Character Meals Super Thread!!

[grumpy 12]

What kind of meat is at the craving station at Gk? That will also help with the decision.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Is the peanut butter and jelly pizza there at dinner too or just breakfast? I'm thinking maybe do GK for the dinner the first night since we won't be in the park that day and surf's up for breakfast. I really want my kids to see their favorite characters and since stitch is only at a breakfast I might have to do it this way.

Yes, it's there at dinner.

 

[misdizadict]

It's so interesting to me because we've had the exact opposite experience. We've never had a problem with characters at GK and had our best meal there our last trip, which was a late dinner. We've had good breakfasts at Plaza Inn, but our last time there (Oct. 2012) was SO bad, I'm not sure we'll ever go back. After a huge seating snafu, it took 2 hours for a single character to come by and that was after going to the main handler 3 times (and watching them walk through the section next to us multiple times). We did see some characters, but they were rushed and by this time, people were coming in with their own food (patio seating) and using it like meet & greets, which nobody stopped. So frustrating! And I disagree - Goofy's Kitchen food is so much better than Plaza Inn and has much more variety. Different strokes for different folks

Yes I'm just as shocked as everyone else about our poor experience at GK. I have read rave reviews before trying on our last visit but it left much to be desired in my opinion. I was shocked that they were offering a wide variety of dessert options at 9:30 in the morning with of course appealed to my 5 and 7 year old children. It wasn't pretty when I was the mean mommy that said no to the cupcakes and pies for breakfast. We were their for an hour with little to Jo character interaction again I must have caught them on a bad day but I have been at the minnie and friends character breakfast at the Plaza Inn and we have been very happy both visits with the food,cost & character interaction. We also enjoy the fact that it is located in the park so it's very easy to get going with your day after breakfast. Agreed everyone has their own opinion

 

[JadeDarkstar]

we always do Minnie's plaza inn and have seen so many chrs there before. I loved gk dinner when i went . I have also done the princess but like the amount of chrs at Minnie's the best
we did story tellers too the stake there was wonderful for breakfast and we liked the bears

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I'm trying to decide which character meal would be best for us. I think we'd like to see the most characters possible, so it sounds like Plaza Inn might be the best, but I think we'd like the food at Storyteller's better.

Hmm.

By the way, does DL have someone like Kenny the Pirate who does a really great character website?

 

[Aladora]

Offhand, does anyone know current (March 2014) prices for Minnie and Friends breakfast? Trying to find it in a 35 page thread is hard!

Thanks!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

alls ears had it at 23 and 12

 

[Aladora]

alls ears had it at 23 and 12

Thanks, I had a feeling All Ears was out of date so I decided to stop being lazy and just called Disney Dining!

FYI, Minnie and Friends is 27 and 13, Surf's Up is 31 and 16 and Storytellers is 28 and 13.

 

[lucysmom]

We had such a disastrous time at Minnie's last December. The restaurant was overbooked. Way too crowded. The food options were limited. It took twenty minutes in the omelet line to get our omelet. Then we had to wait in another long line to get the rest. It was awful. If you can go out of the park, try Surf's Up at the PPH. No waits. Better food choices. And we got our photo with Mickey. At Miinnie's you get your photo on the porch, sans characters. This year we are going to try Storytellers. I hear the food is great, but it is woodland characters. Some people are looking for the classic characters.

 

[Aladora]

We had such a disastrous time at Minnie's last December. The restaurant was overbooked. Way too crowded. The food options were limited. It took twenty minutes in the omelet line to get our omelet. Then we had to wait in another long line to get the rest. It was awful. If you can go out of the park, try Surf's Up at the PPH. No waits. Better food choices. And we got our photo with Mickey. At Miinnie's you get your photo on the porch, sans characters. This year we are going to try Storytellers. I hear the food is great, but it is woodland characters. Some people are looking for the classic characters.

Thanks! We've actually done all the character meals except the princess one and we've always had a great time at Minnie's. The last time we were there was last September, I hope that your bad experience was a one off!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Thanks! We've actually done all the character meals except the princess one and we've always had a great time at Minnie's. The last time we were there was last September, I hope that your bad experience was a one off!

I've heard so many people rave about Minnie's and we had a great time there in 2006/2007. However we had a such a horrible time in Oct. 2012 that I'm not sure we'll ever return.

 

[Disney127]

Thanks, I had a feeling All Ears was out of date so I decided to stop being lazy and just called Disney Dining!

