Recommend a character meal?

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

We are taking our first trip to DL in October. We have experienced most of the character meals at WDW and would like to try one at DL. Which one do you experts recommend for character interaction? It will be me and DS13.

Thanks,

 

[gaucho2000]

We have done the Breakfast with Minnie and Friends at the Plaza Inn and the Princess lunch at Ariel's. We enjoyed both but I think we liked Minnie's better. There were more characters and we really got to interact with them. Max sat down and took about 15 minutes to sign DD's autograph book. He drew a ton of pictures and used every color Sharpie we had!

This time we are doing Goofy's Kitchen because I have heard such great things about it here and elsewhere.

 

[Mom2micayla]

We've done Goofy's (breakfast), Ariel's (lunch & dinner) and Minnie's (breakfast).

Our favorite was Goofy's. It had the best character interraction and the best food selection. My girls love Ariel's b/c of the princesses and the food is pretty decent now, but all the times we've been the princesses practically signed their books at full sprint. Minnie's is excellent for a wide variety of characters and good interaction. Food was just so-so at best, though.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We've done both Minnie's and Goofy's several times, Minnie's wins hands down!

Much better character interaction and service IMO.

Once at Goofy's I got sick from the fish. Last time we were are Goofy's, we had completely finished our meal (gone back for 2nds, about 45 minutes in ) and had not seen 1 character. So we talked to our waiter and one came over. We ended up leaving after 2 characters because we didn't just want to sit there and the kids were getting antsy. Terrible experience.

Never had a bad experience at Minnie's and you walk out the door and you are in the park

We've finally decided NO MORE Goofy's, oh and it's more expensive!

 

[Sherry E]

Goofy's Kitchen, without question! Huge selection of food - lots of choices that will please even the pickiest taste, and good quality of the food as well. Usually there are anywhere from 5 - 8 characters in the restaurant at one time (and two of them are generally Princesses while the others could be Goofy, Baloo, Chip & Dale, Pluto, Minnie, Alice & the Mad Hatter, Captain Hook, etc.). Good combination of classic characters and good food. (I've been eating there since 1992 and will continue to until they make the price SO high that I can't take it anymore.)

Goofy's is supposed to be the character meal that is the most comparable to Chef Mickey's at WDW. I suggest the Goofy's breakfast/brunch buffet rather than the dinner, though.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It looks like Goofy's or Minnie's is the winner.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Goofy's Kitchen, without question! Huge selection of food - lots of choices that will please even the pickiest taste, and good quality of the food as well. Usually there are anywhere from 5 - 8 characters in the restaurant at one time (and two of them are generally Princesses while the others could be Goofy, Baloo, Chip & Dale, Pluto, Minnie, Alice & the Mad Hatter, Captain Hook, etc.). Good combination of classic characters and good food. (I've been eating there since 1992 and will continue to until they make the price SO high that I can't take it anymore.)

Goofy's is supposed to be the character meal that is the most comparable to Chef Mickey's at WDW. I suggest the Goofy's breakfast/brunch buffet rather than the dinner, though.

I am with Sherry on this. Have never had bad food, bad service, etc. Everytime we have been there, there have been at least 6-8 characters. They come and bug me more than the family, lots of interaction.

Jack

 

[inluvwithbuzz]

For us we found Minnie's to have the best character interaction. And Goofy's to have the best food. Minnie's food is mediocre, we found it to be edible but thats about it, wasnt fabulous.

 

[canadadisney]

We have done, Ariel, Lilo and Stitch at PPH, Minnie and Critter Breakfast at GCH.

All meals have been great (with the exception of Ariel's- it was terrible- but we basically went just to see princesses)

By far, our favourite has been Minnie. We went early before the park opened so by the time we finished our meals the park had just opened and we were already inside and ready to go. The characters were great. We sat in the sunroom area and we were never without a character around. The Fairy Godmother was the best!!! She made such a big deal out of our girls. She asked us where we were from in Canada and was able to narrow down our province and city. She told us it was because she sometimes hangs out with the tooth fairy. The food was great. This is where my DH fell in love with biscuits and gravy! (This was also a great day as, as we left the restaurant we were awarded Year Of A Million Dreams Fast Passes for the day!)

When we go in October we plan on eating at Goofy's.

 

[PineapplePrincessCA]

Great thread!

We're going to do a character breakfast when we go back in October. I was set on Ariel's Grotto (my girls LOVE their princesses!!) but now I'm reconsidering. I also have a son who loves Mickey (as do the girls). Thinking of the other restaurants now..

~Can somebody give me an idea of what these restaurants cost?
~Does anybody have a sample menu from any of the restaurants?
~Any more comments on the food? I'm all about the whole experience, but I really don't want to pay a lot of $$ for bad food! Which restaurant has the best??
~(dumb question, but we've never been to the character breakfast...) Do the characters stop at each table and pose for pictures?

eta: I saw "5-8 characters" mentioned at Goofy's Kitchen. Is that the norm? What about the other two restaurants? How many at Minnie's and at Ariel's Grotto?

Thanks!