PCH Breakfast Help

[luvmykids]

I was wondering if anyone recently went to the PCH grill for breakfast. I have it booked for this coming Wednesday for my son to specifically see Stitch. I heard he may be replaced. If he is not there I will go somewhere else as it is a bit of a walk from DL to the PPH. Thanks!

 

[dznycastle]

We had breakfast there Thanksgiving week and Stitch was there. Mickey, Minnie and Goofy also were there. This place is less crowded than the other character breakfast so the characters do come to your table more than once to interact. It's fun!

 

[Tanbellisima]

Hi LuvMyKids,

I have eaten at the Lilo and Stitch Breakfast at the PCH grill twice and my family loved it. We have also eaten at Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast so here is the scoop on the difference. Goofy's Kitchen the staff isn't quiet as patient or nice to you because of their volume. Ask for water and you wait 10-15 minutes. PCH Grill the waiter is their the whole time smiling filling your juice, milk, and water glasses. ♥ Goofy may have more selections but what PCH buffet has is sooo delicious you eat till you burst. Yummy bagels and different cream cheeses. I loved the herbed cream cheese. PCH is a more intimate experience. The characters spend waaaayyyyyy more time with you. I have sooooo many pics with Stitch and myself because he just kept coming up to me and hugging me. The buffet has less selections to choose from BUT all the ingredients are quality and very tasty. Yummy really. The big thing there is the ready made for you omelets and the bagels and lox. They have all the trimmings including capers. You can also order a breakfast ala carte and some adults choose to do that. They have yummy single plate breakfasts. The room is smaller like a conference room in the hotel and the grounds of the hotel are beautiful. We always go look at the wedding pavillion gardens and the Captain Hook Slide when we walk over to PCH. It is just a fun time. What we remember most is all the great hugs from the characters who played with us even though we were a big group of adults and being stuffed and happy. They croissants and pastries are also good and the fruit is super fresh especially the mangos and strawberries. Have fun and really get into being hugged!

 

[Disgram23kids]

We had breakfast at PCH Grill on Dec. 10th morning and Stitch was there. We too went specifically because he's my grandsons favorite character. We were there fairly early and Stitch hadn't come out yet. It was just Mickey and Minnie. About midway through our meal - 7:30 AM??? - Stitch came out and made the rounds of all the tables. Then around 8:00 AM they got the kids up and they were dancing and learning to surf with Stitch and Mickey.

 

[Sherry E]

I haven't done Surf's Up yet, but I passed by it many times during my stay at PPH last week. It always looked fairly empty. In fact, when the characters don't have anyone to visit inside the restaurant, they go up to the windows and wave at the guests on the sidewalk!! (That happened to me - Donald and Pluto were plastered to the windows, waving and making silly gestures at people who passed by.) So if you want lower crowds, that might be the place to go.

However, as a side note, I have to say that my experiences at Goofy's have been much different than Tanbellisima's (even though this isn't a thread about Surf's Up vs. Goofy's) - we have never had to wait that long for any service at Goofy's. We always have good character interaction. Some of the characters come back repeatedly. The servers have always been nice to us and very accommodating. And the huge buffet (tons of choices) is - in my friends' and my opinion - quite delicious, and we eat till we burst! It just boils down to personal expectations and taste, I think.

There is not one absolute answer or review of character meals because a lot of things go into how we form our opinions, and things can chage from day to day. I don't think anyone can definitely say "This character meal does X" or "This character meal does not do Y," because we all hit the meals on different days and we may go in with certain expectations that color our views. On some days maybe the service is lacking at Surf's Up, too - but unless you hit it on a day when that happens to you, you won't know it. And as for food, what one person thinks is awful or delicious is what another person will think is delicious or awful!!

I hope to try Surf's Up in the future (couldn't do it this last trip because money was not flowing and I chose Goofy's as my one character meal). It looks like a lot of fun!

Make sure to take the short cut from PPH to DL, cutting through the GCH lobby and then into Downtown Disney. Don't follow the signs on the PPH property for how to get to Disneyland, or it will seemlike you are walking to New York.

 

[Tanbellisima]

I haven't done Surf's Up yet, but I passed by it many times during my stay at PPH last week. It always looked fairly empty. In fact, when the characters don't have anyone to visit inside the restaurant, they go up to the windows and wave at the guests on the sidewalk!! (That happened to me - Donald and Pluto were plastered to the windows, waving and making silly gestures at people who passed by.) So if you want lower crowds, that might be the place to go.

However, as a side note, I have to say that my experiences at Goofy's have been much different than Tanbellisima's (even though this isn't a thread about Surf's Up vs. Goofy's) - we have never had to wait that long for any service at Goofy's. We always have good character interaction. Some of the characters come back repeatedly. The servers have always been nice to us and very accommodating. And the huge buffet (tons of choices) is - in my friends' and my opinion - quite delicious, and we eat till we burst! It just boils down to personal expectations and taste, I think.

There is not one absolute answer or review of character meals because a lot of things go into how we form our opinions, and things can chage from day to day. I don't think anyone can definitely say "This character meal does X" or "This character meal does not do Y," because we all hit the meals on different days and we may go in with certain expectations that color our views. On some days maybe the service is lacking at Surf's Up, too - but unless you hit it on a day when that happens to you, you won't know it. And as for food, what one person thinks is awful or delicious is what another person will think is delicious or awful!!

I hope to try Surf's Up in the future (couldn't do it this last trip because money was not flowing and I chose Goofy's as my one character meal). It looks like a lot of fun!

Make sure to take the short cut from PPH to DL, cutting through the GCH lobby and then into Downtown Disney. Don't follow the signs on the PPH property for how to get to Disneyland, or it will seemlike you are walking to New York.

