Horrible Goofys Kitchen experience.

[Glynis]

Thanks for the Minnie and Friends feedback. Pretty sure that's where we will go.

We loved Minnie and Friends! Had the best character interaction with the Fairy Godmother! We had a group of 13 small children, and she learned all their names when we first came in, and kept coming back to our group and talked to all the kids by name! They were so thrilled, even the boys, who were determined not to like her.

The food was good, too. I don't know that the kids ate enough to justify the price, but the character interaction was so good that it more than made up for it. I do know that one of my carnivore sons ate his body weight in bacon and sausage!

 

[AnneUCSB]

We loved Minnie and Friends! Had the best character interaction with the Fairy Godmother! We had a group of 13 small children, and she learned all their names when we first came in, and kept coming back to our group and talked to all the kids by name! They were so thrilled, even the boys, who were determined not to like her.

The food was good, too. I don't know that the kids ate enough to justify the price, but the character interaction was so good that it more than made up for it. I do know that one of my carnivore sons ate his body weight in bacon and sausage!

We did Goofy's Kitchen in the past and the kids loved the variety of food but I wasn't all that impressed by the character interactions. I'm thrilled to hear the raves about Minnie and Friends because that's where we have reservations in November (and I have all boys so I appreciate the previous poster's story about the Fairy Godmother!).

 

[msdaisy]

This makes me so sad. I was planning on Goofy's Kitchen being our one and only character meal. We have done just about all the character meals at WDW and we have always had great experiences. In fact sometimes I am shocked at how organized it all seems. I am helping a friend plan a trip for WDW and she was worried about having to run the characters down, and I was like no worries because Disney has this down to a science. Why oh why can't Goofy's get it together?!

 

[disney4cam]

Bummer for those of you with bad experiences.

I kind of wonder if it matters where you sit. Whenever we have been seated in that kind of octagonal room with windows, we had a less than stellar time. When we were in the main restaurant, it was much better. It seems like the closer you are to the buffet, the better experience.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We had the opposite experience with Minnie's. We were there over an hour without a single character, even though I saw them going everywhere else. I finally talked to the lead and we finally got some to come by but they seemed rushed. The Fairy Godmother was the best by far. She took an amazing amount of time with my kids and as our last character, it was needed.

 

[sacramentomom3]

We ate there the first week of May and had a similar experience to the OP. Immediately after being seated, a princess came to our table to say 'hello' and take a picture with the kids. An hour went by, and no other characters had even walked through our area! Eventually, I went to the front counter to complain (kids were already done eating at this point!)and they were very nonchalant about the whole thing. The manager said they'd 'try' to find another character to send over. We waited awhile longer, but still nothing! Very disappointing experience for the money we spent (party of 6)! We won't be back.

 

[mshrm]

Thank you for posting this! I was going to upgrade our character meal tix so we could have dinner there our opening night but now I will just leave them as is and have the Minnie breakfast.

 

[Malcon10t]

Thanks for the Minnie and Friends feedback. Pretty sure that's where we will go.

We had done Minnie's 2 years ago, and we only got Eeyore and Captain Hook. Put me off on Minnie's for a long time.

We have had nothing but positive experiences at Goofy's.

And just to clarify, reservations can't be controlled. It the person seated at the table prior to you doesn't exit on time, your seating will be late, and the one after you will probably be even later.

 

[Twinprincesses]

And just to clarify, reservations can't be controlled. It the person seated at the table prior to you doesn't exit on time, your seating will be late, and the one after you will probably be even later.

I understand this but they just throw you on the little sofa and you feel forgotten in the corner.

My huge problem with this is none of the employees there cared which made it obvious that this is a common complaint. We not only complained to the front but to the character handler as well. He told us Pluto had to go back to the doghouse or something like that.

With the food I do feel the selection was decent but it was just cold. I also had to ask for a full cup of coffee because the waitress kept filling it halfway up, I think she thought I would spill it on myself.

 

[Renae De Liz]

I hope quality has not slipped, we had the BEST experience 3 years ago!!

We saw many characters, but Peter Pan and Aladdin (who were hanging out with each other) must have saw something special with our son, because they hung out with him for 30 minutes. Aladdin & Peter were friendly bantering/arguing back and forth trying to one up eachother (frenemy's I suppose ) and it was hilarious and very well done. My very excited son (6 at the time) told Aladdin about his videogame that he plays (the old Sega Genesis Aladdin game) and how much he loved it. At which time Peter Pan got cranky because HE didn't have a videogame, so he decided to show my son something cool outside to "show up" Aladdin and his videogame. So they walked us outside (we were done eating) and Peter Pan started talking to my son about the stars and the sky and how awesome it was to fly. Then they said goodbye and went back in.

That was just a small part of the whole exchange, but my son to this day will always talk about this experience first in reference to that trip, and how special he felt that they wanted to talk to him so much.

