best character restaurant

[bratsmum]

Hi guys,

New to staying onsite, wondering can you tell me where is the best character restaurant, for breakfast or lunch??
We are on a dining plan?

Thank you

 

[cassie58]

We love Tusker House at AKL, great buffet with some African items to try, and has Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy in Safari gear. It is right next to Safari and Lion King show. We like to do late brft, and then you can try some lunch items when they change over. Our other favorite is Crystsl Palace in MK, which has Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. Great buffet with yummy puffy French toast and made-to-order omelettes(also have lunch there)
Beautiful building right across from castle. Also like Cape May in Beach Club by Epcot, which has Minnie, Donald, and Goofy(only at brft). Do you have any specific characters you want to see? Between that and which parks you will visit will help you decide as well. Give us more details and we can give you more advice!

 

[bratsmum]

we will be visting all the parks my little boy loves, mickey, minnie and co. also have a good who loves princesses!

thanks

 

[MudQueen22]

I don't know if the breakfast and lunch are character meals, but our dinner was a character meal. Dd and I loved Akershus in Norway at Epcot.
It is Norwegian and American food. I didn't like the meatballs, but I think that was just me not liking them. The cold bar appetizer was very good, and everything else on my plate was good except the meatballs.
The characters were absolutely wonderful, and my little girl loved it.
I thought our server was good also.

 

[MudQueen22]

We ate at Cape May for breakfast, and it was good. We met Minnie, Goofy, and Donald in beach clothing.

 

[cassie58]

To catch the princesses, our 1st choice is CRT brft at the castle. It is a 2 credit meal on the dining plan(or we pay OOP for brft instead of using up 2 credits) It is pricey, but a very cool experience to be inside the castle. You meet Cinderella downstairs for a photo, then four others will come around to your table - usually Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Snow White, and Belle(blue dress), but can vary. Girls get a wand and boys get a sword. You can also do Akershus in Epcot as PP mentioned. Belle(yellow dress) does photo, then 4 others, which may include Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Mermaid(in gown), Snow White, and we have even had Mulan - you never know! We like brft because it has more basic foods with a few Norwegian items. You can also do this as late brft, and they change to lunch like at Tusker. 1900PF in Grand Floridian also has a great Cinderella dinner, with Prince Charming, stepmother and stepsisters(hysterical!).

 

[bratsmum]

i heard 1900 park fare was meant to be very good, is there a limit on the amount of character dining you can do??

 

[cassie58]

No limit except number of meal credits you have on Dining Plan! (Or what you want to pay OOP for)

 

[cassie58]

Don't know when you are planning to go, but many of these meals are popular, so best to book at 180 day mark if possible.

 

[aristocatz]

My favorite for character interaction is Crystal Palace (Winnie the Pooh & friends). My next favorite is Garden Grill with Mickey and Friends.

 

[jvz82]

We loved CRT, we truly felt like royalty there! It didn't feel rushed and the princesses were so sweet with my daughter. The server was great. Of course it's an expensive option. We met Cinderella, Snow white, Jasmine, Aurora, and Ariel.

We also loved the character interactions of Garden Grill (Epcot). Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale were there. This meal felt a bit more rushed than the other meal, but that may have been just how it was timed (the food was brought out and the characters started coming immediately). The food was great though and it was really fun.

Cape May Cafe is at Beach Club resort, if you are interested in something out of the parks, and we went there for breakfast. Yummy food, fun environment. Minnie, Goofy and Donald were there. Really enjoyed it! It was buffet style so I was able to wait to get my food until the kids were all set and ready, and there was a break in characters (compared to Garden Grill where the food comes to everyone at once so by the time I got the kids ready, and saw characters, the food was getting cold).

 

[Allie B]

Any of the character meals are a hit. We like to do Chef Mickeys the first night to kick off our trip with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Pluto!

Also Cinderellas Royal Table is a must for your little princess. Such a dream to meet so many princesses at once in the castle.

 

[CynBeth]

We are adults but love early breakfasts at Crystal Palace, Cape May, and Tusker House.

 

[bratsmum]

There is so many choices - i heard chef mickey was great as well!!!

we are going in october so plan to book well in advance.

try to decide what is the best meal time to do it at? like breakfast or lunch?

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

Lunch at Garden Grill. The food is brought to you, so no messing with a buffet, it's aycte, and very good. The way the restaurant is designed, you feel like you are alone with the characters at your table, as it is a round restaurant with high dividers between tables. Lunch is normally not completely booked, so the characters come around quite a bit. It also rotates slowly with views of Living With the Land. Request a bottom tier table if you want a view of the ride as well as characters.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

My son is almost 3 and we've done 6 character meals in his three trips to Disney - many of those on a recent free dining trip with extended family. So far we haven't done a character meal we haven't liked but everyone's hands down favorite was an 11:30 lunch at crystal palace. The setting is lovely, the food surprisingly good, and the character interaction fun. Our son still talks about the "parade" he did at the beginning of the meal. I mentioned the 11:30 time slot bc I think it's always nice to get the earliest seating possible of a buffet.

 

[Nancyg56]

There is so many choices - i heard chef mickey was great as well!!!

we are going in october so plan to book well in advance.

try to decide what is the best meal time to do it at? like breakfast or lunch?

There is so many choices - i heard chef mickey was great as well!!!

we are going in october so plan to book well in advance.

try to decide what is the best meal time to do it at? like breakfast or lunch?

Since you have boys and a girl, I am going to tell you how I generally plan character meals for our crew. WE like to kick off our trip with Chef Mickeys for dinner. I know that this restaurant does not get a lot of love, but we have always enjoyed the food as well as the character interaction. WE always enjoyed this introduction to Disney and do take a spin on our favorite mode of transportation.....the monorail!

We book Akershus for a prepark breakfast. It is another pricy meal, but this one is a favorite for us in regards to Princess meals. Breakfast is good, and we like the Princess Parade for the children. For the most part, the food is brought to you.

WE also like Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. Winnie the Pooh and the Gang are here, and so much fun! I would book the meal that works best for your plan. We like dinner and tend to book this one when we are plannig to sty in the park for evening entertainment, it provides a nice break.

We do not book all character meals, but I don't know your length of stay or character preferences. We like 1900 Pafk Fare at the Grand Floridian, both for breakfast and for dinner. Both are different characters, so I think that the meal you book woudl depend on which you want. Breakfast is Alice and Mad Hatter, as well as Pooh and Tigger, usually. Dinner is the Tremaine Family, and Cindy and Charming.

Our favorite breakfast is 'Ohana with Lilo and Stitch. It is not that expensive so if you book that one, I woul consider paying OOP. We tend to book this one on our departure day, have a nice filling breakfast that is served at our table, as well as say goodbye to Mickey and Pluto.

I know folks are steering you to CRT, and I like that one a lot, but if you are not planning to pay any meals OOP, I would not choose this one. It uses 2 TS credits.