I got an ADR for breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 10:25. This seems too late. We've never dined here, so will it be worth it or should I find something elsewhere for earlier? My kids can always have an earlier snack or we could even sleep in that day if we have a late night the day before. Thanks for any thoughts!

To be honest, if you are going to have a late morning, that time is not all that bad. Depending on where you are staying, it may take a little bit to get there so once you add in travel time, plus your normal morning "routine," it will not be all that "late" of a start. (Especially if there is an evening magic hour in your plans for that day.)

I'd say keep the ADR and give it a try. If you find out that it did not work well for you and your family, then you at least know what not to do next time. :)

Actually, it doesn't sound bad, because by the time you finish eating, it would be lunchtime anyway. While it could be a way to do a late start to the day, if you are planning to stay up late, it could also be a break to an early start day. If the MK happens to open up early that day, you could actually get to the MK at opening, do the MK first for a couple of hours (maybe stopping at the bakery to get a snack to hold you till your late breakfast), leave, and walk or take the monorail over for your meal, so it would really be a nice break. Then you could go back to the MK, and not have to deal with the lunch crowds to eat, or grab a bus from the Contemporary to whatever park you want.

Thanks for the reassurance, guys! We will be having dinner at O'hana the night before, then see Illuminations afterwards (hopefully....ADR there is at 5:10). As much as we will eat at O'hana (tons of grilled turkey for me!), we probably won't get hungry until around then! :D

What do the pros think about dinner at Chef Mickey's? We're arriving late afternoon on the first day of our stay, so I thought this might be a good way to kick things off with two little ones.

What do the pros think about dinner at Chef Mickey's? We're arriving late afternoon on the first day of our stay, so I thought this might be a good way to kick things off with two little ones.

I am also curious as to what to expect for the overall experience. Why is it so popular? Guess we'll find out when we go! :)


By the way, MdPrincess, going out to dinner to start off the trip is a great plan! We did this in June, but had to rush to get to dinner. We just had enough time to get to our room, change, and leave. Luckily, the restaurant was at our resort. We enjoyed it a lot (O'hana). So with that said, make sure you'll have enough time between arrival and dinner. :)

In addition to having 'enough' time between plane landing and dinner ADR time - make sure you leave 'delay' time in there as well. Anyone who flies much knows how well the airlines are 'on time' and if there's a weather event, you can just about forget about being on time. I think there's very few things worse than rushing to get to that ADR, on your arrival day.

Personally, I recommend only doing it if it is in YOUR resort, and if you can leave enough time for normal travel delays.

Also, with little ones, their eating times are going to be messed up my most travel, even if you aren't chaning time zones - so planning on a food court in your resort when you arrive in the late afternoon isn't the worst thought in the world. Tired kids are bad enough. Tired and hungry kids do NOT make for a fun start to a vacation!

In addition to having 'enough' time between plane landing and dinner ADR time - make sure you leave 'delay' time in there as well. Anyone who flies much knows how well the airlines are 'on time' and if there's a weather event, you can just about forget about being on time. I think there's very few things worse than rushing to get to that ADR, on your arrival day.

Personally, I recommend only doing it if it is in YOUR resort, and if you can leave enough time for normal travel delays.

Also, with little ones, their eating times are going to be messed up my most travel, even if you aren't chaning time zones - so planning on a food court in your resort when you arrive in the late afternoon isn't the worst thought in the world. Tired kids are bad enough. Tired and hungry kids do NOT make for a fun start to a vacation!

Yes, it DEFINITELY depends on your arrival time/time to get to the resort. In December 06 we brought our four-year-old along. We got to the resort at around 9 a.m. We did Hoop Dee Doo that evening. We were well-rested though since we had a nice nap after eating lunch. It really does depend on when you get there. :)

What do the pros think about dinner at Chef Mickey's? We're arriving late afternoon on the first day of our stay, so I thought this might be a good way to kick things off with two little ones.

It's a good start to a vacation. It's appealing to kids, because of the character interaction. Lots of characters coming around to the tables. They also have everyone wave their napkins around at certain points. The food is pretty good, and there are lots of things which are appealing to both kids and adults. The kids can make sundaes, with all sorts of candy, and there are lots of pastries for adults to sample. I also keep close to the resort for a first night dinner, unless we have an early flight, and several hours between expected landing and check in and dinner time. If your flight is arriving in the late afternoon, and you are figuring on dinner 3-4 hours later, maybe get the kids a snack or light meal at the airport, to tide them over.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. We expect to arrive at WDW around 2 p.m., so I guess that's not really too late in the afternoon. I couldn't get Chef Mickey's that night, but I'm currently on hold with reservations looking for something else! Trying to eat in our resort (GF) or at a nearby resort is my next move -- maybe 1900 Park Fare, but I have boys and I don't know how they'd appreciate the characters there. They love Mickey.

We did get Chef Mickey's for dinner later in the trip, so I'm looking forward to it!

On our last trip, we had a late breakfast at Chef Mickey's--if memory serves me right it was at 11:10. It was a great time to go. We visited the Grand Floridian beforehand and had a relaxing morning followed by a nice breakfast. We headed to MGM after and waited forever for a bus. There were very few people waiting for the busses at the Contemporary, which may be why they didn't have them coming very frequently.

