Help me pick a character meal please

[RENThead09]

headin to the Land for the Half Marathon.

I am looking to suprise the people in our group with a character meal the next day. Just a treat for surviving the run and for all the work put into to get there. Just a fun and silly way to end the trip. I thought about Blue Bayou, but decided that a character meal would be more fun because it was something we might normally not do.

I have been reading about the different meals, but am still seriously stumped.

Any suggestions as to which one to do. MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE for any help!

 

[Sherry E]

headin to the Land for the Half Marathon.

I am looking to suprise the people in our group with a character meal the next day. Just a treat for surviving the run and for all the work put into to get there. Just a fun and silly way to end the trip. I thought about Blue Bayou, but decided that a character meal would be more fun because it was something we might normally not do.

I have been reading about the different meals, but am still seriously stumped.

Any suggestions as to which one to do. MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE for any help!

Well, you say you have been reading about the different meals, but cannot decide. So maybe photos will help you! Here is a character meal photo thread with all kinds of pictures from all the different meals:

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

Here are breakfast buffet photos at Goofy's from J.C.andAli'sMom:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1253888&page=82

Here are Lilo and Stitch buffet photos from Got2travel:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=18126978&postcount=200

These DIS-ers' Trip Reports all have lots of photos from Minnie and Friends (actually DizNee Luver has all the character meals but Storytellers in her TR):

DizNee Luver: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2088835

WazowskiLOVER: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1986026

Prettyprincessbelle: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1998221

Belle Ella: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2103191

 

[Sleepless Knight]

What are the dynamics of your group?

I've done two character meals at the DLR. Minnie and Friends at the Plaza Inn inside Disneyland and Ariel's Grotto in DCA. Character meals depend on how much you're willing to put it into it. By this I mean that you must be willing to have fun with it and not be afraid to play along with the characters. Fur characters will often act completely like their animated counterparts. You can also have fascinating conversations with characters who don't "speak." One DISer told me about her conversation with Minnie about boys. I've had a lot of fun goofing off with Chip and Dale and being scolded by them for not having them on my lanyard.

Face characters can also be a lot of fun, especially when you know something about their movie because you can ask them questions about their movie and their onscreen friends. Again though, people must be willing to get into the spirit of it and have fun with the experience of being child like (not childish), and the experiences that can happen at character meals.

 

[RENThead09]

it will be all adults...all disney fans.

After looking at the incredible pictures above, I am leaning towards Minnie's or Goofy's. That peanut butter and Jellly pizza is lookin REALLY good. But it seems they both have great characters.

Sherry, thank you so much for point out the pictures.

Luckily I still have about 11 hours to make up my mind.

 

[Sherry E]

it will be all adults...all disney fans.

After looking at the incredible pictures above, I am leaning towards Minnie's or Goofy's. That peanut butter and Jellly pizza is lookin REALLY good. But it seems they both have great characters.

Sherry, thank you so much for point out the pictures.

Luckily I still have about 11 hours to make up my mind.

You are very welcome! I keep all those links I posted for you handy so I can just copy and paste them in a hot minute when the questions come up!

You can see by my signature pictures which character meal is my favorite, but I think you would be happy with either Minnie's or Goofy's. Goofy's has the wider buffet, but fewer characters than Minnie and Friends and is slightly more expensive, and Minnie and Friends sometimes gets a reputation for cold-ish food from a few folks, but has lots of characters. So you really just kind of have to take the plunge. Either way it will be fun!

 

[nunzia]

I'll be there during that time too..not running..but it's my birthday so can't pass up that freebie. We've had all the character breakfasts and for adults I really have to say Storytellers (see my tag)..It was lots of fun, and you don't have to buy the buffet there, you can just go in and order off the menu and still get the show.

 

[Sherry E]

For me, and I am an adult with no kids who prefers Goofy's over Storytellers, the buffets are the best parts of the character meals in general! I think the menu items at Storytellers are too expensive for the portion sizes, and the buffet is actually a better deal there. I assume the same is true for Lilo and Stitch.

It is good to have the menu ordering option just in case...though when my friend ordered from the menu at Storytellers, she said, "For this price I should have just gotten the buffet." Just something to keep in mind...

Goofy's is the most expensive but there is a lot of food from which to choose.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Minnie's was a lot of fun. We had a family character meal there for breakfast in December. My 3 yo nephew and 7 month old niece were there. The characters came to our table a lot, some of them making return visits to play with us. At one point, Tigger took my nephew who was sitting in my mother's wheelchair for a ride. My niece really took a liking to Eeyore, so he visited us quite a few times. The characters we saw there were Minnie, Rafiki, Captain Hook, Pooh, Tigger, Max (Goofy's son, but no Goofy), Rabbit, and Dale (but not Chip).

They were all very much in character, though my nephew was freaked out when Rafiki pretended to pick groom his hair ala Simba after we told my nephew that Rafiki was friends with a lion and my nephew did his lion roar.

The food at Minnie' was standard breakfast fare. At times I found it difficult to eat because the characters came by so frequently. Ariel's Grotto was a much quieter character meal though the princesses there were very good about coming to each table and taking time to talk to the guests and pose for photos.

