Don't kick yourself for not doing the Critter Breakfast sooner, Laurie (and Vicki, too, for that matter). Just like all the other DLR restaurants, it has its off days too. I've done it a few times. The last time we went, my two friends didn't care for the food and they cared even less about the characters! (The food was not good on that day we were there. It was an off day.) Your timing probably worked out the way it was supposed to work out. Maybe if you had gone on another day it wouldn't have been as good.
I love Storytellers as a restaurant in general - I love the cozy atmosphere and the woodsy decorations. I love it more for lunch and dinner than as a character meal, however. Meanwhile, others on the DIS said they have eaten there and the food and service at dinner were horrendous and they all got food poisoning, etc. (What's a good experience for one group may be horrible for the next group!)
The problem that I have with the Critter Breakfast character meal is that the buffet is very small and limited. Good thing it is $22.99 (off-peak season price), so the buffet is a better value to me than the breakfast menu items. The breakfast menu items are waaaaay too costly for what they are. You are basically paying $18+ for something (is it the American Breakfast?) that is the size of a Denny's Grand Slam - or smaller. Also, I love Chip and Dale but as you have pointed out, they are everywhere so I can find them at Goofy's. I like Meeko, but not enough to draw me to the Critter Breakfast every time. Otherwise - no interest in Koda and Kenai whatsoever. And the breakfast food, to me (not counting last time when it was just not good), was no better than at any other DLR restaurant - but it's in a different setting so it seems more rustic and earthy.
The non-character lunch and dinner prices are actually much more reasonable for what they are, in comparison to the high breakfast menu prices.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear you did the Critter Breakfast on a good day (an 'on day') and that it was a big hit for everyone. I'm sure I will do the CB again at some point in the future if someone in my group just has to do it, but none of the people I have gone there with were that blown away on any trip, and actually my friends said that there were some items (can't remember what - maybe the sausage? Definitely the fruit, for sure!) that were much better at Goofy's (as a general rule - not Goofy's on an off day!).
I have yet to try Minnie & Friends. If and when my friend from Idaho ever come back out, that might be the time to try it. She was a big Goofy's fan in the old days, but since the Pooh characters are now M&F (in the old, old days they used to be at Goofy's when it was the only character meal), I have a feeling she would want to dine with Pooh & the gang. I am just hoping we don't end up at M&F on one of their off days, when the food is cold and blah.
I always remind him it's the characters not the food. Then I don't have to walk around the park looking for everybodies favorite character..
A little extra cost for a happy mommy is always worth it.
Woo Hoo!!
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I'm just SO in demand!!
