Serving Up the Breakfast Question: Which Disneyland Resort Hotel?
by Megan Walker, contributing writer
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The best start to any day at the parks is a good breakfast, and the Disneyland Resort has plenty of restaurants for that. The three hotels of the Disneyland Resort are also great places for breakfast, whether you’re looking for a quick stop, or a full, complete, sit-down meal. The best part is, you don't have to be a guest at the hotel to enjoy one of these magical meals.
The Disneyland Hotel
The original Disneyland Hotel has quite a few different options for breakfast. If you’re just looking for a quick grab-and-go breakfast, The Coffee House is a perfect place to stop before heading into the parks. A full coffee and tea bar, serving the parks-standard Joffrey’s Coffee, The Coffee House also has an assortment of fruit, pastry, and cereal options. This obviously isn’t the place if you’re looking to sit down for a nice meal, but if you’re rushing into the park (especially if you are planning to take the Monorail and not venture through Downtown DIsney, this is a perfect place to quickly grab some breakfast.
Across from the pool, attached to Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar, is the Tangaroa Terrace, an often-overlooked restaurant that offers great food all day long, but especially in the morning. This is actually one of my favorite places for breakfast, with a menu of unique items that can’t be found elsewhere in the Resort, such as the delicious Loco Moco, and French Toast topped with Banana Caramel Sauce. Tangaroa Terrace is a tasty breakfast option that falls in between a casual quick service restaurant and a sit-down meal.
Goofy’s Kitchen Exterior. Photo by Megan Walker.
A fan-favorite, and one of my personal favorites is Goofy’s Kitchen, the character dining location for the Disneyland Hotel. Goofy’s Kitchen is the typical character dining buffet offering, with various types of breakfast dishes, lunch items (macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza, etc.), a carving station, cereal, fresh fruit and salads, and a dessert bar. Goofy leads the crew of characters located here, with appearances by Minnie Mouse, Pluto, and Chip 'n' Dale, as well. Goofy’s Kitchen is a little expensive, as all of the character dining buffets are, but it is a lot of fun and I’ve never had anything bad here; all of the dishes have been very tasty; plus, you never know who may stop by your table to join you!
Chef Goofy at Goofy’s Kitchen. Photo by Megan Walker.
Finally, Steakhouse 55 offers a wonderful, sit-down breakfast with a wide variety of delicious entrees and a quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of the other restaurants around the resort. Steakhouse 55 recently rolled out a brand new breakfast menu that includes items such as a classic American breakfast, Pork Belly Chilaquiles, and Chicken and Waffles, among many others. The bar at Steakhouse 55 is also open and ready to serve in the morning if you’re in the mood for a Bloody Mary or a Mimosa with your breakfast; the service here is fantastic, as well and absolutely cannot be beat.
Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa
The Grand Californian Hotel offers a unique option that stands out at the three hotels with White Water Snacks, a fantastic and handy little shop/restaurant located near the pool area of the hotel. Stocked with grocery type items of all varieties, as well as offering a menu of prepared food. White Water Snacks is incredibly handy and it doesn’t fail when it comes to breakfast either. Whether you’re looking for a quick grab-and-go option of cereal, oatmeal, or fruit, or something more hearty like a breakfast burrito, French Toast sticks, or Mickey waffles, White Water Snacks is a great place to stop on your way into the park or to take something back to your room.
The character dining option at the Grand Californian is the recently reimagined, Chip ‘n Dale Critter Breakfast buffet located at the Storyteller’s Café. Storyteller’s consistently has a pretty good menu throughout the day, especially for breakfast. The buffet, which touts a menu of omelets, Caramel French Toast, eggs benedict, fruit and pastries, and Mickey waffles, is a nice escape from the typical character-dining ambience. Storyteller’s Café is pretty big and tends to be a little quieter than its counterparts at the other hotels. Storyteller’s is also a very beautiful restaurant, and offers a fun environment for a nice meal with the family.
Storyteller’s Café. Photo by Megan Walker.
Finally, the last breakfast option at Disney's Grand Californian, though admittedly not much of an option for younger visitors, is the Coffee Bar at the Hearthstone Lounge. This is a pretty small breakfast stop, offering just an assortment of coffee, tea, and pastries, but it’s better than nothing. Much like The Coffee House at the Disneyland Hotel, this makes for a nice pre-park stop, especially if you’re a guest of the hotel.
