Dining with Mickey

When my husband and I first traveled to Walt Disney World on our honeymoon, he made several reservations for character dining.  I thought character dining was for kids and rolled my eyes at his efforts.  Our very first meal at WDW was in the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends.  While we sat eating, Eeyore walked up to our table and "asked" for a hug.  I obliged and found myself transforming into a child that didn't want to let go.  He was so soft and I felt so small in his arms.  From that moment on, I was hooked.

When it was time to figure out dining for Tokyo Disneyland, I was excited to experience character dining with our son.  On our last trip (in November), my husband reserved meals for us at The Diamond Horseshoe for a show with Woody and Jessie from Toy Story and with Chef Mickey at the Ambassador Hotel.  So when it was time to schedule dining for this trip, I thought he would pick something different.  However, there are very, very few options for character dining in Tokyo.  Since we didn't really want to see the Diamond Horseshoe show again, we voted to have breakfast with Mickey and friends.

The restaurant, Chef Mickey, is buffet style with both western and Japanese foods.  Of course there are several Mickey items on the menu, including Mickey shaped waffles.

Our son loves when Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy comes to our table.  He gives them hugs, asks for their autograph, and takes a couple photos.  Then he talks for the rest of the day about how they joined him for breakfast.  It really is magical for him.

This time we brought a Mickey Mouse popcorn bucket for the characters to sign.  It is pretty impressive to see these big gloved hands penning beautiful signatures, but they do it every time.

Although character dining is much more expensive than regular restaurants, it pays off in time spent in line since you don’t wait for an hour plus to meet just one character.  I don’t think the line to meet Mickey in Toontown today ever got below 90 minutes and it was a Monday!

I wish Tokyo Disneyland had more character dining opportunities because we aren’t heading to WDW anytime soon and he really is the perfect age for this kind of interaction.  Of course, I’ve proven that you never really are too old for it.