character dining

ajmellu7

ajmellu7

Member
Original Poster
Hi, I am coming to Disney world next year with my 4 year old and 2 year old daughters (already incredibly excited) We came summer 2012 and did the character breakfast at Crystal Palace and my oldest daughter loved it. Whilst we are not against doing it again, we really would like to do a different character dining experience and wondered what people would advise. We have also purchased the dining plan and wondered if this could be used? Many thanks in advance.
 
belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Buffets are a great use of the dining plan! At around $35-$40/adult, most only require 1 credit.

For a Magic Kingdom day, I'd recommend Chef Mickey's (Mickey & Co. dressed in chef's gear @ Contemporary Resort) or 1900 Park Fare (Cinderella, Prince Charming @ Grand Floridian Resort) Unfortunately, Cinderella's Royal Table would require 2 credits on the dining plan.

EPCOT: Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (Norway) has many princesses like Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella, etc. And a complimentary picture too!
Garden Grill is a unique, very slowly rotating restaurant with Mickey & Co. wearing farmer gear. It's a set menu that you can get as much of as you want. Not a 'typical' buffet.

Hollywood Studios: There's a Disney Junior character buffet at Hollywood & Vine for breakfast if your daughters are fans of Princess Sofia.

Animal Kingdom: Tusker House for lunch (Donald, Daisy, and Goofy in safari gear). Great atmosphere and more unique food.
 
M

Mother of 5

Member
You can use the dining plan at the character meals some take 2 credits but most are just one we always love chef Mickey and cape may cafe. Also their is Hollywood and vine for the disney junior characters
 
tlev

tlev

Well-Known Member
My favorite character meals are Akershus (Breakfast), Cinderella's Royal Table (Lunch or Dinner and 2 dining credits), Garden Grill, and Tusker House (Breakfast). We are trying the Best Friends Breakfast at the Poly this October. Never been before, but I've read wonderful reviews.
 
materbuddy

materbuddy

Active Member
Here are our favorites-
Breakfast-Ohana-Lilo, Stitch, Mickey & Pluto
-Crystal Palace- Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore & Piglet
-Hollywood and Vine-Food is ok, but the Characters are awesome- Doc McStuffins, Sofia, Handy Manny &Jake

Lunch-Akershus-Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White & Ariel
 
HouCuseChickie

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
1900 Park Fare is my favorite character breakfast...followed up by Crystal Palace and CRT. I personally LOVE dining in the castle. My favorite character dinner is Garden Grill, but we also like Akershus for lunch and dinner. We've tried them all and I think some of what you're going to see is that experiences are inconsistent. Ex. we had a great breakfast at Hollywood & Vine, but others find it so so. On the flipside, we had awful meals at Tusker breakfast and 'Ohana breakfast, but they are some people's faves.
 
MaxsDad

MaxsDad

Well-Known Member
Chef Mickeys was a good experience for us.

Garden Grill at Epcot is a great dinner.

Tusker house at DAK is good as well.
 
DABIGCHEEZ

DABIGCHEEZ

Well-Known Member
We have been to most character buffets over the years. Our favs are Chef Mickey's(multipl times/breakfast), Cape May Cafe(multiple time/breakfast) and 1900 Park Fare(breakfast and dinner). Our least favorites were Ohana and Akershaus...both of which were "family-style" and not actual buffets. We knew this going in but just thought I would mention it here since I did not see it mentioned yet in the thread.

Akershaus had 4 or 5 of the princesses but the long wait between characters was dissappointing... However I do think they added more princesses since then. Our experience at Ohana was poor service and cold family-style food... and even after we said something and they switched it..it was still cold. I would like to think that we would have a different experience if we ever went again.

Chef Mickeys always has good food and a great little sing along that younger kids love. Cape May Cafe also has never dissappointed.

We did do the Donald duck Breakfastasaurus at AK years ago and that was OK. That has now morphed into the Tusker House breakfast, which we have not tried so I cant comment. Never did the Hollywood and Vine Playhouse/Disney Jr. or the Garden Grill one either.
 
jpittore1

jpittore1

Well-Known Member
1900 Park Fare has great character interaction, but more importantly
the buffet food is much better than Crystal Palace.
 
Sparkle81

Sparkle81

Well-Known Member
We were pleasantly surprised by Akershus. Food was very good, and my DS didn't even mind the princesses ;)

Chef Mickeys was the favourite character meal of our trip. Can't beat seeing Mickey and the gang!

Garden Grill was wonderful. The good was fresh and delicious, and the character interaction was great. They all came around to our table at least a couple of times.

My DS loved Hollywood & Vine. He adores the Disney Junior characters so it was worth going just to see how excited he was, but we weren't fans of the breakfast buffet.

We're going to be trying 'Ohana for breakfast, Tusker House and Cinderella's Royal Table for the first time, on our upcoming trip :)
 

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