which character dining??

[uktigger]

hi all
could you please help me to decide which character dining to do below is a list of some we would like to do,we would like to one of each eg;one breakfast one lunch and dinner

crystal palace

garden grill

liberty tree tavern

donalds or park fair breakfast

we would also like to do ice-cream social,sci fi dine,beaches and cream and the fantasmic package,also would it be best to do early or late dining ie;which is more relaxed and which is best character interaction

thanks in advance
eve

 

[fairy god aunt]

We always do CP for lunch with Pooh and have always had great interaction. This time we did Liberty Tree for dinner and it was awesome. We haven't done Garden Grill, Donalds or 1900 Park Fare, although I hear great things about Park Fare.

 

[patsal]

I think I have done all of these!
Favorites and Why:
Donald's Breakfastasaurus on a none EE day. Do not do this on an EE day it is just too hectic there. We have always had really great food, a good variety and super character interaction. The CM's there are really into thier roles as well and make this a great fun breakfast. Try for an 8:10 PS and you'll hit the park just as the ates open to everyone else.

Crystal Palace is a great lunch, lots of variety and the best place for the Pooh characters. It is a great respite from the hot park as well. Character interaction is great, get a PS between noon and one--it usually doesn't take more than 15 minutes beofre you will be seated. If you do this on an EE mornign you will have time to have accomplished much before lunch, and you will need a break in air conditioning.

The Garden Grill is nice, it is served family style in a skillett. The characters here are very friendly--Micky, Pluto and Chip and Dale. I have done the Ice Cream Social (which is held here also) and really don't recommend it. For just a few dollars more you get a full luch and great character interaction. JMHO but you mention Beaches and Cream--go there from the International Gateway on a day you plan on being at Epcot and enjoy great ice cream and a break form the park! Especially if you plan having a meal at the Garden Grill. I've eaten here both early lunch and late and time really didn't matter.

Liberty Tree Tavern Excellent family style all you care to eat. The food and character interaction are top notch. Eat early here so that you will not miss the Spectromagic parade/FIS. This is the only place you can dine with Daisy!

1900 Park Fair is a good breakfast with fun characters (Alice, Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins). For Dinner it is Cinderella, Prince Charming, Suzy and Perla Mouse, the fairy godmother is in the lobby. It is an excellent choice for breakfast on a MK morning since you can just take the monorail to the MK. Same for dinner, leave MK on the monorail and head over to GF and then head back to MK for the evening. We found that early for both of these worked best for us. Things were just getting crowded and lines at the buffets were becoming longer as we were departing.

SCI FI the atmosphere here is the key. They make great burgers, fries and shakes--anything else is a gambel IMHO. Plan on about $15 per adult for the burger fries and shake and $8 per child. If you desire all the glow in the dark extras they will add up fast.

Fantasmic Dinner packages area great way to avoid the long lines and pushiness of lining up for Fantasmic. They are available at Hollywood and Vine a rather unremarkable buffett but the least expensive of the packages. Mama Melroses is Italian food and The Brown Derby is very gourmet. For these eat early so that you can be at Oscar's no later than 8:30 to head to your seats.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions!

 

[Amaris]

We have done all of them and we like all.. but CP was the best for actually SEEING characters and having time with them. They stopped and interacted so many times, but there seemed to be so MANY there!

 

[lucysdad]

We were just there in June and the Crystal Palace was most disappointing. The food was mediocre cafeteria food and the character interaction was minimal. We were so disappointed. We also ate at Ohana's for breakfast and that was fun. The food was good and the characters were more interactive than at the CP. The best character interaction was at 1900 Park Faire for dinner. Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the mice actually interacted with our daughter, asking her questions and listening to her answers. The mice also played with my husband (this is Lucy's mom) and son, getting and giving kisses. We really enjoyed it. The Cinderella at the castle restaurant in the lobby at lunchtime was positively morose. We were wondering if she and the prince had a fight or something. We didn't get to the princess breakfast due to a problem in the restaurant, but they had the princesses come outside for pictures and autographs. Snow White was positively magical. She looked, sounded and acted just like in the movie. She even held her hand like Snow White did. It was wild. The other princesses, Jasmine and Belle, were blah. It seemed sad to wait so long in a line in the hot sun and have the princess give you less than 60 seconds of her time and seem so put out by having to stand there with you at all. Chef Mickey food was good and the characters were decent but we got there late and there weren't too many people to interact with. That might be a plan to get more attention. Get there early or late to avoid the crowds. The very best buffet we ate at was BOMA's at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but alas, they don't have any characters.

