Which Character Meals are worth it?

[lsulindy]

Nope. Surf's Up is in the Paradise Pier Hotel, and Storyteller's Cafe is in the Grand Californian, so those are both outside the parks too. Ariel's Grotto is the only one in DCA and Minnie & Friends at the Plaza Inn (my favorite) is the only one in DL.

Those are breakfast only. The only ones that actually serve dinner are Goofy's and Ariel's.

 

[tiggerluvr]

Oh, I missed the word "dinner" in the question. Duh. :-/

 

[lsulindy]

Oh, I missed the word "dinner" in the question. Duh. :-/

Easy mistake. I can imagine someone saying "We're going to a character dinner tomorrow for breakfast." Character meal/dinner can be used interchangeably sometimes, but I wanted to clarify only b/c I had this same question not to long ago. Goofy's is our only option for arrival day since we're getting in mid-afternoon and not doing a park day that day.

 

[tbgmom]

We did Goofy's kitchen 3 years ago and had a great experience. It's the only pictures I have with my boys and princesses, but I think my oldest (who was 9 at the time) still has a mini-crush on Aurora because she told him he must be brave enough to slay a dragon if Space Mountain was his favorite ride!

Our trip in April I'm hoping to do either Minnie & Friends or Surf's Up. Surf's up might be the one, though, because my younger 2 boys are on a real Lilo & Stitch kick lately, and they'd LOVE meeting Stitch!

Christine

 

[DharmaLou]

Definitely Plaza Inn breakfast - we had 10 characters this morning!

 

[Mazel]

Is Goofy's for dinner any good? Our first day there we don't have park tickets. We're staying at DLH and I'm thinking it would be a great way to start our trip there.

 

[rosie2283]

Is Goofy's for dinner any good? Our first day there we don't have park tickets. We're staying at DLH and I'm thinking it would be a great way to start our trip there.

This is how we started our last trip. It was great! I'd do it again!

 

[starry_solo]

This is how we started our last trip. It was great! I'd do it again!

Don't forget to get the Photopass Plus for DLR so you can get your print packages free at participating character dining locations!

 

[Mazel]

This is how we started our last trip. It was great! I'd do it again!

Don't forget to get the Photopass Plus for DLR so you can get your print packages free at participating character dining locations!

Thanks, I'm going to make reservations for there. I'm going to look into photopass +.

 

[rosie2283]

Thanks, I'm going to make reservations for there. I'm going to look into photopass +.

We had an issue with our photo pass+. All in all it was great. But as we weren't entering the parks the day we got there, we told the photopass photogs at GK that we had our voucher but hadn't been in the park to get our card. They told us to go to the photoshop the next day and they would give us our pictures when we got our card. When we went the next day to exchange our vouchers and get our GK pics, the photoshop ladies told us that we were supposed to pay for our GK prints at the restaurant and take our receipt to the photoshop and get reimbursed. So get your pics, pay for them and get the refund the next day when you exchange your voucher.

 

[bumbershoot]

For us, it's Surf's Up at PPH.

I haven't read the other replies so forgive me if I repeat. But they have a fresh egg-making station, where they'll make up huevos rancheros right there (cracking the eggs and everything). Absolutely delicious. They have already cracked eggs to make omelettes specifically for you. Fabulous. They have other food, too, LOL. Like "avocado salsa" to put on those huevos rancheros. (that's just about my favorite food, when done well, in the entire world)


Whatever you do, avoid the scrambled "eggs" at ANY character breakfast. The ones at Minnie's (a couple years ago) were SO bad they absolutely 100% ruined my meal. The only thing I could eat after tasting those were the mini chocolate croissants, and I could get those just about anywhere. I am extremely sensitive to bad food, eggs especially, and it literally destroyed the food aspect of my day.

Tried the ones at Surf's Up before I realized that they had an egg chef and nearly had the same experience. By the time we hit Goofy's Kitchen, I knew to avoid them. Alas, they didn't seem to have the set-up for my HV, so I just got an omelette, which was decent, but not HV.

 

[ValpoCory]

We did Surf's up on our off day. I thought it was a great way to keep the disney spirit going and so I wanted a place that wasn't in the park. I didn't want to waste our disney hrs at a sit down meal

The good thing about the Character Meals in the resort hotels is that they are usually open before the parks open, so you can easily increase your Disney hours rather than "waste" them. Although character meals are a great use of time, just like going on rides is. So I do not consider it a waste, but rather dining during park hours is something great as well.

 

[ValpoCory]

We had an issue with our photo pass+. All in all it was great. But as we weren't entering the parks the day we got there, we told the photopass photogs at GK that we had our voucher but hadn't been in the park to get our card. They told us to go to the photoshop the next day and they would give us our pictures when we got our card. When we went the next day to exchange our vouchers and get our GK pics, the photoshop ladies told us that we were supposed to pay for our GK prints at the restaurant and take our receipt to the photoshop and get reimbursed. So get your pics, pay for them and get the refund the next day when you exchange your voucher.

Thanks for the reminder.