Surf’s Up Breakfast With Mickey and Friends

Went for breakfast. The characters and atmosphere were fun, but the buffet was overpriced. We would go back if with kids who haven’t been there yet… Too pricey for our 4 and 6 year olds who eat like birds.

The buffet food was decent. We especially enjoyed the little Mickey waffles and the fruit. I liked that they had fruit smoothies available, but the cantaloupe one I had was not very tasty. The eggs were really watery. It was then a full hour before any characters came to our table, which was disappointing.

I enjoyed my breakfast here and don’t understand the bad reviews.
Is it expensive? Hell ya! It’s Disney what do you expect? You get to meet premium characters and get lots of good one on one interaction with them. My niece loved it. The service was fine and the food was good. The food definitely didn’t blow me away, but I found it enjoyable. They had a large selection and a nice mixture of vegetarian, lactose free, and meat options. They also had a nice selection of savory and sweet options. They had a frozen cereal which was a cute touch. If you want an elegant meal with exquisite food, no children running around, but somehow you get to meet Disney characters, well then don’t come here but good luck finding an experience that doesn’t exist.
People complaining about the automatic 15% service charge… ya I get it they don’t do all that much but remember there are also servers manning the various stations and making you omelettes so I’m guessing the 15% goes to them as well. Were you honestly planning not to tip at all?

I think this is great for families who have children and for hard core Disney lovers such as myself haha! Let me tell you though if you do decide to come here or to any of the character dining places, its going to be expensive!!! And you are not paying for the quality of the food, you are paying for the characters and for the experience! At least it’s a buffet so it’s all you can eat. I came for breakfast so they had sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, cereals, fruit, little Mickey Mouse waffles and a section where they can make an omelette for you. Drinks are included. If you are a Disney annual pass holder, you get a tiny discount. Characters I saw that I remember were Mickey Mouse (you get a picture with him before you get seated) Pluto, Minnie Mouse, and Stitch! I believe this is the only place where you will be able to get pictures with Stitch. So come here if you want to see Stitch. Make sure to make a reservation! I called almost 3 weeks ahead of time. I think it’s a fun experience most likely won’t do it again unless it’s for an occasion or until I have my own kid because like I said it’s pretty expensive haha

Made reservations to take my 2.5 year old here. The characters spent a ton of time with you taking pictures and signing autographs and there’s a nice dance on the dance floor with them. It’s a iced price which isn’t terrible for Disneyland but the quality of food wasn’t amazing. I wish they would have had a turkey bacon or sausage. They do have an omelet station and baked goods were very good. There’s also Mickey waffles and pancakes which kids love.

Parents with children: ignore the reviews from the creepy adult only parties complaining about the presence of children or not being paid enough attention to by the characters. The characters cater to the children and If you have kids who love seeing Mickey and other characters in costume this is an amazing spot. I was really impressed by how engaged and energetic the costumed characters were and my 2 year old was in toddler heaven. The person in the Stitch costume danced and danced with the kids — it was quite the performance and beyond what I expected. The whole experience was well worth the money even though it was certainly costly. If you have kids under 3, the character breakfast is probably a better choice for them than taking them to Disneyland and it is definitely cheaper.
The staff at this restaurant on a packed Saturday morning was awesome. The staff was happy to take pictures of our group with our cell phone even though they sell photos. I was little peeved about the wait to check in and get a table even with a reservation, but once we got in the door the service was excellent. The food was upgraded a bit from your typical breakfast buffet but really it’s all about the characters.

We came here for our son’s birthday. We had so much fun. One time was good enough for us to try because of our son’s birthday. Food in California Disneyland is meh, it is hard to eat at any places in there since we experienced Disneyland in Japan. All restaurants in Japanese Disneyland were gourmet. We recommend this place because of fun to interact with Disney characters.

