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Goofy’s Kitchen Character Breakfast Review

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Last month, when I visited Disneyland for the Disney100 Celebration I booked Goofy’s Kitchen character breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel! It was a fun way to start my day! Here’s my review to help you decide if it’s worth the money.

Goofy's Kitchen Character Breakfast

Goofy’s Kitchen Character Breakfast

Disneyland currently has four character dining experiences on property. I managed to eat at two of them on this trip and they were both excellent! Stay tuned for my Storytellers Café Brunch review in the future!

The Ambiance

I’ve done several character meals at Walt Disney World. However, this was my first one at Disneyland and I have to say it really got things started on the right foot! Immediately upon entering the restaurant, I was wowed with the extra little touches around the buffet. It was fun to see all of the huge fake food displays. It really added to the goofy ambiance of the meal.

The Food

For this review, I booked the earliest time slot I could get since I’m from Virginia and on a three hour time difference. That means I booked a 7:00 AM breakfast, but it felt like 10:00 AM to me. Haha! However, the food on this buffet was the perfect combination for a brunch! In fact, given that Goofy is the chef here, it makes perfect sense to have a wide variety of unique and tasty options! Although, it did strike me as a little wild to have dessert on the breakfast buffet. Nonetheless, it was good!

Goofy’s Kitchen is known for their unique assortment of pizzas. I highly recommend trying whichever ones they have when you visit. I enjoyed their peanut butter and jelly pizza as well as chicken and waffles pizza. The Nutella and berries pizza was also good! Honestly, they had so many options here that you can’t go wrong, even with a picky eater. I definitely think everyone can find at least a few items they enjoy from this buffet.

The Characters

At Goofy’s Kitchen character breakfast, the fun with characters technically starts before you even enter the restaurant! Goofy himself is waiting just outside of the restaurant to take pictures with guests with a photographer. It’s a fun way to kick-off the meal for sure! Once seated, different characters dressed in their chef outfits will come around to meet guests. On my visit, I got to meet Minnie, Pluto, Chip, and Dale! I loved Minnie in her cupcake apron outfit! I also enjoyed watching Pluto mess up the napkins during a lull in guest arrivals. It may have been my early reservation, but I definitely had amble time with each of the characters and didn’t feel rushed at all!

Also, I was pleased to discover that all of the characters did a dance around the restaurant at one point. In fact, all of the guests are encouraged to swing their napkins over their heads as the characters come around. It makes for a memorable meal and fun moment.

Is Goofy’s Kitchen character breakfast worth it?

If you are looking for a fun meal or a great way to meet several characters, then this may be the meal for you! Granted, it is an expensive meal. Also, Disneyland Hotel is the furthest hotel away from the parks. So, it may be a little out of the way for your family depending on where you are staying. However, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal here and wouldn’t hesitate to go back! So, have you ever dined here? What was your experience like?

Tusker House Breakfast Review

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During my February 2023 trip to Walt Disney World with my mom, I booked a 10:10 AM reservation for the Tusker House breakfast at Animal Kingdom. Today, I’d like to share my experience with you.

Tusker House Breakfast

Tusker House Breakfast

For those who don’t know, the Tusker House Breakfast is a buffet meal wherein characters dressed up in their safari outfits come around to tables to visit! It’s the only character dining experience at the Animal Kingdom theme park and an advanced dining reservation is required to dine here. Breakfast costs $45/adult and $29/child, plus tax and gratuity.

The Food

If you have visited a breakfast buffet at Disney World previously, then you can probably guess what kinds of food you will encounter here. If not, think typical American breakfast foods: eggs, sausage, bacon, waffles, fresh fruit and yogurt, etc. However, they also have Simba waffles in addition to the typical Mickey waffles! Plus, they have Zebra coffee cake as well as a special sunset picture bread. The Zebra coffee cake was tasty but not anything groundbreaking. The sunset bread tasted like regular bread dyed to look pretty. However, I love that they have added these fun themed foods to the buffet to make it unique!

Technically, breakfast is served from 8:00 AM until 10:30 AM, with lunch beginning at 11:00 AM. However, if you get a late enough breakfast reservation, you can actually enjoy two different selections here! Our 10:10 AM reservation allowed us to eat breakfast foods as well as some lunch items while paying the breakfast price! Lunch (and dinner) is typically $59/adult and $38/child. So, it saved us some money. I liked the chicken legs, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and dessert spread from the early lunch options! While that is pretty basic food, keep in mind that I didn’t get to try everything from lunch. I suppose I need to go back for another review. Haha!

