Your Breakfast Buffet Opinions Please

[Hibernians]

I'll be making my dining reservations in about 2 weeks and I'm looking for your opinion on some breakfast options - there's me and my wife and our 4 kids, ages 9 through 12. Previously we've done breakfast at Cape May and at Akershus Princess and now we'd like to try some other places.

We are thinking about 1900 Park Fare, Chef Mickey, Crystal Palace or Lilo and Stitch at Ohana. The characters are secondary; much more interested in your opinion on the food and service, atmosphere. We've actually had dinner at all of the above but never had the breakfast and I guess I'm wondering if there is much of a difference between them. We also prefer buffets; not sure if I am missing any other restaurants ?

Thanks
Joe

 

[chocolateMinnie]

of the above we have visited CP 1900 PF, Akershus and Ohanas but not Cape May nor Chef Mickey.

Our favourite breakfast buffet is not on your list and is boma. The food is amazing and although no characters it is a nice resort to visit and the view of the animals is great. Here you will find frunch (juice similar to the juice at Ohana's) great cooked meat, lots of fruit choice, some African specialities but best of ALL for me is the pastries and the sticky buns. Amazing.

Akershus you have already visited and I would say that the food is one of the better breakfast buffets.

We personally hated 1900PF both times we tried it and would never go again.

Crystal palace has some grreat food, lots of fruit, cold selection, cooked breakfaast includes the usuals plus corn beef hash, scrambled egg frittata and a fruit pudding. The characters are great here too and you can't beat entering the Magic Kingdom before general opening. Firm favourite in our family.

Ohanas has a lovely setting and very good character interaction - while there is nothing wrong with the breakfast neither is it very inspiring. Family style fruit platters, bread platters and hot plate with bacon, sausage, potato wedges and scrambled egg plus mickey waffles.

Coffee very good at Ohanas too.

 

[sleepydog25]

Contrary to the post above, I've enjoyed 1900 PF, as well as Boma. Just tried Chef Mickey's and it was fair. The food was warm and plentiful, service good, but the overall quality of the food was just average. One thing I've found lacking at all breakfast buffets and TS restaurants is good bacon. All of the restaurants on property seem to be using the same thin, tasteless bacon--totally worthless calories. If I'm going to splurge for the extra calories, I'd love for the bacon to actually have a taste beyond cardboard.

 

[6264EVER]

If you are looking for quality food, I would rule out Chef Mickey's......We do several breakfast buffets and our favorites are Boma at AKL and 1900 PF at GF. We ALWAYS do an early seating so crowds have never been an issue. Loved the juice at Boma...love the omlette station at GF. DF likes the cold strawberry soup at GF. I like the layout of Boma - easy to access buffet. We always go to 1900 PF....
Going to try CP for breakfast this trip...have ADR before park opening.

 

[blondietink]

We have tried all of the character buffets breakfasts and our favorite is Chrystal Palace (get in early before the park opens), followed by 1900 Park Fare, then Tusker House. We loved the food at Tusker House, but it can get quite noisey as the floors are concerete and it seems to echo a lot/magnify the sound. Least favorite is Chef Mickey's.

 

[pumba]

we also love Tusker house for breakfast...loads of options and all fresh and plenty to choose from......Crystal Palace is another good choice and we loved Hollywood and Vine....Princess Buffet in Norway was fantastic too..so most are the same offerings....just different locations..

 

[PoohsFan1]

We have gone to all of the ones already listed except Boma's (doing this in May). Out of the ones listed, all are very good except I would stay away from Chef Mickey's. The food is so-so and the service, along with the characters, are rushed. I felt like, when I was eating, I was in a marathon because everything was so fast paced. We have been to CM twice, once for dinner and once for breakfast, and I don't think we will be going back. Our favorite character meals are Cape May Cafe and Akershus breakfast (both of which you have already been to). The ones to try is O'hana's breakfast and Crystal Palace breakfast they both have great food, great service, and a really great character interactions. Have a great time.

 

[Kim1964]

We've enjoyed Tusker House and Crystal Palace breakfasts. DH is big on going out to breakfast, and he has requested CP for next year.

 

[missminniemouse]

On our trip last month we went to our first ever breakfast at WDW. We usually stay in DVC resorts, so we normally have breakfast in our room. Our choice was Crystal Palace and we all enjoyed it very much. It was DH, myself, DD15 and DS11 in our group. As a bunch that normally aren't big breakfast eaters, we all found plenty of wonderful things to fill up on. We will go back and do this again in the future. The food and service were both excellent. Our kids are a little old for characters, but had great fun with it anyway. It isn't often you can get your 15 year old high school sophomore daughter to pose with Winnie the Pooh!

 

[cw21726]

Crystal Palace was good, Chef Mickey's is gross. We made the mistake of reserving that once twice on our trip last week.

 

[starrysky]

Another vote for CP DH and I loved it. We had a 9:15am ressie and just made sure we were early enough to still get that prized empty park photos. We are not ones for getting up early on holiday.

Food was great and loads to choose from I agree with a PP about the bacon at all the breakfasts its not the best.

 

[stitchaholic]

cape may would be my first choice, it's quiet and the food is fresh and hot

Ohana best friend breakfast is great, but not a buffet, it is served family style

1900 parkfare has some different choices from the other buffets like lobster egg benedict, sticky pecan buns and strawberry soup, but it is madness in there, very loud and crowded.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We've ate at Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, and Ohana (though it has been several years since we've had Ohana breakfast). My favorite is CP, I'll give my personal brief review of each.