Holy crap the amount of children running around in this tiny restaurant is insane! For the sake of being a good parental unit, please keep an eye on your little ones. They’re cute & all BUT; Whenever a character came over to our table there was always a stray child who interrupted our little moment with the characters. It was so awkward asking random kids to step out of our photo and inform the characters that they weren’t our kids. Parents, this isn’t Chuck E Cheese so there is no need to allow your children to run a muck all over the place. This is a restaurant and a great opportunity to meet characters without having to wait in lines at the parks. Have some common courtesy & teach your nuggets to wait their turn.
Well enough ranting about bad parents and trouble children, let’s move on to the food. It was YUM! Nothing to complain about. Loved everything. As for the characters, they were adorable! Even though our turn with them was interrupted constantly by stray children, we had just as much fun watching them. Their little dancing moments were so cute! This is probably one of the best places to find Daisy and Stitch since they are hardly ever at the parks.
Next time we visit, we’ll be sure to come on a weekday instead.

Okay, I admit it. The food wasn’t great. It wasn’t even good. The price was absurd ($ 40’ish dollars for a substandard buffet) for the quality. But I don’t care. My little girl had SO much fun and I had so much fun that I’d go back again and again and again.
Upon entry, we did the picture with Mickey and she had him sign her autograph book. When we got to our table, Goofy was waiting. He played with her for awhile, did pictures/​autographs, and took interest in her light-​up shoes. Donald Duck came by to say hi. Then Minnie came over, played peek-​a-​boo with her, and took her out to the dance floor to dance with other characters and kids. Goofy returned later to dance with her at our table and play peek-​a-​boo. There were multiple dance party breaks where all the kids run to the front and dance with the characters. The character interaction here is like nothing you could get in the parks and worth every penny of the buffet cost. The picture is like $ 35. A rip off. But you’ll buy it anyway because you’ll have so much dang fun watching your kids have the time of their lives and you’ll want every memento of it. Suck it up, know it’s going to cost a lot, and then get over it and have a blast.
Note: Ours was a Surf’s Up DINNER rather than a breakfast because of some closure at the hotels when we were there. Since the food was not the selling point, I think the same analysis would apply.

VERY DISAPPOINTING. We were so excited for this breakfast because we have never been and really wanted to see Stitch. This was our 3^rd character breakfast (the other two were Storytellers Café and Plaza Inn) during the 5 days we were there. The food was decent which is why it’s getting a star. We were a group of 8 (5 adults, two 16 year olds and an 8 year old). Not a single character came to our table. We tried getting them to come over and finally asked our waiter and the person that delivered our group photo to our table to get them over. Still nothing. Every other table that had small children received photos/​interactions with all characters. My mother-​in-​law finally grabbed Stitch’s arm and dragged him over and we were able to snap a single picture, not even with our kids. Goofy finally came over as we were getting ready to leave.
We were crammed in like sardines and it was complete madness. I couldn’t even think straight.
If you are looking for a character breakfast with great food, great service and awesome interactions with several characters then go to Plaza Inn. If you are looking for more of a low key character breakfast then go to Storytellers Café. Still awesome food/​service. There aren’t as many characters but a lot of interaction in a very calm setting.

