Making Character Dining Reservation Tips

[Bubblegum1286]

On my budding (and modest) Disney Bucket List is a Character Dining experience. We've never had one, and I hear it's really a must-do with kiddos. My youngest two are still at that terrified-of-characters stage (DS's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese was interesting for my 4 and 3 yr old when Chuck came out), so we're just taking my eldest to a character breakfast and the younger two will have a different kind of special experience with us on this trip.

Anyway, I purchased the tickets for it through Get Away Today, and I know you can make reservations 60 days in advance. Tomorrow is the 60 day mark. Do I need to jump on the reservation hotline first thing in the morning tomorrow?

I honestly can't decide if we should do Breakfast in the Park with Minnie and Friends or Surf's Up with Mickey and Friends.

I know DS (6) would prefer to see Mickey over Minnie, but the idea of eating IN the park is really neat.

So, my actual questions:
1. Which one is more enjoyable for a rambunctious 6 year old?
2. Is this breakfast going to completely take over our whole morning?
3. Do you recommend we do the breakfast on our first day in Disneyland or our second day (we're doing 2 days in DL, one day in CA, and we aren't getting park hoppers).
4. How quick on the draw do I need to be tomorrow making reservations?
5. Is there any preferred seating or secret tip or suggestion I can ask for that is lesser known that might make the experience even more enjoyable? Something neat that I don't know about?

 

[mom2rtk]

They are both fun. I would make my decision based on:

1) Do you want in-park or resort dining? It's fun to do resort dining on a day you don't have park tickets. And it can be frustrating giving up early day park time for Minnie's.

2) Which characters do you prefer? Surf's Up has a pretty set list (Mickey, Stitch, Daisy and a couple others). Minnie's has a very eclectic selection and we love seeing a wide range there.

I would make the reservation as soon as you can, but it's not like WDW where you have to jump on it at the moment the phone lines open.

 

[Bubblegum1286]

I hadn't really considered the fact that if you have a resort meal, you don't have to have park tickets for that day. That really could open up our schedule. We'll have two days of LA sight-seeing, and we could easily do the breakfast on the morning we go to the beach or Hollywood and not have to use up any park time. I think I'd prefer that. I guess Mickey wins in this case! (Although I'm disappointed by the lack of characters I see in reviews of this one particular meal).

 

[agamble]

I've only done Minnie's breakfast so far. As mentioned above it has a mix of characters. Captain Hook, Tigger, and Pooh are often there among others. They also give balloons out that your son could carry around the park for the day. The voucher may have cost more than this breakfast does. It costs $30 or less per adult and about $13 for a child. I've never bought a voucher because every time I look the price is more than the meal I'm booking.

You typically do not need to make reservations immediately. I made my upcoming reservations about 45 days out, no problem. Then just last week I changed the reservation to a later time, still no problem. Since you're going in June though, it is a little busier, so if you have the time you might as well make them.

I think Mickey's breakfast includes "surfing lessons" (dancing really). It's also a place to see Stitch. You can't find him in the parks unless you have a Disney Visa.

 

[mom2rtk]

I hadn't really considered the fact that if you have a resort meal, you don't have to have park tickets for that day. That really could open up our schedule. We'll have two days of LA sight-seeing, and we could easily do the breakfast on the morning we go to the beach or Hollywood and not have to use up any park time. I think I'd prefer that. I guess Mickey wins in this case! (Although I'm disappointed by the lack of characters I see in reviews of this one particular meal).

It really is nice way to add a touch of Disney to a non-park day.

 

[Bubblegum1286]

I've only done Minnie's breakfast so far. As mentioned above it has a mix of characters. Captain Hook, Tigger, and Pooh are often there among others. They also give balloons out that your son could carry around the park for the day. The voucher may have cost more than this breakfast does. It costs $30 or less per adult and about $13 for a child. I've never bought a voucher because every time I look the price is more than the meal I'm booking.

I hope I didn't overpay for my voucher! I think the voucher came down to $33 per adult and $17 per child? Something like that. That would really stink.

 

[Aladora]

I've only done Minnie's breakfast so far. As mentioned above it has a mix of characters. Captain Hook, Tigger, and Pooh are often there among others. They also give balloons out that your son could carry around the park for the day. The voucher may have cost more than this breakfast does. It costs $30 or less per adult and about $13 for a child. I've never bought a voucher because every time I look the price is more than the meal I'm booking.

You typically do not need to make reservations immediately. I made my upcoming reservations about 45 days out, no problem. Then just last week I changed the reservation to a later time, still no problem. Since you're going in June though, it is a little busier, so if you have the time you might as well make them.

I think Mickey's breakfast includes "surfing lessons" (dancing really). It's also a place to see Stitch. You can't find him in the parks unless you have a Disney Visa.

We've done Minnie and Friends 3 times and have never seen the balloons!

 

[Aladora]

I hope I didn't overpay for my voucher! I think the voucher came down to $33 per adult and $17 per child? Something like that. That would really stink.

I *think* that the voucher includes tax and tip. The meal cost that I can find is $31/adult and $16/child but that is pre-tax and pre-tip so if your vouchers include tax and tip then you got a decent deal.

 

[Bubblegum1286]

Okay, WHEW! I looked it up: "Your Regular Character Dining tickets include all food and beverage, excluding alcohol, and your tax and gratuity! Your experience also includes characters coming to your table and all activities happening during your meal. Specific characters are subject to change and are not guaranteed at each meal."

