Worst Character Meals at Disney World
Character meals are an incredibly popular dining experience at Walt Disney World, but not all character breakfasts and dinners are created equally. In this post, we highlight the character meals that are consistently the worst at Walt Disney World. In some cases, we also provide better alternatives to a particular character meal.
Before we get going, we have to concede that your opinion of any character meal has a lot to do with how lucky you get with interactions and how long your food choices have been sitting under the heat lamp. There’s more than a little truth to the notion that all character meals are inconsistent, so even the ‘best’ can have bad moments, and the ‘worst’ can have standout moments.
Moreover, some people have polarized opinions on character dining. At one end of the spectrum, some people think all character meals are an overpriced waste of money with food that doesn’t measure up to the prices. That’s understandable, but not helpful to people who see value in the convenience of character meals or view them as a quintessential Walt Disney World experience. (I still remember character meals from when I was a kid–so they left an impression on me!)
At the other end of the spectrum, character dining is an incredibly emotive experience and food quality is immaterial for some people. Your kid hugging Mickey Mouse in the Grand Canyon Concourse of the Contemporary can be such an emotionally powerful experience that you don’t even remember what the food tasted like. That’s also understandable, but not exactly helpful when it comes to narrowing the character dining field.
Let’s start with a couple of character meals that don’t exactly have the best reputations among fans: Mickey’s Backyard BBQ and Hollywood & Vine. Part of the poor reviews for Mickey’s Backyard BBQ seem predicated upon its high cost (undoubtedly caused by unlimited alcohol, a peculiar choice for a character meal) and unconventional style. We haven’t dined there, so we can’t really speak to the actual quality beyond that.
Hollywood & Vine is a bit more complicated. It is routinely blasted for being the worst character meal at Walt Disney World, but that has not been our experience in dining there twice. However, we think this disconnect comes down to our meals being during the seasonal meals, whereas most poor reviews relate to the Disney Junior Character Breakfast.
As I don’t even know who most of the characters at the Disney Junior Play ‘n Dine even are, it’s not one we plan on doing anytime soon. (By the time we have kids, I’m optimistic that Ludwig Von Drake will have made a huge comeback, and will be the star of this meal.)
I will say that our meal and overall experience at Minnie’s Holiday Dine was one of our best character meals ever at Walt Disney World. Perhaps this is a difference in quality between the two meals at Hollywood & Vine (that’s our suspicion), or maybe this just underscores the notion that character meals quality is very much hit or miss.
We still believe there are several character meals that consistently deliver subpar experiences and meals as compared to their counterparts…
Anything in Non-Disney Hotels – If you’re a Disney hotel or bust sort of person, you may not even realize that a few of the Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels (both Hiltons and Wyndham Lake Buena Vista), Swan & Dolphin, and Four Seasons Orlando all offer character dining. While we have yet to dine at all of these (and honestly, never will), we’ve also yet to have what we consider a good character dining experience at one of these hotels.
The characters are always limited, and the atmosphere muted. There is something to be said about convenience if you’re staying at one of these hotels, and it’s also possible that you’ll enjoy an uncrowded restaurant and receive more attention as a result. That’s a gamble, though, and one that we think is not worth it.
Akershus (Breakfast) – We will be the first to admit that we’re biased towards character dining that features fur characters instead of the princesses and other face characters. We just prefer Mickey and friends, and find that our interactions with them are more fun and comical–but that’s just us.
Setting that aside, Akershus breakfast was our worst face character dining experience. The food was underwhelming (and not exactly Norwegian), the interactions just fine, and the setting was a far cry from Cinderella’s Royal Table. That last point is probably the salient one: if you want a princess meal, go big with a meal in Cinderella Castle, instead of this “overflow” castle dining option.
Chef Mickey’s (Dinner) – Our disdain for dinner at Chef Mickey’s is well-documented, and something we’ve referenced in several posts. I’ll reiterate for those who have not read our scathing Chef Mickey’s Dinner Review: the food should have an asterisk attached as it’s barely edible, the restaurant is loud, and the price is outlandish.
