by Pixie Dusted Diva
Our family travels to Disney at least twice a year, and on each trip we always find new things to try. Whether it is a new restaurant or experience, we are always up to add new things to our vacation experience, as Disney has plenty to offer! However, we also have our favorite things that we have to do every trip.
These things have become our Disney family traditions. One of favorite traditions is eating at our favorite restaurants. Each trip to Disney we like to start or end our trip eating at Chef Mickey’s. (The big cheese himself, of course!!!)
Location
Chef Mickey’s Fun Time Buffet is a character meal at the Contemporary Resort. One of the perks is the convenience factor. You can easily walk to the Contemporary from the Magic Kingdom. You can take a bus from any theme park or the monorail to the Contemporary Resort, making it very accessible from anywhere on Disney property. There even are friendship boats that run to and from the resort since it is located on the Seven Seas Lagoon. Up until recently, Chef Mickey’s only served breakfast (7-11:30 a.m.) and dinner (5-9:30 p.m.), but recently started serving brunch (11:35 a.m. – 2:35 p.m.) on May 31, 2015. Of course, we booked brunch reservations on our next trip!
When you enter the restaurant you will have your picture taken with a Chef Mickey statue. Disney stop printing pictures and asking if you wanted to purchase the picture during your meal. The Photopass Photographers scan your Magic Band, Photopass or Memory Maker card and you will be able to purchase or download the picture.
Characters
While enjoying your meal Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy will visit your table to meet, take photos and sign autographs. The characters circle the restaurant in a certain order and your server will tell you which way the characters will come from. Like any character meal, you should be aware of the characters while eating so you do not miss them. Chances are they will only visit your table one time during your meal and you do not want to miss out on your character meet and greet opportunity since your were filling up at the buffet.
Food
At breakfast the cold buffet has cereal, fruit and yogurt. While the hot buffett has a variety of pancakes, breakfast potatoes, cheesy potato casserole, kielbasa, biscuits and gravy, Mickey waffles, scrambled eggs and more! You can view the menu here.
The dinner buffet consists of a cold buffet with a variety of salads and fruit, a carving station with beef and turkey, cheesy mashed potatoes, eggplant parmesan, salmon, pork ribs, broccoli and more! The kids buffet has macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, veggies and corn dogs. You’ll want to make sure you save room for dessert as you will find a variety of tarts, pastries, mini cupcakes, seasonal desserts and an ice cream sundae bar!
The atmosphere of the restaurant is very fun. Every so often you will hear the celebrate song played and all the characters will come out and dance within the restaurant. My girls love getting up and dancing with the nearest characters at this time. If you are celebrating a special occasion, such as a birthday, make sure you note it on your reservation. My daughter chose Chef Mickey’s to celebrate her 7th birthday and was treated to a birthday card signed by the characters and a birthday cupcake. While this celebration is not guaranteed, it doesn’t hurt to mention you are celebrating a special occasion if you are.
Overall, we enjoy our meal and experience at Chef Mickey’s every time and it keeps us coming back for our Disney family tradition! I would recommend anyone looking for a great character meal experience to try Chef Mickey’s on your next trip.
Wonderful article!
Chef Mickey’s is my favorite restaurant! Great article.