Character Breakfast quirk

[mjjpower]

Okay I'm a little irked that I have to pay "adult" prices for the character breakfast even though my children are not adults (and certainly don't eat enough to qualify as an adult). I have always in the past purchased my character breakfast as part of a package deal...so I didn't pay too much attention to what it actually cost me. This trip I booked things seperately and just made our character breakfast reservation...yikes! $25.85 per adult and two of my three kids are considered adults! I understand why this is but I am also torn because to me that seems crazy for breakfast! Don't get me wrong..we've done the character meal every time we have gone to Disneyland and loved it...I just wish they had a middle price for 10 and 13 year olds.
Okay, last question does that price include the tip or do you all tip on top of that?

[JoeCool]

Okay I'm a little irked that I have to pay "adult" prices for the character breakfast even though my children are not adults (and certainly don't eat enough to qualify as an adult). I have always in the past purchased my character breakfast as part of a package deal...so I didn't pay too much attention to what it actually cost me. This trip I booked things seperately and just made our character breakfast reservation...yikes! $25.85 per adult and two of my three kids are considered adults! I understand why this is but I am also torn because to me that seems crazy for breakfast! Don't get me wrong..we've done the character meal every time we have gone to Disneyland and loved it...I just wish they had a middle price for 10 and 13 year olds.
Okay, last question does that price include the tip or do you all tip on top of that?

Your tip is included. When I went to a breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen, the ticket said tip was included.

[Malcon10t]

$25.85 per adult and two of my three kids are considered adults!

It sounds like you are at Minnie's. (Goofy's and Ariel's are higher.) At Minnie's, there is no table service, so no tip is included. But if you appreciate the clearing of dishes and any assistance you get, you can leave a tip. Goofy's, Lilo and Stitch, Ariel's, and Storyteller's includes tip.

Your tip is included. When I went to a breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen, the ticket said tip was included.

Actually, if it is Minnie, table service isn't involved, so they do not include a tip. If you appreciate the clearing of teh dishes, you can tip.

[Nancy]

Your tip is included. When I went to a breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen, the ticket said tip was included.

This is one of several reasons why we stopped going to the buffets. I always thought a tip was based on service. Good service... good tip, great service ...great tip. I hated tipping before we were even seated. I know this is the "norm" now but it tightens me up.

The last time we went to Goofy's Kitchen the service was at best crummy. We were in that back room and only had one or two characters when the rest of the place was swimming in them. (We saw them when we got up for food and waited but they never showed up in our area.)

[janell]

This is one of several reasons why we stopped going to the buffets. I always thought a tip was based on service. Good service... good tip, great service ...great tip. I hated tipping before we were even seated. I know this is the "norm" now but it tightens me up.

The last time we went to Goofy's Kitchen the service was at best crummy. We were in that back room and only had one or two characters when the rest of the place was swimming in them. (We saw them when we got up for food and waited but they never showed up in our area.)

I agree with you tip should be on how your service was not just expected. But thats not what people do anymore. Which makes me wonder if thats why service has gone down?

Anyhow, we also got bad service at Goofy's, which is why I will never go back.

I love Storytellers and miss going there for breakfast, but the cost keeps me away. Even if you don't get the buffet its still so high.

I also agree there should be a 10-13 year old price. I wonder if they don't because people lie about their childs age to get the cheaper rate. So Disney may have just said we will cut the cheaper rate at this point? Im not really sure.

[Carina]

They consider a 10 year old an adult at the gate, why wouldn't they carry that into the character meals too. Its another way to get more $ out of you!

I think the character meals look neat but not over $125 for one meal of basic food neat!

Thats nearly 1/2 our food budget for the whole week!

[candles71]

Sometimes it irks me that my 10 y/o is considered an adult at the gate (and not just DL) but you know she can ride everything there and do everything, so it actually is fair when I think about it that way. Now, as to being an adult for the character breakfast, she eats more than more 16 y/o DD does so......

[MammaSilva]

I agree that the prices are pretty steep but I always look at it as paying for the experience not really the meal. As for the 10 and up being charged for adult prices, we took my favorite trio of short people last spring and the then 9 year old ate more than the three adults and older teen did ...so I wouldn't feel bad paying 'adult' prices for him the next time we go.

