Restaurant Suggestions

[kas1205]

We are planning a December trip with friends - kids are boy & girl, age 8, girl age 6 & girl, age 3. The boy and littlest girl have not been to Disney. My girls (8 & 6) have been when they were younger. My 8 year old is phasing out of princesses things but the 3 year old is very much into them. Looking for suggestions for sit down meals. We have the dining plan so thinking some character meals - maybe Garden Grill, Tusker House? Other suggestions?

 

[3gr8boys]

Crystal Palace breakfast is a nice character meal buffet...character interaction is fun even if you aren't into Pooh and friends and the setting is pretty. My husband commented that he really liked the food (rare).

Garden Grill character interaction is great. We did a PPO breakfast last month- filled up, enjoyed meeting all the characters and walked right on to Soarin'.

We had fun at Tusker house dinner, but the food wasn't anyone's favorite. Great "conversation" with Donald Duck

 

[epcotobsessed]

Garden Grill, Akershus, 1900 Park Fare are my top choices for character meals. Boma is great for those ages too, as is Cape May Cafe (only breakfast has characters). Chef Mickey's is obligatory for many - food is not good, but passable.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We are planning a December trip with friends - kids are boy & girl, age 8, girl age 6 & girl, age 3. The boy and littlest girl have not been to Disney. My girls (8 & 6) have been when they were younger. My 8 year old is phasing out of princesses things but the 3 year old is very much into them. Looking for suggestions for sit down meals. We have the dining plan so thinking some character meals - maybe Garden Grill, Tusker House? Other suggestions?

For first timers, I always think at least one Mickey meal and one princess meal are a nice thing to schedule. To save a TS credit, I would consider Akershus in EP. The princess character interaction is very good and the food is good, as well. Tusker House happens to be our favorite character meal and the characters look super cute in their costumes. The food, IMHO, is excellent. If you think the kids would do better at a sit-down AYCTE as opposed to a buffet, Garden Grill is also very good. Or do all three!

If you want some character variety, 1900 Park Fare breakfast has Pooh and friends, plus Mary Poppins, Mad Hatter and Alice.

 

[RefillableMug]

Garden Grill & Tusker House are both excellent. I also like Ohana for breakfast at Polynesian Village with Stitch.

 

[eastendlights]

Garden Grill has by far the best character interaction of all the restaurants. 'Ohana as well as Cape May Café are good for breakfast. We prefer Tusker for lunch or dinner. There is a newer breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno at Boardwalk that has Ariel, Rapunzel, Prince Eric and Flynn Ryder.

 

[Linleedo]

This list has always been helpful to me
https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/ranking-disney-worlds-character-dining-locations/

 

[3gr8boys]

No matter which character meals you choose, you may want to check out www.kennythepirate.com 's character locator. I used it not to find characters but to make the interaction more fun. Kenny's hints for the kinds of things to say to each character really started some fun interactions for us.

 

[sanapp]

Our favorites when my daughter was younger were Akershus, Tusker and Crystal Palace. Typically we only did these for breakfast as that is our preference for buffet food.

 

[Bella749]

My daughters loved 1900 Park Fare and Ohana for breakfast and Akershus for dinner. The food and character interaction were very good. We also had a good experience at Chef Mickey's. I thought dinner was going to be nasty because of so many negative reviews, but we all enjoyed it.

 

[crabbygal902]

My favorites:
1900 Park Fare Dinner
Chef Mickey’s
‘Ohana Breakfast
Cape May Breakfast

We like to get an ADR at opening for fresh food and a clean dining room

 

[NYCgrrl]

My traveling kiddos are 9, 12.5, and 18 and thus are past the character meal phase so no opinions for me in that direction.
The restaurants the entire group particularly likes from past visit or hearing about it from the others (this July will be the 18 y/o first visit) are Via Napoli, Ohana, Jiko, Tokyo Dining, Flying Fish, and HDDR.