FYI, Minnie and Friends is 27 and 13, Surf's Up is 31 and 16 and Storytellers is 28 and 13.

Thanks for the price information. Surf's Up is our favourite because DD loves Stitch! And we are also going to be trying Minnie's and Storytellers on our next trip!

 

[awdsmama]

We had a fabulous time at Plaza Inn/Minnies in March 2012

For this trip ds9 has been saying he doesn't want to do character dining.

Well that changed tonight when he saw pics from last trip again and got all excited now.

He has chosen Storytellers.

What movies could we watch to increase chances of recognizing who some of the lesser known characters are there? (I hear they aren't all obvious? )

 

[sandysue]

Back in 2011 we saw Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear, Meeko from Pocahontas, Chip, Dale and braer bear. We've never seen song of the south but I have a classic Disney storybook from my childhood that includes the braer rabbit stories, which you want the kids to know for Splash mountain too.

 

[awdsmama]

Back in 2011 we saw Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear, Meeko from Pocahontas, Chip, Dale and braer bear. We've never seen song of the south but I have a classic Disney storybook from my childhood that includes the braer rabbit stories, which you want the kids to know for Splash mountain too.

Thank you. Out of those he only knows Chip and Dale. Guess we'll need to watch Pocahontas also lol.

I really wish he'd pick a different character dining experience but I can't argue with his reasoning on it: he already got autographs from the regular, main, characters last trip so wants to get other ones this time.

 

[BadRomance]

We had kind of a hard time at surfs up last week... Not because of anything wrong with the restaurant itself, but because of all overall circumstance. So hopefully this review will help someone in our situation. It was me, my dh and my dd (20 months). Between all the activities (hula dancing with LILO and stitch, surfing with Mickey, dance parties at the front), and making sure you don't miss the characters as they come around, and finding the time to go to the buffet- not to mention actually EAT... It was EXHAUSTING.

Dd only wanted to be held when the characters came around because they frightened her a little, but would warm up to them once she was in my husbands arms and maybe "eye level" with them if that makes sense. We got some darling photos and you can't beat the characters you find there. They tried to charge us for dd and I was like no no no she is under 2 and we hardly even ate anything ourselves let alone dd, and they took the charge right off. So watch for that.

The overall experience was darling. I loved seeing dd "dance" and try to surf. The characters were awesome. Right as Pluto (dd's favorite character) came up to our table, this lady came up to him and tried to get him to come with her across the restaurant for a "quick picture". Pluto pointed to our table and several others indicating that he had other tables to see first and she would have to wait her turn. Way to go Pluto!

Make reservations for this place! Even if it's just a couple hours before. I woke up at 6 am and couldn't go back to sleep and so I just made a reservation for breakfast for 9:20 that same morning. It was a mad house when we showed up. People were storming off saying it's taking too long while dragging their screaming kids, people audibly yelling "there's people everywhere you go!", there were parties who had been waiting almost an hour... Etc. We checked in and didn't even have time to park our stroller before they called us in. So make a reservation.

We won't be doing character dining buffets for a while. If anything we will do the ones you can order off the menu to alleviate the stress of it all. Surfs up was cute, but we will wait until dd is older until we go back.

By the way, we saw Mickey, Minnie, daisy, Pluto, LILO, and stitch.

 

[malloriewillms]

Not sure if this is mentioned but Minnie's and friends in plaza inn will be closed sometime in march till I'm not sure for refurbishments. I called yesterday to book bfast for my sons second bday trip in May 1-4. We decided on goofys kitchen instead hope it's as good. Kinda disappointed so much will be in refur when were there. Four of my fave rides are down too. Alice, Indiana, pirates and little mermaid. Two are supposed to open four days after we leave maybe they'll come back earlier....

 

[skinnydip68]

Not sure if this is mentioned but Minnie's and friends in plaza inn will be closed sometime in march till I'm not sure for refurbishments. I called yesterday to book bfast for my sons second bday trip in May 1-4. We decided on goofys kitchen instead hope it's as good. Kinda disappointed so much will be in refur when were there. Four of my fave rides are down too. Alice, Indiana, pirates and little mermaid. Two are supposed to open four days after we leave maybe they'll come back earlier....

Was Plaza Inn not available during the May 1-4th time frame you were calling about???

 

[malloriewillms]

Correct. It will still be closed.

 

[twilightsparkle]

I can't remember the exact dates the Plaza Inn will be closed, but it closes on April 28th. That's the day we wanted to go.