Is Chef Mickeys even edible anymore?

Good to consider! That, so far, would be the only deal breaker for me.

I have seen birds there before, but only perched on the ledge at the entrance of the monorail. If they have become bold enough through the years to fly over to the food area, I cant even think about eating there.

I went in 2010, seems like yesterday and a life time ago at the same time, so maybe they've put up some deterrents since then, however I have seen others mention the birds in different threads :confused3
 
we had chef mickey's a week or so ago near the beginning of our trip and it was...meh. none of us ate much and it was just....ok.

meanwhile, we had ohana breakfast the day we left and we all ate a ton and had a great time and all agreed it was so much better than mickey's and if we had to choose, we'd pick ohana every time. it was unanimous.
 
I would go to Cape May. We were pleasantly surprised there for breakfast. Super nice and attentive waitressss. Also the character interaction was excellent. Only downside is it's not the easiest to get there.

We did Cape May our last day last year, had an afternoon flight, and wanted one last meal. Resort to resort is never easy (unless on monorail i guess) but we took bus to DHS, had nice photo outside, and then took boat over. Was nice and leisurely transportation, i'd probably be annoyed if cutting into park time but we weren't going into any parks that day. It's always great seeing the characters in different costumes and we enjoyed the variety at Cape May.

Back to Chef Mickeys, we had big family lunch or dinner there a couple years ago and it was our least favorite table service restaurant that trip. The food wasn't horrible, just not good or memorable. It even starts cheesy, taking a picture with a statue rather than a real character, I realize that is a trend (Tusker House did same thing too. )We were thinking would be nice to do at start of trip and get some meet and greets out of way. But really unless you're only at disney for a few days, there's plenty of chances for random meet and greets with the same characters without really cutting into "ride" time. If you want character meal, i'd consider looking into alternatives...
 
It even starts cheesy, taking a picture with a statue rather than a real character, I realize that is a trend (Tusker House did same thing too. )

Really a statue? I havent been in close to 10 years, but I dont remember that. Or maybe it was a plate or something that said Chef Mickeys.

At Tusker House, its definitely not a statue. Maybe Donald was just standing really really still !!! That would be hilarious!

74459_158397207528717_7250319_n.jpg
 


So far, this is the one issue I probably would have a problem with. I can deal with mediocre food, crumbs in my hair from swinging napkins, grapes rolling and squished on the floor, loud kids running around and Mickey speeding off from my table, but the thought of feathers or bird poop in my food is just disgusting. Definitely something to reconsider. I LOVE 1900 PF, but I feel like weve done it so much lately, I wanted a change. But, like Cogsworth says "If its not Baroque, dont fix it" !!
Have you considered doing Hollywood & Vine instead? You could do the Fantasmic Dinner Package even, a great value if you are on the dining plan. The character interaction there looks great and it's been getting really good reviews. We haven't been yet, but have it booked on our upcoming trip.
My kids have Chef Icky's booked this trip but I just can't stomach it and am trying to talk them into something else.
 
Really a statue? I havent been in close to 10 years, but I dont remember that. Or maybe it was a plate or something that said Chef Mickeys.
There is a statue that you take a photo with at Chef Mickeys, it's the first thing they do when you walk in... but then you have the characters inside.

I've never seen a statue at Tusker House though ???
 
Tusker used to have the Donald meet before the restaurant, but not any more. Now you just meet him and the other characters during the meal. No special picture at the beginning anymore.
 


It was one of my MIL's favorite meals of the trip. Frankly, she favors bland, flavorless food. I don't even know if she uses spices. She called the beef from Akershus "Alpo" and said "beef isn't supposed to be mushy" :rolleyes1

In my opinion, it was fine. We went for brunch. The character interaction was okay. We had much better interaction at Tusker House and Crystal Palace though.

I WOULD go to Chef Mickey's again. The girls (8, 5, 4 & 1) all seemed to love it.
 
We have gone every year since 2002, and never had a bad meal. We did decide the brunch seemed to be the best for food in our opinion
 
Did Chef Mickeys this past July was pretty good we went for breakfast.. haven't been there for dinner in a long time... Really can't kill breakfast
 
Have you considered doing Hollywood & Vine instead? You could do the Fantasmic Dinner Package even, a great value if you are on the dining plan.

Yes, I am already doing H& V for Minnies Spring Time Dinner. We usaually got for breakfast, but decided on dinner this time for the fantasmic package. Same with Tusker house for the ROL package.

Really the only character place we are not doing is 1900 PF. We've been there plenty and havent been to Chef Mickeys for a while, so I decided to change venues from our usual. I am going. Other than birds, I dont see an issue. If there are birds, Ill leave and get an ice cream for breakfast :) Birds scare me!
 
