Grand Floridian Cafe?

[Nermel9]

Hi everyone!

I really want to try breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe, but I'm thinking of doing it a morning before I wanted to see the MK rope drop show. MK opens at 9, so I'd have to be at MK by 8:45 at the latest...so if I had a 7:30 ADR, would I make it? Or should I try to do it a different day?

Thanks!

 

[cmesq61]

we did that once and did not make rope drop. Although we enjoyed the GF cafe breakfast.

 

[MisWal]

I think it would be close if you even made it at all. Our breakfast at GF was fantastic, but very slow. Add in the crowd of people that will be trying to get on the monorail to MK and I would make your ADR at least a 1/2 hour earlier.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . so if I had a 7:30 ADR, would I make it? . . .

Nope.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

Are you dead-set on actually entering the park at rope drop? What I've done before is get to the Magic Kingdom early enough to watch the show, then go to breakfast afterward instead of entering the park.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hi everyone!

I really want to try breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe, but I'm thinking of doing it a morning before I wanted to see the MK rope drop show. MK opens at 9, so I'd have to be at MK by 8:45 at the latest...so if I had a 7:30 ADR, would I make it? Or should I try to do it a different day?

Thanks!

As long as the monorail is running, you should be fine. Breakfast at GFC at 7:45 should not be crowded.

 

[MedicGoofy]

Really?? With an ADR beside the MK.......I have an 8:00 ADR and plan to go to MK right after. You think I won't be there for opening? Why is that?
How can this place be so slow? It's breakfast I mean. Waffles. Some eggs.

Is it just that it's busier at certain times?

 

[nicoleakr]

I don't think you will make it either and you don't want to be worried about it the whole time you are eating breakfast

 

[Deb & Bill]

I repeat. It won't be a problem. We were just there had breakfast around 7:30 and still drove to AK for EMH around 8:30A. Our ADR was actually at 9 and they seated us earlier than the ADR. There were maybe two other tables seated at the time.

 

[herb102211]

I would recommend getting to MK for rope drop and then going to eat. So maybe make an ADR for 9:30am? We ate dinner once at GFC and were there about 1.5 hours. Not sure how quickly breakfast goes, but I'm sure the food will be great!

 

[billfatora]

Nope.

 

[Nermel9]

Thanks everyone! I guess I'll just do it a different day! I keep reading on TR's and dining reviews that GFC is great for breakfast, but the service is very slow, so I don't want to take the chance of missing the opening show!

 

[Agri]

It's okay for breakfast. It's really good if you're staying that the GF because when you eat a meal for its convenience and its tasty that makes it seem a lot better.

I think the better meals at the GFC are lunch or dinner. As I said in another post, we've done an early dinner ADR and made it back to the MK with time to spare for the fireworks dessert party.

Early morning the monorails are filled with EVERYONE from the TTC and all the monorail resorts and ALL the people eating at the major monorail resort character breakfasts.

If you want to eat breakfast, I'd go to CP and nom on some puffed french toast before the park opens. =D

 

[firstcruise]

Make an earlier ADR or a different day. GFC is by far the slowest restaurant in WDW. I was there for 1 1/2 hours and all I got was eggs, bacon and toast. Go figure. The cast members aren't the most friendly either or that was my experience.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

We really enjoyed our breakfast there, but it was definitely one of the slowest restaurants we went to. I wouldn't try to make rope drop after a breakfast there. We did, however, very easily make rope drop after a breakfast at Kona Cafe, if that's somewhere you're interested in going.

However, I would absolutely still recommend GFC for breakfast (DBF still talks about the steak and eggs there - they're great! ), just not when you have plans for soon after

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . I have an 8:00 ADR and plan to go to MK right after. You think I won't be there for opening? Why is that?

