Concern over late seatings at character breakfast

[disneygrandma]

We have resv's at both Minnie & Friends & Surfs Up on 2 different days, 1 at 10:40 and 1 at 10:50. (wish there were character lunches) I don't want to go earlier and take away from our morning park hours. However, now I'm getting worried about whether or not the characters will all rotate by us since our resv's are near closing time. And when they do come by, will they be rushing thru in order to "clock out"?

What's your experience been with characters when eating a late breakfast?

Thanks for the help.

 

[E&Cmom]

Not Minnie and Friends, but we had an 11AM reservation and had no problem with character interaction. We saw 8 characters and had great interaction. Granted this was over a year ago. We were close to the door where the leave and come in and the character would leave and miraculously ( lol) return a few minutes later. I was facing the door so I kept watching them.

 

[3monkeys4me]

It was a couple of years ago now but we had no issues with our Minnie and Friends reservation. It was at around 10:30. We met 11 characters and had great interaction with all of them. Minnie led my 3 year old to a larger area where they could dance and Max played fun tricks with the kids. It is our favorite fir great interaction.

 

[rms123]

It's not one of yours, but we had a late reservation at storytellers and saw 1 character. Kids were devastated. We talked to management and got a free meal the next day to try again, but still. I won't get s late reservation anywhere after that.

 

[disneygrandma]

Seeing, and interacting, with the characters is the main reason we would be going. We could get something to eat much more quickly at many other locations. Without the characters, it would be valuable morning park time thrown away.

Hoping to hear from others who have been to these breakfast locations recently, and had similar times as ours.

Thanks again.

 

[keltiesmom]

Last year we did both of those and had a late reservation at Minnie and friends and did walk up for surfs up. They were both great, we didn't have the last reservation at Minnie's but it was late and we got to see everyone. We did ask to grab a picture with the fairy godmother on the way out since she hadn't made it to our table yet. With surfs up we got there just about at close, the restaurant was pretty empty and the food was getting old but the interaction was amazing. Many of the characters hung around our table, stitch spent probably 20 mins off and on with us. We got there in time for the last surf lesson with Mickey, we can't wait to go back! I hope you have a great time.

 

[bouds]

We did a 10:30 reservation at Minnie's a month ago. 11 of 12 characters came to our table, some twice. Great interactions. They were still coming around when we left at 11:50. We were sitting inside, not too far from the door where they go in and out for breaks. I also did a late reservation at Goofy's about 6months ago. Same deal (though it wasn't as late).

 

[bouds]

We did a 10:30 reservation at Minnie's a month ago. 11 of 12 characters came to our table, some twice. Great interactions. They were still coming around when we left at 11:50. We were sitting inside, not too far from the door where they go in and out for breaks. I also did a late reservation at Goofy's about 6months ago. Same deal (though it wasn't as late).

 

[bumbershoot]

We have not had that sort of problem at Minnie's or Surf's Up.

But...

It's not one of yours, but we had a late reservation at storytellers and saw 1 character. Kids were devastated. We talked to management and got a free meal the next day to try again, but still. I won't get s late reservation anywhere after that.

At Storytellers, the characters leave early. If you make a reservation with a CM the CMs are supposed to tell you that (and tell you and tell you again). They've had the same thing for years now.

 

[CaptBane]

Minnie's Character Breakfast is proably one of the best for character interaction. We had a CM who made sure we got to see all of the characters bringing some over by hand to make sure or DS got to see everyone. And the food was good too!

 

[disneygrandma]

These posts have been pretty encouraging! They both sound like lots of fun, and we can't wait!

Thank you all for easing my fears about this.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I don't want to be the party pooper, but I will be the one dissenting voice I guess. We did Minnie's 2 years ago at the latest seating and had a horrible time (after many wonderful times). We were put outside in a back corner and we watched the characters walk by for over an hour without ever stopping. Multiple times I went to the head character handler who was pretty dismissive to me. By this point, people from the outside were starting to bring their lunches to the patio tables and using it as a regular meet & greet, lining up and everything. Eventually a bus boy saw this going on and made sure to get the characters to come by, but he couldn't stop the "outsiders" from meeting them as well. I truly think our biggest problem was the time we picked because it led to too much confusion on who was still there for the character breakfast. I think you can be fine eating that late, but make sure you aren't placed by the outer rail outside!

We are trying Minnie's again next week with an earlier time, so I hope to have a better experience.

 

[disneygrandma]

Oh no! I'm contemplating moving our resv up by about 20 mins or so. I'll need to look in to the times available.

 

[lorijohnhill]

Oh no! I'm contemplating moving our resv up by about 20 mins or so. I'll need to look in to the times available.

I would definitely move Minnie's earlier. We had a 9:40 am reservation a few weeks ago. We managed to see all but one of the characters, but it was like pulling teeth to get some of the to come to our area. We were told you are only guaranteed to see Minnie, the rest you are lucky if you see three or four. The character manager was quite, let's say, crotchety for lack of a better term. They shut the character part down by 11:00, if not a bit earlier. Poof, the characters were gone. We did see Tigger heading to one last table. When I asked to have my daughter see him ( for the second time) I was told that the other family had a major complaint, that's the only reason they get to see him. She told me I could try lodging a complaint, but it probably wouldn't work. I told her I had already requested him, at which point the manager came by, saw me, and very gruffly agreed to let him come by. Anyway, that's a long way to suggest an earlier time and request to be down on the main patio area. That's where all the action was. We were up on the porch.

Surf's Up we scheduled a last minute reservation for 10 am, I think. It may have been 10:30. The interaction was great! The server came by several times to be sure we had seen everyone. Stitch spent a lot of time with us. He loved my daughter's character encyclopedia that we were using for an autograph book. He kept coming back to pet, hug, and/or lick it. Most characters came by at least twice. I think we were the second to last table to leave. All of the characters were still there hanging out with the families.

I know these are not exactly the times you are talking about, but thought the experience might help. Keep in mind though, that things can change daily, depending on who is at each restaurant that day, and how the previous guests have treated the characters and handlers.


Thanks to the previous poster that mentioned that the characters leave early at Storytellers! I was planning to make a late reservation for our January trip, so it would work as an early lunch. I will have to rethink that now!

I love how much info gets shared on this site! It is so helpful.