Hey welcome back to my Disney adventure blog, this week I thought I’d cover a few different things in one blog! So on today’s blog I will talking all about fast pass+, Chef Mickey and the Crystal Palace lunch with pooh bear and friends!
Let’s get started!!!
So first up I really want to talk about the Fastpass+ what is it and is it any good?
Disney FastPass+ service lets you reserve access to selected attractions, and entertainment in advance. With the purchase of a Disney park ticket or Annual Pass, you can start making selections as early as 30 days before you arrive IF YOU ARE NOT STAYING ON A DISNEY PARK RESORT, or up to 60 days before check-in WHEN YOU HAVE A WALT DISNEY RESORT HOTEL RESERVATION. And the best part? There is no extra charge for this complimentary benefit. Before you start, be sure you link your park admission tickets to your account and add the people you’re planning with to your Family & Friends list. You will need the My Disney experience app to access these features which is available to down load from the App Store, this app is also great for general wait times and parade and firework times. Disney FastPass+ service lets you reserve access to select attractions, entertainment and more.
Okay so here’s how it works, either 60 days or 30 days before your vacation starts you can log into your app and select up to 3 rides (or parades) for you and your party. You select the time slot you want (if it’s available) and you will have a one hour window to ride the attraction (you can only ride the attraction once during your allotted time frame). I don’t recommend getting a fast pass for a parade or the Epcot illumination’s the fast pass area doesn’t look like it’s all that great and I would prefer to turn up early and wait for a good viewing spot.
The fastpass+ works because it will save you around 4 hours in queue time! And booking in advance usually means that you will be able to get the attractions you want (all though I have never managed to get a FP for seven dwarfs mine train or frozen).
Reasons I don’t like FP – I feel that you miss parts of the park out especially at Magic kingdom! (I did cover this in my Magic kingdom blog so please forgive me if this is a little repetitive) but magic kingdom is so big and you are restricted on what you can do and when, by your FP times as you end up going from one land to the next to get the fastpasses done and you miss all the little bits out, and I know that from experience.
Back in the day when on vacation at WDW you would see a ride you’d want to go on, insert your park ticket into the machine located near that ride and it would give you a paper ticket with a time to come back so you could get on the selected attraction, I felt this was far better as you wasn’t so restricted.
Planning is such an essential key to your vacation and getting those fastpasses! I will be doing a separate blog on planning, so keep an eye out for it!
So moving away from fast passes and onto character dining experiences!!!!
There are many character dinning experiences you can have whilst on vacation at Walt Disney world, these take place both in the park restaurants and in some of the hotel restaurants. Now character dining experiences are great for any age! I particularly love them because it’s a great opportunity to see 5 or more characters in one place at the same time. I’m not really one for standing in a queue (or using a fastpass) to meet a particular character,(although I most definitely did this when I was younger). Not that there is anything wrong with queuing to see your favourite character at any age, it’s Disney world for gods sake, age has no limits. But for myself and Luke when we see a 30 plus minute wait to meet tinkerbell or another character I’m straight away looking on my Disney experience app to see what ride now has a short wait time!!…. (method in the madness). So I have been lucky enough to book on for 2 character dining experiences which I did last year, both were great, and I am going to give you a little insight on what you can except when you do one.
Crystal Palace with pooh bear and friends – is situated inside the Magic Kingdom, we ate here as a party of 8 for lunch on the first day of our holiday. It’s an all you can eat buffet lunch (which is my favourite) and literally has everything, I am a vegetarian and my sister is a very fussy eater, but there was more enough for us to choose from. They had meats, salads, pastas, rice, pastries, cakes, corn bread, and a selection of desserts. You also get free refills on your drinks. 
As you eat you are treated to visits from pooh bear, piglet, tigger and Eeyore, each character will stop by your table at least 2 times and will sign any autograph books, pose for pictures and interact with your table
It was a lot of fun, and great to meet the characters in a non crowded environment.
Chef Mickey
So this is the second character dining experience I did which takes place inside the contemporary resort hotel this time with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto! We ate here at 9pm for dinner one evening, and again it was another buffet dinner, and it was I have to say equally as delicious as lunch, again it’s all you can eat with free soft drink refills. 
The characters will once again make sure they stop at your table for pictures and autographs and a lot of interaction. 
I definitely recommend doing at least one character dining experience I enjoyed both of mine as did the rest of my party, but if I had to choose just one I would definitely recommend the chef Mickey. Having dinner with the main mouse is great, it’s never overly busy so you get more time with the characters than you would if you were queuing to meet one at one of the character hotspots. The whole experience takes around 1 hour, the cost I believe is around $40- $50 each, however if you are on the Disney dining plan I think this is included in your package (please check that before you book) AND YOU WILL NEED TO BOOK THIS IN ADVANCE!
So they’re we go, another Disney blog done for another week!! Really hope you find it interesting and informative, I’ll be back next Wednesday with a brand new Disney blog!
Enjoy the read
Little miss keeping it real ?