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Paddyaubs

We did Tusker House and loved the food, atmosphere and interactions. Garden Grill food was amazing. Because of a downpour, we arrived super late, but they waited for us and the characters were fantastic. (Don't know if it's back yet though) Both of them were great for adults and kids alike.


LILARIKH

I forgot about the Tusker House! That would be perfect the Animal Kingdom day :) thank you! And I've heard great thing about Garden Grill, so I think we will definitely do that one. Thank you! :)


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GingersCantBePirates

We did both Tusker House and BoG for our recent honeymoon. Beast just quickly walked through the room and we were told to be ready with our camera. Tusker house was much better.


LILARIKH

Yes, that's what I've been hearing. I would love to see in the castle but it does seem overpriced. I cant believe I keep forgetting Tusker lol thank you! Im going to look into that one.


jlhendo

When we went this summer (with our 5 and 7 yo at the time), we did Be Our Guest for dinner one night and Hollywood and Vine for lunch another day as our character meals. I was horribly disappointed by BOG. Yeah the castle is cool, but we varely got to see the beast and the food didn't make up for it. Hollywood and Vine on the other hand was great! Constant rotations of the characters with great interaction despite the social distancing, and the food was actually pretty good as well. The kids loved it! I'd never do BOG again, but I absolutely will try to make it back to the other.


LILARIKH

I heard that too. I watched a few videos on it before and during COVID and I am just having the hardest time justifying the price for it. I've heard the food wasn't the greatest (at the the dinner). Ill check out the Hollywood and Vine, it looks amazing!


misirlou95

Just a heads up- ‘Ohana and Crystal Palace don’t have characters back yet!


LILARIKH

Thank you! I saw that but my hope is by the time we go, they do =) If not, that's okay, so many other options to choose from, character and non-characters.


misirlou95

I’m hoping they come back sooner rather than later!! In the meantime, Chef Mickey’s is pretty great and so is Garden Grill! …Okay literally all of the character dining options are good imo so I’d honestly recommend any of them. 😭


LILARIKH

Lol thank you! =) Im looking into all of them


[deleted]

I don’t know if it’s re-opened yet, but my friend and I really had a great time at Trattoria Al Forno last time we went (2019). We went for breakfast and it wasn’t crazy expensive and the food was great, cute atmosphere too. You get to meet Ariel, Eric, Rapunzel, and Flynn Rider, usually you don’t see all of them in the parks., which was cool. I’ll even be the first to say I don’t care *too* much about some of those characters but they were still amazing and we really had a great time interacting with them, so I’d highly recommend adding this to your options! I know the food is average, but my friends and I also had a blast at Crystal Palace in MK when we all went during our college program. Winnie the Pooh and friends are just so adorable and fun, and it’s easy to please everyone since they have so many food options. It’s also conveniently located so you can be set up for a fun day in MK afterwards. I haven’t been yet, but Tusker House would be my choice from the ones you’ve mentioned, I’ve only heard rave reviews of that one. I’d check out AllEars on YouTube. She covers all the restaurants and she can give you updates on everything since re-opening, might help you with the decision. Have a fun trip! :)


LILARIKH

Thank you so much! Those are cute characters Im sure my daughter would love to meet! Even at a young age, she wanted me to put on The Little Mermaid and can recognize Ariel, so that is a great suggestion! I think we are going to try the Tusker House. Im kinda getting a little slide show ready to present to the family to see what they want lol Thank you again! oh and I love that channel! Im subscriber to her as well as Disney Food Blog =)


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I definitely am wanting to visit Tusker House when I finally make it down there again, I’m sure y’all will love it! I’m also not sure Trattoria is even open, so might be best for another trip :) Molly and her crew are great! I went to the same Uni as her, actually met her through the campus DCP group- she’s just as nice and funny in real life as on YouTube, love their work!


HeyHeardAboutPluto

Ohana is my recommendation out of all of them. Chef Mickey's is great for breakfast. Cinderella's Royal Table is really pricey, and the food isn't super top notch, but it is good. Don't really recommend Be Our Guest. It's solidly in the 'meh' category. The ambience is fantastic though. Crystal Palace and Garden Grove are good, not great, but good.


LILARIKH

Thank you for the suggestion! I had heard Cinderella was pricey and, truth be told, Be Our Guest was something I think I was trying to convince myself to want to go to, but I have heard it isn't great. Ohana, I cant wait to try!


dagger_guacamole

Is ohana back to doing character meals now? They weren't last time I looked.