 

[Sherry E]

Minnie's was a lot of fun. We had a family character meal there for breakfast in December. My 3 yo nephew and 7 month old niece were there. The characters came to our table a lot, some of them making return visits to play with us. At one point, Tigger took my nephew who was sitting in my mother's wheelchair for a ride. My niece really took a liking to Eeyore, so he visited us quite a few times. The characters we saw there were Minnie, Rafiki, Captain Hook, Pooh, Tigger, Max (Goofy's son, but no Goofy), Rabbit, and Dale (but not Chip).

They were all very much in character, though my nephew was freaked out when Rafiki pretended to pick groom his hair ala Simba after we told my nephew that Rafiki was friends with a lion and my nephew did his lion roar.

The food at Minnie' was standard breakfast fare. At times I found it difficult to eat because the characters came by so frequently. Ariel's Grotto was a much quieter character meal though the princesses there were very good about coming to each table and taking time to talk to the guests and pose for photos.

I have had that problem before too, Sleepless Knight! That is one hazard of character meals - sometimes, when they are hoppin' and there are characters galore on duty, it can be difficult to eat because you have to keep stopping to grab your camera every minute. It sounds like it is not a problem, but if you are hungry it can be annoying!

Another character meal issue that never fails (I think it has happened to lots of people) is when you leave someone at the table while you go get your food, a character or two or three inevitably comes to your table while you are gone, and there is no guarantee they will come back. Usually they do come back if the person you are with tells them to come back, but they can't promise!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Great point. On character meals I've eaten at WDW's Chef Mickey's for breakfast (family) and dinner (solo), 1900 Park Faire with Cinderella (family), Liberty Tree Tavern dinner (family), and Akershus dinner (solo), and at Disneyland's Minnie and Friends breakfast (family) and Ariel's Grotto lunch (solo).

Of all those, Liberty Tree Tavern, Akerhsus, and Ariel's Grotto were the only ones where they bring the food to you (though Akershus has an appetizer buffet). I found those meals to be less hectic because there wasn't quite so much running around and worrying about missing characters while you were up.

However, if you play your timing right, you may be able to bolt over to the buffet line and fill up between character visits.

 

[nunzia]

For me, and I am an adult with no kids who prefers Goofy's over Storytellers, the buffets are the best parts of the character meals in general! I think the menu items at Storytellers are too expensive for the portion sizes, and the buffet is actually a better deal there. I assume the same is true for Lilo and Stitch.

It is good to have the menu ordering option just in case...though when my friend ordered from the menu at Storytellers, she said, "For this price I should have just gotten the buffet." Just something to keep in mind...

Goofy's is the most expensive but there is a lot of food from which to choose.

I agree with you on that point. VERY expensive to order off the menu.

 

[fairykin]

Right before Mouse Adventure { a big scavenger hunt through the park} ..we did Lilo and Stitch. It was so yummy... i liked it because i am not a big breakfast food type of person... and they had a wonderful grilled salmon with terryaki sauce and rice. It was a nice combination of food for a group of people with different appetites.

They gave us lea's as we entered and at the end of the meal a cute pin. We had alot of fun with stitch and minnie.

Good Luck with the run and have alot of fun!

 

[Belle Ella]

Sherry posted the link to my TR with our experience & photos with Minnie's. It was an absolute blast and I can't reccommend it enough, although it is the only character meal I have done so far. There were a lot of characters there when we went and each made their way back to our table at least teice if not more and somehow we did manage to get all of our food into our bellies before another would arrive. One of them even escorted my friend over to the food are so she could fill up her plate. It was a classic moment I know she'll never forget. I know I'm hoping to do Minnie's again in September if we can add a third character meal to our plan.

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry posted the link to my TR with our experience & photos with Minnie's. It was an absolute blast and I can't reccommend it enough, although it is the only character meal I have done so far. There were a lot of characters there when we went and each made their way back to our table at least teice if not more and somehow we did manage to get all of our food into our bellies before another would arrive. One of them even escorted my friend over to the food are so she could fill up her plate. It was a classic moment I know she'll never forget. I know I'm hoping to do Minnie's again in September if we can add a third character meal to our plan.

Uh-oh! I see the Disney Snowball Effect kicking in! First, birthday character meals at Goofy's and Ariel's and now Minnie's on the agenda too! Maybe you should go all out and just throw in Lilo and Stitch and Storytellers too! Complete the circle!!

 

[Belle Ella]

Uh-oh! I see the Disney Snowball Effect kicking in! First, birthday character meals at Goofy's and Ariel's and now Minnie's on the agenda too! Maybe you should go all out and just throw in Lilo and Stitch and Storytellers too! Complete the circle!!

I will not deny that is exactly what is happening. We're doing Goofy's and Ariel's Grotto for sure and now Minnie's is popping in as a possible breakfast option the day we arrive. If we were up to doing a character meal a day then believe me Lilo & Stitch and Storytellers would be in there too. Hmm. If I can scrounge up enough money .... LMAO.