??? For those of you who have done character breakfasts....

[colbybug]

I know that it depends upon which character you child likes....BUT, I am just curious to hear from those of you who have done character breakfasts, what your experiences have been. I have a 4 yr old boy so probably no princess breakfasts but otherwise, he hasn't been that exposed to Disney yet so I think he'd be open to anything.... what are the breakfasts like? What time do they start? Etc.... thanks so much for everyone's insight and experience. I love this board!

Kathy

 

[AFMom]

We've done Goofy's and Ariel's and kids have really enjoyed both of them. I preferred Goffy's for Breakfast and found the service, food and Character interaction great! We went right at opening, though - and it seemed to get really crazy right as we were leaving.

 

[hlbtimes2]

We have done breakfast at the Plaza in on Main street a couple of times, and Goofys for brunch once. We prefer the Plaza. It is currently Minnie and Friends. It is a buffet style meal. The hours vary based on park opening time, and I believe it ends at 11. Its a big different then your typical buffet. Some like it, some don't. There are lines to get in, and there is a person on the other side that dishes up your food, makes fresh omelets, etc, rather then everyone touching the food. Some people feel it slows things down. Personally, I like that someone else has not touched my food or sneezed on it! We have not been since its been MInnie and friends, it was Pooh and Friends the two times we were there.

Goofys is at the Disneyland hotel. We went at 1, so more lunch then breakfast, but the price and food is the same in the morning as it is at 1. Brunch is goes until 2, I think it starts at 7 or 7:30. They also serve dinner. When we were there was saw Goofy, Donald, Snow white and Aladin. Interaction wasnt great, not sure if it was the time of day or if we were just spoiled by our other experiences. Food is served typical buffet, help yourself, style.

Other options that I havent done, but might are: Lilo and stitch at Paradise pier. I've heard its a lot of fun, and I like the option of ordering off the menu rather then just having the buffet. Money saving, and again, no one (other then the staff) has touched my food. The one thing that keeps me from going there is the distance from the park.

The menu/ buffet options is also offered at Storytellers a the Grand. I've heard great things about the food. Its a good choice for those that more more a low key character experience. Its chip and dale, and some others like Koda from brother bear, Meko, etc. They only have characters at breakfast. I think it goes until about 11, like the others.

The other options is Ariels, but that is princesses, and doesnt sound like you want that.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We've done Goofy's Kitchen and Storyteller's Cafe for breakfast. We enjoyed both. Goofy's Kitchen is a "high energy" character meal. The characters gather all the kids in the middle of the restaurant and do crazy dances including banging on drums. It does tend to get loud. We've seen Goofy, Pluto, Princess Aurora, Aladdin, Alice, and a few others I can't remember. Food is plentiful and good. (I would prefer Goofy's Kitchen for dinner rather than breakfast though). Service here tends to be mediocre. Storyteller's is a more subdued character meal ( no large kids group gathering like at Goofy;s Kitchen). We saw Chip, Dale, Meeko, and one of the bears form Brother Bear. Characters here are more obscure than the other character breakfasts. Food is good. The great thing about Storyteller's is that you can order off the menu, if you're not used to eating a big breakfast. DS is a big brekfast eater, so he was the only one who ordered teh buffet. DH ordered a denver omelet and I ordered the stuffed french toast. DD ordered kids' french toast i think. Both dh and I loved our food. It was so good, that during our stay, we had breakfast here 3 times. Since we ordered off the menu, our food tool a little while to be serevd, but the service was great. We've never done the plaza inn. We like to get breakfast out of the way before we enter the park. We are planning to do the Lilo and Stitch breakfast on our upcoming trip. People really seem to enjoy that character breakfast a lot.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

We are going on our first DL trip in April, with two sons age 5 and nearly-2. I've read mixed reviews of Goofy's Kitchen character breakfast, with the negatives being mainly about the food. But the more I read about the characters and the interactive 'show', the more convinced I am that my energetic boys will just LOVE IT. I can't wait!

 

[jemilah]

We all loved Goofy's kitchen for breakfast and even on weekends the service was not bad..........it is a buffet the waitstaff is pretty much just for filling drinks. This trip we are going to try dinner there and breakfast with Lilo and Stich .

 

[Pir8girl]

We love Storytellers. It's a bit mellower than Goofy's Kitchen, the food is far better IMO and you can order off the menu. We eat breakfast there at least twice during our stays.
Goofy's is alright. As the op mentioned it is high energy, lots of characters, lots of people. I'm not a buffet fan especially when I'm trying to balance my kids plates and mine.The food is okay.
We're considering the Plaza Inn this time. Something different.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I really enjoy Goofy's for dinner. As someone stated, it is very high energy. I think the food, for a buffet is very good. In fact we ate there last Saturday night and it was probably the best food we have eaten there. It seemed a bit more upscale than usual for the adults with the usual kids fare on the kids buffet. You also see the largest variety of characters at Goofy's. We saw, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, Mulan, Snow White, Baloo and Dale.

