Dinner theaters vs. Goofy Kitchen

[agamble]

My family of five (Dh, myself, and 3 kids who will be 7, 4, & 1.5) along with my mother will be heading to Disneyland Parks Saturday, June 17-24. We are staying at the Dolphin's Cove (timeshare condos). My mother is flying in and should arrive at the resort before noon, but we'll be driving and likely won't arrive until 2 or 3, so we do not currently plan to go to the parks on our arrival day. We have purchased APs, so in theory we could leave earlier to arrive earlier and go to the parks on Saturday, but it's going to be a long week and I'm thinking I'd rather be rested and ready to go on Sunday morning. So, I was thinking we would unpack, unwind, maybe let the kids swim, and go out to a fun dinner.

We are all vegetarian, and my mother is gluten free. So I am curious what others think about these options. My current three choices are:

1. Goofy's Kitchen: We've never done this meal (though we've done other character breakfasts) and Goofy is my favorite. I've heard both good and bad reviews. The kids would love getting to meet some characters and they'd probably like the PB&J pizza. Not sure what this buffet would have to offer my mother who is gluten and meat free.

2. Medieval Times: This would be a lot of fun. They do have a vegetarian option that is beans and rice, so would be appropriate for everyone.

3. Pirates Adventure: My kids love pirates, but I'm not sure if this show is as family friendly as the Medieval Times. Their menu is a bit odd, but they do have vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options and we could probably call ahead to make sure there was something my mother could eat.

Does anyone have any reviews on these dinner choices? Anyone done more than one of them and have a suggestion as to what might be more fun? Any comments on the food? What about the family aspect of the shows? Value for the money? They're all pretty similar in price, with Goofy's being slightly cheaper than the dinner theaters. Anyone have any tips to saving money on the dinner theaters?

I'm also open to other suggestions if anyone has them. We've done Rainforest a few times, but not much else.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Scorpion1024]

Hi there!
We are headed down in April. I am only bringing one child. A boy who is 10. I looked at all of the dinner choices you list above and decided on Pirates Adventures - to suit him. My final deciding factor was the groupon they have right now. $23-28 a child and $32-36 per adult.
You could watch and see if the groupon is still around. It has to be used within 90 days of purchase so check around March 25th.

 

[Steven G]

I've done all 3 and recommend medieval times in terms of experience. As previous poster mentioned, both dinner theaters have some great discounts that can be found.

I found pirates to be a little more chaotic and harder to follow than medieval. Food was more or less same quality for both theaters. As well, some of the language is a little risqué in pirates nothing major though. Medieval is clean.

Goofys definitely has more variety in terms of food, esepcially in deserts, and I think it is slightly better quality than the theaters.



So...
If all you care about is food, go with goofys.
Otherwise, find a good discount, and go with one of the theaters, I prefer medieval.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

If you choose one of the theaters, I also prefer Medieval Times. Pirates was a bit more campy, though we also enjoyed it. This is also an experience different than any of the meal experiences at the Disneyland Resort.

 

[Speechphi]

We haven't been to the off-site restaurants, but I can attest to the GF options (dd has celiac).

Goofy's is great for breakfast/brunch. All DL sit down restaurants are.

DD prefers Storyteller's at the Grand for dinner. I wish I could remember what she ate, but she's not a vegetarian, so I know she ate the meat! Since going there last summer, my kids beg to go back! They have a buffet & a regular menu. And they do have GF pasta that they cooked up in the back for her. I think they made some other items as well. There aren't any characters, but like I said, my kids love this place now. They were 11, 10, & (almost) 8 when we went last summer.

 

[SMD]

I'd probably pick Goofy's because I'm not sure how much the younger 2 would get out of Medieval Times. But, you could save a considerable amount for 5 people with an AP discount if you go to Goofy's later in the trip. What about Rainforest Cafe?

 

[agamble]

I'd probably pick Goofy's because I'm not sure how much the younger 2 would get out of Medieval Times. But, you could save a considerable amount for 5 people with an AP discount if you go to Goofy's later in the trip. What about Rainforest Cafe?

Baby probably won't care where we dine. I think my 4 y/o son would like the dinner shows. He'd think the knights or pirates were cool even if he didn't understand everything. We've done Rainforest a few times, so I was looking at other options.

The AP discount is 10%, right? I've never bought a voucher for a character meal before because we had APs the three times we did character breakfasts, but I think I figured it was about the same to buy the voucher or use the AP discount at the park. I'd have to look into that. Technically we could get our APs before dinner if I was going to go that route; they're good for 13 months so activating them that day for the dinner discount would be fine for our travel plans. Thanks for reminding me about dining discounts at DL hotels. I tend to just think of the discount as in the parks.