Years ago, my first experience was fantastic. Everything was delicious, characters were very interactive, employees were friendly, etc.

Our last experience (last month) was alright. Some items were SO unbelievably delicious, some I hated. My husband, on the other hand, has not stopped talking about it. He raved about everything he ate. I will say, for us at least, the service was terrible. Our waiter was very friendly, though not very attentive, and every single person at the front was unpleasant. It also took 30 minutes after we were seated to receive our drinks. We had some other issues but it was specific to our experience rather than something general like taste of the food, or something similar to that (one, for example, was waiting 20 minutes past our reservation time when no one else that came in was waiting, all because our handheld was broken, yet they didn't believe us until we told them the FOURTH time, then they realized and apologized).

We did not mind the noise, enjoyed watching the kids dance and have fun when they played the music, and the characters are always great. We were celebrating and the manager noticed that a couple characters skipped over us (just two, but one was Mickey himself!) so she personally came up to us and brought us over to a perfect backdrop for a Mickey photo! Super sweet.

It is ridiculously overpriced for breakfast though, $100 for breakfast for 2. It was good and I'm glad we went again, but we won't be back.. no matter how much my husband begs, haha.
 
We are on the DxDDP. It will be on a Magic Kingdom Day. We already have Crystal Palace booked for our other MK Day. We dont stay in the parks much past 2 - 3pm. Im no spring chicken and can no longer do the 7am breakfasts and midnight fireworks! We now take 9, 10, 12 day vacations and just stroll around. We go on the rides with our fastpasses and maybe wait in lines for a couple extra rides each day, but we do a lot of pool time in the afternoons, and go to the waterparks almost every other day so we are not pounding the pavement too much. My daughter is almost 13 and this is probably the last time she will be willing to take pictures with the characters. I think they make such nice memories. I love seeing the growth comparisons through the years too!
We do mostly character buffet/family style meals for breakfast. No matter where I go, Ill spend $$ and not eat a ton for breakfast. Nothing worse than being stuffed, then having to walk around for 6 - 7 hours in the heat. I eat plenty at dinner. App, entree and dessert :)

If on the deluxe plan I say absolutely go. That is how I am not annoyed by going, we are on the plan and would basically pay the same credit for a counter service breakfast. I am not a fan, but the kids love it. Without the dining plan there are many other places I would pick first at a lower cost, but like you, we are doing most of the others as well.
 
We did not mind the noise, enjoyed watching the kids dance and have fun when they played the music, and the characters are always great. We were celebrating and the manager noticed that a couple characters skipped over us (just two, but one was Mickey himself!) so she personally came up to us and brought us over to a perfect backdrop for a Mickey photo! Super sweet.

That would make for a terrible experience for me. Most things mentioned so far I havent cared about, but being there for the sole purpose of getting pics with the characters and having them skip over my table would put me in a bad mood. Im glad the manager stepped in and it all worked out for you, but it shouldnt have to get to that point. The characters have one job to do. Visit tables! They dont even have to talk or smile! Just hold a hand out!! And they get more breaks in one hour than I do in a entire day! Wow....bad Mickey!!
 
What really turned me off was the cleanliness factor--or lack thereof. For some reason, parents seem to let their kids run wild here and not worry about anyone else. I know it's a character meal and I know it's Disney. But I've never seen this level of chaos at any other character meal! Kids running around unsupervised, spilling food everywhere. I swear there was enough food on the floor under the tables to feed an entire village! Kids going up to the buffet, grabbing food with bare hands, and then changing their mind and dumping it back! I saw this myself on more than one occasion!!! Food spilled all over the buffet, things mixed together that shouldn't have been.

Just plain gross.
agree 100%
 
I had no issues with breakfast there. As for the eggs, I hate all scrambled eggs in buffets, so I asked the waitress for an omelette (i don't think there was a station, or else I would have just done that myself) and she gladly had one made and brought to me. It was cooked perfectly and very good :)

Good to know, my DH always hates the eggs from the buffet, he says its like eating powdered eggs. If we go again I will request one!

I thought this was a great post as Chef Mickey's definitely takes a beating in the reviews.

We had breakfast there two trips ago, it was ok, not awful. My DH enjoyed his hot oatmeal, said the scrambled eggs in the buffet were like powdered eggs. Great character interaction.

I will say I feel the quality at dinner has gone down a great deal overall. I remember having dinner there about 7 or 8 years ago and they had fantastic prime rib there. In subsequent visits over the years we would never eat there for dinner as the quality has declined so drastically.

But yes I would eat there again for breakfast.
 
We go to Chef Mickey's for dinner every trip. It is on our must do list. We have never had a time there. Good food, good character interaction, good service. True, it's not gourmet food and it's loud and chaotic (most character meals are!), but we love it.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top