Yes it's another character meal question! You know you love em!

[aliceindisneyland]

Need to choose from Ariel's Grotto, Goofy's Kitchen, or Chip & Dale Breakfast for character meal next week. I freely admit I am a lame searcher, but I have honestly diligently searched without finding the answers to the following questions:


Ariel's Grotto is 100% Princess? Not even a prince or a sidekick for the boys?

Goofy's Kitchen has range of characters -- Jasmine, Peter Pan, Pluto...?

For Ariel's and Goofy's, do you get the same level of interaction at breakfast as at lunch(Ariel's)/dinner(Goofy's)?

Chip n Dale's Storytellers Breakfast has Chip & Dale and...?

Thank you!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Need to choose from Ariel's Grotto, Goofy's Kitchen, or Chip & Dale Breakfast for character meal next week. I freely admit I am a lame searcher, but I have honestly diligently searched without finding the answers to the following questions:


Ariel's Grotto is 100% Princess? Not even a prince or a sidekick for the boys?

Goofy's Kitchen has range of characters -- Jasmine, Peter Pan, Pluto...?

For Ariel's and Goofy's, do you get the same level of interaction at breakfast as at lunch(Ariel's)/dinner(Goofy's)?

Chip n Dale's Storytellers Breakfast has Chip & Dale and...?

Thank you!

Can answer a little bit of this. I personally have never seen Peter Pan at Goofy's, but, yes, you get a range of characters, usually 5-7 during your visit. We've been about a half dozen times and each visit see Pluto, Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale, and at least two of the following: Mad Hatter, Gepetto, mouse from Cinderella, Mulan, Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Prince Philip, and Max, possibly some others I have forgotten. We have been to Goofy's for both breakfast and dinner and have come to prefer a late breakfast on a weekend day. Our family though has not been as satisfied by the quality of character interaction at Goofy's during our visits of the last couple years. We have actually decided we enjoy the experience at Minnie's breakfast much more.

Chip & Dale's breakfast has Chip and Dale and a couple other woodland characters, usually a bear from Brother Bear, Turk from Tarzan, Baloo, Brer Bear... There is also one "face character", a person dressed up as a park ranger who comes around to the tables and can be quite entertaining.

 

[mrswh]

Yes, AG is 100% princess. The only good part for boys is the large plate of chocolate that is served for dessert.

AT GK, yes, you get a random assortment of characters. I think the PP named most of the characters we have seen there, with the exception of the Fairy Godmother. The character interaction is OK - they come to your table, sign an autograph and pose for a photo. They also have a little thing where the kids can dance with the characters in the middle of the restaurant.

Of the three, I actually think that AG has the worst level of character interaction (they stop by each table very quickly, say hi, pose for photo and leave, and that's it), and also the worst food. Storyteller's has the best food (and best ambience), and pretty good character interaction, but characters that are less well known to the kids. I've never seen the park ranger character there, wonder what I am missing!

My kids like the Surf's Up breakfast at PPH the best. We went in the middle of spring break and it was really much more low key than Goofy's. Not as crowded, food was about the same, and much, much more character interaction. It's also the only character meal where you see Mickey.

 

[Eeyore617]

We had Alice at Goofy's Kitchen when we ate dinner there in June. I think as a general rule, Goofy's Kitchen will have at least one princess. In June, we got Princess Aurora. In the past, we had Cinderella and Mulan.

 

[DisSarahK]

I agree with the others--Ariel's has the least amount of interaction and is all princesses. No male characters at all. We're excited to try Goofy's Kitchen this time around. I've heard there usually is one princess plus some furry characters and often the Mad Hatter shows up (especially on Wednesdays).

You didn't ask about it, but Minnie's (at the Plaza Inn) is AMAZING! Tons of character interaction the entire meal. We love it!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Can answer a little bit of this. I personally have never seen Peter Pan at Goofy's, but, yes, you get a range of characters, usually 5-7 during your visit. We've been about a half dozen times and each visit see Pluto, Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale, and at least two of the following: Mad Hatter, Gepetto, mouse from Cinderella, Mulan, Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Prince Philip, and Max, possibly some others I have forgotten. We have been to Goofy's for both breakfast and dinner and have come to prefer a late breakfast on a weekend day. Our family though has not been as satisfied by the quality of character interaction at Goofy's during our visits of the last couple years. We have actually decided we enjoy the experience at Minnie's breakfast much more.

