Characters?

[RGirl]

Hello! My 4-year-old daughter and I just returned from our second trip to WDW. Her two favorite things on this trip were: 1. Character autographs and 2. Tower of Terror.

In January, I am surprising her with a trip to DLR for her birthday. We are West Coasters, and I am excited to take her on her first trip to DLR - the only Disney location I had ever experienced prior to our WDW trip last year. (Note that my last trip there was in the 1980s!!!! )

I was hoping that you DLR experts might be able to provide me with some character-meeting tips. Do they have the same kind of times guides at DLR as WDW to help you find character locations at the right times? Any suggestions on where to find characters, how early to get in line, etc.?

Thanks for any tips you can provide!!!

 

[areweindisneyyet]

If your budget stretches, a lunch or breakfast at Ariels Grotto in California Adventure is a great way to meet and interact with princesses and collect autographs.

My girls loved it.

 

[skiingfast]

I was hoping that you DLR experts might be able to provide me with some character-meeting tips. Do they have the same kind of times guides at DLR as WDW to help you find character locations at the right times? Any suggestions on where to find characters, how early to get in line, etc.?

Thanks for any tips you can provide!!!

Yes they have a similiar guide at DLR.

If you want other charcters, Minnie and Friends breakfast at the Plaza Inn inside DL, it make WDW character meals, look like, plain old meals.

For Princess Fantasy Faire and Rapunzell and Flynn the lines get long, do it early is simple advice for those.

Take a look at this link for ideas, it's not perfectly up to date.
http://disneyland.disney.go.com/characters/

 

[larina]

There are lots of character meals to choose from. Our favorite character breakfast so far is the Surf's Up Mickey buffet in the PPH. We liked it much better than Goofy's Kitchen in DLH on our recent trip, but I know many prefer GK. For us, Surf's Up Mickey has the obvious advantage of having Mickey Mouse, my favorite character. We also saw Minnie, Daisy, Stitch, Pluto and someone else that I am forgetting there. At Goofy's we saw Goofy, Snow White, Chip, and Pluto. I hear the Minnie and Friends breakfast is also fabulous. I haven't been, maybe someone can tell us which characters are likely to be there. We're going to try the Critter Breakfast at Storytellers next trip (or should we do Minnie instead?? I'm starting to wonder, but like the idea of being able to order off the menu at Storytellers) and Ariel's Grotto for a princess lunch.

There are some tips somewhere about catching princesses to the side of one of the castles, but I don't recall which thread that is. Someone will know though. I love DIS for that!

 

[larina]

... Take a look at this link for ideas, it's not perfectly up to date.
http://disneyland.disney.go.com/characters/

Thanks for that link! I have missed that (or forgot all about it) somehow.

 

[carnival kid]

At minnie and friends breakfast this year in June we saw:
Chip and Dale
Minnie
Max
Pooh, tigger and piglet
Captain Hook
Rafiki

There is also Pixie Hollow.... for tinkerbelle and her friends.

There are always a lot in main street near the entrance (around city hall and railway entrance) we often found them at opening time and late at night.

 

[RGirl]

Wow!!! Thank you all so much!! It sounds like there will be lots of character opportunities for us. Yay!!!

I am thinking of doing the Ariel's Grotto breakfast or lunch on my DD's actual birthday. She has always loved the princess dining experiences at WDW, so I thought that might be a really special way to spend her birthday.

Again, thank you! I can't believe the number and diversity of characters that appear at the meals you all mentioned. I may have to add one of those too!

 

[iheartdisney]

At minnie and friends breakfast this year in June we saw:
Chip and Dale
Minnie
Max
Pooh, tigger and piglet
Captain Hook
Rafiki

There is also Pixie Hollow.... for tinkerbelle and her friends.

There are always a lot in main street near the entrance (around city hall and railway entrance) we often found them at opening time and late at night.

Last June, we had all of the above, with the addition of Fairy Godmother (though my kids kept calling her blue fairy) and Gepetto. We too the latest possible seating to make it more of lunch than breakfast, and it was worth it! The resturaunt was half full, so the characters were SUPER playful: Tigger and Minnie chasing each other around. Gepetto and Rafiki both sat down at our table to play with the kids.
Town Square is always rotating as well. This is where the fab 5 hang out in different outfits. I've seen Alice and her crew there in the morning, and the princesses in the early afternoon.
One of my favorite places for characters is Big Thunder Ranch- Chip and Dale often hang out back there, and since it is pretty tucked out of the way, it is a good place to walk up and meet them. (except of course during the Christmas season when Santa and his reindeer take over the petting zoo.)

 

[starshine514]

We did Minnie's on Thursday for DD's 7th b-day. We met Rafiki, Chip and Dale, Eeyore, Pooh, Tigger, Hook and Fairy Godmother in addition to Minnie (of course). Hook was my favorite (although Tigger gave me a kiss). Fairy Godmother made my daughters feel special. However, they didn't do anything special for DD's birthday (when we did my other daughter's birthday at Cinderella's castle at WDW, they brought her a special little cake and card, but nothing at all here. Luckily, my daughter didn't seem to notice.)

We met the princesses at PFF. We went right before closing and the princesses really rushed my girls through. Again, I was disappointed. We'll go earlier next time. We had better interactions when we were their at opening instead.

We met sorcerer Mickey in his house on Thursday evening. I wasn't expecting him to be there, but he was and the line was extremely short. We met Duffy and Sailor Mickey at their official Meet and Greet locations on the bridge to PP at DCA. We also saw Toy Story characters signing on the pier.

We met the fairies at Pixie Hollow (mid-afternoon. Interactions were fine. Wait time was only 20 minutes, but 40 minutes posted) yesterday.

Our favorite interactions were Jack Skellington (he's seasonal, though) and Alice and the Mad Hatter at musical chairs - that was a lot of fun, one of my favorite things ever at Disneyland. They had moved it to 4:30, but I'm not sure if that is a permanent change.

 

[ladylyons]

Wow!!! Thank you all so much!! It sounds like there will be lots of character opportunities for us. Yay!!!

I am thinking of doing the Ariel's Grotto breakfast or lunch on my DD's actual birthday. She has always loved the princess dining experiences at WDW, so I thought that might be a really special way to spend her birthday.

Again, thank you! I can't believe the number and diversity of characters that appear at the meals you all mentioned. I may have to add one of those too!

We did Ariel's Grotto for lunch just last month for my DD's 3rd Birthday. When I made the reservation I told them we were celebrating her birthday and they brought her a little brownie in celebration!! I think next to meeting her favorite Princess Belle this was her favorite part of the lunch!!