We are back and I've got lackluster reviews of both Surf's Up and Goofy's. I think so much of the character dining experience is due to LUCK. So take my reviews with a grain of salt.
First, we arrived on Saturday, June 7 for our 5:30 pm reservation at Goofy's. The place was surprisingly busy that early, as I thought going early was our best bet. We were seated by the windowed alcove on the far left (it's like a circular room). We stayed about 1 hour, having finished our food in 30 minutes. The dinner buffet was okay. They had a carving station, several hot entrees and sides, the famous PBJ pizza plus the mac and cheese one (and two standard ones, pepperoni and cheese), etc. I tried a little scoop of many of the items but ultimately decided to just stick to the cold salad bar offerings (a good orzo pasta salad and smoked salmon).
The kids' selection has all standard fare (hot dogs, mac and cheese, spaghetti, pizza), so my DDs loved the mac and cheese and spaghetti with meatballs (turkey? I can't remember and didn't take photos of food). They were more than satisfied.
What was disappointing this trip is how often we missed characters. We saw Snow White right when we walked in and sat down at our table, before we got food. Then when we returned we saw Jasmine making her way around the circular room. But when it was our turn, Minnie was at our table so Jasmine skipped us and never came back.
Then when Dale came by, it was when the girls went to get food so just waved at me and kissed my hand before moving on. So my girls missed 2 of the 4 characters we saw in that hour. We likely could have stayed longer, but we had Splash Mountain FP that expired at 6:55 so I wanted to use them. We left at 6:35 and it took us 25 minutes to get to Splash due to the heavy crowds. While Goofy's is the best food of the 4 character meals we've had (Ariel's, Minnie's Breakfast, Goofy's and Surf's Up), the character interaction this time was really disappointing.
Note that we also ordered a birthday cake at Goofy's as we were celebrating DD5's 5th birthday. For $17 they served a thick slice of dry tasteless cake in a pink plastic treasure box with a princess flag and a foam "hand mirror." That was a disappointment to us, but DD5 loves her pink plastic box.
On Tuesday morning, we had a late brunch at 10:30 am at Surf's Up in the Paradise Pier Hotel. When we arrived, the place was deserted. I think less than 10 families were there, as there was the last dance party with about 10 kids at 10:35, right after we had our photo with Mickey but before the girls had eaten so they didn't run up to the dance party. Darn, we missed it! Then we didn't see ANY characters until 11 am. It must have been a rest break for them. I asked our waiter at 11 where all the characters were and he said he'd check. I also walked up to the PhotoPass photographer near where Mickey was supposed to be and asked her. Then Stitch came out right next to us and I said, "We haven't see any characters yet and it's been 30 minutes, can you please come say hello to my girls?" Stitch was so sweet and grabbed my hand in response. So we walked over and my girls got to say hi, get a photo, and play with Stitch a bit.
By the time we left at 11:30, we saw Minnie, Daisy, and Pluto, too. Food here was ok. Way better than Minnie's breakfast at Plaza Inn, but not as wide a selection as Goofy's. It is a small quieter venue. The made-to-order omelet bar was nice and I got the last 5 slices of smoked salmon (they never refilled it during the hour we were there). The bacon was weird (very thin slices, overly crispy, and not very "bacon-y" flavor), the shredded potato dish was mealy and not cooked well, but the girls stuck to the Mickey waffles and french toast.
All in all, I think we are now officially done with character meals. The girls were happy to see them, but it wasn't the same excitement or squeals like our last trip. Given the expense, I think we won't be doing these on any future trips.
