Character Meals

[granismith]

Am I correct that there are 4 character meals. I can't decide which one to do. We are going to do WOC Ariels. I havn't been to Goofy's in years and I want to try that again. So I was going to stick with those 2 but my 5 year old daughter loves Mickey so we maybe should do that one. Also I heard the Minnie one is really good and not to be missed.

Would it be too much to do them all? Anyone have any thoughts or oppinins or suggestions?

 

[Halloweenqueen]

One year we did 4 character meals during one vacation with free dining at WDW. We picked different locations and type of meal. It worked out fine.

My favorite at DL is Minnies.

 

[LoveMyBeautifulGift]

There are 5 character meals total-2 are Premium Character Dining (Ariels @ DCA and Goofy's @ DH) and 3 are just Character Dining (Minnie's @ Plaza Inn inside the park, Chip & Dale@ GCH, and Mickey @ PPH). Ariel's WoC does NOT include princesses, so maybe just get fastpasses for WoC if you want the princess meal, or do Ariel's w/o the princesses for WoC preferred seating and go to the Princess Fantasy Fair at a different time (@ the Disneyland park)...

Personally, we will be doing all the character meals on our upcoming trip (6 days in park so we can do one per day and still have time for other things)...between the 6yo who loves characters more than rides and my mom who can't ride most rides, I figured these are guaranteed happy memory makers for the 2 of them...plus, this is the 6yos first trip and I have been saving for it just so I could splurge on stuff like this...

ETA: not sure what the Premium vs non-premium thing is about, other than price

 

[granismith]

There are 5 character meals total-2 are Premium Character Dining (Ariels @ DCA and Goofy's @ DH) and 3 are just Character Dining (Minnie's @ Plaza Inn inside the park, Chip & Dale@ GCH, and Mickey @ PPH). Ariel's WoC does NOT include princesses, so maybe just get fastpasses for WoC if you want the princess meal, or do Ariel's w/o the princesses for WoC preferred seating and go to the Princess Fantasy Fair at a different time (@ the Disneyland park)...

Personally, we will be doing all the character meals on our upcoming trip (6 days in park so we can do one per day and still have time for other things)...between the 6yo who loves characters more than rides and my mom who can't ride most rides, I figured these are guaranteed happy memory makers for the 2 of them...plus, this is the 6yos first trip and I have been saving for it just so I could splurge on stuff like this...

ETA: not sure what the Premium vs non-premium thing is about, other than price

WOW I had no idea the princesses were not there for the WOC dinner!

So they ARE there during luchtime then? What is the Princess Fantasy Fair?

 

[LoveMyBeautifulGift]

WOW I had no idea the princesses were not there for the WOC dinner!

So they ARE there during luchtime then? What is the Princess Fantasy Fair?

The princesses are at Ariels for breakfast and lunch. The Princess Fantasy Fair is at Disneyland Park in Fantasyland...it is a meet n greet thing (like Pixie Hollow) where 3 princesses rotate in and out all day and you get to meet whoever is there...there is also sometimes a little show/storyreading not 100% how it works as this will be our 1st visit to the PFF...

 

[granismith]

Thanks, I am glad you told me that, I would have been very upset to pay that much for WOC to go there and not see princesses. I could see paying that much for WOC and Princesses. Now I have to re-think everything. Maybe we will do the picnic lunch and just go see the princesess at the Faire thing. Or go to the breakfast at Ariels and do fastpass for WOC. I was just really hoping for a good viewing spot at WOC so my 5 year old will be able to see.

Thank you!

 

[granismith]

At Storytellers are the characters there at all the meals?

 

[sonnyjane]

At Storytellers are the characters there at all the meals?

Just at breakfast

 

[DizNee Luver]

Minnie's, Storyteller's, Surf's Up are breakfast only. Ariel's is breakfast & lunch & Goofy's is brunch & dinner. Minnie's & Goofy's are buffet only. Storytellers & Surf's Up is buffet or you can order off menu & Ariel's is served family style.

