Thoughts please--PCH Grille character b'fast

[GeneralTso]

I have this booked for our trip next week. None of us have ever been. We've been to Goofy's and Plaza Inn and really like both.

I thought it would be good to change it up a bit and try something new, plus I like the character line up. I think it's Minnie, Mickey, Daisy, Stitch and someone else (can't remember). So, a little different.

I believe the food is the same?

Question is--is it as nice/good as the others? Paradise Pier is the "value" hotel of the big 3. Is that reflected in the character b'fast? I've heard yes and no.

I'm thinking if the food is the same buffet food they serve all over, plus the characters and scenery is different, it's fine. Would love your thoughts pro and con.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Disneyland1084]

The only other character breakfast I've been to is the one at the Grand Cal. I did the one at the PCH grille a few years back. I didn't get the buffet, but remember all the characters. I was sitting at a table with my mom when Stitch tapped me on the shoulder. It was so unexpected I jumped. It was hilarious.

 

[GeneralTso]

We have also done the Storyteller's Café character b'fast at GC. My least favorite. We didn't even recognize half the bear characters. Plus, the buffet seemed much smaller than Goofy's. It was a little to "reserved" for our tastes.

 

[Disneyland1084]

We have also done the Storyteller's Café character b'fast at GC. My least favorite. We didn't even recognize half the bear characters. Plus, the buffet seemed much smaller than Goofy's. It was a little to "reserved" for our tastes.

Personally, I think the food at the Storyteller's Cafe is terrible. The staff was very friendly though.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

The room is smaller at the PCH Grill, but I think the food is better. Although I don't think it has as many offerings as Goofy's. Of the character breakfasts, this one is our favorite.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

Surf's Up is great!

We had an early seating, and there were fewer than 10 other families there. (Okay, it was off season, but I was shocked at how empty it was.) It sort of felt like our own private dining room!

Great interaction! The characters came around more than once. They weren't rushed, and spent lots of time interacting with everyone at the table. The surfing and dancing "lessons" were enjoyable for my DD. Plenty of time with Mickey (as they basically let kids just run up and hug him when he's not teaching a lesson or posing for pictures).

Our server was great. Everyone in my family found multiple things they enjoyed eating. I've never been to the other breakfast buffets, but the buffet had all the things I expected: Mickey waffles and pancakes, breakfast meats (2 kids of sausage and bacon), omelet station (I think they do huevos rancheros to order too), some sort of breakfast potatoes, bagels and smoked salmon, pastries, cereal. The standards. There were chillaques, which I can't spell, but ate a ton of. As I recall, it was just breakfast food (no lunch options). I was pleasantly surprised by the food quality.

The best review is from my dad. He can be a total curmudgeon, but he LOVED the breakfast. Whenever we talk about the trip, he always says the breakfast was one of the best parts of the trip. Totally surprised me, because I thought he'd hate it, but had a blast.

 

[2tinkerbell]

NiceOneSimba, what time did you have your seating?

I am looking forward to trying Surf's Up for the first time on the morning of my DD's birthday.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

I am almost positive it was 7:30 a.m. It was my DD's 5th birthday--they gave her a cupcake and sang! She was in heaven! A cupcake for breakfast? What?!?! Best birthday EVER!

I am pretty sure there were earlier reservations, but we were staying offsite, and wanted to leave plenty of time to walk there without having to leave the motel before 7 a.m.

DCA opened at 10 a.m. that day, and we had plenty of time to eat a very leisurely breakfast, walk slowly through the GCH lobby and get to the parks in advance of rope drop.

 

[2tinkerbell]

Thanks! We are staying at the DLH, but, we are staying up late the night before for MHP. I am thinking that 7:30am is about right for us.

 

[tatsmx]

we were there friday july 18th... it was GREAT!! we did plaza inn, goofys, and ariels grotto. surfs up was our favorite!!! characters were awesome, waiter was very friendly, the dances were so much fun. the food tasted better than at goofys.
we had a great time. plus mickey is there! he danced with my dd for a while )

 

[Sherry E]

It all boils down to preference and good or bad timing, I think.

The food selection at Surf's Up is most definitely smaller than Goofy's -- it's more comparable to the size of the Storytellers buffet. Goofy's has a very large buffet and more of a variety of items because all they do at Goofy's are character meals. That restaurant exists for no other reason than to offer character meals, whereas Storytellers, PCH Grill and Plaza Inn all function as "regular" restaurants the rest of the day, and are not set up to do only character meals.

The quality...or what tastes better than anything else? It's a matter of taste and timing. There are people who say the food is both fantastic and horrible at all of the character meals, so what is to be believed?

