Another Character Meal Question

[Frozen2014]

Furthermore, our hotel provides breakfast so I am thinking that our best option for a character meal is to try Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. This of course is also the most expensive option.

Having said that, our provided hotel breakfast is minimal, so as a second option, we could do a late character breakfast. What is the latest time we could book breakfast and still see the characters? We'd either do Goofy's Kitchen, Storyteller Cafe, Surf's Up or Plaza Inn. (We have a boy so am skipping Ariel's Grotto)

PS- I know it's a personal preference but of those, which is your favourite?

 

[haileymarie92]

My favorite food was at Storytellers, but my favorite for Character interaction is Plaza Inn.

 

[YukonMommy]

We have done Goofys and Minnies (Plaza). Our favorite is Minnie's. As for times it depends on what time of year you are going and park/restaurant hours.

Have a Magical Time!

 

[Frozen2014]

Going end of the summer. Is there somewhere I can tell the hours for the characters? I would hate to book late morning and the characters would have left by then.

i.e. i want to book as late as we can but still safely see the characters

 

[Nevada Jen]

THe characters stay until the end so don't worry about that. They have pretty much the same characters all the time at each one. So look at them and see which ones appeal to you. The storytellers characters are pretty uncommon. Assuming you have plenty of days in the park, I would book the latest Plaza Inn you can if you want a barrage of characters. I think my actual favorite experience of food plus characters is Surf's Up but I wouldn't leave the park to do it. It is not as crowded physically and Stitch is hilarious.

 

[figment_jii]

At about the 60-day mark (when reservations open), they'll often post the restaurant's operating hours on the website and that will give you a sense of when the characters are there (based on the hours for the meal time).

For Storytellers, which switch to non-character lunch, I would aim for a reservations no later than 1 hour before the meal time ends to be safe. I recall that when Storytellers breakfast ended at 11:00 am and lunch started around then, while the characters did come around, they exit almost as soon as they finish the rotation and there is a chance that they might miss your table.

 

[Frozen2014]

At about the 60-day mark (when reservations open), they'll often post the restaurant's operating hours on the website and that will give you a sense of when the characters are there (based on the hours for the meal time).

For Storytellers, which switch to non-character lunch, I would aim for a reservations no later than 1 hour before the meal time ends to be safe. I recall that when Storytellers breakfast ended at 11:00 am and lunch started around then, while the characters did come around, they exit almost as soon as they finish the rotation and there is a chance that they might miss your table.

Exactly...that's what i want to avoid since most places go from breakfast to lunch, but characters are only there during breakfast time.

I just did a search on 'breakfast' then none of them came up, but if I search on 11:30am, then I get Storytellers Cafe for 10:55am, 11:30am and 11:45am. Would characters be here or is this lunch?

I guess if I search on 'breakfast' as opposed to something like '11:30' then that's probably the safest?

 

[figment_jii]

I would search for a specific time rather than just a generic "Breakfast", but that's because it'll only give you up to three options, but there might be other times available. I like selecting a specific time so that I can get a reservation as close to the time that I want as possible. The dining website seems to be having problems right now (at least for me), but once it comes back up, you can usually find the hours for each meal time on the restaurant's webpage (around the 60-day mark). I think only Storyteller's and the Plaza have the breakfast/lunch transition issue - PCH Grill doesn't serve lunch and Goofy's has characters at day long.

Regarding Storyteller's, I can't say for sure what the hours are for lunch, but the last time I had a 11:30 am reservation and that was considered lunch.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thanks figment. Our dates aren't up yet but have been trying to check Feb and March to get an idea. If you're having issues too then not just me.
Ok..so will search on desired time and as long as it lists it as 'breakfast' then we're ok.

 

[allsaintsatx]

You really can't go wrong with any of those breakfasts. We love each of them, so I don't think you can pick a bad one!

We've done all of those, and GK for dinner. In our experience, breakfast wasn't as crowded as dinner. We always see all the characters in just about an hour, but our dinner at GK we saw 2 characters in an hour. There were just so many people in there it took longer for the characters to get around.

If you are staying offsite and want a "wow" factor you may want to choose GK, Storyteller's or Plaza. Surf's Up is great, but the hotel is kinda just a normal hotel. It's pretty, but it's not as nice as DLH or GCH. And Plaza is amazing too! The food at Plaza is a notch or two below the others, but you see a whole host of characters and they rotate them around so you are never quite sure who you'll see!

