Crowds in early June and Character Meals

[va32h]

We are going to DL May 29-June 11. We are visiting friends for Memorial Day weekend, because I'm sure the park will be a mess that day, but how are the crowds that first week of June?

We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel, so we will be able to use early entry, or whatever they call it now!

What sort of character meals are available at DL?

 

[hlbtimes2]

Early entry is offered on Mon, Tues, Thur and Saturday. As a guest of the hotel you should be able to use it any of those days you are there. However, that is not a published special, so it could change at any time.

Character meals:
Minnie and Friends- in DL at the Plaza. Its breakfast only. Its a served buffet (all you can eat, but there are people there to dish the food for you). We loved this character meal- the interaction was WONDERFUL. We saw Minnie, Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Chip and Dale, Hook, and the Fairy Godmother.

Princess meal at Ariels- at DCA. Lunch and Dinner. Its a menu, full service meal. You might a starter (soup or salad) entree and dessert. You'll see a variety of princesses, including Ariel with human legs rather then a fin. Book early for this meal, its hard to get seating at!

Goofys- DLH. Breakfast/ Brunch or dinner. All you can eat Buffet. Characters dance and come around for pictures. We saw Goofy, Donald, Aladin and Snow White in Oct. The interaction when we went was not that great. We've had better luck at the Plaza.

Chip and Dale at Storytellers- Grand CA hotel. Breakfast only. Menu or Buffet. Characters are a bit more laid back, and have a "woodsy" theme- Chip, Dale, Koda and Kenia from brother bear, meeko, and a forest ranger.

Lilo and Stitch at PP- breakfast only, menu or buffet. I've heard good things about the characters at this breakfast. Lilo, Stitch, Minnie and pluto are commonly seen. Sometimes Daisy Duck- she is rarely seen anywhere!

 

[hip]

We went last year during the first week in June and the crowds were not bad at all. The longest wait we had for the popular rides was 30-40 minutes, but we collected lots of fastpasses and rarely stood in line more than 10 minutes. Many of the smaller rides were 10-20 minute waits. In DCA we walked right on many of the rides. My 4 and 6 years olds rode the bumper cars in the Bug's Life area and King Triton's carousel at least 10 times in a row!

We did the latest morning seating at Goofy's Kitchen on a Tuesday. The restaurant was not full, and we had lots of great character interaction. We saw Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Donald, Mary Poppins, Max, Mad Hatter. Most of the characters came by twice. Mary Poppins sat at our table and drew a picture in each of the kids' autograph books. Goofy took a liking to my 4 year old and came back several times.

We enjoyed that time frame so much, that we are returning this year June 6-10.

 

[Zeek]

Myself, wifey and son are flying into John Wayne on Monday May 29, we'll be in Disneyland Tue May 30 to Sun Jun 4. Does one need to book a character brekky in advance or just walk in? Sorry if this is a dumb question.

 

[SamIAm21]

Just my opinion, I think you should book any type of character meal in advance. Even a week out gives you a better chance of getting in somewhere rather than just being a "walk-up". Good luck!

 

[Luvmy2Js]

If you decide to do Ariel's Grotto then for sure book a PS reservation. It was so sad when we were there in Feb. and little girls were getting turned away with their parents. This was a day when you would have thought it might be easy to get a seat as it was pouring rain and there was barely anyone in the parks. I just called for June 10-13 PS and was able to get them each day at character dinners.

 

[Zeek]

Thanks for the tip, I just called DL and booked us into Goofy's Kitchen for brekky!