1) Let's try some examples
. . . arrive at podium for 8:00am ADR
. . . get seated, hostess leaves menus --- 8:00am
. . . waitress comes --- 8:05am
. . . serves water, takes order --- 8:10am
. . . walks to kitchen and enters order electronically--- 8:15am
. . . waitress serves coffee, drinks, juice, etc (simo)
. . . order goes into queue and gets started --- 8:20am
. . . cooking starts and then ends --- 8:30am
. . . waitress picks up order --- 8:35am
. . . waitress walks to table with food --- 8:40am
. . . waitress serves food to diners --- 8:43am
. . . guests eat for 20-minutes --- 9:03am
. . . while eating, ask for check from waitress
. . . guests sign check and pay (simultaneous with eating, maybe)
. . . guests walk to monorail --- 9:08am
. . . wait for next monorail --- 9:13am
. . . monorail to MK station --- 9:17am
. . . exit monorail and walk to security --- 9:20am
. . . go thru security and to turnstiles --- 9:23am
2) Possible total time 78-minutes (min), if everything goes like clockwork.
3) Dining timetables seldom go perfectly smoothly.
4) Any delay(s) could add even more precious time.
. . . cooking takes longer, as your device is in use for others
. . . waitress has other tables and takes misses times above
. . . hostess station does not do check quick enough
. . . there are 2-4 other parties in front of you at podium entry

 

[Sweet Melissa]

1) Let's try some examples
. . . arrive at podium for 8:00am ADR
. . . get seated, hostess leaves menus --- 8:00am
. . . waitress comes --- 8:05am
. . . serves water, takes order --- 8:10am
. . . walks to kitchen and enters order electronically--- 8:15am
. . . waitress serves coffee, drinks, juice, etc (simo)
. . . order goes into queue and gets started --- 8:20am
. . . cooking starts and then ends --- 8:30am
. . . waitress picks up order --- 8:35am
. . . waitress walks to table with food --- 8:40am
. . . waitress serves food to diners --- 8:43am
. . . guests eat for 20-minutes --- 9:03am
. . . while eating, ask for check from waitress
. . . guests sign check and pay (simultaneous with eating, maybe)
. . . guests walk to monorail --- 9:08am
. . . wait for next monorail --- 9:13am
. . . monorail to MK station --- 9:17am
. . . exit monorail and walk to security --- 9:20am
. . . go thru security and to turnstiles --- 9:23am
2) Possible total time 78-minutes (min), if everything goes like clockwork.
3) Dining timetables seldom go perfectly smoothly.
4) Any delay(s) could add even more precious time.
. . . cooking takes longer, as your device is in use for others
. . . waitress has other tables and takes misses times above
. . . hostess station does not do check quick enough
. . . there are 2-4 other parties in front of you at podium entry

Honestly, even though I do advise the OP to hedge against a worst-case scenario here, I think that this whole time line is inflated. I can't remember ever sitting in the Grand Floridian Café for 40 minutes before the food even arrived at the table. All of these little hypothetical five-minute transactions? Probably take 1-3 minutes in reality.

 

[Agri]

Honestly, even though I do advise the OP to hedge against a worst-case scenario here, I think that this whole time line is inflated. I can't remember ever sitting in the Grand Floridian Café for 40 minutes before the food even arrived at the table. All of these little hypothetical five-minute transactions? Probably take 1-3 minutes in reality.

ITA. When we ate there for breakfast even with slow service it did NOT take us a whole hour. I think it was actually pretty close to half an hour, but we didn't pay close attention to the time since the woman with her two kids sitting next to us kept asking her son if he was feeling better from last night when he had been THROWING UP and he kept saying "No, but I'll eat". She went into way more detail than necessary and we made sure we got the heck out of there as soon as possible. LOL

The food was okay, its a good breakfast, but not good enough to miss rope drop for.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Honestly, even though I do advise the OP to hedge against a worst-case scenario here, I think that this whole time line is inflated. I can't remember ever sitting in the Grand Floridian Café for 40 minutes before the food even arrived at the table. All of these little hypothetical five-minute transactions? Probably take 1-3 minutes in reality.

I totally agree with you, Sweet Melissa. We eat breakfast every trip at the GFC. We've never waited forty minutes just for the food to be served from the time we were seated. Like I stated earlier, we arrived at GV around 7:30 and were driving up to the AK by 8:30 because we arrived during EMH for the morning.