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One of my favorite splurges at Disneyland is character dining. I love it! As a budget-minded traveler, it is rare that I would rave about dropping this amount of cash for one meal, but there is more than food that adds value to character dining at Disneyland Resort. I have eaten at every character dining option available at Disneyland, and while I have written (or am currently writing) reviews on each, sometimes it is nice to just have a full list with information to help you decide which one is right for you.
Your Guide to Choosing Character Dining at Disneyland
Today in our Disneyland 101 series we are comparing the different character dining at Disneyland. We covered the in park ones very briefly in the overview and layout of Disneyland Park, but if you are planning to book a character meal, you probably want more in depth information, and to know the options outside of the parks.
Tips For Booking Disneyland Character Dining
Before we review all the character dining options available at Disneyland, I want to share some of my tips for booking your character meals. These tips will help you be prepared with the process and cover some of the most asked Disneyland character dining questions from the Disneyland with Kids Facebook group.
- Character dining can be booked 60 days in advance. This is before the park hours are released. I suggest loosely planning your park days and booking at the 60 day mark, but be sure to cancel any reservations you do not intend to keep.
- You can book character dining at Disneyland via the Disneyland App, on the Disneyland website, or over the phone. The phone number to book character dining at Disneyland is (714) 781-DINE or (714) 781-3463. The hours for Disneyland Dining’s phone line is 7 am to 7 pm Pacific Time
- While kids under three will not be charged, you will need to include them in your party’s head count.
- When booking you will be asked for a credit card, but you will not be charged at booking. The credit card guarantee is for if you do not cancel at least 24 hours in advance, or do not show. If you do not show up to your character dining at Disneyland, you may* be charged $10/person. (*I have missed one on accident in September 2018 and was not charged but that doesn’t mean they won’t) Also, if you are booking the Princess Adventure Breakfast, a no-show results in being charged the full amount of $125/person.
- If you do not see your preferred dining time, keep checking back. Other guests may cancel their reservations, or they may adjust hours for your visit. Also try calling if you do not see openings online.
- Be sure to note any special dietary needs during your booking. Disneyland is great at accommodating food allergies and dietary restrictions, but it helps if you give them a heads up.
- If you book a Character Dining at Disneyland for Plaza Inn during Magic Morning at Disneyland or the first 20-30 minutes of park opening, there is a special entrance gate. Go to the far left and check in with the cast member at the gate. Character Meals during Magic Morning hours will not use your Magic Morning entry.
Disneyland Character Meal Options
Wondering about the different character meals at Disneyland? We got you covered. Below are some quick overviews of all 5 character dining options. For more in depth information be sure to check out my individual reviews.
What Are The Disneyland Character Dining Options:
- Goofy’s Kitchen
- Donald’s Seaside Breakfast
- Mickey’s Tales of Adventure
- Minnie and Friends – Breakfast in the Park
- Disney Princess Breakfast Adventures (beginning March 30, 2019)
Character Dining at Disneyland Hotel: Goofy’s Kitchen
Character Dining at Disneyland’s Paradise Pier Hotel: Donald’s Seaside Breakfast
Character Dining at Disneyland’s Grand California: Mickey’s Tales of Adventure
Disneyland Character Dining: Minnie and Friends- Breakfast in the Park at Plaza Inn
Disney Princess Breakfast Adventure at Napa Rose
The new Disney Princess character meal debuted Disneyland Resort March 30th.
This meal also comes with a hefty price tag of $125. After I got over the sticker shock (remember I am a budget-minded traveler), I booked the experience for opening day so I will add details of this meal after I experience it. I ended up cancelling though because I was sick, and you have to cancel 24 hours in advance. Unlike the other options, if you do not cancel in advance, your no-show fee is the full cost.
Characters you might see at Disney Princess Breakfast Adventure include: Rapunzel, Mulan, Ariel, Cinderella, Moana, Snow White, Aurora, Belle
What to consider about Disneyland Character Meals
When deciding if you should do a Disneyland character breakfast (0r dinner) there are a lot of things to consider.
- Time– Character meals take around 60-90 minutes. Between being seated, getting food, meeting characters, autographs and pictures, you will most likely spend one to two hours in the restaurant. On the flip side, you will save that time, or longer, if you wait in lines to meet all of the characters and getting a quick service meal at some point that day.
- Cost– If you are on a tight budget, or have a large group, character dining is a big financial decision. The cheapest options still average over $30 per adult.
- Benefits– There are some major benefits to character dining. The first is more time to interact with the character. You won’t feel rushed by a line of people behind you.
