Help Me Choose Breakfast Locations

[Shanti]

We're going to take a weekend trip to Disneyland the first weekend in November. We're WDW vets but have never been to Disneyland before, and we'll be staying at the Disneyland Hotel. I need advice on our dining plans. As my son is gluten-free, I feel better about sticking to table service meals for the most part, as in my experience at WDW, counter service gluten-free takes a long time & it's hard to coordinate gluten & gluten-free diners getting their meals at the same time.

We will be hitting the parks on Saturday & Sunday, and currently have 7am breakfasts booked for Goofy's Kitchen (Saturday) and PCH Grill (Sunday).

But now that reservations for Plaza Inn have finally opened up, I can get a 10:40 ressie there on either day.

Which do you think I should keep? I've read not great reviews for late morning breakfast at Plaza Inn in terms of character interaction, but I really like the idea of eating there, as we won't have to get up so early, and the restaurant looks very pretty, and there are potentially a lot of characters.

Is PCH Grill skippable? I wouldn't mind not having to walk all the way to Paradise Pier, and my son has already met Mickey countless times (still loves meeting him, but he likes meeting other characters, too).

I like the idea of eating at Goofy's Kitchen as it's in our hotel, and my son likes Goofy a lot. I just wish I'd originally booked it for Sunday at 7 (no longer available) so we wouldn't have to wake up so early for breakfast the morning after our flight in. Plaza Inn wasn't open for November booking until just a day or two ago, so it's availability has just come into the mix.

Opinions?

 

[mom2rtk]

Are you just doing the parks on Saturday and Sunday? Can you do Goofy's on Monday morning before you leave?

If you haven't been before, you'll love Plaza Inn. It's beautiful and the number of characters compared with any character meal at WDW is remarkable. We usually do breakfast at 9:45 or 10 and done pretty well with the characters. 10:40 would have me a little nervous about missing some. I've heard great things about late breakfast, and I've also heard less than great things.

I would ask for a table indoors though I do think it's easier to be missed outside.

I'd skip PCH Grill if you are pressed for time, but that's just me. Unless your son loves Stitch. Then it might be worth it. I sure wouldn't be giving up park time to do it though.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Did you try calling to see if you can switch Goofy's Kitchen to Sunday or were you just looking online? For what it's worth we LOVED Surf's Up with Mickey and Friends at the PCH grill. Good food and the character interactions were amazing. Only four characters when we went (Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and Stitch) but we had multiple lengthy interactions with them all.

 

[audrianna890]

I've never been to PCH Grill, but have done both Goofy's Kitchen(which my daughter absolutely adores) and Plaza Inn. Plaza Inn has SO many characters, however, compared to GK. You only get Goofy, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Pluto (don't know if Mickey is still around - he "visited" for a while during the summer). At Plaza Inn we have seen over time: Minnie, Rafiki, Captain Hook, Pooh, Fairy Godmother, Pinocchio, Chip, Dale, Max (Goofy's Son), Eeyore...and...I'm missing some but I can't remember.

Honestly, I never even do reservations for Plaza Inn. We just walk up and are usually seated immediately (outside, albeit, but we don't care). Goofy's Kitchen is definitely a reservations-must though.

 

[Shanti]

Are you just doing the parks on Saturday and Sunday? Can you do Goofy's on Monday morning before you leave?

If you haven't been before, you'll love Plaza Inn. It's beautiful and the number of characters compared with any character meal at WDW is remarkable. We usually do breakfast at 9:45 or 10 and done pretty well with the characters. 10:40 would have me a little nervous about missing some. I've heard great things about late breakfast, and I've also heard less than great things.

I would ask for a table indoors though I do think it's easier to be missed outside.

I'd skip PCH Grill if you are pressed for time, but that's just me. Unless your son loves Stitch. Then it might be worth it. I sure wouldn't be giving up park time to do it though.

We're flying out late Sunday afternoon, so Monday isn't possible. I changed our Plaza Inn ressie to 10am based on your feedback, and will ask for an inside table. 10am should work well, as I just noticed that park hours are finally out for that Saturday, and EMH begin at 7am, so we'll have had a chance to get a fair amount of touring done by 10am. Looks like the park will be crowded with those hours, so we'll likely appreciate the brunch break.

We'll skip PCH and have a late Sunday brunch at Goofy's Kitchen before leaving for our flight out. I hadn't realized they seated until 1:30!

 

[mom2rtk]

We're flying out late Sunday afternoon, so Monday isn't possible. I changed our Plaza Inn ressie to 10am based on your feedback, and will ask for an inside table. 10am should work well, as I just noticed that park hours are finally out for that Saturday, and EMH begin at 7am, so we'll have had a chance to get a fair amount of touring done by 10am. Looks like the park will be crowded with those hours, so we'll likely appreciate the brunch break.

We'll skip PCH and have a late Sunday brunch at Goofy's Kitchen before leaving for our flight out. I hadn't realized they seated until 1:30!

Sounds like a great plan. And they generally honor requests for indoor seating if you have an ADR so you should be fine. If you have any issue with characters making it to your area, don't hesitate to get a character handler and say something. I have found the character meals at DLR to be less organized than the ones at WDW, so their rounding seems a little random sometimes.

 

[wench]

If I were you, I would skip Goofy's. It is generally a crowded chaotic nightmare. And the food has really gone downhill. My son absolutely loves buffets & this one used to be his favorite. But even he doesn't want to go there anymore. On the other hand PCH Grill is a favorite for both of us now. Good food selection & amazing character interaction. We really love Stitch, so it's a must for us.

For Plaza Inn, it is hit or miss. We've been there several times when it was great. And a couple times when it really wasn't. My experience there is you don't normally have just one bad thing happen. If it's a bad morning then everything seems to go bad. Still we've had more good visits there than not.

If you want a late breakfast in DL, I highly recommend Carnation Cafe. There aren't any characters, but the food is good & they've got great service.

 

[avalon451]

We're gluten free due to celiac, and had a great experience at Plaza. They were very knowledgeable, and brought out everything for us on plates, prepared separately-- more than we could possibly want, including GF mickey waffles and gf blueberry muffins.

My preference personally is not to waste early morning hours on breakfast. That's prime early entry touring hours, to get rides in while the crowds are limited, especially since you're onsite and will have early entry. I would have juice, yogurt, granola bars etc. in your hotel room to tide you over for the rope drop touring, then do your breakfast later as more of a brunch thing, after you've already knocked out Fantasyland and Tomorrowland (DL) or Carsland, GotG, and Soarin' (CA) I'd definitely take the 10:40 Plaza reservation.