Character Dining

[PrincessAndrea'sMom]

I have been to Disneyland many times, but have only ever done Storytellers breakfast character meal. This time we are taking our daughter(2) and son(7) and would like to do a few character meals. I was reading at allears and past posts and I am confused about what places have character at what meals, specifically:

Does the WOC package at Ariel's have characters? Is that at lunch or dinner, or both?

At storytellers, does dinner have characters? I am affraid my kids won't recognize the characters we meet at breakfast.

Are there characters at the Celebration Roundup?

Is there a character meal you would recommend over any others?

We are staying at the Villas at GC for 7 nights. We are planning on Ariel's, Minnies, and Storytellers. What do you think?

Thanks!

 

[skiingfast]

I have been to Disneyland many times, but have only ever done Storytellers breakfast character meal. This time we are taking our daughter(2) and son(7) and would like to do a few character meals. I was reading at allears and past posts and I am confused about what places have character at what meals, specifically:

Does the WOC package at Ariel's have characters? Is that at lunch or dinner, or both?

At storytellers, does dinner have characters? I am affraid my kids won't recognize the characters we meet at breakfast.

Are there characters at the Celebration Roundup?

Is there a character meal you would recommend over any others?

We are staying at the Villas at GC for 7 nights. We are planning on Ariel's, Minnies, and Storytellers. What do you think?

Thanks!

The first three are No's. You could go to Minnie's and friends breafast in DL. Or Ariels for breakfast in DCA. Also there is a character restaurant in DLH and PPH.

 

[CrazyDuck]

We are staying at the Villas at GC for 7 nights. We are planning on Ariel's, Minnies, and Storytellers. What do you think?

Thanks!

I love Ariels for breakfast... Especially if you have a reservation before the park opens.... Walking through DCA before it oipens is fun.... like the calm before the storm!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Does the WOC package at Ariel's have characters? Is that at lunch or dinner, or both?

WOC at Ariel's is for dinner only and does not have characters. Ariel's does serve breakfast and lunch with characters (princesses) present, and you do not get WOC tickets for these meals.

At storytellers, does dinner have characters? I am affraid my kids won't recognize the characters we meet at breakfast.

No. Characters only at breakfast. I liked the quality of the food here best when we did it several years ago, but we did order off the menu so I don't know if that makes a difference. I also agree about the characters not being too familiar to younger kids, although Chip and Dale are usually there and those are favorites of one my sons.

Are there characters at the Celebration Roundup?

No, there are no longer characters at the Roundup. There is some entertainment though in the form of music and singing.

Is there a character meal you would recommend over any others?

Other character meals are Minnie's at Plaza Inn in Disneyland, Mickey's Surf's Up at the Paradise Pier Hotel, and Goofy's Kitchen at Disneyland Hotel.

We have been to the PP breakfast back when it was Stitch's. Now you will get to see Mickey there, the only breakfast to have him. The experience back in Stitch's time was ok, but there really weren't very many characters and the service and food were only ok.

We have been to Goofy's many times because it's my boys' favorite. DH and I always ask ourselves afterward why we spend so much money on mediocre food, but they boys are so happy every time we go there. I would pick breakfast over dinner.

We have never done Minnie's, but it's the only character dining in Disneyland. My brother and his wife did Minnie's last week with his 1 1/2 year old, and loved the experience. He said the food was the most uninteresting food they ate anywhere during their 5-day stay, but the character experience couldn't be beat. Many on the boards here have had similar reports.

So I think the choice comes down to what your priorities are: which characters are most important to try to see, how edible do you expect the food to be, and which of these is more important to your experience, characters or food?

 

[Disneylvrforever]

I love Goofy's Kitchen bc they always have different things to eat every time I go there (I like going during brunch). You'll see the standard characters like Goofy, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Baloo, & other different ones like a princess & another fuzzy. They would come to our table either once or twice.

I also like Minnie & Friend's but only for the character experience, the breakfast food was standard: pancakes, waffles, eggs, potatoes, sausage, & bacon. But there were so many different characters & only 2 of them didn't come to my table, but I did manage to get a pic w/ them before I left. Other than that, the characters came around @ least twice.

Those are my picks!

 

[pixiewings71]

I like your choices of character meals. Those are 3 of our favorite places to eat. I would do AG for lunch instead of bfast and I would personally do Storyteller's for lunch or dinner instead of bfast, for bfast I would 100% do Minnie & Friends!! We met loads of characters and each character visited our table multiple times and played games with DBF and myself and the kids, we were all included, the food was good and plentiful and we had a great time there. We have done GK as well and we did not enjoy it much at all, the food was not a good fit for our family (not even the pnut butter pizza) and the characters basically ignored us, we had visits from maybe 4 characters all the others just waved as they passed our table by. Our server at GK was also very pushy, trying to get us to leave before our time was up, we finally got frustrated and just left. I would absolutely go with your choices!

 

[PrincessAndrea'sMom]

Thanks for all the great advise!

So the princesses are at Ariels for lunch, but not dinner. Has anyone tried the WOC picnic package? Is there a Fantasmic dining package at DL like there is as DW? I have read about the dessert package, but it is a bit expensive for us when it does not include dinner.

 

[Sherry E]

I think it really all depends on what your group would like.

Minnie & Friends has lots of characters as a rule. Surf's Up with Mickey is the only meal where you will find Mickey (and Daisy Duck sometimes too!). Ariel's Grotto is all Princesses for breakfast and lunch. Goofy's is the only character meal that offers a character dinner buffet, and the buffet is huge for breakfast or dinner. Plus, you will see a couple of Princesses mixed in with the classic fuzzy characters at Goofy's.

My personal favorite is Goofy's (and I didn't find the food at the Storytellers Critter Breakfast to be any better than Goofy's at all), but I think it's all very much based on personal preference.

I think you made good choices and it sounds like you will get to meet a wide range of characters among those 3 meals!!

 

[wdwfan22]

Thanks for all the great advise!

So the princesses are at Ariels for lunch, but not dinner. Has anyone tried the WOC picnic package? Is there a Fantasmic dining package at DL like there is as DW? I have read about the dessert package, but it is a bit expensive for us when it does not include dinner.

Lots of people on here have reported about trying the picnics, some liked their food, a lot did not. My adult son and I are going to get the kids picnics, looks better to us. We look at it as a price to pay for a WoC ticket.

No, there is no Fantasmic pkg that includes dinner, just the dessert/snack box, drinks.

 

[PrincessAndrea'sMom]

Thanks for your reply! Have a great trip!