One point that should be underscored is that breakfast at Chef Mickey’s is a very different experience. While it has been a while since we’ve done that meal, our memories of it are fond, and numerous commenters on the above review have reiterated that it’s the far superior meal. The takeaway here is that you can save money and have a better meal by doing Chef Mickey’s breakfast instead of dinner.
‘Ohana (Breakfast) – The quality of breakfast at ‘Ohana further underscores how one restaurant can differ so dramatically from one meal to another. When it comes to dinner, ‘Ohana has tasty cuisine and is an incredibly fun experience, albeit without characters. It’s one of the toughest ADRs to score for good reason.
Breakfast is a totally different story. The same attempts are made at a fun atmosphere, with a character parade and (obviously) the same views and other qualities inherent to the restaurant. Yet, ‘Ohana doesn’t seem–to us at least–to have the same energy at breakfast. Perhaps our opinion is soured by virtue of the food, which is quite literally family style portions of counter service staples like rubber bacon and fake eggs. You’re much better off just eating at Captain Cook’s and doing a character meal elsewhere.
When it comes to the ideal ‘arrangement’ of these two popular Magic Kingdom Resort Area restaurants, we’d strongly recommend breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and dinner at ‘Ohana. That’s truly the best of both worlds, and you’ll enjoy food that is significantly better than doing those meals in reverse.
Crystal Palace (Dinner) – We have a lot of nostalgia for Crystal Palace from our first few trips together ages ago that makes me a bit hesitant to include this. We still enjoy both breakfast and dinner at Crystal Palace, but that’s colored by our personal experiences there.
Taking a step back and thinking about my least favorite character meals both in terms of characters and food, I have to concede that Crystal Palace is right behind Chef Mickey’s at dinner. This is not to say there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s just “meh” all-around. We’ll enjoy our fond memories of our visits here, but we have no urgent need to go back anytime soon.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Have you had any poor experiences at character meals? Do you agree or disagree with our choices on this list? Any questions we can help you answer about these character dining experiences? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Only place to see Piglet so we have to do Crystal Palace every visit ! But I agree that the food is MEH at best. But Piglet is a family favorite so yeah… we still go every time 🙂
We love the Akershus breakfast. The kids love the princess characters and we love the sausage and eggs. I would Highly recommend this one. The Cinderella Castle is way overrated and costs 2 dinning credits for lousy food. I do agree with the Chef Mickey, breakfast was excellent and you get all the main characters. But dinner it definitely a pass.
Tom, although I usually agree with your opinions, your denegration of the Crystal Palace left me wondering if you have lost your senses. Now, having said that, I will admit that your review was for dinner, and we always (and I mean every time we visit MK) go for lunch, so there may be differences. There are 8 in my family ranging in ages from 3 to 70, and for every one of us, it is our favorite character meal at WDW. Second place is way, way back (it’s probably Tusker House). The food COULD be better, but it doesn’t really need to be, but all of us have such a good time interacting with Pooh et al. and Goofy et al. that you could feed us hardtack and water and we would still leave smiling. Our littlest ones visit annually and my wife and I are there 3-4 times a year – and Crystal Palace for lunch at MK is the very first thing that gets scheduled. I guess we had to disagree eventually, but I’m pretty adamant on this one.
Love your blogs and photos (trying to emulate a lot of your stuff, I’ve learned a lot from you) – PLEASE keep up the great work.
Our family loves O’Hana’s character breakfast because of Lilo and Stitch. Those two are huge favorites with our kids and our now-teenager even still enjoys that meal and the silly interactions with Stitch.
Having been “friends” with many of the characters at character breakfasts (albeit years ago), I feel the need to say that there is nothing more stressful than showing up for a shift at a restaurant you’ve never stepped foot in, trying to figure out the rotation of the tables, understanding the pacing between you and the other characters, all with extremely limited visibility. It is so hard! I believe the reason so many experiences are hit and miss with character interactions is because of this (plus the high turnover of College Program students and and there’s no way that training can cover all the restaurants).
