So, let’s start with the obvious - it’s pricey, especially for a family. When you’re paying for three, four or five spots at the character table, you expect a great time. We can tell you that all of our experiences were different, mainly great with the odd disappointment and one seriously overpriced.

Disney World Florida can be a once in a lifetime holiday so you’re going to want to plan wisely where your dollars are spent. We managed to get availability for five character dining experiences including Chef Mickey’s, Topolino’s Terrace, Tusker House, Story Book Dining at Artist’s Point with Snow White and Garden Grill so we hope this guide to Character Dining helps you plan for your Disney World Florida trip.

We were also luck enough to eat at some other great restaurants on Disney property including Wolfgang Puck, Boathouse and Raglan Road at Disney Springs, Ale & Compass at Yacht Club, Sanaa at Kidani Village, Yak & Yeti and Space 220. Check back soon for these reviews.

Chef Mickeys

Chef Mickey and friends at the Contemporary Resort was probably the surprise of our character dining experience. What we expected, a frantic, kid crazy, unorganised experience, this was not what we got. Yes it was busy and there was a lot going on but it was much more organised and less noisy than expected. It was a lovely surprise, rooms were sectioned off it was nowhere near as noisy as we anticipated.

The Mickey Waffles were a plenty and the food was hot, tasty and good for a character breakfast. But of course, we’re all really here to meet the characters and even if the food wasn’t that great, we’d probably accept it - well maybe.

The characters here didn’t disappoint - all were really interactive and of course, Donald tried to steal the show. I was wearing a Mickey & Donald t-shirt and for the photos, Donald had to cover up Mickey’s face. Typical attention seeking shenanigans from the number 1 duck.

There was plenty of space in the restaurant and service was well paced, friendly and efficient. As said, this one was a pleasant surprise and we would definitely do it again. Including tax, this one came in at $162 - before gratuity. If you don’t know, it’s very common to leave and 18 - 20% tip in the states. The price was for 2 adults & 2 children (over 10’s pay adult prices).

Topolino’s Terrace - Falvors of the Riviera.

Toppolinos Character Breakfast is billed as one of the start attractions of the character dining experiences. It’s at the Riviera Resort which is one of the newest Disney property hotels - a stunning addition to Disneys extensive hotel collection on-site. You can’t argue it’s a beautiful hotel and as per usual, Disney really captures the theming of both the Italian and French rivieras very well.

Painter Mickey, Writer Minnie, The prima ballerina Daisy Duck and Sculptor Donald are out to impress at Topolino’s Terrace and we expected big things from this character breakfast but not all aspects lived up to expectations. You can also go out onto the terrace before or after your meal which offers great views over the Riviera resort - a lovely spot for photos and great memories.

We’ll start with the food - it’s a nice menu, probably one of the better menu’s in the character dining line up and its all table service so buffets in sight. The breads, pastries, butters & spreads come in a cute painters pot, keeping the theming running all the way.

The smoked salmon bagel was good. Eggs are available any style, avocado toast quiche gruyere and wood fired steak. I had the eggs which were really good and well presented. Anna had steak as did one of the kids. One steak was great the other was not - it was chewy and not the best quality. It was swapped but the replacement wasn’t great either, it was the worst steak we ate on property; Not what you’d expect from a signature restaurant. However, the Mickey Waffles & were light and fluffy and the sauces full of sugar - so a great hit. We also got some cheeky madelines as a lovely extra for our wedding anniversary.

The Characters

On this aspect we thought the experiment really dazzled. The outfits are great and the space really allows the characters to play to the audience - as does the well themed introduction of each character to music.

The detail in Minnie’s dress is fantastic and Daisy loved pirouetting into the dining room as the prima ballerina. Mickey’s outfit is cute too, with his paint brushes and hat. Donald’s French beret adds a great finishing touch to his sculptor outfit. The song, the dancing, the intros all very Disney!

Overall, we were spoiled with character interaction so give it a big thumbs up for this part.

Service was not the best we’ve had at Disney. It was by no means terrible but it was certainly below par. For a costly character experience, in a fantastic setting with great theming, it really seems fantastic service should be so easy to get right here - maybe just an off day - we all have them and it wouldn’t put us off trying Topolino’s again.

This one came in at $178.25 before gratuity.

Top tip: Ask for a window seat the resort views are beautuful.

Garden Grill

Garden Grill was the first character meal of our holiday. The kids had no idea and we managed to come off Soarin and head straight to our reservation.