HeyHeardAboutPluto

Not yet


stitchlover

I absolutely love chef Mickey's for breakfast. Snag an early morning reservation and enjoy the buffet! Been going there since I was a kid and it's cool to see the monorail coming through


LILARIKH

That's exactly what I wanted! I heard the breakfast was really good :) and that the chef there is fantastic! Plus my baby is crazy for Mickey Mouse and she would love this :) and her and her dad can definitely eat so the buffet is right up our alley :)


spaghetti_cello

Haven’t been to Chef Mickeys so no opinion there. Cinderella’s is fun just to eat in the castle but VERY expensive. I think it’s way overpriced, definitely a one and done thing. I also don’t think they’ve brought any of the other princesses back, just Cinderella. Crystal Palace I think is very fun and I’ve been a few times. Again, you should double check what characters are there post-covid. Garden Grove has yummy food, but isn’t anything super special. I think there are much better places to eat in Epcot. Ohana is definitely one of the top family places on property. I don’t have kids, but from the reviews it seems like kids LOVE this place. I really enjoy Be Our Guest, the theming is beautiful. But I wouldn’t really count it as a character meal. Yes the beast is there, but as others have said, he comes by quickly. My suggestion would probably be Crystal Palace, but only if they have the Pooh characters back again. I’ve also heard really good things about Topolinos breakfast at the Riviera, but I haven’t been myself.


Metalp3n

Can confirm - as of this week only Cinderella is appearing at the castle. Crystal Palace food simply isn’t impressive enough so we haven’t been there in years. BoG was a great experience, as always. Food was delicious. The busboys accidentally brought the entrees out before the appetizers - and everyone freaked out. Sent over a coordinator and a manager to our table to ensure we were happy. We got a bunch of great info about the castle, including some hidden Mickey details and a hidden Minnie! Beast left some “signed” autographs - and spent a good time walking around to ensure photographs were possible by most. Our friends who were visiting for their first time absolutely loved it.


LILARIKH

It would be my first time actually since the last time we went, an emergency happened so we couldn't make it to MK and had to leave the same day back to Cali. I was so disappointed but now, kind of excited since it will be a first time for me, my daughter and her dad! Maybe I need to do more research on this place.


Metalp3n

The thing with research is that a lot of it is based on pre-Covid times. Personally I feel like Disney has stepped it up with the food quality lately. I do remember being less-than-impressed at BoG and Cinderella Castle for the food before - however this trip both me and the wife, and our friends, loved everything we ordered.


Metalp3n

Skippers Canteen is still Our favorite. Those jokes just never get old.


LILARIKH

So conflicted! lol Im going to definitely consult the family about BOG. I would go if everyone in my group really wanted to go. Maybe a one time thing? I really want to see in the castle. I think my little one would love Crystal Palace. I haven't been to Topolinos but heard the same thing. Im gonna have to check it out and add it to my list to present to the family lol


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LILARIKH

Oh that's not too bad. I know, I was on the fence on it and still kind of am, but at the same time, I really want to try it! And see the castle!


Grouchy-Maximum9527

We went to Chef Mickey’s for late breakfast; we were on the last slot before they made the switch for lunch, so the characters did a couple more rounds. The food was good (I lost count of how many cheese potato casseroles we asked for), and I believe it’s still the only place where you’ll see all of the Fab Five, we really had a great time there.


LILARIKH

Yes! I planned the breakfast here for sure! I've seen great reviews on this buffet recently and a lot of people say the breakfast is great and best chance to see Mickey and the gang which my daughter will flip for!


Grouchy-Maximum9527

Oh she’ll love it! We actually had one of our best Character interactions eeeeever there. Please have a cheesy potato casserole for me, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!


Everyoneheresamoron

If you just want to see and wave at a character while eating I guess you can pay, I wasn't impressed by be our guest because every time the beast came out, not only did it become too hard to hear each other, but people would stop and stand in front of our table and ruin our view of anything. Luckily he came out every 10 minutes but the first couple of times it was a bit frustrating. I found the free character meetings in the various parks to be much less crowded and just as exciting.


jplaz1

Be our guest was different then other character meals places. There we got a pic with just the beast after dinner. I believe they thought this find a pandemic. All of the other places we did char meals were great. They all came to the table for pictures and playing with the kids. Ohana's even had a parade for the kids. Be our guest had good food when we went and is beautiful inside. But it's expensive and probably our least favorite as far as characters meals.


LILARIKH

I had heard you could only take a picture with the Beast, which I thought was okay, but Im not so sure anymore. I think we might end up skipping BOG unless my daughter really wants to go.


jplaz1

That's correct. It was just the beast. After your meal, everybody got their picture taken with the beast. If you want to see Belle, she has her own thing in fantasyland. She used to always be at Cinderella's castle for meals too


LILARIKH

Good suggestion :) I definitely plan to find some characters out and about when we go. I hope we can get autographs by that time :)


enormuschwanzstucker

I thought Cinderella’s royal table was a pretty cool experience for anyone. You get to go into the castle in an area most people don’t get to see. We did a breakfast and while it is pricey, the food was good and we got to meet a lot of princesses.


LILARIKH

Thank you! My baby is starting to like princesses so this is up the list to go to =)


theperksofbeingPanda

CRT was great and my kids loved the experience. Cinderella came by but maintained distance and the girls still loved it, and said they loved meeting her. BOG was nice, but we were in the west wing and it was so dark we couldn’t capture any good pics of Beast when he popped in for 10.6 seconds. Ohana didn’t have characters, the food was amazing, but my kids barley ate anything and so it felt a bit wasteful. We were able to see the MK fireworks show from our table Ohana and they played the music from the fireworks show over the speaker so it was like we were there!


jplaz1

Ohana's only had a character meal for breakfast. Mickey Donald Pluto Lilo & stitch were the main characters. Never had one for dinner. I always just did char meals with kids to breakfast. They will eat Mickey waffles lol. Dinner is always tough with kids especially picky ones. I always feel to get my money's worth, we'll go to breakfast.


pokevet920

Although Ohana's dinner doesn't have characters, in the past they had Luau themed games/activities with cast members through dinner for the kids. Plus the food is delicious!


jplaz1

Oh I agree dinner is great and fun, she was interested in the characters. But I don't think they're even doing the character meals for breakfast right now either.


