The new Walt Disney World Annual Passholder limited release Goofy MagicBand featuring Goofy himself in front of the Tree of Life has been released.
Passholders can find this new release across property “wherever MagicBands are sold” according to Disney, so be on the lookout.
The band is a light blue, featuring Goofy enjoying himself in front of the Tree of Life on one side of the band. You will find the vintage Walt Disney World logo with “2019 Passholder” on the other side and a plain puck, just as the previous release with Mickey and Cinderella castle.
Since going to Disney with our daughter who was 2 at the time, we have always enjoyed going to Character Dining experiences. There is nothing I maybe have enjoyed more than watching my kids get their autograph books out and wait for the next character to come by.
Most of these dining experiences are buffets, so it is important to understand what foods you and your family will enjoy better when making a decision on what experiences to reserve and what meal to attend.
Because of this, most of character experiences that we do attend are breakfast meals. I am not sure I have ever had a bad breakfast at WDW.
When deciding that you are going to reserve a spot at some of these places, having a Disney dining plan is beneficial as some of these meals are a little pricey due to most of them being buffets and the extra benefit of seeing the characters.
There are 15 total character dining destinations that you can chose from. We have experienced 8 of the 15.
For all of these dining experiences, one thing is clear…Bring Your Autograph Books!
Here are our Top Five, in no particular order;
Crystal Palace
Located at the Magic Kingdom just off of Main Street USA, The Crystal Palace resembles England’s Crystal Palace, which was erected in Hyde Park. The restaurant’s white steel supports, arched ceilings, and glass roof (especially the atrium) are tributes to its namesake, built to house London’s 1851 Great Exhibition—the first world’s fair—and among the first structures to use plate glass in large quantities.
Crystal Palace
Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Crystal Palace offers some of the best buffet food on property. It’s a great place to start your day in the Magic Kingdom or close out a wonderful day of rides and fun. While we normally eat here for Breakfast, the dinner here is also really good.
The food is consistently good, but eating seems secondary to the desire to get lots of photos with Pooh and his pals. If you time dinner right and can snag a table away from like-minded diners, there is a great view of Main Street parades in the conservatory.
Breakfast prices are average for WDW standards, breakfast is cheaper to visit if you do not have a Disney Dining Plan (DDP).
Who to Meet:
Winnie the Pooh
Tigger
Piglet
Eeyore
Tusker House
Tusker House is located in Animal Kingdom inside the Harambe Village square— is plainer than Disney’s promotional photos would indicate, especially after dark. The food is surprisingly good, with spices and taste combinations you won’t find at other spots.
Tusker House
This buffet style meal is inspired by African and Indian dishes with the classic American dishes as well.
One of the highlights of the meal is the Jungle Juice that is served. It is a mixture of orange juice, guava juice, and passionfruit juice. It is one of those things that you either love it of hate it, I think it’s really good.
The food is priced very reasonable for the quality
Who to Meet: (all dressed in expedition gear)
Mickey Mouse
Goofy
Donald Duck
Daisy
Chef Mickey’s
Chef Mickey’s is located at the Contemporary Resort in an open air restaurant. The food take a back seat to the atmosphere that is created by the characters and the resort. Before you are even seated, a picture with the Chef Mickey statue is a must.
Chef Mickey’s
In all of our experiences at Chef Mickey’s, the place has been a zoo, but that’s absolutely to be expected of a restaurant like this. Kids get excited, parents let them run around…it happens. Don’t eat here if you’re not keen on the idea of someone else’s rugrat jumping around your table.
The food is pricier than most on this list but the experience is well worth it.
The food is all American comfort food. While this is not the most exciting, the food tastes really good too. Anyone can find something to eat on this buffet.
The layout of the restaurant and the whole resort level creates a loud, busy experience. The monorail can be heard whirring into the resort overhead.
This is a must visit for every WDW trip.
Who to Meet: (all in chef attire)
Mickey Mouse
Minnie Mouse
Donald Duck
Goofy
Pluto
1900 Park Fare
This restaurant, located at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa that has 2 separate character meals. The Supercalifragilistic Breakfast and the Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner gives you a chance to meet some characters that it is tough to find elsewhere.
This is another one of those dining experiences where the atmosphere overshadows the food and decor. The characters play their part fantastically from the Mad Hatter to Cinderella’s Stepsisters. The interaction that you can have with the characters is much more personal due to them actually being allowed to talk to you.
The food is much better at breakfast than dinner but still a solid buffet. It is also reasonably priced for being in an extravagant hotel like the Grand Floridian.
Who to Meet:
Breakfast
Mary Poppins
Alice (Alice in Wonderland)
Mad Hatter
Winnie the Pooh
Tigger
Dinner
Cinderella
Prince Charming
Lady Tremaine
Anastasia
Drisella
Cinderella’s Royal Table
The only character dining experience on this list that is not a buffet, this is located in Cinderella’s Castle at Magic Kingdom.
Cinderella’s Castle
Although the food is decent, this experience is all about the nostalgia.
The atmosphere is all castle and royalty. When you are allowed in, the initial picture with Cinderella feels like you are in a real life castle. Once the photo session is complete, you are called upstairs to your table.
If you don’t take the elevator, the winding staircase up to the dining hall just adds to the castle like feel.
Once at your table, all “princes” are given swords and all “princesses” are given fairy wands
Music introduces each Princess and they begin to make their rounds to each table. One of my favorite Disney memories was when our daughter was 2 and we experienced this for the first time on Christmas morning. All of the Disney Princesses took time with our daughter and you could tell she loved the experience.
This meal is probably pricey but it is so worth it if you have little kids or simply love nostalgia.
Yesterday, Disney gave some exciting news about the new attraction, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but it also gave some fans who are pumped for this new attraction some disappointing news.
Disney has confirmed that the new Mickey themed ride will also be coming to Disneyland’s Toontown sometime in 2022. While this is great news for those who visit the west coast theme park, those who frequent the Walt Disney World theme park received some disappointing news regarding this attraction that was supposed to open in the Fall of 2019 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Also in the same announcement, Disney stated that HS’s version of the Railway will not come until Spring of 2020.
It’s hard to believe that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will be the first Mickey Mouse themed attraction at any of Disney’s theme parks.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway puts guests into a cartoon short featuring the head mouse. It will feature the newest technology known as 2 and a half D (3D without glasses) to give depth to the 2D environments.
Guests will board a train where Goofy is the engineer and will take the riders on a zany adventure full of twists and turns through the cartoon short.
Stay tuned for new updates of this and all things Disney @ A Walk With The Mouse!
