If you were making reservations for dinner...

[erinbharris]

where would you go?

We have 2 kids, age 4 and 7. They aren't adventurous eaters, but they are healthy eaters.

We need 5 dinners. So far I have Goofy's Kitchen for one, and RFC for another. I need 3 more dinners.

(I know that the reviews for GK are better for brunch, but we're not big brunch eaters. That being said, I'm going to try to make the dinner reservation for our first night...and am going to try to make another GK reservation for a lunch on our last day--just because! I'd make that last day for another character dining (lunch or dinner) if someone had a suggestion of something that is as good as GK...it seems to be the one everyone suggests!)

Thanks for your help, I get to call dining tomorrow to reserve for our first day!

Erin

 

[Sherry E]

I think you'll enjoy Goofy's because it has good characters and it also has such a wide variety of food. Rainforest Cafe is also good and has a menu with lots of choices.

You won't find that kind of variety at any other character meal, but there are plenty of folks who prefer other character meals over Goofy's (though Goofy's is my favorite!). Goofy's is probably the most popular one for the balance of good characters and good food.

Minnie & Friends in DL definitely has the most characters out of all the character meals, but it constantly gets mixed reviews of the food. Some people have said the food was "inedible." But others thought it was great. That's the thing - we are all just giving opinions based on our experiences. What one person hates, another person will love!! And how can you decide which opinion to listen to and which one not to listen to?

Lots of folks like the Storytellers Cafe Critter Breakfast at the GCH. You can choose either a small buffet or order from the menu. This is a quiet, laid back kind of character meal, and there are usually about 4 or 5 woodsy/jungly Disney characters onsite. I still prefer Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast/brunch over this one, but, again - it's only my opinion.

Surf's Up with Mickey is the new character meal at the PPH, and that's also a buffet. I read one review where the DIS-er said the food and service was bad, but the characters were good. I read another review that said the food and service were great!! So, again, you can kind of only take whatever we all tell you at face value, decide what sounds the best to you and go from there.

Goofy's is now the only character dinner option, since Ariel's Grotto is removing their Princess dinner to offer the dinner packages for World of Color. But lots of folks love Ariel's for lunch. Its very specific kinds of food, however - it's not for everyone's taste. If you like seafood (things like cioppino), this is the place for you.

You could also try non-character places such as Carnation Cafe, Wine Country Trattoria, Storytellers Cafe during non-character hours, PCH Grill in the PPH, Cafe Orleans in DL, etc.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's not a character meal, but we really like dinner at PCH Grill in Paradise Pier Hotel.

For kids, they have a "build your own pizza" that actually tastes quite nummy. The only choice is plain cheese or cheese and pepperoni (or, I suppose, no cheese)...they bring out the dough ready to go, and little containers of sauce and cheese (and pepperoni for the omnivores), there's a wooden stake in it with a number in it. Kids decorate it, parents (or careful kids) take it up to the counter where the chef pops it into the wood-burning oven, and the server brings it back out when it's done. It tastes really good, and it's really fun for littles. DS has been doing it since he was 3.

They also have other stuff, but that's all DS has ever eaten there.

They have the same pizza for the kids at Storytellers at dinner.


Wine Country Trattoria (is it back open yet? will it be open for your trip?) has a plain grilled cheese for kids. I've had it, it's good.


Have you checked out the menus here on the dis? There's a link up towards the top of the page.

And if you find those menus wanting (I sometimes do), allears.net does have a disneyland section with menus as well.

Plaza Inn in DL has plain penne pasta for the unadventurous souls out there. They also have a relatively nice marinara if the kids like that.

Anyway, check out the menus, they are very helpful.

 

[Lissame]

We loved the Big Thunder BBQ last year when we were there. I know they don't have characters there anymore, but I thought I heard they were still doing the little stage show. Even if they aren't, the food is decent and plentiful. My kids enjoyed it a lot.

 

[erinbharris]

Thank you to both of you for your replies.

I'm going to do some more reading tonight, but am pretty sure I will make reservations at...

GK
Celebration Round Up (oops...Big Thunder--that's what it's called now, right?) (it looks fun...does anyone know if you can order chicken without sauce? The only thing my son won't eat is BBQ sauce of any kind)
Rainforest Cafe
PCH Grill OR Carnation Cafe
WCT (can anyone tell me what I need to ask for to get a good seat to watch the Pixar parade?)

These are all for dinners...for lunches I will add Carnation Cafe Or PCH Grill, Cafe Orleans...and maybe a Character Dining?

 

[jenniferrose]

We loved ESPN Zone. Meals are very well priced in my opinion. And the food is great and there are healthy portions. It is quick to take the monorail in and out of the park if you don't want to do the walk all the way out of DL and then down DTD.

