Not Getting to See Characters at a Character Meal

[jamiepierce1]

Has anyone experienced the following or heard of this?
We had an 11:00 breakfast reservation at Storyteller's for the character breakfast. When we were seated we were informed that we would not get to see all the characters because we "had a late reservation". I had no clue about this and I typically book late breakfasts so we can get some park time in first when we have gone to WDW. I asked why we were never informed of this when we booked or checked in. They said the policy is that you need to have a breakfast start time that allows you 1.5 hrs in the restaurant to see all of the characters. That would mean that anyone with a breakfast start after 10:00am would be affected. Has anyone ever heard of this policy or experienced this? Our waitress was able to get a couple of the characters over to us, but overall we were rushed and felt like we overpaid for a meal with no characters.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'd be disappointed too. They should have a cutoff time for "character meal" versus "not a character meal". I would probably email DL about your disappointment in how it was handled.

 

[Girimama33]

I would definitely email some one. If that is the case, there should be some disclaimer when booking a late reservation.
We had a 10:45 reservation at Surf's Up in July, and all of the characters were still present...even with only a handful of tables full.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I actually have heard of this with Storyteller's before, and I find it really unfair. At the least, yes, they should inform people when making reservations and checking in what time the characters leave and confirm whether the dining time is still desired. In my opinion though, there are two other things they should look into doing. They either need to have a cut-over time when they don't seat people at all at that restaurant, or they need to start charging less for the breakfast meal and experience at a certain hour since the diners are getting short-changed on the experience part. I think the problem here is that unlike Goofy's or Surf's Up, Storyteller's offers lunch seatings, so the restaurant doesn't shut down or have a turnover period during which nobody is booked. They start seating lunch guests even as the breakfast buffet and character experience is still winding down.

 

[rms123]

Same thing happened to us although they never said anything when we sat down. Then I had to watch my children get sadder and sadder as they watched the characters go on break and never come back. We complained and they gave us a free meal to come back the next day. Very disappointing that they are still doing that.

 

[ktlm]

I would be very disappointed by this. We book Minnie's at 10:30 on every trip and have never had an issue. In fact, on days the restaurant is clearing out (sometimes it is still pretty busy and sometimes not at all), we have had a ton of interaction because the characters were coming back to our table to play with DD since their were not that many full tables they needed to rotate through. You pay a premium at character meals for the sole purpose of seeing the characters. Those characters should be present and visit everyone who is booked at a time that they consider breakfast.

At WDW, for the buffets with characters only at breakfast where things are changing over, we have seen them put people on different sides of the restaurants. The later breakfast ADRs are clumped together in one part of the restaurant. The lunch people go into another part of the restaurant as they start to arrive and be seated, and the characters stay on the side with the people who have previously been seated for breakfast and leave once everyone who had a breakfast ADR has had a visit. I don't see any reason why Storytellers would not do the same thing.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I too have heard of that happening. I would have been extremely upset had I experienced what you did OP. I'd let Disney know, you did not receive the experience you paid for and that's just not acceptable whether or not it has happened to other people doesn't matter. Whether or not you can receive any sort of compensation at this point I do not know, compensation is much easier when you are in the midst of the event.

 

[nicolispicoli]

I've had the same experience as @ktlm, we've booked Minnie's later and had a better, more interactive experience.

If it's like that, they should just stop taking reservations at 10:00. And if they do, they should definitely inform anyone WHILE they are booking, not as they're seated. I would definitely agree with everyone saying you should contact Disney, those meals are more expensive because of the character interactions, so you should see them the same way you would at an 8:00AM reservation.

 

[agamble]

This is a problem specific to Storytellers as mentioned above. They don't close the restaurant. We actually were told this when we made reservations this spring. I had originally made the reservation for earlier, but then the hours were very wacky in May leading up to the 60th, so I called and changed the reservations. She advised me not to make the reservation after 10:30 because the characters leave at a set time (I think 11:30) and we may not be able to see them all. That day DL opened at 8am to general public so we went and saw princesses, then we went to DCA, which opened at 9am, and rode a few rides and got FP for RSR, and our reservation for breakfast was like 10:15. We were able to see all the characters (though we had to ask because we got skipped) and the kids got to get up and do the dance and march around the restaurant.

