Help with character dining?!!

[KiwiMouseGirl]

We will be travelling to the land in September or October next year. It will be my cousin's first time and I want to make it as good as it could possibly be! Im planning alot of character meals so that we get ample opportunity to see characters that are hard to find in the parks (e.g princesses unless we wait 90+ mins at fantasy faire) Are breakfast meals offered BEFORE the parks open? We will be wanting to get to the parks before opening to get a good place in line so we can get a lot of rides done in the hours that the park is desserted. We are planning on touring hard in the mornings and evenings and taking the middle of the day to relax, so would we be better to do lunch meals and enjoy our dining experiances?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

A Character Meals Super Thread was recently started here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2959483&highlight=character+superthread

To answer your specific question about lunch, only Ariel's Grotto in DCA serves a character meal lunch. That is the princess lunch, so it should satisfy that requirement for you. Goofy's does breakfast/brunch and dinner. I believe breakfast goes until noon on weekdays and 2 PM on weekends, so it can sort of work as lunch. Goofy's and Ariel's are the only character dinners. The character breakfasts usually start at 7 AM with the exception of Minnie's which is inside Disneyland. Check out the superthread for more info.

 

[mummabear]

Is your cousin also from NZ? be aware with the difference you may not feel like eating until later. You can have reservations prior to park opening and you don't need a early entry to get it, getting in before opening and being able to grab a pic in front of the castle without everyone in the way would be fantastic

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Longtimedisneylurker: Thanks for the link! Will definately check it out. So we could comfortably do Goofy's Kitchen in the morning before the parks open if they opened at 8, or hop over at 11 for an early lunch. Thanks for the info!

Mummabear: Yes we are both from New Zealand. Thankfully last time I went over our flights had us arriving at around noon, so it just felt like we'd had a long sleep in. Our sleeping and eating habits were'nt disrupted. It was only when we arrived back in New Zealand that we felt the jet lag. I was ready for bed at 3 in the afternoon! So if we had booked to do a character meal inside Disneyland itself on a day where magic morning was offered but we weren't using ours that day, we could still enter the park early for our breakfast? Is this what you are saying? If so, that would be AWESOME!

 

[mummabear]

When I spoke to them about booking Minnies Breakfast it was from 8 or 8.30 everyday I think, we chose not to go until 10.30 as we won't adjust the kids (so they will sleep until 9ish but still be happily awake at 10pm) I also read something about it in the character meal super thread. If the kids were up early enough we would totally do it this way, you'll be first in the park and be done with the sit down meal in time to go and line up/grab some FP's. Be aware ther is only 2 in park character meals (Minnies and Ariels) and then more at the hotels, if you want lots of characters I have heard the halloween party is good for this.

 

[Rubygoose]

When I spoke to them about booking Minnies Breakfast it was from 8 or 8.30 everyday I think, we chose not to go until 10.30 as we won't adjust the kids (so they will sleep until 9ish but still be happily awake at 10pm) I also read something about it in the character meal super thread. If the kids were up early enough we would totally do it this way, you'll be first in the park and be done with the sit down meal in time to go and line up/grab some FP's. Be aware ther is only 2 in park character meals (Minnies and Ariels) and then more at the hotels, if you want lots of characters I have heard the halloween party is good for this.

I like doing Minnie's breakfast at 10 or 10:30 because the Characters leave at 11:30, so it's still a lot of time to see them, and my kids always need a break at around 10 am after an hour of rides in Fantasy Land. The people at Plaza Inn said we could stay as long as we wanted after the characters left at 11:30. Last time we went at 10:30 and spent so much time visiting, and when the characters left at 11:30 my kids were no longer distracted from eating and got a good lunch in before going back out to the parks (while others were stopping for lunch.)

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

I like doing Minnie's breakfast at 10 or 10:30 because the Characters leave at 11:30, so it's still a lot of time to see them, and my kids always need a break at around 10 am after an hour of rides in Fantasy Land. The people at Plaza Inn said we could stay as long as we wanted after the characters left at 11:30. Last time we went at 10:30 and spent so much time visiting, and when the characters left at 11:30 my kids were no longer distracted from eating and got a good lunch in before going back out to the parks (while others were stopping for lunch.)

Hmm, I have plans buzzing around my head already! Maybe we will arrive at the parks for rope drop, do the rides we have planned and grab afew fastpasses and have breakfast reservations for 10.30. That way we will still be able to tour the parks while they are relatively empty (we got through a whole days touring plan in 2 hours in april) and have a nice mid morning break. Even though we are going for 7 days so we can take our time touring and not missing anything, it was still nice to hop onto the popular rides with 1 5 minute wait. I remember feeling like everytime we stopped walking or doing something we were waisting time and I know I will feel like this when we go next year. It will take a fair bit of telling myself to slow down on the first day before I start taking things at a leasurly pace Which is percisely why I want to reserve seats at sit down meals. Im definately booking us in for lunch at POTC (after taking my cousin on the ride and showing him where we will be dining) E X C I T E D!