Help Me Choose! Which character breakfast should we do?

[L-Harper]

We're trying to decide which character breakfast we want to do... Here's the background and I'm hoping you all can help us choose.

Me, DH, and our 2 boys who will be 2 & 4 when we go. We will be doing dinner at Chef Mickey's the night we arrive and doing a dinner at The Garden Grill on a different night. I want to do a character breakfast on a Saturday that looks like this:

-character breakfast
-hanging out at our resort for some R&R (Pop Century)
-heading to DTD
-lunch at WPE
-dinner at T-Rex (maybe, but might do this a different night)
-the boys will be staying with an in-room sitter while DH and I go out to Night of Joy

I'm debating between Cape May Cafe, Garden Grove and Crystal Palace. Help! Pros and cons for each?

 

[DaniB]

I would normally suggest Crystal Palace hands down! However it looks like you are not planning to stay in Magic Kingdom that day. And you will not be able to get in for your Crystal Palace ressies unless you have a ticket/pay to get in Magic Kingdom.

Cape May Cafe looks so fun!! I wanted to book this last trip but was unable to fit it in with all the other character meals we had planned.

To my knowledge, Garden Grove does not have character meals.

 

[staceycrouton]

If your boys like Winnie the Pooh and friends, then Crystal Palace would be a great place to eat breakfast. My girls, who are 8 and 10, loved the food and the atmospere (even though they're not really into Winnie the Pooh, anymore) when we ate there in November. You can just take the bus to MK and then back again to your hotel. We also loved Cape May but give yourselves plenty of time to get there. From POFQ we took a bus to Hollywood Studios and then the boat over to the Boardwalk. The food was great and the characters were awesome and spent lots of time at each table. I don't think that you can go wrong with either of these choices.

 

[jenseib]

We did Cape May last time and the food was very good. We also stayed at Pop and had a car. If you have a car, the drive over is just minutes.

 

[L-Harper]

I would normally suggest Crystal Palace hands down! However it looks like you are not planning to stay in Magic Kingdom that day. And you will not be able to get in for your Crystal Palace ressies unless you have a ticket/pay to get in Magic Kingdom.

Cape May Cafe looks so fun!! I wanted to book this last trip but was unable to fit it in with all the other character meals we had planned.

To my knowledge, Garden Grove does not have character meals.

Oh, we have park hoppers for our entire week. I forgot to mention that. Also, we don't have a car. It sounds like Crystal Palace is #1 on the list for a few people. I'm going to see what a few more people have to say before I make our final decision.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Cape May is good, great Character interaction and not rushed and good food.

 

[L-Harper]

Hmm... Now I'm debating on doing Crystal Palace on our first night since we're going to be in MK anyway then do Chef Mickey's for breakfast on the Saturday I was talking about. That might be a better option for us. How long would I need to plan to get from POP to Chef Mickey's for breakfast on a Saturday?

 

[OhThePain]

I know nothing about Garden Grove so I can't give an opinion on that one. My girlfriend and I have been very disappointed by CP on our last 3 visits there (1 breakfast, 2 dinners). The food was cold and/or runny and just not very good. We had 1 ok character experience there but the other 2 experiences were awful, characters skipping over whole sections and whatnot... not really a good experience.

My only problem with Cape May is that if you are not staying in that area (BC, YC, Swan, Dolphin or BWI) it can be a real hassle to get to without a car.

We had a great experience at 1900 PF. You still get WtP and Tigger too, as well as Alice and the Mad Hatter (who are a lot of fun to watch) and Mary Poppins. It will give you a chance to check out the GF as well as ride the monorail. I would consider going there.

 

[Sgt Tibbs]

If you don't want to go to a park how about 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian or Lilo and Stitch at the Polynesian followed by some resort exploration via the monorail?

 

[DaniB]

Oh, we have park hoppers for our entire week. I forgot to mention that. Also, we don't have a car. It sounds like Crystal Palace is #1 on the list for a few people. I'm going to see what a few more people have to say before I make our final decision.

In that case, Crystal Palace!!! Especially if you get ressies BEFORE Magic Kingdom officially opens. The walk down Main Street with so few people is amazing! And get your family photos done along the way at each Photopass Photographer stop.

Only, remember to hang a left at one point for Crystal Palace instead of walking through and around Cinderella's Castle looking for CP like I did...

We never felt rushed (in facted, we were 1/2 an hour late and they still seated us - window seats looking out at the Castle!); food was very good in our opinion, and even our 12 year daughter was thrilled with Pooh & Friends. Great character interaction! Our 6 year old kept hiding under the table when the characters came by and a couple got down and tried to tease/coax him out.