Character Meals Super Thread!!

[DizNee Luver]

Thank you so much for doing this! We are going to our first character meal soon at Goofy's at 7:30am on a Sat, a non park day and the day we leave. Even though I would have liked to have one day to sleep in, it seems like 7:30am was a good choice based on what others have said. The food should be fresh and new. It is just DH and I and no kids with us so I will be able to write a little review when we get back on how it was for adults. A few quick pictures with the characters would be nice, but we don't need to spend a long time with them. It should be interesting though!

Going with no kids is definitely different than with kids. I got the opportunity to go to Goofy's Kitchen with Sherry and a couple more Dis ladies. It was fun getting to play with the characters (like my kids usually do). If you look excited to see them, they'll definitely stop to greet & do pics with you. If you look down or dis-interested, they may pass you by. So be excited!!!! Have a fun breakfast & we'll look forward to your review!

 

[teachU2]

I just want to add that you can email for your Priority Seating at dine@disneyland.com

Email them the restaurant, date, time preference, and number in your party.

I have done this while in the park for the next day. It was great since we did not know if we wanted to eat certain places.

Email was super easy to use and I received a response very quickly. When I emailed I asked for the first reservation for Minnie's and it was 7:10. I know someone asked about the times earlier. Not sure about the ending time though.
I should also add that this was last week (July). I'm sure the times change with the seasons/opening park hours.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Email is super easy to use and I received a response very quickly. When I emailed I asked for the first reservation for Minnie's and it was 7:10. I know someone asked about the times earlier. Not sure about the ending time though.

Thank You for sharing that!! I'm glad it was easy to use the email system!!!

 

[readytogotodisney]

GREAT thread!! As a first timer to DL, I have been trying to find a "one stop shop" for all the character meals in one place. This has been so much help in figuring out our plans!

 

[DizNee Luver]

GREAT thread!! As a first timer to DL, I have been trying to find a "one stop shop" for all the character meals in one place. This has been so much help in figuring out our plans!

I'm glad you were able to get the needed information. If you come up with some questions, please don't hesitate to ask!!

 

[readytogotodisney]

I'm glad you were able to get the needed information. If you come up with some questions, please don't hesitate to ask!!

One question I do have is what time the meals start. Coming from the midwest and bringing my almost 3 year old, I KNOW we'll be up at 5am PDT/8am EDT so I'm looking for the earliest breakfast available.

 

[DizNee Luver]

One question I do have is what time the meals start. Coming from the midwest and bringing my almost 3 year old, I KNOW we'll be up at 5am PDT/8am EDT so I'm looking for the earliest breakfast available.

You're looking at 7 to 8am PDT depending on which restaurant. I believe that most of the character meals will start around the 7am time (I think that Ariel's Grotto would be the only one starting later at 8am).

When you get to the 60 day mark and call or email Disney Dining, you can ask them for the earliest seating time.

We're looking at the opposite problem when we come to WDW in December. We'll be eating at 5am our time for our 8am eastern ADR's........lol We're actually gonna start changing our "time" a few weeks before the trip to hopefully acclimate the family to the time change prior to arrival.

 

[Orbitron]

Here are some pictures of the Characters we met!

Minnie & Friend's Breakfast

Disney Princess Celebration

Goofy's Kitchen

Surf's Up with Mickey

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Email was super easy to use and I received a response very quickly. When I emailed I asked for the first reservation for Minnie's and it was 7:10. I know someone asked about the times earlier. Not sure about the ending time though.
I should also add that this was last week (July). I'm sure the times change with the seasons/opening park hours.

I called this morning and was told that in september the earliest is 9:10 as the park will open at 10am..
I was told if the opens at 8 then the 1st ressie will be at 7:10
If the park opens at 9 then the 1 st ressie is 8:10
Ect ect ect... Hope this helps..

Also does anyone know is there is a discount for using a Disney Visa Card at any of these meals???

 

[DizNee Luver]

pics​

Thank You for all those great pics!!

I called this morning and was told that in september the earliest is 9:10 as the park will open at 10am..
I was told if the opens at 8 then the 1st ressie will be at 7:10
If the park opens at 9 then the 1 st ressie is 8:10
Ect ect ect... Hope this helps..

Also does anyone know is there is a discount for using a Disney Visa Card at any of these meals???

Thank you for that information!!

Let me look into that.....I'm not sure!​

 

[DizNee Luver]

Also does anyone know is there is a discount for using a Disney Visa Card at any of these meals???

Ok, the answer is no. The Disney Visa will receive a 10% discount at the Big Thunder Ranch, River Belle Terrace & the French Market at Disneyland, Cocina Cucamonga at DCA, Steakhouse 55 at the DLH for breakfast only, Storyteller's at the GCH for lunch only and PCH Grill at the PPH for dinner only.


I'm posting the discounts available on the front page.

