Character Meals for boys!

[Sharron379]

What are the best character meals for boys? We love to get our day started with character meals or take a break for dinner with them! We are going Oct. 21-24 for a long weekend. And suprising the boys with the trip and the Halloween party! We are used the character meals in WDW and I am not sure how they compare in food and character interaction.

 

[Sydnie]

I am not sure what you mean about "boy" specific character meals but both of my boys loved Minnie's Breakfast at the Plaza Inn

 

[Sharron379]

I guess I was meaning what character meals are here besides a princess one. We love Chef Mickey and the Stitch breakfast at wdw.

 

[DahliaRW]

We did PCH grill at the Paradise Pier Hotel. It has a surf/tropical theme. When we went it wasn't crowded at all, TONs of great character interaction. There were interactive surf and dance lessons and such as well. Best part is you can go before the park opens and still get to the gates in time for opening if you are willing to go early - so you don't miss out on any park time.

My oldest ds did the plaza inn breakfast when he was 3 1/2 and liked that one as well, but he said he liked PCH better.

 

[oumagic]

My son was 7 when we went last year. He liked the Storyteller Cafe with its kind of wilderness lodge theme. He did like the princess meal for his sister's birthday party. This year he wants to do the Surf theme at Paradise Pier and Goofy breakfast at DLH but I think he will get to pick only one because and his sister, mom and I all want to go to Minny and friends.

 

[Sherry E]

Surf's Up with Mickey at the Paradise Pier (mentioned by DahliaRW above) is the only meal where you can meet Mickey, and usually Stitch too, along with maybe 3 or 4 other characters (sometimes Minnie, sometimes Donald or Daisy, sometimes Goofy or Pluto). This meal is quickly becoming very popular for both character interaction and food. The buffet is not huge, but there are some interesting items in it which are specific to that restaurant (in the past, there used to be flautas and things like that).

Minnie & Friends at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland easily has the largest number of characters - anywhere from 8 - 14 characters, including Pooh, Eeyore & Tigger, Chip & Dale, among many others. Food gets mixed reviews, and the characters apparently come to the tables in rapid succession so you won't be without character interaction for very long.

Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel has been compared to Chef Mickey's. Some WDW vets say they like Goofy's better than Chef Mickey's. Others say they like it less. You will generally see anywhere from 5 - 8 characters, including Chip & Dale, Baloo, a couple of Princesses, Pluto, etc. Goofy's has a breakfast or dinner character buffet, and the buffet is huge! This is clearly the place with the widest selection of food, and will please even the pickiest eaters. This is a lively environment, and Goofy interacts with the children by dancing or playing little games, pretending to "bake," etc.

Storytellers Cafe Critter Breakfast in the Grand Californian Hotel is laid back, with maybe 4 - 6 characters, including the ever-present Chip and Dale, Koda and Kenai, Terk from "Tarzan," sometimes Meeko, etc. - basically lots of woodsy/jungly Disney characters. You can order off of the menu or from the small buffet.




I think you will get the most character mileage out of Minnie & Friends. You will get the most food and widest food selection at Goofy's Kitchen. And you will likely have some great interaction with Mickey (and surf lessons!) at Surf's Up.

 

[Sharron379]

Now the Plaza Inn is inside DL park, Correct? My dh and I ate their the last time and the food as not so good. But that would get us in the park bf it opens and put us pretty close to get our fp for star tours! So goofy's kitchen is the only one that offers a character meal as a dinner! Do they have different characters if you go for breakfast and dinner during your stay?

Sharron

 

[Sherry E]

Now the Plaza Inn is inside DL park, Correct? My dh and I ate their the last time and the food as not so good. But that would get us in the park bf it opens and put us pretty close to get our fp for star tours! So goofy's kitchen is the only one that offers a character meal as a dinner! Do they have different characters if you go for breakfast and dinner during your stay?

Sharron

Yes, Plaza Inn is inside Disneyland. You can get a reservation for before the park opens, and depending on when the park opens that day, the earliest reservation time may differ. Also, Goofy's Kitchen, Storytellers Cafe Critter Breakfast and Surfs Up with Mickey all open at 7 a.m., so those are safe bets for some good character time before hitting the parks.

Goofy's Kitchen is, indeed, the only place that also has a character dinner. Ariel's Grotto used to have a character dinner too (all Princesses), but that was discontinued when they started doing World of Color dinner packages. I keep thinking that eventually DLR will have to add another character dinner in there somewhere - maybe next year, when Cars Land and DCA are all finished, and more guests begin to arrive? I don't know which restaurant they could get away with adding a character dinner to as well, but they should offer another option.

I've seen some characters (in photos) at Goofy's dinner meals that are not there when I eat breakfast - Captain Hook being one of them, along with Minnie. I have eaten breakfast there so many times that I seem to encounter the same characters over and over - Goofy, Baloo, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Princesses, sometimes Max, sometimes a Prince or two, sometimes Alice and the Mad Hatter, etc. (And then I see other folks' breakfast photos at Goofy's and they meet entirely different characters than the ones I see regularly, like Honest John, Gideon, etc.!) I don't think it's planned that dinner will have different characters than breakfast - I think it just sort of happens that whichever characters are available at any given time mosey on over for the dinner shift!

 

[Sharron379]

Thank you so much! I am so use to planning trips for WDW bc we usually go every year, but this summer we had another baby so we didn't go. So we are doing a quick trip to DL to give my boys their disney fix (and also mommy and daddy need one too ). Thank you for the info!

 

[ktlm]

Now the Plaza Inn is inside DL park, Correct? My dh and I ate their the last time and the food as not so good. But that would get us in the park bf it opens and put us pretty close to get our fp for star tours! So goofy's kitchen is the only one that offers a character meal as a dinner! Do they have different characters if you go for breakfast and dinner during your stay?

Sharron

Did you eat breakfast there, because we thought the buffet was pretty good. I'm a WDW vet, and we think that both Minnie's Breakfast and Goofy's kitchen WAY surpass any of the WDW character meals (and we have been to a bunch). There are more characters and the interaction is much better. If your boys like Hook and Rafiki, there is a really a good chance of finding them at Minnies. This summer (June) we actually saw 11 characters at Minnies! We saw Minnie, Fairy Godmother, Rafiki, Tigger, Alice, Mad Hatter, Max, Pete the Penguin (Mary Poppins), Dale, Hook, and Brer Fox. It was a character bonanza!

 

[DizNee Luver]

I think it depends on what characters your sons would be most interested in seeing.

Minnie's has a good variety of the "classic" characters: Minnie, Chip, Dale, Fairy Godmother, Hook, Alice, White Rabbit, Honest John, Rafiki, Peter Pan, Mad Hatter, Max, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, etc.

Storytellers has the animal variety: Kenai, Koda, Chip, Dale, Brer Fox, Meeko, etc.

Goofy's has Goofy, Pluto, Max, Chip, Dale, Alice, a Princess, Baloo, Brer Fox, etc.

Surf's Up will be the only place you see Mickey & Stitch, also Minnie, Pluto, Goofy & have heard reports of Daisy being there as well at times.

Ariels is all princesses (which, my son LOVED!!!)

 

[Sharron379]

My boys use to love the princess's. We always had to do breakfast in the castle in WDW up to two years ago. Then all of sudden my now 7 year old wouldn't go near a Princess. I wish they would still do Princess's. Unforutanetly now that they have a baby sister in a few years they are going to have to just suck it up!