Character dining questions

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Been twice before but never done character dining so I want to ask if it's worth it? I'm considering breakfast at Cape May cafe but only 3 out of the core 5 is dissapointing but if Minnie was Mickey I wouldn't even hesitate.

My research tells me Chef Mickey's is loud & chaotic and that the food isn't as good as it could be which puts me off the core 5 dining experience there.

Cape may looks fairly cheap though but is character dining worth it? Or shall we stick to meet & greets in the parks? We have kids (boys) ages 11 & 9 in tow too, are they too old to appreciate doing this?

Open to suggestions of any other character dining experiences worth looking into too.

 

[belledream]

We love Garden Grill. Your kids (and you!) might enjoy the fun of a 'rotating' restaurant. Plus you'll get to meet Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale, and I think 11 and 9 year old boys would enjoy that. They are troublemakers!

Your Chef Mickey's description is pretty on par with our experience. Food isn't great, but it's the location and characters that are the draw.

It's been a while since I did Cape May breakfast, but I'm just not a huge breakfast fan at Disney as it is. I would stay in the parks though.

Character dining as a whole is generally 'worth it', especially as a way to meet characters without standing in lines. For the most part, food is standard and there are good and bad dishes, but if you've never done it before, I'd definitely give it a whirl.

 

[dreamfinder]

All of the food is buffet style, so it's not going to be high cuisine anywhere you go. Each buffet has high points, low points, and their own signature items. You are paying for the guaranteed character photo opp, and in reality they don't offer much more than that. The tables at all the locations are crammed in pretty tightly, so even doing a full group shot with a character can often be a tight squeeze. But single shots with the characters is easy enough, they will usually default to posing over your shoulder while you sit (or so it seems) but will gladly do pictures with you standing up if you go to do so. They will also do autographs if you would like.

It's worth will really be up to you. Often times the interaction is limited more so than at a normal M&G. But you get a guaranteed set of characters, either in an exclusive wardrobe, or sometimes ones that don't meet elsewhere. For instance, Cape May they all have on their swimming attire, while 1900 Park Fare will let you meet some of the princes (depending on the meal). If your kids don't want to meet characters, then it's probably not worth it for food alone.

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Immediate trouble is the kids are extended family so knowing what they will like is hard which is why I said if Minnie had been Mickey at cape may cafe I wouldn't hesitate I would imagine they would prefer the 3 male characters over anything female and I'd hazard a guess that pooh bear & friends are unlikely to excite boys their ages and Disney princesses are a no go I'd imagine

I'd imagine we are looking mostly to meet Donald, Mickey, Pluto & Goofy where ever we go (either character dining or meet & greet in the parks) youngest when we told him we were going showed immediate interest in Donald which is a bonus for me as Donald has been my favourite since I knew about Disney at 1 years old.

From what I can tell cape may cafe looks cheapest character dining option we are certainly not looking to spend close to $60 a person like some suggest as oldest child will be forced into the adult menu as it is.

As I say the boys are extended family members and don't live with us or have our Disney loving influence so I'm really unsure what to expect and have limited experience of what boys that age are into.

 

[belledream]

Ooh that is a toughie. Most places will have a Minnie thrown in there. The only other suggestion I have is Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. If I recall correctly, they have Safari Donald, Goofy, and Mickey there - though that might have changed with all the recent AK offerings. Another bonus there is that the food is different from normal buffet food. A little more adventurous if that's your thing.

If you're on the fence about dropping a lot of money on a character dining experience, and the character lineup isn't what you hoped for, then you can consider dropping the idea, dining somewhere cheaper with better food, and grabbing a FP for a M&G like the EPCOT Character Spot or Mickey in Town Square. There's a periodic Donald M&G in Mexico in EPCOT, but you'll have to check the Times Guide - it's not a FP experience.

 

[Courtney6682]

IMHO Chef Mickey's is a MUST for families with young kids...the atmosphere is very much like a circus. Very chaotic and hectic but in a fun way lol. You will do more jumping up and down for pics than eating...but it's a blast for the kids.

