breakfast in park for headstart

[janischa]

once again i need your advice i got 3 adr's for breakfasts in the parcs... now we're renting a 2br villa, so actually it'd be easy for us to grab a quick breakfast in our villa and then only head for the parcs. My main idea for getting these ADR is the idea of being able to be at the parc's rides before the crowds, even if only by a few minutes. However, for our ADR at akershus, i'm worried it'll lead to the opposite ??? will it bring us further away from getting to soaring ? (and other hotspots ?)

Which of these ADR's would help us be early near the hotspots in the parcs do you think ?
We have
Crystal Palace,
Akershus
Tusker house

Crystal should help us get quickly to Dumbo I think, Tusker to the safari ride, but still questioning Akershus mainly. Tips on the others also welcome though... thanks guys !!!

 

[Googelibear]

Well I think it is clear that you have to drop Akershuus. You'd be so far into the World Showcase, it would take you forever to get back to Future World

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We love to start the day with an early character meal in the parks. We try to get the earliest ADR available and we were always done just as the park opened. We did Norway at 8:00am and we were walking into Future World just as the park opened. We went to TT though since Soarin is not a priority for us. In AK we had a 8:05am with Donald and we were walking out of the restaurant right at 9am and went straight on the safari. Same with CRT, we left right at 9am and Fantasyland was deserted. We just walked right on Dumbo. It was awesome We are using the same strategy this year

 

[TDC Nala]

You don't get that much of a head start, if you are out of the restaurant before the park officially opens you still have to wait at the rope with everyone else. Even those who get in for the early breakfast have access only to the restaurant and some public areas, not to the attractions or the rest of the park. Leaving Tusker House at 9 will put you at the safari before everyone who started further back, but not much before. I would scrap Akershus if the only reason you want it is for an early start at rides in Future World.

 

[Flossbolna]

At Tusker House there was a special rope in front of the Safari where a few people from the breakfast were waiting and they only dropped the rope when the crowds from the main rope drop where nearly there. It got us an advantage of about 2 minutes that we were at the breakfast.

Also, these are all character breakfasts and you never know how long it might take for the characters to come to your table. After our 8:05 am ADR at Tusker House we had not seen all of the character by 8:55 am when we left for the rope drop.

If you plan to leave in time for official park opening at 9 am, ask your server for the check at the beginning of the meal. This way you don't have to wait around for them bringing back your room key or credit card etc...

However, an early breakfast ADR is great for getting a view of the still empty park! But personally I think arriving early at the turnstiles for rope drop will give you a much better touring advantage.

 

[janischa]

thanks, you confirmed what i already thought
so i was all ready to cancel akershus, when i had a final look at the beautiful room the breakfast takes place in and decided our 2 year old might actually really enjoy it, so we better just go... atleast it'll prevent us from lazying too long in the morning (nother better than a deadline to get us actually going in the morning).

What about H&V for studios ? would it bring you closer to soarin than getting there at rope drop ?

 

[vicki_c]

What about H&V for studios ? would it bring you closer to soarin than getting there at rope drop ?

Assume you meant Toy Story Mania (since Soarin' is at Epcot), but the answer is no - if you were done early, you still have to wait behind the rope like everyone else. And the way the street fills up at DHS, you most likely would not be right up against the rope coming from H&V unless you are done with breakfast really early (like 8:30!).

 

[MJAJmom]

We love eating breakfast inside the park before it opens and we've eaten early at all 4 parks. The best advantage is at Tusker House and Crystal Palace. At TH, after bfast you can wait right at the roped off area in front of Safari (be the first to ride it or grab your FP). You'll also be right inside the castle area at MK and first to enter FantasyLand or TomorrowLand.

At H&V, when you leave bfast, you are dumped right into the rope drop crowd and have to get in line with everyone else. Sometimes a nice CM will let you sneak behind the store and scoot in the line up front when it starts.

At Akershus, you have to walk back towards the World Gateway and wait for the rope drop there. I thought I was very disadvantaged trying to get to Soarin vs standing at the park entrance. The CMs seemed to let you a minute later. So for Epcot, I think it's better to be at park entrance at rope drop.

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

I really like an early ADR for a park day but my limit is one, maybe two, per trip. After that it's just too difficult to manage, especially transportation wise. I don't prefer that stress on vacation. We loved getting to the CP early and the photos we got. My choice for Epcot is actually Cape May so you can just slip through the IG to get over to RD however we did grab a cab over to the BC so we didn't have to do two transfers to get there.

One strategy I learned here that worked very well for us was to ask our server at the beginning of our meal if we could take of the bill so that when we were done we were free to leave. I believe it saved us some valuable time.

Have a great time!

 

[janischa]

thanks all of you; h&v is crossed off my list definitely now, atleast for breakfast (we'd might try squeezing in a lunch since my BD loves dancing and music).
simply love these boards !!!

 

[TisBit]

If your sole purpose is to get a head start, I think it is a waste of your money for any of the meals. Meals are quircky and you can easily miss the park opening with just a few delays, you are much better off just getting to the parks before rope drop and waiting, you will get there about the same time and save a ton of money with no danger of being frustrated/irritated if you are delayed.

 

[cjsm&d]

At EPCOT, you're better off getting to Soaring first thing and getting a FP and riding it if the line is not prohibitive. In between rides, have breakfast at sunshine seasons.

We do it this way