Character meals.

[kathy040690]

If you had to chose just 1 which would you chose? im leaning towards the breakfast at story tellers. we usually do minnies at the plaza but we were really disapointed the last time we went.

we love breakfast so that will be an obvious choice to spend the money on!!

 

[my*gracie*girl]

Oh no. We loved PI and I always recommend that. It is a bummer you were disappointed. We were not impressed with Surfs Up, but did enjoy Goofy's Kitchen. Haven't done Storytellers, so no advice there.

 

[sherilaine]

Everyone is different I guess. We have really enjoyed Minnie's and Surfs Up and thought Goofy's was very disappointing. I think you will get a variety of answers based off that.

 

[lorijohnhill]

Our first time at Minnie's Plaza Inn we hated it. Thankfully, we gave it a second try and have loved it ever since. It's become our go-to for character meals. Goofy's is ok; we enjoy Surf's Up. Storytellers was so bad we won't even give it a second try.

 

[smartlabelprint]

It might help to say what about PI disappointed you.

 

[Self-Rescuing Princess]

We LOVE the PCH grill character breakfast at Paradise pier. The food is always good. You get to see Stitch, Minnie, Mickey, Daisy, and Pluto. They all take a long time to visit and continue to come back. Stitch and Mickey do a cute dance with the kids to surf music about every 30 minutes. Mickey takes group shots. We have gone several times and have never been disappointed in the food, characters or service. We have gone the to several other and have always found this one to be the best.

 

[kathy040690]

we have done minnies i think 3 or 4 times and the last time we went none of the characters came to our table and it was just a bad experience. it really sucked because it was a favorite of ours. Always wiling to try new things though

 

[figment_jii]

For my group, it does depend on which characters are at the meals. I've done Storytellers and PCH Grill and my group would lean towards PCH Grill because the characters are more familiar. The most commonly mentioned characters are Mickey, Pluto, Stitch, Daisy, and Minnie at Surf's Up at PCH Grill. Over at Storytellers, the mostly commonly mentioned characters are Chip & Dale, Koda & Kenai, and Meeko. I thought both locations had good character interactions (the characters came to our tables, posed for photos, signed autographs, and were generally friendly). I went to Surf's Up with two small ones and they liked it and the characters were familiar. Based on how they reacted in the parks to characters they were not familiar with (e.g., who is that? "I don't want to wait to meet a character I don't know" or "I don't know that character and I'm scared of him!"), they probably wouldn't have enjoyed Storytellers as much because they wouldn't have recognized Koda and Kenai.

 

[kathy040690]

For my group, it does depend on which characters are at the meals. I've done Storytellers and PCH Grill and my group would lean towards PCH Grill because the characters are more familiar. The most commonly mentioned characters are Mickey, Pluto, Stitch, Daisy, and Minnie at Surf's Up at PCH Grill. Over at Storytellers, the mostly commonly mentioned characters are Chip & Dale, Koda & Kenai, and Meeko. I thought both locations had good character interactions (the characters came to our tables, posed for photos, signed autographs, and were generally friendly). I went to Surf's Up with two small ones and they liked it and the characters were familiar. Based on how they reacted in the parks to characters they were not familiar with (e.g., who is that? "I don't want to wait to meet a character I don't know" or "I don't know that character and I'm scared of him!"), they probably wouldn't have enjoyed Storytellers as much because they wouldn't have recognized Koda and Kenai.

from this PCH grill sounds better for us. i have a three year old obsessed with mickey and friends. the only characters any of them would know from story tellers would be chip and dale.

 

[Self-Rescuing Princess]

We have not liked Minnie's the last time we went. I had to hunt down the characters to come to our table. Not very enjoyable and it was practically empty that day! We have usually do PCH once every trip, and have never had a bad time. I love seeing Stitch and getting to get a group picture with Mickey right when you walk in could save you time in the park some days. My favorite is the dance the due. Parents can get in there to and my five year old just giggles and holds hands with Stitch!

 

[monorailrabbit]

I'm actually really looking forward to Chip & Dale character meal at Storytellers. I LOVE the random characters. Meeko is one of may favorite characters ever and I have never been lucky enough to catch him at WDW (let alone Kenai or Koda!) Also looking forward to Minnie's as well. Have heard really good things about that one, sad to see some "not so much" reviews on here. It will just be DH and myself, no kiddos. We never had a problem getting great interactions at WDW hoping to have just as much fun with them at DLR

 

[Lauren in NC]

We used to love Goofy's until they switched to the fixed character line-up, so we haven't been back since. We were pleasantly surprised by the Surf's Up breakfast - yeah, it's common characters, but the food was tasty and the characters spent a lot of time interacting with our table. We've only done Plaza Inn once as we were quite disappointed with it, but at least part of that is that I was ginormously pregnant, it was ridiculously hot and we were seated at an outside table. I think it affected the characters as well as I observed them spending a lot more time with tables that were inside and rushing through just doing pictures with the ones outside. It also took a long time before the characters visited our table - we'd all eaten 2 plates of food by the time we saw our first one - and then they all came in a rush.

 

[MrDisneyFan]

Wow, everyone has a different response! Out of all the character breakfasts we were most disapointed in Storytellers, only 3 characters in the restaurant. Last week we did Minnie's at Plaza Inn and Goofy's Kitchen and enjoyed both. They both have a different lineup of characters but there were a lot that came through. Plaza Inn had a few characters you don't usually see elsewhere: Hook, Rafiki, Fairy Godmother, Max (Goofy's son) + several others. We found the food was surprisingly good at both. However, I think I liked the PI food over Goofy's.

Also, in the past we've done the Surf's Up at PPH and really enjoyed that as well. Stitch is (or was) there and he's one of my favorites.

 

[kathy040690]

I think we will be choosing PCH grill.
Not sure how to get to the paradise pier hotel though! We will be walking from the hotel we will be staying at

 

[figment_jii]

What hotel are you staying at?

You can get to PCH Grill (Paradise Pier) by cutting through the Grand Californian Hotel. As you exit the front of the hotel, veer to your left and follow the walking path. At the cross walk, cross Disneyland Drive and you'll see PPH slightly to the left and in-front of you.

 

[kathy040690]

We will be staying at the courtyard watermark hotel.

 

[figment_jii]

We will be staying at the courtyard watermark hotel.

Where is it located? I couldn't find anything called the Courtyard Watermark.

 

[kathy040690]

Auto correct on my iPad changed it
Courtyard waterpark hotel. It's by the hojo on I believe harbour ?

 

[figment_jii]

Ah...Autocorrect is great sometimes, but it sure wrecks havoc sometimes.

I've stayed at the Courtyard Theme Park Entrance (with Waterpark) and it was a really nice hotel. I would opt to take the route that goes with the Esplanade (which does mean you'll have to go through Security). Go south on Harbor until you reach the crosswalk and head to DLR like you normally would. Go through Security and exit the Esplanade into DTD. Just before you get to the A&E Boutique, follow the path to GCH. Then exit the GCH via the front entrance, veer to your left, and follow the walking path. At the cross walk, cross Disneyland Drive and you'll see PPH slightly to the left and in-front of you. It's pretty easy and shouldn't be too bad of a walk.

 

[kathy040690]

Perfect thank you so much!
It's good thing we are a family who loves to walk
I told my kids I'm making them come walking every day until we go (October) to get them up to it since I am only bringing a stroller for my 3 year old