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eolian
03-26-2007, 07:17 AM
We booked out trip to DL through Costco and so it comes with a free character breakfast. My 3.5 year old DD is in love with Tinkerbell and the Princesses. I've read the descriptions and I really can't decide which one she will like best.


Sara

julw
03-26-2007, 07:32 AM
For me it's all about location, location, location! I love going into the park in the morning and then after breakfast strolling out and being right in the middle of all the magic. The only place you can do that is at the Minnie and Friends breakfast at the Plaza Inn. The food at the Plaza Inn is also surprisingly good. The kids and I love the french toast and eggs and bacon and my dh loves to get an omlet - made to order from the omlet chef there. We sat outside this last time and it was lovely.

The characters that were there were, Pooh, Minnie, Chip, Dale, The Fairy Godmother, Cpt. Hook, Eyore, Gipetto (sp?), and I thnk that was it...can't remember it there were any more.

We've been to the Storytellers Breakfast and while the food was good, it was PACKED and we had a long wait even with reservations and my kids really didn't care for just the brother bear characters that were there when we ate breakfast.

I've also been to Goofy's Kitchen, but it was before kids, so I don't feel I can really critique it well, KWIM?

Anyway, good luck and have fun where ever you choose!

Edited to add- Tink won't be at any of the character breakfasts but watch the parade and the fireworks to see her ;-) Also, at Ariels Grotto in DCA, you can make reservations to have lunch or Dinner with the princesses, but not breakfast.

samsma
03-26-2007, 07:49 AM
I have only attended 1 character breakfast so I am not an expert in the matter!
I do know however, that the Lilo & Stitch breakfast was fabulous! It was not packed with kids, just the right amount to have a bit of fun. The kids got to Hula dance with Lilo, and play some stick dance thing( can't remember what it was exactly) but tapping little sticks together to music, with Daisy. We also met Pluto and Goofy.Stitch was so much fun and came to our table about 5 times!
It was a very laid back atmoshere, and we did not feel rushed.
The food was excellent and the service was the best I have ad anywhere! We parked right at the hotel for free, making it very easy.
I would definately go back to this one!
P.S. If you go try the pineapple coconut scone and the fruit smoothie!

hlbtimes2
03-26-2007, 08:32 AM
I agree with julw, we love Minnie and friends at the Plaza. It's our first choice of character meals. However, if your little one loves the princesses you might consider lunch or dinner at Ariels in DCA. It is a princess meal.

Matterhorn Mama
03-26-2007, 08:38 AM
We've done Storyteller's (ok, but nothing to write home about). The characters didn't interact as much with the kids. Food was good, though.

We love Goofy's Kitchen---but now we do that one for dinner on our first night. We fly in from the Midwest and so by the time we get our car rental and stop at a grocery for supplies, it's already afternoon and we don't want to waste one of the days on our Hopper ticket. So we do Downtown Disney and have dinner at Goofy's so it "feels" like we're already at the Parks.

We also do the Costco package and last time we did the Lilo and Stitch breakfast. It was fantastic!! DS loved the hula dancing! And DD (who was only 9 months old) fell in love with Stitch who rolled around on the floor and played with her! :D The Hawaiian theme is great. Our whole group loved the atmosphere (youngest was 9 months and oldest in our group was grandpa who was 67).

Whatever character breakfast you choose, you can't really go wrong. DS loved the Storytellers back when we did that one, too. Disney is great at doing character meals. Have fun researching them and then have a great time whichever one you pick!

itig
03-26-2007, 09:25 AM
For me it's all about location, location, location! I love going into the park in the morning and then after breakfast strolling out and being right in the middle of all the magic. The only place you can do that is at the Minnie and Friends breakfast at the Plaza Inn.

We have never done this one, but have wanted to. Does the Plaza Inn open with the park or before? What's the earliest reservation you can make?

Thanks!

Malcon10t
03-26-2007, 10:25 AM
We like Goofy's. I prefer dinner for the character interaction and food. My kids (16-21) prefer breakfast. (None like prime rib.) They felt the selection of foods was better at breakfast, but what do they know. I've always had excellent service there.

If your daughter is into Princesses, see if you can apply the value of teh voucher to the Princess Lunch instead of breakfast. They will probably be more than willing, and I think its the same price.

hlbtimes2
03-26-2007, 10:30 AM
We have never done this one, but have wanted to. Does the Plaza Inn open with the park or before? What's the earliest reservation you can make?

Thanks!

What we like to do is a eat a light breakfast at the hotel. Just something to get us going. Then we hit the park for a couple hours, preferably early entry. Then around 10 we head to the plaza. By that point thigns are getting busy and we are hungry and ready for a break. We eat a big breakfast and skip lunch and have an earlier then normal dinner.

