Character breakfast @ MK and not staying on site

[Tera]

I know this is a weird question but does anyone know how it works if we wanted to do, say a 8:00am character breakfast at The Crystal Palace but we are not staying at any of the disney hotels? Do we still just park and take the monorail over? I know you have to stay at the parks hotels in order to get the early admission I also heard that if we do that (the early breakfast) we can stay in the park and do rides before the park opens.

 

[Lovin' Disney]

Yes, you just park at the MK and take the monorail over. Then at the gate you will go to the line that says reservations and check in with the CM who has a list of that morning's reservations.

As for riding the rides early, NO. If your reservation is for 8 am, there is no guarantee you will be seated at 8am. Character dining averages between 1 and 1.5 hours per meal, so it is unlikely you would be out of the restaurant before 9am.

Also, the areas headed toward the rides are roped off, so no one will get in before 9am.

 

[Hopefully]

Everyone is eligble to book an ADR before park opening. There will be a special turnstiles open just for those folks. It is often at the far right, There will be a CM there to check off your name.
You would park in the MK lot at the TTC. Then you can take the Monorail over to the MK.
No one is allowed beyond the end of Main Street until the park opens. Folks with breakfast reservations are not allowed in to ride rides before the park opens to everyone.
Have Fun.

 

[gabzee]

It doesn't matter if you are staying onsite or offsite. You are able to make pre-park opening ADRs no matter what. You would simply park and take the monerail over. Your breakfast would last 1-1.5 hours. It is not likely that you would be done before 9am but even if you were you would not be allowed to ride anything. The areas are roped off until park opening.

 

[Tera]

Thanks guys for the information, that really helps.

Hopefully - What is the TTC? We've only done one other trip to MK in 2008 and not familiar with all the codes.

 

[gabzee]

TTC is the transportation and ticket center. You will park in the MK parking lot and then take the monerail at the TTC to MK.

 

[jewelzmo]

We are driving to Disneyworld but staying on property. Should we drive to the parks or take the buses provided. I keep reading that it takes 45 minutes to get to the parks by bus and I dont understand why. We are staying at CSR.


Posted from DisBoards Disney Forum Reader for Android

 

[Tera]

Thanks for the info. I'm sure there is a thread that has all the codes but haven't found that yet. Feel so inadequate


Jewel - Not sure. We've never stayed onsite. HOpefully someone else can answer that for you.

 

[ZoZo]

I know this is a weird question but does anyone know how it works if we wanted to do, say a 8:00am character breakfast at The Crystal Palace but we are not staying at any of the disney hotels? Do we still just park and take the monorail over? I know you have to stay at the parks hotels in order to get the early admission I also heard that if we do that (the early breakfast) we can stay in the park and do rides before the park opens.

As others have said, you can't do any of the rides before the park opens, even with an early breakfast ADR. One of the benefits, though, is that you can often get a great photo of your family on Main Street before the park officially opens, with the castle in the background -- and (if you're lucky!) no other people in your photo because the park isn't open yet!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We are driving to Disneyworld but staying on property. Should we drive to the parks or take the buses provided. I keep reading that it takes 45 minutes to get to the parks by bus and I dont understand why. We are staying at CSR.


Posted from DisBoards Disney Forum Reader for Android

It CAN take 45 minutes to get to the park. If you have to wait 20 minutes (or more) for a bus and then you are going to one of the parks farthest from your hotel, then it might take that long.

Also, we have had the 8:05 or 8:10 CP ADR the past 3 trips, and we have always make it out in time for RD... and we saw all of the characters. We do always ask for our check pretty soon after sitting down. As others have mentioned, you are held near the castle until the park is opened.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We are driving to Disneyworld but staying on property. Should we drive to the parks or take the buses provided. I keep reading that it takes 45 minutes to get to the parks by bus and I dont understand why. We are staying at CSR.


Posted from DisBoards Disney Forum Reader for Android

This is really personal preference. We live an hour from WDW. Obviously, we have our own vehicle. Driving everywhere isn't what we want in a vacation. We park our car upon arrival & don't see it again until it's time to go home. We have no problem waiting on the buses. Plus, the buses drop you off right at the parks. You don't have to deal with the trams from the lots. This is a big advantage at MK. That said, some people rent a car to keep from taking Disney transportation. I suppose you could try it both ways to see which you prefer.

 

[catne]

um, we have done the 8:05 Crystal Palace breakfast many times and it has never, ever taken 1 to 1.5 hours. 40-45 minutes more like it. And a couple of times, we even saw the characters twice in that 40 minutes. If you have later breakfast reservations once the place starts filling up... like 8:45, 9 or 9:30 then yes, you may be there an hour or more to see all the characters. But those early reservations are ideal for eating, seeing characters & getting out by 9:00.

They do not FILL the restaurant at 8:05. They stagger the reservations and seatings so as not to overwhelm the capababilites of the wait-staff (they can't get juice for all of the tables in their area at exactly the same time...so right at opening, they fill maybe 1/5 of the restaurant.) The up-shot of this means in that first hour, the characters do not have to stop at every table because most of the tables are empty the first time they go 'round. Even when we leave at 8:45 or 8:50 the place is still not full.

You will probably get out of the restaurant before 9:00...and they will allow you to go to one of the inside-the-park rope-drop areas (they have rope-drops set up at the entrance to Fantasyland...you can walk through the castle, but they will hold you at the other end.) They also have a rope at Tomorrowland direction and Frontierland/Adventureland direction...so you cannot even get to those areas until the park officially opens.

So no riding rides. But you are close to the area you want to be once the park opens, so you will among the first in line at rides. And awesome opportunity to get castle pictures without a lot of people in the pictures...the park is not completely empty of course, because Crystal Palace and the Castle breakfast do draw a lot of people. But there will only be a few people in area going to & from.

If you're not staying on site, though, make sure you book the 8:05 breakfast on a day that does NOT have Extra Magic Hours for Disney hotel guests. Because the park will fill at 8:00 AM with Disney hotel guests, and by the time you get out of breakfast, even though it will still be before the 9:00 regular opening you will still find long lines at the rides because Disney hotel guests will have been in the park for an hour! Go on a day when the park opens at 9, and no early opening for Disney hotel guests.