Lilo & Stitch Breakfast--too far to walk after a morning at DL? Char. bkfst help...

[imjen]

After researching the character breakfasts on here, I think my kids would enjoy Lilo & Stitch the most. My only concern is that it seems it is quite a walk. We are staying at Carousel across the street and will be there Thurs-Sat. I thought we'd do our EE on Thursday, Friday night MHT, and Sat. a character breakfast. It doesn't seem that a character breakfast will work as well on Friday b/c DL opens at 9 am and since we have free breakfast at the hotel I want to do a late morning thing and that doesn't give us much time in the parks before it gets crowded. Saturday we will be tired from MHT, but hopefully get into the parks close to opening at 8 am, ride the rides for a couple hours and do a character breakfast at around 11. Although now that I think about it some more, we may be too tired to get there at opening on Saturday so maybe we could hit CA first at it's opening at 9 am, then head over to Lilo & Stitch late morning. What do you think would work better? How late do they do the PS's?

More questions...How long would it take us to walk to PP from DL vs from CA? Do you think it would be worth it to leave the parks with my kids, ages 8, 6, and 3? They do love Lilo & Stitch and I think they would have lots of fun with the activities they do there. It's just the distance....Do you suggest going through DTD or GC and if GC, how do I do that? We've never been to PP before. After brunch I thought we might do some rides at CA so that would work out fine. What are your opinions on DL vs. CA Saturday morning?

Any other tips about the breakfast stuff would be great! Thanks!

 

[moko]

The PPH isn't too far from the parks. I went through the DTD route and it was a short walk... maybe 7-10 minutes from the pavillion. I never did figure out how to get to the parks through the GCH.... got to the GCH but couldn't find the door! I'm not sure how late they do PS but I think I read somewhere that it's done at 11:30 on weekdays and 2:00 on weekends??? If you're going on Saturday, 11:00 should be a good time.

One tip for you with the PPH character breakfast, I believe you can order from the menu instead of the buffet if you'd like. The buffet was good, though! However, I found that my kids were too enthralled with the character excitement that they hardly ate anything. I think it was something like $11 for kids but they have the regular breakfast menu offerings for about half the price for them which would be a good idea if yours aren't big eaters.

Stitch is really fun for the little ones... he even played with my one year old. He spends a lot of time at each table and really puts on a good show. Hope others can chime in with other advice for you. Good luck and enjoy the Lilo & Stitch breakfast!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I want to say that they do ps up to around 11:00 a.m. Its not a far walk to the PP Hotel from California Adventure, just cut through the Grand Californian Hotel and that will shave off some steps. I would say allow 10-15 minutes from DCA to the PP Hotel. If you go to the breakfast from Disneyland, you can take the monorail from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney and then be about a five minute walk to the PP Hotel. We love this character breakfast and like to do a later seating. Its generally less crowded which gives you more time with the characters and they keep the buffet replinshed the whole time. We love the food, games and setting of this one, its our favorite breakfast (love Goofy's for dinner though).

Disneyland on a Saturday morning is great if you get there at opening. By the time late morning rolls around its packed. DCA is great if you want to sleep in, for our recent visit it didn't open until 10:00 a.m. even on a Saturday. We generally start out at Disneyland, spend a couple of uncrowded hours there then hop over to DCA at their opening and spend a few quiet hours there. Right now, the Nemo ride is making that part of Disneyland insane but you can still enjoy a quiet morning in all the other lands other than Tomorrowland which because of Nemo and Space Mountain is packed right off the bat.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[onederland]

It took us around 25 minutes to walk from our hotel (Camelot Inn) that was with a 5 and 6 year old in tow..we went through downtown Disney too. Our ressie was for 10:00 they were full when we got in but around 11:00 it was pretty empty so we got great interaction with Stitch and Minnie and Lilo, Pluto is also there and Miss Daisy Duck she is sooo cute first time I ever saw her. I'm guessing around 10:30 maybe the lastest reservation you can make looks like they were starting to get ready for lunch time around 11:30 which is when we left, but the time we got there was great cause people were starting to leave so we got a lot of attention..

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I'm not sure what the park hours are on the day you'll be going, but you mention MHT, so I'm guessing off-season hours.