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

I have done all three. Pirates was so terrible that we considered leaving in the middle. It was very poorly acted and not up to high school standards.
Do Goofy or Medieval Times.

 

[agamble]

One site I saw lists the current price of Goofy's dinner at around $40 for an adult and around $17 a child after tax. But the menu they listed doesn't look very GF friendly, or really adult friendly at all. It looks like typical salad, meat, and veggies plus hotdogs, pizza, and macaroni. Does anyone know if they offer GF pizza? I would also be very bummed if we went to Goofy's and Goofy wasn't there. I have heard that sometimes Pluto is there instead of Goofy. This one seems like the most Disney option of course, but the most risky too. I'm sure my kids would love it. At full price it's cheaper than the dinner theaters though. I didn't find a groupon for Medieval, but I did see the one for Pirates.

ETA: Never mind the vouchers. They are not a good deal at all, unless the price of $40 I found is wrong. They want $47 for an adult and $29 for a kid. That's quite the mark-up for included gratuity.

 

[agamble]

I have done all three. Pirates was so terrible that we considered leaving in the middle. It was very poorly acted and not up to high school standards.
Do Goofy or Medieval Times.

Thank you. Reviews I've read today make it sound like Medieval is a much better show and Pirates is entertaining for young children but boring for older people.

 

[Speechphi]

One site I saw lists the current price of Goofy's dinner at around $40 for an adult and around $17 a child after tax. But the menu they listed doesn't look very GF friendly, or really adult friendly at all. It looks like typical salad, meat, and veggies plus hotdogs, pizza, and macaroni. Does anyone know if they offer GF pizza? I would also be very bummed if we went to Goofy's and Goofy wasn't there. I have heard that sometimes Pluto is there instead of Goofy. This one seems like the most Disney option of course, but the most risky too. I'm sure my kids would love it. At full price it's cheaper than the dinner theaters though. I didn't find a groupon for Medieval, but I did see the one for Pirates.

ETA: Never mind the vouchers. They are not a good deal at all, unless the price of $40 I found is wrong. They want $47 for an adult and $29 for a kid. That's quite the mark-up for included gratuity.

I would think they have GF pizza at Goofy's. I know that Storytellers & the other DLR restaurants that have pizza have a GF option. They make it in the back. My daughter thought Storyteller's had the best crust.

 

[allsaintsatx]

We've never done the offsite meals, but we have done Goofy's Kitchen for dinner, and I am gluten intolerant.

I'm pretty sure it's a set line up of characters nowadays at Goofy's. You meet him first before dinner in a fairly ornate "kitchen" for a group photo and then you're escorted to your table. That's the only M&G with Goofy, but it's a pretty great set up for the photo, which was recently redone about a year or 2 ago. He does come through the restaurant when they do the character parade (pretty much exactly like Chef Mickey's in WDW with the napkin waving and all that!) so you get to see him again.

Ever since they stopped doing the random characters and switched to Minnie, Chip and Dale, Pluto (and Goofy at the beginning) we've always gotten our picture with Goofy. We had Pluto twice in 2013, and Goofy and Pluto together once in 2014 but ever since the update about a year ago it's been the same characters every time even though they say it's not "guaranteed". And they are all wearing new updated outfits too which are really nice!

It is not the greatest dinner buffet on property but I think having the characters outweighs the minor dips in food selection. I believe they had GF rolls, GF meat options, potatoes, soft serve self serve ice cream for dessert, stuff like that. It's not bad, not by a longshot, it's just more kinda what you're used to ya know? Storyteller's and PCH Grill have more diverse foods but no characters for dinner. And wow that PBJ pizza - my kid can eat his weight in those things! I'm fairly sure they do not have GF pizza, although sometimes you have to ask for those things! At PCH Grill, it wasn't advertised at all, but if you asked the server they could make you 2 different GF pizzas - like a whole pizza! And it was included in the buffet price so I'm not ashamed to say I ordered (and ate) both!!

Goofy's is super fun, especially if you have kids, and it will definitely get you all pumped up for the rest of your trip! Then you can walk off all the food you just ate afterwards with a stroll through Downtown Disney.

Have a great time on your trip!!!

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm pretty sure it's a set line up of characters nowadays at Goofy's.

It is.

 

[agamble]

Thank you for all your ideas.

Has anyone tried Fire & Ice? Not quite the entertainment of the other options, but it sounds like the food may be appealing to everyone.

 

[AuntieMe3]

We love medieval times! So much fun! Go to their website and sign up on their email list, I get emails with coupon codes almost daily!