 

[bumbershoot]

Storytellers has been like this for years and years. Once we were told by the hostess and once we were told when making the reservation. Not helpful when it's the hostess telling you! But it's been like this for years and hasn't changed.

 

[GenGen22]

I think it's not just that restaurant. We got the rushed treatment at Ariels Grotto too. We were a late lunch I think 4pm. When we went to take pictures with Ariel we were rushed through. Then the other princesses rushed through as well. Only stopped by for a quick second & it wasn't even busy. My DD was looking forward to the Ariel Button which they never gave us & she didn't realize until we were at the front of the park so, I didn't go back. This was completely different from our experience at WDW. We won't pay for a character meal at DL again.

 

[nicolispicoli]

I think it's not just that restaurant. We got the rushed treatment at Ariels Grotto too. We were a late lunch I think 4pm. When we went to take pictures with Ariel we were rushed through. Then the other princesses rushed through as well. Only stopped by for a quick second & it wasn't even busy. My DD was looking forward to the Ariel Button which they never gave us & she didn't realize until we were at the front of the park so, I didn't go back. This was completely different from our experience at WDW. We won't pay for a character meal at DL again.

That is a real bummer, I'm sorry. I have never had an experience like this, but I imagine if I did, it would put me off character dining like it has you. If that ever happened to me, I would likely make a big deal on the spot. No one should ever have a different experience based on the time of day. If everyone pays the same, the experience should be the same, bottom line.

I've had one subpar experience at Goofy's Kitchen and haven't been back. We go to Minnie's instead and have had great experiences each time. Ariel's was a huge hit for my dd4 and also a smooth experience. I haven't been to Surf's Up or Storytellers.

 

[Nonsuch]

Storytellers has been like this for years and years. Once we were told by the hostess and once we were told when making the reservation. Not helpful when it's the hostess telling you! But it's been like this for years and hasn't changed.

I had breakfast at Storytellers and did not even know it was a character breakfast. This was 5 years ago, but I recall only a couple characters stopped at our table.

 

[GenGen22]

That is a real bummer, I'm sorry. I have never had an experience like this, but I imagine if I did, it would put me off character dining like it has you. If that ever happened to me, I would likely make a big deal on the spot. No one should ever have a different experience based on the time of day. If everyone pays the same, the experience should be the same, bottom line.

I've had one subpar experience at Goofy's Kitchen and haven't been back. We go to Minnie's instead and have had great experiences each time. Ariel's was a huge hit for my dd4 and also a smooth experience. I haven't been to Surf's Up or Storytellers.

We had amazing experienced at WDW & on top of it, it was free. We went when they had the free dining promotion. My favorite was at the Winnnie the Pooh meal at Crystal Palace. All the characters were fun & friendly & took several pictures & came by each table atleast twice & so, for me when the restaurant wasn't busy & the character interaction was so bad just tells me something. And on top of it, it's so expensive but I paid for it because Ariel is my DD's all time favorite. From now on we will just wait in line to see her for free. However, when I go to WDW again I will definitely go to a character meal again I'm just not going to waste my money in Disneyland for a worthless experience.

 

[bumbershoot]

We had amazing experienced at WDW & on top of it, it was free. We went when they had the free dining promotion. My favorite was at the Winnnie the Pooh meal at Crystal Palace. All the characters were fun & friendly & took several pictures & came by each table atleast twice & so, for me when the restaurant wasn't busy & the character interaction was so bad just tells me something. And on top of it, it's so expensive but I paid for it because Ariel is my DD's all time favorite. From now on we will just wait in line to see her for free. However, when I go to WDW again I will definitely go to a character meal again I'm just not going to waste my money in Disneyland for a worthless experience.

