Character lunches?

[MVBowers111]

We're trying to decide where to eat for our next trip...we want to do Minnie and Friends and then Storyteller's, both at lunch. Are these both character meals? Or only the Minnie and friends? We aren't big breakfast eaters so we really don't want to do breakfasts....what other character lunches are available?

Thanks for the help!

 

[bumbershoot]

The only actual lunch with characters is Ariel's. Minnie's changes to just a normal restaurant for lunch, as does Storytellers. Goofy's is open later, but it's brunch foods.

 

[Sherry E]

We're trying to decide where to eat for our next trip...we want to do Minnie and Friends and then Storyteller's, both at lunch. Are these both character meals? Or only the Minnie and friends? We aren't big breakfast eaters so we really don't want to do breakfasts....what other character lunches are available?

Thanks for the help!

Actually, the only real character lunch is at Ariel's Grotto inside of DCA, which is an all-Princess lunch. Goofy's Kitchen extends its breakfast into brunch-ish hours, but sometimes they close at noon, and sometimes they close at 2:00 p.m., depending on if it is a busy season or weekend or not. Then Goofy's opens again later for a character dinner. Storytellers, Minnie & Friends and Lilo and Stitch are all character breakfasts and I don't think they serve as late in the morning as Goofy's does because they all have to go back to operating as 'regular' (non-character) restaurants for the remainder of the day. Ariel's is open all day for character meals!

 

[MVBowers111]

Thanks for the responses...it looks like we might have to try and do a late breakfast if we want characters. We did Ariels last vacation and don't want to do it again. Thanks for your responses.

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, you have to be careful with the late breakfasts. For instance, at Storytellers, we had the last seating time, but Chip and Dale were gone and had been gone for an hour; they have other obligations (that's how the hostess put it) and aren't there that late. In addition, they stop menu-ordering at Storytellers right at that last seating, so we could not order from the menu and had to go for the buffet. We were NOT told at that time that the buffet chefs could have made anything from the menu, so I had to go without the long-awaited whatever it was I'd wanted from the menu.

As an aside, Storytellers and the Lilo/Stitch breakfast at PCH Grill allow for buffet (which includes beverages) OR menu ordering (which does NOT include beverages).

And Disney Dining knows NONE of this, b/c they aren't onsite and aren't in the restaurants, so it was a big disappointment!

That said, we saw Terk, Meeko, Kenai, and Koda at the restaurant, which was fine, but DS has a soft spot for chip and dale, and it was a bummer to not get to see them (for him...I couldn't care less about characters) at "their" breakfast.

So be careful with this plan.

That said, others have been very successful seeing characters at the ends of meals!

 

[Sherry E]

I worry sometimes, too, about Goofy's late breakfast seatings for the reasons Bumbershoot mentioned - the characters might be gone - but if it is on a day when they are open until 2:00 p.m. (like weekends during summer and busy seasons), I think you would be fine with a late breakfast/early brunch and won't miss characters. But if it is a day when they are only open until noon, then making a PS for 11:30 may be cutting it close, even if they allow to sit and finish your food after the characters leave.

I think Storytellers, Minnie & Friends and PCH Grill (Lili & Stitch) have more stringent time constraints because they are all regular restaurants for the rest of the day and the characters have to scram at some point, but Goofy's is buffet only and all they do there are character meals.

 

[pixiewings71]

We've done M&F's late and had no problems with having a lot of food choices and a lot of characters. In fact we did M&F's at 10:30 and had so much fun we didn't want to leave, we did GK at about 9:30 and had next to no characters at all. So, I'd go with M&F late if you want to do a character meal.