Best Character Meals

Why a Character Meal?

Character meals at Disney are dining reservations you make where specific characters will come to your table and visit you. They will spend time with you and your children while you are dining. It's a wonderful way to do meet and greets without having to wait in long lines in the parks. It takes some of that pressure off when, for example, your child really, really wants to meet Mirabelle, from Encanto. Well, you might be waiting in line for 40 minutes inside the Magic Kingdom, where Mirabelle does her Meet and Greet (by the Cheshire Cat Cafe), but, alternatively, you could make a reservation at 1900 Park Fair, which is a restaurant in the Grand Floridian Resort, and you could have a brunch with her or dinner with her and not have to wait in line at all!

This is the reason a lot of people like to go to a character meal; it's a laid-back way of making that time to meet characters. while enjoying these incredible memories with your children. You are not just watching your children interact with the characters, but a lot of times you, yourself, can join in with them and talk with the characters and get photos together.

That's what makes these dining reservations really special.

Top 3 Character Meals:

#1 Storybook Dining at Artist Point with Snow White

My number one pick, and, actually, this was my daughter’s number one pick as well, is Storybook Dining at Artist Point with Snow White. I was very surprised by how much I loved this restaurant. In fact, I was very hesitant to go to this restaurant because this restaurant is at the Wilderness Lodge, which is a deluxe resort on Disney World property. If you're not staying at Wilderness Lodge, it can be a little bit of a hassle to get there, but it turned out to be a really fun experience for us. We went there on a rest day.

We were staying at a resort on the Skyliner Transportation Route: Pop Century. If you don't know what Pop Century is, Pop Century is a wonderful resort and is classified in the Value level (there are 3 types of resorts at Disney World: Value, Moderate, and Deluxe). If you are staying at a resort that uses the Skyliner, you will have access to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and lots of restaurants, and it's great. It was actually a very easy system of transportation to get to Wilderness Lodge because we took the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios, and then when we got to Hollywood Studios, we got off the Skyliner and just walked right over to the bus port, which is right next to it. We waited for the bus to Wilderness Lodge, and it was a quick bus ride. I was surprised at how quickly we got there. When we arrived, we toured the resort, and we did a few other things, but I'll mention those in another post.

Storybook Dining at Artist Point features Snow White, Dopey, Grumpy, and the Evil Queen.

This was our overall best character dining experience. Now, the reason for this, I will say, is because it had it all. Oh, I do want to mention, it is open for dinner only. They do not serve breakfast or lunch.

This was the best overall because the food quality was top notch.

Every single serving appetizer, entree, dessert, was carefully and thoughtfully presented. It was delicious and really well-seasoned. One of the appetizers we got, for example, was a small little portion of mushroom soup. I do not like mushrooms. However, I enjoyed this mushroom soup very much.

The presentation is also part of it. They serve your appetizers on these little tree branches. The whole restaurant is decorated with trees kind of hovering over you, so you feel like you are in a forest with lanterns and things like that. It's really a beautiful atmosphere. The atmosphere, the food quality, and the pacing of the meal was perfect. We were not rushed. It was very laid back, and the service was excellent. Our server was wonderful. He even came up to us at the end and did his Donald Duck impression, which was really sweet.

It was excellent in every way.

#2 Chef Mickey

The reason Chef Mickey is number two is because you get to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto at this restaurant. I mean, at their very best, the Fab Five are phenomenal in this restaurant. The character interactions with all of us were just wonderful. The location of this restaurant is in the Contemporary Resort, which is right next to Magic Kingdom.

If you want to go there for breakfast or take a break from the park and walk over for dinner, it's a quick 10-minute stroll from the Magic Kingdom. If it's raining or bad weather, you can jump on the monorail and it's the very first stop, so this restaurant is an excellent choice for location.

The food is adequate. You know, it's a buffet meal. It's not out of this world. I would not compare it to Storybook Dining with Snow White in terms of the level of quality of food. It's just not there, but you are going to get value for your money with the character interactions you have, and you're going to eat a decent meal. The service was excellent, however, so you can expect drinks to be on time and your needs will be met.

When I first started going to Disney, Chef Mickey used to be a family-style restaurant, meaning they brought lots of different foods to your table. It wasn't a buffet. And the quality of the food was just a little bit higher. You know, there was a little more thought and put into what they were serving and how they were serving it, so that has shifted a little bit, but our experience at the restaurant was still amazing.

Chef Mickey is one of my daughter's favorite places to go, and for that reason, I think it is well worth your time to go there - for your kids.

#3 Cape May Cafe Minnie’s Beach Bash

The Cape May Cafe is located in the Beach Club Resort, which is over right next to Epcot, so if you are staying at a hotel that is not near there or not on the Skyliner route, it may not be worth it for you to travel to this restaurant, but if you are staying in that area and it's easy for you to access, or if you are a big Minnie Mouse fan, by all means, I would highly recommend this restaurant. The character meal is only available at breakfast.

There's a few reasons I recommend this restaurant: First of all, it's a super laid-back, and the atmosphere is light and airy inside. Minnie and Daisy and Donald and Goofy are all in attendance at this character meal, and they're all dressed in their beach gear.

They do a dance party with the kids during the meal, and the last time we were there, one of the servers led the dance party with surfing moves, and he got all of the kids out of their seats and involved - it was just so sweet and wonderful.

The food is excellent. Now, I am going to sound like I am from 1950 saying this, but I'm not from 1950. They have an ambrosia salad at their breakfast buffet. Okay. I know this is like something from like, you know, the 80s, okay, or even before that, but I love it. It's so good. So, anyway, all the food choices are just fresh and delicious. The last time we were there, I had some blueberry pancakes that were phenomenal. My daughter was excited because they serve Minnie Mouse Waffles. Most of the restaurants serve Mickey waffles. The chocolate chip Minnie muffins were delicious. They also have lots of different meats to choose from, and there’s an omelet station.

Kids Opinion:

What do the kids think? My daughter's top restaurant is Chef Mickey. And I'm going to quote her right here:

“Because I love how Donald flips out if you wear a Mickey outfit. And I love how Minnie and all the characters dress up in their cooking costumes so they can cook for us. Duh.”

Her second restaurant was Storybook Dining with Snow White, and she said:

“Because I got to meet Dopey. It was awesome. It was so cool. And I love the trees that you get on your table. And their food was delicious. I love their chocolate and their mac and cheese. It's very rare to see the Evil Queen, so that was special.”

I thought it was really cool that my daughter mentioned how rare it is to see the Evil Queen, because that is true. Oh, and she said to never ask Grumpy how his day is, because I made the mistake of asking Grumpy how his day was. So that's your tip when you dine at Story Book Dining!

I hope this Blog Post was helpful for you! The accompanying Podcast goes into further detail. Enjoy!

This blog accompanies my podcast episode: Delighting in the Magic Podcast: Delighting in the Magic, Aug 30, 2025

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/delighting-in-the-magic-podcast/id1836662070?i=1000724192575&r=1894

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