Breakfast inside park before it opens?

[momtotwolittleones]

I saw someone mention this in one of their posts but couldn't find anything about it. We'll be there when the park doesn't open until 10, so it sounds fun to go early and have breakfast there. Any idea how we do this? Thanks!

 

[A Small World]

Im assuming it was the Minnie and Friends breakfast that you saw. Its a buffet breakfast with characters.
You will need to book this in advance then go to the gates and they will have your name on the breakfast list

 

[J. Galt]

I was wondering this too. Is this only on an early entry day, or is this option available every day?

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

This works at Minnie and Friends on Early Entry days, especially if you do not have Early Entry privileges.

I have always wanted to eat at Minnie and Friends but never wanted to give up the prime morning touring time. Well, this time we do not have Early Entry during our trip in November so I went ahead and made a 7:10am PS for the Saturday we are there (8am opening).

 

[Sjwillia]

Has anyone had a reservation an Minnie's earlier than Park Opening on a non-magic morning day? If they open at 7:10 on Magic Morning days when the park opens at 8:00, do they start serving breakfast at 9:10 when the park opens at 10:00? If they don't open until 10:00 how long is the breakfast served?

 

[Disneyland1084]

I've never done this, but I'm curious. If you go to the breakfast, finish your food before the park opens officially, are you allowed to walk around the park?

 

[skiingfast]

I'm going to take some times to answer all these question since there isn't a single answer to fit each situation.


For MM days, it's 50 minutes before the normal park opening. So today when the park opend at 8am you could get a 7:10am reservation. Works well because you have 50 minutes to eat and finish and get into the park without a MM credit.

For non MM days it varies. For early open, or long hour days it opens when the park opens. So IMO a waste to be eating when lines are shortest. For short hours days like last Wednesday or next Monday it can open 10-20 minutes early, some have eaten 30 minutes early but I'm not sure they do that anymore since I haven't been able to get a MM day reservation that early in the last year. So again a waste because you won't be done in time to get into the park.

Can you wander the parks when you are done? Not exactly. If a MM day yes you join in the MM fun and can go to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland which is already open. If a normal opening day, and this goes for DCA too, you finish and are held, or from AG sent back to the rope drop area. But you can get some good pictures on the Town Square and Mainstreet USA.

***But if you are going to the new MK in Florida this is a great perk. A. you can eat earlier any day and be done with time to spare. B. the rope is at the entrances to the lands so you have a huge hub to explore before the general guests get in.

 

[dnamertz]

I'm going to take some times to answer all these question since there isn't a single answer to fit each situation.


For MM days, it's 50 minutes before the normal park opening. So today when the park opend at 8am you could get a 7:10am reservation. Works well because you have 50 minutes to eat and finish and get into the park without a MM credit.

For non MM days it varies. For early open, or long hour days it opens when the park opens. So IMO a waste to be eating when lines are shortest. For short hours days like last Wednesday or next Monday it can open 10-20 minutes early, some have eaten 30 minutes early but I'm not sure they do that anymore since I haven't been able to get a MM day reservation that early in the last year. So again a waste because you won't be done in time to get into the park.

I called the DL Dining phone number last week and asked what time the Minnie Character breakfast takes place, and she said from the time the park opens until 11:30am. I didn't ask for more specifics because it's still over 60 days before we will be there, so I'll call back within the 60 day window when I can make our reservations. If what she told me is true, it sounds like they only serve breakfast for one-and-a-half hours on days when the park opens at 10am.

We will be at DL for 4 days in Nov (Tues thru Fri)...3 of those days the park opens at 10am and the last day they open at 8am. I'm debating whether to make a reservation on one of the 10am days, or making a reservation for 10am on the day when the park opens at 8am (that way we can enjoy two hours in the park when the lines are shorter, and then have breakfast...but then I worry because I've heard the characters start leaving before the 11:30 end time).

But, given the information Skiingfast just provided, it sounds like we could make a 9:10am reservation on the MM Thursday (we would use our MM on Tuesday), and we'd have 50 minutes of eating/character time before the park even opened. How long should we expect a character breakfast to last for our 4 year-old daughter to get some good character interaction?

I just worry about using any early morning park hours eating breakfast. There already seems like there is too much stuff we need to get done in the first hour or two of the four mornings we will be there (Star Tours, TSMM, The Little Mermaid, getting WOC fastpasses, Soarin', and any other rides that are much easier if done early in the day).

 

[skiingfast]

But, given the information Skiingfast just provided, it sounds like we could make a 9:10am reservation on the MM Thursday (we would use our MM on Tuesday), and we'd have 50 minutes of eating/character time before the park even opened. How long should we expect a character breakfast to last for our 4 year-old daughter to get some good character interaction?

