Whats your favorite character dinner?

[goofyintoronto]

Garden Grill! Love this place.
CM and 1900 both have terrible food (horrible quality and selection). But the characters are adorable and step sisters are funny.

 

[Oneanne]

Garden Grill... I much prefer to have the characters come to the table rather than risk being at the buffet when they come round. And the food has always been reliably good.

 

[Newsies]

I eventually stopped booking character buffet dinners because the food quality seems to be bad at every one we've been to. As you mentioned in your OP, this was a particular problem at Chef Mickey's, where everything tasted like it had been sitting under the lamps for waaaaaaay longer than it had any right to be. The only one I can think of that was "okay" was dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. We have not tried Garden Grill because our family LOVES eating at the World Showcase (it's seriously one of my favorite parts of every trip!), but I would try it before I went back to any other buffet-style character dining experience.

We have Storybook Dining with Snow White booked for upcoming trip. Partly because my dad "has" to meet Grumpy, partly because even with the mixed reviews, the menu looks great and the food quality seems to be at least a little better than buffets. Also, as others have pointed out-- family style dining (well, family style desserts/apps and choose-your-own entrees) is a lot better for a character meal, and you don't have to rush to grab a plate in fear of a character visiting your table. If I were in your situation, I would try to get a table here or at Garden Grill as others have mentioned.

 

[mkla2015]

I would just keep Chef Mickey's if that is what you had planned and the purpose of the meal is to meet characters. I never go into character meals expecting the food to be good- it's all mediocre at best. You are there (and paying) for the character interactions. The only character meal that we really enjoy the food at is Tusker House breakfast... the rest are just ok and we know that going into it so there's never any disappointment.

 

[jsternad]

I have CM booked for dinner one night, but I keep reading bad reviews about their dinner! The last time we had a trip to Disney (about 5 years ago) it was mostly good reviews. Has it gone down that much??

If you were to choose a different dinner character meal, what would you choose? My youngest daughter is 4, then 4 adults and 2 teenagers.


Thanks!

We were at CM for dinner a few years ago and I won't ever go back. The food was meh, not much variety, and SO over crowded, loud, and chaotic. I'm NOT hard to please as far as restaurants at WDW goes, and I was SUPER disappointed. The only veggie in the buffet was steamed broccoli, which no one in my family will eat (myself included, and my kids love veggies) and the ranch dressing was bottled Hidden Valley/off brand crap. It was gross. For $60 I expect a decent salad dressing, at the very least.

Garden Grill is SO much better. It has Mickey, Pluto, and the Chipmunks and they come around several times since the restaurant is small. The atmosphere is fun and it's not loud and there aren't wild children running everywhere. We usually go for bfast so we can get into the parks early. It's one of my favorite meals!

 

[Pmlocke]

I select 1900 PF only because you can interact with the characters. I love seeing Mickey, Minnie and all of the gang but when you can flirt with the step-sisters, argue your worth as a future son in law with Madame Tremaine, gush over Cinderellas dress and get instant feedback-that's the best. Oh, by the way, I'm 65 years old and we visit every year and 1900 PF is always a destination for my wife and I.

 

[KenHutch]

Chef Mickey's is better than many of its reviews especially if you hit the dinner early but our favorite is Garden Grill. They bring the food to you so you do not miss any characters and the place is small. If you take 90 minutes to eat odds are you will see all of the characters 3 times. And the food is actually pretty good.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Wow, I didn't realize they no longer did characters at dinner. Thats a bummer!

Cape May never had characters at dinner, or not since before 1995.