Chef Mickeys Brkfast or Dinner?

[Afabena]

Breakfast or dinner at Chef Mickeys? I have only had breakfast there and that was when I was a kid...We are staying at BLT so I thought it would be ideal for the proximity and my son will get a kick out of the monorail going through the Contemporary. I originally thought we would do breakfast, but now that I am planning in more detail I'm not sure that I want to be tied down to a seated breakfast outside of a park. My other thought was to have dinner there on the day that we arrive. We should be arriving by lunch time and are not planning to go into any parks. Hate it? Love it? Please share.

 

[KenHutch]

We have done mostly dinners there and if you think Golden Corral you will be fine. We had fairly early dinner ADR's and the character interaction was very nice. Now like everywhere else in Disney you will be paying to much and I think the costs hurts the place. At that price many people expect more from the place.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

We only do a seated breakfast on non park days. Our trips are max 5 days so we never have very many park days so we traditionally do a nice sit down breakfast on our departure day. You are close by so it's not out of the way but it will eat into your park time if you do breakfast. I like chef mickey's for what it is, purely and firstly a fun character meal for kids. The food is secondary and OK for buffet breakfast which is all I've had there. I think it's fun with the monorail going in the lobby and the mickey waffles are a plus.

 

[pixiedust23]

We always kick off our trips with CM breakfast on arrival day. We fly down a few days early, head to my parents at the beach, and drive over early for our 9AM ADR. I def would not go on a park day unless you get a super early ADR. But I also wouldn't want to be tied down to an out of park dinner ADR either.

 

[mcd2745]

When it comes to the character buffets (Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, Crystal Palace, Cape May, etc), we always prefer breakfasts over dinners.

 

[pens4821]

We've always done dinner, and while the food isn't gourmet, we enjoy it. We make the ADR for an MK day and use it as a break. This time we did brunch, and it was so much better. We went to MK EMH, left for our reservation around 11, then hopped to HS. If arrival day doesn't work, I'd plan it on an MK day, preferably for brunch.

 

[MissionMouse]

We have dined at Chef Mickey's throughout the years, both Breakfast and Dinner. Dining at Breakfast always takes a special place in your days schedule and works best when you plan on making MK your morning destination without worrying about being there early entrance or rope drop. Dinner on the other hand is unique. Dine early and the restaurant setting is at a lower decibel and the offerings are more substantial than breakfast. Dine later and its a different setting that changes with everyday of diners. Most often you will experience children who are beyond their normal days experience...going in melt down mode. Parents who are trying their hardest to make it the best experience, but continue beyond the limits of some members of their family. This never stopped us from booking, but as our children got older other destinations won out. Dinner can be loud, busy and what you make of it as you are actually the most critical part of the Disney Magic. I think dining here for dinner on your arrival night/day fits right in to the start of a fun vacation. An icon resort with the monorail with the team of Disney character icons and a buffet to provide something for everyone

 

[holden]

The food is mediocre either way. Having said that, I’d prefer a breakfast over dinner.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We drive in and usually arrive at 3 or so. It's usually Friday so we head to Chef Mickey's to get into things and then go back to the hotel to sleep off our trip lag and get ready for morning touring the next day. Perfect arrival evening for us. Just rating the food, Friday dinner is my favorite because I like the seafood offerings they don't otherwise have. The rest of the week, well the food does leave something to be desired on the whole. However, having said that. If you go to Chef Mickey's for breakfast or dinner and didn't find at least one or two things you liked and you didn't have fun?..... You didn't want to. When eating breakfast I would suggest it either be on a non park day or you go tour the park early and eat breakfast after you've done some morning touring.

 

[mkla2015]

My kids tend to eat better at breakfast than dinner so when buffets are involved I pick breakfast. Both breakfast and dinner at Chef Mickey's are mediocre at best so I'd go with whatever meal you think you'd eat/enjoy more. You could schedule an early CM breakfast (8am or before) then walk/monorail to MK for a 9am opening so you don't miss much park time if that is a concern.

 

[FSU Girl]

I thought the food there was awful, I went for breakfast. But the kids loved it so probably will go back. I would do breakfast over dinner because it's harder to screw up breakfast food. They open at 7:30am so you could try for their first reservation to get in and out quicker to not hold up your morning. Or a later morning time so you could pop over to Magic Kingdom, get in a few rides and then relax there and then head back to the park.

 

[goofy4prez]

NEITHER!

The first time I visited Chef Mickey was for dinner. Absolutely made Golden Corral seem like a 5 star restaurant. To this day it remains the worst experience I have ever had anywhere in or out of WDW. A couple years later (2016) I planned and put together a family trip of 8 and made a breakfast ADR hoping that it would be a highlight experience for my family. Epic failure. Filthy, unkept food stations, terrible service from our server, and food that was slightly better than what I experienced for dinner.

In short, IMO, pick your poison... I'd have to say breakfast is the least miserable of the two. On the positive, the character's were fun though.

 

[Ginger R]

NEITHER!

The first time I visited Chef Mickey was for dinner. Absolutely made Golden Corral seem like a 5 star restaurant. To this day it remains the worst experience I have ever had anywhere in or out of WDW. A couple years later (2016) I planned and put together a family trip of 8 and made a breakfast ADR hoping that it would be a highlight experience for my family. Epic failure. Filthy, unkept food stations, terrible service from our server, and food that was slightly better than what I experienced for dinner.

In short, IMO, pick your poison... I'd have to say breakfast is the least miserable of the two. On the positive, the character's were fun though.

Totally 100% agree. We've eaten both breakfast and dinner and I think both were terrible. We ate there this past January and the coffee was burnt. I'm generally not impressed with the buffets in general but this one to me is pretty bad. And way noisier than some of the others as well.

 

[goofy4prez]

Totally 100% agree. We've eaten both breakfast and dinner and I think both were terrible. We ate there this past January and the coffee was burnt. I'm generally not impressed with the buffets in general but this one to me is pretty bad. And way noisier than some of the others as well.

I'm with you on this one. I am not really a fan of buffets. I much prefer food that is individually prepared and not mass produced and sitting on serving tables such as buffets. There are a few in WDW that I think are OK though such as Boma & Tusker House.

 

[hawkeyesparks]

Breakfast for sure

 

[DISNEY1975]

I would do breakfast over dinner because it's harder to screw up breakfast food. T

Yes, this!!!

 

[Afabena]

Oh my, some of you really don’t like CM! Last time I ate there I was maybe 12 and I don’t remember the food of course just that it was fun. Both of my kids are 6 and I thought it would be a decent meal and fun for my kids to meet the fab 5 in one place. Staying at BLT it would be convenient as well. Is lunch the same as dinner in terms of food choices?

 

[Meghannprincesspie]

Brunch! Its the best of both words

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

We stay at the Contempo and always do Chef Mickey’s for dinner on our arrival day (which is never a park day.) I wouldn’t want to do breakfast on a park day because I think rope dropping is such a good strategy/use of time.

The food isn’t good at Chef Mickey’s but really it’s not any worse than some of the other restaurants at WDW. The character interactions and atmosphere make it worthwhile for us. Last time we ate there we paid out of pocket and seeing the triple-digit bill for terrible food did blow my budget-conscious mind. But I’m sure we’ll eat there again next time! It’s a great way to check off seeing the fab 5 with no lines.

 

[ElTrollio]

We did dinner last time and I didn’t really think it was bad at all. It’s not going to knock your socks off, it’s a buffet after all. But some of these responses make it seem like they serve poison apples.

The only thing I didn’t care for were the desserts, and also the Sundae bar was severely lackluster. Only one flavor of ice cream was working and it was very soupy and the station was a mess.