Character Meals Super Thread!!

[Vala]

Seriously? Just those 5? Nobody else? We went there for the fun random nature of who we found there.

Yes, I am completely serious.

We were shocked to the core and complained with the manager on location and with City Hall. We made sure to point out that this random nature was just the thing we we loved Goofy's so much. Showed them pictures and everything.

This "homogenized Chef Mickey" theory was actually brought up by the manager on location. She called it "making adjustments between parks" bascially.

Our tradition is definitely dead now too. It's always been "welcome to Disneyland!" at Goofy's on our first night and "see you next year *sniffles*" on the last morning. Not going to happen anymore. I cancelled my own goodbye breakfast reservation on the spot when I found out about that change that Saturday.

Don't get me wrong - the characters who were there were fabulous. Dale danced with me. Minnie came back several times. But that always happened before the change too. So they simply took good stuff away for profit reasons.

Now we may be going back once next year for the new costumes, and that's a big maybe. Usually we went at least twice per trip. Not that two adults for two meals are going to make much of an effect...

 

[DLmama]

I thought we had our character meal figured out with Surf's Up on Christmas Eve. However, we're now going with a good friend and her DD2 LOVES Minnie! Does Minnie appear at Surf's Up? We can go into the parks since we'll all have APs, so we can always decide to do Minnie & Friends if that's the only way we can see Minnie.

DH, DS6 & I have already done Minnie's, Storytellers and GK in the recent past, so we were kinda hoping to try Surf's Up this time. It's not a big deal if we switch, but if Minnie is at Surf's Up, we wouldn't have to. Thanks!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I thought we had our character meal figured out with Surf's Up on Christmas Eve. However, we're now going with a good friend and her DD2 LOVES Minnie! Does Minnie appear at Surf's Up? We can go into the parks since we'll all have APs, so we can always decide to do Minnie & Friends if that's the only way we can see Minnie. DH, DS6 & I have already done Minnie's, Storytellers and GK in the recent past, so we were kinda hoping to try Surf's Up this time. It's not a big deal if we switch, but if Minnie is at Surf's Up, we wouldn't have to. Thanks!

We've seen mickey, Minnie, daisy, Pluto and stitch the last 2 times we did surfs up. The characters all wear their beach outfits. I miss seeing Lilo there tho.

 

[JohnTodd]

Just a quick update while back at the hotel. We had breakfast at Minnie's this morning... Highlight of our trip so far! Chip, Dale, Minnie, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Hook and Fairy Godmother.

With Photopass+, they delivered our picture package before breakfast was complete. So glad I rescheduled from GK, and I have all of you to thank for the heads up. Thanks!

 

[lorijohnhill]

We just got back from our trip. We did Minnie's breakfast on Monday for my daughter's birthday. We were disappointed. The lines for the buffet were very long and difficult to navigate (but the difficulty was partially because mom and I are both disabled). The omelet lines wrapped around the pastry station, making it difficult to get there. There were many characters there, visiting with tables on the patio. We were on the porch and only got to see some of them. We asked about this and were rudely informed that the only character we are guaranteed to see is Minnie, any more than that is gravy. We were also to that we should never expect to see more than three or four characters at any given meal. We pointed out that the tables on the patio saw every character at least once. They finally brought one last character over at the end, but were very huffy about it. I also had to get up to find someone to bring my daughter the princess box with cake we had ordered. One highlight of the meal was Captain Hook. He pulled up a chair and proceeded to edit my daughter's character encyclopedia before signing it. It was hilarious!

On our last day we added an impromptu breakfast at Surf's Up and it was fabulous! I can't wait to do it again in January. The waitress actually came up to us checking to be sure all of the characters had been to see us. Stitch is a hoot! He kept coming by to lick my daughter's book. It was such a fun atmosphere! I though the buffet set up was much better; it had a smoother flow. Much more selection as well. I really liked that you drinks were served at your table rather than trying to carry them on a tray through a crowd. I loved the colorful, different shaped straws in the drinks. It was very festive.

 

[yupikgal]

We were going to do GK but after reading all these posts about the change, we changed it to Minnie's-I would have preferred GK for a change since I've been to Minnie's the last 2 times I was there. Other than the lack of face characters, I understand they are re-doing the entrance and outfits of the characters?

We are also doing Storytellers, which we haven't been for a while. We love Surf's Up! It's hard to decide which ones to do! I agree, I like how they bring the drinks to the table and the interaction with characters is nice there!

 

[travelbug08]

Our last trip we had a great experience at GK, but with the change in characters we want to try either Surfs Up or Minnie's. Which usually has better selection of known characters for kids under age 5?

 

[lorijohnhill]

Our last trip we had a great experience at GK, but with the change in characters we want to try either Surfs Up or Minnie's. Which usually has better selection of known characters for kids under age 5?

At Surf's Up! we saw Mickey ( at the door), Minnie, Pluto, Daisy, Stitch, there may have been one other, but I can't remember for sure. Every character came to our table (except Mickey - he has to stay in his photo spot) at least twice. They also had several opportunities for the kids to go up and dance with the characters.

