Character Breakfast Disappointment

[TalkDisnerdytome]

I went to the Surfs Up breakfast with Mickey at the PPH, when we got in Mickey had stepped out and we had to wait a couple minutes for him to get back before we could get our picture with him (no big deal). But then after getting our food we waited way more than 30 minutes for a character to come to our table, Minnie went to half of the tables on the other side of the restaurant then came to the front to dance with the kids, thats where we got a picture with her and her autograph, after that she left, Daisy and Pluto both ended up coming over after we had waited so long we were going to just pay and leave. We ended up giving up on Stitch after he had gone to half of the tables in the restaurant and then disappeared and then had shown up again but seemed to start all over again, not getting to our table until after I had left with the kids who were tired of waiting while leaving other adults at the table to pay. We had informed an employee at the point when we hadn't seen any characters come to our table, but were told we just needed to wait. It was aweful and my grandparents now never want to go to a character dining again. It almost felt like they had one person dressing as the characters and they kept having to disappear to change to a different character.

 

[lilsassymom]

Oh no not that's disappointing. Especially for what you pay. This has me worried as we already have a breakfast reservation there for April. I hope that it was just a fluke and not the norm, as my kids would be awfully disappointed. As I'm sure yours are, that's sad

 

[amyg1975]

Our last visit we did not have that bad of a problem, but we did finally have to ask our server if we could see Minnie before we left. It took awhile for most of the characters to stop by, slower than our first visit.

 

[Xenorye]

That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that happened for you. It's certainly not magical. I am inclined to believe it was just a fluke, as I've had two character breakfasts there with great interaction with the characters. On my first trip, we got to see them all twice, in fact. For those who are looking forward to Surf's Up in the future, I hope this doesn't happen to you, and I wouldn't say it's normal both from what I've experienced and heard from most people.

 

[amyg1975]

You should let Disney know, that really does go against the Magic!

 

[TalkDisnerdytome]

That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that happened for you. It's certainly not magical. I am inclined to believe it was just a fluke, as I've had two character breakfasts there with great interaction with the characters. On my first trip, we got to see them all twice, in fact. For those who are looking forward to Surf's Up in the future, I hope this doesn't happen to you, and I wouldn't say it's normal both from what I've experienced and heard from most people.

I heard great things from other people as well! That's why we went, also heard about someone else's bad experience and someone had mentioned to them about letting an employee know about not seeing characters, that is why I had informed an employee. Just wish something had been done about the situation instead of them telling us we just needed to wait.

 

[TalkDisnerdytome]

You should let Disney know, that really does go against the Magic!

I think I will, especially when you see the price.

 

[Xenorye]

I heard great things from other people as well! That's why we went, also heard about someone else's bad experience and someone had mentioned to them about letting an employee know about not seeing characters, that is why I had informed an employee.

You did everything right, which is why I feel so bad for you. Send a message to Disney through their website. Make sure to be civil (and I'm sure you will be, as your post here is obviously very civil), and maybe they'll make it up to you somehow. Maybe not, but it might be worth a shot at least.

 

[AZMermaid]

We had a similar experience at Minnie's- 45 minutes with NO characters. We could see them on the porch and then they would go backstage. They never came down to the outside area. We finally complained and saw 3 in the next 20 minutes or so- but then people from inside were sending their kids out to cut in on the characters- running over my toddlers. It was pretty awful and we are likely to never go there again.... although- I read such good reviews I might be swayed to try it again- but an early ressie (we ate at like 10:30) and refuse to sit outside.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

That's awful. I would definitely complain. We ate at Goofy's Kitchen, Plaza Inn, and Storytellers back in December and didn't have any issues like this...if anything, we had a constant parade of characters at every meal...even multiple visits from some. They're usually better when you complain to a mgr at the time of the meal, but it certainly can't hurt anything to reach out now.

 

[my*gracie*girl]

We had the same trouble there. It was 3 adults and my 10yr old dd, so I thought maybe because it wasn't younger kids. The characters would go to tables all around ours and then turn and go a different way instead of going to our table. It was hard to even eat because we were worried to leave to get food and miss a character. I am sad to read another experience like that, but glad we weren't crazy. I haven't read anyone else disliking this experience so I was beginning to wonder if it was just us.

