Which character meal?

[AbigailsMomSarah]

We've headed back to Disneyland October 4-6 and need to decide which charachter meal to book.

The kids are 4 1/2 and 6 1/2. In the past we've done Ariel's Grotto 2 times and Goofy's Kitchen once. Ariel's was great for seeing the princesses but food was terrible. The kids are past their princess stage so I can cross that one off my list. We went to Goofy's for breakfast and it was okay, but our tab;e wasn't great and they all seemed very rushed to get through us and out the break door...not that I blame then for wanting a break, I just think being one of the very last tables was not ideal.

So this trip I think we'd like to try something new. My kids don't have a favorite character so we're pretty open to any of them.

What are your favorites for good food and fun?

 

[Vala]

The menu at Ariel's has changed and the food is way better than before. So if food was the only problem I'd vote for giving Ariel's a chance again.

My personal favorite is Goofy's, I had best character interaction there and liked the food best.

But with those two out I'd go with Minnie's Breakfast in the park considering your kids age.

I personally disliked the food at Minnie's, but then again my taste doesn't go along with the majority sometimes. The amounts of characters is bigger as for Lilo's there. To me it seemed a bit chaotic and it was the only character meal we did where we got actually missed by characters. But it seems a lot of others had great experiences there.

Storytellers is great and I'd go with that, but it only has animal characters, and your kids might not know some of them.

Lilo & Stitch's breakfast seemed very enjoyable for kids with lula lessons and lots of playing, but we only saw Stitch, Lilo and Pluto there.

 

[Chris420]

Storytellers is alot of fun and considerably cheaper then goofy's if I remember correctly. It doesn't have goofy's selection or as many characters, but the character interaction was still fun, good quality food, and a much more relaxed setting then the other character meals.

 

[Flitterific]

I've only been to GK and Minnie & Friends and personally preferred GK to the latter. I thought the character interaction was a lot better...Goofy and Dale were really fun. The characters made sure to go to each and every table (I'm sorry that your experience was not as good). I also thought the food was a lot better. However, Minnie & Friends definitely has a lot more characters. I actually got a table toward the very right hand side inside the restaurant and some characters missed half of our section! I had to get a CM to flag them down for me.

I heard Lilo & Stitch is pretty fun but they usually only have 4 characters there (Lilo, Stitch, Minnie and Daisy).

I hope you and your family will have a lot of fun regardless of the character meal you decide to go with

 

[DisneyMomma81]

My vote is Minnie's ~ I've been to all of the character breakfasts except for L & S (trying it next month) and we love Minnie's ~ tons of characters. We like going for brunch ~ around 10:30, usually after a MM.

 

[disneymama83]

I would reccomend Goofy's Kitchen! We went in December of 07 for dinner and it was fantastic! We had ressies right at opening so there was no wait getting in! SOOO many characters came to our table and the interaction the the children was GREAT!!!!! For some reason I believe eing there at opening made a difference! The characters are just arriving and not in need of a break yet


We've done Minne's breakfast several times in the past but don't feel you get enough time with the characters(which I realize is brief anyways)! there are only a couple of them so you can imagine rushed they are. I will say that the breakfast at Minne's is wonderful!

Have fun!

 

[annacali]

We did Minnie's for breakfast last month and I counted about 11 different characters that we saw?!?! There were a lot. Minnie herself probably came by to see my girls 4 or 5 times during the hour we were in the restaurant...she wrote notes to them, danced with them, gave kisses to Granddad, posed for pics with my girls and Fairy Godmother. My girls were so in love with Minnie after that visit!!! The food was probably wonderful too, but we were so busy with characters, I hardly got to eat!

I think we saw Pinocchio, Hook, Brer Bear, Tigger, Rafiki, Chip, Max, Gideon, Fairy Godmother, Pluto and, of course, Minnie.

We did Ariel's for dinner and the food was fine...I actually liked it the best just because it wasn't buffet so I never had to worry about leaving the table and missing a photo opportunity!

 

[disneynerd420]

I have done storytellers and goofy's kitchen. I like them for different reasons. Much like my Dbuddy Chris said, storytellers is relaxing. Goofy's has more flare to it. They both have amazing breakfasts, but Goofy's offers a larger, more eclectic selection.

Chris and I will be doing Minnie and Friends on our next trip. I am looking forward to the experience.

 

[pixiewings71]

Ariel's food is much better than it was, we actually go to AG for the food now. Previously it was just for the Princesses but now it's for the food!
GK sucked for us too, we had a table back by the break door as well and we saw hardly ANY characters. Maybe 3 or 4 came to our table and we were there the full 90 min. because we kept seeing characters we wanted to see, but no, they just waved as they walked past our table on the way out. We won't do GK again for ourselves.
Lilo & Stitch was fun, we had about 5 or 6 characters there, the food was good also and if you're staying at the PPH the location can't be beat. But it's not the closest so we rarely do it.
We haven't done Storyteller's at all yet
Minnie & Friends, we saw soooooooooooo many characters and we went later (10:15 or so) so there weren't as many people eating and we had a ton of interaction with the characters. We loved the food too. M&F is definitely a great character meal!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I have done them all numerous times. Goofy's has hands down my been our favorite for six years now, never a bad meal or bad experience with characters, its our favorite in both Disneyland and WDW and we have done all the meals in WDW too. I also really enjoy Storytellers for the food (and my teen son appreicates the more relaxed, less kiddie atmosphere) and Lilo and Stitch has always been a winner. I haven't tried Ariel's since the menu change but hope to one of these days. As for Minnies, I do agree that for characters it has the most. But I have never had a great experience there. Not when it was Pooh, not when it was brifely a princess meal and not since its been its current set up. I keep going back, so its not like we hate it, but the food has always been mediocre for quality and selection and it can be so hectic. Its a small set up for a character buffet, I so wish they'd change it to a family style meal where the food comes to you to cut down on the time you stand in line waiting for an omlete while you sweat bullets you are going to miss a character. At the others, it feels like the characters come in this more orderly fashion where you can guage when to get up for food. At Minnie's, its never felt that way. And if you sit outside, it can be even more hectic. But the convenience of being in the park is worth a lot. We almost always stay onsite so going to an early breakfast at our hotel or having an early dinner following a midday break is nice. But for offsite stays, we do Minnie's. And grin and bear it since its Disney and its all good!