which character meals would you never do?

[CarissaDance]

I've read about several favorite character meals and just stumbled across lots of negative feedback about Hollywood & Vine. Not sure how I missed it before, but it was an option for us for HS day. Are there any others that get consistently bad reviews? Especially where food quality is concerned?

 

[ratlenhum]

i know people love it, but we've done almost every character meal (minus the really girly ones) and the only one we would never do again is Chef Mickey's!

Our must do ones are Donald's Safari Breakfast and Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends. Even though Akershus is all princesses, we love the setting and the food so we do that every trip too.

 

[tinkgirl1984]

I can't say there are any character meals I would never do again. As far as Hollywood and Vine is concerned...it is bad. I would never, ever do any meal there except breakfast, but if your kids are really into those characters, then breakfast is worth it IMO. It's pretty hard to mess up breakfast food, and the character interaction has actually been very, very good every time I've been there. Thankfully, my youngest cousin is past that phase, so I don't have to worry about it anymore until I have my own kids. Chef Mickey's is something I would rather not be subjected to, but if you've never been, I think the experience is worth it. It's the only character meal on property that has Mickey and Minnie together. I think all kids should experience it once. That being said, I'm pretty sure if I ever end up there again, I'll probably either go for breakfast...or stick to just dessert.

 

[farfalla818]

We don't like Chef Mickey's that much. It's huge and loud. Here's the pause where you can all now throw stones at me...........

Ok, so as I was saying, I think Chef Mickey's is a try and do once thing. it has a lot of tradition and nostalgia for many. It's not bad, but to us not great.

The Hollywood and Vine breakfast is fine, but I really don't like it much. If you have older kids, feel free to skip without a thought.

We miss the LTT one.

We LOVE Donald's Safari Breakfast. Good food plus fun characters plus the kids get to get up and dance and form a parade. The bonus is walking through an empty AK. Crystal Palace is nice too, but we also really like the breakfast at Ohana. We also really like Garden Grill

 

[starrysky]

hollywood and vine as we dont know who the characters are and it would be a waste of money.

We would consider most of the others and are doing CP breakfast and Tusker house breakfast this october.

 

[party-of-five]

I agree with Chef Mickey's (breakfast). We've been there twice and both times it was very loud, crowded, and the characters seemed 'rushed' when compared to interactions at other character meals. The last time we went there was mold on the fruit and the food was picked over and stale. Maybe it was just a bad day, but we won't be back.

 

[Linda T.]

We have been to chef mickey's, CRT, Akershus, and Crystal Palace. We liked Chef Mickeys but it was very loud. CRT was great but once was enough. The princesses at Akershus were lovely but we did not like the breakfast food at all. We did like the picture with Belle at Akershus. Our all time favorite and must do every trip is Crystal Palace.

 

[anniebean]

We've done quite a few, but will never do Garden Grill again. Food was horrible. Character interaction was great, but I left there hungry because the food was that bad.

 

[McKelly]

We would never do Chef Mickey's or Garden Grill again..........we didn't enjoy the food at either place.

 

[CarissaDance]

thanks for all the feedback! I forgot I had heard that about Chef Mickey's. My friend went last year and said there were birds all over everything too.

I see many like CP breakfast, has anyone done dinner there? I was considering doing a dinner there but am wondering if I should switch to breakfast.

 

[realhousewife]

thanks for all the feedback! I forgot I had heard that about Chef Mickey's. My friend went last year and said there were birds all over everything too.

I see many like CP breakfast, has anyone done dinner there? I was considering doing a dinner there but am wondering if I should switch to breakfast.

We did CP dinner twice on our last trip and it was awesome. First day we landed we had a 5 pm ADR and it was a bit crowded. Food was very good.

We ended up getting a second ADR b/c we slept through one of our dinners. All they could give us was a 9 pm at CP (on a night it was open until 1 am - which we had planned on anyways.) It was the best dinner we had on that trip. They let us finish watching Wishes with the kids before we sat down and then we got a ton of character interaction and were not rushed at all. We had a very nice CM server and got lots of pics with Pooh and friends. We stayed until closing with a 5 and 7 year old and had a blast! I think we did Buzz Lightyear about 20 times in a row.

Highly recommend CP dinner!

