Character Meals and prices? (California) Is it Worth the price??

[ckso]

Can you tell me about the different Character Meals at either Disneyland, CA Adventure or resorts? Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences (good or bad).

And does anyone have prices for each? I want to take the kids to a character meal but in looking online, I can't seem to find the actual prices. It just gives me a range (i.e. $30-$60 per adult). That's a huge price difference. Does anyone have a list of all the character meals and what their prices may be for kids and adults as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner?

TIA!!!

[Tenasparkl]

I think the prices vary depending on adult/child and breakfast, lunch or dinner. I know when we looked into goofy's kitchen for dinner recently the adult price was high (60 maybe?) I think when you enter a reservation time it tells you the cost for each person.

[rkold]

A few brief caveats, we're vegetarians, we go to WDW all the time, and sometimes I am a food snob.

DCA has Ariel's which is a character meal for breakfast and lunch. I can't remember what I paid in 2013 for 1 adult and 1 child, but I can try to track down the bill. The meal is 5 princesses. (We had Aurora as a greeter, Belle, Ariel, Snow White and Cindy.) Aurora and Belle were great. Snow White seemed like she was dialing it in. The food was surprisingly good, it tasted better than any of the princess meals in WDW. (and I've done Cindy's at her Castle and at Citricos and Aksherus for lunch+dinner. Though Cindys@Citrico included alcohol which is always a plus.) I'd prob do it again, because DD loves princesses and most of the princesses don't have FP+ or even FP like at WDW.

MK has Minnie's character breakfast. I think it was cheaper than any other character meal. Minnie and a huge range of characters are there. There were at least 10+ characters when we were there but the rotation was terrible and they kept skipping our table outside. The food was barely edible, I'm taking it was McDonald's breakfast level. If you're happy to eat at McDonald's, but pay like $30 for an adult to meet characters, it's good because it has so many characters. I would suggest trying to eat inside, don't do an outside table unless the outside is also completely full, otherwise you will be forgotten. I think we got skipped because we were one of the only families outside. I had to complain 2x to a hostess to get characters, which is annoying. The characters felt very random. I want to say we had Minnie, Fair Godmother, Suzy or Perla? Max Goofy's son, the bad guy fox from Pinnochio, Tigger, Chip, Dale, and I am pretty sure there were others.

There is a character meal at the Grand Californian hotel, the StoryTellers Cafe. I think it is woodland animal themed and is Chip, Dale, a bear from Brother Bear, and someone else? I've not eaten there but have heard the food is good.

There is Goofys at Disneyland hotel. It was expensive, but if you go for Brunch so it covers breakfast and lunch or for dinner you can maybe get your money's worth? We had Goofy, Alice, Aladdin, Baloo, Daisy, the White Rabbit and maybe more? It seemed to have a lot of characters.

There is a Mickey themed meal at Paradise Pier Hotel. I've never tried it but have heard good things about it. (We tend to eat at Goofy's because we stayed at the DLH, but next trip we might try Paradise Pier.)

In general, all the character meals in CA are much easier to book than in FL and you can book them a month or often less out. I also like that 3 of them are in hotels, so if you're not planning to visit a park that day, you can still do a meal. For WDW, a lot of the character meals are in the parks.

[ckso]

So is it worth the price?

lalasmama, would love to get your input as well.

[WatchingThemGrow]

"Worth the price" is not what I normally think of when it comes to anything Disney. But, there's a window of time you are in a park and you have small kids who would enjoy interacting with characters without standing in line.. So no, no meal is really worth hundreds of dollars, but the experience is fun for some. You may be able to google or click on the menu when making reservations, at least you can see the menus in the wdw website.


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[rkold]

So is it worth the price?

lalasmama, would love to get your input as well.

For me, with a 4.5 year old Ariel's is worth the money. I like meeting the 5 princesses within 1 hour and not having to wait in any lines, plus we get food. The food wasn't bad and we would be spending something on food anyway.

Minnie's was not worth it because the food was barely edible and unless you are inside, the characters consistently skip the outside tables on rotation. (I read I was not the only person with that problem on AllEars)

The food at Storytellers might be good, but the characters aren't exciting enough for us to pay so much money to eat there.

We're prob skipping Goofy's. The characters are nice but it is expensive.

We might do the Paradise Pier one this trip on a non park day. Mickey can get a long line and DD likes meeting Mickey every trip.