 

[TeresaR]

Another hint since your son likes Mickey is to head over to Toontown. It's a great place which I think that both you and your kids will like. And Mickey can always be found in his movie barn which is behind his house. Most of the other characters (Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, etc.,) tend to wander around the park. I've found them a lot of times on Main Street in the area surrounding the Flag Pole making it not quite so scary for the ones who are more timid as it gives them the space to see the characters without having to be really close to them. Also, if you go to DCA on one of the two days, head over to the Paradise Pier area to catch the Green Army Men from Toy Story. Carsland is another big hit.

 

[tiffjoy]

We have done both and like both. We do Surf's Up on non-park days (usually the day we leave) and Minnie's on mornings when the park opens later.

I personally prefer the character interaction at Surf's Up. While you can meet a lot of characters at Minnie's, and the location is really perfect, Surf's Up is more laid back and the characters can spend a lot more time visiting. My kids always eat and then go play with the characters for a long time before we leave. My DH and I keep a very close eye and make sure they do not monopolize the character, but often, it is only my kids. Mickey has to stay up at the front for pictures, so he's just chilling out if no one is coming into the restaurant. When my youngest was 9 months, we went for her first visit, and she was very nervous of the furry characters. Mickey sat down on the floor and played peek a boo with her and crawled around, helped her walk, got big sister involved in trying to encourage little sister to sit with Mickey. It was all so great!!! I enjoy Minnie's, and that was my older daughter's first birthday celebration and her first character meal, and we have good memories of it. But I really do like Surf's Up the best.

 

[agamble]

Mickey's costs more than Minnie's too, so that will make your voucher worth more. Minnie's is the cheapest of the meals. It was $27 for an adult last summer. I forgot about tax/tip. That makes sense. We have an AP, so we get a discount too making it best to just pay at the park.

 

[Speechphi]

If I'm not mistaken, you can use your vouchers anywhere in the parks, so you can pay "cash" for Minnie's & then use the vouchers somewhere else, for up to the $$ of the voucher. So say you have two $33 vouchers, and one $15 voucher. You could go to Carnation Cafe & pay a $50 bill with one $33 & the $15.

Check if your vouchers are good for Premium (Goofy's & Ariels) or regular (Surf's Up, Minnies, & Storytellers). I know with Costco our package includes premium dining. We have APs so we get a meal discount, so for us it doesn't make sense to use the vouchers. In the past, pre-APs, we always made sure to use them at the most expensive meal & paid OOP for the other character meals. Hope that helps!

...and we've never received (or seen) balloons at Minnie's either

 

[agamble]

Hmm...we've gotten balloons both times we visited Minnie's (June 1 year ago and 3 years ago). Also, before we had breakfast with Minnie, I used to see kids with these regular balloons decorated with Minnie's picture and filled with helium, but I could never find where people bought them. They don't sell them, just the expensive Mylars. Those balloons come from Minnie's breakfast.

 

[McNs]

We liked Surf's Up over Minnie's, the food was better and the character interactions were great. Stitch is a star, so funny! There is dancing that happens every now and then where all the kids (big and little) get up and boogie.

If you are time limited I would not do Surf's Up if it meant missing out on park time, but sounds like you can do it on a non park day.

 

[Anemone]

I had breakfast at Minnie's a few weeks ago. The characters were Minnie, Captain Hook, Chip, Dale, Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore, Max, Rafiki, Perla and Fairy Godmother. Compared to character meals at Disneyland Paris I thought you got a lot of characters for your money.

 

[Mich1218]

Anemone, if you don't mind my asking, what day/time did you go? I've read that MM mornings it opens earlier and if you go during that hour there's a better range of characters. We were planning on doing this on a non-MM. I wasn't sure how true the MM thing was.

I had breakfast at Minnie's a few weeks ago. The characters were Minnie, Captain Hook, Chip, Dale, Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore, Max, Rafiki, Perla and Fairy Godmother. Compared to character meals at Disneyland Paris I thought you got a lot of characters for your money.

 

[agamble]

I've been during MM and during the mid-morning, and the character range was the same. The difference is in the morning less people are there so the characters can spend more time with you. Also, all the food is hot and fresh.

 

[adSimba]

are the balloons latex? or maylar? my wife is super allergic to latex and this could be a deal breaker

 

[Bubblegum1286]

If I'm not mistaken, you can use your vouchers anywhere in the parks, so you can pay "cash" for Minnie's & then use the vouchers somewhere else, for up to the $$ of the voucher. So say you have two $33 vouchers, and one $15 voucher. You could go to Carnation Cafe & pay a $50 bill with one $33 & the $15.

Check if your vouchers are good for Premium (Goofy's & Ariels) or regular (Surf's Up, Minnies, & Storytellers). I know with Costco our package includes premium dining. We have APs so we get a meal discount, so for us it doesn't make sense to use the vouchers. In the past, pre-APs, we always made sure to use them at the most expensive meal & paid OOP for the other character meals. Hope that helps!

Hmmm very interesting.... We didn't buy ours through Costco, we got them from Get Away Today after I read a review on the MouseSaver's website. I bought the regular dining. I think Goofy's breakfast sounds neat, but we are on a budget and I know DS will be THRILLED with a "regular" meal too.