Laughing Lindsay

Travel Reviews, Giveaways, & More!

Goofy’s Kitchen Halloween Brunch at Disneyland Review

By Leave a Comment

Last month, I was able to experience the limited time Goofy’s Kitchen Halloween Brunch character meal at Disneyland Hotel! Here’s a review of that experience to help others decide if this meal is worth the high cost.

Goofy's Kitchen Halloween Brunch

Goofy’s Kitchen Halloween Brunch

Last year, I was lucky enough to visit this character buffet meal at Disneyland Hotel on two occasions. I first visited last year for breakfast and then again in the fall last year for dinner. You can click those links to see what the restaurant is like for regular dining. One of my complaints about last year’s fall trip to Disneyland was that they announced things too late and we missed doing any seasonal special dining. Thankfully, this year my trip was later and I was able to enjoy this one.

The Characters

This is the second year that Disneyland has hosted a special Halloween overlay at this restaurant. Last year, the characters wore their costumes from the previous year (2022). This year they are wearing last year’s (2023) costumes. I don’t know if they plan to continue rotating in the previous year’s costumes or not, but I like that I could finally get a photo with the characters with their special costumes. Last year, I managed to meet only Minnie in her costume. So, I was tickled to meet Chip, Dale, Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie in last year’s costumes!

I only wish they included Donald Duck at Disneyland character meals! Nonetheless, I enjoyed meeting the characters in their special Halloween costumes! They were adorable!

The Food

Having previously enjoyed breakfast here, I was excited to sample the brunch this time. I was happy to find a selection of typical breakfast foods (like Mickey waffles) as well as some more lunch time items. I was very happy to find some butternut squash ravioli! That’s the kind of food I was hoping to have over at Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch. I was equally happy to see a selection of pumpkin and apple desserts here. I wish they had shared some of those treats with the other meal though. Also, many of the desserts had an artificial flavor to them. So, that was a tad disappointing but not overly surprising.

I have to say I was pretty impressed with the overall selection and quality of food available here. There’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Is Goofy’s Kitchen Halloween Brunch worth it?

Priced at $65/adult and $36/child, this is a pricey meal. Plus, they automatically added gratuity to my meal here. So, it’s definitely not a cheap experience. However, it was nice to get some seasonal foods and meet the characters in their Halloween costumes. I think it’s worth it if you have the budget for it and enjoy Halloween.

Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch at Disneyland Review

By Leave a Comment

I’ve just returned from another lovely solo Disneyland trip and this time I got to try the all new Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch at Storytellers Cafe at the Grand Californian Hotel! So, if you are wondering if this pricey meal is worth it or not, keep reading!

Mickey's Autumn Adventures Brunch

Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch

As I stated above, this is an all-new character meal offering at Disneyland. It’s a fall spin on the regular Storytellers Cafe character meal. Having previously done the regular Storytellers Cafe Character Breakfast last year and the Storytellers Cafe Character Brunch, I opted to do the brunch since I preferred that meal over breakfast last time. I also managed to book it on my Disney California Adventure day, since the hotel has its own entrance into the park.

The Characters

I’ll start with a look at the adorable new costumes the characters are wearing! Each one has a fall look that goes perfectly with the theme. I love how over the top with pumpkins Minnie’s outfit is! Mickey’s outfit is also amazing! It felt like the characters were ready to go to a pumpkin patch or apple orchard in their outfits. I liked that Pluto even got a new pumpkin shaped name tag on his collar. Overall, I was impressed with the costumes and it was a great way to kick off the fall season for me!

The Food

Last time I ate breakfast at this restaurant, I missed the additional options that eating brunch brings. So, I decided to return for brunch this time. Previously, when I ate brunch here, I was able to order some additional items from the kitchen in addition to visiting the buffet. This time, that wasn’t the case. Instead, the buffet was filled with both breakfast and lunch items.

Honestly, the food available was very similar to what I had last year at the regular meal. I was disappointed in the lack of seasonal items. Where’s the pumpkin or apple items? It seems like such a missed opportunity to do something special with the autumn theme and instead put out regular foods.

