We are going to Disneyland for the first time the end of September with our 3 kids - ages 2, 4 and 6. They are all pretty shy in general and like to see characters when we go places, but are definitely not the kids that run right up for a hug. We are doing lunch at Ariel's Grotto one day because they all love the princesses, but can't decide on a character breakfast.
What do you think of them and which is the best? Which ones have the most recognizable characters? Will we see them in the park anyway? We would do it on the last day there, so it wouldn't affect our time in the parks.
Thank you!!
Another vote for Surfs up at the Pier hotel. Really fun. Also Minnie and Friends inside the park has good characters. We've seen Pooh eyore Tigger Hook Peter Pan. Also Minnie and Daisy. It's very relaxed so your kids can get close or not. Ariel's is fun and the princesses come to table for a picture. Usually 4 at a meal and they change all the time. The food is not great at these things but I think Goofys is the best.
Have fun!
We went to a character breakfast at Goofy's kitchen a month ago. The characters came up to our table and interacted with the whole family throughout breakfast. It is definitely a superior experience than what you get with characters in the park. In the park you stand in line for a chance to meet the characters and then get a brief time with them to take a picture. (Exception - we went to see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. We saw Chip, Dale, Mickey, and Minnie and there was hardly anyone there. My daughter played with Chip and Dale for 5 minutes.)
I've only been to Goofy's kitchen so I can't compare in to the others, but I can tell you that my kids had a great time. We got tons of pictures with the characters. The food was good. There was tons of kid friendly options and also stuff for the adults.
Our best as far as spending lots of time with lots of characters was the Surf's Up with Mickey breakfast. We saw almost all of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters plus Stitch. They did games with the kids throughout breakfast, little dances and a cute surfing contest with rugs shaped like surfboards. My two year old was a little nervous at first, but Daisy came to the table and "asked" him to dance with her and that opened him right up! You get photos with Mickey right inside the door. This was definitely the most access we had to a Mickey and Minnie our whole trip. Plus, breakfast is less expensive than the other meals, so it is a good deal!
We did Goofy's Kitchen for my son's birthday party. The food was actually really good, and we saw a wide range of characters, from Goofy, Chip, and Dale to Mulan and Aladdin.
You will see the characters in the park, but you will have to wait in line and will only get a few moments with each one. You get much more one on one time with them at the meals. I think it is a great way to get the little ones to warm up- they have more time to get comfortable with the characters in this setting.
One other suggestion- we started our whole trip with breakfast at Surf's Up, ended at Goofy's Kitchen. It bookended things nicely- get warmed up to characters at the beginning, get some final character photos at the end and hopefully see a few that we didn't meet yet.
Have fun!!
ETA: We did the breakfast at the wilderness lodge as well, I can't remember the name. It was not nearly as good as Surf's Up- it was in a much larger space, so the kids had to wait longer to see characters, there were many more people, and fewer characters that were instantly recognizable. We saw the gorilla from Tarzan, Meeko, and Brother Bear, for example. The kids liked them, just did not get as excited as with their favorites.
well i guess i'm going to be the voice of dissent over here but i didn't think the character breakfast was worth it. we did goofy's kitchen about 4 years ago. you definitely don't go for the food since most kids won't eat their money's worth. we did the goofy breakfast and we saw goofy for a little bit but my younger one (then 4) turned out to be terrified by the large characters :( my older one was ok with them, she got her pictures taken with minnie when we were in the park.
You will see most of the characters throughout the park. But not "all together" in their group. For example.... you might see Mickey, but not Minnie etc.
The princesses tend not to walk around, from what I remember. But I was there 8 years ago!!!!
One breakfast at our hotel, some characters just seemed to "show up" and I THOUGHT that's what the character dining experience was and I was pretty disappointed..... However, my mom had paid for the Cinderella Dinner, so we ended up going to that. IT WAS AMAZING. The Godmother met us at the door and did a photo - then she talked to my daughter and found out all about her trip - like spent probably 5 minutes just with her. My daughter mentioned that she was REALLY afraid of animals in the costumes (I know, yes.... we were at disneyworld with a child afraid of characters!!!!!) And the Godmother said "well, get Charming to protect you from the mice". Then she waved a wand and sprinkled some glitter and told my daughter she would be "protected" until we got back home.
THEN she walked us in and went over to Prince Charming and told him to tell the mice to stay away from my daughter. So he made a big show of going to tell the mice to stay away. And they did (I guess it's not that uncommon for kids to be afraid of the animals). She also got to talk to Cinderella (another photo) as well as Prince Charming. It was absolutely the neatest experience we had at the park, by far.
So - although you might see the mice walking around in the park, for example.... you wouldn't see them ALL TOGETHER in character all at once and talking to the kids. I can't speak highly enough about the experience.
Have fun!