River Belle
03-26-2007, 11:05 AM
If your daughter loves Princesses, I'm seconding the vote for lunch or dinner at Ariel's Grotto. She'll have one-on-one interaction with a handful of them, with photo ops and autographs, too. This is really something special for the little ones.

nmjohnston874
03-26-2007, 11:31 AM
We have never done this one, but have wanted to. Does the Plaza Inn open with the park or before? What's the earliest reservation you can make?

Thanks!


We have reservations at 8:10 for the Plaza Inn on Sunday, May 20 when the Park opens at 8.

hrhlaurie
03-26-2007, 11:53 AM
I'm going to make reservations for Plaza Inn for June 1st for around 10:00 - 10:30. We'll grab something from McDonalds first thing in the morning so the "breakfast" will actually be brunch for us!

Christy1968
03-26-2007, 12:31 PM
I've been to all of them and Friday we went to Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast. Got there at 715am and sat right down. No wait. I was actually surprised because they had of course Goofy and then Pluto, Chip & Dale and PRINCESSES! My dd who is turning 7 was so happy. They had Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Last time I was there they weren't there so it was very nice plus Goofy and friends sang to my dd for her birthday. Jasmine actually remembered my dd from the Princess Faire thing that we went to on Wednesday. I couldn't believe that she would remember a kid from 2 days prior with all the girls she sees. My dd was like "Mommy she remembers me, am I special or what"? So that was nice. Plus at Goofy's Kitchen they have different things the kids can go play. Like Goofy dropping a bucket of plastic utensils and pots and the kids all help him pick it up and dance. Then they have a dance thingy that all the characters do and the kids join in. I don't remember seeing that at any other one.
Ariel's Grotto is good for princesses too. But if you can only do breakfast, they don't have it. Not sure if you can call and ask which characters they plan to have at Goofy's? I know the plaza inn is always the same ones.

Good luck with your choices. Its a hard one.:)

itig
03-26-2007, 12:34 PM
Thanks hlbtimes2 and nmjohnston874 for the info!!

avalosn
03-26-2007, 12:37 PM
Hi there! My family and I like the Minnie and Friends character breakfast at the Plaza Inn. It seems to have to most characters at the actual breakfast and each character takes time out to come to every single table to greet the guests. This is great for the kids because they actual get to have more personal photo opportunities with the characters. And the breakfast spread is sooooo good, they have so much to choose from. I have been to the other ones and they are good, but Minnie and Friends takes the cake for me. It's a great way to start of the day inside the park!!!

IdahoMike
03-26-2007, 06:38 PM
Our experience (and food quality) was better at Minnie & friends than it was with Goofy's. We will be trying Lilo & Stitch this time around, and might even add a 2nd one at Storytellers, just to say we did all of them. I'd take the Plaza Inn over Goofy's for breakfast though.

mousemom
03-26-2007, 09:35 PM
I would love to try Minnie and Friends at the Plaza again! We went once when it was the Princess breakfast there and loved it. The only thing that holds me back from going to that one again is that I hate to be eating when the park is already open. Even if we head to the Plaza right when Main Street opens up and eat quick then we're still going to miss rope drop and the short lines for our little kids at Fantasyland or elsewhere. I'd rather pay that much money to eat at a time when we're not missing out on the rides. When we go earlier to Goofy's or Lilo and Stitch (and we've loved both of those) then we can plan to stay as long as we want and still be pretty far up Main Street before the rope drops. I guess it depends what type of experience you are looking for and how many days you will be there.

UsBurchs
03-31-2007, 09:21 PM
Last year we did the Lilo and Stitch breakfast and we're thinking of doing a different one this year. Both the other two at the hotels sound fun - Chip n Dale's and Goofy's kitchen.

Couple questions . . .
1. What other characters tend to show up at both of these breakfasts? (I know Lilo and Stitch were at the one we did last year, but Pluto and Daisy also showed up)
2. Any special things that happen at either one? Are there fun games they play or little shows that they put on?
3. I assume the food is just about the same at all of them - anything special there?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

(Just found out our parade on June 2 has been cancelled . . . no Horseless Carriage Club parade this year . . . VERY sad . . . Disney decided it was too expensive to do again. ???? BUT! That won't stop us from coming to the park anyway! :) Just gives us more time to play!)

Mrs Mouse
04-01-2007, 01:13 AM
We did Goofy's Kitchen last year, and thought it was great. To specifically answer your questions:

Characters
Over the 1.5 hours we were there we saw Goofy, Pluto, Donald, the Mad Hatter, Chip & Dale, Max, Mary Poppins, & Baloo. Overall, the character interaction was great! A cute little anecdote - my 4 y.o. niece was really looking forward to seeing Goofy. When the Mad Hatter turned up first, she was a little upset and put her head on the table, refusing to speak. He responded by doing the same, since he thought "taking a nap would be a splendid idea!" I thought it was great that he played along, and she quickly cheered up!

