Character Breakfast at Storytellers or Goofys?

[Mackysmycat]

I keep going back and forth on this and it's driving me crazy. Which is better? Which has more *gourmet food* for breakfast? (more than just mickey waffles and fruit lol). Or do I axe the breakfast and do dinner at Goofys? We are already doing Ariel's for a lunch and Minnie's for a breakfast..

 

[Sherry E]

I keep going back and forth on this and it's driving me crazy. Which is better? Which has more *gourmet food* for breakfast? (more than just mickey waffles and fruit lol). Or do I axe the breakfast and do dinner at Goofys? We are already doing Ariel's for a lunch and Minnie's for a breakfast..

Good grief! You are still trying to decide on this?

As I always say, you will never get an absolute definitive answer on character meals because people are basically giving their opinions, and everyone has different tastes, preferences and expectations, not to mention that each restaurant has 'off days,' as well as days when it is totally on the ball and everything is great.

There are people who love Goofy's (such as myself), both for food and character interaction. There are people who have been disappointed with it every time.

There are people who love Storytellers and will tell you that their food is much better than any other character meal. There are people who, like myself, were not impressed with Storytellers food or characters at all.

I didn't find the Storytellers Critter Breakfast food to be great like so many people say it is. I didn't think it was bad, but it was no better than anything else I had eaten. And the last time I ate there, the food was not good. The restaurant itself is nice and cozy and earthy. The characters are woodsy/jungly.

But...some other people will tell you that it's wonderful.

The advantage to the Critter Breakfast is that you can order from the small buffet OR from the menu. The menu items are not, cheap, however, leaving the buffet a better bargain. Also, this is a quieter character meal than Goofy's, Surf's Up or Minnie & Friends.

Goofy's, however, has a huge buffet with tons of choices. I don't think you would call it "gourmet," but there are a lot of things to choose from. That's why it's considered "premium dining" - more variety, more selection. Classic characters. I enjoy the food there (for breakfast, not dinner) and would enjoy it even if there were no characters.

But...some other people will tell you they had the worst time ever - worst food, worst character interaction, etc. - there!

So you just kind of have to dive in and take a chance on one of them, I supppose.

 

[babyruth]

I was going back and forth on Surfs Up and Goofys. I finally called and found that the characters leave too early for us at Surfs Up, even though they are still booking the reservations they don't guarantee characters after 11am. Maybe you should call the dining line and check on the available times and prices, and maybe that would help you decide. But it looks like Storytellers is in your hotel, from your sig you are staying at GCH? That would do it for me right there, especially for breakfast. I'd rather eat onsite than trek my family out to another location. I'd save the travel time for park time or resting time.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Our most recent experiences. Full disclosure: I'm not a big fan of character meals myself because the food doesn't impress me that much, and we generally seek and find great character interactions in the parks. My sons love, love, love Goofy's Kitchen though, so we will surprise them with a trip there occasionally.

Feb. 2011: Storyteller's. Breakfast 8 AM on a Tuesday with 9 AM park opening. Ordered the buffet. Food was fine. Can order omelet or fried eggs. Scrambled eggs available on buffet line. Can order pancakes or waffles made fresh; they are not sitting getting soggy in a chafing dish. Buffet was small. Fresh fruit. Some sort of greens I think. A couple meat choices, sausage, bacon, something that may have been ham. Hash browns. One or two other choices. Think there might have been biscuits and gravy. Baked items did not impress though DH liked an orange cranberry coffeecake that was at least different than the typical danish choices. The characters are woodland creatures from various movies. We saw Chip, Dale, Meeko, Baloo, Turk, and a park ranger. That is not to say that all these characters came to our table and visited us, just that we saw them in the restaurant. We stayed for well over an hour and only 3 characters visited our table; Turk finally came by as we were getting up to leave. The character interaction was very brief. One character started to walk away while DH was taking a picture. Honest, we are not demanding on the characters time. The boys stand up, say hi, and stand next to the character to get a picture for scrapbooking. We don't even do the autograph thing. If the character is more willing to engage, then, yes, the boys will ham around a little, give high fives, etc., but no character here was so engaging. DS9 was very disappointed in the quality of character interaction. The characters seemed rushed and spent very little time at each table. The restaurant itself has a nice atmosphere, and the service was fine.

July 2010: Goofy's around noon on a Sunday. A lot of food variety. Breakfast and lunch type dishes. Main buffet line had typical kind of breakfast choices with a couple more lunchtype entrees. Can order your own omelet. Decent size salad bar. Several fruit choices. Kid buffet line had pizza, mac & cheese, some other choices. Large treats counter with more breakfast oriented sweets. The food was all fine. We saw Goofy, Chip, Dale, Snow White, Belle, and Baloo. Five to seven characters visiting your table during the course of your meal seems typical. Character interaction was pleasant and not hurried. The boys definitely enjoyed this experience more.

