Breakfast inside before Park Opens in Disneyland?

[WDW Princess 71]

Hello! I know in WDW you can make a dining reservation for breakfast in some restaurants inside the parks before the official opening time...do they do this in DL, and if so, what restaurant for the DL park do you recommend? Also if I was in the park early, am I missing anything as far as a "fun entrance" into the park, like at WDW in Magic Kingdom how they play music and have characters come out and make a big deal about opening the park? I havent been to DLR in over 2 years, please help!

 

[DLtorgo]

You can do a character breakfast at Plaza Gardens with Minnie. If you are only there one day I would go into the park and use that time to ride some rides before it gets crowded though.

There really isn't that big of a show to open Disneyland. On the days with MM they will keep the other guests out at the turnstiles and the train will pull into the station and blow it's whistle when the park opens. They have regular CM's lead in a countdown. When there is no MM they will open up the gates and let you shop on Main Street. Then they will play a little song or speech on the speakers and drop the rope. Again- no costume characters. It is still so fun though. HTH

 

[AmiO]

We took in the Minnie and Friends breakfast. It was on a morning of early admission & we had the earliest reservation. I found it to be a little dis organized as no one told us where to be. That said though, there were tons of characters and it was a wonderful experience. We've been to Goofys Kitchen, Breakfast with Minnie and Friends and Ariels Grotto for lunch. Minnie was the best so far. But I have a 3 year old

 

[disneymum58]

I remember them picking a family to be "Honorary Citizens". They got to go in first and stand there while the rest of us waited at the gates. Then we all counted down from ten. Then they let us in. That was about all there was to it!

 

[abouley]

My understanding is that the breakfast places do not open until the park opens...I so wish they did since the parks don't open until 10 many days we are there in Oct!!!! I'd love to have breakfast at Minnie's at 8:30 or so and be ready to go at RD!

 

[EagleFlyer]

I agree with the previous poster about Minnie and Friends being a little disorganized, at least getting to it was for us. We had PS for 9:40 on a day when the park opened at 10. After pushing our way up to through the people waiting at the rope drop (and getting abunch of dirty looks from people thinking we were cutting in line) at around 9:30 we found out that we had to enter instead through the gift shop on the side, so we had to push back through the waiting people and find a CM to guide us to where we needed to be.

So a tip for those of you with Minnie and Friends PS before the park opens, enter the gift shop around where the lockers are and head towards the back, that's where they take you to the breakfast, not along the rope drop area. Once inside it was great though.

 

[pixiewings71]

The CMs should tell you where to go if you're getting in before the parks open, there will be a CM at the gate that checks you in, then you should either be escorted or given directions as to where to go from there.

Minnie & Friends in DL and Ariel's Grotto in DCA both have the possibility of opening before the parks, you just have to call Disney Dining and found out when the earliest seating is.

 

[EagleFlyer]

The CMs should tell you where to go if you're getting in before the parks open, there will be a CM at the gate that checks you in, then you should either be escorted or given directions as to where to go from there.

That's what I was expecting, someone at the gate to tell us where we needed to go. But we got there right when they were changing the sign over the gate from "priority seating" to whatever it was being changed to so we probably got there a few minutes too late (around 9:30 for 9:40 PS) for the escort or directions. But once I asked a CM near the rope drop, we got escorted directly to where we needed to be.

Five days in the park and that was the only time I was even a little frustrated with the customer service, and it was at least partially (maybe fully?) my fault for not asking someone for help. Disneyland deserves the reputation they get for outstanding customer service.

 

[ballarinamom]

No pre ropedrop show like WDW. I am actually glad. We were so crowded and uncomfortable waiting for the train. They do grab a family for the countdown.
The only way you can get into Miniies before opening is if you do not have MMs and get a PS on a MM morning. It is not like WDW where they begin PSs 1 hour before opening. The first available PS is usually 10 minutes after opening