Character Meals? Which one do you prefer?

[mamamarie]

Trying to decide if we should book for a character breakfast/lunch/dinner. We did go to Chef Mickey's a few years back and it was very nice. Trying to decide if we will do that again or are there other character meals that others suggest too?

[readytogo2]

crystal palace has pooh and his friends it gets very noisy though imo

[forever a child]

For the character interaction, my favorite is still Garden Grill in Future world in Epcot. I love that we get to see Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale and they keep coming back and we have a great time "visiting."

For the food and decent interaction, I really enjoyed Akershus also in Epcot (Norway). The meal was great and the Character interaction was decent. The seating was relaxed (at least when we went) and I would definitely do this again even though it is a bit high priced, but you do get the photo included in your meal and although I would never buy it...having it included made it feel a little less painful. LOL

[clausjo]

I like Garden Grill in Epcot as well. We'll be doing this in February when we go. We did dinner at 1900 Park Fare over the summer and it was great! The step sisters were so funny. My kids liked the restaurant so much that we have scheduled breakfast there for our Feb trip as well. We'll be doing Crystal palace also. Mostly because the kids love Pooh and the gang and we haven't done it in many years. We have enjoyed it in the past, but if I remember correctly, the characters seemed a bit rushed when we were there. It was a very long time ago, so I could be wrong.

Either way, I think you'll have a great time!

[1goofyfamily]

Chef Mickey's is always a must on every trip for us along with Crystal Palace. We like doing Crystal Palace for breakfast and get seating prior to the park opening so we get there and in right away. After those 2 it just depends on what characters you want to see. Princess then I'd do Akershus even our boys didn't complain too much. Cape May Cafe was always fun too; had some great memories made their too and our kids liked Ohana for breakfast because they love Stitch.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Our two favorite character meals have been Ohana's for breakfast and Garden Grill for dinner. Both have had some of our best character interaction and both have wonderful food. We like Ohana's better than Chef Mickey's for breakfast because its a quieter, calmer meal. I like that the food is brought to the table "family style" rather than a buffet. With young kids its nice for mom and dad to get to enjoy a meal with their family rather than constantly be running to the buffet for themselves and the kids. We loved Garden Grill for the same reasons. It was a nice quiet character meal and again the food was brought out family style.

[whitney37354]

Character Interaction: Garden Grill & 1900 Park Faire for dinner

Food: Ohana breakfast

[crltkcagle]

Pooh and friends are at Crystal Palace for breakfast.

Cinderella, Evil Step Mother, Prince Charming and Step Sisters are at Park Fare for Dinner

Mary Poppins, Pooh and Friends, Alice and the Mad Hatter are at 1900 Park Fare for Breakfast.

Little Einsteins and Handy Manny are at Hollywood Vine and Dine for Lunch.

Chip N Dale, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto are at Garden Grill.

We have done all of these and Chef Mickeys. Our favorite is Crystal Palace and Garden Grill. But it was also fun to see the Mad hatter and Mary poppins at 1900 Park Fare.

[wdwfansince75]

We have never had a bad character meal at WDW...but we do have favorites. Most of the family would insist on Donald's Breakfast as a must do...although we didn't do it on our last trip. Our family dinner is usually a crowd of 12-16, so seating can be a problem. Most venues have accomodated us by placing us at adjacent tables, although several, particularly CM and 1900, have pushed tables together for us. The size of our group can cause delays while they wait for another large group to leave. The long waits turned us off at Crystal Palace, but this trip, an exceptional experience for breakfast has put it back on the list....and all of us have enjoyed both Chef Mickey and 1900 Park Faire on the times we visited there. And Garden Grill also gets high scores from the family.

[javamama]

We love Ohana's for breakfast, and 1900 for dinner my kids look forward to both meals on our trips.

[jimsgal05]

we had 6 out of 7 ts meals our last trip O'hana's breakfat was great...pluto and stitch were so funny "eating" my daughter's stuff animal and stitch was ridning pluto..have great photos.. the food was good too..We loved Crystal Palce we love pooh and friends I have to say their food was the best out of all buffets...
we had breakfast at Cinderella's I wouuld do lunch instead word to wise..but was so cool to be in the park before anyone else!!
1900 Park fare it is great to see the ugly sisters and the prince..my daughter got to dance with him..food was okay...the server cleaning up the tables was amazing ..I don't know his name but he was an "act" by himself to watch pick up the table stuff.:balloon:

[McLiberal8]

I recommend Crystal Palace for breakfast.

Here's a little tip, too -

Make a reservation for before Magic Kingdom opens. You get to go in before the crowds can, and walk around a relatively deserted Main Street. It's pretty cool, and a great photo op.

[PETE FROM NYC]

At 60 yo, I am still the worlds biggest kid. DW and I do several character meals each trip. Our very first one was at the then called Empress Lily.
On our last trips we have done Crystal Palace for a few breakfasts, and a lunch or two with no complaints. Also enjoyed dinners at Garden Grill. Last trip we did a breakfast and a lunch at Tusker House. Breakfast was OK but lunch had too many exotic foods for my taste.
All places had good character interaction.
We rarely do any big meals outside of the parks. Hey, thats what we are there for.

[Tigerinvestigator]

Another vote for Garden Grill. It is simply the best character one on one interaction at WDW. The food is great the atmosphere is good with the spinning dining area and view of Living with the Land boatride. Always have great staff interaction as well.:thumbsup:

[Mousemates]

Our all time favorite...foodwise and character interaction combined...is the Garden Grill.

[brownie]

Our favorite is the Goofy's Beach Bash Character Breakfast Buffet at Cape May Cafe. We try to eat breakfast there on every trip.

[mook3y]

Our favorite is the Goofy's Beach Bash Character Breakfast Buffet at Cape May Cafe. We try to eat breakfast there on every trip.

Our family thinks this is the best food. We did really enjoy Chef Mickey's last year too.

[EJS-Houston]

For the character interaction, my favorite is still Garden Grill in Future world in Epcot. I love that we get to see Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale and they keep coming back and we have a great time "visiting."

For the food and decent interaction, I really enjoyed Akershus also in Epcot (Norway). The meal was great and the Character interaction was decent. The seating was relaxed (at least when we went) and I would definitely do this again even though it is a bit high priced, but you do get the photo included in your meal and although I would never buy it...having it included made it feel a little less painful. LOL

I'd second that vote for the Garden Grill. The food was good, and we had a blast chatting with Mickey, Chip and Dale and got great photos with them all.

[johnO]

Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's are good.

[Jared]

Trying to decide if we should book for a character breakfast/lunch/dinner. We did go to Chef Mickey's a few years back and it was very nice. Trying to decide if we will do that again or are there other character meals that others suggest too?
I really like breakfast at Tusker House. Nice setting, fun character interaction and above-average food on the buffet.

Also consider dinner at Garden Grill. It's not talked about much, but it probably has the best food of any character meal.