You may show up for work assigned to one shift, and end up working one of the restaurant shifts to fill in (this happens frequently). If it feels like chaos to you as a guest, you can guarantee the characters are feeling it too, even though they are trying their best!
Interesting perspective, and a very good point. Thanks for sharing.
I love 1900 Park Fare for both breakfast and dinner. We always to O’hana it is a tradition. But, last time we sat way in the corner and barely saw the characters. I do like the Garden Grill, it has a certain feel to it and the interaction with the characters is great. Worst for food though is Akershus but, my daughter met so many princesses… good advice eat before you go.
I think this is probably a more rare occurrence, but the one time I dined at O’hana for dinner was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had at Disney. Dry meat, bad/wilted salad, and shockingly bad service. Maybe it was a one off, but I will definitely never go there again.
I go to WDW every year and I can say the dining at Crystal Palace has truly gone down from what it use to be. Hollywood and Vine for breakfast was awful. The food was not appetizing at all to us. Every year it is a must to go to Tusker House, up until this year when I was booking our ADR’s my son asked please don’t do Tusker House again for breakfast last year it wasn’t good at all. I completely agree with him, breakfast at Tusker House is not the same as it use to be. The character interactions use to be spot on the kids and adults always enjoyed it, last year we waited forever for Goofy and then Donald never even stopped at our table. When I asked the Character attendant if he would be coming back she said yes, so we waited even longer and he never returned to our table. Not the Disney Magic we are use to when it comes to Character Dining.
I was advised to schedule Tusker House between 10:30 and 11:30. This way you start off with breakfast and after some time they will start converting over to lunch. This way you can ensure something for everyone to enjoy.
The reviews I saw from Ravello character breakfast when it first opened were nothing short of glowing. They said the restaurant was mostly empty, the character interactions were plentiful, and the food was far beyond what you would get at a Disney breakfast buffet. I wonder if something has changed.
As a vegan I went to Askerhus and it has to be the worst meal i’ve had to date.
I was happy at Akershus lunch as a vegetarian. The entree had an unusual smoky flavor (or something along those lines), but I enjoyed it. Although I eat dairy, I’m not very adventurous with my cheeses, but I still enjoyed all the salads, veggies, and pickles at the appetizer bar (or whatever it’s called). The desserts were also very good, but I imagine you couldn’t enjoy those. What I loved most about the experience was that I walked away feeling like I got to try Norwegian foods and talk about Norway with our Norwegian server (who was excellent). It felt completely Disney to me, as we got to experience this other culture brought to us in Florida by the Mouse.
Plus, my daughter got to meet princesses, so that was a nice bonus.
I was happy at Akershus lunch as a vegetarian. The entree had an unusual smoky flavor (or something along those lines), but I enjoyed it. Although I eat dairy, I’m not very adventurous with my cheeses, but I still enjoyed all the salads, veggies, and pickles at the appetizer bar (or whatever it’s called). The desserts were also very good, but I imagine you couldn’t enjoy those. What I loved most about the experience was that I walked away feeling like I got to try Norwegian foods and talk about Norway with our Norwegian server (who was excellent). It felt completely Disney to me, as we got to experience this other culture brought to us in Florida by the Mouse.
I did Akershus dinner the first time I went to WDW and loved it. I’m a solo traveller, the princesses put me at ease and the food was great. I had some kind of mushroom ravioli, the buffet starter was good and the dessert trio was out of this world. But this was 4 years ago so maybe it’s gone downhill?
Our last trip in September, we tried hitting as many of the character meals as we could with the kids being on the deluxe dining. Crystal Palace was the worst one. Food was poor quality with very little selection and the atmosphere was very busy with kids coming over to the characters not waiting at their tables. The next worst was the Garden Grill. Very little character interaction. Then the last one we were disappointed in was Tusker House breakfast. The buffet wasn’t stocked very often and the characters left very quickly.