There is one thing you need to know when you go here. You are paying for the brand and characters. That’s it. I went for a family member’s birthday and we split the bill amongst 2 groups (3 adults, then 3 adults and 1 child). We were never offered any pricing for the restaurant, just the pricing online that it would be $ 15-​$ 30. I don’t understand how it could vary on a buffet, usually there is just a set price per head. All the adults pretty much got the same thing, sausage, bacon, eggs, breakfast potatoes, cereal, etc. The child got just a small plate with a similar assortment. We all had orange juice (which had too much pulp for my taste but was fresh) and three had coffee. As soon as they made up their coffee would should have left. The cream at the table was so old, when it hit the coffee it started curdling and the ‘waiter’ promptly replaced it with a fresh batch of everything.
When I got back to the table with my plate, I dug into the eggs and took a bite. Not only are they powdered eggs, but whoever made them made them way too runny and I gagged at the texture. I literally could not eat more eggs. I picked the chicken sausage, which smelled good but when I cut into it, it was still pink. By that point, I was left with just bacon and potatoes on my plate. I went back and got another thing of cereal (which btw it very small, but it’s meant for the kids, I understand). I have had a better more fulfilling breakfast from the Hampton Inn then this place. It was worse then hospital food. Yes, that bad.
The kid was having fun though, so I didn’t mind it so much. Until we got the bill. For 7 adults and one child, the total bill came out to almost $ 350. For a worse version of cafeteria food. And that’s not all food either, no. Disney automatically tacts on a gratuity of almost 20%. The last $ 50, yes $ 50, was gratuity. Which usually I have no mind paying if the server actually deserved. The only thing he did was pour coffee and orange juice. We had to collect the plates at the end. Why on earth would I pay $ 50 for getting my own food? I was even served, I served myself. We discussed it on the ride back home and will never be going back. That’s absurd pricing for what I could have gotten for free from a hotel if we had paid $ 100 to stay a night. At least then we wouldn’t have clean after ourselves at the table and would have a pool to use.

We had so much fun. Youtube blog of our magical memories

This was the last character dining experience that we had to experience at Disney and as I sit here right now I can say it’s been a really disappointing experience.
Firstly I know you pay for the experience but the experience was just terrible. Mickey wasn’t at his post when we were seated so we never got our picture with him. We’ve been here an hour and we’ve seen Stitch, Minnie and Pluto but Pluto was the only one to make it to our table.
The personality in the characters are really lacking here too.
Food was gross. Worse than any other Disney character experience I’ve ever had. Definitely not worth the money and we got a 15% discount for being annual pass holders.

Characters are great! Everything else was meh.
If your going for the food, then you should consider another option (I expected mediocre food from other reviews).
However if your kids needed to see Mickey and Minnie one last time before you leave for home, then this is a great option. The wait staff is not nice and they don’t really care about the service (probably because tip is built in). Again, I expected this based on other reviews.
I wish was that characters spent more time at each table and that they came around more often. Two adults cost about $ 80 with tip and tax, our 2yo was free.

5 stars for the experience for our sons 1^st Birthday (Food is a good 2 solid stars)
If you are an annual passholder or at least a vetern Disneylander you know by now you don’t eat at Disneyland for the quality of the food, so when we found out that each Buffett adult was $ 29.99 plus tax, plus tip automatically included I almost cancelled my Disney Dining reservation several times before the allowed time without being charged the penalty fee.
We had a 9:30am reservation on a Friday and I think this where it benefit us the most, we where not too early so it was not filled with most of the Paradise Pier hotel guest and we went on a Friday in September (⁹⁄₁₁ — My son’s birthday) so most of the vacation session was over.
It’s a very simple we are here, here’s our name, a seater calls our name out and we are escorted to a table, BUT before that you take photos with Lifeguard Mickey Mouse and of course have the option to buy the prints after (which we did, IT REALLY was a nice family photo).
Once you are seated, your waiter comes by to take your drink order (bottomless orange juice) The buffet was nice and simple, eggs, pancakes, potatoes, chicken, white rice, bacon, sausage and an omelet station. They did have some tasty fruit juices, it really wasn’t anything different you’d get from any local diner.
During the hour we where there my husband took advantage of the buffet with returns to the stations and I took advantage of the time each character spent with out son. On this particular day we where visited at our table by Minnie, Stitch, Daisy & Pluto TWICE, yes TWICE probably a third time if we had not left.
Since we purposely went to see Stitch, it was a pleasant surprise to know they do a dance a long with Stitch during the time we where (we boogie with him twice).
When we had a fill of buffet food, coffee and endless orange juice, we simply asked for the check and paid– again tip is already included.
We definitely plan on returning again

