Is Donald's Breakfastosaurus really that bad???

[sanilacjack]

I so hoped to do this breakfast and have a PS and everything, but have heard nothing good?

Any comments?

Thanks,
-Kim

 

[campinggal]

We just returned from Disney and did the Donald B'fast at the recommendation of some friends- they really loved it. I thought it was OK but probably will do something different next time.

Pros-
- very expansive food- both a cereal/bread/fruit bar and a hot entree buffet- both DD (6 1/2) and I liked the food. Breakfast Pizza was a fun choice.
- Donald! If you are a Donald fan, this is one of the few b-fasts that include him I think.
- my DD enjoyed looking at the decorations on the wall

Cons-
- A bit chaotic when you check in as they have you wait just past the entrance to be escorted to Dinoland
- Small tables (we took the napkin/condiment caddy off the table and put it under the table for more room)
- Big venue so the characters only seem to do one pass by your table.
- Could be a wait if you have a later PS- we had a PS at 8 and when we left at 9, there was a crowd.
- Service seemed slow- only saw our server twice and had to hunt him down when we were ready to leave. Some of that had to do with us not being in total leisure mode when we ate breakfast as we were antsy to get out into the park and on an early Safari.

Again, I think it could be fun. I had read mixed reviews before we went so I was prepared for a mixed experience. If I had not read the mixed reviews, it might have made for a really disappointing time. Bottom line, we had fun but wouldn't do it again.

Hope this helped. Bottom line...you are at Disney!!!

 

[KLAIT]

We ate there last December and thought it was great! We have a priority seating again this December. We did have a seating early--I think 820 last year and I was not very busy at all....we were lucky to get a table in the main part near the buffet instead of stuck way back in the other rooms.

Character interaction was great...all characters made their way around 2 times and then Pluto was wandering again later.

I thought the food was good for a Disney buffet...and I have tried most.....

Have Fun!

 

[Feelin' Goofy]

Are you KIDDING that is the best Character meal that there is!
We have done it twice as always it depends on your server which made the first the best. No one can convince me that it is in anyway bad.

 

[Chip126]

I have to agree with the above posters. We went in December 2001 (party of 8) and we really enjoyed it. Everyone liked the buffet itself and the characters were great. They did not come around that often, but when they did we really enjoyed them.

We are heading back in December and both of my boys (11 and 14) want to do this again. I have a PS already made for December 14, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. I am looking forward to it!

 

[bunnyfoo]

I was thinking of going to this character breakfast as well ... which characters (other than Donald) are there?

 

[sha_lyn]

Donalds is the best character meal at WDW. The food is very good, great selection, and the made to order omlettes are wonderful.

The character intereaction has always been top notch for us. Mickey even came back over when I realized my sis had her eyes shut for the pic (thank goodness for digital cameras). the service has always been good too. The only complaint we have is the tables are small.

 

[Kaycee]

No way!!!

We absolutely love Donald's!

This breakfast is a must-do for us. My younger DS is a huge Donald fan, so that's why we first went here. Now, we all love it so much, it's a must-do every trip.

It is more relaxed here than other character breakfasts we've tried, but we like that. It can be loud, but again, we like that. I have two boys who can get a little rowdy when the characters are around (and so can their parents, lol) and it's nice not to have to worry about it here.

The food is what you'd find at any other breakfast buffet, but somehow the "camp" atmosphere makes it taste even better to us.

The characters are dressed in casual, campy outfits, which we like. And we've had nothing but good character interaction here, with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey.

Bottom line - this place is just plain fun!

 

[CamColt]

We did it once and that was enough for us. The food was pretty good. I cant really say much bad about that, well except I was hoping for the regular breakfast pizza like at Chef Mickeys, but instead it had red and green stuff on it(peppers, Im guessing?) so that was disappointing. The rest of the food was good.
Now the part we didnt like was that it was extremely stressful. We had a PS for 8:10 so we thought we would be done by park opening. We arrived well before 8:10 and still werent allowed in the park until about that time. Then we had to wait to be called, then wait around for our waiter to get his whole group, before being led to the restaurant. During this walk our waiter shouted orders at us. Upon arrival we were ordered to either go to the buffet(we would be told when the characters were out) or wait for the characters. Since we were already late and there was no line at the buffet, we decided to get food first(what we usually do at Chef Mickeys...thought it would be the same procedure). We had a party of 7 and some of us had 1 or 2 items on our plates, others had none when our waiter started yelling for us "Smith party, Donald is at your table! Get back to your table, Smith party..." This went on even though he saw us desperately trying to get back to our table through people taking pictures, etc... We were so stressed we all left my 2yo at the buffet alone, LOL! We then had to sit there and wait for all characters to come around before we were allowed to get food. So for an 8:10 PS we werent eating until well after 8:30. I dont know if this is the usual set up here or if they just made us wait for characters because they happened to be running late that day or what, but it made for a very stressful meal. We have eaten at Chef Mickey 4 times and much prefer it there.