We'd prob do breakfast, since breakfast is cheaper than dinner or lunch.

[lalasmama]

So is it worth the price?

lalasmama, would love to get your input as well.

It's a bugger of a day at work, but I promise I will weigh in tonight (with prices and common character lists ;) )

[lalasmama]

Can you tell me about the different Character Meals at either Disneyland, CA Adventure or resorts? Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences (good or bad).

And does anyone have prices for each? I want to take the kids to a character meal but in looking online, I can't seem to find the actual prices. It just gives me a range (i.e. $30-$60 per adult). That's a huge price difference. Does anyone have a list of all the character meals and what their prices may be for kids and adults as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner?

There's 5 character meal spots, two in the parks (Breakfast in the Park with Minnie and Friends [Plaza Inn at DL], Ariel's Grotto [Ariel's Grotto in DCA]), and one at each resort location (Story Tellers at Grand Californian, Goofy's Kitchen at DL Hotel, and Surf's Up! Breakfast with Mickey and Friends at Paradise Pier). Here's a *quick* breakdown of each: (adult price, kid price)

Minnie at Plaza: Breakfast only for characters. Buffet. $30, $14. Characters vary, but most often you will see Minnie, Chip-N-Dale, Tigger, Captain Hook, Fairy Godmother, and Rafiki.

Ariel: Breakfast: $37, 20. Lunch: $40, $23. Individual meals (no buffet). Always Ariel, but other princesses will vary. They will not promise any certain princesses beyond Ariel here. No characters at dinner.

Story Tellers: Breakfast: $30, $14 for buffet. Chip-N-Dale, Pluto, and often Koda (??) from Brother Bear. Other characters vary.

Goofy: Brunch: $33, 17. Buffet. Dinner: $39, $17. Always: Goofy, Chip-N-Dale, Minnie, and Pluto. Rotation is standardized.

Surf's Up: Breakfast: $33, $17. Buffet. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and likely Chip-N-Dale, though they may rotate.

Disclaimer: These *should* be the peak-season prices. wdwinfo.com used to list prices as peak and non-peak, and apparently don't differentiate anymore.


So is it worth the price?


"Worth the price" is not what I normally think of when it comes to anything Disney. But, there's a window of time you are in a park and you have small kids who would enjoy interacting with characters without standing in line.. So no, no meal is really worth hundreds of dollars, but the experience is fun for some. You may be able to google or click on the menu when making reservations, at least you can see the menus in the wdw website.

:yeahthat:

My personal feeling is that it depends on each family if it's "worth it" or not. For our family? NO WAY. But, DD is incredibly distractible, even as an 11yo. We went to our first character meal when she was 8yo.... She would take a bite, then someone would walk up, and she would have to stop, greet, take a picture, then have to sit down, settle down, eat a bite, and there was another character that walked up. Holy cow, she ate like 1 Mickey waffle (like the size of an eggo waffle), 1 piece of fruit, and a glass of milk. She would have ate better for a 1/3 of the price at McDonalds, LOL!

Now, with 3 grandkids, we will do a character breakfast with them in 2 years when we take them. But... we know we're wasting money doing it, that the kids will barely eat, and that we're doing it all for the experience.

But, to be honest, we do Disneyland every time for the experience of it, not because it's a great value! I pay $220/night for a suite for the "luxury" experience (staying in a hotel and *not* sharing a room with DD? aaahhhhhhh-mazing!). I pay $60 for a sweatshirt to bring home something I can wear that reminds me of the trip. I pay $10 for breakfast at Starbucks because I like walking down Main Street on chilly morning with my hot cocoa and nana bread. I pay $10 for an over-cooked corndog because my poor, misled child believes that they are the best corndogs EVER because she never has corndogs anywhere else. .... And we pay outrageous amounts of $$$ for a character meal where my DD (and DGSs) will eat approximately 5 bites, all for the experience.

My general vote is "do it once" and go from there!

[lalasmama]

I'll be there next week, so I can double check on the prices then.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

For me, with a 4.5 year old Ariel's is worth the money. I like meeting the 5 princesses within 1 hour and not having to wait in any lines, plus we get food. The food wasn't bad and we would be spending something on food anyway.
:yeahthat: I totally agree!!!