This was my first character dining experience ever at Disneyland. I had always thought it was overpriced just to have characters roaming around as you eat. Also that the price would be for some average food.
That mindset completely changes once you have kids. I brought my kid for the first time and I really cared mostly that the character dining experience was top notch and I could care less about the food. It was really about my kid.
Well, it is safe to say I’m completely satisfied. Just as you expect from Disney, the customer service and staff were all great. Always with a smile and ready to help. As soon as you walk in, you take a photo with Mickey Mouse. As you dine, they will show you the prints of the photos and ask if you want to purchase them. They are about $ 35 if I recall for a package with all the prints. As you dine the characters come around. You don’t have to come to them. They are so great at making sure they give everybody some attention. Even if they already interacted with your table and kids, once they go around again they will interact with you again.
The characters that were there on this occasion was: Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Stitch, and Daisy
This is the ONLY character dining that guarantees seeing Mickey – obviously because it’s his name on it. Just the same as if you were to go to Goofy’s Kitchen. Other than Mickey being the guaranteed, I hear the others sometimes change. If you want to see Mickey though, he is here 100%.
As for the food, surprisingly it was good. It’s a buffet and there is a good variety to pick from without being overwhelming. Although we always want more choices, when it comes down to it, I didn’t mind that there wasn’t as many as say a Vegas buffet. I was also expecting quality to match those of say a hotel continental breakfast that was average at best, but instead I was surprised that the quality was above that. They have a made to order omelette station, some scrambled eggs and an egg fritata option. They have these grilled chicken breast pieces in an au jus sauce with rice if you wanted more of a non-​breakfast entry. They have pizza – yes pizza for breakfast. There were some breakfast type pizzas. There were 4 different types of pizzas. What was great were the smoothies. So refreshing and so good. Choices of cereal and breads. They have the famous mickey pancakes, waffles, and french toasts. So good!
Now this was my first ever character dining. After reading, watching, researching, etc. I knew that Goofy’s Kitchen had a bigger selection of food, but I really wanted to make sure I saw Mickey for my kid. That was the only reason I picked PCH Grill instead of Goofy’s Kitchen. Until I go to Goofy’s Kitchen, I didn’t feel like I lost out in food because the items that were served here were great and the experience is priceless.
While at the park, the lines to see Mickey (his house, and 2 random spots in the park) were all long lines. We actually ran into Goofy in the park with no line. So it looks like I chose wisely.

I was actually surprised at how great this was. We are Disneyland pass holders and much of the food at Disneyland is overpriced and not good at all. Plus, I am not a fan of buffets. That said, most items at the buffet are fresh and refreshed frequently. The omelet bar was far better than any other omelet I’ve previously been to, where they often seem to rush through onto the next order.
The characters all take time to visit with the kids– one on one each table AND I truly think this would save you a lot of time not having to wait in line at the park.
The ambiance scores a 5 and the food a 3, giving it an average of 4 stars.

I already wrote a review for PCH Grill, but I guess I’ll write another review here.
4 stars: for characters
3 stars: for food
1 star: for service
We were at Disney for this trip to celebrate my youngest daughter’s 8^th birthday. She wanted to go to a character breakfast for her meal. I decided to make the reservation for the last day that we were there, Sunday at 8AM. I do have to say, book earlier, as it is less crowded. Less waiting for everything.
I made the reservation online, for five people, two adutls and three children. Unfortunately, their father couldn’t make the trip. When we checked in with the host, he was nice and we were seated promptly. Between the host and hostess that sat us down, neither confirmed the number of guests in our party. We were charged for five people, even though our waiter clearly saw that there were four people at our table. When I mentioned it to him, he mumbled something about how he isn’t in charge of that part and it’s separate. So basically, I paid for an additional person, even though that person wasn’t present. IF that is REALLY their policy, then they need to be more clear about it. And if it ISN’T their policy, then their wait staff should be more aware of that because in reality, all our waiter did was bring us our drinks.
Besides that pissing me off, my kids had fun, which is the most important thing. Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Pluto and Stitch were the characters at our breakfast. They came around, signed autographs and took pictures. I do agree with the other Unilocalers, the earlier that you make your reservation, the less crowded it is with people to see the characters and at the buffet.
This is not a gourmet dining experience, so don’t expect it when you’re coming here. This is time saving to see characters, if you’re not looking to spend the time doing so in the parks. We got out of breakfast about 9:15 and were able to head over to CA Adventure in time to still get fast passes for Cars.
Would I come to this character dining again? Probably not. Pay attention to your bill, make sure they charge you for the correct amount of people and they also already include gratuity… but leave a tip line, so be aware of that. Know that there’s going to be five million kids running around, it’s going to be loud and cost an arm and leg. But if you have kids that love characters and want to see their faces light up, a character meal is the way to go.

