Best Character Dining In The World?

[txdisneyfanatic]

Any thoughts on the best place to dine with characters at Disney? Is Cinderella's Castle worth the $?

[GoofyforFun]

Here is an older discussion. may help.. What ages and gender do you need to please?

http://www.intercot.com/discussion/s...racter+dinning

[Going2HeavenRU]

For really good food and fun with farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale, I would highly recommend The Garden Grill at EPCOT next to the Land ride. We really liked how much time each character spent with us.
We have been to Cinderella castle for lunch and dinner. If you have kids (especially girls), I thought the princess interaction with each table was really nice at lunch. I didn't like the food and wouldn't pay the price again but once was nice.
Dinner has much better food but only the blue fairy and two mice attend. They do a song and dance around but they don't stop at each table for any character interaction.

[Basket Mommy]

Our family's top 3 are:

Garden Grill ( we REALLY miss lunch there!)
Crystal Palace (lunch or dinner)
Cape May Cafe @ Beach Club (breakfast - Minnie, Goofy and Donald show up in their swim gear)

In my opinion, Cinderella's is worth it once, and only if you have children who *really* love the princesses. We've only done CRT breakfast twice (once for our older daughter when she was 6 and again when our younger daughter was 4; the younger daughter didn't go on the trip w/ us when we went with our younger daughter and older son.) It was very pricey, and although they'll bring you as much food as you want, I just didn't feel like it was worth the $200+ it cost us to go (we paid OOP each time). My younger daughter enjoyed the Akershus (Norway) Princess Dinner MUCH better (I did, too!) My boys, however, weren't impressed with CRT or Akershus (but they like the swords they got at CRT!)

[Melanie]

I agree with previous poster. Cinderella's Castle was fun one time. We don't feel the need to return, but then again, we have only boys.

Our favorite is Ohana breakfast.

[Buddy08]

We enjoyed 1900 Park Fare. Good food and good character interaction. Another favorite is The Crystal palace.

[DizneyRox]

THe best character meal on property is Donald's Safari Breakfast at AK. Hands down our favorite, we do it at least once per trip... Did it a couple last time.

I think I've been to most, with the exception of Crystal Palace and the value, variety and character interaction at Donalds has always been top notch...

[Gator]

Well, my answer used to be Liberty Tree Tavern. Great food and great interaction with the characters. But since that's a Character-free zone, my new favorite character meal would be Chef Mickey's. I'm trying Garden Grill on my next trip, so I may have a change of heart.

[finaldynasty]

Yes, Cinderella is worth the $. My girls loved it and my 8 year old son thought the princesses were H-O-T! My other choices would be Chef Mickey and breakfast at Ohana. Now that my oldest two are a little older we dont frequent the Playhouse Disney breakfast anymore at DHS, but it is fun for at least one meal.

[forever a child]

For character interaction I still think Garden Grill is the best. My second favorite would be Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (for the princesses). I think the food is decent at both and the photo as Akershus was very nice too. We have also been to CRT and 1900 Park Fare for breakfasts and they are ok...but I really would only do them once. I have been to GG 3 times and can't wait to go again!

[lovin'fl]

We have only done Liberty Tree and Chef Mickeys for dinner and liked them both. We did Royal Table for breakfast and thought it was a big waste of $$$. My twin DDs were 7 and my DS was 9. Only 1 of my DDs was into the princess thing and not that much. The food was not too impressive. I didn't know about the photos that come with it and so we were all in capris or shorts and t-shirts for a day at MK. I would have had my 2 DDs dress up for the picture,though, maybe not quite like some of the folks in line with us who brought dresses and shoes and beauty kits to do up their little darlings at the last minute while they waited in line. I felt like I was at a beauty pageant or something.

[mom2morgan]

Cindy's Table - is it worth the money? It depends what you really want! I HAD to do it (once) because I really wanted to eat in the castle. The atmosphere is wonderful, but the food is merely acceptable, the princess interaction was fine but nothing extraordinary. To my mind, it is probaby not woth the money, unless you are dying to be in the castle. We liked Akershus for a princess meal - the atmosphere is quite "castle like" and we got better princess interaction. All the above suggestions are great ones as well - but on my next trip I'm trying Donald's Safari and the Beach Club.
ps - if you ever make it to Disneyland, I have to say I found hte character interaction EVERYWHERE there so much better than any I've experienced at the World! I can only guess it is because of the large number of young aspiring actors in the area. But all the places we've been in the World are pretty much sign an autograph and snap a picture, while in the Land they were really playful and interactive, even though it was July and SO busy!

[Disney4us2]

We were there earlier this month and went to Donald's breakfast at Tusker House, The Garden Grill and 1900 Park Fare. My favorite out of those was The Garden Grill. It was so yummy and you don't have to get up and get your food. They bring it to the table.

[rubato]

We've been to Chef Mickey's, Garden Grill, Tusker House bfast, and Crystal Palace. Our absolute favorite is Crystal Palace. The food at the first 3 wasn't very good, especially at Chef Mickey's. At Tusker House, because of the way the tables are laid out, we couldn't eat. Everytime one character would leave, it would look like another was only a few tables away. Garden Grill had bad food, but good character interaction.
We've never eaten at CRT and won't because we have a son who is not interested. But, I can't imagine it would be worth that much money. JMO.

[waymickey]

We have been to crystal palace, chef mickey's and the wilderness lodge when they did a pooh breakfast. That was our favorite but since that is no longer offered, our absolute favorite was Mickey's backyard BBQ. Yes it is just cook out food but the show and character interaction is great. It is all you can eat and a western show and the characters are there the whole time dancing with you and goofy even sat down next to us while we eating. A blast.

[TheVBs]

We did CRT once, and I'm really glad we did, but we're not interested in doing it again. My meal wasn't very good, but everyone else enjoyed theirs (they ordered something different). The service was fantastic, the princess interaction was fantastic, and my favorite part was the view.

I agree with Waymickey - Mickey's Backyard BBQ was our favorite character meal. The food was good, the show was great and our girls loved dancing with the characters. Much more fun than just a table visit!

[PrettyMinnie]

Crystal Palace for lunch!