Mickey’s Autumn Adventures is Disney’s latest character eating expertise, providing a fall harvest theme and operating for the Halloween season and past, ending simply earlier than Thanksgiving. For this new breakfast and brunch, Minnie and Mickey Mouse, Chip & Dale, and Pluto sport pumpkin-infused or plaid appears. This eating evaluate shares meals photographs, and ideas on the delicacies & character interactions.
Let’s start with fundamentals. Mickey’s Autumn Adventures is a personality breakfast or brunch at Storytellers Cafe, a restaurant in Disney’s Grand Californian Lodge. Disneyland invitations friends to start out their day with Mickey Mouse and a few of his closest friends at this cozy Craftsman-style eating room, which serves as a heat and pleasant backdrop to your buffet breakfast journey.
At Mickey’s Autumn Adventures breakfast or brunch, you’ll be able to select from favorites similar to croissants, muffins, danishes, seasonal sliced fruits, recent berries, Mickey Waffles, Bananas Foster French Toast, pork carnitas chilaquiles, hand-carved meats, custom-made omelets and way more. You can even ask your server for delights like metal reduce oatmeal and yogurt parfaits.
Let’s begin with the nice. The arrival and check-in course of was easy and shockingly quick. That is notable, as our previous experiences with Storytellers Cafe have nearly at all times been chaotic and crowded. This character meal is notorious for being booked to capability, and having friends ready within the walkway to be referred to as for his or her reservation. We all know this not simply from firsthand expertise, however as a result of Storytellers is in a pathway on the Grand Californian that we use incessantly to enter and exit Disney California Journey, and there are at all times lots of people ready, inflicting congestion.
Not so this time. We checked in through the Disneyland app as we walked into the Grand Californian, and as we approached the restaurant (~3 minutes later), acquired a notification that our desk was prepared. Solely a handful of individuals had been sitting within the ready space–nobody was exterior–and we had been seated instantly.
We had been additionally happy to see that Storytellers was not crammed to capability. Tables are nonetheless pretty tightly packed, which may make navigating round friends and characters tough. It might additionally make photographs with clear backdrops a problem, however I’ve realized my lesson from previous meals right here and opted for a lens with shallow depth of discipline.
It had been some time since our final meal at Storytellers Cafe (dinner or breakfast–each of which I forgot to evaluate), so we had been wanting to return for Mickey’s Autumn Adventures character eating expertise. Particularly Sarah, who had been anxiously awaiting the opening of ADRs and even bought an outfit for Megatron that matched Minnie Mouse–proper all the way down to the cute pumpkin beret!
I’m an enormous fan of the themed design at Storytellers Cafe, which is criminally under-appreciated. It accommodates nods to literary legends and California tales and folklore from the Golden State, all with a heavy craftsman affect. It’s detailed, attractive, and eccentric…and I worry it’s solely a matter of time earlier than it will get modernized as a result of somebody finds it too dated. It’s not–it’s improbable. Areas like this are what make the Grand Californian particular, and in a completely totally different league than the opposite two accommodations at Disneyland.
Turning to meals on the buffet, I’m simply going to start out by sharing photographs of the unfold:
The buffet was chaotic all through our meal at Mickey’s Autumn Adventures, so I missed a few main issues.
First, there’s an omelet station the place cooks put together made-to-order omelets with the next substances: Complete Eggs or Egg Whites, and Bacon Bits, Breakfast Sausage, Unattainable Meat, Spinach, Kale, Mushrooms, Roasted Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Onions, Cheddar Cheese, Asiago Cheese.
Above is the vegetable-centric omelet that Sarah ordered. She was even capable of request mild oil and the chef was comfortable to oblige.
This omelet was glorious, per Sarah. Not as glorious because it might’ve been with a heavy serving to of meats and cheese, however she disagrees.
Talking of meats, there’s additionally a carving station that I couldn’t handle to {photograph} because it’s the preferred cease on the buffet.
The choices right here rotate; once we did Mickey’s Autumn Adventures breakfast/brunch, Prime Sirloin and Roasted Turkey. The Mickey waffle will not be a part of the carving scene, though that will be fairly superior if the chef carved Mickey Mouse out of regular waffles–sorta like mop artwork, however with meals. I’ll you’ll want to submit this nice suggestion.
Each the Prime Sirloin and Roasted Turkey had been improbable.
The sirloin, specifically, was superb. Completely ready, tender, flavorful–simply all the pieces you may need. The creamy horseradish wasn’t vital for taste, however it did elevate the already-excellent meat to the subsequent stage. The turkey was likewise tasty–tender and never dry. Ok that I received it repeatedly.
The opposite chef particular of the day was salmon. Not the smoked salmon above (which was served with capers cream–superb stuff), however the one subsequent to it. This was additionally improbable.
