Bon Voyage Breakfast on Epcot day or no

[Delphinidae]

I had the BV breakfast booked for 11:20 on our Epcot day, but it really won't work with our fastpasses. I just grabbed one for 7:55 instead. It's a 9am park opening and I have fastpasses for The Seas with Nemo at 9:45, Test Track at 10:50, and Spaceship Earth at 12. Was planning on trying to RD Soarin' but I realize that probably isn't likely if we do the breakfast. Should I drop the ADR?

If we keep it, what's the easiest way to get from Pop to the restaurant? I've never entered through the IG either, will anything even be open at that time?

 

[starry_solo]

Easiest way if WDW doesn't have resort to resort transportation and you want to use disney buses is to take it to hollywood studios and then the boat to Boardwalk

 

[cgattis]

I’ve never done that meal (but Rapunzel is DDs fave), buti think you could probably still make one ride on Soarin before the end of your first FP window at 10:45 (esp if they honor the +15 grace period).

 

[Max G]

We have attended the Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria al Forno 3 times. It is not fast. You will be there early enough that you should be seated fairly quickly (a wait of 20 minutes or more is not unusual later in the morning) but even so we have never been at the table for less than 90 minutes, one time we were seated for over 2 hours. Course pacing is slow and character interactions are lengthy, which is great unless you're pressed for time. This is a very nice meal. The food is very good, but you won't enjoy it if you're watching the clock. I seriously doubt you'll make rope drop.

 

[Max G]

To answer the question about things being open inside the IG at opening time for Future World:
Most of World Showcase opens daily at 11am but both the bakery in France and the Frozen attraction in Norway open at the same time as FW (usually 9am). When you enter through the IG before 11am you can turn right to go over the bridge into France and to the bakery, but you can't go any further, or you can go straight through the UK, on to Canada, veering right to where you enter FW or continuing to Norway for Frozen. You can't continue further on the loop before 11am.

 

[rosiebean]

We were in and out of the Bon Yoyage breakfast in a little over an hour (early seating about an hour and a half before park opening) during Pres week this year, made it to International Gateway by rope drop and snagged a short wait at Frozen after a brisk walk past the uk and Canada, Mexico, etc. You may or may not be able to do Soarin at park opening given your ADR time, but you’ll easily make your fast passes (you can also keep trying for a slightly earlier ADR to maximize you park opening Soarin plan).

Getting from breakfast to International Gateway was really quick. We took a cab from POR to the Boardwalk Inn (the Bon Yoyage breakfast is really near BWI) for our ADR...next time, I’ll save a few bucks and get Uber/Lyft. We loved the breakfast. Seriously our best at WDW ever and among the best character interaction ever.

 

[Delphinidae]

We have attended the Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria al Forno 3 times. It is not fast. You will be there early enough that you should be seated fairly quickly (a wait of 20 minutes or more is not unusual later in the morning) but even so we have never been at the table for less than 90 minutes, one time we were seated for over 2 hours. Course pacing is slow and character interactions are lengthy, which is great unless you're pressed for time. This is a very nice meal. The food is very good, but you won't enjoy it if you're watching the clock. I seriously doubt you'll make rope drop.

Yeah I was worried about the timing. Reviews I've seen of the food do look good so I've been wanting to try it, but maybe Epcot day isn't the best day for it. I also have it tentatively reserved for our departure day, but it's at 11:20 which is really too late, so if I'm not able to modify that one I'll likely drop it.

If we keep it on our Epcot day I will just try not to stress about missing getting on Soarin' at RD and hope that we can get on later without a huge wait. There are evening EMH that day too, so maybe we will be able to do it then? Decisions, decisions....

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We had an 8:00 am ADR in January and we arrived early at 7:45. We were seated immediately - the restaurant was not yet full and they seat it in sections. We were out of the restaurant by 8:45 and arrived at the IG with a few minutes to spare before rope drop.

It will be close - we lucked out as we were seated early.

I HIGHLY recommend it. It is one of our favorite character meals now and will be booking it again for our Feb. trip.

 

[preemiemama]

Three things I can add to what the PPs have said:

1. The kitchen at Trattoria gets backed up as the morning goes on. We had a later reservation (around 11) and were there for over 2 hours. The waitress was frustrated by the pacing, and said that it was a persistent issue for them as the breakfast service wore on. Earlier reservations like yours should be OK with getting seated on time and getting out of there without it taking 2 hours.