You can view pictures of the food and characters in my Instagram post below.

Characters

While dining here, you can meet several characters in their safari attire! Donald Duck is one of my favorite characters, so I love that he’s considered the host of this shindig! He’s the only one you are guaranteed to meet. However, you will meet others as well. On our visit, we got to meet Donald, Mickey Mouse, Daisy, and Goofy! We were able to snap pictures with each one. We were also given an adorable signature card souvenir! If you are looking to meet characters, I highly recommend booking at least one character meal during your trip as it’s a great way to meet characters without sacrificing a long time in line. Plus, you get to eat!

Tusker House Tips

  • Arrive hungry. There’s a full buffet to choose from, with something for every palate. It’s a great time to try something new to you!
  • Book an advance dining reservation. Currently, you can begin booking the Tusker House breakfast 60 days in advance. If you can’t find one, don’t give up! Keep checking back and set up monitoring alerts to notify you when a reservation opens up.
  • Interact with the characters. Don’t be afraid to engage with the characters a little bit. Maybe even have some prepared things to say, if you have a nervous one in the group.
  • Be prepared. As with almost any other character dining experience, it can be a loud or over-stimulating meal for some folks. Also, the dining room here is a little dark. So, go in knowing these things and you’ll have a good time.
  • Try the POG Juice. It’s a passionfruit, orange, guava juice mix and it’s really good. Unfortunately, on this particular visit, our drinks were watered down. However, it’s definitely worth trying.

Is it worth it?

As with anything else I’ve reviewed, I think the value of an experience is based heavily on the individual. The Tusker House Breakfast is an expensive breakfast. However, it is a nice way to see some characters while enjoying a buffet meal. If you have the means and enjoy seeing characters, it’s worth it. If you are in a hurry or on a tight budget, maybe consider grabbing a pastry at the Starbucks instead.

You can view more of my posts for reviews and tips for visiting Walt Disney World here!

Lombard’s Seafood Grille Review

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I started writing my review of Lombard’s Seafood Grille in my Universal Orlando Mardi Gras Float Ride and Dine post. However, the original post quickly became too long (around 800 words). I thought it was best to make the review of the restaurant a separate post, so here’s my review of it.

Lombard's Seafood Grille

Lombard’s Seafood Grille

Lombard’s Seafood Grille is one of the few table service restaurants in the parks at Universal Orlando Resort. It is located in the San Francisco section of the Universal Studios Florida park. As the name implies, it features lots of seafood as well as some other dishes. It has nice theming inside. You are greeted by the water fountain pictured above when you walk in, which kind of sets the tone for the whole restaurant.

Meal Review

For this review, I ate at Lombard’s Seafood Grille in early February 2023 with my mom. As it was part of the Float Ride and Dine experience, we were both able to get a drink, appetizer, entrée, and dessert! My mom got a diet drink, which made her happy. I got a glass of water and a frozen lemonade. That was really refreshing after getting a little hot in the park.

For an appetizer, my mom and I both chose calamari. I will admit that we didn’t know what that was when we chose it! Haha! Needless to say, my mom was quite surprised to discover it was squid and immediately lost interest in the dish once she learned that fact. I ate about half of mine as I found it to have a good flavor. While the texture was a little weird, I assume that’s just because it’s squid.

I chose a lobster roll for my entrée and was very pleased with it. It had pretty big chunks of lobster and tasted fresh. I loved it! My mom got the filet mignon and she seemed to enjoy hers as well. It was a 6 oz steak, so not the biggest steak, but adequate for my mom.

For dessert, I went with the key lime pie and mom got the chocolate cake. I liked the key lime pie as it was a good combination of tartness and sweetness. I was happy I chose it. My mom’s cake seemed like it had been frozen and just removed from the freezer. The frosting was still kind of frozen. So, it wasn’t a bad dessert, but I think mine was better.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a pretty good meal. Our server was awesome and everyone working here was super nice! So, if you are looking for a nicer place to sit down in the park, I recommend considering Lombard’s Seafood Grille.

Sharks Underwater Grill at SeaWorld Orlando Review

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Last month, while visiting SeaWorld Orlando for the Christmas season, my mom and I ate lunch at Sharks Underwater Grill. Today I am going to give you a review of this experience.