Chip & Dale's breakfast has Chip and Dale and a couple other woodland characters, usually a bear from Brother Bear, Turk from Tarzan, Baloo, Brer Bear... There is also one "face character", a person dressed up as a park ranger who comes around to the tables and can be quite entertaining.

Thanks for the detailed info! Goofy's it is! Good idea to choose breakfast--it seems easier to take a midmorning break than to schedule the whole day around making our dinner res. May I ask what problems you've been having with the character interaction lately?

Yes, AG is 100% princess. The only good part for boys is the large plate of chocolate that is served for dessert.

AT GK, yes, you get a random assortment of characters. I think the PP named most of the characters we have seen there, with the exception of the Fairy Godmother. The character interaction is OK - they come to your table, sign an autograph and pose for a photo. They also have a little thing where the kids can dance with the characters in the middle of the restaurant.

Of the three, I actually think that AG has the worst level of character interaction (they stop by each table very quickly, say hi, pose for photo and leave, and that's it), and also the worst food. Storyteller's has the best food (and best ambience), and pretty good character interaction, but characters that are less well known to the kids. I've never seen the park ranger character there, wonder what I am missing!

My kids like the Surf's Up breakfast at PPH the best. We went in the middle of spring break and it was really much more low key than Goofy's. Not as crowded, food was about the same, and much, much more character interaction. It's also the only character meal where you see Mickey.

Thanks so much! DS is 7 and "hates princesses" so I think we'll save Ariel's for DD's bday trip when he'll gift her with his presence Would it kill them to add one measly prince for the boys? Wish Storytellers had more A list characters since we're staying at GCH -- I think we can get the best of both worlds by doing Goofy's and meeting the Up characters at the DCA "Brother Bear playplace" (that's what my kids call it, though Up has replaced BB I think.) Surf's Up was very fun -- DD stayed through 2 shows so she could perfect her dance moves

We had Alice at Goofy's Kitchen when we ate dinner there in June. I think as a general rule, Goofy's Kitchen will have at least one princess. In June, we got Princess Aurora. In the past, we had Cinderella and Mulan.

Thank you! One princess is perfect! And may keep us out of the Princess Fantasy Faire line!

I agree with the others--Ariel's has the least amount of interaction and is all princesses. No male characters at all. We're excited to try Goofy's Kitchen this time around. I've heard there usually is one princess plus some furry characters and often the Mad Hatter shows up (especially on Wednesdays).

You didn't ask about it, but Minnie's (at the Plaza Inn) is AMAZING! Tons of character interaction the entire meal. We love it!

Thank you! Minnie's is fantastic but we do a character meal only about 1x per year and I'm trying to spread the love!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Thanks for the detailed info! Goofy's it is! Good idea to choose breakfast--it seems easier to take a midmorning break than to schedule the whole day around making our dinner res. May I ask what problems you've been having with the character interaction lately?

Sorry, not trying to say we had "problems". We just haven't enjoyed Goofy's as much the last couple times. These days the characters seem more rushed and less available than when we started going several years ago. We've just been enjoying Minnie's more lately. I see though that you have tried that before and would like to try something new, so I say go for Goofy's. It is nice for the variety of food and characters, especially if you have a princess-lover in your group and really need to see one.

 

[Kenny10]

We ate at Goofys kitchen on August 16th it was our first time so we were not sure what to expect. We had supper and it was good food, lots of variety.

Our problem with it was we were done our meal and the only interaction we had with characters was them going by our table and waving as they were heading out the side door and then coming back in later. Not sure if they were going out for a break or what the case was.

We had a family who was sitting next to us and talked to the manager and finally we got them to come over.

We had a good time, would have liked longer with the characters but understandly I think that they don't have enough characters for the size of the restaurant to go around.

Our kids aged 7 and 4 got to dance with pluto so that was a huge bonus and minnie gave my husband a hug which the kids got a huge kick out of!!
Have a great trip we had a blast for our first Disney vacation!!

