Do you have to have be admitted into the park for Character Meals?

[svfive]

Just trying to plan our days a bit. We will be in the Anaheim Area for 10 days, with a 5 day park hopper. I want to do Character meals for sure, but I am wondering if I can plan them for days we aren't going to the park so they don't cut into park time? We are staying off site.

 

[Girimama33]

The only ones that require park entrance are Minnie's in the Park and Ariel's Grotto. The others are located in the hotels.

 

[sillybaer]

One way to tell is if you look at the character dining online for the ones inside the park it will say on the upper right just below the location "Valid park admission required."

We started with Mickey's Surf's Up breakfast on a non-park day. I wanted to get meeting Mickey & Minnie out of the way (although my hope of saving time in the park didn't work as we still spent hours waiting in line at their houses too on the whims of 4 year olds.) I definitely thought doing the non-park day was good as there were several families stressed and frustrated because Minnie & Daisy went on breaks and we had to wait quite a while to see them.

 

[Serial]

As a PP said, the only character meals that require park admission are:

• Minnie and Friends Breakfast at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland, which features Minnie and friends including Pluto, Chip and Dale, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Captain Hook, and the Fairy Godmother; and
• Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure, which features Ariel and a mix of either Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, Mulan, and/or Rapunzel for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The rest are at Disney resort hotels and don't require park admission:

• Storyteller's Cafe Critter Breakfast at the Grand Californian, with Rafiki, Terk, Meeko, Koda, Kinai, Chip and Dale;
• Surf's Up! Breakfast at PCH Grill in the Paradise Pier Hotel, with Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Pluto, and Stitch; and
• Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel, with Chef Goofy, Pluto and Friends (characters vary, but I believe management eliminated face characters from the lineup last year).