Sharks Underwater Grill

Sharks Underwater Grill

Sharks Underwater Grill is the only full-service restaurant at SeaWorld Orlando. The park is filled with several quick food options, but this is your only option for a sit-down meal in the park. It’s odd to me though that you can’t make dining reservations in advance. In fact, I consider this the biggest downside of eating here. The only way you can get a table here is by joining the walk-up wait list in person. That means your wait can be short, but often it’s a long one. So, if you know you want to eat here, I recommend joining the list as soon as it opens at 11 AM.

My mom and I attempted to eat here back on September trip. However, the waitlist was too long. On our December trip, we headed over right at lunchtime and were surprisingly seated within 10 minutes! So, it pays to be there right when they open.

Eat with Sharks

When you enter the restaurant, you are immediately greeted by a huge aquarium filled with various fish and sharks! I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the restaurant as there are several windows and lots to see. It’s definitely a unique experience to be able to eat a meal while a hammerhead sharks swims by! I took lots of photos of the fish and sharks, which you can see in my Instagram post below.

The Food

My mom and I chose to order off of the special holiday menu while dining here. The last three pictures of my Instagram post above are of our food. I enjoyed the three cheese lobster mac and cheese, which was $19. Granted, it’s a little pricey here, but you are getting a unique meal experience, that’s more than just good food. I really liked my dish, although it was a small portion.

My mom got the bourbon vanilla glazed smoked ham with candied yams, green beans, and candied relish for $32. She enjoyed her ham and yams! She was happy to have ham as we had just had a bunch of turkey at Thanksgiving.

Then, we split the doughnut cinnamon sugar bread pudding for dessert at $13! I loved the presentation of this dessert with the sugar work on top! I know that it is difficult to make and would never attempt it. Ha! It also was a nice sweet flavor to contradict the cherry compote. We also enjoyed the combination of cinnamon sugar and caramel! It was a tasty treat for sure!

Conclusion

Sharks Underwater Grill makes for a fun and memorable dining experience. However, you do have to get on the waitlist in person. It can also be a little pricey. I’d say it’s a must do for any shark fan or if you want a more relaxing meal without leaving the park. If you are in a rush to get to the next show or ride, then I’d say just grab some food elsewhere. It may also be best to eat elsewhere if you are on a tight budget.

Breakfast with The Grinch Universal Orlando

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Last week, I mentioned that there are two add-on experiences taking place during the holidays at Universal Orlando Resort: the Universal Holiday Tour and Breakfast with The Grinch. You can click that link to read my review of the tour as today I’m focusing on the delightful breakfast!

Breakfast with The Grinch

Breakfast with The Grinch

Everyone who comes to Universal Orlando at Christmastime wants to meet The Grinch and Whos. There is a free virtual queue you can join to meet The Grinch for free at Islands of Adventure. However, those spots go almost immediately and are really difficult to get. You may also run into some Whos wandering around Suess Landing. The only way to ensure you meet them both at the same time is by booking a breakfast with The Grinch!

The Characters

My mom and I paid $41.99 (plus tax) each to attend The Grinch & Friends Character Breakfast. We both had a great time with The Grinch and Whos. Everyone is really into character and fun to interact with. I wore a fun holiday cookie dress, which the Whos liked. The Who we took pictures with even told me that I could move to Whoville with my holiday spirit! Then, they told me that I would grow into my nose! The Grinch, however, informed me that my dress was too festive and happy! Besides, he doesn’t like sweets, such as cookies! He likes onions! Ha! Such good memories!

The Food

As for the food, we were pleasantly surprised here. It’s an all you can eat buffet, which usually means mediocre to bad food. However, that’s not the case here! I loved trying Who Hash, Green Eggs and Ham, and Green Eggs and Ham Pizza! The Grinch Punch was also tasty! I also appreciated that they had The Grinch cookie here so I didn’t have to wait in line and purchase it later in the day.

Learn From Our Mistake

The only negative thing I have to say about breakfast with The Grinch is the organization beforehand. We didn’t realize that we needed to retrieve paper tickets prior to getting in line for breakfast. So, we stood in line for several moments before having to head back to the front of the park to get physical tickets printed. Then, we headed back to the restaurant to stand in a long line outside. This line wrapped around the building and blocked the path to the Grinch show. It seems like this could be handled better. Perhaps, nix the paper tickets and have somewhere for people to sit while they wait? Once we entered the breakfast though, everything was well worth it. If I ever go back during Christmas at Universal Orlando, I will definitely book this breakfast again!

Book The Grinch Breakfast Early

It appears that breakfast with The Grinch is filled up for the year. So, I highly recommend booking it early next year if you want to experience this amazing breakfast! It’s definitely worth the money.