As far as the arrival night goes, we had a great time at DTD on the first night of our first trip. There are plenty of places to find something to eat where you don't need a reservation. Then you don't have to worry about rushing around so early in your vacation.

We had an ADR for Chef Mickey's a few trips back. We were supposed to land at 11, and our ADR was for 6:00. We didn't make it.

Our plane was delayed 3 hours, and by the time we got there, checked in, etc., we would've been 30 minutes late. We missed it. Boo. Ever since then, we've done CS the first night....just in case.

Still haven't been to Chef Mickey's come to think of it!

We've done Chef Mickey's twice, on consecutive trips: First time was 8:30 am, second was 11:!5 am. Both were fun, and the 11:15 was cool, because we hung out at Downtown Disney the night before and didn't get to sleep until really late.

Plus our server at the 11:15 visit was very cool, and was mixing up the Bloody Mary's and Screwdrivers VERY strong. Bonus !

Personally, I HATE Chef Mickey's. Not so much because of the interaction with the characters (they were fantastic). Not because of the food (It was OK, but nothing to write home about).

But because we had a situation with our waiter who yelled at us at least twice during our meal, never refilled our drinks, and was absolutely the worst waiter I have ever had in my life. We spoke with the restaurant manager THREE times during one meal, and were in no way compensated or taken care of to help sooth the situation. In fact, she threatened to call OUR managers back in California and tell them what awful "guests" we were, when we hadn't done anything wrong at all!

(We spoke with her regarding his not refilling our drinks, him yelling "NO!" and storming off when we asked to have our check split, and how he yelled at our party for not tipping him extra for "additional gratuity.")

That was 5 years ago, and I still refuse to reccomend that place to anybody.

Plus our server at the 11:15 visit was very cool, and was mixing up the Bloody Mary's and Screwdrivers VERY strong. Bonus !

I think that credit would have to go to whatever bartender was in that morning... :)

This is easily my younger brothers (12 y old twins) favorite place in all of Disney to eat, and they've been three times now to WDW. They still when asked where they want to eat when out with my Aunt announce Chef Mickey's. Of course as they live in Maine, thats a bit of a difficulty.
I went with them in June, and I agree the food is not fantastic gourmet food, but for a buffet not bad and though loud, the character interaction is really great.

ChipmunkStar, I have a hard time writing off an entire restaurant based on the behavior of one employee on one visit. If this guy was as bad as you say he's long since been fired or moved on, so it shouldn't be any impact on future visits. I say give it another try - you just might like it!

Meh... I already have Goofy's Kitchen over here. Why waste time at a place that's already left such a bad tast in my mouth, when I have a better experience I can just drive to up the street?

Ad for the record, I was really REALLY angry about the server's attitude, but what really got me "over the edge and never returning" was the manager's attitude about the whole thing. I'm sorry, but if you're not going to discipline your cast member for their awful behavior, don't attempt to "discipline" us when we're just trying to get some decent service!

Servers at estblishments like that one tend to stay for a long time since they're pretty much getting a whole lot of tips every single day. Managers tend to stick around even longer.

I got an ADR for breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 10:25. This seems too late. We've never dined here, so will it be worth it or should I find something elsewhere for earlier? My kids can always have an earlier snack or we could even sleep in that day if we have a late night the day before. Thanks for any thoughts!

We actually always try to get a Chef Mickey's towards the end of breakfast on a day MK opens early and hit the rides hard in the morning than take the monorail to Chef mickeys. We actually did 11am one year so we were some of the last people to leave that service but they kept the characters coming around the whole time so our kids got to see everyone twice which made for some really good pictures the second time around when their were not many people left. I would say ther was about 30 people or so left when we left and the food was still out as we walked out so we never worried about not eating enough.

I am planning my daughter's 2nd birthday at Chef Mickey's in November. We will have about 25 people total, a mixture of adults and different aged children. I am planning to do the character breakfast, but am at a loss as to what time I should set it up for. I initially thought mid morning would work out easier for guests who were traveling (up to 1 1\2 hours-we live in Tampa, FL) to get there, but from everything I've read here it seems that an earlier morning breakfast time may cut down our chances of a wait.
Also, does anyone know if they will set it up with a more secure reservation than the "priority seating" due to it being an "event"? I'd hate to think of that many people waiting around for our table. Despite it being in the morning, I am planning to have them prepare a cake for the party as well.
We're going to be staying on property for the weekend-the party will be on Saturday morning and we'll be going to Magic Kingdom on Sunday.

You would book this with Group Dining, and be prepared to put in a deposit or guarantee. I'm not sure of the current proceedure for such a large group, but I've had Group Dining ask for both in the past. Although it would still be an ADR, the restaurant would know it's a group and block out some tables. Best to book early in the day for that, they may even require certain times in certain dining locations, There is no way to know which tables will be free as people finish but Disney has a good handle on the average time and will try (but not guarantee) that the tables be together. The seating does seem to get delayed later in the morning as some people linger.

Group Dining, or the regular dining line, can give you the phone number and time line for cake ordering. Throughout both the breakfast and dinner, they periodically have the "celebration" song, as lots of people will have a birthday, anniversary, or event. It was just the two of us for hubby's 50th, but we still had fun there for dinner!

Thanks Pixie. Sorry to burst in on this thread, I'll create a new one for my question.