Best buffets and/or character meals once the kids are grown?

[AllesonWonderland]

We are headed back to Disney after a long (4 years feels long) hiatus. DS is a senior in high school and DD is a junior in college. In the past, we've done HDDR, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fare. Any suggestions now that the kids are older and (perhaps?) aren't as focused on characters? I was thinking maybe Beirgarten, since my daughter has taken German throughout high school and college and even took a trip over there once. Maybe Be Our Guest? We probably wouldn't do more than 1 or 2...we're more the quick service or eat at the vacation home type. But, since this could be our last trip for quite a while, I'd be fine splurging if there's something 'wonderfully wow' we haven't seen yet. Thanks in advance!

 

[CynBeth]

We are adults and love character breakfasts. Our favorites are Crystal Palace, Cape May, and Tusker House. We also enjoy BOG dinner.

 

[DisneyHardin]

DH and I don't have any kids and we still love all the character meals

 

[MooseBucks]

BOG lunch is our favorite food and atmosphere wise

Ohana is awesome

Beirgarten would be fun

Coral Reef is a fun choice!

Liberty Tree is delicious

I’ve heard Skipper Canteen is a blast and yummy

So many good choices!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We took nine HS grads to Chef Mickey's for breakfast on one trip. They had a blast.

 

[amycakes]

We like Boma for dinner and Garden Grill for breakfast. I have heard good things about the Boma breakfast but we haven’t tried it yet

 

[wendlle]

You specifically asked about Character meals but then said they aren't interested in Characters, so are you just maybe looking for meals without characters now?
Just remember Beirgarden has shared tables which some people don't like (like me).
We love character meals even when we had no kids but I can see how Teens could do eye rolls about them LOL. Maybe try some more "grown up" meals at Be Our Guest (maybe have lunch instead of Dinner as it is super expensive and TBH not that great for Dinner) and Chef de France.
One Character meal that isn't too "over the top" Is the Bon Voyage Character Breakfast, we really love that one and I have seen Video of the new "Storybook Dining" which also has really nice looking food with minimal characters and a great atmosphere with the forest setting.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Biergarten is good at Epcot. It is shared table and we ve always had great people at our table and invariably connect somehow ( ride fav, where they re from, etc)
Crystal palace.. we had a blast last visit. I told Pooh my ( now adult son) last saw Pooh when he was Very little. Well... Pooh and all the characters were hugging him up..he’s a serious person, but honestly ..it made for some good laughs and lots of awesome pix.. sometimes the lighter laughing moments truly make a trip. Captured the Relaxed “ah” it’s Disney feeling!

Now if youre looking for something to Do with ur older kids.. have you considered a nighttime safari? ( we did the 10pm one) It was Amazing!! My son and I did it and had great time. Over a Kidani, night vision goggles out on the Savannah. The Animals were soooo close to our Truck/Jeep. AWEsome!!
OR..We also did horseback riding . .. another great thing to keep the Disney spirit going and something different than food/park time. You go thru the woods and we saw deer, rabbits, birds in addition to a good ride!
I’d recommend either as a Special Family time... especially with older kids.

Whatever you choose ... enjoy.
The xtra Special memories really do last a lifetime!

 

[sponica]

I did Garden Grill dinner in my 20s, it's one of my favorite memories (dinner was much different than it currently is now). All I remember is eating catfish.

 

[Shelleyfs]

I didn't book many character meals last trip because they just didn't seem interested in them. To my surprise, my 18 yr old and 16 yr old really enjoyed Bon Voyage breakfast. The characters were really good. Flynn had my 18 yr old boy doing poses and it was really funny. The cast there really seemed to know how to "adult" a character experience, but still be in the spirit of being at Disney - if that makes sense.

We also did Cinderella's Royal Table and 'Ohana - but I think I enjoyed these more than they did. They didn't seem to care about those at all and actually complained about the food at 'Ohana breakfast.

 

[chalee94]

Boma is my favorite buffet. Biergarten is also good, although I think they raised the cost recently. I prefer BOG for lunch since I don't care about characters.

 

[NYCgrrl]

CG's Sunday brunch. No characters but the ones you come with.
Love the idea of a nighttime safari!

 

[Minnesota!]

Boma and Biergarten. We are not one for character meals, either. Even when my kids were little, we did them but nobody was really into it. But these two have always stood out as good!! Trail's End is loved, too.

 

[rdaky]

We aren't character meal fans. Boma is our favorite buffet (even my kids!)

 

[Lisa F]

The Storybook Dinner at artist point is great and definitely has a more grownup feel to it.

 

[maxiesmom]

Now that we are all over the age of 18 we still love the Crystal Palace and the Garden Grill.

 

[DisneyDreamer810]

We are a family of 6. I am one of the 'children', and our ages range from 26 - 36. We still do many character breakfasts, as we simply enjoy the food. We don't care for the interactions - so we just wave when they come to the table, and they move along. Coming from the view of a non character breakfast - we LOVE Boma!!!!

 

[monorailmom]

My adult kids all still LOVE the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and actually have booked it for trips when just with their friends and not us haha!!! They do not enjoy Biergarten with the shared seating. Other favorites would be the Boathouse, Via Napoli, and Sanaa.

 

[amycakes]

I forgot to add Raglan Road... that makes for a fun night

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Wow, so many great suggestions. Thank you! New character meals since we were last there that I will have to check out. I didn't know about the safari. And I had to google Raglan Road, but that looks cool too--plus we have friends visiting the same time as our trip and they are staying in that area, so perhaps that would be a good place to meet up one meal.

We've actually done HDDR and Chef Mickey's twice, and I agree with all of you that kids and adults alike loved both. I'm sure my kids would still like character meals, and all the suggestions are great and will give me plenty to research. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed any more 'grown up' opportunities all the past trips when I was just focusing on what younger kids might like best.

Thanks again for all the input so far. Keep it coming!