Donald's Breakfastaurus - never again!

[Tiger926]

We have eaten at almost all Disney restaurants as we eat table service only (a few counter service here or there for soups or sandwiches), so we just tried Donald's last week while at AK. We were so disappointed - huge problems in being let into the park for our ADR, the characters came to our table for literally seconds, cramped tables, dark restaurant (photos didn't turn out), limited breakfast selections and high prices. We ate at Park Fare (it's one of our fav restaurants) the next day for breakfast, and what a difference!

Honestly, we have a tradition in which we try every Disney restaurant at least once in order to make up our own minds about them, but we will never eat here again. I guess our first clue should have been that this buffet is housed in a McDonald's (we don't eat any fast food at all - yuck!) restaurant.

Not sure if what we experienced is the norm here or not, but I wanted to warn people about the lack of character interaction - we wouldn't have felt so badly had they spent a few more seconds with us and our photos had turned out better. I know the restaurant is huge and they have a lot of ground to cover, but spending a few seconds at a table is not acceptable at all.

Tiger

 

[Allison]

We loved it and will be going back.

The food was good, fresh and hot on our trip.

 

[Shirrie]

We loved it eat there every visit!

 

[GoofyTraci]

oh man, sorry you had a bad time. This was our favorite breakfast. We had such a blast. ANd loved the breakfast. And what are you talking about it being in a mc donalds. the place doesnt look like a fast food place at all. Sorry you had a bad time. Move on and try a different place next time. We will for sure come back and eat there agian on our next trip this august!

 

[Tissa]

We had a great time there on our last trip but I do agree the characters didn't spend much time at our table, But then again after pictures I expect them to move on. Got to get to everyone.

 

[rkwells]

huge problems in being let into the park for our ADR,

Can you please elaborate? We are going to Donald's the last week in March and I don't want to have trouble getting there. I am sorry about your negative exerperience. We have been to Breakfasaurus once before and had a great experince.

 

[SharonLowe]

This is our favorite character b'fast and we think the food is pretty good considering it is a theme park. We always do a late b'fast here so we aren't rushed and get tons of time with the characters. Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[gigi1313]

not only is donald's one of our faves food and character-wise, but it has one of the best cm/waiters in all of wdw (we're always surprised when he's still there 'cause we think he's so great, we don't know how he has not been promoted to a "better" restaurant yet)... but for the life of me, i cannot remember his name (yet his photo is on our fridge! LOL!)

 

[Leanne1977]

Another vote for Donalds Breakfastosaurus.

It was our first character meal ever back in 2005 and we love it. Characters are great, food is hot and plentiful and we like the outlay of the restaurant.

The first time we went DH and DS were at the buffet getting some food when the characters came out. Mickey saw DS and took his hand and walked with him back to our table. It was his first taste of character interaction and a moment i will never forget.

 

[Lostgirlz]

oh man, sorry you had a bad time. This was our favorite breakfast. We had such a blast. ANd loved the breakfast. And what are you talking about it being in a mc donalds. the place doesnt look like a fast food place at all. Sorry you had a bad time. Move on and try a different place next time. We will for sure come back and eat there agian on our next trip this august!

Yeah after the breakfast the venue turns into a mcdonalds which is what the op is speaking of. They serve mcnuggets and all at lunch, so yeah it is a mcdonalds afterwards.

 

[Tiger926]

Being that it is a McDonald's means that it's big and spaced out for the McDonald's crowd - pack them in and get them out quickly, which is not conducive to a character buffet. Like I said, we were cramped in one of the back rooms - Donald actually got stuck between our table and the table next to us as there just isn't enough room.

I really can't imagine that our experiences were isolated, as much as the fact that we all have different expectations. Since we've eaten practically everywhere, we have every other character buffet to compare it to, and besides the character buffet at the Swan, this was the worst character buffet that we've eaten at.

Tiger

 

[aide4]

We just ate there 2 weeks ago and enjoyed it. We had no problems getting in for our ADR which was at 8:00, the food was good and the character interaction was good also. Sorry you did not enjoy it.

 

[pooh2001]

Maybe the earlier the ADR - the better the meal at Donalds Breakfastosaurus

 

[Tiger926]

Our ADR was at 9:00 - there was some huge issue at the gate and they wouldn't let any of us in. The restaurant manager was still on the phone when we left trying to sort through it all. Our server said this happens sometimes when there are miscommunications at the front gate as there is a separate entrance for ADR people, that has a CM waiting with the ADR list.

Lots of issues for us that morning, Tiger

 

[Evil Genius]

We had great character interaction when we were there. It was June and crowded. Our pictures turne out great. We liked the food too!

 

[patsal]

Truely one of our favorites with the exception of the day I made the ADR on an EMH AM. Lesson learned, there we were super late becasue of the ID check at the gates, the restaurant was all backed up as well from the ID check at the gate. Becasue of the back up of people the characters spent nearly no time and the lines for the buffet were out of control. If that were my only experience I may have said never again as well, but prior to that I had a few great experiences there. All I can say is avoid an early AM reservation here on an AM EMH day.

 

[Eeyore11081]

Though we enjoyed Donalds, I could see this happening. We learned to lower our expectations a bit for the park meals with respect to character interaction (as compared to the resorts). There was a noticeable difference in our recent trip at Donalds and Crystal Palace versus Cape May, 1900 and Chef Mickey. I wouldn't call the park character meals bad by any stretch of the imagination, but the feeling was different. We had a good time at Donalds and Cape May despite the crowds, though we definitely preferred eating in the resorts.

I think the best way to look at it is that the park restaurants are more susceptible to timing issues. Could be easier for things to go wrong. Plenty of people have great experiences in the parks, though I could see things getting chaotic in the resort restaurants on a bad day too.

 

[LBAK]

We love this breakfast. It's on our must do list every year. We had an 8:30 ADR and no problems getting in the park and the characters were great, especially Donald!

 

[Ms.Mouse]

We were hesitant to try it because of such mixed posts but we had good food and great interaction by both the waitstaff pulling pranks and the characters. They stayed and posed with each member at our table (6). Sorry you had a bad experience, though.

 

[NemoMOm]

We agree. We went on our honeymoon eight yrs ago and it was great. We took DS back last year and thought it was awful. The wait was very long and the food was horrible for the price. Not what we remembered.