Character breakfast help

[salemnews]

We’re heading back down to the world in January with the group of six, mother-in-law father-in-law my wife and myself are 21-month-old son and a four month old daughter. We’re looking for a good breakfast place where there are characters. Any help would be great. What’s your favorite what’s your worst

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Garden Grill at Epcot is our favorite. Delicious food, great character interaction, and the food is served family style versus buffet (which IMO is much easier with young kids). You'll meet Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale.

For classic characters, Tusker House or Hollywood and Vine. TH food is better of the 2, but we've had good meals at H&V too and the characters there are so much fun in their seasonal attire.

For princesses I would suggest Cinderella's Royal Table. It's on the pricier side, but nothing beats eating inside the castle!

 

[Calee]

Hollywood and Vine is not classic characters at breakfast, just FYI. It is Disney Jr. characters, and then classic characters at lunch at dinner

We LOVE Crystal Palace. Pooh characters, good food, pretty setting. We are trying Garden Grill next time and are excited about that.

 

[sponica]

With young kids, I recommend Ohana's stitch breakfast (you still get mickey/pluto) and Garden Grill breakfast in Epcot, they are both served family style so no getting up to get more food from the buffet lines like a lot of the other character meals. I think Garden Grill is much better experience.

 

[Dis703]

Our worst character breakfast experience (and also our worst meal experience overall) was Ohana breakfast. Fun characters but food variety and quality was very poor. More what I expect to get at a quick service location but with a long wait as well. It didn't help they seemed rather unprepared and inexperienced with food allergies that weren't top 8, but I know that varies chef to chef.

Our favorite is Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club. Lots of variety and good food with fun characters that seem to make the rounds more frequently than some of the more popular locations in the parks. And they did an amazing job with our kid's food allergies (I know OP didn't mention allergies but for others who may read I like to include that info).

 

[sullyfam]

With kids as young as yours I'm guessing that character type doesn't matter much and you're more so looking for a good experience. I would recommend with little ones like that doing something at one of the parks you're already planning to visit to cut down on travel time. We love Crystal Palace at MK for breakfast; that's our favorite. It's especially great for small kids since it has the Pooh characters. Tusker House at AK has the classic characters as does Garden Grill at Epcot. Both are good options. Another option would be Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios which has Disney Jr characters at breakfast time.

There is also Akershus in Epcot which has princesses and of course, the castle at MK has princesses as well. Considering your toddler is a boy, perhaps those wouldn't be as exciting for him.

There are also various character breakfasts at the resorts, Beach Club has Cape May Cafe, Ohana at the Poly, 1900 Park Fare at the Grand, Chef Mickey's at Contemporary and Trattoria al Forno on the Boardwalk has the Bon Voyage breakfast. However, with kids that young, I would not go crazy trying to get to any of these places unless you are either staying at one of the resorts or very close by. The travel logistics especially in the early morning can be a pain. Have fun!

 

[Kae]

Cape May. And if you can do a later time say 10-10:30 even better.

Kae

 

[DisneyWishes14]

With such young children, I would recommend doing a seated character meal as opposed to a buffet. I found when doing character breakfasts with young children there was a lot of up and down for the adults to get food and make sure everyone was taken care of. It just felt a bit chaotic and not a lot of fun. I would consider Akershus, Garden Grill, 'Ohana breakfast, CRT, Trattoria al Forno and Storybook Dining. You don't mention where you are staying, but if you are staying at BWI, Poly or WL, the character meals there would be convenient. If not, I would do a park meal - Garden Grill, CRT or Akershus.

 

[22Tink]

Garden Grill is our favourite character breakfast. The characters are great and the food is delicious. I also appreciate that it's served at your table family style rather than a true buffet. It makes for a much more relaxing meal.

 

[rg35]

1900 Park Fare is by far the best. The Mad Hatter beats any other WDW Character by a long shot.
Bon Voyage Breakfast is probably my second favorite.

Your kids are very young and won't remember much, but are they scared of "fur" characters (such as the Easter Bunny), like many young ones are? If so I'd go with one of the above options because there are 0 fur characters at Bon Voyage and only 2 at 1900 Park Fare (Winnie the pooh and Tigger)

 

[westie55]

Be prepared for your son to be afraid of characters. My boys were fine as infants, then afraid as toddlers. We still do character meals but just be warned Some toddlers love them, some don't. My favorite character breakfast is Cape May at the Beach Club. I prefer fur characters over face characters so princess meals aren't as appealing. Tusker House, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Chef Mickey's, and Ohana are all decent. I haven't tried Hollywood and Vine. A lot of people rave over 1900 Park Fare but I prefer the others previously listed.

 

[rosiebean]

With kids your age and four adults, I’d concentrate on food quality as much as characters. The gods at Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria was head and shoulders above that at our other character meals that were family style or buffet. And the character interaction was among the best I’ve experienced and witnessed. Flynn was AMAZING and worth the visit even if the food had been meh. Best of all was that it was not super crowded or crazy, because it is not in a park.

 

[chimoe]

We loved Ohana and also 1900 Park Fare good. Epcot was great but we ate lunch there. Since most of your group is adults the 2 above would be a great option.

 

[JZCubed]

We’re heading back down to the world in January with the group of six, mother-in-law father-in-law my wife and myself are 21-month-old son and a four month old daughter. We’re looking for a good breakfast place where there are characters. Any help would be great. What’s your favorite what’s your worst

Princesses & Princes - Trattoria al Forno. Table service, not buffet.

Alice. 1900 Park Fare. A 'better' buffet.

Goofy & friends. Cape May Cafe. Another 'better' buffet.

 

[TOBS2010]

We love Ohana for breakfast---often we take a Minnie Van there in the morning and then monorail over to the MK right after. Another great find we had on our trip last summer was dinner at 1900 Park Fare---lots of food variety and great kid options are available. For dinner there it is Cinderella, Prince Charming and usually the Step Sisters and/or Evil step mother. I know the food isn't usually great compared to other places---but if you are looking for somewhere with the fab five--Chef Mickey's is where you might want to consider at the Contemporary.

Are you staying on property? I would consider what location is the easiest to get to with kids at your age and pick a time when you know doesn't interfere with nap schedules so that you can get some good photo ops. When my kids were that age, I would always schedule character meals a few days in so that I had time to point out from afar or even test out some in-park meet and greets to test out their level of fear of them. If you have a child that screams bloody murder the whole time when in any distance from Mickey---it might get you to reconsider your plans and you can cancel them 24 hours out still.

 

[`OhanaHare]

1900 Park Fare at the GF

 

[Pirate6518]

We really enjoyed Crystal Palace before park opening. Food was good, characters were great, in-laws and is enjoyed our daughters reaction with the characters. Was hands down best we’ve done for breakfast so far.

 

[MudQueen22]

With littles, we liked Garden Grill (Epcot) and 'Ohana's (Polynesian Resort). Both meals are all-you-care-to-enjoy food, but they bring it to your table so that you don't risk missing the characters.
At Garden Grill, we saw Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. And we saw them each more than once.
At Polynesian, we saw Lilo & Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto.