Chef Mickey breakfast times - need opinions

[luvmyguyz]

I am traveling with 12 people for our November trip, but at my 180+10 day, I was not aware that my inlaws were joining us. So I booked a 9:05 AM ADR at Chef Mickey's for 10 people, and ever since finding out my inlaws were coming, I have had no success in adding 2 people to that reservation. I know I can show up with all 12 of us and hope for the best (especially since there is an infant in the party who wouldn't really be taking up a seat), but I'm not a big fan of doing things like that.

I was able to make a 7:20 AM ADR at Chef Mickey's for 12 people, and my mom also made one for 11:05 AM for 12 people.

Personally, I would prefer the super early ADR because that will get us to MK by rope drop. However, I am concerned about the bus situation - what time would we have to leave AoA to make it to Contemporary for such an early ADR? Also, do buses even leave AoA for MK that early? Or would we need to take a taxi? I think my family would hate this option, but I think it's the best of the 3.

The other option is to hit MK for RD, then take a break and have breakfast at 11 - but with breakfast ending at 11:30, I am concerned the food won't be as good. (Do they put fresh food out so close to the end of the meal?) Plus I'm not sure how my family will react to having to wait so long to eat breakfast. On the other hand, it would serve more as a brunch and keep us full longer - probably until dinner time.

I need to cancel 2 of these ADRs. Please give me your opinions on which you would keep if you were in my situation.

(BTW, I will post the cancellations on the November cancellation thread.)

 

[angelbear425]

I would personally go for the 7:20 one. I had a 7am reservation at CM and as much as I hated getting up at 5:30 to get ready, I loved being there that early and getting in/out quickly. We were out of there by 8:10 since we were in the first seating group. Granted there were only 2 of us, not 12.

As far as transportation, I believe buses begin running at 6:30. I'm sure the resort would accomodate you to get you to your reservation in time. We had our car with us so drove to the restaurants when we had super early ADR. The only time we didn't drive in the am was when we went to CP in MK.

I also saw you talking about getting to MK for rope drop. How early do they do that? I assume MK will be opening at 9? If the reservation is at 7:20, it doesn't mean you will be seated as soon as you get there. You may have to wait about 10-15 minutes (I had to wait 10 minutes before being seated when I was there). I would also plan at least an hour to eat, but maybe longer if there are 12 of you.

 

[Traveliz]

Either time is good but we love the late seatings! We go to the park at rope drop, do all the attractions that should be done earlier, try to grab a fp on our way out of the park for after breakfast. The food will be fine. They will be refreshing it right up until the last guest leaves. We find the character interaction to be sometimes more specialized too. We have had characters sit down and color with is and the last time we did this at cm there were about five families left and they let us each have a group photo with all of the characters.

We have done the early time at cm a couple of times and once we had to leave before they seated us because they were slow in seating and we had your reservations we couldn't miss.

Liz

 

[weedles]

Either time is good but we love the late seatings! We go to the park at rope drop, do all the attractions that should be done earlier, try to grab a fp on our way out of the park for after breakfast. The food will be fine. They will be refreshing it right up until the last guest leaves. We find the character interaction to be sometimes more specialized too. We have had characters sit down and color with is and the last time we did this at cm there were about five families left and they let us each have a group photo with all of the characters.

We have done the early time at cm a couple of times and once we had to leave before they seated us because they were slow in seating and we had your reservations we couldn't miss.

Liz

Im glad to hear that! We have a late (11a) ressie planning on sleeping in bf mvmcp and was worried the late seating would be stinky

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We've had the 7am before and it was great! We were out early enough- even with bday cake- to get to Epcot before rope drop. As for the buses, I understand they start running around 6:30am - and this one opening so early is a big reason why. While we were staying at the Contemporary, we had several people seated around us who were staying at other resorts and they were able to make it in time by bus service.

 

[luvmyguyz]

So it looks like mixed reviews - I think we might be leaning toward the later reservation. I can't imagine being able to get 12 people to a 7:20 am ADR (even though that is the one I would prefer, if it was up to me!!)

Thanks for your advice. I'm still holding out hope that we can add 2 to our 9:00 reservation, but it doesn't look good.

 

[denneg]

We tend to do super early ADR's because my husband is a very early riser, so by 6 we're usually up and about (totally against my wishes, but not much he can do to be quiet in a studio). On our last trip, we asked a bus driver what to do in the morning to get to the Contemporary, and he said to just go to the bus stop about 6:30 and tell the driver you are trying to get to a breakfast. He said the first bus would be whichever park was opening at 8 AM, they start the earliest. We expected to just have to take the bus to a park and then reroute back to the hotel, but since the first bus was MK, he dropped us right off at the Contemporary even though we offered to get off and take the monorail. Even in the instances where we had to get dropped off at a park and reroute, it wasn't a problem to get to the reservation on time, or within a few minutes, and the staff was always understanding if we were late due to using the transportation.