At Minnie's we saw Minnie, Eeyore, Pooh, Chip, Dale, Captain Hook, Rafiki, Tigger (after begging and pleading with the manager), and Peter Pan was there, but didn't come to our area. The characters spent the vast majority of their time down on the patio, so I would suggest requesting a table down there if stairs are not an issue for you (they are a major issue for us). There were people who gave up waiting for the characters to visit and went to the character, but were turned away. Hook walked one family back to their table inside, but then came right back out again. His only interaction with them outside was to ask where their table was (through pantomime) From our table up on the porch we could see the antics of the characters. It was fun to watch Hook and Pan chase each other around the tables and fight.

Anyway, while we "saw" more characters at Minnie's, we enjoyed our time more at Surfs Up! It's all personal perspective though, and comes down to what you want to get out of your experience.

 

[Jkpark]

Has anyone been to Storyteller's lately? Curious if characters have changed at all with the changes to Goofy's? Any Baloo sightings? TIA

 

[pudinhd]

Has anyone been to Storyteller's lately? Curious if characters have changed at all with the changes to Goofy's? Any Baloo sightings? TIA

We were there on 10/16 and 10/17. The characters we saw were Dale, Chip, Meeko, Koda, Kenai, Pluto. We did not see Baloo, but it would be really cool if he was there, too!

 

[Satye1]

Trying to find out if you can book & go to (get into) a character meal on a day when you are not going to the park??? Probably a silly question.

But we fly in early enough, we might be able to do a dinner character meal if this is allowed....staying offsite at good neighbor though..

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Trying to find out if you can book & go to (get into) a character meal on a day when you are not going to the park??? Probably a silly question.

But we fly in early enough, we might be able to do a dinner character meal if this is allowed....staying offsite at good neighbor though..

Goofy's Kitchen is inside the Disneyland Hotel, so you don't need park tickets to go to it nor do you have to be staying at the DLH. They serve breakfast/brunch and dinner. When the boys were little, we would occasionally have dinner at Goofy's on our arrival night.

 

[Satye1]

Goofy's Kitchen is inside the Disneyland Hotel, so you don't need park tickets to go to it nor do you have to be staying at the DLH. They serve breakfast/brunch and dinner. When the boys were little, we would occasionally have dinner at Goofy's on our arrival night.

Awesome! That is great info! Will definitley look into this!

 

[petals]

For anyone interested I just put up my breakfast at Storytellers on my trip report linked in my sig.

 

[millie0312]

For anyone interested I just put up my breakfast at Storytellers on my trip report linked in my sig.

Thanks!! I just made my reservation there for 12/17 and haven't heard much about it- I'm going to read now!

 

[SweetAlex]

Just a report from Minnie's which we ate breakfast at yesterday. Our third time there and again, it was awesome. The character interaction was really amazing. We sat on the patio for the first time and were worried we wouldn't see as much interaction but I think it was more so. We interacted with each character, got autographs and tons of photos. Food was great too. We saw Peter Pan (this was a first), Gideon, Max, Minnie of course, Pooh, Eeyore, Captain Hook, Tigger, Chip, Dale, Rafiki... And I think we were barely there for an hour. We were photo bombed, flirted with, tooted on (Eeyore!), hugged, kissed and teased. They were all fabulous! Our girls loved every moment, even our 12 year old, who would never admit it out loud.

My one complaint is that I wish guests would understand or be told that the characters will come to their table and not try to follow them around everywhere. The characters just ignore them when they do but they just keep trying. I don't know why the hostesses don't explain this to them when they check in... Sit down and they will come!

 

[petals]

Thanks!! I just made my reservation there for 12/17 and haven't heard much about it- I'm going to read now!

I loved it there

 

[dsneygirl]

We did Minnie's and Goofy's the week of Nov 17th. I wanted to do Storytellers which was my favourite from last trip. DH insisted on Goofy's because he wanted pictures in their new outfits.

I think the food at Goofy's is very good, lots of variety and good quality. The service was terrible. I think we saw our waitress twice. I hate a buffet when the server lets the dirty plates pile up.

A man at the next table got up with his empty coffee cup and started wandering around looking for someone to fill it.

I also hate, hate, hate that the bussers push a cart around filled with dirty plates and leave it sitting near your table. Just gross. We also had to wait forever to get checked in and seated since Goofy went on break before we could take our pic.

Minnie's was awesome. We saw Minnie, Pluto, Fairy Godmother, Chip, Dale, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Hook and I think another but my mind's blank. We all enjoyed the food though not as much selection, we also ate outside which was so nice on such a gorgeous morning.

 

[Tasscrapper]

How are you supposed to leave a tip if it isn't automatically added on? Do you leave cash at the table or do the cashiers just tack it on? I am thinking specifically of Minnie and friends since it seems like that meal has the most characters.

 

[AZMermaid]

For anyone interested I just put up my breakfast at Storytellers on my trip report linked in my sig.

Thanks!! We just made our first reservation for here. Ariels was our first choice, but it's closed and we had an awful experience at Minnie's. I know now our mistake was a late reservation and then accepting a table outside near the bushes with no one else around. We want to give Minnie's another shot, but we aren't ready yet! Looking forward to trying Storytellers!