Character Dining

[slappy magoo]

As people have been talking about dinner being the best "bang for the buck" something else to consider is having a very light breakfast very early, going to a park in the morning (maybe taking advantage of early Extra Magic Hours, so you're inside a park by 8-ish), and then hitting a restaurant for an actual or faux "brunch."

For example, we've had late breakfast reservations for 1900 Park Fare, like 5 minutes before they stop seating. But they don't stop serving. You're not going to be stuck eating whatever's left, fresh food continues to be made. And as most folks left, the characters gave out girls more time, which was incredibly memorable for all of us. Alice and the Mad Hatter especially seemed to get a kick out of how much of a kick the girls were getting out of them.

Similarly, we had a late breakfast at Tusker House one day, and while breakfast offerings became a bit slim, we got to have a little bit of breakfast and a little bit of lunch, and that more than tied us over until dinner, which we wound up eating quite light (despite being on the Deluxe Dining Plan, we did not make gluttons of ourselves. Not the day, anyway).

So depending on your metabolism and your schedule, etc., you might want to consider a very late breakfast. Otherwise, consider lunch at the places that serve lunch, like Crystal Palace or Tusker House, a good way to get out of the heat for over an hour, and then you balance it out with a very light breakfast out of pocket, and a counter service dinner.

 

[cdeev8690]

Breakfast buffets are pretty standard around the resort but I did think Chef Mickey's was pretty nice. Only problem is that the characters must have already passed through our specific dining area just before we sat down so we had to wait a long time and really drag out our brunch while waiting for the characters to arrive.

*I actually have something really great to report back about Chef Mickey's staff that I totally forgot about until now. My aunt and uncle were at the parks within the last couple of months with my 3 year old and 1 year old cousins. They had a breakfast at Chef Mickey's and were enjoying taking photos with the characters when my aunt got an upsetting phone call from my mom informing her of some bad news regarding my grandpa (he was in the hospital at the time and things weren't looking very good but he's since improved and is home and healthy!). She ran out of the restaurant into the seating area and broke down. The first people to comfort her were CM's at the restaurant. My uncle and cousins had no idea she had even ran off as they were busy interacting with the characters. They offered her water and got her a plate of food, sat with her and were just generally AMAZING. Where else in the world would you get that kind of thoughtfulness and kindness from the staff at a hotel restaurant? Only Disney.

Crystal Palace on the other hand : standard buffet, nothing special, but edible and warm so no complaints. The characters always seem to be within eye sight so you're not sitting there with your basic breakfast foods wondering when you're going to be able to get some Pooh time. Then of course they have the parade with the children around the restaurant which the kids love. I've never gone before park opening but it's definitely on my bucket list!

I've also done 1900 Park Fare (lovely Grand Floridian) and Cape May. I really liked Cape May and the food was really nice. I just had a little bit of a difficult time getting there from my resort, Pop Century, at such an early hour.