Premiuim Character Dining for 5 year old girl...

[caligal415]

What restaurant would you recommend, and for which meal?

Can you also tell me which restaurants feature which characters?

I'm mainly interested in character interaction & photo ops, given the cost of the meal, I want to get my money's worth. Bonus if the food is decent

This will be for my DD's birthday, so I want it to be super fun for her. Will they do some kind of cake or sing her "Happy Birthday"? Would we have to provide a cake/pay for it?

As you can tell, I'm new to all this, so I have a ton of questions. I did a search for this on the boards & didn't find exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Sherry E]

What restaurant would you recommend, and for which meal?

Can you also tell me which restaurants feature which characters?

I'm mainly interested in character interaction & photo ops, given the cost of the meal, I want to get my money's worth. Bonus if the food is decent

This will be for my DD's birthday, so I want it to be super fun for her. Will they do some kind of cake or sing her "Happy Birthday"? Would we have to provide a cake/pay for it?

As you can tell, I'm new to all this, so I have a ton of questions. I did a search for this on the boards & didn't find exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks for the help!

Hi there! Well, I'm sure you will get lots of help and opinions from the wonderful people on this board - the subject of character meals is very popular and there are definite opinions on which ones are better and why.

To start you off, here is our Character Meal Photo/Information thread. I would start at the last page to see more recent character meal photos and work backwards. This will give you an idea of who you will see at which meal.

Generally, when you make a reservation for any of these places with Disneyland Dining, if you mention to them that there is a birthday in your group, they will make note of it and have it in their system when you arrive. Usually, the servers will bring out a little cupcake or brownie or cookie or something with a candle, and sing a silly birthday song of some kind. There have been reports that this has not happened when people expected it, but I've seen it happen repeatedly at Goofy's Kitchen over the years. You can also order a cake from Disneyland Dining or even Vacation Planning, I think? You can have them bring the cake to your table.

To kind of summarize:

At Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure (for breakfast or lunch only), you will see all Princesses - maybe 4 or 5 of them will be onsite to greet guests and visit them at their tables. Those Princesses may change slightly from day to day, but Ariel is always there! Breakfast is served "family style." Ariel's is one of the most expensive character meals and is considered "premium dining."

At Storytellers Cafe Critter Breakfast in the Grand Californian Hotel (breakfast only), there are mostly 'woodsy/jungly' Disney characters, including Chip and Dale, Koda and Kenai, Meeko, Terk, sometimes a Brer character or two, maybe Rafiki... Basically, there are usually anywhere from 4-6 characters there and they could include anyone from the ones I mentioned or others I have forgotten. You have an option of ordering off the menu (the meals are not cheap) or from the small buffet (a better deal). People seem to really like the food here. This is a very laid back, quiet character meal. Much more relaxed than Minnie's, Surf's Up or Goofy's.

At Minnie & Friends at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland (breakfast only), you will find the most characters out of all the character meals. On any given day, you may see anywhere from 9-14 characters. People love this restaurant because of all the characters. Reviews of the food are mixed, ranging from "inedible" to "great"!!! (Different tastes or bad days at the restaurant, I suppose!). Characters can include: Minnie, Chip & Dale, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Max, Captain Hook, Alice and the Mad Hatter, etc. This meal (served buffeteria style) is actually a bit less expensive than the other character meals, believe it or not.

Surf's Up with Mickey & Friends at the Paradise Pier Hotel (breakfast only) features a surf/beach theme. This is the only meal where you will find Mickey! It has a decent sized buffet (people seem to love the food), and in addition to Mickey, you will likely see Goofy, Pluto, Stitch and Daisy Duck. It seems as if there are usually about 5 or 6 characters onsite at any given time. People rave about the character interaction at Surf's Up.

Finally, Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel (breakfast/brunch food and dinner - but no separate lunch) is the very first character meal that Disneyland Resort ever featured. It is also considered premium dining, and is very costly. The buffet is huge - this is the largest selection of food you will find out of any of the meals. Characters (anywhere from 5 - 8 on a given day) can include: Chef Goofy, Chip & Dale, Minnie, Max, Pluto, Baloo, Mad Hatter & Alice, Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora, Mulan, Belle, Genie, Captain Hook, etc. Usually, there are 2 Princesses onsite and the rest are furry characters! Some people LOVE this meal - both for food variety, food quality and character interaction. Others were extremely disappointed with it. This is a lively, fun atmosphere.



So Goofy's is my all-time favorite (and my friends' favorite so far). I can say I have had mostly great experiences there over the years (at least, what I was personally satisfied with!) and I continue to go back. I felt the Critter Breakfast was just so-so (I was underwhelmed), but others love it. I look forward to trying Surf's Up based on the rave reviews, and Minnie's will probably be in my future because I love the Pooh characters. I can do without Ariel's!!

 

[caligal415]

Wow! You've been amazingly helpful! Thanks so much.

I'm leaning towards Ariel's Grotto & Goofy's kitchen, so far.

I made another post with several other questions, so feel free to respond to that one, too, since you seem knowledgeable on all things Disney

 

[DahliaRW]

For the best character interaction (and good food as well), Surf's Up is fantastic. They pulled out hula hoops and other things and spent a ton of time playling with my kids. In addition to the characters the pp mentioned, Minnie was there as well. The bonus with Surf's Up or Goofy's is you can schedule a meal before the parks open and not waste park time at a character meal. That being said, after having 2 boys I finally had a girl and I cannot wait until she is old enough to be fascinated with the Princesses at Ariels and I really look forward to taking her there when she is older (she's only 1 1/2 now - but LOVED Pluto at Surf's Up).

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Minnie's gets my vote.

The Plaza Inn reminds me of Crystal Palace. It's a pretty restaurant on the hub, but the opposite side of Main Street than CP.

The food is fine. I'm surprised there is no beverage service though. I'm a coffee drinker, so I just get two cups to save me another trip.

The food is really secondary to the character experience. I'm a big WDW vet and have been to every character meal offered there....Tusker House, CRT, CP, CM, 1900 Park Faire, Ohana, etc....this is the best character interaction by far that I've ever experienced.

We always see a dozen plus characters at each breakfast. They all linger and "chat". We reserve an opening PS and always have been escorted by a character to our table. Last month we had Tigger "play" with us in the cashier line then he walked to us to our table where Chip and Dale were sitting. Then Eeyore arrived!

This is the only spot where I've been able to take group character pictures. The characters do have a little dance performance. My kids love to join in.

They do hand out helium balloons. I know many families like taking the balloons and attaching them to their strollers or ECVs. A good way to identify them in a crowd.

This breakfast always gets an A++!

 

[Karpkg]

We were just there Feb 20th, Sunday for brunch 10:30. We saw: Tigger, Eeyore, Capt. Hook, Minnie, Foulfellow, Gepetto, Chip & Dale, White Rabbit and Rafiki. We saw the Fairy Godmother at a distance but she didn't come by our room.


Quite impresssive the amt. of characters we saw. Chip came over twice, and unfortunately, we upset Capt. Hook so he left us in a huff the first time(my brother jokingly called him Capt. Morgan but he came back a second time(I didn't see the second time; I had taken my son to the bathroom but my sis assured me Capt. Hook signed his autograph for him, thank goodness)


The $$ I spent for the breakfast was a fair exchange for the wealth of characters we saw. Prior to that in WDW i've seen at the most 6 at a meal.

 

[pixiewings71]

My votes go to Ariel's Grotto (but I suggest lunch instead of bfast, the lunch at AG is much better then the bfast, and dinner is for seating at WoC so no Princesses) and Minnie & Friends.....both are very fun!