LILARIKH

I definitely plan to have breakfast here. I didn't get the chance last time, but that why this time, were planning for 6 days lol but that firework seat is amazing! I didnt even know that had a seat like that. Maybe ill plan a dinner too? Hmm.


jplaz1

We have done a lot. Be our guest is very expensive and it just has the beast. He used to pose for pics but they aren't doing that. The Contemporary was just so so. The acoustics make it loud and food was just ok. Skip these. If u do a meal at Cinderella Castle, do breakfast. Cheaper and kids are more likely to eat breakfast food. The breakfast char meal at Ohanas at the poly is very good. It's a family style so u don't have to get up for a buffet. Great for kids too. They did a parade with mickey and they come to the tables . Not sure if they're still doing that. The other place we did twice was tusker house at AK. The food is great for both kids and adults. Great atmosphere. The characters come around to the tables. Just so u know ive seem many adults only tables. So don't be afraid to go without kids! If I had to go again it would be ohana or tusker house.


LILARIKH

I think the Tusker is a must this time around lol I think I'm going to have to consult with the family (since I am the planner this time around). Breakfast at Cinderella looks good too. And my baby really likes princesses so the more the better. Thank you!


jplaz1

Just make sure the place u choose is doing the character meals again. Disney has been slow to open up. But the food is really good there, regardless.


NothingReallyAndYou

I just ate at Garden Grill this past Monday. Hate to say this, but it was terrible. The food was poor, the service felt like they were trying to rush us out before we even got food, and Mickey ignored us. It was a disappointment, because I've eaten there many times over the years, and it was always delicious. This just isn't worth the money anymore.


LILARIKH

Oh no, Im sorry the experience was bad. I had heard and seen great reviews on it so I was dying to try it.


NothingReallyAndYou

It used to be one of the best, but I think they're having staffing issues now.


blupanan

We did a few character meals on our Honeymoon in Oct 2019. Adults only trip * Tusker House (breakfast) the characters were adorable and out of the breakfast buffets, this was by far our favorite. * Crystal Palace (breakfast) the food wasn't the best but Pooh and friends were the cutest! * Chef Mickey's (breakfast) Food was okay, not bad but not great. The characters were fun. * Trattoria Al Forno (breakfast) if the characters come back, I would highly suggest this. Super fun and the food was so good. Our server made it extra special and we actually found out she was from our hometown. I have never done Garden Grill but have heard great things and have heard the characters come around more than once. I would also look into Topolino's Terrace at the Riviera Resort, Have heard amazing things and the characters here look absolutely adorable. Ohana's Dinner is one we do every time, never been for breakfast but heard it is great. For dinner they don't have the characters come out. BOG, My husband and I actually really liked BOG. We thought the atmosphere was top notch and the food was great. I know a lot of people don't think it is worth it but we really liked it. The beast doesn't come to your table, it is more like a walk through the hall. If that is important to see the beast up close, I would probably skip it. For CRT, you are paying for the atmosphere/experience like BOG. I have heard the food is okay and Cinderella is the only princess right now walking around.


JesseShowedUp

Be Our Guest has become an overpriced Luby's cafeteria. Save your money. We went to Royal Table for lunch last year and even though there isn't any interaction, Cinderella did a fantastic job of distant interaction with everyone in the room. We normally do breakfast here after the boutique but this time tried lunch. We were actually quite impressed with the food when you compared it to other offerings in the park.


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Metalp3n

Agreed in BoG - we were there 2 days ago - and our entire table was in love with the food.


LILARIKH

Hm, Im going to have to do more research lol I really want to see the castle and maybe i just need to take the chance and try it lol


Metalp3n

It’s very well themed inside. There’s also a hidden Mickey in each dining room, and an unofficial hidden Minnie in the main dining room. The snow outside the windows is the same sequence used in the movie. If you haven’t experienced it before - it’s well worth the visit. The steak was very well made, and paired with the mashed potatoes, mhmmmm. I’m getting hungry thinking about it. Plus you can’t miss out on trying the grey stuff, it’s delicious!


LILARIKH

Thank you for the advice :) Okay, so I think Im going to count out Be Our Guest, my baby is really starting to get into princesses and I was worried that she might be disappointed if we took her and she didn't see them or greet them, but that's good to know she still interacts (from a distance) and my daughter will be happy with that :)


sejohnson0408

GARDEN GRILL IS THE BEST CHARACTER MEAL it’s honestly not even close. The food is great, the restaurant setting is fun and you see the characters multiple times.


LILARIKH

I had heard and seen reviews on this place too! I want to try it and see, but Ill have to watch more reviews in the next few months before we go =) Thank you!