Recent Experiences at Character Meals

[egritz]

Recent Experience at Character Meals

Ariel's Grotto: I will try to convince my princess to not return there. The food was lacking (same entree choices as before, but the salad was missing some ingredients that it had on previous visits and there was no bread to start the kids off, which they've had in previous years). And most importantly the character interaction SUCKED. The princesses didn't even try to interact with my 5 & 2 year olds. They just posed for the picture and were off. And, I might point out, the dining room was less than half full, so it wasn't like they had to rush to get every table. I was very disappointed.

Minnie & Friends at Plaza Inn: Tried & True, loved our experience. We have AP's so we did a 8:10 reservation on an 8am Magic Morning. We saw a total of 10 characters during our meal, 6 of them before we even had a chance to go get our food. We were sat in a prime location so many characters stopped by for a quick 2nd visit as well. Amazing how these characters, who are unable to speak, can spend so much time with my kiddos, yet the princesses just rushed through at Ariel's. Food was standard, omelette station was great.

Surf's Up with Mickey & Friends (Paradise Pier Hotel): This one used to be one of my favorites, but has gone downhill in the last year. Previously every half hour the dance party would include at least 2-3 of the characters and was a BLAST. Last year and this year, the dance party was ONLY Stitch. Still fun, but disappointing when compared to years' past. Food again was standard, with the omelette bar being the best part.


If we return next Fall (we are allowing our AP's to expire this month) I will try to convince DD to skip Ariel's and I think we will try Goofy's instead of Surf's Up (which we do on our departure day) even though our last experience at Goofy's was less than impressive (back in April 2013).

 

[GatorChris]

Character interaction would skyrocket if they put Donald in there somewhere.

 

[DL_Forever]

I was very disappointed in the Princess breakfast as well. We went for breakfast and the food was horrible. The character interaction was very lacking - quick pick and off to the next table.

We have always been pleased with Goof's Kitchen. Great character interaction and with the buffet there is always something everyone likes.

 

[Briarrose1306]

Unfortunately Ariel's really does seem to range from okay to lacking. I've never had stellar interaction there and I wonder if it's the place not the characters as DBF actually got to dance with Cinderella twice at GK. Which brings me to my big let down; I used to LOVE GK for dinner it was my absolute favorite! The best food (IMO) and a nice array of characters but now that they've left the price super high and cut the characters back to Goofy, Minnie, Pluto, Chip, and Dale I doubt I'll do it again. You used to get all those characters plus two randoms such as baloo and hatter and then two princesses as well, much better value. We're doing Minnie's this trip as it's the cheapest with the most character interaction.

 

[egritz]

I was wondering (and hoping)Donald was included at Goofy's, good to know he is not.
Our last trip to Goofy's in 2013 we only had 4 characters, but 2 were face characters (Belle & Aladdin) and I understand they've removed all face characters from Goofy's since then. It was a dinner and to be honest I HATE buffet's for dinner, the food always stinks (even at Goofy's, but that's just my opinion).

In May we took DD on a birthday trip to DL and went to Ariel's and it was better interaction by far, the princesses actually spoke to her and asked questions, etc, and she wasn't even in a princess dress.

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE Minnie, but WHY is she at all 3 character meals? Seem's weird to me. I would rather then Donald at either Surf's Up or Goofy's then Minnie (Again).

 

[egritz]

Character interaction would skyrocket if they put Donald in there somewhere.

Reservations might Sky Rocket, but character interaction is still up in the air based on the cast member in the costume.

 

[mom2rtk]

I was wondering (and hoping)Donald was included at Goofy's, good to know he is not.
Our last trip to Goofy's in 2013 we only had 4 characters, but 2 were face characters (Belle & Aladdin) and I understand they've removed all face characters from Goofy's since then. It was a dinner and to be honest I HATE buffet's for dinner, the food always stinks (even at Goofy's, but that's just my opinion).

In May we took DD on a birthday trip to DL and went to Ariel's and it was better interaction by far, the princesses actually spoke to her and asked questions, etc, and she wasn't even in a princess dress.

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE Minnie, but WHY is she at all 3 character meals? Seem's weird to me. I would rather then Donald at either Surf's Up or Goofy's then Minnie (Again).

Yes, Goofy's has changed since 2013. You get the same 5 characters now no matter when you go (barring an occasional staffing issue). Goofy out front, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Pluto inside. No more, no less. Sigh.

I agree on Minnie being over represented. Same for Chip and Dale. They account for 2 spots at what...... 3 of the character meals? Don't get me wrong, we like Chip and Dale. But that's overkill.

