Mickey character dinner - help!

MickeyWaffles

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
I need opinions!

We want to do:
-A princess meal (preferably Akershus)
-A Mickey meal
-BoG lunch

Here’s my dilemma. I can’t decide on a Mickey meal. I miss the Liberty Tree character meal so much. It was our go-to. Here is background on why I can’t decide:

-Our favorite time for TS meals is lunch. I don’t like to do early resort breakfasts because then my kids are already a little tired when we arrive at the parks. I don’t like to do in-park breakfasts either because I like to take advantage of lower lines for the first couple hours. We do a light breakfast in our villa before heading out and then early lunch (around 11/11:30) is our prime TS time. Dinners we usually do QS just because I don’t know how much energy the kids will have left.

-I do not want to leave a park to go to a resort for an ADR. So, Cape May and Chef Mickey are out.

-H&V is not an option because we are skipping HS. TH is not an option because we don’t like the lunch buffet.

-Ohana is not an option because it’s breakfast.

-This leaves Garden Grill. Hooray, right? Well, no because we want to do Akershus for the princess meal again and we are only going to Epcot once (and don’t want both character meals on the same day.)

I see us having two options

1. Do CRT instead of Akershus even though we prefer Akershus. That way, we can do Garden Grill for our Mickey meal.

2. Book an early dinner at Chef Mickey’s on our arrival day. The kids will be tired from travel (leaving our house at 3am) but we get in early and aren’t doing a park that day. We did an early dinner at 1900PF on our arrival day in Sept. and they did great, but they both slept on the plane and we got into our villa early and they rested there. No guarantees on that this time. It’s also a risk if we get delayed, etc.

Please weigh in if you can think of anything else! I know, we are kind of set in our ways and have silly reasons for not doing certain meals. I just know what works best for our group of 10

I can’t believe I just wrote a post this long about not being able to decide on a Mickey meal. I just want my beloved Liberty Tree characters back, y’all!
 
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Don't know if you would consider doing the late brft at TH? We like to do one around 10:30, especially on early EMH morning, so we still take advantage of first few hours, and can do Safari before and Lion King show after with the location.
 
Don't know if you would consider doing the late brft at TH? We like to do one around 10:30, especially on early EMH morning, so we still take advantage of first few hours, and can do Safari before and Lion King show after with the location.
We're trying this in March for the first time. I have never done a brunch time in the parks, but I'm willing to try it at TH because I read the breakfast options are so good. When we're going there isn't any EMH, but that is our exact plan lol. I want to do the safari first and LK right after....weird
 


You certainly aren't left with many options given all your exclusions. I can't think of any other options than the 2 you've listed and of those 2, I would opt for #1 because we really like Garden Grill, it's one of our fave character meals.

Other than that, the only other thing I can throw out there would require you reconsidering going to Chef Mickey. If it's on a MK day, it's a super easy one to get to with lots of options (boat, monorail, walk) and you could do brunch there so that you still get your early hours in the park.
 
Every time I was about to make a suggestion I realized it was on your list of places not to go :confused3

Haha, I know. My struggle is real :)

Don't know if you would consider doing the late brft at TH? We like to do one around 10:30, especially on early EMH morning, so we still take advantage of first few hours, and can do Safari before and Lion King show after with the location.

This is a great suggestion! Definitely adding this as an option.

You certainly aren't left with many options given all your exclusions. I can't think of any other options than the 2 you've listed and of those 2, I would opt for #1 because we really like Garden Grill, it's one of our fave character meals.

Other than that, the only other thing I can throw out there would require you reconsidering going to Chef Mickey. If it's on a MK day, it's a super easy one to get to with lots of options (boat, monorail, walk) and you could do brunch there so that you still get your early hours in the park.

I know. We are so picky on this one.
I think we will do option #1 as our first choice - Garden Grill might be a nice substitute for our good old LTT. Plus we’ve never done it!

Also, there is even a chance that we might move to BLT or VGF when our 7 month DVC window opens. Right now we are booked at our home resort, SSR. If we move to MK area, Chef Mickey does become a more convenient option for us!
 


Hi @MickeyWaffles, I also was a fan of the character meals they used to have at Liberty Tree Tavern. If only they would bring those back. Maybe they could add in some of the Muppet characters re-enacting history, too. I do find it a bit ironic that you prefer not to go out to breakfast, given that your name is MickeyWaffles. Yeah, if you limit yourself to lunches only, then it looks like you've already listed all the options. I'd consider a late breakfast at Cape May and delay going into a park until afterwards, or as others have suggested, a late breakfast at Tusker House. Also I like the Garden Grill breakfast and if y'all would still have the energy for a dinner that same day then you could do Akershus for dinner. Best wishes and have fun!
 
Hi @MickeyWaffles, I also was a fan of the character meals they used to have at Liberty Tree Tavern. If only they would bring those back. Maybe they could add in some of the Muppet characters re-enacting history, too. I do find it a bit ironic that you prefer not to go out to breakfast, given that your name is MickeyWaffles. Yeah, if you limit yourself to lunches only, then it looks like you've already listed all the options. I'd consider a late breakfast at Cape May and delay going into a park until afterwards, or as others have suggested, a late breakfast at Tusker House. Also I like the Garden Grill breakfast and if y'all would still have the energy for a dinner that same day then you could do Akershus for dinner. Best wishes and have fun!

Thank you for your input! Haha, yes, I LOVE Mickey waffles and always loved doing early breakfasts - but I’ve been to WDW 2x & Disneyland 1x with my 2.5 year old and WDW once with my 1yo and lunches have always been a success. Since we’ve sort of found their sweet spot with character lunches I’m hesitant to throw off the pattern!

I talked to DH and I am now becoming more open to trying a breakfast again. He is much less hesitant to try it than I am and he thinks we should! The kids wake up super early so it is possible. I just always have success at lunch with them so it’s hard for me to break the pattern. I get so worried that I’m going to tire them out before we get there, but this also gives us something to do between when they get up and the park opens.

I love your Liberty Tree idea!!
 
I'd do the night you arrive early dinner. We typically do this (not this next trip-get in too late). For us, it has worked really really well. No matter how exhausted the kids are, the characters just perk them up. The one exception I'd say is if you do not know if your kids like characters.
 
Oh-and we LOVE lunch at garden grill. The restaurant turns, no buffet, and the characters come by at least 3 times. They entertained the kids so we could eat. That is always a must do.
 
I'd do the night you arrive early dinner. We typically do this (not this next trip-get in too late). For us, it has worked really really well. No matter how exhausted the kids are, the characters just perk them up. The one exception I'd say is if you do not know if your kids like characters.

Thank you! DD will be 3 on her next trip and loved characters when she met them at 1 & 2.5. Still babbling about all the characters she met in Sept! DS is 1 - he was receptive to the characters so hopefully that sticks for our next trip in May! I hope he doesn’t develop character fear before then :)
 

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