OK, but there are plenty of people who have your DL experience at WDW, and many people at DL who do NOT have your experience. So don't expect perfection at WDW just b/c you've had it before, and vice versa.


Storytellers is weird; what has been told to us is that the hosts, Chip and Dale, are the ones that don't appear after something like 10am. The rest are still there. Bears from Brother Bear, the gorilla from Tarzan, etc...those have been there no matter when our breakfast reservation was. But C&D are gone after a certain time. It makes NO sense. I've never heard of any sort of common thing like this at any of the other restaurants at DL.

 

[GenGen22]

OK, but there are plenty of people who have your DL experience at WDW, and many people at DL who do NOT have your experience. So don't expect perfection at WDW just b/c you've had it before, and vice versa.


Storytellers is weird; what has been told to us is that the hosts, Chip and Dale, are the ones that don't appear after something like 10am. The rest are still there. Bears from Brother Bear, the gorilla from Tarzan, etc...those have been there no matter when our breakfast reservation was. But C&D are gone after a certain time. It makes NO sense. I've never heard of any sort of common thing like this at any of the other restaurants at DL.

I'm not expecting perfection just a good experience & worth for what I'm paying. When my daughter tells me that after Ariel was taking pictures that she notices that she's not only not smiling but has this look on her face of am I done taking pictures with these kids yet? That upset me. We are paying for a service and that we should receive. I just had a better experience at WDW. Btw I prefer DL over WDW by far, I just had a better character experience at WDW. I went to about 6 character meals & they were all great. The first one I had where I had to pay for it wasn't a great experience. Are they all bad if course not, just mine was. I don't feel the need to pay for something that wasn't positive for me. I didn't complain to Disney either, I just figured I wouldn't do it again.

 

[agamble]

Storytellers is weird; what has been told to us is that the hosts, Chip and Dale, are the ones that don't appear after something like 10am. The rest are still there. Bears from Brother Bear, the gorilla from Tarzan, etc...those have been there no matter when our breakfast reservation was. But C&D are gone after a certain time. It makes NO sense. I've never heard of any sort of common thing like this at any of the other restaurants at DL.

Chip and Dale were there during our visit, and our meal started at 10:15. It is weird that they may leave early as it's their breakfast. Typically that means they're the only guaranteed characters you'll see. LOL

 

[millie0312]

We had this same issue last December! We were at CHIP AND DALE's critter breakfast and I saw both of them across the room... But not both made it to our table- I asked the CM about it and he said I will have them go to your table (I thought they skipped us), then nothing... I complained to both our server (who was amazing) and our busser? (He helped with drinks, plates, etc and was also amazing)- they found out both characters had left to head into the parks!! I called the manager over and explained I was paying $30 a person at chip and dale's breakfast, so I expected to meet BOTH chip and dale. He felt bad and gave us an autographed photo of both chip and dale- which was ok since my dd loved that it was "special." We ended up meeting both chip and dale in the dlh lobby when we went to check it out so we still got our autograph and photo. Other then having the issue with eating later and missing chip/dale- the breakfast was so yummy and the brother bear bears were the best interaction we had with any character anywhere! My dd is really shy and they spent a lot of time with her and played with her- we are going back this year just for the food and bears alone lol

 

[AZMermaid]

We had a late ressie at Minnies and had to complain to get characters to come to us after 45+ minutes and then only saw 3. I read reports of other people seeing more than 10!

We had a great time at Storyteller's (early reservation) but still only saw 3-4 characters (both Bears and Chip and/or Dale, I can't remember if we saw both, there was no-one circling that we did not see). We were happy with it though- I didn't realize we should expect more. At Aulani, they only have 3- Mickey out front and Goofy and Minnie, but I knew that going in.

I would be VERY upset to make a reservation and then be told I was not going to see characters. You pay the same you should get the same. I would absolutely complain or at the least eat elsewhere and dispute any cancellation fee.