Which Character Meals are worth it?

[coaches24]

This is a great thread, I am loving all the responses . I do have a question (sorry OP, I don't mean to intrude on your thread), we are DLR newbies that will be heading there in June. My girls love to do the Character meals at WDW and they already said they want to do some when we are in DLR. I know I definitely want to do Minnie and Friends because of all the rave reviews and Storyteller's Cafe because we are staying at VGC. I think we will do Surf's Up with Mickey because we love Lilo (not so much Stitch but we will tolerate him ) and I know that that is the only character meal with Mickey. As far as Ariel's Grotto and Goofy's Kitchen are concerned, are these worth our time? I am on the fence about AG because of the reviews (heard the food is good but not the character interaction) and I am trying to decide on Goofy's because it seems like something we shouldn't miss (kind of like Chef Mickey's at WDW for a first timer). I should also mention that this will more then likely be a once in a life time trip for us to DLR, so I am trying to get the most out of the character meals. If it helps we will be going for 8 nights so we will have lots of days to do these meals and other great restaurant/QS meals . What do you guys think....should we do them all or just the ones I am definite about? Thanks for any help.

For AG it depends on whether someone in your party loves the princesses. While I don't think I will do AG again I can't say it was a bad overall experience because DD absolutely LOVED meeting the princesses. She was 3 so just meeting them was magic for her even though they only stop long enough for a picture and to sign her book. For me (being the one who paid the check ) I want a lot more for my money. But our 3 yo thought it was great.

 

[scrapbunny]

Ok it is a good thing I have no school this week because I think I am having so much fun planning things Here is the overview with prices that I like http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/dining.htm#Character

and the DIS Unplugged has had podcast on Goofy's Kitchen and this review of Minnie and Friends http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/05/24/breakfast-in-the-park-with-minnie-and-friends-culinary-quest/

It looks like now that Micky is at surfs up Lilo is not there? But if Minnie and Micky are both there this might be a must do. http://www.charactercentral.net/L20...pBreakfastwithMickeyandFriendsatPCHGrill.aspx

 

[scrapbunny]

Coaches That is why I started this thread! I'm sure my kids will love any of the character meals but I want to know which are worth the price. Seems like Minnie and Friends is totally worth it and some of the others might be overpriced for what you get.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

This sounds good to me!

Already been to Surfs Up and Goofys for breakfast and loved both . Would like to try Storytellers for dinner - do they still have characters at dinner? Is that when you went and saw the rarer characters?

Thinking of doing this on a 'down day' when we won't have park tickets (unless they suddenly restore the 6 day passes before we go which seems unlikely)

Storytellers only has characters at breakfast--by rarer, I mean Brer Fox & Bear, Koda, Kenai, Baloo, Meeko, Terk, Rafiki... I have hardly seen any of these guys out in the park (with the exception being during a Halloween party)... and they are all lots of fun!

 

[DisneyMommy403]

I just returned from a 4 day trip (Nov. 8-11) and we did Breakfast with Minnie and Friends and Lunch at Ariel's Grotto.

Minnie and Friends was worth every single penny. We were so pleased, and it was one of the biggest highlights of our trip. My girls were happier with the Minnie and Friends breakfast than AG. I agree with something a PP said about the character interaction being short, and lack luster; and we too felt rushed through our meal. At Minnie and Friends they spent a good amount of time with my family, we saw a ton of characters, and the food was so good!

 

[PoohsFan1]

For AG it depends on whether someone in your party loves the princesses. While I don't think I will do AG again I can't say it was a bad overall experience because DD absolutely LOVED meeting the princesses. She was 3 so just meeting them was magic for her even though they only stop long enough for a picture and to sign her book. For me (being the one who paid the check ) I want a lot more for my money. But our 3 yo thought it was great.

Thank you for your response. I have 2 DDs ages 9 and 11 (they will be 9 and 12 at time of trip) and they still really like the princesses . When we are in WDW we always dine at Cinderella's Castle for dinner and at Akershus for breakfast in the Norway Pavilion in Epcot (we more or less go to both for the atmosphere and the food, but the princesses are an added bonus). However, for our DLR trip I am thinking we would skip out on AG since the reviews haven't been so great, and instead use our money dining someplace else.

 

[Keurigirl]

We've done them all, several times, and now only do our favs.

Minnie & Friends is good but very busy. Not much quality time with characters although they will all stop at your table - it's just fast and furious. It's very difficult to get food and actually eat because it's so busy! It is a very stressful breakfast for me, actually, trying to make sure everyone has food (it's a buffet) and making sure we are there for characters and stuff when they come. But you will see characters!

