characters did seem in a bit of a hurry.
Askershus dinner - food was very good (we listened to our server recommendations of salmon and pork chop) and character interaction was excellent.

Previous trips -
Chef Mickey's for breakfast, can be hit or miss.
Crystal Palace for lunch, good.
Tusker House for breakfast, good and entertaining. Similar to Boma so I don't recommend having the meals back to back.

 

[TillyMarigold]

1. Either Cape May or Tusker House. Since you're doing Boma, I'd probably go for Cape May.

2. Akershus or Crystal Palace, depending on which characters you like better. We loved the food at Akershus (get the salmon!) but I can't get my DH to darken the door of Crystal Palace (he's British and has some ... issues ... with the "new" versions of the Pooh characters).

 

[tiredsigh]

For a boy, I would not choose the princess breakfast. But that's just me My little guy wants to see the biggies of Mickey, Minnie, etc.

We love Crystal Palace. That would be on our list.

We also enjoyed Cape May on the day that we go to DHS. We take the boat over and the kids love that.

We do DxDDP just so we can hit a ton of character meals. Our toddler is entertained the whole time and we get to eat a meal while he is enthralled

 

[christa112]

Chef Mickey's definately!!!

I really like LTT too but I believe it is no longer a character dining. They will be doing character for a bit in Jan while Crystal Palace is being refurbed.

I think we have been to almost all of them at this point.
Crystal Palace is OK
Akershus--Love
Garden Grill--OK (don't see much reason to go back)
Tusker House--haven't been to (but did Breakfastsauras, which was really good)
Cindy's Royal Table (not worth the 2 dining credits)
Ohana--is Good--Different characters to meet Lilo and Stitch
Cape May--haven't been to

Have you guys tried Whispering Canyon or 50's Prime Time fun interactive dining and the food is awesome too!!!

New to us this year:
Beirgarten
1900 Park Fair

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Cape May seems to get good reviews so I think we are gonna check that out. And the great news is today when I mentioned narrowing down the choices to 2 today, DH was very disappointed (he loves charector meals) so we are relooking at getting the dining plan. We have never actually paid for the dining plan, but it may be worth it for our kids to get to eat at a variety of places w/ the charectors. Then I will only have to choose 6 meals.....
Thanks for all the advice.

 

[djp0630]

I would do Crystal Palace and Chef mickey's. We ate at Crystal Palace breakfast and Chef Mickey's for breakfast & dinner and enjoyed them all! I think those would be the best, especially since your DD isn't into princesses anymore. If she were, I would say Akershus & CRT as we also loved those, but DD is all about the princesses!

 

[ElizabethG]

I had to add 1900 Park Fare. It is a favorite (as is Garden Grill). We always do the dinning plan. It is so inexpensive for kids. We have been to all of the character meals. If you get the dining plan, check out the places you haven't been and deffinitely check out 1900. My DS7 and DD5 both loved it.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Chef Mickey's & Crystal Palace.

 

[perkinsrose]

Crystal Palace with Pooh & Friends (Magic Kingdom) lunch

& Chef Mickey ( Contemporary Resort) dinner

Good food & variety in buffet and decent interaction with characters

We ALWAYS hit these two on the dining plan except this year (SOB)
Crystal Palace is under refurb...