So here's hoping quality like that hasn't slipped, because one of our very best Disney memories came from Goofy's Kitchen

 

[DisneytheKid]

I'm sorry. Thats really too bad. I would expect Disney to rectify that better than simply giving you a comment card...

 

[Ancient Purple]

I'm sorry. Thats really too bad. I would expect Disney to rectify that better than simply giving you a comment card...

Disney would rectify it better for me. If I dropped that type of money for a character meal and had a miniscule number of characters attend or approach, I would escalate that until I received something far better than a comment card or a cutesy story about how Pluto had to go back to the dog house.

If Pluto had to go back to the dog house, than a couple of Andrew Jackson's can go back to my wallet.

 

[BigCheese]

Goofy's has been inconsistent for us in the past, much like the varying experiences posted thus far. But we've never had a bad meal or experience at Mickey's Surf's Up (and previously Lilo & Stich). The amount of food and total quantity of characters don't match Goofy's, but the food is always good at Surf's Up and the character interaction is always great (Pluto, Stich, Minnie and Daisy visted our table multiple times during our time there the other day). Funny enough, over the years we've never tried Minnie's, partially due to my preference to do character meals on non-park days and not yet getting past my preference of not using park AM time for a character meal (although some day we'll definately try Minnie's as it gets generally positive reviews on all fronts).

 

[lilpooh108]

We've only gone three times but I have noticed that it matters alot where you sit. The restaurant space is so big it's pretty easy to get ignored by the characters. It's stressful b/c I always stand up the entire time, looking out for them and then waving relatives over to come back from the buffet bar. I've never gone to any character meal and felt relaxed (including & esp at WDW).

 

[awdsmama]

I'm so sorry you had such a poor experience!


May I ask what time you went and where were you seated?
I've been debating between STorytellers and GK for our next character meal.

We did Minnies and Friends in March and LOVED IT! YEah the food was lukewarm, but taste was good...but the character experience was sooo worth it! Captain Hook stole my son's autograph book and a slow chase ensued, it was cute My son filled up almost his entire autograph book in the breakfast alone. We saw: Minnie, Pooh, Eyeore, Max, Captain Hook, Alice and Mad Hatter, Tigger, Rafiki and I'm probably missing one or two.

 

[Twinprincesses]

Disney would rectify it better for me. If I dropped that type of money for a character meal and had a miniscule number of characters attend or approach, I would escalate that until I received something far better than a comment card or a cutesy story about how Pluto had to go back to the dog house.

If Pluto had to go back to the dog house, than a couple of Andrew Jackson's can go back to my wallet.

This is going to sound crazy but I was so emotional from a bad day at DL the day before I almost started crying. I thought people would think I was crazy because I had tears in my eyes.

We sat in the far back by the door the characters go out by the windows.

I think with a character meal they should have a rotation in which they visit the tables. The only character that stayed out the entire time was Belle and she seemed bored as she strolled by our table.

 

[bethyylovee]

Sorry you have had such a bad experience. We've been going to Goofy's Kitchen every year for 10+ years and have never been anything but thoroughly pleased. I hope nothing has changed since I've been.

 

[ValpoCory]

Funny enough, over the years we've never tried Minnie's, partially due to my preference to do character meals on non-park days and not yet getting past my preference of not using park AM time for a character meal (although some day we'll definately try Minnie's as it gets generally positive reviews on all fronts).

I don't understand why Disneyland can't do what WDW does with Crystal Palace, i.e. open it up an hour before the park opens to allow guests to get PhotoPass shots on a near-empty Main Street, and eat a character breakfast without missing any or much of the priceless AM park time.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I always comment that we want to be in the center of the action. I know this places us closer to the buffet, but with children I prefer that anyway. I've noticed the dining areas towards the front seem to get passed over.

If you want character interaction the best places is Minnies and Friends. Never disappointed. Of course the buffet is standard, but we think it's worth it for the characters alone.

 

[Ancient Purple]

This is going to sound crazy but I was so emotional from a bad day at DL the day before I almost started crying. I thought people would think I was crazy because I had tears in my eyes.

We sat in the far back by the door the characters go out by the windows.

I think with a character meal they should have a rotation in which they visit the tables. The only character that stayed out the entire time was Belle and she seemed bored as she strolled by our table.

I apologize if my response came across as taking you to task. That was honestly the furthest thing from my mind.

And I certainly do not think you are crazy for being emotional. I work very hard for my money and if I spend it on something that is promoted to be a premier event, it had better be that way or else I will get emotional as well.

Disney dropped the ball here and, clearly, at other times vis-a-vis Goofy's Kitchen, and at some point there should be a reckoning of some sort. Certainly the wait staff or the management of Goofy's Kitchen can see that the characters are short on supply. If more characters cannot be garnered for the character breakfast, then the manager, assistant manager, and team leads should be canvasing the restaurant with profuse apologies and some sort of token to mitigate the fact that people are dropping a substantial amount of money for eggs and waffles.