Ariel's Princess Breakfast or Minnie's?

[jilld11]

Hello All,
I really wanted to take DD7 to the princess breakfast at AG, but just realized (I think) that it's not a buffet, but a made to order. If that's the case, I would rather go to Minnie's at the Plaza Inn for the buffet, but probably not get any princesses. Sucks for my DD, but we love breakfast and to spend that money, I want to ensure we all get a great meal. Any thoughts that would sway me the other way??? I also have DS9 who thinks he is too cool for either, but I know he will love either once he's there. It's the magic of Disney

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Your son would probably prefer Minnie's? I really like it and we'll be going this trip again. It's a bunch of 'classic' characters. I super want to take my girlies to a princess one too but I want my DS to have fun as well so we'll do Minnie's this year.

 

[jilld11]

So you have been to Minnie's? The bfast is good? We love a good buffet!!! Am I right that Ariel's is a made to order, not a buffet?? Thanks for your reply.

 

[pixiemomof3]

Minnie's is a breakfast buffet, Ariel's is not a buffet.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I dunno about Ariel's..someone will come along with that answer soon I bet. I haven't been there so I may seem biased The bfast was way good to us. The sausage was delicious!! We liked all the offerings and the kids LOVED the fruit. (we live in Utah...our produce is very sub par LOL)

 

[jilld11]

Arie's is definately a breakfast, I sell them as a "premium breakfast" and on the disney website says it's a character breakfast. As a travel agent, we travel alot, but can't have done everything, so am hoping for some knowleagable info on the breakfasts. Emmerismommy, sounds like you like the Minnie's food and that is really the way we are leaningl. Thanks for the post

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

No problem! I hope you love whichever you choose!

 

[karisma99]

Go to Goofy's kitchen instead. It has both princesses and classic characters and a buffet breakfast! It is located in the Disneyland Hotel. We just did this breakfast two weeks ago and loved it. We saw Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty as well as the classic goofy, chip, dale, pluto, Baloo, etc. It was great! We liked the food and had a great time.

 

[DISHoppy]

So you have been to Minnie's? The bfast is good? We love a good buffet!!! Am I right that Ariel's is a made to order, not a buffet?? Thanks for your reply.

It's family style.

http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/menus/dl/arielsgrotto.shtml

Princess Character Breakfast
for one set price per person, enjoy a selection of breakfast items, served family style.

Adults - $34.99 indoors, $31.99 outdoors
Children 3-9 - $18.99 indoors, $17.99 outdoors
Seatings at 8:30 a.m., 8:40 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 9:20 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

Selections include: Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Breakfast Potatoes, Fruit, Cheese, Salami, Breakfast Breads

-Kevin

 

[jilld11]

I hadn't considered that, but if the food is good and you get a variety of characters, maybe I should. Love a buffet and just really want both kids to enjoy. I think I just had it in my mind that there were more characters at Minnie's and also that if I went into DLH, I would be so jealous and kicking myself for not staying onsite.lol

 

[DISHoppy]

Ariel's is not a buffet or breakfast.

If it's not breakfast, then I dunno what we'll be eating @ 9:30am...

-Kevin

 

[pixiemomof3]

I know, I just thought about that typo. I will need to fix that!
MY BAD!

 

[Babybears]

The Ariel's Breakfast is served family style. The breakfast platter comes to you with all below items described for your table to share. You can request more of any item you run out of or need more of (for instance more bacon). I also thought I read on a post somewhere on here that they also make waffles upon request, so that would nice too!

Per Allears website:

Breakfast Tier
A three-tier platter filled with fresh fruit, a selection of cheeses and cold cuts,
and breakfast pastries, bagels and croissants.

Breakfast Platter
Scrambled eggs, bacon, turkey sausage and breakfast potatoes.



Beverage Selections

Selection of juices
Coffee, Regular or Decaf
Hot Cocoa
Hot Tea
Low Fat or Chocolate Milk
Coke, diet Coke, Sprite, Barq's Root Beer, Light Lemonade, Iced Tea


The Minnie & Friends breakfast has a lot of fans, although some of the reviews on the actual food have been that it is only so-so compared to the other buffets. As far as the character interaction, it is pretty hard to beat, as you should see the most characters bang for you bucks.