I’m unsure what precise distinction exists between breakfast and brunch, however possibly it was this salmon? It didn’t seem till the midway level in our meal, by which level I had already had a couple of dozen (no joke) cuts of prime sirloin. Most likely would’ve been higher to steadiness between beef and salmon.
Right here’s certainly one of Sarah’s plates. She took a really totally different method than me, which is why I used to be pressured to eat meats for 2. I had no different selection.
We subscribe to the Joey’s Philosophy on Buffets: “right here’s the place I win all my a refund!” Simply our most quoted line from Pals. Extra precisely, I subscribe to the philosophy…Sarah likes the road. As costly as fruit has gotten, it’s not sufficient for us to win something again with the above sort of plate.
By way of different gadgets we favored on the buffet, the French Toast and Bread Pudding had been each improbable within the dessert unfold, as had been the beignets. They had been additionally loaded with sugar, and ended up being my knock-out punch. (I’m certain the pound of beef earlier than that didn’t assist, however I used to be feeling good till dessert. Like a prizefighting aggressive eater in his prime.)
We additionally each love the chilaquiles, which had simply the best kick, and had been recent, flavorful, and addictively scrumptious. They don’t {photograph} properly, however they’re improbable. Apart from what you see above, I didn’t strive the rest–simply actually the identical plates of scrumptious meats over and over. Sorry, however I’m not attempting rooster tenders or fries or no matter low cost meals are on a buffet to easily affirm what I already know.
One delicate disappointment was that the flatbreads regarded unambitious and underwhelming. I kinda hoped for one thing seasonal and a bit extra envelope-pushing, however these had been very fundamental. Talking of seasonal, there wasn’t actually something that mentioned autumn or fall harvest. Just a few pumpkin dishes (and even cream sauce for the french toast or bread pudding) would’ve been a pleasant contact.
Now let’s flip to characters, beginning with photographs:
The costumes most likely converse for themselves, however I need to underscore simply how improbable they’re. Except for Pluto, who at all times appears to get shafted with a brand new collar or scarf, they’re improbable. Nice layer, particulars, and simply typically cute.
Minnie Mouse, specifically, is the star of the present. Her outfit has a powerful pumpkin motif, from the beret to the buttons. Large kudos to the Disneyland costuming workforce as a result of, as soon as once more, they’ve crushed it. This shouldn’t be any shock, as they’ve finished improbable work with the brand new Halloween and Christmas character costumes over the previous few years–however it’s price giving reward the place it’s due. (Partially within the hopes that maybe finally, Walt Disney World will comply with swimsuit.) I can’t wait to see what they provide you with for Christmas!
It’s barely amusing to me that Chip and Dale are dressed for an precise autumn journey–possibly they’re going mountain climbing in Yosemite? Whereas the mice seem dressed to move for an “journey” in Haight-Ashbury at a swanky espresso store. I nonetheless love all of them, it’s simply humorous what journey outfits imply to totally different characters.
Interactions with the characters had been fairly good. Most of them took time with Megatron and did one thing to catch her consideration and curiosity. Mickey gave her excessive fives and put his always-enticing nostril inside attain (purposefully, I would add). Pluto teased his whiskers in her attain and was comfortable to supply snuggles; he was additionally oddly okay along with her want to discover the within of his mouth along with her head. Chip and Dale had been good, and one of many two–plus Pluto–really paid us a number of visits. No complaints about these interactions–they had been all meaty and memorable.
With that mentioned, not one of the characters actually went above and past, for us or the tables in our normal neighborhood. I really wouldn’t anticipate this with our household–we’ve got a small child and it’s tough to deviate from the tried and true interactions. All she needed was to seize noses and whiskers, anyway, so mission completed. (If something, I’d say we received one of the best interactions of the tables round us.) However I nonetheless get pleasure from watching the characters with different friends, significantly these with small youngsters, and seeing the performers do enjoyable and goofy (decrease case “g”) issues. There wasn’t a lot of that. In some circumstances, the characters appeared hurried.
And I do know this as a result of I used to be watching diligently, because it took the ultimate two characters without end to get to us. Our first two interactions occurred nearly instantly upon being seated, which is how we like character meals. The opposite characters had been all close by, and it regarded like they’d arrive shortly thereafter. However then they simply vanished. One did seem out of nowhere not lengthy after, however it was practically an hour between the third and fourth characters coming to our desk.
I’m unsure if we had been by accident skipped or what, however no huge deal, that occurs. It’s occurred loads of instances at Walt Disney World, and normally what occurs is a personality attendant or supervisor comes by at a sure level and asks who we’ve got or haven’t seen. Then, these characters materialize pretty rapidly. I by no means noticed a supervisor and attendants solely appeared whereas racing round to provide 5-minute warnings to the characters.