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Chef Mickey's really draws my eye because the core 5 (and no Daisy...never been fond of Daisy) it's just the cost I think the kids would love it there character wise but again this issue of them being extended family I'm not even sure what they are like for eating, pretty sure they have never had anything adventurous and unlike us I'm pretty sure they aren't into trying new foods either which I find a shame.

We have so far fast passed Epcot & Animal kingdom character meets personally I'd love to do character dining experience knowing firstly my favourite 5 are at Chef Mickey's and knowing us adults are not fussy eaters but the noise slightly puts me off and not knowing how well the kids eat puts a massive ? on it I think maybe the meet & greets are enough?

100% will be looking to meet Donald & Mickey (and more) in non fast pass locations around the parks too we have memory maker included in our holiday so we will be putting that to great use!

 

[belledream]

Try dining in an off-peak hour at Chef Mickey's then. If you don't go at like 6 or 7 PM, it might not seem as loud and chaotic. We can't really help you decide what is enough in terms of character interaction, but it sounds like you've done your research and have a lot of character experiences on the agenda.

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Are all 5 characters there at all dining times? I've not seen anywhere that suggests not so I would imagine they are as I've seen some places specifically say (like Cape May Cafe) that characters are limited to Breakfast only & I would imagine if this was true for Chef Mickey's it would have said on at least one site I've been on.

Yeah I'm a bit of a research fanatic I hate going unarmed with information, I could fill note pads with stuff I've been looking into!

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

1) You have to eat - a character breakfast is ideal.

2) Chef Mickeys is one to miss - rowdy, rushed etc etc

3) Our favourites - Crystal Palace, Cafe Cape May, 1900 Park Fayre, Tusker House

4) Meet and Greets - standing in line wasting time to see the characters. Breakfast - eating while the characters come around to you

5) In response to your last post - the WDW dining pages state which characters appear when

 

[belledream]

Are all 5 characters there at all dining times? I've not seen anywhere that suggests not so I would imagine they are as I've seen some places specifically say (like Cape May Cafe) that characters are limited to Breakfast only & I would imagine if this was true for Chef Mickey's it would have said on at least one site I've been on.

Yeah I'm a bit of a research fanatic I hate going unarmed with information, I could fill note pads with stuff I've been looking into!

Yes, all five are there. They'll rotate around to your table one by one.

I feel ya, I'm the same way!

 

[ScottKC]

We did the character breakfast at Ohana at the Polynesian Village, because we wanted a Mickey Breakfast. We lucked out and there was a cancellation within 3 weeks of our trip and jumped at it. We wanted to do a character breakfast on a day we were not going to be at a park because they can take a lot of time out of your day so we had brunch on our departure day and it worked out great. Our youngest son (10 months) just adores Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he was thrilled to meet Pluto & Mickey, he liked Stitch & Lilo but that spark of recognition wasn't there like it was for Pluto & Mickey.

Would love to do Chef Mickey's but I can never find an opening and I don't plan 180 days out. I am super curious about Garden Grill, both because it has Mickey(a must for us) and the food looks really intriguing, but we didn't go to EPCOT on our last trip.

I've heard good things about the Cape May from a friend who loved the beach theme of the costumes and the whole Hamptons/Cape May vibe of the resort.

I like Character meals for the guaranteed access to the characters, but that is mainly because I have never done a long WDW trip and so I like to use my time more for rides/shows vs. long meet & greet lines. When we have done the meet & greets it was with a Fastpass or because we stumbled on to a reasonable line. I would never expect the food to be the driving factor behind a character meal, don't get me wrong I enjoy Disney Food but the characters and the theming are the draw, at its best the food is heartily good but rarely overwhelmingly special.

 

[21stamps]

Ohana or Chef Mickey's. The older boys will probably like seeing the monorail, or the atmosphere at Poly.

Take everyone's opinions, mine included, with a grain of salt. Figure out what characters and ambiance your children like best and decide from there. Please don't discount a restaurant bc some (ok, a lot) say it is 'loud and hectic so should be skipped'. Experience a place for yourself first Good luck!!!

