Breakfast and EMH???

[Chemist]

We typically do day trips to Disneyland while visiting family. (I grew up 15 minutes away.)

We are planning an actual vacation, rather than a family visit, staying in the hotels, everything.

Question: How do families generally handle breakfast?
Early magic hours start at 7 am.

None of the restaurants are open at that time, as far as I can tell.

Do most people eat on the go after doing a few rides?
Or do they eat cold breakfast in their hotel rooms?
(I can't see eating breakfast at 6 am so get to the hotel at 7 am.)

I'm just curious what others do.

We will have a 3 year old and an 8 year old.

 

[figment_jii]

It depends a little on whether you're planning on going to EMH or not. My group would usually have something cold (e.g., cereal, pastries, etc.) in the hotel room before heading to EMH, then pack snacks and things to tide us (kids included) over until an early lunch.

 

[Winnowill]

We ate in our hotel room, which had basic kitchen amenities. We brought bagels and cream cheese, and ate as we were getting ready in the morning. No sense wasting good touring time on breakfast.

 

[MommyJKM]

We get room service (GCH has the option to order the night before for a specific delivery time in the morning) and then go to EMH..a lovely way to wake up and get ready

 

[Spyral]

How is room service at GCH? We've stayed there a couple times before (and going to again end or Sept/beginning of Oct), but have never had room service there.

 

[millie0312]

We take snacks to eat during the first hour or two of the morning (beat the crowds and get in EMH) then we usually do a CS breakfast like a RBT or Flo's

 

[SixteenFeet]

We just take snacks in to tide us over until an early lunch. No one really feels like eating when waking up that early anyway We love getting beignets in DTD so we try to work that in for a breakfast on our day of departure. Coffee there is actually decent as well!

 

[jammyjam25]

Our plan is have a small snack (apple, granola bar, etc.) to tide us over during EMH and then grab an actual breakfast or early lunch after EMH has passed!

 

[kailuagirl]

I grab some muffins, yogurt, fruit, cheese, bag of dry cereal, etc. and we eat while we are waiting in line for the park to open. It's been the only thing that works for us. The time zone change is killer on us so it's really hard to even get to the gates early. So we eat in line. We then go have fun and ride as many rides as we can. That will last us a couple hours until the park starts to get more crowded and then we either have breakfast or an early lunch.

 

[Cats2]

Agree with PP's, we bring snacks (muffins, Danishes, granola bars) to eat in line as we wait for gates to open. After EMH, we might get food in the parks. I'm not much of a breakfast person, but I always make sure our kids eat something to start the day in the parks. We try not to waste our EMH standing in line for food. Typically will pack stuff from home, or purchase at the hotel (Whitewater snacks sells milk, cereal, pastries @GCH--we stock up the day before an early 7AM EMH), or sometimes we'll make a Target run after we check in. If in packing food from home, I usually purchase some individual milk cartons that are shelf stable (e.g. Horizon Organic milk has individual containers), because then I don't have to store them in a cooler on the drive down to DLR. If EMH is later, such as a 9AM EMH, we may eat cereal in our room, or just go down to Whitewater Snacks for breakfast.

 

[azdisneylover]

Usually, since no one in my home is hungry when they first wake up, hubby and I have coffee, and the kids will have juice or a Gogurt. A few times we stopped at Jamba Juice and got smoothies for the kids and that held them over for a bit. They were just thirsty and regular juice wasn't going to cut it. Then, we (which means me) carry granola bars, Nutri Grain bars, individual bags of nuts, etc for when someone starts to hint of being hungry. It is enough to hold them over until we can get to a place in the park that has something for everyone. (Tomorrowland Terrace has a pretty good selection of breakfast food that is priced okay). We do bring the frozen breakfast sandwiches along with other items my kids do enjoy that is quick to fix and eat. Whitewater Snacks serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and has a variety of good items. They have a tiny spot that has prepackaged regular store items, like bagels, cream cheese, yogurts, cookies, etc. Nice, quiet place to relax and regroup. I would suggest you try to stick to the schedule you have in place for your children, especially your 3 year old's schedule ( meals, naptime, bedtime).

