What's the best character meal you've been to?

[disneyholic family]

we were just at WDW last week and did 3 character meals with very surprising experiences...

We did Crystal Palace for lunch. In the past CP was our favorite because of food quality. What a disappointment this time. The food was TERRIBLE. Horrifyingly bad. DD even ended up losing her lunch in adventureland. It took her hours to recover from lunch. And we all thought the quality was terrible.

On the other hand, Chef Mickey, which in the past has been sub-par was outstanding this time. We ate there for dinner on August 27th. The food was wonderful!! We spoke with the chef there - Chef Matt - and it was clear that he's very proud of the quality of his food and with reason. Really nice selection.
So i can wholeheartedly recommend dinner at CM.

We also had dinner at 1900 Park Fare on a night that the very famous Chef TJ was there. He didn't disappoint. He provides the sort of personal attention to diners that is rare at any restaurant, and especially at a buffet.
my only problem with 1900 park fare is the noise level. There are many tables crammed into a small space, making it a very noisy place. However, the character interaction there is fun (cinderella's evil step mother and step sisters - plus cinderella and the prince)

 

[Mamu]

My favorite is CP for lunch. Were big Pooh Fans and I've never been disappointed with the food. I do find the lunches are better the the dinners and breakfast is always very good. For 20 years we have been doing character meals some we've loved, some have gone other we will not return to but CP is always a must.

I also like 1900 Park Fare for dinner, when the Step-Sisters and Mother are there. Food is OK. Also breakfast is good

Tuskers House Breakfast at AK. Good food and good character interaction. We also love this restaurant for lunch although it not a character meal.

This past trip we tried Garden Grill in Epcot. Food was OK, character interaction was the best.

We will never return to Chef Mickey (3 strikes and you out) or Hollywood & Vine (2 strikes here and your out) Both places have awful food, awful service and very unclean (not dirty but none of the food is picked up) It been a while since I've been to the other character meals. At one time we would do lots of Princess meals. Olders GS is now 21, GD are now in their teens, but we still have 2 little GS. So we try to pick meals they will enjoy and CP always comes out on top.

I think it does come down to what characters your looking for, I've never been disappointed with any of the Princess Meals, and we love Cindy's but haven't been there in years.

 

[RDP]

I think it comes down to luck on the day, we have had meals at different places with varying amounts of Character interaction, CP stands out as being the most consistent, with Tusker House being the worst in our experience.

 

[RobynBirdMom]

Garden Grill was our favorite last trip, and we were really bummed that we couldn't book it this time! We enjoyed the food and the characters were fun. Love Chip & Dale!

Crystal Palace was excellent as well - we've only been for breakfast and are returning for the same on our upcoming trip. I looked over the lunch/dinner menu and it really didn't appeal to our family. The character interaction here was good, we had a very enthusiastic Tigger!

We are super excited to try 1900 Park Fare on this trip!

 

[krb2g]

Best character interaction was Garden Grill (although the food was just OK). We've also had really good times at Crystal Palace and Liberty Tree Tavern (which is no longer a character meal, sadly--I loved the colonial garb the characters were wearing).

 

[jocelyn6]

For our family the character meals at 'Ohana, Crystal Palace and Cinderella's Royal Table have all been fabulous! I think that it really depends on crowd levels for the interaction with the characters. We have been to many character meals and we have yet to be disappointed!
J

 

[canopynut66]

??

Tusker House with Donald hands down the best for us then Cape May with Goofy is very close second...we had to stop going to Chef Mickeys as food got worse and worse and service just as bad..feels like a cattle call and they more concerned about selling them pictures than the food and service..O'Hana's getting to be same way. IMO the ones who do not want them pictures they should go ahead and seat them and speed the lines up.

 

[meljean]

We really enjoyed Cape May! We also enjoyed 1900 Park Fare. We are trying some new ones this trip so we'll see!

 

[MSLRAC]

Of the ones we have done, I would say Cape May Cafe followed by Tusker House with an honorable mention to 1900 Park Fare dinner.

