We have covered the parks we visited during our familymoon to Walt Disney World. Now it is time to cover our visits to Downtown Disney and Chef Mickey at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
Our visit to Chef Mickey’s
Let’s start with our visit to Chef Mickey at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Chef Mickey’s is one of the top 3 hardest reservations to get. So when our time came up to make dining reservations the very first one I entered was Chef Mickey’s. I couldn’t get it. So I spent the next 2 months checking multiple times a day for an open table. One night while lying in bed at 2am I decided to check and I actually managed to secure us a reservation. I was super stoked. Everyone raves about Chef Mickey’s and says it is a must do.
I hate to disappoint, but everyone has low standards. I was so disappointed with Chef Mickey’s.
This is a buffet. Buffets are not ideal when it comes to Disney meet and greets. The characters only come around once during your reservation. That means if you are up at the buffet getting food then you missed your chance. I spent more time watching the characters to time our food and bathroom needs then I did enjoying my breakfast. Even then we ended up missing our chance to meet Goofy. I asked a cast member and she said she would see if he could come out again but could not promise. Luckily he did manage to come out just as we were about to leave.
Last but not least the food was gross and cold. Chef Mickey you get two thumbs down from this mom.
There are many other opportunities to meet the core Disney characters and some of these are meals with way better food. I highly suggest skipping Chef Mickey’s and instead get a reservation at Tusker House in the Animal Kingdom to meet them while enjoying some great food.
Our Visit to Downtown Disney
We spent two different evenings at Downtown Disney and never even managed to see or do everything that was there. We found Downtown Disney to be THE place to go for your Disney shopping needs. While there is tons of shopping to do in the parks we found Downtown Disney to have almost everything you can buy in the parks. This was much easier for us and the kids to be able to see everything then decide on where to spend our shopping budget. Big Brother was super stoked to find Disney Infinity 2.0 at the Once Upon a Toy store when it had yet to be released up here in Canada. My favourite store was the Christmas store where I stocked up on a bunch of new Christmas ornaments.
There isn’t just shopping to do at Downtown Disney. There are statues all over the place for you to get your picture with like I did up above with the Winnie the Pooh gang. There is a merry go round that you can ride and there is some free entertainment. On our last evening at Downtown Disney we found a DJ playing some music on a stage so we stopped for awhile and I got to embarrass my kids with my dancing.
OMG the food. There are so many places to eat at Downtown Disney and yes you can use your meal plan. We asked a cast member at the Christmas store for a recommendation to get something to eat and she insisted we go to Earl of Sandwich. I am so happy we asked her as the sandwiches were AMAZING! We ended up going back to Earl of Sandwich again for some more yummy food. I highly recommend you eat there if you are at Downtown Disney.
Don’t forget when doing your shopping at Downtown Disney if you are staying on Disney property you can have your purchases delivered to your resort. I highly recommend doing this to keep your hands free. Just make sure to keep track of what you are buying with receipts so that you don’t overbuy and blow your budget.
Have you missed our posts on the parks? Here are direct links for your reading pleasure.
The familymoon posts aren’t over. Stay tuned for our review of the resort we stayed at and then our finale post on all our tips and must dos of Walt Disney World.
What would you like to hear about from our time at Walt Disney World?