 

[21stamps]

We did the character breakfast at Ohana at the Polynesian Village, because we wanted a Mickey Breakfast. We lucked out and there was a cancellation within 3 weeks of our trip and jumped at it. We wanted to do a character breakfast on a day we were not going to be at a park because they can take a lot of time out of your day so we had brunch on our departure day and it worked out great. Our youngest son (10 months) just adores Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he was thrilled to meet Pluto & Mickey, he liked Stitch & Lilo but that spark of recognition wasn't there like it was for Pluto & Mickey.

Would love to do Chef Mickey's but I can never find an opening and I don't plan 180 days out. I am super curious about Garden Grill, both because it has Mickey(a must for us) and the food looks really intriguing, but we didn't go to EPCOT on our last trip.

I've heard good things about the Cape May from a friend who loved the beach theme of the costumes and the whole Hamptons/Cape May vibe of the resort.

I like Character meals for the guaranteed access to the characters, but that is mainly because I have never done a long WDW trip and so I like to use my time more for rides/shows vs. long meet & greet lines. When we have done the meet & greets it was with a Fastpass or because we stumbled on to a reasonable line. I would never expect the food to be the driving factor behind a character meal, don't get me wrong I enjoy Disney Food but the characters and the theming are the draw, at its best the food is heartily good but rarely overwhelmingly special.

This is exactly why I do so many, even when we stayed 9 nights. We have to eat anyway. Much rather kill two birds with one stone and save park time for other attractions. Our fave character meal by far was Ohana!!! Garden Grill as runner up.

 

[dreamfinder]

From what I can tell cape may cafe looks cheapest character dining option we are certainly not looking to spend close to $60 a person like some suggest as oldest child will be forced into the adult menu as it is.

The only downside to Cape May is that it's not the easiest breakfast to get to. The other character meals are either in park, or on the monorail loop. You may luck out with the Character Breakfast bus, but that usually goes to the MK area. Otherwise you would need to go to DHS and walk/boat it over if it is pre-opening, or use a park admission and walk through Epcot post opening. If you have your own car, or take a taxi/Uber it's easier to get to.

Garden Grove over at the Swolphin does offer some character meals if cost is an issue, their characters tend to be the classic ones. But it's a limited schedule and is no more convenient to get to than Cape May.

 

[bethymouse]

The best character meal experience hands down was Chef Mickeys. You get to meet the "Fab 5". The food is typical buffet, nothing special, but the experience overall was nice. How about trying the fairly new Minnie dining experience at Hollywood and Vine Play and Dine at Hollywood Studios? I heard it was pretty good, and had gotten better lately. Any character dining experience with Mickey, etc.. is pretty much the same ( IMHO). It's fun, so go and try one!

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

My vote is for Chef Mickey's. It's a really fun atmosphere, especially for kids, the food is decent and it's a convenient location to the MK.

 

[Variable]

21Stamps has it right. Ask them about the characters, and breakfast is breakfast.
If they're excited about it all, the food will either get scarfed down without much thought or go cold while they watch and wait etc. in either case it's a fun way to start the day.

FWIW, Chip and Dale would probably interact with them the most, it's a good age, and on the 'boy level' all 4 of the guys will enjoy. C&D can really have a good time with cooperative guests. If you know what I mean.

They're at the Garden Grill in Epcot.

 

[BackOTheLine]

I'll throw my vote in for Tusker House. Mainly because of the food they've got standard fare plus some pretty tasty things you won't find anywhere else.

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

You've all convinced me Chef Mickey's is the way to go, so i've reserved a table there for dinner on 16th August, it's expensive but i've said i'd pay for dinner that night just because I think the experience is worth it (breakfast would have been better but all days we are there reservations are fully booked out) plus it says cancellations can be upto 24 hours before if we change our minds so that's something.

Only thing is, how easy is it to get there? We have rented a car for the duration as we are staying off-site, can we drive over? or do we have to go via a park?

Also it says this on my reservation "Chef Mickey's Fun Time Buffet Dinner at Chef Mickey's" so is the buffet menu different to the dinner menu found online? or is that it? Not sure oldest child (who is classed as an adult) would eat anything from the normal menu which could be an issue.