 

[HunnyJar]

Breakfast: 'Ohana No question. Love, love the character interaction here but it is the food that really shines for us. I am not a breakfast person, never have been but this is a breakfast I look forward to each trip. One of our must-do's every time we go to WDW. As for the actual character interaction.. Well, it's the Best Friend's Breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. Mickey and Pluto have always been true to form. And Lilo is usually really cute but at this meal Stitch is the one to watch. My husband is a huge, huge Stitch fan and we usually get some super fun pictures with Stitch. And he can be seen causing mischief sometimes, too. So fun!

Dinner: Garden Grill Fantastic food and service. We have had some of the nicest servers in the "World" here. We're actually heading here on September 12th and we're going to see if our last server Ellyn is still there. She was just great! Now on to the characters. Wow.. First off, I'm a huge Mickey fan. So, being able to see Mickey is always a treat, but Farmer Mickey is just too cute! The interaction of all the characters here has always been great. They have always stopped by the table more than once and they usually really get into the fun with us and our kids. Last year Chip and Dale tried to feed my then 1 year old daughter. Super cute. Just a lot of fun.

We usually try to visit multiple character meals. Not just because we want to skip the whole waiting in line to see the characters part, but because we just truly enjoy them. Even when it is just my husband and myself we'll plan for multiple character meals. This year we will be doing 7 in our 10 day trip. For some that's total overkill, but for us..it just works.

 

[disney.nut]

My family love the Garden Grill. Characters are great.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

I've been to Ohana breakfast, Chef Mickey's dinner, CRT breakfast, and Akershus dinner.

My favorite was Akershus dinner. The food was great, the princesses were spot on, and the atmosphere is really neat.

 

[Space Mountain Kid]

I enjoyed crystal palace,1900 park fair and garden grill

 

[lemondog]

For food it's Tusker House breakfast.

For character experience it's 1900 Park Fare hands down!

 

[Disneygirl3715]

For food it's Tusker House breakfast.

For character experience it's 1900 Park Fare hands down!

Nice

 

[ArcEntropy]

We really like Tuskar house. We always think the food and character interaction is great.

Agreed, I was pleasantly surprised.

ArcEntropy

 

[Audray]

For us it is the Princess Breakfast at Akesrhus this past January. It was a constant barrage of characters during breakfast, and we didn't feel rushed at all. We enjoyed the fresh berries at the cold buffet as well.

The reason for that particular meal being the best was my youngest daughter's interaction with Belle. She had just turned two and was really shy around all of the princesses. A princess parade got started and my oldest, who is five, wanted to participate so my wife joined her. That really got our two year old upset and she started crying. I took her out to the edge of the parade route to see better, but she was still upset. Belle came up to her to see what was wrong, and then took her hands and started dancing with her in circles. She was so happy, smiling ear to ear! I've got a number of great pictures, and we even framed one for her dresser at home. She still talks about Belle, who is by far her favorite character.

 

[2Tiggers]

Tusker House. I love the characters in their safari outfits! Sooo Cute!

 

[wolf29]

We've always had a blast @ Chef Mickey's! Went there this year for our first & last evening meals and both were great. Good service, relaxed interaction and clean, fresh buffet. Contrary to many reviews, we have never had a bad meal there. Enjoy all the buffets, but that's our fav.

 

[Missoutandabout]

We enjoyed breakfast at 'Ohana. The characters were great, especially Stitch. We also enjoyed it being "family style" since everything is brought to your table -- no time wasted having to get up and juggle plates of food. The food was just okay; the potatoes with sugar on them was a bit odd.

That said, and despite the fact that we are not "buffet people", we absolutely loved Cape May Cafe's breakfast. The character interaction was fabulous. Our server was a total doll. (Can I say this even though she was probably 10 years older than me?) The food was -- *gasp* -- pretty darn good for a buffet. We thoroughly enjoyed it -- so much so that we're returning this year.