Breakfast strategies; considering extra magic hours, and park crowds.

[kp22090]

I am traveling to WDW the first week of August. I am on the Deluxe Disney plan and am planning out my restaurant reservations. My biggest challenge right now is what time to eat breakfast. We will be staying at the Wilderness lodge. I am debating whether or not to eat there at 7am-8am and then travel to the parks at 9am, or go to the parks at 8 am then eat at around 10 or 10:30. This would allow us to get to the park earlier and stock up on a round or two of fast passes, then return for breakfast. However, not knowing the park hours, it may not be worth getting to the parks this early and doing this. My brother and I want to make the most of our trip. I am afraid, however, that if we wait until 9 or 9:30 to after we eat, then travel to the parks, they will be crowded and fast passes will be available for more afternoon hours. Can anyone shed some light on this subject?
Also, what if we decide to make a reservation at the parks for breakfast? How early does transportation run from the wilderness to the parks? How about transportation to other resorts if we decide to eat there? How early does transportation start via boat and bus from the wilderness?


Any information anyone can provide is greatly appreciated!

 

[Tam1067]

We'll be at the GF the first part of August, and I've thought a lot about this very issue.

We plan to have a few character breakfasts as early as possible. In most cases, those are 8:05 a.m. in the parks, or 7:30 a.m. at resorts. We do our best to be at rope drop or to arrive at the park very soon after rope drop. If you have a really early breakfast, you can finish your breakfast before the park opens and then be first in line ready to go on the rides.

So 4 of our 8 mornings are going to be early ADRs for breakfast. The other 4 mornings, we'll do snacks for breakfast and then get to the parks at opening.

The early breakfast busses do start running I think well before 7:00 a.m.; however, I certainly would not try to make a really early breakfast at another resort if I wanted to make rope drop and if I were relying only on Disney transportation. If I were you, I'd either do breakfast at your resort or in the park you intend to be in for that morning, and I'd get the first breakfast I could.

You also could do your other plan, and that's to get to EMH at 8:00 and then do breakfast a few hours later. I see two problems with this plan, though. First, you will miss out on some of the best touring hours in the parks. As the heat rises in August, so do the crowds, and I find that we do the best in the morning and evening, so I hate to give up those valuable morning hours for eggs. Second, I find it very hard to make EMH everyday--though we try. In theory, it sounds good, but in reality, it's often a challenge.

 

[kp22090]

Thanks for the very informative follow up. When you say at the end of your explanation, "there is one problem with my plan" are you meaning that EMH between 8-9am are the most valuable touring times in the park?

So basically, you think it's better to try to get to the parks for EMH, then make a ADR for appx 10 or 1030 am? BTW I'm from NWI, I see you are from the Chicago area.

 

[hmillerbarilla]

For mornings with EMH I've found the best is to make your ADR for the last breakfast seating. We'll do EMH and enjoy the park for an hour, then hit some other things we want to do with minimal wait times and then get to our ressie. By this time my kiddes are ready for "lunch" since we've been at the park since before 8 and now it's 10:30.

On a NON EMH morning, I've done the breakfast BEFORE the park opening. I've done the 8:00 breakfast so I'm out of there by 9:00 at opening. Then again, enjoy the park before it is swarming with people.

Bottom line: Never miss the first hour that the park is open whether it is EMH or not. That is your most valuable time. Enjoy!

 

[WDWAtLast]

Be sure and find a list of the rides that are open on EMH days - the whole park is not open - just selected rides. Since our girls are younger (5 and 7) MK is the only park we plan to make EMH plan for. But since you are probably planning to ride all the rides we are skipping (ToT, EE, etc) your EMH parks would be different from ours!!

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Totally agree with hmillerbarilla. We pretty much did things this way every day for our whole trip and it worked out great. Taking a break at around 10:30 gives some time to regroup and plan out the rest of the day, too (i.e. stay in the current park or try another, etc, depending upon how crowded things are....)

I'll add that I think the FIRST 2 hours after EMH park opening are the most valuable. The EMH hour is obvious, but being in the park and being able to snag fastpasses and/or get in line for non-EMH rides right as they open is also valuable.

 

[Tam1067]

Thanks for the very informative follow up. When you say at the end of your explanation, "there is one problem with my plan" are you meaning that EMH between 8-9am are the most valuable touring times in the park?

So basically, you think it's better to try to get to the parks for EMH, then make a ADR for appx 10 or 1030 am? BTW I'm from NWI, I see you are from the Chicago area.

I'm from the south suburbs, right near I-80, so we're almost neighbors!

The very earliest you can get to a park is the best touring time. Whether that time is EMH or regular opening, it's going to be good. It's just really hard to get there for EMH everyday, but if you can do it, then it's great.

I also hate to waste those morning hours eating. I mean I like my Mickey waffles, but those early park hours are great.