My whole point in talking about Goofy's kitchen was simply that it is a larger buffet with more options. The staff during peak gets really busy and sometimes you have to wait 45 minutes to an hour even with ADR's to be seated. It is a VERY busy place. The bussers and waitstaff are always hurried during Christmas season and high summer because it is peak. Where as with PCH Grill it is often not busy and you get more attention from the staff in general especially during holidays and peak seasons. I love Goofy's Kitchen and I have eaten there too many times to count. Just to clarify. I was giving her the scoop on what she is getting for her money. The eating until she bursts is in reference to the PCH Grills limited selection. The PCH Grill has small, select choices where as Goofy's Kitchen has a greater quantity of selections. My point is that the PCH Grill although small, is still good and you can get really full. No need to be mean and say that I said something that I didn't. It is my experience after all.

 

[Tanbellisima]

Hi Sherry E,

Please note per your own review that the characters often stand around in an empty restaurtant. They press their noses to the window to passerbys. That supports my review of the PCH Grill. Merry Christmas!

 

[Tanbellisima]

We had breakfast at PCH Grill on Dec. 10th morning and Stitch was there. We too went specifically because he's my grandsons favorite character. We were there fairly early and Stitch hadn't come out yet. It was just Mickey and Minnie. About midway through our meal - 7:30 AM??? - Stitch came out and made the rounds of all the tables. Then around 8:00 AM they got the kids up and they were dancing and learning to surf with Stitch and Mickey.

I love that part where they teach everyone how to surf. It is so FUN at the PCH grill. Merry Christmas ♥

 

[Sherry E]

My whole point in talking about Goofy's kitchen was simply that it is a larger buffet with more options. The staff during peak gets really busy and sometimes you have to wait 45 minutes to an hour even with ADR's to be seated. It is a VERY busy place. The bussers and waitstaff are always hurried during Christmas season and high summer because it is peak. Where as with PCH Grill it is often not busy and you get more attention from the staff in general especially during holidays and peak seasons. I love Goofy's Kitchen and I have eaten there too many times to count. Just to clarify. I was giving her the scoop on what she is getting for her money. The eating until she bursts is in reference to the PCH Grills limited selection. The PCH Grill has small, select choices where as Goofy's Kitchen has a greater quantity of selections. My point is that the PCH Grill although small, is still good and you can get really full. No need to be mean and say that I said something that I didn't. It is my experience after all.

I wasn't being mean at all. I don't even know how you got that from what I said. I think you totally misinterpreted or misunderstood.

What I am saying is that everyone has different experiences and/or different views of their experiences - so what one person finds to be lacking is what another person enjoys. What is working seamlessly on one day at a restaurant may be all out of whack the next day. I say this all the time on the DIS when the subject of character meals comes up.

Some folks love Minnie & Friends. Some folks don't. My experiences at Goofy's have not been like what you described about yours. That's all I meant. Not everyone is going to have to wait 15 minutes for service, or 45 minutes to be seated or anything else. It may happen to some folks and not to others. For example, we always go at peak times and we never have to wait more than 5 minutes without a reservation (including a week ago yesterday). We don't all have the same experiences, so it's hard to say that this is what happens or this is not what happens, because it's not the same for all of us. Some folks may get seated at Surf's Up right away. Some folks may end up getting there on a day when they have to wait. We don't all have the same experiences at these places.

And yes, I said that Surf's Up was pretty empty whenever I walked past it, and the characters were playing with the people walking by on the sidewalk, and so the OP should give it a try if it's low crowds that she wants. That was never in dispute.

 

[luvmykids]

Thank you for your replies. I have actually eaten at both Goofys Kitchen and PCH Grill and enjoyed both. I wanted to know if Stitch was still at PCH Grill and it sounds like he should be! Yay!

 

[Sherry E]

Thank you for your replies. I have actually eaten at both Goofys Kitchen and PCH Grill and enjoyed both. I wanted to know if Stitch was still at PCH Grill and it sounds like he should be! Yay!

I peeked into Surf's Up a few times last week and didn't see Stitch, nor was he one of the ones plastered to the window when I walked by! At the time I didn't think anything of not seeing him. I just assumed he was tucked away around a corner where I couldn't see him, and I didn't ask if he was there because I wasn't going to be eating there at that point. I would hope that they wouldn't get rid of Stitch. That's the only character meal where he'd be, and he fits in with the 'surf' theme very well!

 

[luvmykids]

Thanks Sherry I am going to try to call and see if they tell me anything.

 

[luvmykids]

So frustrating they wont tell me and wont give me phone number to PCH Grill to call myself. All they say is they cant guarantee anything. I understand that just want to know if we have a chance at Stitch being there.

 

[lapdwife]

We ate there last Sunday and I can guarantee you Stitch was there as he decided to re-do my hair with a knife!

 

[luvmykids]

Thanks LAPD Wife!

 

[Vala]

I was there twice in November and Stitch was there both times.
We've been three times before the change and he's always been there too.

We've always seen him and Pluto, the other characters have been changing.

 

[luvmykids]

Thank you Vala.

 

[lisadoll93]

We were there on 12/10. He was there and was a hoot

 

[Sherry E]

I must try to get to Surf's Up on my next visit. It looks like a lot of fun. It was so convenient for me on this last trip - I was staying at the PPH. All I would have had to do was go downstairs. I just couldn't swing two character meals on that trip.

But I was so surprised that it always looked almost empty. That is the only place to find Mickey (and Stitch) at a character meal so I would think it would always be packed. What a change from one year ago, when Surf's Up opened.