Thank you so much for being patient with me as slowly update the blog from posts from our trip to Walt Disney World in January. Today I want to share our visit to Chef Mickey’s during our last trip.
Since we booked our trip at the last minute (about a month before we were traveling) the only reservation I could get was at 8:00pm. That makes for a long day in the parks followed by a long meal. Our kids were exhausted and a little crazy by the end but that was true for most of the kids in the restaurant at that time.
Here’s how most of these character meals work in case you’ve never been…
- Check in at Reservation Desk.
- Take Signature Photo (at Chef Mickey’s it’s a Mickey statue with a plate and bowl).
- Hostess leads you to your table.
- Server comes by and takes your drink order and invites you to the buffet (For non-buffets, they take your meal order after bringing your drinks.)
- Characters rotate through each section of the restaurant by table. Once you figure out the order that they come through your section, you can keep an eye out to know when they will head your way so that you don’t get up and go to the buffet right before they come to your table. (If you do miss a character, you can either tell your server and they will try to get that character to come to you asap or wait for them to rotate back through the restaurant to get to your table.)
- When each character arrives, they will interact with you and/or the children for a moment or two…(i.e. giving high-fives or hand motions to indicate that they like your child’s dress or hat or whatever)
- Then they will sign your autograph book if you have one and take pictures with your party.
- Finally, they give hugs and/or blow kisses and move to the next table.
- This process repeats for each character while you are eating so there is a lot of stop and start. If there’s room on the table (amid all the buffet plates) I would leave my camera, autograph book and pen out so you don’t have to drag it out every time.
The area behind us in the picture is actually the dessert bar…my kind of place.
The characters wear different outfits at each character meal. For example, at the Tusker House in the Animal Kingdom, they all wear safari suits and here at Chef Mickey’s they wear their finest kitchen attire.
A few tips…
- The character meals can be pretty expensive. If you have the dining plan, take advantage of it and do a character meal each day! If you don’t have the dining plan, try to squeeze at least one into your budget.
- Like I mentioned in the post, keep your camera, autograph book and pen ready and on the table.
- Meeting Mickey or Minnie or whoever at the character meal will keep you from feeling like you need to wait in line to meet them in the parks.
- The food at Chef Mickey’s is actually good…don’t miss the ribs!
- Dining reservations book up quick! Reservations open 180 days ahead of time. Set your clock and make as many reservations as you think you will need. You can always cancel them if you give 24 hours notice.
- Chef Mickey’s has a mix of booths and tables. If you prefer one or the other, let the hostess know when you check in.
- Chef Mickey’s is located inside the Contemporary Resort (the one the monorail runs through) so you do not need a park ticket to eat there. It makes a great way to kick off your trip on your arrival day if you do not have park tickets for that day.
Have any other tips? Leave them in the comments below!