Having gone with a 4 year old it may be hard to get in and out in 50 minutes. The nice thing is you don't have to wait around when you go in early. They ask for your reservation, take you picture with a character(which they will later offer to sell you, so you might say no thanks and skip it if you want to save money and a couple minutes, and you pay and then sit very fast. But because of the great characters interaction there it could take take a while. And with so many characters if it's a little quiet they spend a lot of time at the table and come often so you may need to remind DD4 to eat, eat, eat so she is leaving hungry. It will be a little tricky so watch you watch.

FYI everyone, if you do this breakfast on a MM day, it doesn't require a MM credit on your tickets, you go in the character meal entrance gate #1 on the far left, not a MM gate.

 

[snesguy]

There was no mention of which park in the original post. Probably DL, but has anyone done a pre-park opening DCA breakfast?

There are pre-park opening breakfasts in DCA, but I haven't seen many posts on this. We were there last November and while waiting for rope drop on the GCH side at around 9:30 AM we saw bunches of people waived past the line going to character breakfasts at Ariel's Grotto. Security would stop them and ask them where they were going and the ones that said they were headed to the rope for rope drop were turned around and pointed to the back of the queue, but the ones that said they had a character breakfast were passed right through the rope.

This negatively impacted crowds at TSM after rope drop. I think there were a bunch of early breakfasters who cut out of breakfast to hit the ride. Sounds like a good plan. Crowds that day were huge (this was around Veterans Day), but there were way more people at TSM than were in front of us at the rope. As the rope mob was coverging around the pier on TSM I could look across and already see a crowd outside the ride, which I assume must have been from the early breakfast. We looked at the huge line, quickly growning larger, for TSM and changed direction to California Screamin', which turned out to be a good plan (no line). We were ahead of the crowds for the rest of the morning.

Has anyone here done a pre-park opening DCA breakfast. What are the earliest seating times?

 

[J. Galt]

Okay... I am still wondering how this works, exactly. I just called to make a ressie for Minnies before park opening on an MM day and the CM said that I would need to use my one MM credit to get into the park for breakfast. I realize that CMs don't always have the correct info, but I am nervous that I will burn up my MM for breakfast when I really want to use it on a different MM day. How do they scan the tickets and not take off your MM credit?

 

[skiingfast]

Okay... I am still wondering how this works, exactly. I just called to make a ressie for Minnies before park opening on an MM day and the CM said that I would need to use my one MM credit to get into the park for breakfast. I realize that CMs don't always have the correct info, but I am nervous that I will burn up my MM for breakfast when I really want to use it on a different MM day. How do they scan the tickets and not take off your MM credit?

The CM was wrong, it doesn't require or use your MM credit. You enter through the character dining entrance gate at the far left, it will have a sign saying Character Breakfast, not through any of the gates marked Morning Magic.

 

[mabdallah]

So when is the best time to do the minnie & friends breakfast on long hour days, When the park opens early and stays open late.... Is it still good to do first thing and then try to get into mm or a later time...

 

[J. Galt]

The CM was wrong, it doesn't require or use your MM credit. You enter through the character dining entrance gate at the far left, it will have a sign saying Character Breakfast, not through any of the gates marked Morning Magic.

So when do they scan your ticket? When you enter for b'fast, or after you have eaten and are ready to enter the park? Is there a possibility they would take off my MM credit for a Tuesday MM day (b/c I am going to b'fast) and I wouldn't then have it available for a Thursday MM.

 

[StyledSugar]

I'm not sure about MM but I know on the regular days (at least at the start of November) the first sitting is 20 minutes before the park opens. We have reservations for November 2nd at 9:40 and the park opens at 10am that day.

 

[starshine514]

FYI everyone, if you do this breakfast on a MM day, it doesn't require a MM credit on your tickets, you go in the character meal entrance gate #1 on the far left, not a MM gate.

Thanks for the gate info! We have M & F's scheduled for first seating (9:10. park opens at 10) on a MM day (we have APs and are not staying onsite, so no MM for us) and I totally forgot to ask where to go to get in!

I'm not sure about MM but I know on the regular days (at least at the start of November) the first sitting is 20 minutes before the park opens. We have reservations for November 2nd at 9:40 and the park opens at 10am that day.

Hey! We'll be doing the same breakfast, but the following day!

 

[tanyaewa]

We did a Minnie & Friends Plaza Inn bfast last Tuesday.
It was MM and park opened at 10. We had muffins at hotel and arrived at park for 9am opening. Then went to bfast reserv at 10:30 when park started to fill - we had 90 min of light crowds. Did lots in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and grabbed some fastpasses for later.
at 10:30 we had a whole hour+ tointeract and eat what was essentially an early lunch. The restaurant really empties out by 11am so it was great fro character interaction.
Minnie, eeyore, tigger, chip, dale, Cpt Hook, Perla