We also really enjoyed the Lilo and Stitch breakfast last September. My 11 year old son loves Stitch and both he and my 9 year old daughter really enjoyed the games Stitch and Pluto played with all the kids. The food on the buffet was very good and it was nice to have the option to order off the menu.

I haven't done the Plaza in awhile but I agree with another poster that the setup is nice if you aren't fond of messy buffets! It can be slower so be prepared for that. However, the atmosphere is wonderful and its great to be right inside the park. My brother ate there recently and I believe he saw Minnie, Pooh, Tigger and Fairy Godmother.

I like to do character breakfasts either really early before park opening or the latest possible seating at 11:00. The reason being that the parks are the least crowded at opening. Fantasyland in particular is best seen first thing as it gets crowded and stays that way by mid morning. I think its nice to get there at opening, ride a few things, grab a fastpass for something, then head to the breakfast. This sometimes is hard to accomplish depending on park hours but if possible I like to do it that way.

 

[Pir8girl]

We love Storytellers. It's a bit mellower than Goofy's Kitchen, the food is far better IMO and you can order off the menu. We eat breakfast there at least twice during our stays.
Goofy's is alright. As the op mentioned it is high energy, lots of characters, lots of people. My kids enjoy it. I'm not a buffet fan and the food is okay.

We're considering the Plaza Inn this time. Something different.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

We haven't done any of the ones at DL, but we did a character breakfast at WDW and while my kids enjoyed it, they were really impatient to get moving. They have asked me not to do it on our DL trip because they would just rather spend the time in the parks instead of in a restaraunt. It's great to get the autographs and pictures, but they didn't want to spend alot of time doing it. Just something to think about.

 

[goofy370]

We did the Lilo and Stitch breakfast at Paradise Pier and it was great. We liked it better than Goofy's Kitchen. There was great interaction and also Minnie and Pluto and Donald were there. My boys are 5,7 and 10 and they really liked the interaction and the food.

 

[NezzieRella]

DH, D & I ate at both Goofy's Kitchen and Lilo & Stitch's Aloha Breakfast last September. We preferred Lilo & Stitch over Goofy's Kitchen. Our DD, who just turned 2 in December was a bit overwhelmed by the craziness of GK. But she loved Lilo & Stitch. IMO, the food at L&S is way better than GK. There were lots of characters at both, with good interaction because we went early to dinner at GK, and late to breakfast at L&S. It was fun, but I'm sure that DH won't go back because of how expensive it is! With just one little one, it's not worth a $70 meal to us!

Also, we were told at L&S that we couldn't order off the menu. So I don't know if things have changed, or we were too late to do that...maybe call & ask to be sure if ordering from a menu is an option you want to have.

 

[Zoemakes5]

If you've got a four year old, I'd really recommend going to one of the lunches on one of the early entry days. Go to the park early and do a bunch of stuff, then go to the character lunch, and that makes a good transition to go back to the hotel for a nap. It ends up being cheaper than dinner, but you don't feel rushed or like you're missing out on something like you sometimes do for breakfast.
Otherwise, at both DL and WDW I've scheduled character meals for a day/time that I wasn't planning on being in the park. Like day of arrival or day of departure. Get a glimpse of disney, but don't have to use the passes to get into the parks.

 

[Pir8girl]

Can you give me an idea of what kind of food was on the breakfast brunch at Lilo & Stitch? We've never tried it, but as I said in another post, I'm kinda burned out on GK so am looking for an alternative.
We loved Ariel's Grotto, but it's been taken over by princesses, heaven forbid

 

[NezzieRella]

If I remember correctly, Lilo & Stitch has lots of fruit, pancakes, waffles, & some really yummy pastries. Also, they will make an omelet for you with ingredients of your choice. I think there were sausages & eggs too. Kind of a typical breakfast buffet, but as I said before, we really liked it.

 

[Pir8girl]

Sounds good. I think we're going to try it.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Can you give me an idea of what kind of food was on the breakfast brunch at Lilo & Stitch? QUOTE]

Here is a menu: http://www.dlresortinfo.com/lilo.html You can order from the menu or have the buffet. Ordering from the menu makes it a little more affordable.

 

[colbybug]

Looks like its either Goofy's Kitchen or Storytellers for us. Doesn't look like we can really go wrong with either. Thanks again!

Kathy

 

[DMP]

We did both Arielle's Grotto and Goofy's Kitchen... they were great experiences, though our table in GK was very dark and off to the side.

At the Princess lunch (12:00 seating) we met: Arielle, Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine and Belle. At Goofy's Kitchen (7:10 seating) we met: Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Chip and Dale, Baloo, the Mad Hatter...

The food was plentiful and fun - the desserts at GK were particularly memorable... LOL! at 7:10 am my daughter had macaroni and cheese and mickey mouse nuggets...

The Mad Hatter sat with us for over 5 minutes telling jokes and stories - he was very funny and attentive.

 

[MoniqueU]

I have been to Goofys, Storytellers and the Plaza Inn. I liked goofys the best for all meals. I just like the service, food and atmosphere there the best. We actually go for the food more then the characters now but there is a nice assortment of characters there.