This morning, we showed you a first look at the newly returned Character Dining at Storytellers Cafe in Disneyland!

Now we’re back to give you a full review of the breakfast and our experience! What are you waiting for? Let’s get going!

Storytellers Cafe has been open in Disneyland for a few months, but they just added the Character Dining back in this week! And there was another surprise waiting for us — the restaurant was buffet-style again! WHUT! Seriously, this is the first buffet we’ve seen in a sit down location since the parks reopened! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First let’s take a look at the atmosphere and check-in experience!

Atmosphere

Storytellers Cafe is located in the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland! It’s themed to remind guests of classic story telling and will probably give Disney World fans some Wilderness Lodge vibes with rustic decor and lots of natural materials around.

We popped in for Mickey’s Tales of Adventure Breakfast on its opening day! You’ll need to check in on the Disneyland App when you arrive, and then you’ll receive a text letting you know when your table is ready! At that point, we went up to the check in desk and a host showed us to our table.

There were options for tables and chairs or booths around, so you could request either and they’ll accommodate your request if there’s room!

The details on the chairs were beautiful, with tree silhouettes carved into the wood. And we always love seeing the touches of storytelling around, like with the letters and pictures in the carpet! We weren’t looking at the floor for long, though, because pretty soon the characters came in!

Mickey led the way in the character parade, with Minnie, Dale, and Pluto following! The characters were distanced, as we’ve seen in other reopened character dining spots, so you could wave “hello,” take distanced selfies, and join in their dance parties from your table. But characters won’t come over to individual tables to hug guests or sign autographs for now.

The characters parade around for about five minutes and then spread out and walk around individually. The parade happens about every fifteen minutes, so you’ll be able to see them a few times during your meal!

We loved seeing Mickey and the gang back again at Storytellers Cafe! They brought with them another, unexpected return — the buffet!

Color us surprised to see a real, working buffet in the wild again!

Eats

Although breakfast and dinner have been served as a three-course meal here since it reopened a few months ago, today the buffet was back! We peeked at the menu first to see what was available! Our menu here — like at a lot of other restaurants — was a QR code at the table.

On the menu there were cold selections like fruit and bagels…

…hot selections like breakfast meats and Mickey Waffles…

…served selections (meaning not in the buffet), including a yogurt parfait and steel cut oatmeal. If you want these you need to simply ask your server and they’ll happily bring you anything you’d like…

…and drinks, both alcoholic and not!

The breakfast buffet costs $49 for adults and $29 for children and includes all the selections plus coffee, juice, and soft drinks. Other drinks (including all the alcoholic drinks) will cost you extra! Nothing really stood out to us in the meal, it was good basic breakfast food but really you’ll be paying for those character visits! Let’s break it down!

We started off with some coffee and a selection of pastries from the buffet!

The pastries are all mini, and we grabbed a mini muffin, croissant, and cinnamon roll! The pastries were good, especially served warm.

We went back up to the buffet to check out the rest of the options! There was a selection of fresh fruit, including berries and watermelon…

…breakfast sausage and bacon…

…and smoked salmon-topped bagels!

We grabbed a little of everything to give it a try! The Smoked Salmon Bagel had Roasted Tomato, Red Onion, Capers, and a creamy Spread that tasted like cream cheese on top!

We thought the bacon and sausage were good, but nothing very different. The bacon was nice and crispy, which is how we like it! The fruit was all fresh and very flavorful.

Of course we returned to the buffet one more time (who only goes up once to a buffet??)! We took a look at the Breakfast Potatoes with Crumbled Impossible Meat…

…the Eggs and Egg White Frittata…

…and the star of any breakfast show, the Mickey Waffles!

Did we get one of everything again? Yes. Yes we did. The Breakfast Potatoes with Crumbled Impossible Meat had Bell Peppers, Onions, Roasted Tomatoes, and Parsley Leaves mixed in. We also found an Eggs Benedict with a creamy, spiced Hollandaise Sauce, which was probably our favorite item on the menu!

But of course we loved the golden, malty Mickey Waffles as well! With round two in our belly, we headed back up to the buffet (what can we say, we missed the experience!). This go round, we spotted something very odd — juice and milk in…bags?

There’s Agua Frescas in bags and Breakfast Milk in bags as well!

The Agua Frescas had watermelon, pineapple, or cantaloupe flavors…

…and the milk had a cinnamon flavor!

We were a bit befuddled by the bags, but the drinks tasted good! We especially loved the watermelon Agua Fresca! Turned out the “in bag” presentation is a nod to how agua frescas and milks like this are often traditionally served by street vendors. In Mexico, throughout South America, and in many Asian countries, street drinks are sold in — you guessed it — plastic bags with a straw! This was a fun way to sip our drinks!

Learn MORE About Why These Drinks Were Served in Bags at Storytellers Cafe!

That about wraps up what we had to eat at Storytellers Cafe!

Nosh or Not

Hop over to see Mickey and friends at Storytellers Cafe if:

• You want to have a Character Meal in Disneyland.
• You want to visit a REAL LIFE BUFFET again!
• You’re itching to check out milk and juice in a bag!

Maybe give this one a pass if:

• You don’t want to pay $50 for breakfast. You can find reasonably priced breakfast all over Downtown Disney or in the parks and hotels.
• You’d rather wait for characters to be a little more interactive (which may come back at some point, though Disney hasn’t said anything about it yet)
• You’re looking for a unique meal that has interesting eats (this was pretty basic breakfast food!)

Overall

Overall, the breakfast was tasty and filling, but there wasn’t anything super special about the food.  Besides the Mickey Waffles and Eggs Benedict (our personal favorites here), everything was pretty much average! The high cost for breakfast is really because of the characters walking around so you’ll need to weigh just how important seeing Mickey and Co. walk by is to your meal. You’ll get to see them every 15 minutes or so, but they don’t stick around for very long and you can’t ask for hugs and autographs. If you’re dying to see Mickey during a meal, though, this is a good place to do it! Otherwise, save some cash and wave to em in the parks!

The BIG thing here though: that buffet. It’s open and operating like a normal pre-closure buffet! Walk up, grab the serving spoon or tongs and help yo’self! It felt a little bizarre taking our own food from a buffet again. Plus, it’s hard to not ignore those colorful BAGS of juice and milk. How unique and cool (But if we had kids with us, this seems like a recipe for disaster and LOTS of spills!). Having the ability to breeze up to the buffet again and help ourselves is a small thing we forgot we missed until we could do it again. Disney’s preferred family-style all-you-can-eat meals are becoming the norm in most spots, but limits guests to what is served and can feel wasteful if you don’t want every single thing served to you. That said, the buffet here is very limited. The selection is about what you’d get at a family-style meal only you serve yourself. 

All in all, this was an enjoyable breakfast but definitely not one we’d be lining up to return to right away. It’s pricey for what it is and just OK, food-wise. It’ll be perfect for families looking to start their day with a character meal, but otherwise we’d recommend grabbing some b-fast on the go. Even better — hold off until Plaza Inn reopens in Disneyland on August 12th. The breakfast there typically featured a WIDE and varied selection of characters we hope to see return. But, for now, Storytellers will satisfy your Disneyland character breakfast itch.

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Are you planning to head in to Storytellers Cafe in Disneyland? Let us know in the comments!

The post REVIEW: We Ate Breakfast at a REAL BUFFET Again in Disneyland! first appeared on the disney food blog.