The title may seem to be a query that solutions itself. In spite of everything, if it’s essentially the most iconic character eating expertise at Walt Disney World, doesn’t it stand to cause that it’s an superior meal? How would an terrible restaurant even get so in style?!
Beats me. However I additionally know that Tomorrowland Speedway and Pinocchio Village Haus are fairly in style regardless of being fairly dangerous. Possibly individuals simply have poor style? This one is extra of an open query although, as we revisit breakfast at Chef Mickey’s for the primary time shortly to find out whether or not this Walt Disney World establishment and rite-of-passage restaurant is value your time, cash, and abdomen house.
It’s no secret that we’re, traditionally, not the largest followers of this institution. For years, Chef Mickey’s made our listing of the Issues We’ll By no means Do Once more at Walt Disney World. We eliminated it final 12 months after having a daughter and realizing we’d virtually actually be doing extra meals (plural) at Chef Mickey’s within the years to return. Even earlier than that, we famous that it was dinner at Chef Mickey’s that was uniquely dangerous. It’s not that we cherished breakfast, however we positively most well-liked it to dinner…
Let’s begin with the fundamentals for these studying this overview chilly (…similar to one of many ‘sizzling’ dishes on the dinner unfold on the buffet). Chef Mickey’s is a personality meal at Disney’s Modern Resort, which is positioned close to Magic Kingdom. The restaurant is within the open-air Grand Canyon Concourse, with visitor rooms and the monorail overhead. It’s a cool setting.
Chef Mickey’s participates within the Disney Eating Plan as a 1-credit desk service meal. Dinner is likely one of the best possible choices should you’re making an attempt to maximise your worth on the Disney Eating Plan, however breakfast remains to be an excellent worth–particularly should you order a specialty drink. We have been paying out of pocket for our breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, so we’ll be judging it on a money foundation.
Chef Mickey’s is essentially the most iconic character eating expertise partially as a result of it’s been round so lengthy. I’ve photos from this meal after I was a child, again when it was hosted at what’s now Rainforest Cafe in what’s now Disney Springs. It’s been a staple of Disney’s Modern Resort for the reason that mid-Nineties, and there are actually different Chef Mickey’s outposts on the worldwide parks. Goofy even will get in on the motion at Disneyland, the place Goofy’s Kitchen is an analogous idea.
It’s additionally iconic as a result of it options Mickey Mouse and pals in culinary costumes. There are numerous memorable and artistic character outfits, however it’s robust to high the tried and true enchantment of Chef Mickey’s. It simply works. About the one different character meal that comes near having the ‘legacy’ of Chef Mickey’s is Cinderella’s Royal Desk, however being a princess meal, I don’t assume that has the identical enchantment.
With this lengthy legacy, it’s value noting that Chef Mickey’s could be very a lot an “old fashioned” character eating expertise from a unique period. There are newer and extra fashionable character eating experiences, most of which we choose. If you wish to lower to the chase and examine our high picks for breakfast and dinner, learn the next:
These are our three favourite character meals at Walt Disney World proper now and, spoiler alert, breakfast at Chef Mickey’s doesn’t surpass any of them. This isn’t to say we don’t advocate it–or that Chef Mickey’s received’t be higher suited to your loved ones. We’ll cowl execs & cons on this overview.
Amongst longtime Walt Disney World followers and even informal visitors, Chef Mickey’s has developed ‘ceremony of passage’ standing. Many visitors type nice recollections eating at Chef Mickey’s and wish to return with future generations in consequence. All of us wish to return to the locations the place we made nice recollections.
This considerably describes us! As talked about, I dined right here as a child (albeit at Disney Village) and now I wish to carry my daughter right here. Truthfully, I don’t bear in mind consuming at Chef Mickey’s after I was a child, however my mother and father have photographic proof they usually don’t know tips on how to use these new-fangled AI picture mills, so I’m going to imagine it really occurred.
And there’s a cause why Chef Mickey’s has grow to be a ceremony of passage character eating expertise. There’s one thing to be stated for consuming within the Grand Canyon Concourse of the Modern with monorails passing overhead. All of the whereas, you may have Chef Mickey Mouse and different Fab 5 in cool costumes. It checks a number of containers for being a quintessential Walt Disney World expertise, earlier than even speaking concerning the meals.
Let’s take a fast take a look at the decor of Chef Mickey’s. A lot of the environment is courtesy of the monorail overhead, and the open-air nature of the atrium. The restaurant’s inside simply consists of colourful designs, character pop-art, and a Mickey head motif.
