Which character dining is best?

[Disdad13]

Help! We have gone to LTT for the last 2 years for our character meal. We absolutely love it there, but DW wants to try something different this year. It will be me, DW and DS5. We don't want to do breakfast, so we are only looking at dinner options. And, since we have a DS instead of a DD, we don't really think he would enjoy Cindy's Castle or any of the other princess themed dinners. So that pretty much leaves us with Garden Grill, Chey Mickey's or 1900 Park Fare. Even 1900 Park Fare may be pushing it, as characters are Cindy, Prince Charming, Suzy & Perla and the Fairy Godmother. Please give me any and all feedback you have! We are looking for good food and good character interaction. Thanks!!

[DisneyCrazed580]

What about Crystal Palace with Pooh & Friends? We've done it twice and always enjoy it.

[CleveSJM]

We love Chef Mickey's. Monorail going by. Classic characters...

[BelleCiavo]

We like the Crystal Palace, but we've never been to Chef Mickey's and I know a lot of people like that. I guess if your son like Pooh and friends I'd choose there; if he prefers Mickey and friends I'd take a ride out to the Contemporary.

[SBETigg]

The question really isn't "which character dining is best?" but "which is best for you?" Crystal Palace has Pooh characters- that is one to add to the list. I think Garden Grill might be a good one to try, in that it is a family style meal and perhaps more like what you are used to at LTT, but still a bit different.

[KylesMom]

We have found Chef Mickey's @ CR & Garden Grill @ Epcot outstanding for character meals. As previously mentioned, Crystal Palace is yummy too but has the Pooh & Friends characters, not Mickey & Friends. While Chef Mickey's & Crystal Palace are buffet-type meals where you physically get up & choose your food, Garden Grill is plated family-style like Liberty.

I must admit that for sentimental reasons, Chef Mickey's will always be my favorite. It's the first character meal we ever took DS to at 27 months & we return each year!

[magicman]

We've done Chef Mickey's (breakfast) & The Garden Grill (lunch). I've listed my pros/cons of each below. We loved them both.

The advantage to Chef Mickey's was that it was very festive, the buffet is good, and it's on the monorail. The down side to Chef Mickey's was that the character interaction was short & the open style/layout of the floor meant that there were many distractions during the character interaction.

The advantage to the Garden Grill was that the layout was conducive to great one-on-one interaction with the characters several times during the meal. The downside to the Garden Grill is that the family style meal might not be right for picky eaters.

[Disdad13]

Thanks for the replys so far. We actually did Crystal Palace for the breakfast buffet a couple years ago. It was OK, but, as mentioned in a previous post, it was such a large area that character interaction was minimal. DS likes Pooh and friends, but he likes Mickey and friends more. I would tend to lean towards Garden Grill more because of the style of food and, as magicman mentioned, probably more conducive to one-on-one character interaction. But, if someplace like Chef Mickey's is particularly good, with good charzcter interaction, I would be willing to try a buffet style. Keep the opinions coming!!