 

[egritz]

I agree on Minnie being over represented. Same for Chip and Dale. They account for 2 spots at what...... 3 of the character meals? Don't get me wrong, we like Chip and Dale. But that's overkill.

C&D are at Minnies, Goofy's....and is the 3rd Story Tellers? We've not been there for character dining since they aren't as mainstream characters for the most part.

 

[mom2rtk]

C&D are at Minnies, Goofy's....and is the 3rd Story Tellers? We've not been there for character dining since they aren't as mainstream characters for the most part.

Yes, Storyteller's.

 

[marivigi]

uggh.. we will be doing Ariel's, because it's the only meal featuring princesses, but not looking forward to bland food... oh well!

 

[DisSarahK]

Minnie's is our tried and true favorite character interaction--always a "must" visit for us. We just were there last week and had another great time. Interacted with 8-10 characters (unfortunately Minnie herself was basically a driveby) and had terrific times with just about all of them. Pooh danced around with my son's Pooh Bear and then dashed inside the restaurant (we were seated on the porch) and came back outside with a packet of honey for my son--too cute! Captain Hook stole my daughter's Minnie ears and hid them and laughed like crazy. It was a great time!

 

[kailuagirl]

We recently did Storytellers for the first time. We had breakfast and the food was super good. They kept refilling the stations. There wasn't that many selections to choose from, but what they had was really tasty and good quality. Service was amazing and it seemed so less rushed then others. Really, really enjoyed it. Will be back for sure. We saw just a couple characters, Chip, Dale and I can't remember who else, have to look. Sorry.

We also did Goofy's for breakfast. This is our 4th time I think and I'm still not impressed, although my family likes to go there. The food was just okay. Only thing really good was the omelet bar, even fruit wasn't that good. We waited about 40 minutes in line to check in. Then had to wait about 20 more minutes to get our table. Character interaction was really good. They kept coming back to our table. You could tell the shift had changed as they didn't recognize us. Luckily my daughter didn't notice. Saw Goofy, pluto, chip, dale and minnie. Thought the waving the napkin in the air dance thing was silly. My daughter really misses that other one where they get up and dance with Goofy. Honestly, I think this one is really overrated and way too expensive for what you get. Oh, and I wasn't at the table when the photo guy came with our pics. DH didn't know it came with our photo pass thing so told them no thank you. As we were walking out I tried to get the info to get them on our account and the photo pass person was already gone so had no luck. So make sure you take care of that right away. I guess I should have told them when they took the pic, not sure, still new to this new format. Don't really like it much

 

[jaykay]

We were at Plaza Inn last week for the first time. We had a 10:30 reservation. The food was better than expected. The character interaction was lacking though. We were there for over an hour and only saw Minnie and Pooh. The restaurant was only about half full. Thankfully characters are not that important to us. I realize I could have talked to someone about it but we were ready to get back out in the park.

 

[MacMama0930]

We did AG and GK last year and both were great!

This year we did Minnie's for breakfast and Ariel's for a very late lunch (early dinner). Both places we were seated outside. Minnie's character interactions were just ok - maybe my expectations were too high because other things I've read, but we only had Chip (Dale?) and Captain Hook come to our table. My daughter was desperate to see Rafiki so we walked up to him on our way out and got a quick pic.

Ariel's was beautiful. The reservation was at 4:40 and the weather was perfect. It was nice and quiet and the views were great. I think the characters were a little more interactive last year, but the kids were still stoked. And I thought the food was good, although it did seem to missing some things. Didn't have a cute 3-tier appetizer thing?

 

[mom2rtk]

We did AG and GK last year and both were great!

This year we did Minnie's for breakfast and Ariel's for a very late lunch (early dinner). Both places we were seated outside. Minnie's character interactions were just ok - maybe my expectations were too high because other things I've read, but we only had Chip (Dale?) and Captain Hook come to our table. My daughter was desperate to see Rafiki so we walked up to him on our way out and got a quick pic.

Ariel's was beautiful. The reservation was at 4:40 and the weather was perfect. It was nice and quiet and the views were great. I think the characters were a little more interactive last year, but the kids were still stoked. And I thought the food was good, although it did seem to missing some things. Didn't have a cute 3-tier appetizer thing?

My daughter used to LOVE that 3 tier appetizer thing! But alas, that went away a couple years ago. Sigh.

And that stinks that you only saw 2 or 3 characters at Minnies! Your expectations were not too high. That was a really poor showing. We've always seen 9 or 10, although we had to find a character handler and say something when we were on our last trip and kept getting missed.