This morning, we had reservations for Chip and Dale’s character breakfast at Storyteller’s Cafe at the Grand Californian Hotel. The last two mornings, though, DS8 passed Surf’s Up! with Mickey and Friends character breakfast in the Paradise Pier Hotel and begged to stop. One of his favorite characters is Stitch, and I had already decided to take him there the morning that we were leaving. But he pleaded so hard this morning, so I stopped to ask if they could help me switch my reservations at the two restaurants. They did quickly, and we were all set to eat with Mickey. This is our favorite character meal at Disneyland. It is rarely crowded, and the character interaction has been consistently good each time we have gone.
Then, we crossed the road to the Grand Californian Hotel and went through the hotel guest entrance into Disney California Adventure. We chose this option for two reasons: fewer people in the bag check and to see Minnie at Condor Flats. We had never seen Minnie in her aviator outfit before, so we were happy that it worked out.
After seeing Minnie, we said hi to Lightning and Mater. We wanted to ride Soarin’, but it was down. At this point, we crossed to Disneyland looking for adventure. DD11 wanted to ride Mr. Toad, so I let her go by herself. Then, we were off to Big Thunder Mtn. Railroad. On our way, we met…
We were happy to see that the Sailing Ship Columbia was sailing, so we boarded and took a quick spin around the museum downstairs. Then, we headed upstairs to see the sights.
After our sail, we went for a healthy (cough, cough…) snack of french fries and ice cream while watching Billy Hill and the Hillbillies (really good, but not quite Shoji Tabuchi). It really made me miss the hills of Missouri…
A trip up Tarzan’s Treehouse, a meet with Jasmine and Aladdin, a spin through the backside of water on the Jungle Cruise with one of the best guides we’ve ever had, and another trip on Big Thunder Mtn. Railroad was followed by a trip to Tomorrowland. DS8 had wanted to be in the Jedi Training Academy. He went to Princess Fantasy Faire and Pixie Hollow with DD11, so she was to go to Jedi. We walked up just as they started picking padawans. DS8 held up his sign that I had made and was soon picked. He was so happy. It was at this point that I texted Charlie and told him to get on Skype, so he was able to see the entire show through Skype. When DS8 heard that afterward, he got the biggest smile on his face.
After the training, we crossed back to Disney California Adventure to see Muppet Vision 3D and ride Monsters Inc. We decided to call it a day and headed to White Water Snacks in the Grand Californian Hotel for supper. White Water Snacks is one of our favorite counter service restaurants in the whole Disneyland Resort. It has a wide variety, is reasonably priced, and is usually not very crowded.
We ended the day by getting a few treats from the Paradise Pier Hotel concierge lounge and watched the World of Color from our room. As the princess stories say, “We must sleep now for tomorrow is another magical day.”
Enjoyed this post too!! Great photos. Love how many characters you guys were able to get in. I’m happy to see you like the Paradise Pier character breakfast. My son is turning two soon, and I was thinking of taking him to one for his birthday. He is all about meeting the characters right now, and meeting a surfing Stitch sounds pretty cool to me!! 🙂
This character meal is really the best we have had at Disneyland. The food is nothing to write home about, but we both know that the food is NOT why you go to a character meal. This one just doesn’t seem to be as rushed as Goofy’s. Next post will mention our “less than magical” Goofy experience. I’d say that Surf’s Up! is probably the best “first” character meal for a young one like yours. Hope you enjoy!