Goofy's Kitchen, ?'s and advice

[abckid]

Hey guys. I'm sorry to ask this as I'm sure it's already been posted, but I've used the search function and haven't found the answers yet. My family has decided they want to do Goofy's Kitchen, but we need a little help.

First of all, if you had a choice, would you choose brunch or dinner? We wanted to do lunch because we're getting free breakfast at our hotel which will be good enough for us. I didn't want to waste the free breakfast LOL We thought if we did it for lunch, we could fill ourselves up nice and full, and not need to worry about dinner later either. We would only need/want a big snack in the evening. Plus, we will need to take a break from the parks midday anyway for the younger boys to get their nap. So we were going to try and do Goofy's kitchen for lunch and then after the boys would fall asleep in the stroller on the way back to our hotel or the parks. However, I was just informed that they do not have a dedicated lunch. It's either breakfast or dinner. What are the food choices for breakfast or dinner (I know it's buffet, just trying to get an idea).

My second question is somewhat related to the first. I'm wondering what time we should go for breakfast? I don't know how late the brunch is served or when the characters leave. I do not want to pay so much money for a character meal and not get to see very many characters. I remember reading on one of the threads that you can sometimes get there at "shift change" and see more characters. That would be cool, but I'm sure is not always the same time LOL

Here is my idea, so please tell me what you would do:
I was thinking maybe we can schedule Goofy's Kitchen for a late brunch on a MM day. So, we would get up early and grab breakfast at out hotel as usual. Then we would head to Disney for MM and ride rides for a few hours. And then when the crowds start to pick up, we can head over to Goofy's kitchen for brunch. It would sort of be a second breakfast/early lunch LOL

 

[Stacerita]

I have done both and prefer brunch/breakfast over their dinner. I do enjoy their dinner, but I love the brunch more.

Personally, if I were you, I would grab something from the hotel, MM, then have a later brunch at like 11. There are usually no crowds at that time, and the character interaction is great. Plus, they have food other than strictly breakfast foods. So if you wanted salad, chicken, pizza, hot dogs and such, you could do that. But I love their breakfast foods.

I have found that at the later seatings is when we have the best character interaction. And if you didn't get to see someone, just let the server know and they will help you out.

 

[abckid]

So, how late is the brunch open? And do they continue to serve the breakfast foods all the way up until the end? Or do they switch over to lunch foods at the end? Thanks!

 

[Sherry E]

I also strongly prefer the GK breakfast/brunch food over the dinner food but that is because I am more of a 'big breakfast' kind of person than a 'big dinner' type. It's not that there is anything wrong with the dinner. It's just a preference. Both meals have a tremendous variety of dishes from which to choose so everybody should be happy. It is a great and bountiful selection. But breakfast/brunch is also cheaper than dinner so that is another reason why I prefer that.

They do not really switch to lunch foods. It is just kind of an extended breakfast selection. There is no official lunch at Goofy's anymore. They close down for a few hours between breakfast/brunch and dinner. Now I have been at Goofy's as early as 7:00 a.m. or 7:50 a.m. and the pizza, hot dogs and chicken that Stacerita spoke of were being served right along with the regular 'breakfasty' foods. So my guess is that those particular foods are served at every meal now, at all times - or maybe served at every meal during the peak seasons, perhaps. I have always seen them and assumed they put them out to entice the kids.

When I have been at Goofy's in the early morning (when it was the least crowded), the food is at its freshest and hottest but the characters sort of trickle in slowly through the morning. Goofy and Baloo were there to greet us in December as we opened the restaurant (they kind of stood to the side and watched everyone as they came in, and I could just envision them saying to themselves, "Another Saturday morning crowd...same old same old.....") but Chip, Dale, Pluto, Aurora and Jasmine took a bit longer to arrive. I have heard from other folks who eat at Goofy's later in the morning that people can make their PS's for later times, like for 11:30 or so, but that the characters are not necessarily there past noon even if the guests can stay and finish eating. It seems to differ depending on the time of year – sometimes the characters are gone at noon; sometimes they may linger; sometimes there may only be one character hanging around past noon. I just wouldn't want to risk making a PS for a later time and not seeing any characters, or seeing very few.

As far as the shift changes, DizNee Luver got lucky at Minnie and Friend’s when she was there for one of those shift changes, so she saw 14 characters. I have also been there at Goofy’s where there were maybe 5 characters, and then as soon as we were leaving, a couple of others were showing up. My guess is that if you ate at a time somewhere around maybe 10:00 a.m., you could possibly see the most characters. We always go early in the morning to get the meal out of the way so we don’t have to interrupt valuable park time later. But really, any time you go, it will be great. The food is wonderful and the characters are fun and you will have a fantastic time!

