First, the bad news:  Character Dining at a Disney park is EXPENSIVE, so many first-time Disney visitors (and seasoned Disney-veterans) may choose to skip out on this experience while on vacation.  According to the menu currently posted on the Walt Disney World website, https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/contemporary-resort/chef-mickeys/, the price for a meal ranges from $35 (child rate) to $59.99 (adult rate).  So for a family of four (2 adults/2 children), we are looking at a tab of close to $200.  That really sounds pretty outrageous for a buffet meal, so WHY would I still insist that Chef Mickey’s is a NOT-TO-BE-MISSED experience during your Walt Disney World vacation?  The answer is pretty simple… it is the ONLY place in the entire WDW resort where you and your family will see the Big 5 together in one place:  Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.  (A future blog post will discuss the differences between the various character meals found throughout the Walt Disney World Resort; the others are fun as well, but they ARE different.)

I must sadly admit, however, that my own children have never dined with Mickey and friends.  I never made a point to put it on my list of places to go until this past January when I went with my sister and her children and our parents.  Even though my children are now 15 and 13 years old (and I’m not sure when we will return to WDW), a trip to Chef Mickey’s will definitely be on my travel agenda!  So, what do you need to know?

This post will feature a few tips to help you plan an unforgettable visit to Chef Mickey’s on your upcoming Walt Disney World vacation.

1. Be prepared to book this reservation 6 months (180 days) prior to your travel date. I know that sounds ridiculous, but due to this location’s popularity, it really is THAT important.
2. Since you are booking 6 months in advance, start setting a little money aside to cover the expense for this meal; save $30 each month and you’ve just about covered the tab for a family of four.
3. Chef Mickey’s is located in the Contemporary Resort (the hotel that the monorail runs right through). This resort is one of the Magic Kingdom resorts, so you could plan to eat here on a day that you will be visiting MK; however, I have a much better suggestion:  plan your visit to Chef Mickey’s on your arrival day prior to visiting any of the parks. Traveling with children can be exhausting; so much so, that no one really enjoys going to the park as soon as you get on the resort grounds. (In 2009, we DID go straight to the Magic Kingdom because they were having Extra Magic Hours, but we got there mid-day when lines were crazy long. We did not really get to enjoy much other than the fireworks that first day and we wasted one of our park entry days.) In contrast with that trip, when I went with my sister and her children and our parents in 2017, we arrived in Orlando shortly after lunch time.  By the time we got to our resort, it was around 2:30 P.M.  We had previously decided that Chef Mickey’s would be the perfect first stop for the children, a “Welcome to Disney World” dining experience.  We had a 6:30 P.M. reservation time which allowed us ample time to enjoy the meal and have plenty of character interaction and still be finished in time to catch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from OUTSIDE of the park.  Since we were staying at the Grand Floridian, we rode the monorail over to the Contemporary for dinner, and then rode the monorail back to the Grand; we then walked down to the pier for a really spectacular view of the fireworks.  I’m certain that there is also a viewing area at the Contemporary; we just wanted to be closer to our beds to get the little ones down as early as possible since we knew we had a big day planned including a very early start. 
4. By meeting the characters at Chef Mickey’s, we didn’t feel like we had to wait in the long lines that often develop inside of the parks to meet the characters; this helped us maximize our “riding” time; with two six-year-olds in tow, we were constantly running from one ride to the next!  Also, by visiting the restaurant on a “non-park” day, we stayed in the Magic Kingdom from park open to park close, and we were able to ride almost EVERYTHING that we wanted!  In a future post, I will share with readers the importance of the term “rope drop.”  It really will make ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the world in how you can experience “the happiest place on earth!”