Character Breakfast AND Rope Drop??

[StephC1217]

We have a bunch of character breakfasts that we want to do on our next (first!) trip. But we also want to do early morning touring- make rope drop- tour until lunch and then go back to the resort for a rest.]

If you make early morning ADRs for character breakfast (in the park), are you done in time to make rope drop and start touring?? Or is that rushing it?? Should I save character breakfasts for days/mornings when we dont have a park planned....??

The meals we want to do are CRT, CP, 1900 park fare (that would prob be on a day off? but its a must do- DS4 is obssessed with Alice in Wonderland!), Garden Grill (prob lunch so thats not a problem), maybe Tusker House, Chef Mickeys.... ahhh- the list goes on!

 

[Carmell226]

Crystal Palace, Park Fare and Tusker House are all buffets so it is really up to you how long you want to wait around for characters. We always do CP as our first breakfast on our first day at MK and we usually aim for an 8:05 ressie, typically the park opens at 9am (unless EMH) and that gives us plenty of time.

We did Tusker House on our last trip and saw all the characters within about 45 min, we had an 8:20 ressie and the park opened at 9:00, we left Tusker House and walked right on the Safari, then went to Expedition Everest, got FPs and walked on.

We also did Park Fare on our last trip, we did it on an MK day and we had the earliest ressie available there (maybe 8:30??), we got to MK about 15 min after rope drop which doesn't make too much of a difference.

We haven't done breakfast at CRT or Chef Mickey's so I can't speak from experience on those too, but the bottom line is that you can make is as long or short as you chose. If the characters have not all been around by the time you are ready to go then you just decide if you want to see them or not. I would caution against TOO many character breakfasts though, give yourself a few days to rest in the morning. Alot of the places you want to go do lunch and dinner aswell. Have a great time!!!

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

yes it can be done.

It's always a good idea to ask the waitress for the check first thing - as in when you sit down and are ordering your drinks. Then you can take care of it up front and as soon as you are done eating you can leave. Big timesaver!

For Tusker House you want to book as close to 8 am as possible on a non-emh day. You should be out before 9 and then you're right there by the safari if you want to get on it (when allowed) or grab a FP for later.

CRT and CP both have early before the park opens reservation times - again aim for 8 am.

CM starts breakfast at 7 am!

For 1900 - we like eating there too - we schedule it on an MK EMH day (we stay on site). Eat something in the room beforehand - go to the park and have fun then hop on the monorail and have a late 'breakfast' (we count it as lunch) at 1900. This September our reservation is at 11:00 am.

 

[RMulieri]

It can be done..Providing you get seated on time etc.We have made it out in time, and made it out late..All depends.If free dining is going on I have noticed our meals are backed up a little more

 

[StephC1217]

Crystal Palace, Park Fare and Tusker House are all buffets so it is really up to you how long you want to wait around for characters. We always do CP as our first breakfast on our first day at MK and we usually aim for an 8:05 ressie, typically the park opens at 9am (unless EMH) and that gives us plenty of time.

Do you feel that you usually see most of the characters or do you you usually end up leaving before they all come around?

Alot of the places you want to go do lunch and dinner aswell. Have a great time!!!

Are there ones that you recommend that you should definitely do breakfast or that you should definitely do lunch/dinner (i.e. is the breakfast food better at CP then lunch or are the characters better at CRT in morning?)

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Carmell226]

At CP we always see the all the characters, at Tusker House one time we did end up leaving before seeing Donald and at Park Fare we saw all the characters twice last time!
The Dinner at Park Fare is Cinderella NOT Alice in Wonderland so make sure you do breakfast there for sure. The characters at CP are the same for B,L and D but we have only done breakfast there so I can't say much about it. And Tusker House is only characters at Breakfast.
We find the food at CRT to be mediocre at best, but you are going for the characters and the experience. We have done lunch there and enjoyed the character interaction. Chef Mickey's has the same characters at dinner as they do at breakfast, we really didn't love the food there but I think everyone should try everything once to make up your own opinion on it. And unless something has changed the Garden Grill is only dinner, this is family style (not buffet) but if you are looking for good character interaction in Epcot I would try Akershus Lunch or Dinner opposed to Garden Grill, you will get alot of princess interaction that you won't find anywhere else.

 

[StephC1217]

It's always a good idea to ask the waitress for the check first thing - as in when you sit down and are ordering your drinks. Then you can take care of it up front and as soon as you are done eating you can leave. Big timesaver!.

Thanks for the tip! I had no idea you could do that! I assume that is just for buffets?

And thanks for all the great info on times for ressies! That helps soooo much! I love researching everything for our vacation- but trying to schedule everything and coordinate is driving me mad!!

 

[Carmell226]

Looks like you will be there right around when we will! We are aiming for Oct 15-22 2011

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We were in WDW last week. Our first day we had an 8:05 CP reservation. We were the first table that the characters visited. We had no problem eating, seeing all 4 characters, and making it to RD. We were actually on the first Dumbo ride. I loved entering the park before it opened and decided this will be a new tradition for us.

We had a 7:50 ADR at Ohana on our last day in the parks. The food was served VERY quickly, and the characters came around in a timely manner. We took our time with breakfast (shopped in the gift shop at the Poly) and arrived at MK just after RD. This was our third day in MK, so we weren't on a "schedule" just soaking up the atmosphere and revisiting some favorite rides.

Both of my boys are early risers..... usually around 6-6:30, so the early ADR character breakfast works great for us.

 

[StephC1217]

Looks like you will be there right around when we will! We are aiming for Oct 15-22 2011

Awesome! We are aiming for Oct 8-16!