Help us decide on Breakfast!

[MandNCC]

Hello!
Our 2.5 year old son is not a huge eater so for our upcoming vacation we will likely only do one character dining and it will be breakfast as he would eat more of that than any other meal. I am currently trying to decide between the surfs up or Minnie's. Any recent experiences or major differences between them? Thanks!!

 

[tlovesdis]

We love Minnie's! Last time we were there we saw 9 characters and the interaction is great! We like the food, it's typical buffet style breakfast, but it's good. You can have your own omelette made! We also love doing the earliest time possible then we are right there in the part ready to go!!

 

[MICKEYFIL]

Minnie's is in the park, lots of characters, good food, excellent service. Anything ever goes wrong or not to your liking, just talk to a representative and they are happy to help. Done it three times and doing it again next week.

 

[amyg1975]

For us, it depends on who you want to see! We have done both, but for our daughter, Surf's Up is the way to go.

 

[MandNCC]

Is there somewhere to see which characters are at each? We will have a day 6, so maybe it would make sense to do surfs up on that day so we don't feel like we are missing park time and can be more relaxed...

 

[figment_jii]

The characters are subject to change without notice, so it's hard to say for sure who you'll see at any of the meals.

The most commonly mentioned characters at Surf's Up are Mickey, Pluto, Daisy, Stitch, and Minnie.

Minnie's Breakfast at the Plaza Inn seems to be a pretty interesting mix of characters. Most commonly, I've seen Minnie, The Fairy Godmother, Tigger, Eeyore, Pooh, Chip, Dale, Hook, Rakifi and Max mentioned.

 

[calilou]

We give the edge to Minnie's breakfast though Surf's Up is fun too.

 

[sherilaine]

We have done both of those meals multiple times and we love both. The real difference is location. Minnie's is right in the park and you get to see lots of great characters and there is a great feel to it. Once you are done you can go right out and on with the rides! Surf's Up though is at the PPH, which if you are staying there is great, but if you are off site then you either have to walk there or you have to park and go for your breakfast and then backtrack for your day. We have gone to Surf's Up on days when we were not going to the parks just so you still have a little Disney on a non park day.

Everyone has pretty much nailed the characters - the only additional one we've seen at Minnie's is Peter Pan - it was fun to see him getting into it with Captain Hook! The Fairy Godmother is great too - she calls Chip and Dale rodents!

You can't go wrong with either of them but we are only doing one this year and it's Minnie's so that is our vote.

 

[agamble]

Hello!
Our 2.5 year old son is not a huge eater so for our upcoming vacation we will likely only do one character dining and it will be breakfast as he would eat more of that than any other meal. I am currently trying to decide between the surfs up or Minnie's. Any recent experiences or major differences between them? Thanks!!

Just FYI your son will be free at the character meals. I'm just mentioning this because you commented on him not eating much and I wasn't sure if that was a worry over paying so much for something he won't eat.

Also, we love Minnie's. However, if you have a non park day I could see going to Mickey's Surfs Up as a fun way to spend time that day.

 

[corinne76]

Now I want to do Minnies! For those of you who have done it, about how long would you say it took to dine and really see all the characters? and to clarify, you can make a dining reservation a little before park opening even without early morning hour, is that correct?

 

[MICKEYFIL]

Now I want to do Minnies! For those of you who have done it, about how long would you say it took to dine and really see all the characters? and to clarify, you can make a dining reservation a little before park opening even without early morning hour, is that correct?

I would say that our usually stay there is about 75 minutes. I would say it would take about 60 minutes to go through a whole cycle of characters. Key thing to remember is that they seem to come in waves. If you arrive and some characters are in your area, wait to go get your breakfast later. If it is clear, then hurry up and get your food. Very understanding people and as long as you are reasonable and realize that there is someone in that suit who is being poked and grabbed by little kids all doped up on syrup and juice, things will go well. Once we had a few characters miss our area, we told the supervisor and within ten minutes they came over. All good. I say that because I have seen some people get upset about not seeing characters within a timely manner. They expect someone in a Winnie the Pooh suit to remember exactly all the people who they have seen. Be reasonable and all will go well.

 

[tlovesdis]

Now I want to do Minnies! For those of you who have done it, about how long would you say it took to dine and really see all the characters? and to clarify, you can make a dining reservation a little before park opening even without early morning hour, is that correct?

We did a 710am reservation on an MM/EMH day and we ate and saw 9 characters and were done by 8.

 

[sherilaine]

I think it depends on when you get there. We have gotten there at the first reservation time and you meet all of the characters pretty fast as they are all just waiting for guests to arrive - it is like this big flurry of activity for about 10 minutes and then as more people show up, you then go and get your food and you still see the characters but you've already met most of them by that point. We are actually going to go later this visit as we want to do rides and then once hungry head in and get a nice big breakfast! We have been to so many character meals that we are not going to be upset if we don't get a tonne of time with each character.

However, I would bank on being there at least an hour! It is not something you want to rush and we have never felt rushed.

You can make reservations before park opening - however, that just means you are going in with either the EMH/MM crowd as the earliest reservation on those days is 10 past the EMH/MM or you are going in when they let people in to go up to rope drop as they often let people in about half an hour before park opening to line up at the rope at the end of main street, the earliest reservation on regular opening days is 20 minutes before park opening. You won't be going into a hauntingly empty park by yourself - there will be lots of people no matter what time you book.

 

[corinne76]

thanks everyone. I will have to talk to the kids to see how much they'd like to meet characters. We've the character breakfast here at Aulani a few times and from what I've seen the food is comparable.