 

[VandVsmama]

We are rope drop people, too. And when we can take advantage of EMH, we do! It's totally worth it to get up early. So we do what the other posters have suggested...if we're staying at an off site motel/hotel and if the motel doesn't have free breakfast, I usually have brought with us some grab and go breakfast items. Yogurts or Gogurts, some granola bars for DH & I, chocolate donuts for the kids, some strawberries & bananas, and some single-serving bottles of OJ. We have a quick breakfast in the room and go like gangbusters in the parks all morning.

Then we stop about 11:00 am or 11:30 am and eat an early lunch. By that time...if EMH starts at 7am, we are usually ready for a good rest. Then we go on some more rides until about 1:30-2pm and go back to the motel to nap and/or swim.

If we're staying on site, I either do the same do-it-yourself in-the-room breakfast or on only ONE morning, I order room service. Room service at the DLH 2 years ago was pretty expensive and our budget doesn't allow for that every morning.

 

[DHSbutcher]

I have always gone when it was slower and EMH was at 9am- i usually try to grab a croissant in the park at a stand or a smoothie from jamba juice. I'm not a huge breakfast person- but when it's 9am at disneyland, its noon at home and i'm ready to eat!!

 

[NiceOneSimba]

Another vote for the "granola bar in line" option. I have ordered delivery from Vons before, and had granola bars, shelf-stable milk boxes, bagels and peanut butter, little boxes of cereal, bananas and so on delivered to the hotel. Basically, I looked for things that were "breakfasty" but easily portable and could double as snacks later in the day. Vons will give you free delivery on your first order, but you need to spend $50. With sodas and bottled water and breakfast food, that's not hard to do at all.

If you need a morning coffee, I imagine Starbucks in DTD will be open on your way to the park if you're staying onsite; as well as the ones in each park. I've also found that Jolly Holiday has some decent options for muffins and espresso if you want something light to grab and go in the parks.

Honestly, we'd rather take advantage of the short lines in the morning, make do with a breakfast "on the go," and then have a more substantial lunch. But we're not really breakfast people to begin with.

 

[NorthernCalMom]

We just take snacks in to tide us over until an early lunch.

Same here. We have two girls, one of them 7, the other one 9. We've been going to DL once a year in August for the past 7 years, and this is what has been working for us. We usually make it part of our trip preparation to see what "on the walk" breakfast both kids like. We bring some of it with us (we drive rather than fly, so we can use the trunk space for things such as granola bars, single serve chips, pasteurized chocolate milk single serve cartons, etc.), and we also usually do a Vons run on our first evening for fresh fruit, bagels, cream cheese, etc. The kids get to pick their breakfast the night before and I get it ready for them early, early am. They get dressed and we walk over to whatever park has the EMH that day (we stay on site), to be there around 6:45am. By the time the gate opens, the kids have usually finished their "on the run" breakfast and are ready to go for rides. When they get hungry again around 11-11:30am, we start looking for a place for lunch. By that times, the lines for rides are getting long but the rides for lunch are still short. I know that our commando-style vacationing doesn't work for everybody, but for us it's been great!

 

[MommyJKM]

How is room service at GCH? We've stayed there a couple times before (and going to again end or Sept/beginning of Oct), but have never had room service there.

Room service is great...it's the same kitchen as Storytellers so now that Storyteller breakfast is buffet only, we like to order room service to get specific items. We do the order on the door hanger and pick a time for arrival and it works out great...plus they'll bring you fresh coffee!

 

[Chemist]

Room service sounds like it would work for us. Thanks for the suggestion!

We are not "death march through the parks" kind of people. Our family tradition is that each person gets to pick ONE thing they want to do and everything else is extra goodness! Now obviously we manage to do a lot more than that, but that's our family expectation.

 

[NorthernCalMom]

Our family tradition is that each person gets to pick ONE thing they want to do and everything else is extra goodness! Now obviously we manage to do a lot more than that, but that's our family expectation.

Love that strategy. I guess my kids are a bit spoiled about what they are getting to do. We have a long list of "must do"s and "would great to do more than once"s, when we start our first day in the park. Then I adjust days two and three based on what we did or did not get to do during the first day. It works for us, but I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't be better off taking a more relaxed approach as you're doing...

 

[thumpie's mom]

Since it is usually just my daughter and I who get up for the early mornings, I just have coffee in the room and then we go. My daughter is not a big breakfast eater. Once we are done with our rides, we meet up with the rest of the family for breakfast.