Crystal Palace before park opens?

[jandm]

Trying to decide if it's worth it to do breakfast before the park opens. I hear people say on here how great it is to eat and get out as the park is opening, so you don't have to stand in line forever.
Not sure if I want to use a table service credit and none of my kids are huge Winnie the Pooh fans, yet if it's so much better getting there early (beat crowds, crowded buses, etc...) than we'll do it.
Just wanted some opinions. Thanks!

 

[hidmickey:myantidrug]

In my opinion, it is worth it. Most of the time on my Disney trips, it's a group of four adults who have all been to the World many times, so while we certainly enjoy seeing the characters walk around, it's not the huge exciting thing that it is to many families with kids or adults who really enjoy interacting with the characters. Tigger is my favorite of all Disney characters so when he comes around I jump up for a picture/leave the buffet line if I see him near our table, but for anyone else it's more of a 'hey, Pooh' and maybe a picture of him behind us while we sit at the table and shovel more food in our mouths. So I definitely don't think you need to be gung-ho about the characters to get value from the meal.

We always get the early ADRS and do it for a few reasons: we like seeing a primarily empty park, the restaurant hasn't had hours to get backed up so we're seated on time or early, we get to watch the mad rush to the castle (if our table is near a window--it's really a hoot to see), and we're finished just minutes after opening and can knock out adventureland rides without wait.

There are a ton of great benefits of pre-opening breakfast ADRs from our perspective, but they'd all be moot if the food was gross. We really love the CP breakfast buffet. All the traditional breakfast offerings, plus amazing puffed french toast (which we like to call fried dough for breakfast), specialty pancake and omelette station, and a slice of fruit out the door makes for a nice snack later on.

It can be viewed as expensive, especially if you're not in it for the characters, but of the breakfast buffets, I believe it's the cheapest. I could be wrong, so don't quote me on it. At the very least it's one of the cheapest. [ETA: just reread that you're on the DDP, so OOP cost isn't a concern.] And I'm not sure about your family's eating patterns/habits, but when we do CP in the morning, we're good going without a TS or CS lunch and waiting to do a CS dinner later on so that helps justify the cost. Of course with kids, this may be automatically harder to manage.

 

[kddisney502]

I'm looking forward to doing this in Nov. I haven't before, but have heard from many people saying it's a great experience to do at least once.

 

[jackie101]

we went the last wk of August...the food & service was great

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

We did this last August and my first impression was complete terror. We arrived before they began allowing those with ADR's into the park and waited in line. Once they opened the gates there was a pretty decent amount of people and I was disappointed after hearing all the stories of having the park pretty much to yourself.

Breakfast was tasty and the 4 of us really enjoyed interacting with the characters. Plus having a view of Cinderella Castle from my seat really made my day!

After we ate and left CP, we had the area in front of the castle to ourselves and it was beautiful. Then the time came when the masses were released and we were some of the first people into Fantasyland and able to hop on whatever ride we wanted.

We would definitely do CP for breakfast pre-opening again. It was a great experience once I stopped worrying about all the other people with early ADR's.

 

[goofyintoronto]

we went the last wk of August...the food & service was great

I also went the last week of August!

I agree...the food was VERY YUMMY!!!! So worth it! You gotta check it out if you havent been yet.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using DISBoards App

 

[kddisney502]

We did this last August and my first impression was complete terror. We arrived before they began allowing those with ADR's into the park and waited in line. Once they opened the gates there was a pretty decent amount of people and I was disappointed after hearing all the stories of having the park pretty much to yourself.

I'm a little worried about that since my ADR is for 8:05 am. What time was yours?

 

[goofyintoronto]

We did this last August and my first impression was complete terror. We arrived before they began allowing those with ADR's into the park and waited in line. Once they opened the gates there was a pretty decent amount of people and I was disappointed after hearing all the stories of having the park pretty much to yourself.

This was my experience too. Main street was NOT empty at all. Disappointing!

Forgot to mention that the character interaction at CP was one of the best ever. Tigger was trying to play with my sons ipod! LOL! So cute.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using DISBoards App

 

[sahmoffour]

We went Sept 2011 for a breakfast ADR at 8:05 and were really glad we did! Main street was pretty close to being empty, we got some AWESOME family pictures in front of the castle, and the food was awesome. We were done by 9:00 for park opening, and got a ton of rides done in the first couple of hours. I would definitely recommend it!

 

[Zeppelin]

I also went the last week of August!

I agree...the food was VERY YUMMY!!!! So worth it! You gotta check it out if you havent been yet.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using DISBoards App

hands down my favorite character breakfast restaurant...food, service, "ambiance"...

 

[jandm]

Thank you everyone for your responses! I think we are going to do it! We are also going to do the pre-opening brkfst at Tusker House on our Animal Kdm day.

 

[TheRoyalPaynes]

We did an early ADR in June of 2012 with two teenage boys and definitely did not regret it. My kiddos even enjoyed the heck out of it--food was good and we had a fun time with the characters who gave us as much attention as families with little ones.

Main Street was pretty empty by the time we got out and we had a bunch of nice photo ops.

Oddly enough, the thing that is most memorable about our breakfast there was the "view" out of our window. We had a pretty early ADR and there were still several families out on the porch waiting to be seated. We were sitting at one of the tables that had a window facing out to the front porch. Through a good portion of our meal there was a little boy, probably about 4 years old, his face pressed against the window, staring in watching everything that was going on while we were eating. I swear he never saw us...but I'm sure he saw Pooh and Tigger. We thought it was sweet.

 

[DisneyMom0115]

Would anybody be tell me how early my family and I can get in if we have an ADR at CP at 8:20am? Everyone seems to have an ADR at 8:05 so I was just wondering if they let the people with early ADRs in all at once or segments? Thanks in advance!

 

[hidmickey:myantidrug]

Would anybody be tell me how early my family and I can get in if we have an ADR at CP at 8:20am? Everyone seems to have an ADR at 8:05 so I was just wondering if they let the people with early ADRs in all at once or segments? Thanks in advance!

The three times we've done it, we've had 8:05 ADRs (actually, I think one was 8:10) and they let us in at about 7:45-7:50. They did not disciminate ADR times: if you were there and in line when they opened it up, you were let it. They never checked times at all. Each time we've gone has been in slower January, though, and I understand from reading the boards that my experiences are not always the case. Hopefully somone else can help you out who has had experience with CMs checking ADR times and opening up the park accordingly.

 

[lisajl]

Thanks for posting this! We will be there in about 3 weeks and I was wondering if we could get in earlier. I would stay in the park sun up to sun down if possible, so this will be great for me! Not sure about everyone else in my party! We will have to find a place to nap. LOL!
Our ADR at CP is 8:05, will have to make sure and get there by 7:45.