Crystal Palace- This is our family favorite and has become a "must do" for each trip. There is an omelet and pancake station. They will make whatever omelet or eggs that you want and fresh pancakes even with chocolate chips if you want them. I thought the variety was very good. There were a lot of different breads, pastries, fresh fruit, yogurts, plus the traditional breakfast fare. Plus the Pooh's Puffed French Toast is wonderful.

Ohana - We used to love this breakfast, I don't know why we quit doing it. The setup may have changed since as I said, I haven't been in a while. But you get a basket of breads (biscuits, pineapple/coconut bread, and some pastry), then you get a family platter of scrambled eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, waffles, and some seasoned potatoes. The sausages were very good and I love the potatoes. I guess the cons to me are less variety and if you want more you are at the mercy of your server versus just getting up and getting more food at your convenience.

Chef Mickey's - I didn't enjoy it so it's hard to be objective. It had the standard breakfast fare and fresh fruits and yogurts, but I don't think it had the variety that CP has. Also there is no omelet station. To me CM is more about the characters and less about the food.

 

[Trevelline4]

We just got back yesterday and went to 3 character breakfasts. Of the three, Cape May was our favorite followed closely by Crystal Palace. We thought that Chef Mickey was disgusting - food was not fresh or hot and the place seemed chaotic to me. I would not go there again - but glad to have tried it if only for the character experience for my DD (6).

 

[AquaDame]

We had Tusker House and Crystal Palace last week; both were very good but TH did not have their act together as well as CP did. It took 40 minutes past our ADR to seat us at TH vs 5 min at CP (both were before opening but TH was 8:40 and CP was 8:05 so maybe that is why?) At first we were told we could not even GO to TH because they were getting ready for rope drop but a security officer came over while we were arguing with the CM and waved us through. Then we had to stop and take a picture with Donald before we could go in to eat but my Mom was so starving she kept begging them to just take her inside which was a little embarrassing!

The food at both was nice and hot - the African inspired food at TH was ok but everything had cinnamon in it so I got a tad cinnamoned out quickly. The juice was very good and the coffee I enjoyed better here but the classic breakfast stuff is at both so I don't really know what to say about it. The scrambled eggs at CP were MUCH more buttered up which was a little gross but they had a really good mueslli that I went back for seconds on. I think I will pick based on what park I want to be in before opening in the future.

I haven't tried the others

 

[Hibernians]

thanks for sharing your feedback. I forgot to mention that we will be staying at BLT and CM will be hard to bypass but based on what I am hearing its probably gets the "last place" vote. I'm sure we will have a dinner there as the kids have always liked it - at least for the desserts.

Since we're at BLT we're focusing on the monorail resorts or MK - I don't think we will venture out to Boma or Tusker House for breakfast. Sounds like CP would be a good pick and then maybe Park Fare; did not know that Ohana was not a buffet.; thanks for the heads up.

 

[Brian J.]

Boma and Crystal Palace would be my votes for breakfast. CHef Mickey's breakfast buffet is underrated


Brian

 

[missminniemouse]

thanks for sharing your feedback. I forgot to mention that we will be staying at BLT and CM will be hard to bypass but based on what I am hearing its probably gets the "last place" vote. I'm sure we will have a dinner there as the kids have always liked it - at least for the desserts.

Since we're at BLT we're focusing on the monorail resorts or MK - I don't think we will venture out to Boma or Tusker House for breakfast. Sounds like CP would be a good pick and then maybe Park Fare; did not know that Ohana was not a buffet.; thanks for the heads up.

We stayed at BLT last month when we did our breakfast at CP. Very nice walk from BLT to the MK. Much quicker to walk since you have to take the monorail all the way around the loop to get to MK. I hope you enjoy your stay, we certainly did.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We ate at almost every character meal on our last trip Chef Mickey's was by far the worst food and service. But that being said you also get to see the fab five. It wasn't inedible but very few choices and the food wasn't great. We would never do supper again but we booked breakfast again in January just because we are staying at CR and I couldn't imagine not going DD6 doesn't care about the food, she doesn't eat much anyway. She just wants to see the characters

Tusker House and 1900 Park Fare probably had the best food in IMHO. We had great service almost everywhere we went. We loved the Norway princess breakfast. CRT had bad food and service but it was the castle. We booked CRT for supper and breakfast for our upcoming trip.

I guess for us it's the characters not the food that decides which character meals we do. DD6 is not a big eater so it doesn't matter for her and DH and I will "suffer" as long DD is happy

 

[2Tiggies]

Crystal Palace: Rated no.1 in our books. We have had our fair share of breakfast buffets there and it never fails to disappoint, whether in terms of characters or food. I still think this is the best buffet (with characters) at WDW.

Ohana: We really enjoyed it. Family style means less variety, but the food was very good and I wouldn't hesitate to return.

Chef Mickey: Fair and nothing to complain about. I feel exceptionally rushed there though - more so than usual The food was fine and I wouldn't mind eating there again, but if just going for the food, there are plenty better options, most with a slightly lower price tag.

Cape May: In terms of character interaction this was our biggest disappointment at WDW - ever!! However it should be noted that the food was IMO very good and I would probably rate quality and variety on a par with CP, so if you don't care about the characters (and it's likely we just went on an 'off' day) then fine. But I see that the OP has eaten there before so for something different, I would go with CP and/or Ohana