The food itself was fine. I know everyone says the food here is upgraded over Goofy’s Kitchen and it probably is. However, I also noticed a good bit of overlap between restaurants this time. The BBQ chicken tasted just like the BBQ chicken I had at Goofy’s Kitchen last year. Both restaurants had the beignets/donuts too. I enjoyed the fish and vegetables, but they were both available with slight variations at Goofy’s Kitchen this time too.

Overall, the food was fine. Nothing to get too excited over.

Is Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch worth it?

This is a pricey meal. It’s $65/adult and $36/child. If you are looking for some fall foods, I’d say to look elsewhere. However, if you want to see the characters in some unique fall outfits, then this is the perfect meal for you. You are paying for the fall themed outfits here and not so much the food.

Disneyland Character Dining Guide

By

Over the course of two trips last year, I was able to experience almost all of the Disneyland character dining options! So, today I’m going to provide a guide to those meals!

Disneyland Character Dining

Disneyland Character Dining

Avid Walt Disney World goers will be surprised to learn that there are only 4 character meals at Disneyland! Granted, several of those serve a couple of different meals. However, aside from different times and different food, it’s the same characters. Although that does make it easy to do a character dining guide since it’s only the four different restaurants to cover.

Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park

First up, it’s the only in-park character meal. The Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park is the Plaza Inn Character Breakfast that I reviewed last year at Disneyland park. It’s only available during breakfast hours as the restaurant becomes a quick service restaurant known for its fried chicken for lunch and dinner. The food here is basic breakfast items. However, it’s really a character-palooza! The only guaranteed character is Minnie Mouse. After that, it’s a random assortment of characters! It’s fun as you never know who you’re going to meet! I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys meeting characters. It’s where I met Max in the photo above. You can click to read my full review above.

Mickey’s Tales of Adventure Breakfast

DCA doesn’t currently have its own character dining experience. However, if you walk over to the Grand Californian Hotel, you can enjoy Mickey’s Tales of Adventure breakfast or brunch! I loved my Storytellers Cafe brunch in May of 2023. My mom and I had some fun at the character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe in September 2023. If you get to choose, I would go with brunch as the food is much better and more interesting. However, both meals provide a fun time with the characters! Unfortunately, dinner here is just the buffet without the characters. I’ve heard good things about the meal though.

Goofy’s Kitchen

You can enjoy breakfast or dinner with characters at Goofy’s Kitchen at Disneyland Hotel. The fun breakfast started my trip off on the right foot last May. Then, my mom and I enjoyed her birthday dinner here in September! I love the variety of foods found here at both meals. Plus, who doesn’t love waving a napkin in the air as characters dance by? It’s perfect for guests staying at the hotel. It might also be worth a walk over from the parks since it’s the only character meal option for dinner.

Disney Princess Breakfast Adventures

Lastly, there’s the uber fancy and expensive Disney Princess Breakfast Adventure at Napa Rose at the Grand Californian Hotel. This is the only character meal I haven’t yet experienced at Disneyland. However, it’s also the most expensive at $135/adult! Yikes! Granted, it’s a three course meal including a tower of appetizers, a main entree, and desserts. This is marketed as being more of an event than simply a meal. You get to spend more leisurely time with the princesses instead of having them rush around the restaurant to greet guests quickly. It sounds like it would make for a lovely, memorable experience.

Disneyland Character Dining

As I stated above, there’s only four restaurants offering a character meal currently. So, it’s pretty easy to summarize the options. Most of those options are for breakfast though, with only Goofy’s Kitchen available for dinner. Also, the princess breakfast sounds amazing but comes with a not so amazing price tag.

Which one should you pick? I think you should eat at the one that is wherever you are spending the day. If you are at DCA, then head over to Storytellers Cafe. If you are at Disneyland park, hit up Plaza Inn. If you are staying at Disneyland Hotel or want dinner, then Goofy’s Kitchen is the answer. So, which of these have you dined at?

Character Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe Disneyland Review

By Leave a Comment

When my mom and I visited Disneyland last year, we booked the character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. Seeing as how we are from the east coast, I booked us the earliest timeslot available and we were able to be some of the first people in the restaurant for the day!