For character meals, we have only done Ariel's Grotto at Disneyland. We did it last year, when DD was a little over 3. She is not your typical girly-girl who is gaga for princesses, but she LOVED IT. As PP said, it is nice to get to meet 5 princesses in 1 hour and not have to stand in line. And the food was not bad. Pricey, but i think the experience was worth it. I remember the kids getting a hotdog in the shape of a octopus (supposed to be like Ursula) which they thought was super cute. The desserts were AMAZING (and i'm a major dessert-snob!!). For the kids desserts i remember they had something simpler like Jello and a brownie which they both loved.

We are going to Disneyland again in November, and DD will be 4.5 then and we are totally going to do Ariel's again. I do think it is $$$ for a meal but i think it is worth it for the experience.

[rkold]

There's 5 character meal spots, two in the parks (Breakfast in the Park with Minnie and Friends [Plaza Inn at DL], Ariel's Grotto [Ariel's Grotto in DCA]), and one at each resort location (Story Tellers at Grand Californian, Goofy's Kitchen at DL Hotel, and Surf's Up! Breakfast with Mickey and Friends at Paradise Pier). Here's a *quick* breakdown of each: (adult price, kid price)

Minnie at Plaza: Breakfast only for characters. Buffet. $30, $14. Characters vary, but most often you will see Minnie, Chip-N-Dale, Tigger, Captain Hook, Fairy Godmother, and Rafiki.

Ariel: Breakfast: $37, 20. Lunch: $40, $23. Individual meals (no buffet). Always Ariel, but other princesses will vary. They will not promise any certain princesses beyond Ariel here. No characters at dinner.

Story Tellers: Breakfast: $30, $14 for buffet. Chip-N-Dale, Pluto, and often Koda (??) from Brother Bear. Other characters vary.

Goofy: Brunch: $33, 17. Buffet. Dinner: $39, $17. Always: Goofy, Chip-N-Dale, Minnie, and Pluto. Rotation is standardized.

Surf's Up: Breakfast: $33, $17. Buffet. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and likely Chip-N-Dale, though they may rotate.



Unless they've dropped prices I could have sworn Goofy's was more expensive than that. I think we paid more like $50 for me and I could have sworn they said their dinners were $50 for adults when we were there. We've eaten at Goofy's 2x both a few years ago and neither time Minnie was there.

I want to be clear now, my DD is really into the meeting characters and loves the princesses. She is also a bird like eater under the best of circumstances, so I am glad I have to pay the child rate for her and not the adult! If she was old enough for the adult rate and still wanted to meet the characters I would be more inclined to wait in line since it is just easier with a 9 or 10 year old than a pre-reading child. (We do bring markers and a tablet for lines, and so have made a lot of friends because we share.)

In WDW they just promise princesses at Cindy's and Aksherus, but the rotation of princesses is almost always the same. I've seen a little variation, but not a lot, and we've probably eaten at both of those 8 or 9x between 2011-2015. I'd be really surprised if Anna+Elsa or Rapunzel made the rotation at Ariel's. They're just too popular still. I wouldn't complain if we got surprise Mulan, Tiana, Jasmine, or Merida, since DD just likes meeting princesses.

We're vegetarians and they do make the food fresh there because they were able to change one of the main courses for me to make it vegetarian.

We're hoping to go to DL in July/August. I actually have to look into booking Ariels' >>; Unlike WDW it is so much easier to get a character meal and depending on time of year you can actually get one day of, vs WDW where it can be so hard!

And just a note, if your child is under 3, they're free. At buffet places it means you can take buffet items for them. At non buffet places, it depends on your child's age. When we ate at Cindy's when DD was 2, they gave us for free the regular kid's breakfast choices. Maybe they won't remember it but going with a 2-3 year old child who is free is hard to resist.

[Tenasparkl]

Unless they've dropped prices I could have sworn Goofy's was more expensive than that. I think we paid more like $50 for me and I could have sworn they said their dinners were $50 for adults when we were there.

We almost had a last minute dinner there a few months ago and I think the adult price for dinner was $59. (maybe it was $50, but it was higher than $40 for sure)

A friend that's done all the character meals told me that the breakfast at Storytellers isn't worth it. We've only done Ariel's Grotto and I was happy with the food and the princesses for the cost. I just looked at our pics and we saw Ariel (in the lobby, not at the table), Cinderella, Belle, Tiana and Sleeping Beauty.

[lalasmama]

I'll follow up on the prices. Grabbed them from wdwinfo, which is usually right-on with it!