 

[Potterswife]

We love Goofy's late breakfast. We saw Peter Pan once there, he was so much fun! Usually there is a suprise character, last month it was Minnie and our princess was Belle (but we've also seen Mulan, Snow White, Jasmine and Wendy...not a princess but still a female face character). If you interact with them, they usually hang around for a bit but if you just get a siggy and a picture, they don't. Captain hook is *great* for playing with. (Also last time we were there, the windows were all blocked off with 'not see through plastic' so it was a bit clausterphobic for me). If they are still like that in October we are going to do Minnies for breakfast instead since that is our second choice.

 

[Sherry E]

I tend to be at Goofy's at times when there are 2 Princesses and 5 furry characters (including one at the entrance). Others only see one Princess. Sometimes there are as many as 8 characters roaming around.

I have not yet experienced any discernible change in character interaction at Goofy's when I've been there. That doesn't mean the character interaction isn't worse or different at other times of day, or on other days of the week, but I haven't noticed anything different when I'm there. We always see characters playing with kids at tables, sitting in the booths with families, acting silly, etc. We get certain characters repeatedly visiting our table. I think it really just depends on how busy the restaurant is that day, and that affects character interaction.

In 20 years of eating at Goofy's, it would be tough to recap all the characters I've seen, but over the last few years the ones that always seem to be there when I'm there for breakfast are Goofy, Pluto, Baloo, Chip, Dale and a couple of Princesses. There are others who occasionally show up too, though - don't get me wrong. We have had the occasional Max or Alice/Mad Hatter sighting, as well as met some Princes (like Phillip and Aladdin).

I think the Goofy's dinner may have a slightly different combo of characters.

As for Storytellers, I've always seen Chip, Dale, Koda, Kenai and usually Terk. Sometimes Meeko will pop in. This is a quiet, laid back character meal. I don't think the buffet food is all that much better than Goofy's, really. And the buffet is small, whereas Goofy's buffet is large and has many more choices. But if you like this particular woodsy/jungly character assortment, the Critter Breakfast would be the place to go! Plus, the Critter Breakfast also offers menu orders or getting the buffet, so that is a plus, I suppose.

 

[mrswh]

I was just looking at pics from a few years ago and see that we did see Mary Poppins once at AG. We've been there many times, though, and other than that one time have only seen princesses - I wonder if maybe there was a princess out sick that day . . .

 

[larina]

Goofy's Kitchen for brunch has been my favorite for years, BUT we agree with some of what has been said here, not the same level of character interaction and time spent per table as there used to be. In May, we did Goofy's Kitchen and the Surf's Up Mickey at the PP, and we liked Surf's Up much better. It was more fun, and to me/us, that's what is all comes down to. I'll be honest, GK offers a few more items, but SU makes up for it with fun and character time! Kids actually sing and dance with characters, making it nice for little ones who won't sit down anyway!!! We can't wait to go back in December, it will be the first dining reservation we make when the dates open up (then, Napa Rose!!!).

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Thanks to all for the great info!

Sorry, not trying to say we had "problems". We just haven't enjoyed Goofy's as much the last couple times. These days the characters seem more rushed and less available than when we started going several years ago. We've just been enjoying Minnie's more lately. I see though that you have tried that before and would like to try something new, so I say go for Goofy's. It is nice for the variety of food and characters, especially if you have a princess-lover in your group and really need to see one.

Thanks!

 

[kailuagirl]

We did Goofy's last Dec. for the 1st time, it was also our 1st character meal. We went right when they opened. We saw Goofy, Pluto, Baloo, Aurora and Chip. It was the most rushed meal I ever had. I felt we couldn't get to the food for fear we would miss someone coming by, but no one really ever came and when they did it was take a pic, sign and bye. Only Chip came back and played with our dd alittle which was awesome. And it was empty when we got there, most tables were empty so I thought we'd get better interaction, but maybe it was too early. The kids dance part with goofy was really cute. By that part, it was crowded and it was really crowded for the kids to get to participate.

As for the food, it was ok. Scrambled eggs were so runny, a mom next to me asked the chef if they were cooked all the way. They really didn't look like it. Fruit was great, omelet was great and it was either the french toast or pancakes, can't remember, and that was good.

Would I do it again, yes, but I'd like to try something else first