I don’t really feel prefer it’s honest to penalize Mickey’s Autumn Adventures for this as a result of, once more, this sort of factor does occur. And for each expertise like ours, there’s most likely a dozen-plus totally different events who noticed all the characters inside the span of half-hour. That’s nice for them!
However that is our evaluate and I can solely converse to our expertise. That was a 2-hour lengthy marathon meal, which is loads of time to be in a restaurant with a stressed toddler. I don’t know what you recognize about infants, however they’re not typically identified for the endurance and tolerance for sitting nonetheless for prolonged durations. Fortunately, her favourite pastime is “cup” and he or she loves watching characters and folks…however we however would’ve most popular the meal final round an hour–possibly a bit extra.
Our larger criticism is the price. After we first booked Mickey’s Autumn Adventures, the worth was $55 per grownup (ages 10 and older) and $33 per baby (ages 3 to 9). That elevated quickly after to $65 per grownup and $36 per baby.
Even when we paid the ‘earlier than’ worth, it will’ve been the costliest character breakfast we’ve ever finished (albeit by a greenback as in comparison with the flamboyant Walt Disney World ones). However that whopping $10 worth enhance made it the costliest by $11 per individual. We knew the worth had gone up, so it’s not like this caught us without warning–we nonetheless voluntarily selected to do the meal.
Regardless, readers of our critiques will know that I routinely complain about the price of Disney breakfast (such a bit is a staple of our character breakfast critiques), and that’s for meals which can be at the very least $11 cheaper per individual. Out the door, we ended up paying over $140 for this meal after AP low cost, tax and gratuity.
Now you recognize why I felt compelled to eat a pound of prime sirloin to win our a refund (mission not completed). Actually, I might’ve finished it regardless because it was scrumptious, however I felt “strain” to in some way justify the exorbitant price of this breakfast/bunch to myself. As a lot as we love Storytellers, we might’ve finished a baby-less date evening at Napa Rose and simply met the characters on Most important Road for Megatron’s sake.
I assume I shouldn’t be tremendous shocked by the $65 price ticket. As famous, Storytellers Cafe normally has an enormous crowd exterior within the morning and is usually cramped and chaotic on the within. Clearly this breakfast is in excessive demand. It’s additionally situated in Disneyland’s flagship Grand Californian Lodge, which is a dear resort that possible has a gradual stream of well-heeled vacationers who gained’t bat an eye fixed at paying $65 a pop. Disneyland expenses what the market bears, and it seems to bear a $65 breakfast.
With that mentioned, I additionally suppose it’s necessary for Disney to ship an expertise that’s commensurate with price with a purpose to meet or exceed the expectations of first-timers who are available in chilly with sure expectations of a $65 breakfast. With its cramped quarters and chaotic setting, Storytellers merely will not be a setting that’s becoming for a $65 meal. The unfold can also be (at the very least) a few larger high quality dishes away from justifying it.
In the end, Mickey’s Autumn Journey Breakfast and Brunch continues to be one of many higher character eating experiences wherever. Within the curiosity of steadiness, the meat carving station, made-to-order omelets, salmon, and a handful of different high-quality dishes do exhibit consideration to element–and that this meal is extra like an early lunch (or only a common lunch…our 10:30 am ADR lasted till 12:30 pm!) with gadgets you’d usually discover on a dinner buffet slightly than breakfast.
Maybe essentially the most pertinent portion of this evaluate–or at the very least our conclusion–is that we’re retaining our ADR for Goofy’s Kitchen Celebrates Halloween, which additionally simply elevated in worth to $65 per grownup. Partially as a result of that’s for Megatron’s first birthday (how has it been a 12 months?!) but in addition as a result of we did get pleasure from our expertise at Mickey’s Autumn Journey on steadiness. It wasn’t excellent, however it was enjoyable–and as we’ve already realized, time is fleeting and there’s solely so lengthy to seize these moments and reminiscences.
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Ideas for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Study on-site and off-site accommodations in our Anaheim Lodge Critiques & Rankings. For the place to eat, take a look at our Disneyland Restaurant Critiques. For distinctive concepts of issues that’ll enhance your journey, take a look at What to Pack for Disney. For complete recommendation, seek the advice of our Disneyland Trip Planning Information. Lastly, for guides past Disney, take a look at our Southern California Itineraries for day journeys to Los Angeles, Laguna Seaside, and plenty of different SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever finished Mickey’s Tales of Journey Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe? What concerning the particular ‘Autumn Adventures’ breakfast and brunch for Halloween/Thanksgiving? What did you consider the meal? Any standout meals from the buffet unfold? What concerning the character interactions? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluate of the restaurant? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!