Minnie Seasonal Dine at H&V vs Chef Mickey

[AP1979]

My 180 days is coming up-- I want to do one character meal with Minnie and Friends. Between H&V and Chef Mickey's, which one do you think has better character interaction? I'm assuming food is just ok at both. Thanks!!

 

[ErinsMommy]

Food and waiter/waitress service at H&V is beyond horrible. CMs is tolerable enough and never had a problem with service. If your going for the characters and not food, I would favor seasonal dine because its not avail year round. CMs characters sort of 'rush through' -- not a great deal of time spent at each table.

 

[AP1979]

Thanks!! We are really just going for characters (don't want to spend all day waiting in line for character meets)... I guess I will just deal with the mediocre food....

 

[DisneyHardin]

We have done dinner at both and much preferred Minnie's Holiday Dine. Chef Mickey's had fun characters, but the food was just okay. Minnie's had great characters (in awesome outfits that we hadn't seen before) and the food was very good. We did the Christmas one and the only thing I didn't care for much was the deserts because most of them were peppermint (in trying to keep with a "holiday" feel I guess) and I don't like mint at all.

 

[SarahC97]

See, I had a great experience at H&V with the characters. It didn't feel rushed at all. The food was OK, the service was just OK too, but I thought it was one of the best character interactions we've had on property. I've never done Chef Mickey's but I haven't heard very favorable things about it.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If I had to choose, I would do CM. I find H&V to be very cramped in terms of the table and buffet set-up. CM is, at least, a little more spacious and they seem to keep the restaurant cleaner as the meal time goes by. The last time we were at H&V, there were dishes piled in places and the dessert buffet was mess - kind of unappetizing.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Thanks!! We are really just going for characters (don't want to spend all day waiting in line for character meets)... I guess I will just deal with the mediocre food....

If I were in this situation, I'd skip both these meals, and get FP+ for Epcot Character Spot, AK Adventurers' Outpost, any other character FP's available. Not worth paying extra for food that you won't enjoy.

(I actually am going to H&V, but my point is that if I preferred not to, there are other ways to meet characters without a long wait.)

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I think they are both just fine. If you go in expecting a 5 star dinner, you'll probably be disappointed....but the food is decent and the characters are fun at both.

 

[areno79]

Personally I would do the Seasonal Dine at H&V. I've had no issues with food and service, the atmosphere is more calm, and the character interaction was excellent! It felt much more hectic to me at Chef Mickey's with the open concept of the Contemporary and the monorail zooming by.

 

[hicksnichols]

I went to HW&V with my family (DH, DD 17 and DS 9, 2) in January. We had been before and didn’t care for it. But my two year old saw it online and said he wanted to go. We loved it all this time around! The food was good and our server was amazing! The characters were great. It didn’t take forever. We just like a quick hug and autograph and to move on. That’s what we got but they all made sure my little one got all the hugs he wanted and waited for him to wave goodbye before they walked away.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

We loved our dinner at CM. Food was not great but we had wonderful character interactions, Goofy even came back a 2nd time. Also CM's does a moment where they play music and encourage the kids to whip their napkins around rally-towel style. My kids went NUTS and it was really fun, definitely a "magic moment" for us.

 

[DizneyMommy]

We had H&V booked and then after looking at prices of our other (way better) meals, we dropped it and got FP for characters instead. I’d rather have some cute photos without plates of food in the shot, and a little less chaotic one on one interaction with characters for my 2 year old, the older 2 don’t even care. She loves some characters but others get her a little nervous. She does much better watching other kids while we wait in line.

 

[verleniahall]

Go with H&v - the food is FANTASTIC - And the characters spend a lot of time
With you - Donald spent a total of 15 minutes with the DH and I trying to convince us it was HIS dine - ni5 Minnie’s- it was great!

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

Another vote for H&V - the food there is much much better than Chef Mickeys. CM food is just awful!
H&V food is better and we had great character interactions.

 

[DISNEY1975]

I personally like the food at H & V much better than at Chef Mickeys. Also love the characters in their seasonal attire and getting the Fantasmic package at the same time! H&V is definitely my choice between the 2.

 

[Lisa F]

We went to H&V in December 2016 so it was a while ago at this point, but I had read that the characters there were great and figured that something like that didn't happen with any kind of consistency BUT the character interaction was GREAT. It was the best we had the whole trip, with Daisy miming a whole conversation with my son about Pokemon and Pikachu on his shirt and the others spending a lot of time. The food was ok, it wasn't bad but it wasn't great. It was buffet food. The desserts were surprisingly good and I am not a dessert person (or a peppermint person). I found more than enough to eat that was better than acceptable, as with any buffet there was some good, some less good.

Chef Mickeys looks like hell on earth to me with the chaos and the napkin twirling and I don't find the chef outfits to be all that interesting. I'd pick H&V hands down.