At Garden Grill we had lunch - and you get to meet Chip & Dale, Pluto & Mickey. The lunch menu is a set meal $62 for adults and $40 for kids (prices correct in 2024), its all table service and the resatuarnt is really small by Disney standards. We paid $254 including tip. The massive salad comes out first which was nice and all grown in Living with the Land - which is where this restaurant rotates over the top of this ride. This is very cool and as it moves so slowly you can really soak all of it in, you cannot feel it move.

The food all comes out family style on a big skillet there was steak, turkey, mac and cheese, potatoes, green beans, cornbread - anything you want more of just ask and they will bring it out. The theming is really cute and traditional - we had great interactions with characters we saw each character twice and they were so much fun!

Top tip: ask for an outward facing table so your view is over the land!

Would we go back: yes we would it was a lovely, quiet, cute experience.

Story Book Dining at Artist’s Point with Snow White and the Queen

Mirror, mirror on the wall…….

How evil - the queen, such a great character - I think she even scared me!! Story Book at Artist’s Point is set in the Wilderness Lodge hotel - one of the deluxe options for on-site accommodation. The hotel has an amazing lobby as well as Geyser Point Bar & Grill, so we’d recommend you arrive early and spend a little time exploring. We did this and also had a drink at Geyser Point.

(look for cost and menu plus any pics).

Geyser Point is sat on Bay Lake and has some nice views its a very chilled atmosphere, it was peaceful and had plenty of shade where we enjoyed a glass of wine and a Bourbon Breeze. During our stay at Disney, we stayed at Saratoga Springs but after our visit to Wilderness, we’ve got another contender for next time we really fell in love with this resort.

Story Book Dining at Artist’s Point: The theming and the decor were both beautiful in here and it’s a very different dining experience.

The starters and desserts are a set menu and they appear - all were lovely! The service was very quick - our starters arrived before our drinks. There was a Wild Mushroom Bisque, a Hunters pie and a Shrimp Cocktail.

The childrens menu was nice and had some healthy options on which is always a bonus. The starter was From the Garden, the main options were grilled fish, grilled steak or grilled chicken. The speciaility drinks were also a nice touch - the kids loved the light up ice cubes! We tried the Stroll Through Nature and the Pork Shank, both were nice in all honesty the pork was the better option of the two. The desserts were a set menu like the starters were and they were nice but nothing to really rave about and we love a good dessert. Beautifully presented however very rushed our main plates were taken away and dessert arrived within a minute or two.

You had a time slot to go and see the Queen and she was a brilliant character - really impressed and a totally immersive experience. Snow White came to the table as did Grumpy and Dopey - very good interactions but all were quite short with the time allowed per table. It seemed very rushed - take a picture sign the book move on, a lot less time here with characters than at any other character meal.

This was our most expensive meal by far, to be fair we had 3 adults and one child to pay for (as any child 10 or over pays an adult price), our children had a speciality drink each and we shared a bottle of wine. The bill was $360 including tip for all of us.

Would we go back: honestly no, for us this was definitely a one and done and on the new dining plan we certainly would not use two dining plan credits per person for this as it’s a signature restaurant. The whole experience was just so rushed it ruined it for us.

Tusker House - saving the best til last?

Tusker house is in Animal Kingdom. It’s slightly tucked away and blends in superbly with the cannily crafted buildings. The theming in AK is truly superb you could hioneslty spend hours just wandering and looking at all the theming the imagineers did a superb job on this park its so cleverly done.

Tusker House used to be a buffet restaurant and after Covid it became a family style meal, its now back to a buffet. We chose to do breakfast as all the characters are at every meal and AK has a lot less rides after a breakfast so we thought this would suit us - we ate at the latest possible breakfast time after having ridden the Kilimanjaro Safari and Flight of Passage.

Well this one surprised us - our server Chris was unreal one of the best waiters we had in Disney by a mile! The food was superb, really tasty loads of flavour and so much choice. Its all themed food with African breakfast curries, Zebra bread, typical eggs, sausages etc. Tea’s, coffee’s and juices were included. I’m sure we asked for takeaway cups and when we were finished we wandered through AK with our drinks.

All of it was amazing and the character interactions were brilliant, they did a song and dance around the restaurant each character spent ages with each table - a totally different experience overall to Artist Point and it stole our hearts! The charcaters included Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Mickey.

We paid just over a $190 for the four of us and it was brilliant - no surpise here but we would definately return!

Our suggestions:

Tusker was the winner for us by a mile. All of us said it was so good we’d have returned again in the same holiday, if we could. It is 100% on the list for when we return.