A lot of people love Surf's Up because, although it has a smaller buffet than Goofy's, a couple of the items in the buffet are different and specific to that restaurant. The huevos rancheros gets good reviews.

I had scrambled eggs at Surf's Up that were awful. Just terrible. However, I know that buffet eggs can be hit or miss, and sometimes they can be great or horrible on any given day, so I wouldn't let the eggs stop me from going back. I would give the food another chance. On another day the eggs might be tasty!

What is great about Surf's Up is the character interaction -- the characters are very playful and attentive. I hadn't even unraveled my bag from my shoulders and my camera from around my neck before the first character was standing at our table, waiting to say hello. Also, Stitch, Daisy and Mickey are a big bonus.

I am not a huge Critter Breakfast fan. I love Storytellers for lunch or dinner, but not for that character meal. Other people, on the other hand, love it and think it's the best character meal, so it comes down to personal preference and timing (whether or not the restaurant is having a good or bad day) once again.

All things considered, Goofy's is still my favorite.

Check out the Character Meals Superthread, for reviews, photos, discussion, etc.

 

[green country]

My daughter and I did Surf's Up July 23rd. We had an 8 am seating. I was really looking forward to it after reading all the reviews, but I left kind of disappointed. It may have been just where we had been seated. The restaurant was probably 2/3 full while we were there.
Stitch was great as everyone else mentioned, but we had to get his attention to come over. We had to do that with Pluto and Daisy too. We had to ask the handler to get time with Minnie. We had to walk over to where she was to get a pic and autograph at someone else's table.
During our timeframe the characters took some lengthy breaks. At one point only one character was working the room.
Stitch took time with us, everybody else just signed our book and posed for a picture.
The food was fine and a great variety.

 

[Mysteryincorp]

I've done surfs up three time and loved it every time. We had 830-900 seating so each time. Mickey greets you at the front and you get a personal meet n greet and photo op. He also joins the other characters in the dancing , surfing lessons they do about every half hour. This part alone,for me, was worth every penny of the meal. We have had daisy, stitch, Pluto, Donald,Minnie and I think goofy.
They have a fresh omelette station, fabulous omelette! They also have fresh fruit smoothies. Otherwise, the food was standard breakfast buffet, nothing else really notable.
Even after doing it three times I would absolutely do it again.
I have also done storyteller cafe and my mom ordered off the menu and loved it. Characters were ok but nothing like surfs up.

 

[tanyaegangibson]

My daughter and I did Surf's Up July 23rd. We had an 8 am seating. I was really looking forward to it after reading all the reviews, but I left kind of disappointed. It may have been just where we had been seated. The restaurant was probably 2/3 full while we were there.
Stitch was great as everyone else mentioned, but we had to get his attention to come over. We had to do that with Pluto and Daisy too. We had to ask the handler to get time with Minnie. We had to walk over to where she was to get a pic and autograph at someone else's table.
During our timeframe the characters took some lengthy breaks. At one point only one character was working the room.
Stitch took time with us, everybody else just signed our book and posed for a picture.
The food was fine and a great variety.

Our experience there a few weeks ago was similar. Maybe it was because our reservation was late-ish--10:00 a.m.--but the characters weren't around a lot. We didn't see any "surfing lessons" and we were seated in a place that was way out of view of the dancing. The food was good, but compared to the character meals at Goofy's (where we always do a dinner) and the Plaza Inn, where the characters were far more plentiful and playful, the experience at Surf's Up was just okay. (When I asked the kids where they would want to eat for our next trip, they said definitely a Goofy's Kitchen dinner as always, and they said that even though they liked the food a little better at Surf's Up than at the Plaza Inn, it was a lot more fun at the Plaza Inn.

 

[KalamityJane]

We loved Surf's Up! I personally thought Goofy's Kitchen dinner was better in terms of character interaction and more adult food, but Surf's Up was second and the kids liked the food better. DH and I liked the made to order eggs.

 

[larina]

I love Surf's Up. It's one of my two favorite character meals at the resort. I put it that way because it is my favorite for a different reason. Surf's Up is my favorite for character interaction. I love the show, even if/when my kids don't participate. I'm happy to say, we haven't had any of the negative things happen to us that others have reported, but again, any place can have a good or bad day. The food at Surf's Up, in my opinion, is about the same quality wise as Goofy's Kitchen, not quite as good as Storytellers (my other favorite) and better than Plaza Inn. Selection wise, there are less choices than Goofy's or Plaza Inn, but more than Storytellers. Storytellers makes up.for that with the fact that you can order off of a regular item menu (my mom and I usually do this).

