New to this board; character meal questions. :)

[trizzie]

Hi everyone,
I have been lurking on the boards for a few days and have appreciated all of your knowledge!!! It has helped in planning our trip so much. A little background - DH and I have been to DW a few times, just the two of us. This will be the first time with our kids. We are taking DS, who will be 3 1/2 when we go and DD, who will be 10 months when we go. This is a very spur of the moment decision - we booked this week and decided to go in September to take advantage of the free dining.

All of that said - this is our first time ever to use the dining plan and our first time to go to character meals. Here are the reservations I have made, I know zero about any of these places and would love your feedback!

Spirit of Aloha Show
Garden Grill dinner
Hollywood and Vine breakfast
Crystal Palace breakfast

Forgot to mention that we will be there five days. Also, I tried to book Mickey's backyard BBQ. They had space for 3, but not 4 so that was out. I also saw avaliablity for 1900 Park Fare, but based on the feedback here passed on that one.
Thanks for your help!!!

 

[rblucy]

I would just continue checking the dining reservations periodically to see what else opens up. Garden Grill would be easy bc they serve you family style so you don't have to worry about getting up and down with the kids. Tusker House is our fav character breakfast. We just like the variety of food available. Enjoy your trip

 

[AirGoofy]

Spirit of Aloha is a dinner show and there are no characters there. They have live dancers, and it will cost you 2 TS credits on DP. Mickey's BBQ has characters, but will also cost you 2 TS credits. Both places serve beet and wine. Both are outdoor pavilions as well.

 

[cdgrill]

Hey there! Welcome! We are new here as well and totally agree....everyone on this forum is so friendly and informative. We ate breakfast at Crystal Palace a couple years ago. Our only regret was not having the knowledge that we should have given ourselves MUCH more travel time. That caused us a lot of stress. Hope this helped!

Diane

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Not sure what time you got for Crystal Palace, but if it works with your schedule- I'd work to get a pre-park opening slot. It's a great breakfast... food is good, characters are fun, and the service is excellent, but it's also very cool to be allowed in MK before it officially opens.

I agree with the pp who noted you should plan extra time for travel. We had an 8:15a last trip...got to the WL bus stop at 7:05a and it wasn't until 7:42a that a bus for MK arrived. Too bad the boats don't run that early We made it in time, but it was a mess b/c everyone was freezing and needed a trip to the bathroom. This trip, we have an 8:25a at Crystal Palace...we are checking into the Contemporary that morning between 7:15-7:30a and plan on walking to MK as soon as we're checked in.

 

[DisneySarah80]

Personally, with two little ones, I wouldn't do either the Aloha show or the BBQ. They are both outdoors, and eating outside, for several hours, in September, can get rather hot.
My suggestions would be....

Tusker House for breakfast on the AK day
Akershus for dinner on your Epcot day
Crystal Palace for breakfast or dinner on your MK day
Chef Mickeys for dinner - Its at the Contemporary, so it doesn't have to be on any particular park day, but its closest to the MK.


Heres a link to all the character meals, and whos there - Have fun!!!!!
http://allears.net/din/cb.htm

 

[trizzie]

That helps a LOT! Thank you!!!
We have breakfast scheduled at Crystal Palace on our last day (but that won't be the only day we are at MK). Maybe I will switch that to an early bfast our first day.
I really wanted to do Chef Mickey's but it is booked the entire time we are there. I will keep checking though.
Thank you all!

 

[maj42169]

I was not impressed at all with the spirit of aloha experience. 1900 park fare is one of our favorites for both breakfast and dinner, along with Tusker House for breakfast.

 

[Wendybird55]

Crystal Palace and Hollywood & Vine are both great choices for Breakfast. DS enjoyed both the past years we've gone..he was 2, 3 & 4. though I haven't been in a very long time, I agree that Aloha may not be the best choice...I looked into it last year and with the seating restrictions for dining plan and all I didn't think it would be worth 2 credits. As far a Garden Grill..it's a good atmosphe for kids with revolving restaurant and characters...just not our favorite choice of food. Some of my suggestions for kid friendly, good food are....Biergarten in Germany, Whispering Canyon at WL, Norway...we did Bacyard BBQ 2 years ago and doing it again this year because it's alot of fun for kids..we went in Sept and yes it's hot but manageable and the beer for DH and all the Mickey ice cream bars you can eat for DS were a big plus

 

[budafam]

I personally loved 1900 Park Fare. The food was fantastic and so were the characters. The only complaint I had was the noise level. We went for breakfast so maybe another meal time might be a bit calmer?

I also highly recommend Chef Mickey's. We did Crystal Palace and we were not impressed. I won't return to that but next time we will repeat Chef Mickey's & 1900. I'm also trying to get CRT & Akershus. Very excited for those!

 

[GrandMum]

Is Garden Grill the only place to find Chip & Dale? I was told to check Chef Mickey's but don't see any mention of them.
Bring my adult DD#3 and that's all she wants to see.