Breakfast or Lunch

[superme80]

I am trying to convince my mom that we need to do a Character meal when we go to Disneyland next year. Because of the prices I need to start working on her now! Do you recommend breakfast or lunch? DS will almost be 3, so I know we could probably distract him with food if the characters scare him. My nephew will almost be 5, so I don't think he will have a problem.

 

[jlwhitney]

My generally thought would be to do lunch unless your family are hugh breakfast eaters. DH and I tend to eat light breakfasts so it never seems worth shellling out 20+ bucks for breakfast to not eat a ton....

So we would rather eat very light to nothing at all and have an early lunch when we are hungary..

but if you love big breakfasts go then...or pick the meal that is the cheapest...

 

[wdwfan22]

We like to do a late character breakfast. I think that is a good value. We just eat a bar or something in the room to tide us over til 10ish then eat a big breakfast. That way we are set for most of the day. We can usually get by with a snack later or a light dinner.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

How about brunch? We love going to Minnie's after a couple hours enjoying rides.

 

[pixiewings71]

Well the only character lunch is at Ariel's Grotto so keep that in mind. We like to do Minnie's bfast at about 10:15, you still get bfast foods but you see loads of characters and it's tons of fun.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Well the only character lunch is at Ariel's Grotto so keep that in mind. We like to do Minnie's bfast at about 10:15, you still get bfast foods but you see loads of characters and it's tons of fun.

Yes Ariels is the only place for lunch. They all serve breakfast (brunch for Goofy). And only Goofy's has dinner.

 

[Flitterific]

My generally thought would be to do lunch unless your family are hugh breakfast eaters. DH and I tend to eat light breakfasts so it never seems worth shellling out 20+ bucks for breakfast to not eat a ton....

So we would rather eat very light to nothing at all and have an early lunch when we are hungary..

but if you love big breakfasts go then...or pick the meal that is the cheapest...

Ditto to what whitney said. DBF and I generally do not eat breakfast so we usually have brunch at Goofy's Kitchen (around 11am). That way, we can squeeze in some rides in the morning when the parks are not as busy

 

[Dobie]

I would vote for lunch as well. Why waste primo morning ride time eating?

 

[CindyH]

I think it also depends on which characters your kids like - many younger kids don't know about characters like Chip N Dale, Goofy, Pluto or Donald - they just know Lightning McQueen and Woody & Buzz!

To bridge the gap between breakfast and lunch, I suggest doing a late breakfast at the Plaza Inn with Minne & Friends - lots of characters, and you can skip lunch.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

If you're there on a weekend, Goofy's often serves brunch until 2 PM, so you could go at a more traditional lunchtime if that's what you want to do. I think Goofy's closes at noon on weekdays.

 

[superme80]

Thanks everyone! My son is more familiar with the older cartoons and has never seen a Pixar film. Not too sure about my nephew. Will talk to my sister and then we can gang up on my mom!!!!

 

[DisSarahK]

I agree with others--go for one of the latest seatings at Minnie and Friends for breakfast. That's what we did two years ago and what we'll likely do again this September.

We had one of the last two breakfast seatings there and, according to my records, prior to the meal we rode on Dumbo (twice), Teacups, Buzz Lightyear, Astro Orbitor, and the Canal Boats. Stopping to eat after doing those rides was perfect as my children were ready for a break.

We saw Minnie, Tigger, Pooh, Fairy Godmother, Captain Hook, Chip, and Dale.

Edited to add: If one of the characters is scary to your three year old, the characters are REALLY good about going away as soon as you (or they) realize they're causing a problem. My 2.5 year old did NOT like Captain Hook--as soon as we all realized this, Captain Hook vanished from our table and the Fairy Godmother quickly came over to console him. It was wonderful!

 

[superme80]

My son is strange. The fair godmother might scare him and Captain Hook might need to console him. He loves the villains!