 

[Californiacicle]

All of us loved, loved, loved Surf's Up. DH has already said when we go back we are starting our trip off with Surf's Up again.

We went for the first seating at 7am and were the first family there. By the time we left around 8am it was still fairly empty and this was high season. The character interaction was awesome and the food was really good. I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

[sgrap]

We have always loved every character meal--until we went to the PCH Grill in May. The character interaction was great, but the rest of the experience wasn't. We arrived before our reservation time (10:30), and waited 40+ minutes after our reservation time to be seated. They had run out of many of the breakfast items and did not have more to re-stock. The food that was left wasn't great. I wish we would have just had used the time to spend in the park. We aren't big complainers, and like I said, had never thought a character meal was anything less than fabulous until this experience. My advice is if you want to go to the PCH Grill, go early in the morning. We will definitely not be choosing this character meal in the future, however.

 

[kellietony]

We were there on Saturday, July 26th. Our reservations were for 8:50 am. We arrived 5 minutes early and there was a 5 person line for check-in. That took about 5 minutes to get to the check in and then another 5 to be called and seated. We were seated in the far corner, in an alcove of about 5 tables that can't see the rest of the dining room well.

The food was exactly what was advertised on the Disney website, except for the french toast which the website listed as Grilled Peanut Butter and Banana with Chocolate-stuffed French Toast. I was disappointed, as what was on the buffet was some french toast with bananas. Everything else is as listed and was pretty good. I love omelets, so I ordered one and the guy cooking that and making the flatbread pizzas were super nice. The flatbread pizzas were good too.

The characters were: Mickey (at the photo op and the dance parties held each half hour, not coming to the tables), Minnie, Daisy, Stitch and Pluto. We were told that's who they "normally" get, but aren't guaranteed. My boys didn't solicit extra interaction other than hugs and photos since they have met them before and are getting older, particularly from Daisy and Minnie, but that was fine and to be expected. I saw them spending more time with people who seemed to want it. Stitch was a bit more interactive as my boys were more interested in him. And Pluto, who my youngest has taken a big liking to, was very playful with them both and spent a few extra minutes.

As we were celebrating my birthday, the servers sang to me and provided a chocolate cupcake, so that was fun. My sons weren't too interested in the dance party, but my youngest went up to watch others. That was difficult to see from our table though, so if your kid wants to do that you may want to request a closer table so you are within sight of your whole party.

My son's picked the breakfast based on the characters. The Storytellers' characters aren't well known to them other than Chip N Dale. And while we like Goofy, we were really going for Pluto, who is at Mickey's Surfs Up.

 

[Sherry E]

We were there on Saturday, July 26th. Our reservations were for 8:50 am. We arrived 5 minutes early and there was a 5 person line for check-in. That took about 5 minutes to get to the check in and then another 5 to be called and seated. We were seated in the far corner, in an alcove of about 5 tables that can't see the rest of the dining room well.

The food was exactly what was advertised on the Disney website, except for the french toast which the website listed as Grilled Peanut Butter and Banana with Chocolate-stuffed French Toast. I was disappointed, as what was on the buffet was some french toast with bananas. Everything else is as listed and was pretty good. I love omelets, so I ordered one and the guy cooking that and making the flatbread pizzas were super nice. The flatbread pizzas were good too.

The characters were: Mickey (at the photo op and the dance parties held each half hour, not coming to the tables), Minnie, Daisy, Stitch and Pluto. We were told that's who they "normally" get, but aren't guaranteed. My boys didn't solicit extra interaction other than hugs and photos since they have met them before and are getting older, particularly from Daisy and Minnie, but that was fine and to be expected. I saw them spending more time with people who seemed to want it. Stitch was a bit more interactive as my boys were more interested in him. And Pluto, who my youngest has taken a big liking to, was very playful with them both and spent a few extra minutes.

As we were celebrating my birthday, the servers sang to me and provided a chocolate cupcake, so that was fun. My sons weren't too interested in the dance party, but my youngest went up to watch others. That was difficult to see from our table though, so if your kid wants to do that you may want to request a closer table so you are within sight of your whole party.

My son's picked the breakfast based on the characters. The Storytellers' characters aren't well known to them other than Chip N Dale. And while we like Goofy, we were really going for Pluto, who is at Mickey's Surfs Up.

Pluto is at Goofy's Kitchen as well -- he gets around (just as Chip & Dale, who are at 3 of the 5 character meals, do)!! I think that Goofy has even appeared at Surf's Up in the past, hasn't he? -- which would be funny, since he is supposedly the "chef" at his own restaurant!