 

[erinbharris]

I bet my husband would love ESPN zone. Have you had lunch there?

 

[disneymom23]

We generally do one sit down meal a day and the rest counter service. For our upcoming July trip we are doing: Goofy's Kitchen for dinner on our arrival night, WCT for dinner the next night, Minnies's for breakfast and Cafe Orleans the next day, Ariel's for dinner (WOC) the next, and Carnation Cafe for lunch on the day we leave.

For counter service, we always have Bengal BBQ. We also like Taste Pilot's Grill.

We did WCT once during the parade. I think we made reservations for about 15 minutes before the parade started and we asked for seating where we could view it. They couldn't guarantee it but we were able to get it and had a great view of the parade.

What time is the parade?

 

[Lissame]

Unfortunately, I think the parade is at 5:15, and with WCT being used partly for WOC dining, I don't know that they will be able to guarantee you will see the parade during your meal. I don't think they know entirely yet where seating for WOC vs. regular diners will be.

 

[brergnat]

Jazz Kitchen. ESPN Zone. Storyteller's Cafe. Naples.

Those are all places we frequent with our kids who are 4 and 6.

 

[Sherry E]

I bet my husband would love ESPN zone. Have you had lunch there?

I think the ESPN Zone lunch and dinner menus may be quite similar. Good food and very generous portions. The chicken strips/tenders, for example (on the appetizer menu) come 6 to a basket and each one is the size of a small chicken breast! The milkshakes are thick and rich.

Don't get the lemonade, though - it's more like lemon water.

Wine Country Trattoria has delicious food, as does Carnation Cafe. Also, don't rule out Storytellers Cafe as a non-character meal for lunch or dinner. Their burgers were quite good (which I had for lunch) and their spaghetti & garlic bread (that I had for dinner) was yummy. But they have quite a few things on their menu. I also like Naples a lot (but it gets very, very mixed opinions across the board here - people either love it or hate it).

 

[stitchy626]

ESPN Zone and Plaza Inn are two places where you can't go wrong in my opinion for luch or dinner.

 

[erinbharris]

Great advice Sherry (and others!), thank you.

Here is my list...

Goofy's
Carnation Cafe
WCT
PCH Grill
Cafe Orleans
Big Thunder BBQ
ESPN Zone
Storytellers Cafe (would you splurge to do another character dining experience or just go during a non-character time? We're at DL...I'm not so worried about seeing characters! )
Rainforest Cafe

That makes 9 restaurants...we need 5 dinners and 5 lunches. I know we could do counter service restaurants too, so I think I'll book 5 dinners from the list above and make 5 lunch reservations just in case but cancel them if we don't need them once we're there.

Tonight I'm going to take a closer look at menus. I want to go to Big Thunder BBQ because I'm a ribs lover...but I know nobody else will be thrilled with that choice. Do any of the other restaurants have great ribs?

I think the ESPN Zone lunch and dinner menus may be quite similar. Good food and very generous portions. The chicken strips/tenders, for example (on the appetizer menu) come 6 to a basket and each one is the size of a small chicken breast! The milkshakes are thick and rich.

Don't get the lemonade, though - it's more like lemon water.

Wine Country Trattoria has delicious food, as does Carnation Cafe. Also, don't rule out Storytellers Cafe as a non-character meal for lunch or dinner. Their burgers were quite good (which I had for lunch) and their spaghetti & garlic bread (that I had for dinner) was yummy. But they have quite a few things on their menu. I also like Naples a lot (but it gets very, very mixed opinions across the board here - people either love it or hate it).

 

[Brady's Mom]

Great advice Sherry (and others!), thank you.

Here is my list...

Goofy's
Carnation Cafe
WCT
PCH Grill
Cafe Orleans
Big Thunder BBQ
ESPN Zone
Storytellers Cafe (would you splurge to do another character dining experience or just go during a non-character time? We're at DL...I'm not so worried about seeing characters! )
Rainforest Cafe

That makes 9 restaurants...we need 5 dinners and 5 lunches. I know we could do counter service restaurants too, so I think I'll book 5 dinners from the list above and make 5 lunch reservations just in case but cancel them if we don't need them once we're there.

Tonight I'm going to take a closer look at menus. I want to go to Big Thunder BBQ because I'm a ribs lover...but I know nobody else will be thrilled with that choice. Do any of the other restaurants have great ribs?

Have you considered Taste Pilot's for ribs? You can get a 3 rib or 5 rib plate. 5 ribs feeds DH or DS 13. I love the full throttle fries and can't eat the whole thing. Plus I get DS's coleslaw since he would NEVER eat it. Our littler kids get the cheeseburger slider kid's meals, although DS 8 likes burgers enough to maybe get the bigger burger. That way you could feed your rib lovin side and still have some other choices for your kids.