 

[TalkDisnerdytome]

We had the same trouble there. It was 3 adults and my 10yr old dd, so I thought maybe because it wasn't younger kids. The characters would go to tables all around ours and then turn and go a different way instead of going to our table. It was hard to even eat because we were worried to leave to get food and miss a character. I am sad to read another experience like that, but glad we weren't crazy. I haven't read anyone else disliking this experience so I was beginning to wonder if it was just us.

Yea I normally hear such great things, and we had the same problem we really wanted to see Stitch over Daisy and Pluto so we were worried we would leave our table and miss him!

 

[TalkDisnerdytome]

I read such good reviews I might be swayed to try it again- but an early ressie (we ate at like 10:30) and refuse to sit outside.

Yea we had reservations at 8:50am so we could then go immediately into the park at opening. I heard that going towards the end of the character dining wasn't a good idea so that was another reason I made sure the reservations were early.

 

[donaldanddaisy]

I have to say, we had the same issue at BOTH Plaza Inn and Surf's Up on our past visit and it was super disappointing. I know you can't be guaranteed anything, but to see the characters and have them repeatedly pass you by or not get to you was soooo furstrating. At Plaza Inn, it was Minnie. They told me to go to her house. I said It's called Breakfast with Minnie for a reason! And at Surf's up, we had the exact same problem with Stitch that you had -- he didn't get to our side. My DD, wearing her Stitch shirt was sooooo sad. He finally came over, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I think I'd only do them again on a park day if I knew it was better structured -- Ariel's has a clear path that they follow.

 

[sherilaine]

Yea we had reservations at 8:50am so we could then go immediately into the park at opening. I heard that going towards the end of the character dining wasn't a good idea so that was another reason I made sure the reservations were early.

We had a 10AM reservation at Minnie's during an 8AM opening and met about a dozen characters. So not all later reservations are bad.

Once we went to Goffy's and only met 3 characters, I complained to the manager and they returned us half our meal price and admitted it was not a good experience. Pays to complain but you have to complain at the meal I think, then they can try to offer a solution.

 

[sherilaine]

I also agree with how some people chase after the characters is very rude. Asking to have the staff deal with bringing over a character is much better. We saw one mother run after some characters at Minnie's and she was a complete diva , her DD was visibly embarrassed. This was right when they sat down, not like they had been waiting with poor results.

 

[barbaraann]

I went to the Surfs Up breakfast with Mickey at the PPH, when we got in Mickey had stepped out and we had to wait a couple minutes for him to get back before we could get our picture with him (no big deal). But then after getting our food we waited way more than 30 minutes for a character to come to our table, Minnie went to half of the tables on the other side of the restaurant then came to the front to dance with the kids, thats where we got a picture with her and her autograph, after that she left, Daisy and Pluto both ended up coming over after we had waited so long we were going to just pay and leave. We ended up giving up on Stitch after he had gone to half of the tables in the restaurant and then disappeared and then had shown up again but seemed to start all over again, not getting to our table until after I had left with the kids who were tired of waiting while leaving other adults at the table to pay. We had informed an employee at the point when we hadn't seen any characters come to our table, but were told we just needed to wait. It was aweful and my grandparents now never want to go to a character dining again. It almost felt like they had one person dressing as the characters and they kept having to disappear to change to a different character.

I had a similar experience when I was there back in October. It just seems that there is no method to the way in which the characters visit the tables. I was totally ignored by all the characters, and so I complained. I ended up only seeing Pluto, Stitch and Daisy.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

@Disney_Alli had a similar experience

 

[smartlabelprint]

Last Thursday we went at 9:10 to Minnie's at plaza inn. We had the opposite problem. The characters came instantly. We were starving! I wanted a chance to eat. My baby is eating a Mickey waffle in all the pix! The same characters came multiple times.

The food we are was ok but it's unlikely I'll return to a character meal for the price. Characters have never been a big deal to me.

The complaints in this thread plus my experience makes me think it should be done differently. Characters in one spot & we come up to them when we're ready, maybe? But with a time limit per fam per character...

 

[texasgingerbread]

Darn we were there Friday with no issues. In and out in an hour seeing everyone. Sorry!