Either way, I'm sure you and your family will enjoy! Can't go wrong either way!

 

[karisma99]

I hadn't considered that, but if the food is good and you get a variety of characters, maybe I should. Love a buffet and just really want both kids to enjoy. I think I just had it in my mind that there were more characters at Minnie's and also that if I went into DLH, I would be so jealous and kicking myself for not staying onsite.lol

I did kick myself for not staying onsite, but I got over it quickly.... LOL!!

 

[starshine514]

Hello All,
I really wanted to take DD7 to the princess breakfast at AG, but just realized (I think) that it's not a buffet, but a made to order. If that's the case, I would rather go to Minnie's at the Plaza Inn for the buffet, but probably not get any princesses. Sucks for my DD, but we love breakfast and to spend that money, I want to ensure we all get a great meal. Any thoughts that would sway me the other way??? I also have DS9 who thinks he is too cool for either, but I know he will love either once he's there. It's the magic of Disney

I would do Minnie's over Ariels. We have done both in the past year (Minnie's for DD7's birthday, Ariel's for DD5's) and we liked the food better at Minnie's. Made-to-order omelettes are better than scrambled eggs, Mickey-shaped waffles - my girls liked those much better than the plain old circle one (yes, one for the table) they served us at Ariel's. Plus, the character interaction was better and it was cheaper. The only drawback was that you had to leave your table to get your food, but to tell you the truth, us returning with our plates to find Minnie signing DD's autograph book was pretty neat!

The only fault I really had with Minnie's is that they didn't do anything special for my DD's birthday (at Ariel's, they brought a brownie with a candle in it and we sang to her).

 

[starshine514]

The Ariel's Breakfast is served family style. The breakfast platter comes to you with all below items described for your table to share. You can request more of any item you run out of or need more of (for instance more bacon). I also thought I read on a post somewhere on here that they also make waffles upon request, so that would nice too!

Per Allears website:

Breakfast Tier
A three-tier platter filled with fresh fruit, a selection of cheeses and cold cuts,
and breakfast pastries, bagels and croissants.

Breakfast Platter
Scrambled eggs, bacon, turkey sausage and breakfast potatoes.



Beverage Selections

Selection of juices
Coffee, Regular or Decaf
Hot Cocoa
Hot Tea
Low Fat or Chocolate Milk
Coke, diet Coke, Sprite, Barq's Root Beer, Light Lemonade, Iced Tea

Correction - bagel and croissant - there will only be one of each (for a table of 3) unless you request more. That being said, the breakfast tier was my favorite part of the meal.

They also bring one waffle to the table. Also, the turkey sausage was odd. My girls are both breakfast sausage lovers and neither of them would eat it. It didn't at all seem like a normal breakfast sausage.

 

[DisSarahK]

Do Minnie's! It is our FAVORITE character meal ever--and that includes my princess crazy daughter! We love it! You can find princesses elsewhere in the park. Minnie's is a fun meal and the characters will spend so much time with you, especially if you are willing to interact with them. My children have had bouncing contests with Tigger, played hide/seek with Chip and Dale, and the Fairy Godmother taught my daughter to curtsy properly. Personally, I love goofing around with Captain Hook. Two years ago I ended up going for his sword and somehow that evolved into him challenging my husband to a duel--eventually I ended up sitting on Captain Hook's lap. I'm still not sure how that happened! LOL! Hours later we saw him walking through the park and he recognized our family and resumed the duel--it was great!!

Anyhow, we love Minnie's Breakfast and have a great time there every year. That is one character meal we do on every trip.