As with the remainder of the Grand Canyon Concourse, Chef Mickey’s is loud and chaotic. If something, the remainder of the atrium has this vibe due to Chef Mickey’s, not the opposite manner round. It’s a colossal character venue that pulls households with younger youngsters. You do the mathematics on that.
Truthfully, I shuttle on the inside design on Chef Mickey’s. It’s unabashedly Nineties, however I feel there’s additionally a sure enchantment to it. That is particularly the case at night time, when there are colourful lights and also you don’t discover the outdated carpet, tile, or ceilings fairly as a lot.
Throughout breakfast, all of these items stands proud much more–making for a far much less favorable impression. Chef Mickey’s felt extra drained than it ever has, and this wasn’t merely a matter of the passage of time.
Listed here are a couple of extra photographs to offer you a really feel for the a number of seating areas at Chef Mickey’s:
As a common matter, the Grand Canyon Concourse is an absolute visible hodgepodge and Chef Mickey’s is not any totally different. There are almost a half-dozen totally different kinds of carpet and 4 several types of tiles. This isn’t purposeful, and these aren’t a part of a coherent aesthetic.
They’re the results of Disney’s Modern Resort having visible muddle added over the course of a number of years, with an increasing number of stuff (PG time period) added over time with none cohesive imaginative and prescient. It has been literal a long time for the reason that Modern has had a high to backside overhaul. As a substitute, junk has been added in a piecemeal method over time.
All of it appears to be like garish, dated, and most actually not Modern. That is all critique of the Grand Canyon Concourse as a complete and though Chef Mickey’s takes up a large chunk of this house, it’s in all probability the venue the place that is least noticeable. The Nineties vibe roughly works. (“Extra” at dinner; “much less” at breakfast.)
One more reason so many Walt Disney World followers love Chef Mickey’s is as a result of the characters are persistently wonderful.
One of the best ways to explain Chef Mickey’s is organized chaos. It’s like one of many paint-splatter items of pop artwork on the wall–should you watched the artist create that, you’d in all probability by no means anticipate it to end up so nice. And but, it does. Identical thought with Chef Mickey’s. Every thing concerning the restaurant–from check-in to seating to the character procession–appears disorganized and dysfunctional.
Regardless of all outward appearances, it comes collectively in excellent concord. There should be a way to the insanity, as a result of I can’t consider any character eating expertise that’s as a lot of a well-oiled machine as Chef Mickey’s. It really, unexpectedly features virtually flawlessly.
This didn’t utterly sink in till our most up-to-date meal at Chef Mickey’s, once we have been the primary visitors in one of many seating areas. Inside minutes, the entire different tables have been crammed. Shortly thereafter, the characters arrived one-by-one with an applicable hole in between. We had simply sufficient time to make a cross of the buffet earlier than they arrived, and loads of time to eat with out interruption afterwards. Our seating space then emptied out, with each get together ending at roughly the identical time.
Extra importantly, the characters have been attentive to every desk and supplied satisfying and distinctive interactions with each visitor. It wasn’t only a matter of posing for photographs and shifting alongside. They have been implausible with Child Bricker, however that’s par for the course with fur characters. It helps that our daughter is enamored with them (till she falls asleep), desirous to seize their noses, play peek-a-boo, and so forth.
In fact we love that they offer her a lot consideration and supply rewarding interactions, together with nice recollections and photographs for us. That’s what makes us wish to preserve shelling out the massive bucks and doing extra character meals. However for the needs of this overview, I used to be extra keen on watching how Mickey & Associates engaged with different visitors in our seating space. They have been implausible, all-around.
Extra Chef Mickey’s character photographs:
Not one of the characters phoned it in, all of them have been playful and good at “studying” visitors to know what sort of interplay would work. Households with small youngsters are the apparent low-hanging fruit; extra telling are how the characters work together with {couples}, “Grumpy” dads, and grandparents.
The characters at Chef Mickey’s get excessive marks all-around for this. In actual fact, it was downright enjoyable to observe them make their manner across the room, as no two characters did the identical factor, and no two tables obtained the identical interplay. It provides a little bit of a ‘present’ part past the little cavalcade.
