Character b-fasts - when to go?

[mommyof2boys1girl]

Looking for some advice here. Wondering whether to do character breakfasts early in the morning, or later on (brunchish)? How early are they open, anyway?

We are looking at Goofy's Kitchen, and either Lilo and Stitch or Minnie and Friends. But I am unsure of when to make a ps. Are there more characters around earlier (do they leave for their other haunts as the park opens up and gets busier?) Or do things not pick up till later, when more people are around? Are you hustled out pretty quickly to make room for other guests? How long is acceptable to stay and see the characters, get pics and siggys and such?

We are a family of early risers (no one sleeps past 6am!) so being up and moving for an early breakfast isn't a problem for us. My kids eat the most at breakfast, and are used to eating early. Other meals of the day they are too busy playing to eat much!

Any advice would be appreciated!
Carm

 

[mindylovesmickey]

I would call the dining number and just ask. I believe the time they open varies depending on the location and the time the park opens, in the case of Minnie's. We are doing a 9am seating for Lilo and Stitch, and am just hoping that we kind of hit right in the middle and we'll get to see lots of characters.

I honestly can't remember what time our seating was for Minnie's last year, I want to think it was 9 or 10, it was raining on our way there and by the time we got there and got in, seated, ate, and came out it was a beautiful sunny day, and ended up being perfect. And we saw quite a few characters, Rabbit, Peter Pan, Fairy Godmother, Minnie, Tigger, Eeyore, Captain Hook, and Chip N Dale came right as we were leaving.

 

[bumbershoot]

For each of our character b'fasts we were told that we had 90 minutes. PLENTY of time. Too much time, really, for us.

We did the Lilo b'fast really early. Frankly, we're all late sleepers if given a choice, and to eat heavy food that early really hurt our tums. DS barely ate b/c it was too early for him. We were also not in the best moods that early.

We had the 11:30 seating for the Storyteller's Cafe character b'fast, and that worked well. We had something small for b'fast and maybe an extra granola bar, played at the parks for a few hours, then made our way back for a nice heavy meal when we were fully awake. That worked out better for us.

disney dining isn't really going to know the ins and outs, but I found out from the servers at Storyteller's that Chip and Dale don't come out after 10:30. So if you have an 11 or later seating, and *maybe* if you have a 10:30 seating, you won't see them because they have other obligations. That's the only one I know of like that, though.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

We did an early seating for Lilo & Stitch on a day when the park opened later. Our PS was for 8AM, I think, and the park opened at 10AM. It worked out perfectly for getting there on time. (We use the 1.5 hour rule, too. Plus we had to return to our hotel room to clean syrup off the kids and hange clothes... )

We did an early morning PS for Storytellers as well, for the same reason. However, we did a late morning PS for Minnie & Friends. I figured we'd be better off doing rides first thing, then as the crowds picked up, head for food. Also hoped it would save us the cost of a lunch on the same day, and it did; we were able to have an afternoon snack that tided us over until an early dinner.

We aren't big breakfast eaters, but on the morning where we had a late breakfast, we had cereal or cereal bar or something light before we left our room.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Last month we had PS's on a Sunday for Lilo and Stitch at 10:30 and besides us, there was about 5 other families eating. And I think Lilo and Stitch were bored because they spent A LOT of time with us and just walked around messing with the families.. There was good, solid interaction because it was already late...

IMO, I think if you go either real early, or late you can't go wrong..