Make sure you check out this thread with a bunch of pictures from various DIS-ers' trips to Goofy’s and other character meals (if you have not already seen it):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2170088

 

[blackjackdelta]

We have done all 3 have have found the most characters were at dinner time. Food is based on what you like the most and we like dinner since we have already stormed the parks pretty heavy during the Day. Great break from the heat and recharges the batteries for the evening.

Jack

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

I'm opposite to Sherry bc I could skip breakfast altogether bc I'm just "one of those people" , LOL! So dinner for me has always been a bigger production.

I would give brunch a shot tho, just bc I haven't before.

Quick funny side note...well, sort of funny. When we went to dinner they had PB&J pizzas, my kids were in heaven. I might do it again JUST so they could enjoy those! But my then 3yo DS ate his pizza & stayed clean....my 9yo DD however ended up covered in PB??? We had to go buy her a new sweatshirt at DLH so she wouldn't poison my highly-allergic-to-peanuts DH! We bought clothes TWICE bc of mini-disasters.

Odd how meal planning is so centered around our kids, eh?

 

[Sherry E]

I'm opposite to Sherry bc I could skip breakfast altogether bc I'm just "one of those people" , LOL! So dinner for me has always been a bigger production.

I would give brunch a shot tho, just bc I haven't before.

Quick funny side note...well, sort of funny. When we went to dinner they had PB&J pizzas, my kids were in heaven. I might do it again JUST so they could enjoy those! But my then 3yo DS ate his pizza & stayed clean....my 9yo DD however ended up covered in PB??? We had to go buy her a new sweatshirt at DLH so she wouldn't poison my highly-allergic-to-peanuts DH! We bought clothes TWICE bc of mini-disasters.

Odd how meal planning is so centered around our kids, eh?

You know how there are some folks who love to have really big breakfasts to get the day going and then eat like bird for dinner - or skip it entirely - and then there are folks who eat lightly throughout the day and then really enjoy a big, hearty dinner? I have to eat a lot of protein first thing in the morning or my blood sugar is off the charts, so I think that is how I became a Goofy's Kitchen 'big breakfast' type rather than the 'big dinner' type! And of course, if I can save a few bucks doing that then that's great too. And once we eat the big breakfast, we are generally not hungry again until dinnertime.

So GK has the P, B & J pizza at dinnertime as well? That is also there at breakfast too - in fact, my 40-year-old friend ate some of it - along with her worms and dirt!! She didn't even eat any 'adult food,' really! She loved the PB&J pizza, the frozen yogurt and the worms and dirt...at 8:00 a.m.!! So I guess they keep the 'regular' pizza (cheese and pepperoni), the PB&J pizza, the chicken and the hot dogs out morning and evening - to attract kids in case they want nothing to do with the other food.

 

[Sherry E]

Oh, and abckid, you also wanted to know about the food selections. I know there are other folks here who can comment on the dinner stuff, but for breakfast/brunch, you get the BEST fruit - it is so juicy and at its peak of freshness, regular items like eggs, potatoes (great) and super delicious bacon (they must Disney-fy it because is better than any other bacon I have had), lox, bagels, creme brulee French toast, banana crepes, pastries of all sorts, mini muffins (delicious), cupcakes, croissants (my friend says they are fantastic), Mickey-shaped cobbler (adorable), biscuits and gravy, mini-Mickey waffles, etc., etc. It is a great spread they have there. They used to have mini-donuts but those seem to be gone - I loved those!

I know DizNee Luver has a ton of photos from Goofy's in her trip report, and here are some great shots of the breakfast food from J.C.andAli'sMom - she has several posts on this one page of the Dining thread, with lots of stuff from Goofy's: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1253888&page=82

 

[jenjersnap]

If you opt to eat at GK on the weekends, the brunch goes until 2 p.m. so it really, truly is lunch-time! (You should ask Dining though, there might be some variation in their hours. YMMV and all that. )

 

[abckid]

The food sounds delish, and I started drooling over the pics LOL

 

[Sherry E]

The food sounds delish, and I started drooling over the pics LOL

Those food pictures from J.C.andAli'sMom are particularly tempting, aren't they? And the pictures supplied by everyone in the Character Meal photo thread are very fun. And yet, there are still guests who go to Goofy's on off days when maybe the characters are slacking off a bit or the food isn't as good as other times, but I think you can tell from the food photos and from all of our character pictures from Goofy's that it is usually an overall great time! And seriously, I don't know what they do to the bacon and the fruit at Goofy's/DLR, but it some of the BEST and most flavorful I have ever tasted!