How good is Donald's Breakfastsauraus?

[bcinohio]

We just returned from WDW on Sunday and we had breakfast at Chef Mickey's and it was great. While we were at AK I saw where they do Donald's Breakfast and it looked like it would be fun. How good is it and what characters are there? I'm thinking about doing it on our next trip!

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Fire14]

My friend who's a culainry artist Said it was a must do rest on her list for our oct. trip. I liked it a bit better than chef Mickey's myself but that may have something to do with it being my first time there vs. my 5th trip to CM.

WE saw Donald, Goofy, and I think Mickey. I'll have to go look.

 

[Kaycee]

We've had breakfast at Donald's every trip, and we always have a great time. The theming is an archeological dig site with dinosaur fossils and a campsite feel. Very fun! The characters are Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Pluto.

 

[marcyinPA]

UGH...went to Donald's in May and didn't like it at all. Food was horrible (undercooked and overcooked), service was lacking, characters took forever to come out, and then rushed when they got to us. We had a late seating, so maybe that was the problem (maybe they were trying to move us out quick) but it left a bad taste in my mouth and we won't be back.

We have been to the Cape May and Crystal Palace for breakfast and Chef Mickey's for dinner, and those all got thumbs up!

 

[barbeml]

We loved it and are doing it again this year (even with no kids in our group). The key seems to be to go early.

 

[F1Julie]

I have to agree with marcyinpa on this one. I give Donald's another thumbs down. We were also there in May and had the 8:00 seating. Our server was good, the food was fine, but the character interaction was really lacking compared to all other character meals I've done. The characters only came around once and posed for one picture and that was it. Also, as the restaurant filled up, the buffet line got very long. I haven't encountered such a long line at any other WDW buffet. The restaurant is quite large. If you are interested in it, I'd try it, but don't expect much.

 

[HunnyPots]

I have to go withthe negatives on this one. For our 2003 trip, it was great. Probably our favorite character meal of the trip. Food was excellent and character interaction was even better. This year it was the total opposite. We were rushed from the moment we signed in to the time we paid our check. The characters barely stopped by at all, in fact we had to call out to Mickey to get him to even stop. He was going to just wave and keep going! Our server was loud and obnoxious. He actually rolled his eyes when dd and I asked for diet coke with our meals. He would have preferred to just leave the carafe of orange juice and not have to see us again, I guess. He also kept talking very loudly to no one in particular about his "career" and how it was going. The food was OK. Not much variety compared to some of the other buffets, but it wasn't terrible or anything. We won't be going back, though. There are too many good character meals to waste our time and money on this one.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

Thumbs down from me too. The place is not set up properly for a buffet. The lines for the hot food get SO LONG it is incredible. Also found too much stuff on the too small tables. Service spotty and everything too chaotic. Will never do that one again.

 

[CamColt]

Sorry but another thumbs down here. The food itself wasnt too bad(just 1 disappointment there), but our waiter made the meal very stressful, he even yelled at us across the restaurant over and over when we did what he told us we could(go to the buffet). We couldnt wait to get out of there which made enjoying the food difficult.
I much prefer Chef Mickeys when the characters come to your table whenever and you dont need to sit and wait for them. Its much more relaxed and fun.
With that said, I think everyone should try what they think they might like for themselves. As you can see we do have some great experiences at Donalds reviewed here so you should see for yourself.

 

[JFrey4240]

It was awful! We will never go again. Too crowded, characters stopped long enough for a picture--so fast we couldn't even get an autograph. Food wasn't that great. Go to Crystal Palace or Ohanas, much better.

 

[DisneyMom5]

We loved it. I think we figured out on this board that timing is everything. We had a 10:50 time on an early entry day, so the early crowds were gone. Otherwise, others have had better luck going before park opening on a regular day.
Our food was great, and the chef even came out herself to discuss our son's food allergies, then prepared GF pancakes just for him!
A bad server is a bummer -- no way to predict that. Ours was very good. We almost had too much character interaction, but like I said, it was not so crowded.
I guess you can always try it, and be willing to complain if your server is bad. (I have not yet done Chef Mickey's.)

 

[boo72]

We were there in December 2002 and we liked it a lot. We had good, friendly service. The food was really good, but it was pretty standard breakfast fare (I ate many Krispy Creme donuts--the highlight of the food for me!). We didn't have any trouble getting through the lines, but there were a lot of people there.

The highlight of this meal was the characters. The main reason we chose it was to get to see Donald, who doesn't have a lot of character meal appearances. It was also fun to have pictures of the characters with their "dino dig" clothes on. We had good, fun interaction with the characters, they only came around once to us but we didn't have any kids with us (me, DH, DH's parents). We had a pretty early seating, I believe.

A good character meal resource is the Unofficial Guide to WDW. It has a character meal table listing what characters are at each, meal style, and how many people each venue holds.

 

[arizonacolbys]

We love Donald's!

I agree with DisneyMom5 - timing is everything. We have been to Donald's on every trip in the last 3 years. We always do early entry at 8 am - finish up the Safari, Dinosaur, etc. & then are ready for a great breakfast. We try to get one of the latest seatings possible. The restaurant is pretty empty by then & you tend to get much better character interaction. On our last trip in March (which is one of the busier times we've visited WDW) Donald & Pluto came to our table numerous times. Donald insisted on giving us a second autograph & we got many great pics.

This meal is always a lot of fun & the food is good & similar to many other breakfast buffets. We've also never experienced long lines at the buffet. If you think your family might enjoy Donald's - maybe give it a try & try for a later seating for better interaction. HTH!

 

[TexasErin]

Another thumbs down for us.
It took about 45 minutes to be seated which I thought was kind of long having a PS for a buffet.
We asked for milk since none of us are OJ drinkers. The server went over to a table where they had already-poured milk SITTING OUT. Yuck! Who wants warm milk???
The buffet line was horrendously long. Usually we go back for seconds at buffets (after we find out what our favorites are and what we want more of). We did not do this here just because the line for the hot food was too long. The food was okay, but I agree with a previous poster- not much of a selection.
The character interaction was okay. Nothing memorable one way or the other.
The theming of the restaurant is cute, though- I will say that (although 7-year-old DD was afraid of the fossils- this was of course not the fault of the restaurant).
We didn't hate it. Just thought the wait was too long to get in and to get food and not worth the wait.

 

[pandamom]

Another thumbs down here -- crowded, loud, poor service, characters few and far between. (Per 2004 UG: Character to guest ratio for Donald's B. is 1 to 112. Chef Mickey's is 1 to 56.)

 

[barbeml]

So sorry to see all the negative experiences!

We were seated quickly, there was a huge selection of food, everything was tasty and at the right temperature. Our server was Billy and he was terrific in terms of explaining how things work, when to expect the characters, taking drink orders, etc. He was also very fun and entertaining (my 3-year-old nephew made him do the ketchup trick over and over, and hugged him goodbye).

We only had one child in our group, but we got awesome character photos (my prize photo is of Pluto giving my face a big lick) and did not feel rushed. Maybe it helps that we go to WDW in the off season, plus we are not big on character meals and had only done Garden Grill previously.