Character Dining

[grumpy 12]

We are doing character dining at Minnie and Friends and Goofy's kitchen. What is the best time in the morning to do them? As of right now Minnie and Friends will be on a Saturday.Do you also pay for it when you make the reservations or at the time of dining? We have never done this before since this is our first time to Disneyland. Thank you.

 

[awdsmama]

Do you have a magic morning with your park tickets and if so what day will you be using it?


I say go for the earliest reservation at Minnie and Friends that you can handle. When DS and I went in 2012, we had a 7:20 reservation and the park opened at 8am that day (7am for magic morning) and we were done eating, collecting ALL autographs, getting all the pictures etc and walked out the door a few moments before 8am while the crowd was coming up Main Street. It was nice to be ahead of that crowd to the lines

 

[grumpy 12]

We do have magic morning since we will be there 4 days but not sure which day we are using it or which park we will use. Thank you for the info.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

We do have magic morning since we will be there 4 days but not sure which day we are using it or which park we will use. Thank you for the info.

Parkhopper tickets only give you one magic morning, and it is available only at Disneyland. It's on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The only way to get early entry to DCA is to stay at one of the three on-site hotels, DLH, GCH, or PPH. If you stay onsite, then you can use early entry every day of your stay at whichever park is offering it each morning. DCA early entry days are Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

If you are considering visiting Minnie's during magic morning time, you probably want to use up your magic morning first. For one thing, you don't want to waste that special entry time eating breakfast. For another, if you are going in early just to eat at Minnie's but you haven't used your magic morning yet because you're trying to save it for later in your trip, it still may be marked as used at the gate when they scan your tickets. I haven't really seen a clear answer on this.

 

[BayGirl22]

Our preference is to do Early Entry/Magic Morning and then get the latest reservation possible at Minnie's, usually 10:40ish. That allows us to still get the popular rides (Fantasyland) out of the way first thing and then take a break. We have a small breakfast on the way to the park and are ready for a big brunch by then that will also serve as lunch. We do it differently at WDW where the Plaza Inn opens earlier, but at DL where its only 40 minutes early I'd rather go later.

I've heard concerns that going at the end of the meal will get you cold food and fewer characters but that was not the case for us. We got our food right when we arrived and still got seconds later (and the food isn't that exciting IMO anyway). When we left the place was empty and all the characters, yes like 12 of them, were in the middle of the restaurant and let us pose for a picture with them. So cool! Not sure if that happens regularly, we may have just gotten lucky, but it solidified the plan for me.

 

[pwillunlv]

Parkhopper tickets only give you one magic morning, and it is available only at Disneyland. It's on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The only way to get early entry to DCA is to stay at one of the three on-site hotels, DLH, GCH, or PPH. If you stay onsite, then you can use early entry every day of your stay at whichever park is offering it each morning. DCA early entry days are Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

If you are considering visiting Minnie's during magic morning time, you probably want to use up your magic morning first. For one thing, you don't want to waste that special entry time eating breakfast. For another, if you are going in early just to eat at Minnie's but you haven't used your magic morning yet because you're trying to save it for later in your trip, it still may be marked as used at the gate when they scan your tickets. I haven't really seen a clear answer on this.

This. For our upcoming trip, our strategy is going to be do EE (staying on property) for the rides then do Minnie's Breakfast 30 minutes after the park opens to all.

If you can confirm that you are not going to waste your MM by going to Minnie's Breakfast before DL opens, then by all means, that's also a good strategy. However, if you are not certain, it's not worth the risk.

 

[pwillunlv]

I've heard concerns that going at the end of the meal will get you cold food and fewer characters but that was not the case for us. We got our food right when we arrived and still got seconds later (and the food isn't that exciting IMO anyway). When we left the place was empty and all the characters, yes like 12 of them, were in the middle of the restaurant and let us pose for a picture with them. So cool! Not sure if that happens regularly, we may have just gotten lucky, but it solidified the plan for me.

I hope we have the same experience!

 

[sandysue]

Our preference is to do Early Entry/Magic Morning and then get the latest reservation possible at Minnie's, usually 10:40ish. That allows us to still get the popular rides (Fantasyland) out of the way first thing and then take a break.

This is our plan for our last day at DLR, which is a Thursday and we have EMH.