Me and my DS (3) are heading to Disneyland for his first visit at the beginning of May. We are staying at Paradise Pier. On the day we are leaving our flight out of LAX doesn’t leave until 2:15pm so I am wanting to do a character breakfast. This is a 2 part question -
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I would like to be at the airport by about 12:30, what time should I leave the hotel? I am not familiar at all with LA traffic, but I’m hoping mid-day on a Wednesday it won’t be terrible.
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Should I go with PCH Grill or Storytellers?? I have eaten at PCH and wasn’t terribly impressed, but the classic group of characters is always fun. We have never been to Storytellers Breakfast (I have been for dinner) and besides Mickey I don’t really know who is there.
Which would you choose? DS loves the characters and it would be nice if we could meet some that are not at WDW as we go there pretty often. The other character dining we have scheduled is Plaza Inn. Any advice would be appreciated!!
Thanks!
What a fun first trip for your DS! That is such a great age to take them!
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I don’t know traffic patterns at all to LAX but midday day on weekday to the LA area is not terrible generally. We use Waze (a traffic app) to get around when we go to Southern California & it’s always helpful in getting us accurate timeframes & you can even schedule a planned drive for the future & have it alert you to when you’ll need to leave by to arrive at your desired arrival time.
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As for character meals, the only character meal in all of Disneyland Resort that will give you something different than WDW is the Plaza Inn but all of the hotel choices are great ones. The 2 you mention have had recent changes (I think they were last summer sometime) so we haven’t done either since they changed but the PCH Grill is now a Donald Character meal where you meet Donald plus usually Daisy, Pluto & Stitch (they won’t guarantee exactly Daisy, Pluto & Stitch, but that’s who is there usually, Minnie might still be there too, but not 100% sure since we haven’t done it). It’s still a beach bingo theme but now makes more sense with Donald & Daisy together instead of Mickey & Minnie & Daisy but no Donald like it was before the change. I think PCH’s breakfast buffet has always been decent and I enjoyed their Tex-Mex offerings but it’s been 3 or so years since we made it out to PCH. On the other hand Storytellers is now a Mickey & friends meal with Mickey & usually Minnie, Pluto, Chip & Dale (as opposed to Chip & Dale & some other lesser known critter characters & sometimes Pluto that it was before-hand). The theme is a camp/adventurer one so their outfits are almost safari looking, but also camp gear looking & very cute. Then as for the food at Storytellers, it’s the best of the 3 hotel buffets and my husband always enjoys it when we book here because they have a really good quality breakfast buffet plus we get some character photos of the kids. We do also love Goofy’s Kitchen & tend to do that one the most because they have the napkin-waving-zip-a-dee-doo-dah parade similar to Chef Mickey’s at WDW but with Goofy leading instead of Mickey. Goofy’s breakfast buffet is also great quality (even though Storyteller’s is better) but what seals Goofy’s as our favorite is that it offers a specialty PB&J pizza item that we all love (plus the napkin-waving, my kids really love that part). I do believe that the PCH Grill & Storytellers also do some sort of character parade but since we haven’t done them since the changes, I’m not certain. Anywho, all this to say, book the one that sounds most appealing in food & characters but they won’t be terribly different than what you can get going often to WDW with its plethora of character buffets.
Wow thank you so much for all that information!! I truly appreciate it! I think I may go with Storytellers. I think I like the theme more and it will be fun to see the characters in those outfits!!
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We really enjoyed STC this past summer and would be my recommendation.
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