As for the WoC dinners at Ariel's & Wine Country Trattoria, the meals are fabulous & you get to stand in a premium area for the show. These area's tend to not be as crowded as the general FP areas. As for having a clear view for the 5yr old will depend on getting in line early enough to get into the viewing area to secure a good spot. This will hold true for all areas. The railings tend to be the best spot, because no one is standing in front of you. If you get into the area & the railing spots are taken, you might want to stand towards the back (the people will all push forward when the show starts & if you hang back....your view will be clearer).

Since you wanted to see the princesses when doing this meal (and cost is a factor)....there are other WoC options like the picnics (which you have to order online) or getting a FP up by Grizzly River in the morning.

PFF in Fantasyland is a great way to see the princesses. There are 3 you will see in the meet-n-greet line. There is a stage show through out the day with singing & dancing.

 

[granismith]

Thank you, so many decisions to make! I want to plan everything so I don't miss anything!

 

[DahliaRW]

Storytellers & Surf's Up is buffet or you can order off menu & Ariel's is served family style.

You cannot order off the menu at surf's up. It's buffet only.

 

[DizNee Luver]

You cannot order off the menu at surf's up. It's buffet only.

Ok, sorry....last summer I thought we were given the option of ordering something off the menu.....but I might have confused that with the chef putting together something for one of my twins that has egg allergies. Sorry for the confusion!!!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

i am doing all 5 on my upcoming trip

 

[Renee70]

We've booked the 5 in 5 days as well, hopefully we won't regret it! This is our first time going to any of the Disney parks and assume it will be our last for a very long time, so we're going with the motto "trip of a lifetime..."

We look at it as instead of waiting in lines to get autographs and photographs we'll spend a bit more $$ and eat while we get them.

Renee

 

[JadeDarkstar]

that is about the same here. this is a last trip for 3 years the next disney trip we do will be wdw we hope.

 

[AlexJanessa]

We just did Minnie's on Friday and it was awesome! I'm so glad we did that for our girls. We saw so many characters and they all made sure to stop at every single table multiple times and interacted with our girls each time. My youngest was terrified of Rafiki so Minnie "protected" her from him every time he came over. She was smiling and laughing in no time. And Hook kept coming over and flaunting his flowing locks in front of my very bald husband. Chip and Dale took turns fighting over who got to style my daughters hair and Tigger kept banging my girls balloons on their heads.

We had so much fun and I have absolutely no regrets about doing this first thing on our trip. It was worth every penny even though the girls were so busy playing with the characters that they hardly touched their food.

 

[granismith]

Yes!!! I fianally made the decision last night that we are going to do them all! But we decided to do WOC at Ariels even though the princesses won't be there. WOC is one of the main things I want to see so it is important to get a good view.
We will just line up early one day and go see the princess faire so she can see them. Only problem, She really wants to see Ariel, will she see her there?

Also, where do we go see Tinkerbell? That is another must do!

 

[It'sKim]

We did Goofy's Kitchen on Feb 6 for my twins birthday. At first I was a little unsure because it seemed like it was kind of expensive for a buffet. We have never done a character dining before.

After we left all I could think was wow, I would have paid a lot more for that!! It was an amazing experience and my kids were thrilled to bits! I was also pleasantly surprised at the food offered.

I was a little worried since I have boys and the characters we had were mostly the "girl" ones Jasmine, Minnie, Snow White, Cinderella, then Aladdin and Pluto, but they didn't care at all and loved it anyway! Pluto stopped by and played with them for close to 10 minutes, it was really awesome.

 

[LoveMyBeautifulGift]

Also, where do we go see Tinkerbell? That is another must do!

Pixie Hollow, in Fantasyland. Its another meet-n-greet line like PFF except w/ fairies.

 

[jacs1234]

The character meals I've tried are Goofy's kitchen, minnies breakfast, chip 'n' dales at gch and ariels grotto for lunch.

My favourites are Goofy's kitchen and Minnie's Breakfast for the kiddies. Chip 'n' dales was lovely, but for us that particular day, there wasn't many characters. My daughter isn't a huge princess fan , so we won't do ariels again.