EDITED: After I posted this, someone posted a new thread mentioning that Goofy's Kitchen is now included on the 10% dining discount offered with the Disney Visa Card.

 

[sirvin12]

I loved this character meal!!!!! It was fun for my whole family except for my almost 2 year old daughter. She was terrified of all of the characters. My 5 year old daughter however was in complete heaven!!!! The food was just ok but the character interaction was amazing!!!! This was October 2011

 

[DizNee Luver]

I loved this character meal!!!!! It was fun for my whole family except for my almost 2 year old daughter. She was terrified of all of the characters. My 5 year old daughter however was in complete heaven!!!! The food was just ok but the character interaction was amazing!!!! This was October 2011

The character interaction at Minnie's is really good & usually a good mix of characters!! Thanx for sharing your wonderful pictures!!

 

[disneegrl4eva]

This was just a short overview of the 5 restaurants available.

Plaza Inn~~Minnie & Friends Breakfast is BREAKFAST ONLY.
Ariel's Grotto~~Princess Celebration is BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER.
Storyteller's Cafe~~Storyteller's Cafe Breakfast is BREAKFAST ONLY.
PCH Grill~~Surf's Up with Mickey is BREAKFAST ONLY.
Goofy's Kitchen~~Goofy's Kitchen is BRUNCH & DINNER.

wait a minute! Didnt they stop breakfast at Ariel's Grotto???

 

[DizNee Luver]

wait a minute! Didnt they stop breakfast at Ariel's Grotto???

Well if they did, the Disney Dining CM wasn't aware of it. She told me the first seating is at 8:10am. So if she is wrong and they truly aren't offering breakfast anymore.....someone let me know!!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

we are doing minnie, I am also thinking of doing surfs up.
is only 5 chrs what normaly is there? I know minnies had 10 in may but maybe other chrs meals only have 5-6 if so i guess surfs ups 5 isnt to bad.

how long did it take to see all 4 or 5 chrs at surfs up if i made it for 10am- would i be able to see all the chrs is i stayed till around noon? do the chrs go away at 11 or will they Finnish the round with the tables who might not have seen them all?

 

[Girimama33]

wait a minute! Didnt they stop breakfast at Ariel's Grotto???

Ariel's Grotto still serves breakfast. A change came on June 15th when they stopped using AG for the WOC package and made it a character meal for dinner instead.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

we are doing minnie, I am also thinking of doing surfs up.
is only 5 chrs what normaly is there? I know minnies had 10 in may but maybe other chrs meals only have 5-6 if so i guess surfs ups 5 isnt to bad.

how long did it take to see all 4 or 5 chrs at surfs up if i made it for 10am- would i be able to see all the chrs is i stayed till around noon? do the chrs go away at 11 or will they Finnish the round with the tables who might not have seen them all?

out of all the character breakfasts I would have to say kids get the most interaction with them at Surfs Up! and they come around more than once...I honestly dont think you will need to stay 2 hours to get what you want Jade unless you really want to eat a lot...and although I cant be positive, because we never go to it that late, I dont think they serve breakfast past 11:00 or so...therefore I would strongly consider going earlier...you wont have to worry about not getting to see them

 

[disneegrl4eva]

Ariel's Grotto still serves breakfast. A change came on June 15th when they stopped using AG for the WOC package and made it a character meal for dinner instead.

I knew about the WOC change but i swear they stopped serving it...oh well thanks for the heads up on that one

 

[DizNee Luver]

we are doing minnie, I am also thinking of doing surfs up.
is only 5 chrs what normaly is there? I know minnies had 10 in may but maybe other chrs meals only have 5-6 if so i guess surfs ups 5 isnt to bad.

how long did it take to see all 4 or 5 chrs at surfs up if i made it for 10am- would i be able to see all the chrs is i stayed till around noon? do the chrs go away at 11 or will they Finnish the round with the tables who might not have seen them all?

You'll see Mickey (usually) when you come in and do your family picture. If Mickey is on a short break, one of the other characters will pose for this picture.

Surf's Up is a small character meal, smaller restaurant & it usually doesnt' take very long for the characters to make the "rounds". We've gone and stayed for an hour and saw the characters twice!! We've also gone and only had them come around once in that amount of time. It depends on how many times they stop for dancing & games. (which I strongly encourage your kids to do with them). You are allotted 90 mins. So I'm guessing (don't quote me cause I don't work for Disney) with the restaurant breakfast hours ending at 11am that the characters would be there at least until 11:30. If you go at 10am....you will have plenty of time to see them & eat.

One other thing to remember: There is always a "Character Manager"....someone that stands & observes during the meal. If you haven't seen a character (and you've been waiting for a while), please go up and nicely let them know. Sometimes the characters forget where they left off if they go up to dance or help the kids surf, etc. They don't try to miss tables, but it can happen by mistake.