 

[PoohsFan1]

The only ones we won't do is H&V, only because our kids are too old for the Disney Jr characters. Also we don't like Chef Mickey's....we have eaten there for dinner and breakfast and we were disappointed in both. The service, character interaction, and food were subpar to us. Our favorite must dos are Akershus breakfast, Cape May Cafe breakfast, and CP for breakfast.

 

[ratlenhum]

The only ones we won't do is H&V, only because our kids are too old for the Disney Jr characters.

We couldn't care less about the characters there either We just take a pre-opening ADR to get in before the crowd.

 

[starstruck93]

We have been to chef mickey's, CRT, Akershus, and Crystal Palace. We liked Chef Mickeys but it was very loud. CRT was great but once was enough. The princesses at Akershus were lovely but we did not like the breakfast food at all. We did like the picture with Belle at Akershus. Our all time favorite and must do every trip is Crystal Palace.

This is DH's fave too! We've eaten at almost all of them and there's not really any that I say I will never go back to... although Chef Mickey's dinner is not that great IMO.. the breakfast is much better. I would say Chef Mickey's is my least favorite character meal. We LOVE Garden Grill! Thanks! April

 

[starstruck93]

We did CP dinner twice on our last trip and it was awesome. First day we landed we had a 5 pm ADR and it was a bit crowded. Food was very good.

We ended up getting a second ADR b/c we slept through one of our dinners. All they could give us was a 9 pm at CP (on a night it was open until 1 am - which we had planned on anyways.) It was the best dinner we had on that trip. They let us finish watching Wishes with the kids before we sat down and then we got a ton of character interaction and were not rushed at all. We had a very nice CM server and got lots of pics with Pooh and friends. We stayed until closing with a 5 and 7 year old and had a blast! I think we did Buzz Lightyear about 20 times in a row.

Highly recommend CP dinner!

Awww.... this is great! We LOVE CP dinner too! I really want to try their breakfast as well! Thanks, April

 

[4tinkerbe]

Well, honestly, this may sound a little scrooge-ish, but we avoid all the character meals. We don't like having to put down our food to get up and take a picture every 5 minutes.

 

[tinkerpea]

I have ever done chef Mickeys its just never been one that we have thought about going to!
But are favs and not to be missed our Crystal Palace, done over 30 times Arkeshus I think the food is some of the best, And even though i only have boys i think the Princess interaction is brilliant! Tusker house is one we missed out nearly 7 yrs in a row, then the boys was starving and we got a ressie for Breakfast it is definatley now on our list every yr and has been for the past 3 yrs! I think the food is some of the best around what ever meal,

We have done Hollywood and Vine a few times in the last couple of yrs as Our boys are at the Disney junior channel age and i actually think the food is ok, its not exactly awful; or brilliant but we find the Charecter interaction is lovely and so is the dance times they have with the Charecters, i actually would not miss this for as long as my children still want to see Jojo etc

 

[Sweet Melissa]

Well, honestly, this may sound a little scrooge-ish, but we avoid all the character meals. We don't like having to put down our food to get up and take a picture every 5 minutes.

So do we. One should never say never, but I can say with certainty that the character meals do not interest us at all. We've taken five vacations to WDW with a sixth planned for October and we've never dined at a character meal or a buffet. I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future.

 

[iheartpeterpan]

We did not care for Chef Mickey's either, the food was meh and the characters just flew through and the place was so loud! I will also never do H&V again and do not like the food at Garden Grill. I think Akershus is the best princess meal, with apologies to CRT and I believe that CP has the best character meal going.

 

[smiths02]

I wouldn't do Chef Mickey again b/c I can see Mickey elsewhere. The food just wasn't good. There were edible offerings, but it was a school cafeteria in atmosphere and food quality. (We ate dinner there, don't know about breakfast, but would not go out of my way for breakfast and we will never stay at the Contemporary).

I definitely will do (and am doing) Tusker House breakfast and Crystal Palace (lunch or dinner--trying breakfast this year)

I would also entertain an H&V breakfast again, but the food was just okay and the characters are more preschool (and my son is about to turn 5), so it is a no go this trip. (I want to spend my TS credits elsewhere...if we were on the Deluxe plan I might go for it, then do Sci Fi lunch and 50s PT dinner)