Last fall we stayed at the DLH, and I scheduled an 8AM Lilo & Stitch PS. We were able to have a great breakfast and still hit the park at opening (though of course we weren't at the front of the line by then.) Just another option to consider.

At the time of our trip the monorail wasnt' running, but you could do similar to what Amy&Dan said in reverse: You could have an early breakfast, then cut through the GCH, hit the monorail and enter DL at Tomorrowland!

 

[lulubelle]

Personally, I think it is a pretty far walk....
But, that said, it is our favorite Character Breakfast. And they do spend a lot of time with you and your kids and the dancing and games are very cute. If you plan your PS appropriately to allow for the walking time, I think it will be a highlight of your trip . Just be ready for the long walk.

 

[teacups]

I'm not sure what the park hours are on the day you'll be going, but you mention MHT, so I'm guessing off-season hours.

Last fall we stayed at the DLH, and I scheduled an 8AM Lilo & Stitch PS. We were able to have a great breakfast and still hit the park at opening (though of course we weren't at the front of the line by then.) Just another option to consider.

At the time of our trip the monorail wasnt' running, but you could do similar to what Amy&Dan said in reverse: You could have an early breakfast, then cut through the GCH, hit the monorail and enter DL at Tomorrowland!

Save myself some time and agree with Alex2kMommy. Except I think our Lilo breakfast was earlier, maybe 7:30? It worked out perfect and IMO that is the best character bfast for kids (and adults too!)

 

[imjen]

I love the idea of taking the monorail from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney. I think we will be at DL at opening on Saturday, ride rides for a couple hours and then head over to PPH for an 11 am brunch. How do you cut through GCH to CA? I know it's a big hotel and I think we'll get lost. LOL I think we'll do CA after brunch.

It won't work very well for us to do breakfast before park opening because I want to use this to cut out one of the meals I have to buy since breakfast is free at our hotel. Also, we are doing EE on Thursday so we have to be there by 8:45 am and Friday I think DL opens at 9 am so really not enough time to do it beforehand anyway. Thanks again everyone! I'm really looking forward to this since I've never done a character meal before.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I love the idea of taking the monorail from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney. I think we will be at DL at opening on Saturday, ride rides for a couple hours and then head over to PPH for an 11 am brunch. How do you cut through GCH to CA? I know it's a big hotel and I think we'll get lost. LOL I think we'll do CA after brunch.

It won't work very well for us to do breakfast before park opening because I want to use this to cut out one of the meals I have to buy since breakfast is free at our hotel. Also, we are doing EE on Thursday so we have to be there by 8:45 am and Friday I think DL opens at 9 am so really not enough time to do it beforehand anyway. Thanks again everyone! I'm really looking forward to this since I've never done a character meal before.

That is a great idea. Just ask them what the latest seating is when you make the ps (11:00 a.m. is too late I think but you could do 10:30). If you decide to go from DCA, the Grand Californian entrance is across from the Grizzly River Run viewing area. You will walk past the pool area, then into the hotel. Just follow the signs inside the hotel (sort of up on the celing) to Downtown Disney/Disneyland. You will then exit the hotel at DTD (right next to Club Libby Lu), take a left and be at PP in about 10 minutes from that GCH exit. From DCA I would allow 15 miinutes. If you take the monorail I would allow around 30 minutes at least (you may have to wait for a monorail for a few minutes, then they will have to board etc). From the monorail staion in DTD its about a five minute walk to PP.

I also want to add that if you should do this from the Carousel, one of the reasons it takes a bit is that you will have to go through the bag check area near the park entrances, then walk down DTD. Another option to save steps and time is to take a cab from the Carousel to Paradise Pier. This will cost you around $10 with tip. I did that once from the Tropicana (next door to the Carousel) to Goofy's Kitchen and it was so easy. The hotel staffs there on Harbor are used to doing this for their guests all the time.

