Early Breakfast reservations in the parks ?

[princess0218]

Hi there, I am plannning our first Disney family vacation for the first week of November, I have not been in 8 years and obviously things have drastically changed!
We are staying on the property (Fort Wilderness cabins) and I am trying to get a plan together for our character meals. I've heard if you schedule an early morning breakfast reservation at places such as Garden Grill or Cinderella's castle you have a better chance at getting to some of the popular rides without a FP or a long wait. However, I didn't realize there was Early Morning Magic hours and Extra Magic hours we might have to compete with. Is this still a good stategy? Thank you in advance!!! (also, if there is a thread on this already please let me know, I didn't have much luck typing it in the search box but maybe I'm searching the wrong key words!)

 

[HuskieJohn]

Yes but...

MK
Be Our Guest to pre-rope drop 7DMT
Crystal Palace -DOES NOT HELP YOU...actually hurts your RD
Cinderellas Castle could help you with 7DMT but is relatively expensive and you have to rush your experience

EPCOT
Akershus royal banquet hall for Frozen Ever After though this is also not recommended because its expensive and you would have to rush your experience
Garden Grill for Soain'

HS
Hollywood & Vine (might help if the park opens at 9am and you get an 8am reservation. Still not sure how well this helps now that SWGE is open.

AK
Tusker House -DOES NOT HELP YOU for FOP or anything really

 

[kmsboomer]

Early Morning Magic is great at Magic Kingdom. No characters at the quick service breakfast, but you will be able to get through most of Fantasy Land before park open. You'll also be able to easily ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train a couple of times with little to no wait. If you do go on an EMM morning, ride the other rides first and come back to Seven Dwarfs around 8:30. By then, the wait will have dissipated.

I'm not sure I would want to do Cinderella's castle before park opening. It would likely be a rush. A better choice would be to get a pre-park opening reservation for Be Our Guest on a non-Extra Magic hours day. You often get to ride Seven Dwarfs a bit before park opening and it puts you way ahead of the rest of the crowd rope dropping.

I haven't eaten at Garden Grill, but I plan to on our next trip. My plan is to go right to Soarin' after we finish our breakfast as they are in the same building. I've heard really good things about the characters and the overall experience at Garden Grill.

 

[princess0218]

Awesome, thank you both so much for your replies and suggestions! We are planning on doing 2 days at MK and 2 at Epcot so I may just try for an early morning Be our Guest reservation one of those days!

How far in advance do they post the Early morning hours and Extra Magic hours? Will I be able to plan these days 6 months in advance?

 

[SL6827]

Get an 8 AM reservation for Garden Grill, eat and then head to Soarin.

 

[Robo]

1. Early morning hours... Will I be able to plan these days 6 months in advance?
2. Extra Magic hours... Will I be able to plan these days 6 months in advance?

1. Early Morning Magic may not be posted that far in advance.
2. Yes. 6 months(+) in advance.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Awesome, thank you both so much for your replies and suggestions! We are planning on doing 2 days at MK and 2 at Epcot so I may just try for an early morning Be our Guest reservation one of those days!

How far in advance do they post the Early morning hours and Extra Magic hours? Will I be able to plan these days 6 months in advance?

You will have to watch for Early Morning Magic at MK and maybe they will bring it back to DHS. Depending on when you are going, they can also change park hours, so you're 8:15am PPO reservation becomes a reservation for 15 minutes AFTER opening. You have to keep watching months after you make your reservation 180 days out.
Having said that, we just did GG PPO breakfast on Jan 3, and we were in the first group to ride Soarin', which they ran with a mere 10 people on it, It was our first time in the front row! We used our Tier 1 FP on FEA and had a great morning.

 

[Calee]

EMM (a paid event with limited tickets) doesnt hurt you too much with a BOG PPO. Weve done it a few times and still get to 7dmt before the rope droppers.

Extra magic hours is a different story and I would not do breakfast that day as those early hours are the best for touring.

 

[SL6827]

Get an 8 AM reservation for Garden Grill, eat and then head to Soarin.

We did this during our April 2019 trip. We were first in line at the park security and were the first guest in the park that day. For a brief few minutes it was the most magical moment I have had in a good while at Disney. I wasn't expecting such.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Do the Garden Grill PPO while you can. I expect once Epcot's transformation is complete there will be expanded hours and it will become less of an advantage.

 

[princess0218]

Thank you all for the information! I plan on doing the 8 am ppo for garden grill! Hopefully it works out since it sounds like Ratatouille will be open by the time we go.
It sounds like I won’t know what extra magic hours days will be though 6 months in advance?

 

[mickey765]

Please do not use CRT to try to get an advantage. The experience is so expensive, better to take your time and enjoy it.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Thank you all for the information! I plan on doing the 8 am ppo for garden grill! Hopefully it works out since it sounds like Ratatouille will be open by the time we go.
It sounds like I won’t know what extra magic hours days will be though 6 months in advance?

I’m thinking it could be the way it’s been for HS. They will change hours on the fly. Just be prepared to be flexible.

 

[dkfajr1]

We used a PPO at Tusker house and we were one of the first families that were seated. We ate, saw all the characters and then went straight to Na'vi River journey with no wait since we had FOP FP.