WDW vet here. From our WDW perspective, we think that Minnie's breakfast is hands down the best character breakfast at either WDW or DL. Unlike WDW where for every character meal which characters appear are set in stone and it is never more than 5, at Minnies we have never seen less than 7 characters (we have seen up to 12!), and you never know who you are going to get. We've seen Minnie, Captain Hook, Fairy Godmother and Max (Goofy's son) about every time, but the rest there is a big variation. We've seen Chip and Dale, Mad Hatter, Alice, Rakifi, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Sleeping Beauty, Tweedle Dee, Pinnochio, Penguin from Mary Poppins, Brer Fox, Gepetto, and probably more I'm forgetting. We love the surprise aspect! The interactions are usually more than we get at WDW, too. Just about every trip, at least a couple of the characters will dance or play with DD(7) for quite a bit. I can remember her doing the macarena with Captain Hook a couple of years back which was hilarious. This year, the Fairy Godmother was on the floor teaching her how to tie her shoes, and how to do it so they wouldn't come untied (double loop them- I guess she taught me something too!). We usually like to go around 10:00 or 10:15. You can do some things in the park before breakfast in the early morning low line time, and it seems like the breakfast crowd is winding down so that the characters have a little more time to interact.
We like doing the World of Color Dining package too. WOC is not to be missed, but as it is all standing if you are short like me, you are going to want to be in front somewhere. With the dining package, you don't have to line up quite as early.
Blue Bayou is basically the same atmosphere as the San Angel in Epcot (outdoors inside), but with a New Orleans style and obviously a different kind of food. It is fun to sit and watch the POTC boats go by, if you can get a table near the water. As far as the food, some people rave about it, and my DH is a big fan of the Salmon there so we always go there, but my food has always been what I would describe as just okay (I'm not really a seafood eater, so I can't vouch for the salmon). DD just likes the light up ice cubes in the dark room- that is why it makes her list! To us, like the San Angel, it is all about the atmosphere.
Goofy's Kitchen is a fun character meal too, but we typically see more characters at Minnie's.
Ariel's is pretty much a standard Princess meal just like at WDW. The pictures with Ariel turn out really well usually (much more so than at the new dark Princess meet and greet area at DL). There is some variation in what Princesses you might run into other than Ariel though.
We've been pretty happy with the counter service options at DL too. We are not usually very big fans of most of WDW's counter service, but we have been happy with DL's. We really like the chicken at the Mexican place on Pacific Wharf at CA, but you will see some criticism about that place on here. We did not like the Chinese food from the place on the wharf, to the point where it got thrown in the trash after a couple of bits and we got something else.
I'm not a dole whip fan either-- never fear they have plenty of Mickey Head Ice Cream bars! Also, the churro is considered a DL staple for a dessert/snack.
Have fun! I hope you love DL as much as we do!
But you definitely pay for it.