Hey its a breakfast buffet with screaming kids and Disney characters. You ever wanna get chair humped by Lilo and Stitch while you watch your family members stuff powdered French toast in their faces… this is YOUR place.
The food was Disney’s ever present mélange of blanditude. Another ~$ 40 per head meal with characters and musical mayhem.
This time it was a Monday morning after I ran the Avengers Weekend Half marathon on Sunday AND trolled the parks with my nephew because I didn’t get enough exercise running for 2 hours (at 5:30am)…
But I was sore as all eff by Monday morning and not in any mood for some tool bag kid-​touching creeper in a furry suit to fake sticking his paw in my eggs. If he’d gotten any closer he was gonna pull back a nub. Don’t make me cut you Goofy!!!
Anyway…2−3 days with this Disney BS and I’m still not drinking the Kool-​Aid. Heck the kids love it… my miserable addicted Disney family loves it… and I just wanna rip some characters arm off and beat them to death with it… but there could be worse places to be with your family, so I’ll be somewhat nice. It was breakfast… it was «beachy»…I got fed before enduring another day of Disney… and that’s that.
If you’re searching this on Unilocal… you’re prob going anyway… bring ear plugs… lots of money… and patience.
ENJOY!

In the end, there is only one equation that matters: the value you received versus what you paid.
Let’s get the second factor, price, out of the way first: it’s not cheap. 2 adults and 1 child plus tip (included in the price) was about $ 96. Yikes, right? Yes, that’s a lot of money for a buffet. Now, the food is better than your average Denny’s. There are many food options, including an omelet station, bagels and lox. beautiful chicken sausage links, and much better than I thought they would be chilaquiles. There are waffles, pancakes, cereals, etc., too. Lots of food and most of it was good. The food looks good and the stations are clean.
Not everything was great (the dwarf bagels were tasteless and the fruit was lackluster) but overall, I’d say that the buffet delivered. And I gorged myself to cover both breakfast and lunch. So there’s that.
Service was very pleasant and friendly but geez, we had a stack of dirty dishes on our table for an hour and no one ever bothered to remove them even though we routinely had our water and OJ glasses refilled, meaning, plenty of staff came by our table. Come on, now, please take those dirty dishes.
The best part of the experience, by far, was the characters coming to the table, posing for pics, hugging the kids, signing autographs and then, about every 25 minutes or so, dancing with the kids in the central area when the music volume was pumped up. Trust me, these kids were in heaven.
Minor annoyance: the bill clearly indicates that gratuity is included, and I think it was 18%. Now, I probably would have left at least 18% anyway (in spite of the leaning tower of dirty dishes) but when they ring up your credit card, they give you a slip back which gives you a blank line item for «TIP.»
Ok, Disney, I’m calling BS on this one. There are a lot of foreign-​speaking international visitors who come to Disneyland (and to the character breakfast) and also folks who just don’t read the bill all that closely. I am quite sure lots of folks add on another tip not realizing they already gave a healthy tip. You can’t tell me that Disney, with all their technology, can’t fix their computers to spit out a short note on every bill that clearly indicates that the tip has already been included but if the customer would like to leave an extra tip, they should feel free to do so. There. Done. The way it’s presented now is really bush league.
For my kid, it was a 10 star experience. I’m knocking them down slightly for the dirty dishes, the tip issue, the hostess who obviously hasn’t smiled in years, but mostly because it’s really expensive. Overall, though, I have no regrets. If you can afford it, every kid should experience this at least once.