 

[VINN127]

WE have been on at least 2 occasions with large groups and loved it both times. Goofy is a regular also.

 

[stacy6552]

We love it! We always get a pre park opening PS and miss the gate crowds and have a nive long visit with Donald and the gang.

 

[ducklite]

It's the only CB we eat at every time we go to WDW! Great food selection, great atmosphere, loads of fun!

Anne

 

[frndofpooh]

We love Donald's! Others have indicated that they have felt rushed when they were there for an early PS. We take the opposite approach and typically book Donald's for a late PS around 10:00 on an Early Entry day. We get to the AK at 8:00 to enjoy EE, then by 10:00 we are ready for a great meal at Donald's. We have NEVER felt rushed, even when they are getting close to closing time. Instead, the restaurant is half empty and we get plenty of time with the characters.

 

[frndofpooh]

We love Donald's! Others have indicated that they have felt rushed when they were there for an early PS. We take the opposite approach and typically book Donald's for a late PS around 10:00 on an Early Entry day. We get to the AK at 8:00 to enjoy EE, then by 10:00 we are ready for a great meal at Donald's. We have NEVER felt rushed, even when they are getting close to closing time. Instead, the restaurant is half empty and we get plenty of time with the characters.

 

[sanilacjack]

for all the wonderful replys.

I will be keeping my PS.

I guess it's just human nature to remember the neg. comments posters make, so I appreciate all the good you folks have said.

Only 3 weeks, 6 days, and 18 hours.

Woohooo!!

-Kim

 

[Cameo]

I'm glad everyone had such great experiences. Ours was not so good. I also did not enjoy standing around and waiting at the entrance of AK to be led back to the restaurant. We were seated in a very dark corner and barely saw our server. We had to track him down and request drinks. The buffet was PACKED. I got the kids food and then hubby went to get his. Thank goodness he got me a plate because the kids were done by the time he got back 15 minutes later. If he hadn't gotten me a plate, I'm not sure if I would have eaten. Then we couldn't find the server to get our bill. I would definitely eat there again if I hadn't just to try it, but we won't be going back. Good luck!

 

[raidermatt]

Did it once, and had no problems. Service was polite and they made sure we saw all of the characters. Food was good.

It isn't our favorite, but it is one of the few that has Donald, and its convenient if you are touring AK that day.

 

[jwfla422]

We just did this breakfast yesterday morning. We had 8:50 PS but had to stand in the general line. They were letting everyone in at 8:45 but there was a separate roped off area to go to Donald's, everyone else had to wait until 9:00 to enter the park near the Circle of Life tree.

We had our photo done and then waited about 5-10 minutes to be seated. It was nice because it wasn't too crowded inside. Unfortunatley I waited in the buffet line for about 10 minutes but after I was done there wasn't a line at the buffet the entire rest of the time...at all! We were in a good location, right next to the "cold" buffet and just a few steps away from the hot buffet.

The characters were spaced out nicely, even visited twice by Pluto, food was good, fresh, made to order omelet was pretty good, but my fav was the chocolate chip pancakes, made by the same guy who does the omelets.

Would definitely do this breakfast again, I give it a thumbs up.

 

[castlegazer]

I was shocked, shocked I say, at the heading here - we loved Donald's sooo much. But then I read some of the well thought out comments and I have to say that maybe I am missing something - I just have to tell my DH that we have to try all the CBs to be able to tell what was wrong at Donald's Anyways, we like to get late PSs for the breakfasts so I think that that changes your perception because they are less crowded and you have more interaction time. I felt the servers were the best at any restaurant we were at all week long. They even brought me a huge plate of Krispy Kremes because someone had snagged the last of them and, as said above, it was the end of the breakfast. I really like Donald and had an absolute blast dancing with him and making fun of him - the CM loves to play around and ham it up. I liked the setting too - I felt it WAS more relaxing than any of the other breakfasts and the food was very good. MY DH is actually dissapointed that we won't be doing it again this year - we are going to CP to see Pooh and friends this time to appease my DS. I try and recommend Donald's to everyone - it was a great way to start our day at AK - which is a short day anyways, why not start it out on a full stomach? I guess after reading the other posts, I wouldn't go out of my way to do this breakfast if you weren't going to do AK that day. But we loved it - I can just hear Donald in my head right now and it brings a smile to my face.

 

[goofy4tink]

We also got a late ps, at about 10:00. We got to AK for EE. We had already been to AK earlier in the week, so we only did specific things at EE. We got to the entrance to DinoLand just before 9 a.m. but it wasn't open yet. When it opened we did a few attractions and then got to Donald's about 15 minutes early. We did wait about 20 mins. to be seated. It was only slightly chaotic. But, the food was the best we had had at a character meal. The tables are a little on the small side but there are only 3 of us. My dh says it's the one character meal, other than Chef Mickey's, that he wants to do each time we go!!! THose are our favorites.