Odd Storytellers Cafe Experience

[mkb3]

We went last week for the first time and I have never loved and hated a place more. The food for was incredible for a buffet and I would rank it as my second favorite buffet behind BOMA in WDW. The server we had was top notch as well. We were seated at noon and we all went to the buffet. We didn't miss the characters as we could see them all on the other side of the restaurant. As soon as we sat down Chip and Dale came by for the kids. We ate what we had on the buffet as well as the off buffet items that were offered. Before going back for more we had hoped to meet Mickey and Minnie but they never came. Once we saw them go to the back we went back for more food. When we returned we saw Chip and Dale again but still no Mickey or Minnie. By this time the table next to us is asking the server when they would come by with no real answer. We finished our meal and waited. Chip and Dale came by for a third time. Mickey and Minnie had been on the other side of the restaurant or on break for a full hour by this time. The lady next to us grabbed her kids went to the other side and made Mickey and Minnie take pictures. The server wanting us to leave asked if they could get us anything else and when we replied Mickey and Minnie so she went to the handlers. The handler came to our table and gave the speech about how Mickey and Minnie would be by shortly. 30 minutes later and an hour and a half into this meal still no Mice on our side of the restaurant. The whole section had been ignored My friend finally went to the manager who went and got Mickey and Minnie. They came to our table took pictures with the kids and as they were leaving Minnie went to my friend who complained and tapped his nose. Kinda an FU in my opinion. As soon as they left our table they went back to the other side ignoring all the other families who had been waiting almost as long. I have never seen anything like this at WDW. It was mind blowing. The whole experience took 2 hours.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

So weird. Been to Goofy's kitchen at DH a handful of times and never had an experience like that.

 

[Gypsybear]

We had a similar experience at Minnie's Breakfast....several characters never came by...we saw them on the other side of the same room we were in, but they never approached our table. This was in May.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

That sounds so frustrating! I wonder if they did a CM switch, and got their lefts and rights confused when updating next shift where to start.

 

[AmishGuy91]

Sounds like a great friend you have

 

[GenGen22]

I've had this happen at Storytellers before even pre-pandemic. I agree the wait staff is great and so is the food but Mickey and Minnie are hard to see here.

 

[Vala]

I've had this happen at Storytellers before even pre-pandemic. I agree the wait staff is great and so is the food but Mickey and Minnie are hard to see here.

Likewise, but I am usually missing either Chip or Dale.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I used to eat at Storyteller's Cafe when my family used to go to Disneyland and during the times I ate there I never witnessed characters disappearing or skipping tables but I have witnessed this at Goofy's Kitchen when you're trying to find certain characters to take pictures and sign autographs for your kids and you have to constantly ask the server to chase the certain character. What I think in my eyes what happened with Mickey And Minnie at Storytellers Cafe during your visit is that I can either a shift change or they had to find replacement character actors to play Mickey And Minnie because possibly one of the actors needed to go home early or the actors had to do other things so they had understudies to play Mickey And Minnie. I do know that during character breakfasts the characters have a break time of five minutes and that's why new characters are always brought in during character breakfasts and once the five minutes are up the characters may or may not return to the breakfast. How I learned about this fact was from a cast member at Goofy's Kitchen a long time ago. But I'm glad you and your friend had a great time at Storyteller's Cafe and that you finally got to see Mickey And Minnie at the end

 

[gelatoni fan]

I used to eat at Storyteller's Cafe when my family used to go to Disneyland and during the times I ate there I never witnessed characters disappearing or skipping tables but I have witnessed this at Goofy's Kitchen when you're trying to find certain characters to take pictures and sign autographs for your kids and you have to constantly ask the server to chase the certain character. What I think in my eyes what happened with Mickey And Minnie at Storytellers Cafe during your visit is that I can either a shift change or they had to find replacement character actors to play Mickey And Minnie because possibly one of the actors needed to go home early or the actors had to do other things so they had understudies to play Mickey And Minnie. I do know that during character breakfasts the characters have a break time of five minutes and that's why new characters are always brought in during character breakfasts and once the five minutes are up the characters may or may not return to the breakfast. How I learned about this fact was from a cast member at Goofy's Kitchen a long time ago. But I'm glad you and your friend had a great time at Storyteller's Cafe and that you finally got to see Mickey And Minnie at the end

Aren't breakfast character performers for breakfast on a 30 on, 30 off cycle? So even if Mickey and Minnie go back in for a "5 min break", the performers are always alternating every 30 minutes. Some character hosts are assigned to a performer or performer pair but there should always be at least one character host who oversees the entire area and should know where the next set of character performers start.

It is standard for there to be 2 performers for every character during breakfast for 30-30. From the description of what happened it does not seem to me like a situation where the two sets of character performers were playing different characters but a situation where the character host who was supposed to tell the next set of performers where to start wasn't doing their job properly. If OP saw Chip/Dale come by their table twice but Mickey/Minnie didn't come by then it seems to me like the characters were started off in the wrong place upon switching performers.