We additionally appreciated the presence of character attendants. There was at all times a Solid Member within the common neighborhood who we may ask to take household photographs of us all collectively. This isn’t at all times the case at character meals, so we actually appreciated it. About the one draw back is that it’s tough to get photographs with “clear” backgrounds, however that’s an issue in any respect character meals. It’s simply exacerbated on the in style ones, particularly when tables aren’t spaced out (as is the case at Chef Mickey’s).
Now let’s check out the meals on the breakfast buffet:
Chef Mickey’s has one of many largest breakfast spreads in all of Walt Disney World, and the one cause I’m hedging with “one of many” is as a result of it’s been a bit since we’ve accomplished Crystal Palace or Cape Might Cafe (we’ll be rectifying that quickly) and I’m not 100% positive Chef Mickey’s has extra choices. I feel it does, however can’t say that with full confidence.
In any case, I’m not going to go dish by dish and overview each single merchandise at Chef Mickey’s. For one factor, as a result of I didn’t eat all of them. I’d nonetheless be in a meals coma if I had. For an additional factor, I doubt anybody is absolutely sitting on pins and needles ready for me to overview grapes, pineapple, tomatoes, hash browns, and different stuff. A few of these dishes communicate for themselves.
I do wish to begin with some common guidelines of thumb that we’ve realized from many meals at Chef Mickey’s and different character buffets over time. The primary is that Chef Mickey’s favourite ingredient is butter. Equally, his second favourite ingredient is salt. If a dish is good as a substitute of savory, you possibly can anticipate it to be very candy.
Principally, Mickey’s three favourite elements are butter, salt, and sugar–and that cocktail of elements (coupled with the requisite overindulgence) means you’ll seemingly go away restaurant feeling bloated and icky. Suffice to say, Mickey isn’t a lot of a chef. Good factor it’s solely his facet hustle.
One other factor to be aware of is that, like several buffet, how good or dangerous a selected dish is can largely rely on how recent it’s. Did you catch a model new batch, or has what you’re about to scoop up been slow-cooking below a warmth lamp for hours.
This isn’t normally an issue at Chef Mickey’s because the restaurant is large and turnover is fast. Nevertheless it does occur. One robust piece of recommendation is prioritizing no matter is recent and avoiding the ‘stale’ wanting trays till they’re changed. In the event you see one thing that appears good, don’t cross it up. Chef Mickey’s is so busy that what’s there on one cross could possibly be gone the subsequent, which is usually a good or dangerous factor. And it’s largely pre-prepared, so there’s nothing to say a brand new batch will really be recent.
A main instance of this from our most up-to-date meal was the Carved Pit Ham. This is likely one of the purported highlights of the breakfast unfold, however it appeared extra like slow-aged ham jerky than carved ham. (The photograph above doesn’t do full justice to how dangerous one batch was–scroll as much as the buffet unfold photographs and take a second take a look at that.) This was an unforced error on my half, as I handed over an earlier batch of ham that did look higher.
Lastly, high quality is a matter at Chef Mickey’s. The Massive Rodent foyer would love you to imagine that anybody can cook dinner, however Mickey has been at this for many years and nonetheless hasn’t gotten any higher. These dishes are largely consolation delicacies, and even those that aren’t aren’t on par with what you’d discover at a desk service restaurant.
A couple of years again, Walt Disney World’s CFO mentioned chopping prices by altering suppliers and substituting elements. Chef Mickey’s is mainly the poster baby for that. Some dishes are good; most are similar to what you possibly can get at counter service eating places. One prime instance of cost-cutting is the removing of the carving station–you possibly can now not get beef brisket, and the ham is a shadow of its former self even when it hasn’t been slow-cooked below the warmth lamp.
Our “resolution” to that is going for the tried and true ‘high-value’ objects. You’ll discover nearly each photograph of our plates has smoked salmon on it. We eat numerous smoked salmon at Walt Disney World buffets. It’s expensive (relative to different objects), and never sugary or buttery like numerous different dishes on the buffet. For me particularly, it presents good steadiness to all of the candy stuff I ate at Chef Mickey’s. And despite the fact that it’s boring, fruit is one other robust possibility from buffets.
Talking of sweets, my favourite objects from the Chef Mickey’s breakfast buffet have been the Croissant Beignets and Home-made French Toast with Bananas Foster.
The Croissant Beignets defied the logic of Chef Mickey’s. They have been delicate and crispy on the outside, giving approach to a doughy and flaky inside. It felt like these have been ready with care, being a higher-effort dessert executed higher than anything at Chef Mickey’s. These Croissant Beignets are additionally buttery and cinnamony–simply flat out scrumptious. There’s sauces to accompany them, however I’d ignore these, save for the bananas foster.