2. We were just in Epcot a couple weeks ago. We rope dropped twice, and both times we had no issue walking on Soarin'. In fact, the first time we rope dropped we were able to ride it three times before 10 am. The posted wait time was 15-20 minutes that whole first hour, and honestly we walked right to the concourse loading area all 3 times. Even if you get held up, you should not have an issue with a long wait until closer to 10.

3. I would Uber/Lyft/Minnie Van/Taxi right to BWI and try to arrive a little before your reservation. That way, you should be seated on time and be able to get out on time (or close to ) for rope drop as well.

 

[Delphinidae]

Y'all are making me REALLY want to keep this ADR!

So I have never actually used a Lyft or Uber before. What are the prices like? I was planning on trying to get the first bus from Pop to one of the parks and then turn around and take a bus back to the Boardwalk, or someone said there's a boat from HS to BW, but I'm afraid the timing will be too unpredictable.

 

[preemiemama]

Y'all are making me REALLY want to keep this ADR!

So I have never actually used a Lyft or Uber before. What are the prices like? I was planning on trying to get the first bus from Pop to one of the parks and then turn around and take a bus back to the Boardwalk, or someone said there's a boat from HS to BW, but I'm afraid the timing will be too unpredictable.

We used Uber from SSR to the Poly twice this past trip- specifically to avoid transportation delays. It cost us around $10 each trip. Also, those trip took us less than 15 minutes in travel time!

 

[goofyintoronto]

If it were me i'd just cancel trattoria. Not worth the hassle. Plus getting there is a bit of a pain. Yes uber/lyft would be better.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Rideguru.com is good for giving estimates of Uber/Lyft costs, and I've found all the WDW destinations are in its data bank.
If you're staying at Pop and going to WDW after Sept 29, couldn't you take the Skyliner from Pop to CBR, transfer to the Epcot line, get off at IG and walk to Trattoria from the IG Skyliner stop? Does that sound reasonable to those of you who know the Boardwalk area?
We are doing Bon Voyage on our final morning, and are really excited for it. One son is thrilled to see a meal with princes, not just princesses. I think Prince Eric and Mr. Smolder might be worth chancing a wait for Soarin'. ;-)

 

[Lacoccinelle]

This was a really nice breakfast. We did it when it first opened my girls dressed as Ariel and Rapunzel and they got to lead the parades.
That being said I would never trade it for dining somewhere in Epcot. You can see these princesses fairly easily at MK so unless you want the princes, I would eat somewhere in world showcase. Akershus is a great princess experience.

 

[Delphinidae]

We used Uber from SSR to the Poly twice this past trip- specifically to avoid transportation delays. It cost us around $10 each trip. Also, those trip took us less than 15 minutes in travel time!

Thank you! That sounds promising.

Rideguru.com is good for giving estimates of Uber/Lyft costs, and I've found all the WDW destinations are in its data bank.
If you're staying at Pop and going to WDW after Sept 29, couldn't you take the Skyliner from Pop to CBR, transfer to the Epcot line, get off at IG and walk to Trattoria from the IG Skyliner stop? Does that sound reasonable to those of you who know the Boardwalk area?
We are doing Bon Voyage on our final morning, and are really excited for it. One son is thrilled to see a meal with princes, not just princesses. I think Prince Eric and Mr. Smolder might be worth chancing a wait for Soarin'. ;-)

We will be there next week, so no Skyliner

This was a really nice breakfast. We did it when it first opened my girls dressed as Ariel and Rapunzel and they got to lead the parades.
That being said I would never trade it for dining somewhere in Epcot. You can see these princesses fairly easily at MK so unless you want the princes, I would eat somewhere in world showcase. Akershus is a great princess experience.

We have done Akershus before, so I was wanting to try someplace new. However I would actually prefer to do this breakfast on the day we leave so we could just stay in Epcot on our park day, but I haven't been able to get an early enough ADR.

 

[galaxygirl76]

We did this meal on our last trip on our DHS day. We were staying at AKL so we used a Lyft, which worked great. The food and the character interaction were both great, and I would love to go back.

 

[The13thLetter]

During our June trip we Ubered to BWI from Pop and it was like 8-9$. Also we had a FP for Test Track but then was able to grab same day FEA and Soarin with our 4th and 5th FPs so that could be an option as well. We realllly wanted to do this breakfast on our upcoming trip in a few weeks but DS is only 1 and we opted for a non-human (lol) character meal instead