Minnie's Breakfast @PI.. First Reservation or Later?!

[MaxnElliesMama]

We have a Disney character LOVER who is celebrating his 4th birthday in the parks, so we are doing our character breakfast on his birthday, on a Saturday morning at Plaza Inn.. .. I was sure that based on what I've read doing breakfast right when opening has produced the best results in Character interaction, but the last few TR's I've read have people doing a 10am breakfast and loving that time...

SO... What would you do? First thing or 10am-ish?!

We can eat cereal, granola bars, etc in AM at hotel, like all other mornings, if need be... Or we can hoof it right over to PI.. We just want my DS to get the most of the Characters on his special day...

Not to mention, our entire family will be Minnie themed in dress that day!

 

[Girimama33]

Personally, those first few hours the park is open are just too precious to me to be sitting somewhere having breakfast.
My vote is for later.

 

[sherilaine]

For your situation I'd say do it first thing. We have done it first thing a few times before already - so our last trip we wanted to really get our early rides in as it was our MM that Saturday and then be able to take our break at Minnie's. We still saw a lot of characters and it was a great choice for us.

But for a 4 year old showing up at the first reservation of the day with a birthday button - he'll get a LOT of attention. Just keep in mind to enjoy as much of the character interaction when you arrive and when all that settles down to then go and get filled up on food. The characters are literally waiting for guests to arrive at opening, so they'll slather on the attention.

Have fun!

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

For your situation I'd say do it first thing. We have done it first thing a few times before already - so our last trip we wanted to really get our early rides in as it was our MM that Saturday and then be able to take our break at Minnie's. We still saw a lot of characters and it was a great choice for us.

But for a 4 year old showing up at the first reservation of the day with a birthday button - he'll get a LOT of attention. Just keep in mind to enjoy as much of the character interaction when you arrive and when all that settles down to then go and get filled up on food. The characters are literally waiting for guests to arrive at opening, so they'll slather on the attention.

Have fun!

Thanks! This sounds PERFECT! He will be so happy! He will have his birthday button and a birthday shirt, and in his Minnie themed garb!

 

[ktlm]

We typically do it between 10 and 10:30. The park usually opens at 8 when we are there and we spend the first couple of hours getting things done while the lines are short and then have a great brunch with the characters. We have always had great character interaction at that time. Last year, we were there in July and even though the restaurant was more crowded than it usually is when we are there that late, we still had great interaction. Hook stole DD's Duffy Bear and was running around the restaurant with it. One year when we went in early June, the restaurant was not that crowded and we saw 13 characters and a few visited our table more than once. DD was wearing a red polka dot dress that year, so Minnie came back to grab her and dance a bit. That time with the restaurant fairly empty, we actually had a hard time finding time to eat because the characters were constantly at the table--- it was great! We really enjoy the later time. We have never eaten at Minnie's earlier, so I can't really compare. We were the first or second table seated at Goofy's for dinner one time. We did have the characters come visit a couple of times and play a bit until more tables were seated. That was fun- it was definitely the best interaction we have had at Goofy's. I think he will love it whatever time you choose. I agree that if he is the first kid, or one of the very first kids there, with a birthday button on and a Minnie themed family that he should get a whole lot of attention! I would say either be the absolute first reservation and get there early to try to be one of the first seated, or go for the later time when hopefully the restaurant won't be as crowded and the characters have more time to play.

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

We typically do it between 10 and 10:30. The park usually opens at 8 when we are there and we spend the first couple of hours getting things done while the lines are short and then have a great brunch with the characters. We have always had great character interaction at that time. Last year, we were there in July and even though the restaurant was more crowded than it usually is when we are there that late, we still had great interaction. Hook stole DD's Duffy Bear and was running around the restaurant with it. One year when we went in early June, the restaurant was not that crowded and we saw 13 characters and a few visited our table more than once. DD was wearing a red polka dot dress that year, so Minnie came back to grab her and dance a bit. That time with the restaurant fairly empty, we actually had a hard time finding time to eat because the characters were constantly at the table--- it was great! We really enjoy the later time. We have never eaten at Minnie's earlier, so I can't really compare. We were the first or second table seated at Goofy's for dinner one time. We did have the characters come visit a couple of times and play a bit until more tables were seated. That was fun- it was definitely the best interaction we have had at Goofy's. I think he will love it whatever time you choose. I agree that if he is the first kid, or one of the very first kids there, with a birthday button on and a Minnie themed family that he should get a whole lot of attention! I would say either be the absolute first reservation and get there early to try to be one of the first seated, or go for the later time when hopefully the restaurant won't be as crowded and the characters have more time to play.

Thanks so much, that is great info!

Do you know what time the reservation lines open to call Disney? I have reminder on my work calendar exactly 60 days out at 7:30am. Guess I better know which I would like by then!

 

[KBinCO]

personally, I like for it to be the first thing we do. Plus, my kids will complain about hunger until eating breakfast. That said, the parks didn't open until 10 on the day that we did it (we had a 9:50 reservation) so we didn't have much of an option to ride anything before hand.

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

personally, I like for it to be the first thing we do. Plus, my kids will complain about hunger until eating breakfast. That said, the parks didn't open until 10 on the day that we did it (we had a 9:50 reservation) so we didn't have much of an option to ride anything before hand.

I think the park opens at 8 in summer, is this correct?

My son HAS to eat first thing, but we could do breakfast at wake up in hotel, if the 10 am was the better choice. LOL..

 

[KBinCO]

If you do 10am or so, and take full advantage of all the food, you will be full for a while. We stuffed the kids and ourselves and didn't eat for the rest of the day. Really got our money's worth!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Summer days the park should open at 8 AM. That means on a Saturday morning, early entry is at 7 AM and the first reservation at Minnie's is 7:10 AM. You can make a 7:10 AM reservation even without early entry access. For the situation you have described of a 4 year old birthday and this being a major highlight, then I would be willing to give up a little bit of my precious morning ride time. This is the kind of special experience you are there to build memories of. Take the 7:10 AM reservation and enjoy. You will most likely be done meeting the characters and eating breakfast sometime between 8:15 and 8:30 and won't have missed all of the morning's slower time.

 

[lorijohnhill]

We prefer the first time slot. We've had much better experiences at that time.

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

Summer days the park should open at 8 AM. That means on a Saturday morning, early entry is at 7 AM and the first reservation at Minnie's is 7:10 AM. You can make a 7:10 AM reservation even without early entry access. For the situation you have described of a 4 year old birthday and this being a major highlight, then I would be willing to give up a little bit of my precious morning ride time. This is the kind of special experience you are there to build memories of. Take the 7:10 AM reservation and enjoy. You will most likely be done meeting the characters and eating breakfast sometime between 8:15 and 8:30 and won't have missed all of the morning's slower time.

We prefer the first time slot. We've had much better experiences at that time.

Awesome, thanks so much! I think we will shoot for the 7:10am reservation, characters will definitely be the highlight of his trip, so the best chance of interaction we will take.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

What we did was reserve the first time slot on a MM day when we didn't have tickets with MM privileges. It was 10 minutes after MM started and by the time we were done the park was getting ready for regular park opening. Since we were already in the park they just let us go so we didn't have to stand in line with the rest of the crowd. Worked out really well for us. If this way isn't a possibility, I would go with the 10am time.

 

[smartlabelprint]

At the first 9:10 am reservation on a weekday mm (we are AP so no entry for that) we were inundated with characters too.

 

[KBinCO]

I can not imagine getting anywhere at 7:10am. Getting there by 9:50 was a feat. I wish my kids could get up and hustle in the morning!