ADR times (breakfast)

[ejrj]

Want to say thanks for how much I'm learning. Cheers folks!

Question in regard to ADRs for breakfast. What times do you suggest for breakfast ressies? We will be staying at POR. We are; me, DH, DD4 & twin DD2&2.

We plan on doing breakfast/character meals at:

Cape May
CRT
Tusker House (not for sure on this one yet)
Ohana
Asherkuasdfkjasfj (the Noway one)

For the in park locations I've seen some of you talk about how great it is to be in the park before the masses are let in.

For the resort ressies we have to take into account travel time to that property and then travel time (likely by car) to whatever park in closest to the resort.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!

 

[ejrj]

Forgot to mention that we my bunch is usually up at 7. Also we live in AL so one hour behind Disney time. I know things will be out of whack - kids up later than normal, different sleeping situation, excitement and that it's a lot to take into consideration when trying to decide how early we can be somewhere. I know it will depend on my family but again I appreciate all your thoughts on the ideal time and I will tweak.

 

[Hootch]

will you be there? My kids a re a little older and time at restaurants is time away from the parks which is another bonus of before opening ADRs.

Also, since you are travelling from Alabama, will you have your own car? We usually drive to all of the parks except the MK. Between the tram and the monorail/ferry, MK is quicker by Disney transportation. This would really make Cape May easier to get to. If you won't have a car, then catch the MK bus for CRT and Ohana, the DAK for Tusker and you will have to go through another park (or cab it) to the Beach Club for Cape May. Probably the easiest is DHS. There is a boat that stops neat BC with a sidewalk that's relatively close. I don't think the boat is operating first thing in the morning.

I would do one of two ways - very early or toward the end of breakfast. Early gets you in the park and done while the park has been open just a little while when you finish and lines will still be shorter. With the later time you can take advantage of the shorter lines and take a break after a couple of hours.

The one exception might be Cap May. Since it is outside the international gate and World Showcase doesn't get going until 11:00 AM I would try to be there early. Otherwise starting at Epcot and walking to the Beach Club and then back will take quite a bit of time.

 

[ejrj]

We will be there next October (yes I'm a little excited and planning already). I think we will be there for 6 or 7 nights. We will have a car and figured we would use it to drive some mornings to breakfast. Then I guess we'll take our car and park at whichever park we are going to. I don't love this idea as I was looking forward to a break from the car/loading/unloading the three from car seats.

 

[4under4]

Breakfast ressies are great. Things to consider...

Are you planning to be at rope drop? If you are the type of family that would rather get the "big" rides done before the crowds arrive, you have to be conscientious about the limitations of AM ressies.

If it's a park restaurant (i.e. Tusker House), they usually have the first adr time about an hour before park open (be aware of EMH days though, then they are at the same time!).

If you get a pre-park open time (one of the first), arrive 20 minutes before you ressie, ask for your check right away when you are seated, and don't dawdle with characters, you can make usually get everything done fairly well and still make it out of the restaurant for rope drop. But if you want to linger over your food, spend a good amount of time with the characters, and not worry about rope drop at all, then a great second option is to have a granola bar on the way to the park, and schedule breakfast for "brunch" time. That way you can get a few rides in before reporting to the restaurant..

I'm sure others may pipe in with their thoughts, but because we are a rope drop family, we wouldn't plan an early breakfast at a resort (i.e. 'Ohana) unless we were staying there. Just too many transportation / timing difficulties. We always have a car, but you can't leave it at the resort all day while you go to a park, so at least one person has to drive back to "our" resort before heading to a park. I would do a late breakfast so I could travel to/from the resort from whichever park we were at that day.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you a great trip!

 

[ejrj]

Well this is our first family trip. DH & I were there back in October of 2005. I'm not sure if we're are rope drop family. My inclination is that we're not. However we're not linger around types either. Since the girls are so young, I think we want to focus on the magic of the surroundings and not get too caught up in having to do the big rides. I guess on the spectrum of rope drop to seat of our pants we'd fall a little left of center


Ohana - So we will drive to MK and then take walking path to Poly, right? That was previously suggested to me and seemed like a good plan.

Tusker House - aim for ressie 1/2 before park opening on an NON EMH morning.

CRT - same thing right, aboyt 1/2 before park open on an NON EMH morning.

I think fairly early breakfast, hit a park & lunch followed by play at the resort is going to be the best plan for this crew. But what do I know? I'm finding planning how our family will function best is a challenge since 2 of our 3 are still only babies but will be over 2 when we go.

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

Here's a little something to consider...early mornings are the best. I love pre park ADRS and getting in early and I never would have considered this had someone not reccomended it to me...BUT we scheduled a CM brunch on the day of an EMH at the MK. We got to the MK early and visited all the attractions we wanted and exited the park about 10:20 and just walked over to the CR for a 10:40 ressie at CM. The big rush was over, it was relaxed and not too crowded and we had great character time and had a nice buffet brunch. For us it was also great because I had teenaged boys with me who are bottomless pits and they could eat all they liked.

It was a great break and then we went back and even napped before we went back to the parks in the evening. It would work great at DAK too with a brunch meal at Tusker House. Just something to consider that's a little outside the box. Hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[ejrj]

Ahhh!!! Too many options and too many good suggestions!!

 

[ejrj]

OK:

CRT: before park opening to get that (somewhat) empty walk down Main Street
Ohana:Mid am breakfast after EMH at Magic Kingdom. That way we can take Disney bus to MK then Monorail over to Poly.
Tusker House: Mid am breakfast after EMH or start of day prior to park opening??
Cape May: maybe do this one on a 'take it easy kinda day' ?? That way we're not rushing to get to one of the parks?
Asha-whatever it's called - thoughts on this one since that part of Epcot opens later in day?

 

[4under4]

OK:

CRT: before park opening to get that (somewhat) empty walk down Main Street
Ohana:Mid am breakfast after EMH at Magic Kingdom. That way we can take Disney bus to MK then Monorail over to Poly.
Tusker House: Mid am breakfast after EMH or start of day prior to park opening??
Cape May: maybe do this one on a 'take it easy kinda day' ?? That way we're not rushing to get to one of the parks?
Asha-whatever it's called - thoughts on this one since that part of Epcot opens later in day?

That looks like a GREAT plan! Tusker House could go either way, whichever you think the family would like, but I would do Akerhus mid morning if it were me, which would still get you into World Showcase without the crowds, but let you take in a few rides/attractions in Future World before breakfast, then you could start your tour of the World Showcase when you came out. If you can't get CRT, CP is a great second choice for an early MK day.