Since we had breakfast at Chef Mickey’s last summer, Disney’s Contemporary Resort restaurant has updated its menu with new and modified items. We returned to the character buffet to check out the changes.

Chef Mickey’s Breakfast Buffet Menu

The Chef Mickey’s breakfast buffet is $54 per adult and $34 per child (ages 3-9), plus tax and gratuity.

Plant-Based Hash

Tofu scramble (right) is returning but a plant-based hash (left) has replaced the frittata. Ingredients for the hash were not listed but it appeared to include potatoes, kale, lettuce, and tomato. We may not be the audience for this dish, but it was weird. We didn’t like the hot lettuce and hot kale. We would have leaned more into potatoes. There’s nothing wrong with the individual ingredients, it’s that it’s like a hot salad.

Corned Beef Hash & Andouille, Peppers, and Onions

The carving station has been removed and the ham is now available in a tray. There is no longer beef brisket, but the corned beef hash remains. A completely new addition is andouille sausage with peppers and onions. Also available but not new are smoked bacon and pork sausage.

We tried the honey-glazed ham to see how it tastes now that it’s sitting in a tray instead of being freshly carved. We found it to be surprisingly good. It was tender, juicy, and moist.

The corned beef hash (right) includes potatoes and peppers. It’s just fine. It wasn’t too salty, which is a problem we’ve had with Chef Mickey’s before.

The new andouille sausage with peppers and onions is great. It’s oily and greasy but everything is cooked well. It’s all the right temperature and consistency. The peppers offer a good kick of spice.

Beignets

Croissant beignets are new to the menu; they are not labeled in person as being croissant-style, so might be a little confusing if you don’t know. Thankfully, they’re delicious. We think they’re now the best item at this buffet.

They’re soft, flaky, and buttery with the right amount of cinnamon sugar. The outside is crisp while the inside is doughy (without being too much so). It’s not overly sweet. There is strawberry sauce and blueberry sauce at this station, but we wouldn’t add anything to these, they’re perfect as-is.

Seasonal Pancakes

In addition to the “celebration pancakes,” there are new “seasonal pancakes.” Even though we were visiting Chef Mickey’s well past the new year, the seasonal pancakes were pumpkin-flavored, which seemed more like a fall flavor than winter.

The flavor wasn’t bad. There was just a hint of pumpkin, kind of like pumpkin bread. But the pancakes were doughy and undercooked.

Bananas Foster French Toast

There used to be French toast sticks and a bananas foster bread pudding dessert. Now, there’s bananas foster French toast — at least, according to the sign. The French toast and bananas in syrup are in separate dishes, so you don’t have to have them together if you don’t want.

The French toast is just right. It’s cooked well.

The sauce tastes like syrup and bananas — exactly what you would expect. This wasn’t as mind-blowing as the croissant beignets but it wasn’t bad.

Warm Sticky Cinnamon Rolls

Over at the dessert station, cinnamon rolls have replaced the bread pudding. These are great. They remind us of Cinnabon or a similar cinnamon roll you would have gotten at a mall in the 1980s.

They’re rich, dense, soft, and warm. The cinnamon sugar icing was still in a liquid state. One cinnamon roll and one croissant beignet could be a full meal.

Overall

Chef Mickey’s may not be the best character meal at Walt Disney World, but it’s a rite of passage that we always recommend doing at least once. You’re paying for the characters and setting, not the food.

That said, these changes make the breakfast slightly better and, in general, the food quality has improved. We applaud Chef Mickey’s for trying something new.

Regarding the characters, you meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. They come to each table briefly and also do a small celebration together. When we last visited Chef Mickey’s, they danced to “Biscuits in the Oven,” which we didn’t love. Now the characters perform to the music of the extinct “Move It! Shake It!” dance party from Magic Kingdom. We miss “Celebrate with Mickey Mouse” from pre-2020, but the current dance is an improvement from “Biscuits in the Oven.”

For more of our thoughts on Chef Mickey’s breakfast items, check last year’s breakfast review.

For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.