The French Toast is much less exceptional, however nonetheless implausible. That is additionally excellent by itself, however the bananas foster provides so much and takes it to the subsequent stage. Normally, I used to be extra impressed with the desserts than the entrees at Chef Mickey’s. Even easy pleasures like Mickey Waffles and pancakes have been shockingly good.
With that stated, there have been really some entrees that I actually loved. The Corned Beef Hash wasn’t as ‘fascinating’ because the now-gone Beef Brisket (even when that was typically too fatty or robust), however it’s actually good. In actual fact, for what every dish is (that means judging this towards different corned beef hash and that towards different brisket), that is the objectively higher dish. I’d nonetheless slightly than have carving station with subpar beef brisket, however to every their very own.
I additionally actually preferred the Andouille with Peppers and Onions. This was a pointy distinction to the hybrid rubber and paper bacon or the subpar sausages on the buffet unfold. The Andouille is high quality meat with nice taste, and the peppers present a pleasant little bit of punch. Not superb, but additionally above the bizarre meats at Chef Mickey’s.
And perhaps I benefit from the easy pleasures a bit an excessive amount of, however I used to be very pleasantly shocked by the potatoes and beer cheese sauce. Good execution of a simple dish, with cheese that was addictively good and noticeably higher than regular ‘plastic cheese’ served at Walt Disney World. The hashed browns have been likewise adequate, as have been the premade omelets.
All issues thought-about, the breakfast buffet unfold at Chef Mickey’s was largely mediocre…however it additionally was giant. Because of that, I used to be capable of finding a couple of half-dozen or so objects that have been good to nice, focusing my abdomen house on these and strolling away glad (however with manner an excessive amount of butter, sugar and salt in my system).
In the end, this isn’t a ringing endorsement for the delicacies caliber or environment at Chef Mickey’s, as needs to be apparent. Relating to the meals high quality, Chef Mickey’s is okay at greatest. And that’s provided that you’re strategic, cautious about what you choose, and time the restocks proper. There’s a robust emphasis on amount over high quality. By another goal metric, no case could be made for Chef Mickey’s being superior.
On paper, it’s within the backside half of character meals at Walt Disney World. Arguably nearer to terrible than superior. That is particularly when you issue value into it, as Chef Mickey’s simply elevated in value to $58 per grownup and $37 per baby (one other improve is probably going in October 2025, should you’re planning forward). That’s exorbitant for a breakfast irrespective of the way you slice it–and that may be true even when the meals have been good. (It makes a compelling case for a late seating, as we choose, as then breakfast comes brunch or lunch–we left this meal at Chef Mickey’s within the early afternoon.)
Nevertheless, it’s additionally truthful to say that the common visitor shouldn’t be assessing character eating experiences based mostly on a guidelines of goal standards. These meals are, because the identify suggests, experiences. As such, there’s essentially a subjective facet to issues that’s arguably way more vital. From this attitude, it’s exceedingly simple to grasp how Chef Mickey’s turned a ceremony of passage meal within the first place and a supply of fond recollections and nostalgia for thus many households.
Our previous opinions of Chef Mickey’s acknowledged this, so it’s not like we have been oblivious to all of this and had some epiphany the second our daughter was born. Nevertheless, it’s additionally truthful to say that we massively underestimated the subjective significance of this when doing character meals as a pair who favored meals high quality over amount and didn’t put as a lot weight into character interactions.
As I sit right here immediately scripting this Chef Mickey’s overview, the recollections of the mediocre meals are already fading. As is the sting of that $100+ invoice on the finish of the meal. In one other month or two, they’ll be all however forgotten. Certain, I’ll cringe on the value for only-okay meals the subsequent time I guide an Advance Eating Reservation for Chef Mickey’s, however I will guide one.
These moments when Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck took the additional time for significant and enjoyable interactions with our daughter are indelibly etched into my thoughts. In one other decade or two, they’ll nonetheless be as recent as they have been the day they have been made. And that proper there’s exactly why we’ll be reserving Chef Mickey’s once more (and once more) within the years to return, with out regard for what my goal guidelines dictates I write on this overview you simply learn.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever accomplished the breakfast buffet at Chef Mickey’s? What did you consider the meals? What concerning the character interactions? Do you agree or disagree with any of our overview? Does this character meal look interesting to you? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