 

[imjen]

That is a great idea. Just ask them what the latest seating is when you make the ps (11:00 a.m. is too late I think but you could do 10:30). If you decide to go from DCA, the Grand Californian entrance is across from the Grizzly River Run viewing area. You will walk past the pool area, then into the hotel. Just follow the signs inside the hotel (sort of up on the celing) to Downtown Disney/Disneyland. You will then exit the hotel at DTD (right next to Club Libby Lu), take a left and be at PP in about 10 minutes from that GCH exit. From DCA I would allow 15 miinutes. If you take the monorail I would allow around 30 minutes at least (you may have to wait for a monorail for a few minutes, then they will have to board etc). From the monorail staion in DTD its about a five minute walk to PP.

I also want to add that if you should do this from the Carousel, one of the reasons it takes a bit is that you will have to go through the bag check area near the park entrances, then walk down DTD. Another option to save steps and time is to take a cab from the Carousel to Paradise Pier. This will cost you around $10 with tip. I did that once from the Tropicana (next door to the Carousel) to Goofy's Kitchen and it was so easy. The hotel staffs there on Harbor are used to doing this for their guests all the time.

I didn't realize the monorail would take so long. Thanks for your thoughts on that. If we're too tired to make it to opening at DL on Saturday (b/c of MHT the night before), we may barely get there and have to get on the monorail. Hmmmm...I'll have to keep thinking on this. Another question, can you hop on the monorail in Downtown Disney and get into DL that way if you aren't staying at the DL resort? What do you think the difference in walking time is between DL through DTD and CA through the GC?

We have a rental car so if we did breakfast early on Thursday or Friday we could drive over to PPH. Do they charge for parking and how do you get there from the Carousel? Thanks again!

 

[Amy&Dan]

That thirty minutes would be worse case scenario for the monorail. Sometimes, in the early morning in particular, they are only running one monorail at a time. So in that case if you have just missed a monorail, it takes around 8 minutes for it to go to DTD, unload, load, then return. Then you need to load, make the short trip, unload and then walk to PP. I always like to allow plenty of time. So if you had a 10:30 seating, I would arrive to the monorail station in Tomorrowland around a half hour before that to be safe. Also, sometimes even after you load on the monorail, it will sit there for a few minutes. They won't leave the station (either one) until the other one has left as well. They can't both be in the same staion at the same time so they have to coordinate. So if there is a delay on the other end, it will delay your monorail as well.

You can take the monorial from the DTD stop into Tomorrowland regardless of where you are staying. You just need a park ticket since it does take you directly into the park.

I would say that timewise, going from either DCA or taking the monorail from Tomorrowland will be equal. Walking wise, it will be fewer steps to take the monorail.

If you are too tired from MHT the night before, taking a cab for around $10 would be the easiest thing all around. You could just see how you feel that morning and play it by ear.

If you do the cab route, I would talk to the front desk at the Carousel and ask them the night before what time they recommend you ask them to call a cab for you. Good luck!

Oh and last thing, if you are a few minutes late (no more than say 10) they will be okay with that. We were late for our Lilo breakfast a few weeks ago since we drove over from the Best Western (we were checking out that morning) and then got to Paradise Pier's parking lot only to have some guy in front of us tie up the parking attendant for what seemed like forever! I finally hopped out and ran in while dh parked and arrived breathless a few mintues late. They were fine, it wasn't a problem.

 

[imjen]

Since we have a rental car we'd probably use that instead of a cab unless parking costs the same as the cab fare. Does anyone know how much parking at PPH costs? Good thing I'm planning all the logistics in advance. ;-) I don't know how anyone figures this stuff out once they are already there.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Since we have a rental car we'd probably use that instead of a cab unless parking costs the same as the cab fare. Does anyone know how much parking at PPH costs? Good thing I'm planning all the logistics in advance. ;-) I don't know how anyone figures this stuff out once they are already there.

Parking is free! Take your ticket into the restaurant and they will validate it for you. Its an easy five minute drive from the Carousel to PP. Then you can just take the car back to the Carousel and walk to the park from there. The validation is only good for somthing like two or three hours.

 

[imjen]

Sweet! What's the best way to get there from Carousel? And how long should we plan on being at the breakfast? An hour? More?

 

[Amy&Dan]

I would get the addresses for both hotels and mapquest directions. Thats what I did and it was nice, I printed out those directions (and various others for the places we were driving to around the area) and then had it all right when I needed it. Its going to take just around five minutes to get there and it was very easy to do.