PCH at Paradise Pier is fantastic! We prefer this one. Good Buffet, great quality time with characters, and a much less busy restaurant. Plus there is lots of character interaction - you get to get up and dance with them on a "stage", there are lots of activities and fun things to do with the characters themselves. You won't see as many here (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Max, Stitch are the ones I see regularly) but you'll get more quality time with them.

Ariel's Grotto is good as well. Best food for any character meal. Nice meal, plenty of time, see all the princesses, and the food is good. We like this one.

Goofy's Kitchen is so-so. Sometimes it's fine, but many times there are not as many characters or the tables get skipped. Food is only ok as well - definitely think you can skip this one in favor of another one.

Oh! And Storyteller's at GCH. It's a good breakfast, nice food, but the characters are meh, in my opinion. If you love Chip & Dale, or if you love brother bear or the pocahontas movie, then go. My kids, (and me, for that matter) however, didn't know who the other characters were, only Chip & dale

 

[ValpoCory]

We are going for 6 nights in January and will be doing a Minnie & Friends and Surf's Up Breakfast for sure, and then on our arrival and departure non-park days, we may do a Goofy's dinner and a Storytellers Breakfast.

 

[Mousequake]

I think we will do Surf's Up with Mickey because we love Lilo (not so much Stitch but we will tolerate him ) and I know that that is the only character meal with Mickey.

FYI-- I don't think Lilo shows up at Surf's Up too often; it's usually Stitch.

 

[scrapbunny]

We saw Lilo at the Dancing with Disney on Stage 17 in DCA. We only caught the last few minutes of this and it was super fun! Here is a video someone shared http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN0Eifgjyc4

 

[xxpeplyxx]

So I am hoping the repairs that need to be done to our family van won't take all of our extra money I set aside for our January trip. If all goes well I was thinking of doing one of the character meals, either Minnie and Friends early on a day going to the park or one of the hotel meals when we get into town or on our way out of town. From the DisUnplugged and other reviews I'm thinking Minnie and Friends is the best bet. Would love any input

Chef mickeys is fantastic! It's the only one I've done to be honest as they are very expensive! But it was just great we were a group of adults (big kids) and they visited out tables just as much as they did the ones with children at! They came round more than once and each character stayed at the table for plenty of time for us to all get a single picture each and one of us all with them (there was 3 of us) the characters played up to the camera and made us do funny poses, Donald was very funny! (Minnie, mickey, pluto and Donald were there all in their chefs outfits (very cute) we had breakfast which was yummy and it was an all you can eat Buffett plenty of choices (possibly too much)! We didn't actually eat that much though as we were to busy having fun they even gave me and my cousin a cupcake with a candle as we had our birthday pins on! That was a nice touch

I would recommend this to anyone! It was just amazing, one of the best holiday memories we enjoyed it so much so that we shall be doing another character dining on our next visit!

Now we just need to choose where! Exciting stuff!

 

[starshine514]

We saw Lilo at the Dancing with Disney on Stage 17 in DCA. We only caught the last few minutes of this and it was super fun! Here is a video someone shared http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN0Eifgjyc4

Where is Stage 17?

Thanks!

 

[scrapbunny]

In Hollywood Land in California Adventure between the Monsters ride and Muppets

 

[profa]

We did Surf's up on our off day. I thought it was a great way to keep the disney spirit going and so I wanted a place that wasn't in the park. I didn't want to waste our disney hrs at a sit down meal
Loved it. It was perfect. Lots of characters and lots of interaction. We all thought the food was good as well. If you think you might be the photos pkg I highly recommend the photo pass plus.
I also took just my dd4 to AG and we had a fab time. It was a bit of a splurge for us but it ended up being so worth it.

 

[PoohsFan1]

FYI-- I don't think Lilo shows up at Surf's Up too often; it's usually Stitch.

That's a bummer, but thanks for the info. I think we will still make our way over to that breakfast anyways since Mickey is there. Also, the kids and I were talking about the different character meals and they both said that the only ones they are interested in are Storyteller's Cafe, Surf's Up, and Minnie and Friends. I guess I really don't have to worry about whether we should eat at AG or Goofy's anymore .

 

[Mazel]

So Goofy's kitchen is the only character dinner outside the parks?

 

[pharmama]

So Goofy's kitchen is the only character dinner outside the parks?

Yes. And Ariel's is the only character dinner in the park.

 

[StoneSword]

I'm a fan of Surf's Up as well.

 

[CoolSurfPenguin]

We've only done Minnie & Friends, but we really enjoyed it. We were able to see characters that we don't normally see running around the park.

 

[tiggerluvr]

So Goofy's kitchen is the only character dinner outside the parks?

Nope. Surf's Up is in the Paradise Pier Hotel, and Storyteller's Cafe is in the Grand Californian, so those are both outside the parks too. Ariel's Grotto is the only one in DCA and Minnie & Friends at the Plaza Inn (my favorite) is the only one in DL.