We’re hoping to go to Goofy’s Kitchen and the Surf’s Up Breakfast when we go in September/October. One for my daughter’s birthday and the other for my nieces birthday. Do you know if they do anything special for birthdays?
Did you all end up going to goofys and if so how’d it go
Malia- Goofy’s Kitchen does for sure. We had 3 birthdays in the tables around us when we were there in March. Surf’s Up most likely does, but I will know for sure after our May trip as we are eating there on our son’s birthday. 🙂
What does goofys kitchen do for bdays
First of all, thank you for posting this! The whole series is really helpful, considering I’m planning my family’s first trip to Disneyland. I had a few questions and I was hoping you would know the answers…
We are on a tight schedule, therefore we don’t have time for a character meal. Is there a way to meet Winnie the Pooh without going to the Minnie and Friends Breakfast?
Also, are you allowed to receive more than one free pin from Guest Services? We will be celebrating a birthday as well as our first visit, so we were hoping to pick up both those pins.
In regards to Fast Passes, I believe I read somewhere that you can only obtain three Fast Passes per day (in total). I know that you can only have one at a time (excluding World of Colour), but is there a maximum number that you can get per day?
Sorry for all the questions, but I’m a planning freak and want to make sure everything goes smoothly 🙂
Yes! You can meet Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger in Pooh’s Corner located by Splash Mountain and the Winnie the Pooh ride in Critter Country. You can also meet Minnie in To on town.
You can most definitely get both a 1st visit pin and a birthday pin. Also, your family can get I’m celebrating pins in honor of your birthday as well.
I hope you have a magical time and never hesitate to ask a question on here.
Those character breakfasts sound like so much fun! I’ll have to try some of them when I get to visit Disneyland! Great article!
Becca ~ Pinning this! It’s just what I’ve been needing to read 🙂 We’re planning our first Disneyland trip with our two kids and I’m clueless! We will be going to the parks four days- do you think this is enough and if we decide on two character dining experiences will we be taking too much time away from the parks? I’m really surprised to hear how much time character dining at Disneyland takes. At WDW they move you through like you’re on an assembly line 🙂
Hi Amy!
Be sure to read all of my Disneyland 101 series. Some of it will be stuff you already know as a WDW veteran, but some of it is unique to Disneyland.
As for the character dining- 90 minutes is for the ones with more characters. That time flew by at the Plaza Inn. At Goofy’s kitchen it was more like an hour, but we stuck around because several of the characters never came over to our area (we were pretty bummed to be honest)
4 days will probably be about right. I can easily go 4-5 days but normally on day 5 I am only in the park for a few hours depending on crowds. I can’t take more than 4 days in heavy crowds.
What I love about character dining is because almost all of the time you spend there is time saved waiting to do meet and greets with other characters. Unlike WDW, there are not a lot of pre-determined areas for meeting several characters in a row. The princesses will be at the Fantasy Faire, and Mickey will be in house, but other than that, you may find some on Main Street, in Tomorrowland or other areas, ToonTown, really anywhere, and you have to hop in line before it is cut off.
So really, character meals are worth it to me because then I don’t have to spend my time waiting in other lines.
Hope that helps. Be sure to ask me any questions. You can also join the facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/loveourdisney/
One year, we only had two days for both parks, so I scheduled Goofy’s kitchen on our departure day. It was a nice way to end our vacation without taking away any of our time in the parks!
So excited to Goofy’s again-loved the food and it was great seeing Chip and Dale with their chef hats 🙂
My daughter would love Ariel’s but I hate to kill at least 90 minutes for lunch…this post was helpful in terms of planning our day. Thank you!
90 minutes really flies by. And not everyone will take this long, but with the style of Ariel’s Grotto I would still plan on 90 minutes.
Glad you found it helpful. Always feel free to ask me anything
We love character meals – just to avoid standing in line and having the characters come to us 🙂
What time are these at? Are they always the same- no matter what time the park opens that day? Thank you 🙂
Jamie and Jason-
When you go to make your reservations, you will be provided with a list of available times. The times do vary based on the park hours and crowd levels, and which dining location you choose.
Hi! I’m planning a trip on the last week of August, we are taking our 2 kids (daughter is five and son will be two), since I read that kids under 3 eat free from a parent plate, when making reservations, should I do it for three or four?
Hi Fernanda! You would want to count everyone when making the reservation. When you arrive they will ask the ages and will not charge you for any guest under age 3.
Thanks!
hi!, what do you mean by “Character Meals during Magic Morning hours will not use your Magic Morning entry.” ?
Going into the park for that character meal will not use up your Disneyland magic morning entry.