[mjjpower]

I guess there isn't a "fair" way to judge what one child will eat. My 6 year old will eat enough but my 11 year old will pick and probably not eat anything! Oh well...we'll do it this one last time and then I think character breakfasts may be on the way out in our house

[Malcon10t]

We have a 5 and 7yo nephew and niece, adn we definitely get our money's worth when we have them along. And when the 3yo was 2, Goofy's LOST money!

[adriennek]

As for the 10 and up being charged for adult prices, we took my favorite trio of short people last spring and the then 9 year old ate more than the three adults and older teen did ...so I wouldn't feel bad paying 'adult' prices for him the next time we go.

We have a 5 and 7yo nephew and niece, adn we definitely get our money's worth when we have them along. And when the 3yo was 2, Goofy's LOST money!

I guess there isn't a "fair" way to judge what one child will eat.

I think this last quote really says it all: Your 11-y/o won't eat enough. I know adults who don't eat "enough" to justify the cost of an all-you-can eat buffet. As MammaSilva said, my now-10-y/o ate us under the table. He kept ASKING "Can I go get more?" You're still hungry kid??? Knock yourself OUT! I can't believe how much he ate. I would not at all have a problem taking him back to any buffet.

So IMO, the question isn't "Is it fair to charge an 11-y/o the adult price" but "Is it worth it for us to go to a buffet."

But then, I'm a brat. If I want fair, I go to Pomona. Life's just not fair, sometimes. If I dwelled too much on "Fair" I probably wouldn't go out much anywhere.

Adrienne

[lbrackjo]

IMHO, Disney character meals have two components--the meal and the show. How much you are wiling to pay for each of those combined is measured against the charge. For us as an example, a chance to interact with four or five princesses with them coming to the table rather than standing in line is worth the $20 kids charge alone.

[Malcon10t]

I guess there isn't a "fair" way to judge what one child will eat. My 6 year old will eat enough but my 11 year old will pick and probably not eat anything! Oh well...we'll do it this one last time and then I think character breakfasts may be on the way out in our house

It is all in what you want for your buck. We stopped doing Character meals for a while. When the kids were tweens/teens, we went through a phase where if a character headed to our table, suddenly the table cleared to a. go get more food or b. head to the bathroom. So, we stopped doing them. A couple years later they asked to go, and I said "You going to run from the characters??" Now, we do one or 2 meals a trip. We really like Goofy's dinner. We've ALWAYS had a ton of interaction. ANd last trip, we did Ariel's, and were very pleasantly surprised. We will probably do it again!

[Lehua]

a chance to interact with four or five princesses with them coming to the table rather than standing in line is worth the $20 kids charge alone.

This is similar to what I was going to say. We figure that when we go to the Minnie and friends brekky every trip, we're really getting three things - food, character interaction, & saving time waiting in lines later. Time is money, so rationalizing it that way makes is easier to swallow the cost.

[cstephens]

With any of the character meals, it's not about the food really, it's about the characters. In most cases, the food alone wouldn't be worth it, and people probably wouldn't go if there weren't characters there as well. So in that case, it doesn't matter what a child or adult eats or doesn't eat - they still have the same opportunity at the character interaction.

And yeah, the character meals are expensive, but they're also not a requirement if you want to see a character. I'm not sure there are any characters that you can ONLY see at a character meal. You would just need to track them down when they're available. So it's entirely possible to have breakfast and have interaction with characters without paying the price of a character breakfast. It's really a matter of whether or not an individual is interested in paying for that.

[Toocherie]

that's why I like the Lilo & Stitch breakfast at the Paradise Pier. I don't eat enough to justify an expensive buffet--and they have a very reasonably priced menu. (Breakfast entrees are less than $12--some less than $10). The characters don't differentiate between those on the buffet and those ordering off the menu.

[candles71]

Ok so I emailed DL looking for the current prices, planning for our April trip. I got the response today. According to the response received children are 11 and under. Adult prices are 12 and up.

[mjjpower]

Really? Because when I called and asked I was told that it was the same as the tickets which meant I paid full adult fare for my 11 year old. We went a couple of weeks ago and that is what I ended up paying....it was a lot of fun but really pricey!

[candles71]

Which is what I thought but the email says 12 and up, surprised me