Paradise Pier Hotel
Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel also offers a quick coffee and pastry shop with the Surfside Lounge. Located right in the lobby of the hotel, conveniently on your way out to the parks, Surfside Lounge also offers a few hot breakfast item,s like a breakfast burrito, a croissant sandwich, and a wood-fired flatbread.
Lastly, Surf’s Up! Breakfast with Mickey and Friends, located at the PCH Grill, is the character dining location for the Paradise Pier Hotel. I recently ate here for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. The breakfast buffet includes some of the same items as the other buffets, but it also has unique offerings such as a parfait bar, chilaquiles, peanut butter and banana with chocolate-stuffed French Toast, and breakfast flatbreads. The theming here is also a lot of fun, with Mickey and the gang in their beach attire, which makes for some fun photo opportunities. Unless you’re a guest at the Paradise Pier, its restaurants tend to get overlooked as the hotel is kind of out of the way, but if you’re looking for something fresh and new to try for breakfast on your next trip, it’s worth the extra steps.
Surf’s Up! Breakfast with Mickey & Friends. Photo by Megan Walker.
Whether you’re a guest at one of the hotels or just passing through on your way to the parks, the three hotels of the Disneyland Resort all have great breakfast options in for a variety of tastes and budgets, depending on what you’re looking for. If you’re searching for a quick stop, or a place to sit down and enjoy a nice meal with your family, you can be sure to find what you’re looking for at these three resort properties.
What's your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
If we're parkstorming, we usually do a quick breakfast in the room. If we're at the DLH, I get coffee and a bagel at the Coffee House and bring it back for my boyfriend and me (I'm usually the first one ready to zoom in the AM). If we're at the GCH, I do the same from White Water Snacks. On our departure day, depending on when our flight is, we usually do a table service breakfast. We have done Tangaroa Terrace and have enjoyed it and we're anxious to try the breakfast at Steakhouse 55 (our all time favorite DLR restaurant). We avoid character meals like the plague.
I've had a chance to do all three character breakfasts. Honestly, we're more pre-package breakfast eaters, so we're not big on HUGE breakfasts. And that's probably why we've done Goofy's Kitchen the twice, as we can do meals other than breakfast there. However, our favorite of the three has definitely been Mickey's Surfs Up Breakfast. With Mickey there, it makes that character meal the best. Storyteller's was definitely the most disappointing - it didn't seem very festive at all, and we didn't have real good luck with the characters.
I haven't been there since they've changed the menu, but I really like Steakhouse 55 for breakfast. Nice atmosphere, but they have the lights turned up in the daytime, so it's not quite as intimidating as it can be with the dinner lighting.
Great Article....Early Morning entries are key to your visit if you only get to go once in a while but if you are there for three or four days....sleeping in one morning and having a leisurely breakfast is amazing as well. Great guide to all of the breakfasts and NOW I'm hungry for breakfast there....I have also heard that CHIP AND DALE lead the critter breakfast now at Story Tellers so I'm sure it will rise in popularity over the next year. Keep an eye on that...I have gone to the parks with kids and a character meal is a must do! Adults sit and relax and drink coffee/cocktails/beverage of choice while kids meet characters.....saved many a trip. Thanks again!
I saw someone note that all the prices have shot up.
I don't get this move. Chip and Dale area already there, at Goofy's and at Minnie's in the park. Maybe they should throw in Donald or another character. Seems like more of the same.
I'm confused - Chip and Dale have been the theme of the Storytellers' breakfast for as long as I can remember, so it's not new. We always liked getting a new button from the location with the two of them on it every year. They have also had Koda and Kenai from "Brother Bear" there as well, though it's been 2 or 3 years since we last had breakfast there.
They have always been there. We did it when our now 15 yr old was about 3 yrs old I want to say. We were disappointed in it. It only had one of them there and I want to say Pluto. There was no other characters at all the whole time we were there. While we have done Goofy's for dinner before around that same time frame and they had a bunch. Then we did the Princess one that was in the park and had a bunch. We did Surf's Up a couple years ago when we did a staycation at Paradise Pier. We had a late reservation though and there wasn't many in there at the time. I didn't feel the server was to happy with being there. Pluto never came around to us and we had seen him on the other side of the room. Yet I have to say it didn't even matter because Stitch and Daisy alone were the best ever! They were a blast to be around and super entertaining. They came around a few times by us. If I was to do one again for breakfast I would probably do that one again though still. The food to me has always been similar in all the locations so I never found that to be an issue with breakfast.