Chef Mickey's vs. Crystal Palace

I love both of these places, but you don't have to have a park ticket to get into Chef Mickey's!

Chef Mickey's has a great view of the Magic Kingdom, and it IS really fun to have Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto all in the same place!

But I really love Crystal Palace. It's so much fun to get into the park earlier and walk down a completely empty Main Street. Plus, I like the Crystal Palace building so much. The Victorian decor and skylights are so pretty!

We have eaten at both. We have also eaten there with and with out kids. On both of them I would say while they were enjoyable without kids, with kids they were superior. You get much more character interaction when you have kids. Our last trip to Chef Mickey's was borderline disappointing.

I do think the food at Crystal Palace is better than Chef Mickey's as well.

I think both sets of food are just kind of "okay." It ultimately comes down to whether you like Pooh or Mickey better! (I prefer Eeyore!)

I always feel strange with the characters, I guess. I enjoy seeing them and watching kids interact with them, but I can never quite get my imagination to believe that that's not just some college kid in a suit getting paid not enough money to be sweating that much.

Blasphemy, I know!

I can see that as a problem. I wish I'd done the character thing for a while so I knew what it was like in there.

I would say the food in both of these places is pretty much alike. Not sure taste wise I could tell you which one was which if I could not see where I was. We ate at both places last January for breakfast. I can not believe I am saying this because I LOVE Mickey but when we travel without kids (which is most of the time) Crystal Palace will be the one I choose. To me Chef Mickeys was sort of drab. It gave me the feeling of being on a boat. I though the Crystal Palace was much brigher and more cheerful. Since the Crystal Palace will be closed this trip we are giving The Tusker House a try.

I think you're right on about everything you said Scrappy. Have you ever had anything but breakfast there?

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cdub, yes we had dinner at the Crystal Palace and I can say for both of us we were very disappointed. Dont think we would ever do that for dinner again. The breakfast is much better.

We really like crystal palace. I think the food is pretty good and consistent, plus it's a nice meal for while in the park. I"ve done Chef Mickey's for breakfast once. It was ok, I didn't like the music blasting for the parade every so often and i didn't think the buffet had as many good options to choose from, but it was fun having Mickey.

I've only done Chef Mickey's but I love it! We usually book a late breakfast so we can have more like a "brunch" than anything else.

Ok it's settled, I am doing them both

The last two times we did Chef Mickey we were disappointed. Actually got a walk up ADR at CP for breakfast for 7 of us during Christmas week! Who would have thunk it? We really like CP and think the food is a notch above CM as well.

I have to agree getting an early ADR at CP and having that "lone walk down Main Street" would be pretty awesome.

I love them both I wouldn't miss either of them for the world!

The thing about Chef Mickey's...it gets a lot of bad reviews for the food...I personally like the food-it is by no means gourmet or fancy, but I can always find something I like

The food at Crystal Palace tends to be better...

Overall, I love Chef Mickey's for the characters more than the food, and Crystal Palace for the food and atmosphere!

I'm hoping to make an ADR for an 8am breakfast at Crystal Palace.. I am looking forward to some good food (nothing wrong with basic breakfast foods in my opinion. I want some waffles!) and the characters. You can see the Winnie the Pooh characters at Disneyland but every time I go there is a REALLY long line and I never get the chance..

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*Jennifer Lynn* NDW #38

Check out my blog at Jennifer's Disney Adventures

Crystal Palace! I've been twice before and I'm going again next month when I take my best friend. I just have a special connection to the Winnie the Pooh characters (my mom who has since passed away both loved Eeyore and Piglet) so I make sure to go each time. It might sound crazy but I feel closer to my mom when I spend time with her favorite characters. The food is quite good too. I've never tried Chef Mickey's but vow one day to.

Yay Eeyore!

I think you're making a good choice. I'd pick Pooh over Mickey (a minority opinion) and Crystal Palace food over Chef Mickey's food (more people agree with me on that one).

I am a HUGE Winnie the Pooh fan but just in case we are doing both. LOL

That's the spirit!

YAY!!! That's awesome. I just can't get enough of the character dining either there or DL

We booked Chef Mickey's for this fall after missing out on it last year and this year due to tantrums. Here's hoping we can do it!

I have ADRs for both. I'll let you know after I have tried them.

Lol, ohh noes..Remind me to get advice from you about traveling with a toddler.