[ckso]

We've only done Ariel's Grotto and I was happy with the food and the princesses for the cost. I just looked at our pics and we saw Ariel (in the lobby, not at the table), Cinderella, Belle, Tiana and Sleeping Beauty.

PP commented they were happy with Ariel because you get to see 5 princesses so it makes it worth it. My girls are into princesses but over at DL, the wait to see 3 princesses at Royal Hall is pretty short (15-20 min, sometimes less) and a lot of times we'll see a princess greet either right outside of that or at the front entrance of Disneyland. That's why I'm wondering is people saying it's worth it because of the princess and not having to wait in another line or the whole experience enhanced much more in a dining environment as opposed to a Meet and Greet Line. So far the only princess we've never seen outside of the show is Tiana

[rkold]

PP commented they were happy with Ariel because you get to see 5 princesses so it makes it worth it. My girls are into princesses but over at DL, the wait to see 3 princesses at Royal Hall is pretty short (15-20 min, sometimes less) and a lot of times we'll see a princess greet either right outside of that or at the front entrance of Disneyland. That's why I'm wondering is people saying it's worth it because of the princess and not having to wait in another line or the whole experience enhanced much more in a dining environment as opposed to a Meet and Greet Line. So far the only princess we've never seen outside of the show is Tiana

I'm saying it because when we were there in early December 2013, one day we got lucky and just met Belle outside and only had a 15 minute wait for the princesses inside (Aurora, Ariel and maybe there was Cindy?) but one of the other days we were there the wait was 45+ minutes. I think it depends on how early you show up there. One thing I don't like about DL is when we waited in line we were lucky and there were 2 or 3 princesses, but none of them were named ahead of time. Someone who had waited in line earlier waited 15 minutes and only got 1 princess. We waited 1 hour to Meet Anna and Elsa, but Elsa wasn't there because she was "running late." I was pretty annoyed. WDW rarely does stuff like that.

[azzeps]

We did Ariel's Grotto last year, and I'm so glad we did it - DD has since outgrown her LOVE of all things princess, and I kind of knew at the time that it was "now or never" for her to really be wowed by the experience. Even DS got into it. The food was good - so we got to knock out eating and seeing princesses and DD got a great start on her autograph book. I felt that since we had knocked out seeing so many princesses at the lunch, we could skip waiting in line at the Princess Faire, or whatever it was called. We briefly saw Cinderella at the entrance of DL, but she was whisked away before we got to the front of the line. Anyway, we enjoyed the lunch and for us it was worth it.

We also did Goofy's Kitchen for brunch before heading out to the airport. It was great, too. Lots of different characters, and they have everything you could possibly want to eat. It was our last (not even whole) day, so it was fun to have one last thing to do before saying goodbye to Disneyland. We didn't go into the parks that day at all because we were flying home.

[Still-in-Shock]

WHen it comes to whether something is "worth it", that's always a very individual decision. Ariel's Grotto would be a waste for us, because we have a little boy who only knows about Sofia, but would be marvelous for our neighbor's little girl. And while the food at the Plaza Inn is not supposed to be great, their breakfast with Minnie will have several characters that our LO will love - at least we think so.

I found this website to be helpful in planning what venues we should visit: http://www.charactercentral.net/CategoryList.aspx

[rkold]

OK we just went to Ariel's for lunch and I want to say the bill with tip was $80, for 1 adult+ 1 kid 3-9. We did pay ~$10 because my DD insisted she needed the glowing Ariel you could get there. It was one of the few souvenirs she got, so I don't feel too bad about it. I am a little annoyed that for that much money it didn't include the darn picture. We accidentally got talked into buying that for another $30 and I really could have done without it. We have so many of the free ones we got in FL just sitting in a cabinet! If you're AP or DVC you do get a 10% discount. I will say having gone to WDW a lot, the food at Ariel's is so much *BETTER* than at Cinderella's or Aksherus (Norway.) I also appreciated meeting 5 princesses (Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Cindy, +Tiana --Aurora wasn't there and she wasn't in MK the next day either!) without having to do the 1+ hour wait for Fairy Tale Hall. The princesses were all really pretty, but I didn't think gave as much time as they could have.

I'm not sure I would want to pay that again, maybe I will see if Costco has a special next time.

If you eat at the Plaza just make sure you are seated inside, because the characters don't like to go outside and I've seen many people echo our experience that if you're sat outside you have to repeatedly chase down characters. (And the food is Denny's level at best.)