Which character meal is best?

[Debwid]

Hi, I am thinking of booking a character meal in advance and wondered where the best places were. In the parks or one of the Resorts. I was looking at the Grand Floridian afternoon tea last night but it might be booked up already looking at some of the threads on it.

There will be the 3 of us Me 40 DP 44 and DD 7.

 

[starrysky]

DH and i went to Crystal palace at MK for breakfast with winnie the pooh etc. We loved it and plus the chance to get into MK and got photos with the castle and no one else in the photos was priceless.

Its an all you can eat buffet and we found the choices were great.

Lots of different places to choose so keep in mind which characters you would want. Lots of people are fans of the princess breakfast in Norway at epcot the food and the princesses always seem to get good reviews.

 

[lin85prest]

We did the afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian, it was really nice but no characters that I can recall. Characters at the Crystal Palce and we did breakfast at the Grand floridian with loads of characters

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

I totally agree with starrysky. Also take a look at Chef Mickey at the Contemporary, this too has a great buffet and lots of interaction at your table with all the main Disney chacaters.If you want to meet Mickey Minnie Donald Pluto etc this is the place.Before you are seated you also get your picture taken with Mickey. Or you could check out the Garden Grill at Epcot where you are on a slow rotating platform, so your view is ever changing.You will meet Chip n Dale here along with Pluto, not sure of others, but IMHO the food isnt as good, its table sevice (as much as you want) not buffet.If your DD is a princess have a look at dining at Cinderellas Royal table in Cinderellas castle itself.This is table sevice,food is really good. You will meet all the princessess and Mary Poppins. This was really special for DD, even DS enjoyed it, but it is one of the most popular so you will have to book early, just like the one at Norway.

 

[wayneg]

We have done
1900 Park fare, enjoyed least, too loud and too busy.
Chef Mickeys breakfast, OK but a bit rushed
Ohana breakfast, almost no character interaction, Mickey never even got to us.
Crystal Palace breakfast charcters came around twice, maybe we stayed too long
CP dinner, good interaction, no complaints.

Best by far Garden grill and was near top of our list to book again for this year. Best interaction we have had and food we really like.

A few pics from Garden grill

 

[Pegasus928]

I think that what's best for you may not be good for someone else.
It's all down to the characters you want to meet and the type of experience you are looking for.
Do any of you have a favourite character that would make it special? Do you want to be in the park before anyone else and make the most of Main Street while it is peaceful?
There are lots of things to consider and lots of people here that will help so the more information you can give the better

 

[Rohais]

I haven't heard anything but rave reviews for the Tusker House breakfast

 

[Chilly]

I think everyday is different as different CMs are working and different issues crop up so its always a different expierence therefore i'd just pick whichever characters you prefer or whichever food you like the sound of.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

We have done:
Crystal Palace Breakfast and dinner - great characters with Pooh and Co - preferred breakfast food.
Akershus for Breakfast and dinner - lovely interaction with princesses plus often get the more unusual such as Ariel in her ballgown and Mulan - prefer the food at breakfast (you also get a photo included here)
Ohanas breakfast - liked but didn't love the family style meal here - best character interaction of any restaurant - Stitch is so naughty
CRT - breakfast lunch and dinner - prefer dinner menu to the others but they all now have the princesses - guaranteed a meeting with Cinderella for the photo and you can't beat eating in the castle.
1900PF - breakfast and dinner - hated the food for both - can't begin to tell you how awful it was but the dinner characters of the stepmother stepsisters Cinderella and the Prince were wonderful. The Prince was so sickly sweet with the naughtiest stepfamily made it the best overall characters. Shame we went away hungry and feeling sick.

 

[starrysky]

I totally agree with starrysky.

Thanks not if only i could get my DH to make that statement all would be well.

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

We love them all- never can you have too many character meals with kids.

I like Crystal palace and Garden grill dinners the best though.

Don't like tying down to a breakfast time but are doing Ohana again this year even tgough it wasn't a fave. DD wants to see her fave character - stitch.

 

[Debwid]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I need to think about what we really want. It will be good to see some of the Hotels but also booking a breakfast early to get early access to the park would be good. Buffet will probably be best option for DD

 

[scotlass]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I need to think about what we really want. It will be good to see some of the Hotels but also booking a breakfast early to get early access to the park would be good. Buffet will probably be best option for DD

we did CP and CRT last year for this very reason....and it was magical.

The castle breakfast is family style,we enjoyed it but the buffet at CP was soooooo good.

 

[Tanzanite]

We loved Cape May minnie chipn dale mickey they were dressed in beach outfits we had breakfast very good loved also Garden Grill chip n dale were running around with my daughter as she had a dress with them on and hat they kept putting it on it was fun love them all like Royal table in castle but bit expensive for what it is.Crystal palace was really good saw charactors twice they come round fast.

 

[RDP]

Great interaction at Ohana, Terrible at Tusker House. Sounds like its the luck of the draw!

 

[wayneg]

Great interaction at Ohana, Terrible at Tusker House. Sounds like its the luck of the draw!

All Disney dining is, one of the worst experiences we had was Cali grill, for both food and service, others love it. August 09 at Le Cellier we had average service great food, August 10 below average food but great service.

 

[Ware Bears]

We've done CP as both breakfast and dinner, 'Ohana breakfast, Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast, the AK one when it was Donald's Breakfastosaurus (think that's the one that's gone to Tuskers), Garden Grill dinner and Chef Mickey's dinner. We've enjoyed them all ~ if I have to be critical I would say Chef Mickey's would come bottom of the list. Not really sure why as there's nothing I can put my finger on, I think maybe I was expecting more from such a sought-after reservation!

I think everyday is different as different CMs are working and different issues crop up so its always a different expierence therefore i'd just pick whichever characters you prefer or whichever food you like the sound of.

 

[2Tiggies]

~ if I have to be critical I would say Chef Mickey's would come bottom of the list. Not really sure why as there's nothing I can put my finger on, I think maybe I was expecting more from such a sought-after reservation!

I feel the same way. My DD at age 6 and 7 was far less critical than me - but then she didn't have to fight for an ADR or pay the bill

I think that unreasonable expectations have something to do with the bad reviews, but I also found it a little cold in the atmosphere department. Also the last time we were there in 2009 service was very rushed. We had the check on our table before we had served ourselves anything from the hot buffet yet Now I would rather that than have to wait when I want to leave, but it was a little surprising. Part of the problem was that our server clearly had way too many tables and although she was lovely, she could only be in one place at any given time. We skipped it last year and DD has made no request to return this year.

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

We had our check ridiculously early at Tusker house too. We have had good luck at Chef mickeys and last year had a beautiful MK view from our table.

 

[Tinks1984]

We've done Chef Mickey, Cinderella Royal Table & Ohana breakfasts and loved them all for different reasons.

We did return to Chef's this past trip because it has the main characters there and we got some lovely pictures whilst there.

CRT was just for the experience, DF wasn't too impressed with the Princess', but he did it purely for me. I wanted to eat in the castle and have pictures done without others around, it was amazing Our table for two was overlooking Fantasyland too, which was just brilliant.

Ohana we did for the 1st time on our last trip and I loved this too. I'd never met a favorite of mine, Stitch, before so this was a sure bet I'd meet him at least once in our trip. The food was lovely too and we did meet all the characters that were listed.