If you were to twist my arm, I'd say breakfast at Goofy's is our favorite! But I would do any of them tomorrow in a heartbeat.

 

[SMD]

Don't leave the park to see characters. If it's a park day, do Plaza Inn.

 

[Frozen2014]

I would search for a specific time rather than just a generic "Breakfast", but that's because it'll only give you up to three options, but there might be other times available. I like selecting a specific time so that I can get a reservation as close to the time that I want as possible. The dining website seems to be having problems right now (at least for me), but once it comes back up, you can usually find the hours for each meal time on the restaurant's webpage (around the 60-day mark). I think only Storyteller's and the Plaza have the breakfast/lunch transition issue - PCH Grill doesn't serve lunch and Goofy's has characters at day long.

Regarding Storyteller's, I can't say for sure what the hours are for lunch, but the last time I had a 11:30 am reservation and that was considered lunch.

Just noticed a comment you made....does Goofy's Kitchen have characters at lunch? I thought I read that Goofy's Kitchen is only character meal at breakfast and dinner....and only Ariel's Grotto was an option for lunch.

 

[Frozen2014]

Don't leave the park to see characters. If it's a park day, do Plaza Inn.

Yeah...that probably makes the most logical sense. We're going for 4 days and have park hoppers so on the flip side, a break from the park at one of the hotels may not be so bad. Think they hotels are still close walking distance?

 

[Leopardstars]

Our hotel doesn't include breakfast and we booked a 10am breakfast at Minnie & Friends. Our plan is that at 10 or later, brunch could be "lunch" meal for the adults. DD and I are not big breakfast eaters so an earlier reservation wouldn't be good for us. I've also heard good things for other posters about the later morning reservations and the character interactions.

Yeah...that probably makes the most logical sense. We're going for 4 days and have park hoppers so on the flip side, a break from the park at one of the hotels may not be so bad. Think they hotels are still close walking distance?

Depending on where you are staying and which hotel you choose, the walk to the Disney hotels may be just as far , if not further, than the walk from your hotel to the parks. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[SMD]

I assumed the late breakfast was because they're going to the park first. Which means going through security, lining up to enter the park, eventually exiting the park, walking to the hotel, and then going through security again. If not going to the park first, why a late breakfast? How much of your decision to stay at the hotel was based on the minimal breakfast? If you're planning to eat your included breakfast first, then have a second breakfast, don't. Just let the minimal breakfast go for 1 day and do a pre-opening or as close to opening as you can breakfast at whatever character grouping appeals to your group. If you're doing Plaza Inn pre-opening is more appealing because then you're in the park near opening when you're done. If you want a break from the park, just have breakfast and be in the park by 10 that day. If you're paying for the character experience, don't guess on timing your arrival, seating and getting what's left of the buffet with the final character rotation. Go early enough that the food will be replenished and you'll be more likely to get the full character rotation that you're paying for.

 

[agamble]

If you call the Disney dine line they will tell you the hours the restaurant is serving breakfast (within 60 day window) and also the price if you ask. Typically last reservations are about 40 minutes before end time, but I would book at least an hour out. We like Minnie's, but have only been there and Storytellers. Having breakfast at your hotel then a late breakfast to sub for lunch is what we did last trip. It worked well.

 

[Frozen2014]

Yes...looking at either dinner or late breakfast/early lunch. I don't want to spend lower crowd times at a meal.
Maybe we're better to just book dinner at Goofy's kitchen and not worry about the extra $40 or so. Then we won't be stressed about missing teh characters or getting stale food as they are winding down to prepare for lunch.

 

[lvdis]

Depending on what day you what to have your meal, it looks like Goofy's Kitchen has later breakfast hours on Sat/Sun. This is what the Disneyland site shows when I look at reservations for a Saturday in April. I don't know if it's always like this on weekends or not, but that might be a good option if you are there on a weekend.

I just noticed Storytellers Cafe appears to have later breakfast hours on Sat/Sun too.

 

[Frozen2014]

Depending on what day you what to have your meal, it looks like Goofy's Kitchen has later breakfast hours on Sat/Sun. This is what the Disneyland site shows when I look at reservations for a Saturday in April. I don't know if it's always like this on weekends or not, but that might be a good option if you are there on a weekend.

​

I just noticed Storytellers Cafe appears to have later breakfast hours on Sat/Sun too.

Thank you for posting. Looks like they are creating brunch option. Our Disney days are Tuesday to Friday, so won't get this but will for sure check the range for each of our days.