The new “Donald’s Tales of Adventure” dinner buffet has debuted at Storytellers Cafe in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.

Storytellers Cafe Dinner

Storytellers Cafe is open for breakfast, brunch, and dinner. Donald’s Tales of Adventure is offered during dinner, while Mickey’s Tales of Adventure is during breakfast and brunch. Dinner is from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. It’s $62 per adult (ages 10+) and $36 per child (ages 3 – 9).

This is the first time characters are appearing during dinner at Storytellers Cafe.

A Donald’s Tales of Adventure chocolate sculpture is in the lobby of Disney’s Grand Californian.

Button

Guests attending Donald’s Tales of Adventure dinner buffet get a special button depicting Donald in his new costume amid the wilderness.

Characters

Speaking of Donald’s new costume, it includes a utility vest, a green jacket, and a red bandanna around his neck. He keeps his head protected with a blue beanie.

All his camping supplies are in a brown backpack. It has patches, one shaped like a mug depicting a camping scene, one for an Astronomy Club, and one with the word “Explore!” on a flag.

Daisy has donned a long brown vest over a colorful, floral-patterned dress. She has a blue bandanna around her neck. She finishes the look with a green cowboy hat, brown bag, and brown boots.

Goofy’s traded his tall hat for a green fisher’s hat and wears matching pants. He has a blue vest over his orange shirt. A patch on the pants matches the woodsy theming of Storytellers Cafe.

As usual, Pluto doesn’t have a full costume, but a new collar and tag. The collar is a blue patterned bandanna with red trim.

His tag resembles the stained glass decorations of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, with the hotel itself depicted behind Pluto’s name.

Lastly, Clarabelle Cow wears a red floral bow with a blue jacket and pencil skirt. Her bronze cowbell swings from her neck on a blue scarf.

Drinks

Storytellers Cafe has four new cocktails and some new beer options. We got the Mezcal Odyssey cocktail and Fremont Dark Star Stout.

This is great. You get citrus up front and then a pleasant burn at the back.

We really liked this stout, too. You can also get a 32 oz for $24 or a 64 oz pitcher for $48.

Buffet

Bread

Storytellers Cafe has a tremendous buffet with some special new or updated offerings for Donald’s Tales of Adventure, reflecting the theme of camping. Breads include breadsticks and French bread.

Later in the buffet are assorted dinner rolls with La Conviette French butter.

Corn Muffin

One of the new items that goes well with the BBQ camp cookout theme is corn muffins, which are served with honey butter. These muffins are unreal. They have a light crispy exterior but a milky soft inside. These are 7/7.

Charcuterie

There’s an impressive charcuterie spread with a large cheese selection for a buffet. The accompaniments include fig jam and mustard. We’ve never seen such an array from a Disney buffet and it was all delicious.

Salads

The salad bar includes potato salad, Caesar salad, kale and quinoa, mixed greens salad, southwest couscous, roasted beet salad, and Caprese. Croutons and dressings are on the sides. We loved most of these. The couscous was just meh. The beet salad was our favorite.

The salads are among the few offerings which can be modified to be vegan. They delivered some big vegan portions, which was nice. The vegan couscous was also disappointing but the other salads were good.

Meats and Sides

Salmon has always been a highlight at Storytellers Cafe. For Donald’s Tales of Adventures, it’s lemon pepper with basmati rice. Unfortunately, it was dry and tough. The seasoning is nice and the basmati rice is excellent.

Among the new offerings are baby back ribs. These are spectacular. They literally melt in your mouth.

Also new is a BBQ brisket. This was tender and melt in your mouth, though not quite as soft as the brisket. We’re surprised at how good the brisket and ribs are considering this is not the south.

Among the sides are garlic mashed potatoes. They have a bit of skin in them, which we like. They were the perfect texture and seasoned well.

We would describe the new fried chicken as the healthiest tasting fried chicken we’ve ever had. It’s not oily or greasy. Past the crispy skin, the texture is almost like baked chicken. But it’s good, juicy, and well-seasoned.

At the carving station is prime rib with horseradish and roasted turkey with cranberry sauce. The prime rib was not great. It was stringy and didn’t have a lot of flavor. The horseradish wasn’t strong.

The turkey, on the other hand, was unbelievable. It was tender and juicy. It was the best turkey we’ve ever had.

Kids Section

This section is full of simple items for kids or adult picky eaters. We weren’t fans of the macaroni and cheese. It was basic. The chicken tenders were good.

There’s also French fries, popcorn chicken with cocktail sauce, and lobster ravioli.

Pizza

The pizza selections are pepperoni, Margherita, cheese, and a chef’s special, which was mushroom. We tried the pepperoni and didn’t like it at all.

However, we did get a vegan version of the chef’s special. Vegan options are limited at a buffet — a Cast Member will usually walk the line with you, pointing out what is vegan or what can be modified. At Storytellers, you could get any pizza vegan.

The vegan chef’s special is made with vegan sausage, mushrooms, caramelized onions, mushroom puree, and scallions. It’s a gluten-free crust instead of the standard crust. The sausage was good with the mushrooms, which are slightly charred. It’s excellent and we would expect the non-vegan version to be good, too.

Other

A crudité includes carrots, broccoli, celery, and grape tomatoes. Asparagus are in a separate bowl. Ranch dressing is available for the veggies and nearby chips.

There are potato chips and tortilla chips with salsa, guacamole, and onion dip.

Of course, there is a selection of fruits: watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries.

Cocktail shrimp and cocktail sauce precede the salads.

There’s a clam chowder station with cracker toppings.

Desserts

We have to talk about the bread pudding. Storytellers Cafe is known for its bread pudding, which they change up seasonally. For Donald’s Tales of Adventure, it’s s’mores bread pudding with vanilla sauce. And it’s amazing.

It’s definitely the best version we’ve had so far and maybe the best bread pudding we’ve had ever, which says a lot. You get just a little bit of marshmallow but lots of rich chocolate. The chocolate pairs well with the vanilla sauce. The bread pudding itself is soft, delicate, and moist.

This chocolate Manjari mousse is also great. There’s raspberry inside and it tasted real.

For a lighter non-chocolate dessert, the tropical cheesecake is a great option. It’s creamy with a pleasant mango-like flavor. The toasted coconut on top comes through.

These Mickey cake pops are cute but don’t taste good. They’re more like chocolate bread than cake and the icing just kind of pops off. Plus, shouldn’t they be Donald cake pops?

This mini caramel flan is dense and heavy — not what you want from flan.

One of the cookie options is a raspberry-filled cookie. It was amazing. It was like a sugar cookie pumped with raspberry and topped with sprinkles. It tasted like a fresh Pop Tart.

The other dessert options are strawberry coupe and oatmeal raisin cookies.

We would definitely get the tropical cheesecake and bread pudding again.

Overall

There is always great food at Storytellers Cafe. Being a buffet, there will be one or two misses. But we would get most items again and there is a great variety. That said, it’s not the best option for those with special dietary needs.

When it comes to vegan options, there were no desserts. There would usually be sorbet, but the machine was done. The only bread option was the allergy bread, which they keep in the back and isn’t our favorite. It is nice you can basically get a custom pizza and salad, though.

The character interactions are amazing. Though you can still get the traditional Mickey & Friends character breakfast/brunch, we like having a dinner option with slightly more unique characters. Where else will you meet Clarabelle Cow at a character meal? They have great, unique costumes.

On top of all that, the service is stellar and the restaurant’s interior is gorgeous. This is an expensive meal but we recommend it. You’ll have a good experience.

Stay tuned for our video review.

For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Shannen Ace