best character meal?

[liesel]

I was wondering if anyone has enjoyed a particular character meal and why (plenty of character interaction, edible food, etc) and if you have found the experience to be worth the cost. Thanks!

 

[ballarinamom]

We used to say theat Goofy's for dinner was ur favorite. The prime rib is awesome and the mix of characters were good. We still enjoyed it on our trip last week. BUT.... we have a new favorite. Ariels' Grotto for lunch or dinner is incredible. The food selection has improved 500%. Plus they serve you instead of a buffet which is so much better after being on your feet all day. The princesses come by your table in a cycle so you see them BEFORE you entree comes so you can eat your food while it's hot. We asked for extra tarts for dessert as we preferred those to the brownies and they quickly brought them out. Check out the review sticky on the last page or two to see the new menu items. DH and DD7 had the tri tip and loved it. I had the ciopinno and could not believe how great it was and DMIL had the redfish and really enjoyed it. It's just a little more than the breakfast and cheaper than Goofy's. An amazing value

 

[pixiewings71]

In order of our preference,
Minnie's (because it's in the park, you get great character interaction and the food is good!!!!)
Ariel's Grotto (we haven't had the new menu but it's still one of our faves for the reasons listed above)
Lilo & Stitch (good food, great characters, the only downside is the distance from the parks)
Storyteller's (we haven't eaten here yet, it's on my list for Jan)
Goofy's Kitchen (we did eat here and hated it. Terrible character interaction and while the food was good we aren't there for food, we are there for characters)

 

[Sherry E]

This question about favorite character meals comes up about once a week!!! So I will chime in with my usual answer:

Hands down, bar none, unequivocally, Goofy's Kitchen is my favorite character meal (for breakfast, not dinner), as well as my favorite restaurant in DLR all around, and I have eaten there for 16 years. I love the food variety - they have a great, extensive selection. I love the food quality. It is delicious. I love that is only buffet - all you can eat - all day, with the exception of the break between brunch and dinner while they prepare the evening food. I have always had great character interaction by my personal standards at all times, except once last year in September. Sometimes there are LOTS of characters coming to visit you, generally when the restaurant is busy with lots of customers. Sometimes there are fewer characters that come around to the tables, but they come back again and again, so you get more quality time. I also like that they have the 'regulars' in characters, and then they have a rotation of guest stars. It is a fun atmosphere.

And yes, Goofy's is costly, but with the Annual Pass discount it is better! Either way, I (and any friends I brought there or referred to Goofy's) think it is worth it and will continue eating there as long as we can still manage it. I like Storytellers as a regular restaurant, but was not as enthused about the buffet and the selection of characters. However, many other folks prefer Storytellers and Lilo and Stitch over Goofy's and the rest of them.

 

[liesel]

Thanks for the responses!

We went to WDW earlier this year and did two character meals. My daughter loved seeing the princesses so I will definitely check out the new Ariel's grotto menu, I hadn't heard good things about the food. That's great if it is much better now!

 

[Vala]

My favorites are:

1. Goofy's Kitchen, by far. Everyone in my group liked it best.

We had originally planned for brunch and dinner there, but ended up doing it three times. We even went back for an impromptu goodbye dinner during our last day in Anaheim.

We loved the food, the character interaction was fabulous (we were an all adults group) and the CMS working there were wonderful.

As I said in another post, I got really excited about seeing Baloo. When I get excited I turn into a 3 year old on sugar rush, so I really squealed his name through the waiting area. Some cast members heard, asked me what the deal was and even got Baloo back to our table for special time. I was really impressed.

I celebrated my birthday late there – silly me had forgotten to take off the button from my actual celebration at Ariel’s. I got a cupcake with a special button, and the CMs and Aurora sang to me. We witnesses several celebrations and they always took great care in making sure that there was a character around to congratulate.

Our good bye dinner exceeded all expectations. The CMs couldn’t have been nicer. One woman saw I was a pin trader and even ran backstage to get her lanyard because she had seen that she had several things I needed. Our waiter helped us cutting the tablecloth so we could take home the messages Chip and Dale wrote for our scrap books. They even offered to get me what I wanted from the buffet so my friends wouldn’t have to carry my plate too.

Overall I liked the food better at dinner, but I guess this is a matter of taste.