Character Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe

Character Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe

You may recall from my Disneyland Hotel review that we stayed at the amazing Disneyland Hotel on this trip. That meant that this meal was just a quick walk over to Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. We opted to start our day by exploring the other two resorts in the morning since our park ticket for this day was for Oogie Boogie Bash. Following our adventure, we headed back to our resort and took a nap! So, it was a convenient option that gave us an excuse to explore more of the resort.

The Characters

On my May trip, I booked this restaurant for the brunch and enjoyed it very much. However, when I was there in May I missed seeing Pluto. This time, I was able to see all of the characters! In fact, Pluto came over a few times! So, it kind of made up for the last time I ate here.

My mom and I had a great time with the characters at this meal. Since we had an early reservation, we got some extra time with the characters as the rest of the restaurant was empty. I even got to dance with Chip at one point! The character interactions here are top notch!

The Food

As you may recall, I gave the food at brunch here high marks. However, I don’t think I can say the same for breakfast. I tried several things from the buffet and most things were just ok. Nothing was outright bad, but I also didn’t find a single item that wowed me. My mom was also disappointed with the food here. Suffice it to say that I much prefer the brunch menu here and will probably only book it if I come back.

Is the character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe worth it?

According to Disneyland’s website, brunch and breakfast are now the same price of $52. I don’t recall if that’s what we paid for this meal or not. However, if given the choice, I would definitely go with brunch over breakfast. Breakfast wasn’t bad and I probably would have been happy if I had not experienced brunch first. So, if breakfast is your only option for eating here, then go for it. You will leave entertained and full.

Have you ever eaten here? Do you prefer breakfast or brunch?

Goofy’s Kitchen Character Dinner Review

By Leave a Comment

Much to the surprise of any Walt Disney World frequent visitor, Disneyland has only one character dinner option. So, on my most recent trip with my mom, we had to check out Goofy’s Kitchen character dinner!

Goofy's Kitchen Character Dinner

Goofy’s Kitchen Character Dinner

On my previous trip, I dined at Goofy’s Kitchen for breakfast and enjoyed it. On this trip, we decided to try the restaurant for dinner. As with breakfast, it’s a buffet meal featuring fun pizzas! It’s currently priced at $55/adult and $32/child.

The Characters

You meet the exact same characters at dinner and breakfast here. My mom and I got a picture with Goofy prior to entering the restaurant. Then, while we were eating we also met Minnie Mouse, Chip, Dale, and Pluto! We had a great time meeting the characters and enjoyed taking photos with each of them. My mom loves Pluto, so it was a hit with her. We also enjoyed the little dance around the restaurant when everyone holds their napkin up in the air.

The Food

I will start by saying if you want to try something fancy or high class, this probably isn’t the restaurant for you. However, if you are looking for some good classics, this is a good place. I was surprised to find BBQ ribs on the buffet. They weren’t the best I’ve ever had, but they were pretty good. I also enjoyed a creme brulee cornbread. It was sweeter than traditional cornbread and a nice surprise. They also had a good turkey pot pie.

If you eat here, you have to check out the variety of pizzas available. I liked the buffalo chicken one as well as the peanut butter and jelly one. The s’mores pizza was pretty good too.

Unfortunately, the desserts weren’t that good. I took a bite out of several things, but didn’t care for much. They tasted really sweet and artificial to me. I liked the lemon bars that they also had at breakfast previously though.

My Mom’s Birthday

This trip was a few days out from my mom’s birthday. I had noted that on every reservation and this was the only place to acknowledge it. Our waiter brought out a special cupcake with a candle on it just for her. Then, they sang happy birthday to her and gave her a celebration button. My mom was over the moon with this little celebration. So, I recommend eating here if you want a little extra something for someone’s birthday!

Is Goofy’s Kitchen Character Dinner worth it?

As with all character meals, this is a pricey experience. However, it is really nice to have characters come to your table to meet you. Plus, the food wasn’t bad and they had a good amount of selections for picky eaters to enjoy. I mentioned in my breakfast review that this restaurant is located away from the parks a good pace. I think this is a good option for folks staying at the Disneyland Hotel since it’s right there. However, I don’t know that it’s a good fit for people staying off-site due to its location. It’s also hard to recommend a character meal to someone on a tight budget.

Have you ever eaten here? What was your experience like?