 

[HunnyPots]

We had breakfast at both Crystal Palace and Donald's last month (June).

Donald's was great for characters. We had a late ps and practically had the place to ourselves. The food was good, too. Even though it was almost lunch time, everything was very hot and fresh.

Crystal Palace was wonderful for food and good for characters. The variety on the buffet was amazing. The pooh characters were fun, but they had a lot more area to cover, as CP is huge.

I would do both of these again.

 

[kdibattista]

The only one on your list that we have tried is Crystal Palace (for breakfast) and it is fantastic!!! It's actually our all time favorite meal in all of WDW. The food is great, the atmosphere is beautiful and the character interaction is the best around!!!

 

[hucifer]

Originally posted by uktigger
thanks in advance

LOL! What an understatement! According to your countdown, you won't be able to make PS's until next year.

 

[uktigger]

hi all
thank you all very much for your detailed reports of these places,my only task now is to decide which ones

wendy, i know i can't book my ps's untill next year planning my trip keeps me going as next june seems so far away

eve

 

[hucifer]

Of your list, I plan on doing CP, Fanstasmic, ice cream social (we know all about that one), and Donald's Breakfastosauras. I may post about my experiences with each when I return in late September...jeez, it bums me out just thinking about coming home from my trip NOW...

We are also planning (okay, it's ME who's planning) Chef Mickey and maybe 1900 Park Faire. Not sure if this is overkill, but we will be there 10 days...well, 9 if you don't count the last day.

 

[becka]

We have been to Garden Grill and LTT both for dinner. GG is our absolute favorite character meal. The food was really good and the character interaction has always been the best. We try to hit it every trip and I can't wait to go there again in December.

LTT was good but nothing outstanding. Decent food, decent character interaction, etc.. We will probably go back sometime in the future but there are so many other places we would rather return to or try new that it may be a while before we get back to it.

 

[mommystieg]

Out of your choices CP is our favorite! We have had both breakfast and lunch there. The buffets were both great and the character interaction is wonderful.

Garden Grill-we had dinner and it was very good. The character interaction was ok--we were seated on the upper tier and there weren't many kids around us so that probably had something to do with it.

LTT-also had dinner and it was good. The character interaction was great--they stopped by our table at least 3 or 4 times during the meal. The salad and rolls were awesome!

Donald's-we did not have as good of experience here as other people have talked about. We had an 8:10 PS on a non EE day and we still found the experience to be chaotic. Our server was great and there was lots of good stuff on the buffet but the character interaction was blah. They only came by once and it was all very hurried.

 

[sters]

You may want to consider one at the hotels. On our last trip, we did one at the Crystal Palace and waited FOREVER to get inside and it took a long time for the characters to circulate.

Same trip, different day, we did the one at the Beach Club and had a much better time. We took Disney tranportation to MGM Studios on their EE day and then the boat ride to the Beach Club. Minnie Mouse "kidnapped" one of my kids while we waited for our table. We had a lot more interaction with the characters. Because the place was smaller, my young kids could see me at the buffet. (When the lost sight of me at the CP, they were very upset. ) Food was excellent. From the Beach Club, it was a pleasant walk to Epcot, where we spent the remaining part of the day.

 

[uktigger]

hi all
thank you for your dining experencies here is what i'm thinking of doing,feel free to but in and tell me if it sounds o.k

donalds breakfast
crystal palace for lunch
garden grill for dinner
also we are going to try beaches and cream for a snack early in the afternoon on our epcot day and try to get ps for garden grill for later in the evening and then somewhere fit in the time for sci-fi dine and the fantasmic package(well we are there for 2 weeks) i just need to finalise things and then wait for my ps dates to come round

eve