2. Second favourite was Chip & Dale’s. Delicious food and I just loved the setting. We had a 7 AM seating, so we had the characters to ourselves a long time. We saw Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear, Chip & Dale of course, Terk from Tarzan and Meeko.
I think some kids may not enjoy it that much because they don’t know the characters. Some younger adults came in a while after us, and they thought Terk was Baloo.

3. Ariel’s has definitely improved since last year. The food is very good, and they even bring you refills for the starter and the dessert shared plates. I absolutely loved the little chocolate cakes, and my chicken was delicious.

4. We didn't do the Lilo & Stitch breakfast this time due to an accident I had, but I'd place it a little behind Ariel's on position 4 going from our experience last year.

Stitch came to our table several times, and even a non-Disney fan with us was willing to put up with everything because he liked the food. A little set back here was that we only saw three characters: Lilo, Stitch and Pluto.

5. The character meal I liked least by far was Minnie’s Breakfast.
We had a 10.15 AM seating on an Early Entry day. We thought that this was the perfect timing, but unfortunately not so much.

When we got in there was no character there in the picture area, so they tried to sell me a photo package of me holding Tinker Bell for $ 30. Erm… sorry, not going to happen.

Food was cafeteria style and mostly cold. I had been warned by friends and thankfully our experience was not as bad as theirs, but still I am not sure if I will ever come back there.

Winnie the Pooh came through our area only once and completely ignored our table. Stuff like that can happen, but it should not happen if each character actually has a handler with him. They should make sure nobody gets skipped instead of standing around chatting with each other.

Chip and Dale also left for the castle celebration at 10.50 AM. We were told they would be back and we’d still get to meet them. We met Chip but again not thanks to the CMs but probably due to me being the overexcited tourist again and yelling “Chip” and his German character name all across the room. Dale completely skipped us.
I was really, really not impressed. Thankfully this was our first character meal and things got a lot better at the others.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Love Goofy's Kitchen! We have eaten there around 12 times in the past five years and always had wonderful food, characters and service. They do give a 10% if you have a AAA card. We prefer dinner, but have enjoyed breakfast too. Its my favorite character meal and I have done them all at both WDW and DL. To my family, there's no place like it!

We also really enjoy the Lilo and Stich breakfast. We enjoy going late and when we do, we have the place pretty much to ourselves. I enjoy the various food offerings there and the characters always play games and spend lots of time.

Also love Ariel's Grotto. I have never done the breakfast but I love to do dinner there at a time when its dark outside and sit outdoors on the patio and see the lovely lights of Paradise Pier. Its not a huge variety but we have always been happy. I personally kind of miss the old days when Ariel was in her fins and they had Goofy and the gang there. But the princesses are wonderful for little girls!

Storytellers is wonderful food in a lovely atmosphere but I am not that into Brother Bear and I swear we see Chip and Dale everywhere at DL, so its sort of not our thing for characters.

Minnie and Friends is my least favorite. It just always feels very hectic and I find the food to be the most lackluster. I do think they have a wonderful variety of characters there and I think the Plaza Inn is a lovely restaurant. Its just for us, we have had something like four out of four meals there be so disorganized and time consuming we probably won't go back.

 

[liesel]

How far in advance do you usually book a PS for character meals?

 

[Sherry E]

How far in advance do you usually book a PS for character meals?

Well, you can book 60 days before the date you want the PS for, though it is not always necessary. Sometimes 30 days is fine, sometimes 15 days or less. I have a plan for two weeks from now, and I just booked the PS for Goofy's last week, and the CM at Dining told me that the PS slots are "strangely open and available" this holiday season. Normally, the character meals are super busy this time of year, but not as many people are making PS's. This either means that not as many folks are eating character meals right now (to save money) or they will eat there but just walk in without a PS. I think the economy has scared away some people form eating at expensive places like Goofy's or even Storyteller's, and they are finding cheaper places to eat in DLR, or even eating offsite. But when things start picking up again financially, those PS's during peak seasons can fill up pretty quick!

 

[Lostgirlz]

We always do goofy's for our first morning. The brunch selection is big, and I was sooooo happy they had the creme brulee french toast again. DD, and I were second to be seated 1st seating 7am. We were the first to dig into almost every item, and char came around a lot, and stayed a while. Goofy sat with us and played tic tac toe with my DD. The next is Ariels Grotto. Interaction was awesome. and the new menu is GREAT compared to the burger/meatloaf type stuff in 06, it's more upscale choices, and tasted great. We will doing them again in March for sure.