 

[nannyz]

We've done the breakfast at the Plaza twice and will not do it again.
You have to make a choice -- either you eat breakfast or you grab a muffin or something and stay at the table so you can watch your kids' interaction with the characters and take pictures. You cannot do both.
Both times we did the breakfast, they ran out of food and we had to wait for it, and it took so long to get your food that you missed the characters. I complained to the management the last time and they refunded my money.
This is the only place that we have had this kind of problem and I don't understand why Disney can't fix it. They need more food ready and more serving lines; and they should allow you time to get food before the characters start their rounds.

Turkey sausage? ---- ewwwww -- who eats that stuff?

 

[hlbtimes2]

We love breakfast at Minnies. I actually tried to talk my family (10 and 13 year old kids) into checking out a different character meal for our upcoming trip. They are not interested in trying something new.

They love the character interaction there. Much more then just signing an autograph book, posing for a pic and moving on. We've had Tigger roll on the floor, and "fly" like an airplane. Minnie pose like a Bond girl with my sons' astro blaster gun. Fairy Godmother hold the kids on her lap. Just great interaction!

One thing I like about it, is that while its a buffet, there are cast members putting the food on your plate. I have a problem with buffets and unknown people touching something I'm going to eat.

We found the interaction at Ariels to be very limited. We went for lunch. The food was ok, nothing great.

 

[pixiewings71]

We've done the breakfast at the Plaza twice and will not do it again.
You have to make a choice -- either you eat breakfast or you grab a muffin or something and stay at the table so you can watch your kids' interaction with the characters and take pictures. You cannot do both.
Both times we did the breakfast, they ran out of food and we had to wait for it, and it took so long to get your food that you missed the characters. I complained to the management the last time and they refunded my money.
This is the only place that we have had this kind of problem and I don't understand why Disney can't fix it. They need more food ready and more serving lines; and they should allow you time to get food before the characters start their rounds.

Turkey sausage? ---- ewwwww -- who eats that stuff?

You can do both. In fact I have done both. We didn't miss ANY characters and if we did they came back to the table after we sat down. There was more than enough food and when DBF wanted something "special" (he wanted a fresh waffle lol) they made it in seconds. There was zero waiting around for food and/or characters. And turkey sausage, ya, I eat it, and I eat turkey bacon as well.

We love breakfast at Minnies. I actually tried to talk my family (10 and 13 year old kids) into checking out a different character meal for our upcoming trip. They are not interested in trying something new.

They love the character interaction there. Much more then just signing an autograph book, posing for a pic and moving on. We've had Tigger roll on the floor, and "fly" like an airplane. Minnie pose like a Bond girl with my sons' astro blaster gun. Fairy Godmother hold the kids on her lap. Just great interaction!

One thing I like about it, is that while its a buffet, there are cast members putting the food on your plate. I have a problem with buffets and unknown people touching something I'm going to eat.

We found the interaction at Ariels to be very limited. We went for lunch. The food was ok, nothing great.

Interaction at AG is different from other character meals, it's not as generous timewise. However our family loves the food at AG, we've always been very happy with what we've eaten, for lunch/dinner the Tri Tip is very good as is the chicken (and I do not like chicken with bones or skin) and DBF gets the Ciopinno every time.

OP from your choices here for breakfast I would definitely go with M&F's. IME it is the best of all breakfast meals (we have done all of them with the exception of Storyteller's and we did the Mickey meal when it was done with Stitch so no Mickey). We had the best character interaction and the best food choices (for our family). We weren't rushed, the characters visited with us multiple times (Chip & Dale returned time and time again to mess with DBF and his hat lol), we had so many pictures, the CM's were great......all in all M&F's was the best character breakfast we've ever had.
I would suggest you consider AG but for lunch or dinner instead. We've had lunch there many times and always been pleased with the service and the food. It's true the Princesses don't stay in the dining room nor do they return to your table if you happen to miss them (the girls had to go to the bathroom so they did, 2 Princesses came by as they were walking back to the table but they wouldn't wait because they were "on a time limit" and had to leave, they did wave to the girls and we already had their autographs from previous meals at AG but the girls were still a bit bummed, we didn't complain about it tho) but they do stop at each table and spend a few minutes talking to you, they do sign autograph books, they do take photos. For us dining at AG is as much for the food as for the characters.