We tried the Celebration BBQ in April and DH, DS 13 and I really liked it. The chicken is good - but does have some sort of sauce/flavoring on it. The ribs tend to be a little spicy and my little kids really didn't eat enough or like it enough to make it worth it for them. The rest of us liked it, though and we put our leftovers in our lunch cooler and DH and DS had snack food for later.

 

[Sherry E]

Great advice Sherry (and others!), thank you.

Here is my list...

Goofy's
Carnation Cafe
WCT
PCH Grill
Cafe Orleans
Big Thunder BBQ
ESPN Zone
Storytellers Cafe (would you splurge to do another character dining experience or just go during a non-character time? We're at DL...I'm not so worried about seeing characters! )
Rainforest Cafe

That makes 9 restaurants...we need 5 dinners and 5 lunches. I know we could do counter service restaurants too, so I think I'll book 5 dinners from the list above and make 5 lunch reservations just in case but cancel them if we don't need them once we're there.

Tonight I'm going to take a closer look at menus. I want to go to Big Thunder BBQ because I'm a ribs lover...but I know nobody else will be thrilled with that choice. Do any of the other restaurants have great ribs?

Sounds like you have a good food agenda at hand!! If I had the extra money to spare (which I usually don't), I, personally, would probably do an extra character meal. I would do Goofy's, of course, but then probably Surf's Up with Mickey too. (I love the characters at Minnie & Friends that I see in photos, but I would be afraid I would get there on a day when the food was yucky!!) I would just do Storytellers as a non-character lunch or dinner, but other folks really enjoy the Critter Breakfast there.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I bet my husband would love ESPN zone. Have you had lunch there?

We love the ESPN zone. The kids love the arcade, nice break from the parks.

Jack

 

[pdxJolene]

I'm going to throw another vote for carnation cafe out there! The menu is slightly limiting, but gosh the food was good. And it was amazing to get to sit and people watch on main street... A very unique dining experience!

ESPN & rainforest are GREAT too.

If you have girls into princesses Ariel's would be a great choice. Otherwise, I'd skip it.

And for CS, bengal BBQ is a favorite. The skewers were sooo tasty, and a great price.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I love the ESPN Zone and I always go there every time I go to DL. I love the screening room the most since you can watch all the different sports games at once.

Cafe Orleans and Storytellers Cafe breakfast are favorites for me.

 

[erinbharris]

Sounds like you have a good food agenda at hand!! If I had the extra money to spare (which I usually don't), I, personally, would probably do an extra character meal. I would do Goofy's, of course, but then probably Surf's Up with Mickey too. (I love the characters at Minnie & Friends that I see in photos, but I would be afraid I would get there on a day when the food was yucky!!) I would just do Storytellers as a non-character lunch or dinner, but other folks really enjoy the Critter Breakfast there.

We could do another character meal, the only issue being that my kids are not breakfast/brunch kids at all. If we go for a big brunch they always ask for cereal. So...I don't really want to spend the money to do a brunch. We could do a lunch though, so could do Surf's Up with Mickey for lunch, or AG for lunch...but all I see on the sites is that Surf's Up is breakfast, and AG is breakfast or dinner. Do either do lunch?

Here's what I have for dinners after last night's thinking/investigating...

Monday: Goofy's
Tuesday: Carnation Cafe
Wednesday: Rainforest Cafe
Thursday: ESPN Zone
Friday: Storytellers Cafe or PCH Grill for dinner....or Goofy's again for our last night? Would have loved to do AG for dinner with the characters...sigh...

Thoughts?

 

[erinbharris]

Have you considered Taste Pilot's for ribs? You can get a 3 rib or 5 rib plate. 5 ribs feeds DH or DS 13. I love the full throttle fries and can't eat the whole thing. Plus I get DS's coleslaw since he would NEVER eat it. Our littler kids get the cheeseburger slider kid's meals, although DS 8 likes burgers enough to maybe get the bigger burger. That way you could feed your rib lovin side and still have some other choices for your kids.

We tried the Celebration BBQ in April and DH, DS 13 and I really liked it. The chicken is good - but does have some sort of sauce/flavoring on it. The ribs tend to be a little spicy and my little kids really didn't eat enough or like it enough to make it worth it for them. The rest of us liked it, though and we put our leftovers in our lunch cooler and DH and DS had snack food for later.

I think I solved my rib dilemma. There is a Phil's BBQ in San Diego...we can go there for lunch or dinner while in SD and that will fix my rib craving! Then my son can be guaranteed no sauce and everyone will be happy!!