So what were your favorite ones? I have booked 2 of those 3 for our upcoming trip. Maybe I should reconsider…
1st – 1900 Park Fare (dinner) – awesome selection and character interaction
2nd – Hollywood & Vine (breakfast) – have a 3 year old and characters spent a lot of time letting the kids warm up to them
3rd – Cinderella’s Royal Table (breakfast) – might be over priced and food was ok, but hard to beat eating inside the castle
We have done quite a few of the character meals and enjoyed most. But, what is hilarious is my (currently 68 year) old husband’s love of the Ohana breakfast. Every year (trip), he asks, “did you schedule us a breakfast with Lilo and Stitch”?
We actually like the food and the kids love the specially blended juice they serve. Rumor has it they removed bacon from the menu which is a bummer because we aren’t big lovers of sausage.
But, I don’t care because we enjoy the restaurant, the characters and love the music.
We did Ohana last October for breakfast. We weren’t served bacon but asked for it and they gladly went and got us some. It was our first character meal and we loved it.
Ohana. Terrible food. Not worthy of the brand Disney. Rubber bacon, burnt potatoes, fake eggs, mini mini Micky waffles just get smaller and smaller. Yuk! Wife cried! Good-bye magic!
Wait, your wife cried over the alleged fact that (endless supply) mickey waffles for a AYCE meal got smaller? Buddy, I think you got some other problems.
We went 2 years ago and liked it just fine. My kids gobbled up eggs and waffles. My in-laws seemed to like the meats. My husband and I are vegetarian, and the chef cooked us an amazing skillet that had broccoli and sauteed tofu. For us, the only hiccough in our experience was how long it took to be seated and get our bill. An experience that might have taken an hour took over 2 hours because of those delays. I don’t think we’d ever take the time to travel there again just for breakfast, but I’d go to Ohana breakfast again if we ever stay at Poly.
I haven’t eaten dinner at Crystal Palace so I can’t comment on that. I honestly don’t think Ohana is that bad…It’s okay. I would still rank Chef Mickey’s as the worst for a number of reasons…and I’ve said that publicly for a while even though I often get chastised for it. The food there is barely average. The noise level there is deafening. Lastly….the whole atmosphere is barely controlled chaos. While I don’t find the food at Askerhus as bad as you say, I still wouldn’t ever go back here again. The biggest problem I have with this breakfast is the delay in getting seated. This place is always behind in getting you seated. What I can’t figure out is how you can be so far behind at the beginning of the day. How can it take 20-30 min. to get seated for a 8:05 AM ADR?
1900 Park Fare is best character dinner! The stepsisters are so funny. The food is good
Having done 4 character dining meals at WDW (three breakfast, one “dinner”….at 3:45 PM), I would rank them, from best to last, Disney Jr. breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, dinner at Cinderella’s Royal table, breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, and breakfast at Akershus.
The only one I didn’t particularly care for was breakfast at Akershus, in terms of both atmosphere and food.
Only ranking the character ones we’ve been to, I think the order we liked ours would be:
Akershus lunch > Be Our Guest dinner > Ohana breakfast > Hollywood & Vine dinner (Minnie’s Holiday Dine)
I went to Ohana for breakfast a few years ago and I absolutely LOVED it. I love the family style serving. The breakfast food was pretty average (Staples like fruit and Mickey waffles) but there was something that everyone at our table liked. The best part about the meal was the punch. I don’t remember what it had in it but everyone at the table kept guzzling it down. And I believe Ohana breakfast is the only place you can meet Stitch now?
Our 4 year old granddaughter, all done up as Aurora, loved the chance to have lunch with and ‘meet’ the Disney princesses. The pix from the event are fun and lovely. It occurred at Akershus (?Norway pavilion?) On the other hand, Catherine could barely stand her menu of faux Scandinavian delicacies and ultra sugary punch. On the other hand, after stomaching a few items from the pre-entree buffet, my wife and I barely remember the (1) some-kind-of Norwegian glop and (2) the mixed sausage-and-salmon platters. That’s because we both were feeling faint and sweaty from learning that this ‘experience’ was going to set us back about $250 for 3 adults and Aurora. So, in all, the kids seem to really like this event but it could be dangerous to your adult well-being.
___123___Worst Character Meals at Disney World – Disney Tourist Blog___123___