 

[Mackysmycat]

Thanks for these two lengthy responses! You'd think that would help me decide already - haha!!

Good grief! You are still trying to decide on this?

Hahaha! Well, I'm BACK to pondering this again. I left it, but it is still bugging me. I just booked it for the convenience of it being right in my hotel. Sigh.

 

[algae]

Here's more info to make it more difficult for you:

If you want "gourmet food", I'd go to the Plaza Inn for breakfast. Then Napa Rose for dinner

The problem with the Plaza Inn is the theme. Most of the time it's more Pooh oriented or Princess oriented. But, the food is "fancier" than Goofy's Kitchen. However, Goofy's gets more characters moving through it IMO.

But, if it were me staying at the GC, I'd go with Storyteller's since the food seems a tad better than Goofy's and the restaurant is right there.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Here's more info to make it more difficult for you:

If you want "gourmet food", I'd go to the Plaza Inn for breakfast. Then Napa Rose for dinner

The problem with the Plaza Inn is the theme. Most of the time it's more Pooh oriented or Princess oriented. But, the food is "fancier" than Goofy's Kitchen. However, Goofy's gets more characters moving through it IMO.

But, if it were me staying at the GC, I'd go with Storyteller's since the food seems a tad better than Goofy's and the restaurant is right there.

Uh huh. For convenience and a tasty, filling breakfast, Storyteller's works.

For variety of food, Goofy's. Haven't tried Minnie's so can't say.

For character interaction, not Storyteller's. Those were our worst character meal character experiences.

 

[Sherry E]

Okay,time to whip out the photos!

I wish I had or could find on this board some good photos of the Critter Breakfast buffet to show you for comparison, but it's fairly small so there is not much to photograph, I guess?

However, many folks have taken photos of the Goofy's Kitchen buffet because there is a lot to choose from.

Here are some extensive photos of the Goofy's breakfast/brunch buffet courtesy of Disneynerd420, from Fall 2009. Basically, the items stay the same each year with a couple of exceptions - they were pretty much the same when I was last at Goofy's 3 months ago - but they switch out a couple of dishes here and there, depending on the season and depending on if it's a weekend or weekday. Eighty percent of it, at least, will be the same all the time.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33922054&postcount=338

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33922175&postcount=339



Goofy's tends to have 5-8 characters onsite.

 

[Captain Hindsight]

Storytellers, only because you don't have to do a buffet... You can order off the menu and just pay for what you eat, rather than paying $30 and trying to get your money's worth! Plus the food off the menu hasn't been under a heat lamp for a half hour, and it hasn't been sneezed on by little Johnny!

 

[Mackysmycat]

If you want "gourmet food", I'd go to the Plaza Inn for breakfast. Then Napa Rose for dinner

I think we'll pass on Napa, until we can go without the kids. We have the Minnie character breakfast at the Plaza booked already, as my daughter is a Minnie freak. This one is a must!

But, if it were me staying at the GC, I'd go with Storyteller's since the food seems a tad better than Goofy's and the restaurant is right there.

I'm thinking this makes sense. Next time we can try one of the other two hotels and eat over there. I'm trying to keep all dining in the two parks, since we are staying at GCH and I want to be lazy - haha.

Storytellers, only because you don't have to do a buffet... You can order off the menu and just pay for what you eat, rather than paying $30 and trying to get your money's worth!

So we can go during the character breakfast time, and me and the kids can order off the menu, and my husband can do the buffet? That works?

 

[Captain Hindsight]

So we can go during the character breakfast time, and me and the kids can order off the menu, and my husband can do the buffet? That works?

Absolutely!

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

Yes, but remember: If you order from the buffet, drinks are included. If you order from the menu, they aren't. Make sure to add $2-3 to the menu prices to cover drinks, and if you won't be ordering them, make sure your server knows before they start pouring!

 

[DangerMouse]

Many of the menu items at Storytellers include a glass of juice. All the omlettes and egg dishes do; I think only a couple dishes (the french toast and mickey waffles) do not include juice in the price of the meal.

 

[Sherry E]

Yes, but remember: If you order from the buffet, drinks are included. If you order from the menu, they aren't. Make sure to add $2-3 to the menu prices to cover drinks, and if you won't be ordering them, make sure your server knows before they start pouring!

I agree with this! Also, the menu items are not cheap to begin with, even without the drinks. It was about $18 for a meal/menu order that was maybe equivalent to a Denny's Grand Slam (or less), whereas the buffet (during off-peak season) was about $23. So once you add in the drinks to the price of the meal, it all comes out to be close to buffet price, except the buffet is a better bargain (even though it's small).

 

[Captain Hindsight]

But if you have 2 small eaters they can share 1 item off the menu... You can't share a buffet plate!

 

[Sherry E]

But if you have 2 small eaters they can share 1 item off the menu... You can't share a buffet plate!

Good point!