Special Things
Every 30 minutes, or so, the characters all get together around the buffet with plastic pots and pans and have a "jam session" with all of the kids. Everyone gets to sing, dance, and generally have a lot of fun making noise.

Food
We haven't been to any of the other character breakfasts, so I've really got nothing to compare it to, but we thought the food was quite good. The selection is amazing! I think that even the pickiest eaters will manage to find something to nosh on here. Plus, an entire section of the buffet is dedicated to deserts. The PB&J pizza is especially good.

Enjoy yourselves and happy breakfast-ing!

Mr.Abominable
04-01-2007, 01:44 AM
You should also consider the breakfast at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland. If you are there early, you and your family will have more time with the characters than you will know what to do with. There are usually Hook, Fairy Godmother, Minnie(the host), Chip and Dale, Tigger, and usually several others. We always head there during the early entry and we have gotten a picture with all of the characters at the same time. I think the food is pretty good too. :)

Sprunkn7
04-01-2007, 04:21 AM
We were thinking of doing a breakfast but thought it may take too long at a great time of day. We will be there in about 10 days, just when it is peak busy for spring break. Has anyone done the dinners or a lunch instead? What is the best place food wise? and who will show up? Lots of ? I know, and time is running short if we want to do this is. Any help is truely appretiated!

Malcon10t
04-01-2007, 08:53 AM
We were thinking of doing a breakfast but thought it may take too long at a great time of day. We will be there in about 10 days, just when it is peak busy for spring break. Has anyone done the dinners or a lunch instead? What is the best place food wise? and who will show up? Lots of ? I know, and time is running short if we want to do this is. Any help is truely appretiated!
We've done dinner at Goofys, and I really enjoyed it. I think we had better character interaction there than we have had at any of the breakfasts. I liked the prime rib they had.

babytmakes5
04-01-2007, 09:08 AM
We've done a lot of the character meals, and my vote would be for Ariel's Grotto for dinner, or Storyteller's Breakfast.

If your little one loves the princesses, Ariel's Grotto for dinner will provide wonderful one-on-one time with several princesses. We went last November for an early dinner (I think 5ish), and it was a great time for my six year old daughter. Each princess spends a good amount of time at your table, and there's plenty of opportunity for photos and autographs. You can meet the princesses at the Faire in DL, but we found the character meal to be a little more relaxed. However, the only drawback is the quality of the food. Maybe we are picky, but none of us was thrilled with our entrees. We also dined at Ariel's Grotto two years ago, and we were happier with the food, so maybe it was what we ordered this time. But, for the time with the princesses, it was worth it. Just don't order the fish and chips ;) .

If good food matters to you, please try the Storyteller's Breakfast at the GCH--the food is great and character interaction is relaxed and fun. You won't meet any princesses there, but the breakfast buffet is wonderful!

UsBurchs
04-01-2007, 09:29 AM
What if we aren't planning on going to the park that day? Can we still do breakfast at the Plaza Inn? Sounds fun, but I'm since we aren't planning on going back to the parks that day, will there be a problem?

pisces
04-01-2007, 11:13 AM
3. I assume the food is just about the same at all of them - anything special there?



That is totally not true. Not true at all. I haven't been to Storytellers Breakfast, or Goofys Breakfast since 2004. But I have been to Minnies. Minnies is very limited in quantity, compared to Goofys Breakfast. I didn't find the quality of Minnies to be up to par, this last time (2006).

The people who make the omelets at Minnies are not professional chefs. Lilo and Stitch omelet makers are absolutely professional chefs and have went to chef school.

It shows.

The French toast at Minnies is good, though. And they usually have fresh strawberries. I don't know if the price justifies only that. It's inside the Park, though.

You might want to do Goofy's for much much more food, and activities.

hrhlaurie
04-02-2007, 05:45 AM
I read some reviews of the character meals and based on what I read we chose Ariel's Grotto. We're taking a young child and don't want to mess with going back and forth to a buffet line and trying to get pics with characters, etc. The review I read of the Minnie and Friends breakfast said that with everyone up and down and characters getting mobbed by kids it was really chaotic. The lunch where they have wait staff and characters coming to the tables sounded more sane - to me anyway.

We're really not going for the food, although we hope it's pretty decent for the price. We're paying for our grandaughter to have a special lunch in the park with some of her favorite Princesses. We decided to do this over the lines at the Princess Faire and she'll be thrilled.

Oh, and don't forget to make reservations for your meal! You can make them 60 days in advance and it's worth it to make sure you have seating.