Opinions about character breakfast at MK

[elorapet]

Hi
Is it a good idea to have a character breakfast at MK? I am a newbie here and going to my first WDW vacation in November, it might be that we have possibilty to have only 1-day tickets, so we decided that in that case it will be the MK.
so when we have only 1 day at the park, is it a bad idea to have a character breakfast? I am mainly concerned that if it is very crowded it will take a long time. (btw, what is the max time you can spend at character breakfast or is there a time limit?)
I am mainly concidering Crystal Place breakfast with Pooh and his friends

hopefully you understand what I am trying to say...

 

[Mackey Mouse]

Welcome to the Dis!!!!!!

With only one day at WDW, and with that day being in the MK, mealtimes can be hectic and crowded and if that is a concern, you may just want to do counter service and enjoy the park..

Another character meal in MK for dinner is Liberty Tree Tavern, and we have done that one and enjoyed it immensely. It is sit down, family style, American food with the characters in costume....

I am going to link CP and LTT here and you can look at the menus and which characters and decide for yourself. Character breakfasts can take up your time, I thought the dinner at LTT went fast..

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=87

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=112

 

[tinkandpan]

If you can get an early ADR at crystal palace (ie 8:05) you will be able to get breakfast done (not see all the characters, but most) and be out the door to the castle for rope drop allowing you to do fantasy land (or whatever you choose) pretty quickly. It's a ncie touch to your vacation IMO

 

[antmaril]

If you can get an early ADR at crystal palace (ie 8:05) you will be able to get breakfast done (not see all the characters, but most) and be out the door to the castle for rope drop allowing you to do fantasy land (or whatever you choose) pretty quickly. It's a ncie touch to your vacation IMO

I agree with this. Get an early ADR at the Crystal Palace and you'll be done with breakfast by the time the park opens to everyone else. It is a great way to start the day at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[mkygrl]

An early CP breakfast is awesome! We have been to Disney many mnay times and still love to do this! Arrive early and you can take in Main Street and get some great photos in front of the castle!

Have a great time!

 

[Del]

We love Crystal Palace the best. Get an early morning resev. Great atmosphere and the food is better than LTT.

Del

 

[pooh2001]

We LOVE Crystal Palace for breakfast.

If it not an early entry morning try for breakfast at 7:30 am or 8 am.
Use WDW transportation, the CM's will check your ADR # and name at the entrance gates (MK ticket required) and let you in to an empty park. Take pictures as you wlak to Crystal Palace.

If it is an early entry morning - we go MK at 7 am and then eat a late breakfast at Crystal Palace at 10 AM after going on rides for 2 1/2 hours

Crystal Palace for breakfast

 

[Mom2Evie]

Having only 1 day in the park doesn't leave you time to do everything you're going to WANT to do already. Make sure you go in there with a plan. If you haven't already purchased the 2007 Unofficial Guide to DisneyWorld, I would do that. It gives you some "touring plans" of how best to fit everything that you want in a day, with small children.

I would try to have breakfast before I arrived and then counter service for lunch. There are some great fast places in MK that your 6 yo would love, for sure: Cosmic Ray's & Pecos Bill are great. Of course, while we're there we always get at least one hot dog from Casey's, right on the corner of Main Street before the Castle.

I think the Crystal Palace might be a bit overwhelming for your youngest. Smaller children can be terribly frightened by what my daughter calls "The fuzzies". It took her until about age 5 to let Pooh, Tigger or any of the other characters that aren't "people" (except Mickey & Minnie) come anywhere near her. We started slowly, looking at a distance. Luckily for us, Pooh & Tigger totally won her over this year during breakfast at the Grand Floridian. She said Pooh was the softest bear she'd ever hugged and TIgger kept coming back to give her kisses..... after that, she was hooked!

 

[ballarinamom]

If you can't get the earliest time for breakfast blow off breakfast and eat while waiting for rope drop to take full advantage of the short lines at opening. Hit all the rides in Fantasy land (Dumbo first and get a FP for Winnie or Peter Pan)> Dumbo takes forever if there is a line. Hit as many rides as you can and make yourself familiar with the map and Fastpass rides. Always have atleast one FP in your hands, two if the times fall right. Then when it gets crowded in the afternoon, do a character meal for a later lunch. We loved CP. The characters came in and orderly fashion and buffet is great for picky little eaters like my DD5. She went to her first character meal at 21/2 and loved it. Have a great trip and ask lots of questions on the DIS to get your self prepared. With just one day, you'll want to make the most of it!

 

[amery]

For starters, you have picked my all time favorite place for a character meal. The interaction is fabulous as was the service and food quality.

Actually ate there twice and don't recall that there was any kind of a limit before you would be coerced away from the table. While not the cheapest place in the world, it is definately worth what you will spend.

If you can get an early ADR, maybe even before park opening, that will afford you ample time in the park that day. If you are staying onsite, you will also have EMH to take advantage of so keep that in mind.

 

[elorapet]

wow, so many replies! thank you so much everybody!

this helps our planning a lot! my DH is amazed how much info I have collected during my couple of days here in this board. (he doesn't usually follow any discussion forum in the internet, maybe he starts after seeing how useful it might be )

I have a bit of a dilemma with EHM, because the only EHM during our stay is on thurday and we are arriving on wednesday evening (long flight + drive from Miami) . so it might be the we are very tired and jetlacked. But then on the other hand, I know that my DD6 would like to go to the MK right away and if we don't the whole day will be "mom, when I am going to see the Disney park?" in every 10 minutes

 

[Dizneydaz]

I have a bit of a dilemma with EHM, because the only EHM during our stay is on thurday and we are arriving on wednesday evening (long flight + drive from Miami) . so it might be the we are very tired and jetlacked. But then on the other hand, I know that my DD6 would like to go to the MK right away and if we don't the whole day will be "mom, when I am going to see the Disney park?" in every 10 minutes

You might try the EMH a.m. and if your DD gets tired (and she probably will) you can head back to the hotel for a short visit, or if she's still small enough to fit in a stroller, you can have one with you at MK and when she gets tired, let her ride (or nap) for a bit. That's what we sometimes do with my DD7 (still small enough for stroller! ).

For us EMH a.m. are hard since we have a 3 hr difference coming from CA but EMH pm are very easy to do-as well as later dinner times!

 

[MickeyNicki]

I love the CP breakfast, the best thing is having the first seating possible...the food is great and the park is empty

 

[ballarinamom]

I totally agree with Diznydaz. We had an early flight (5:30am) and stayed at Epcot til closing that day. The next day was EMH at MK. We were there for rope drop. Around 12:30, DD5 was fading. I asked her if she wanted to go take a nap at the hotel and she said "YES PLEASE". Now, she is not a napper so this was a shocker. But we got back to ASMos by 1:30 and joined DH at 5:30. She hung til close that night and managed rope drop every other morning of our 7 night trip and was never grouchy. Even with leaving for a while, we still got tons of rides in that morning with EMH. More than we expected for the entire day. AND She and I both got a much needed nap. Just follow your child's needs and have a great trip

 

[elorapet]

it is so nice to read this stories and get some great advices.

we decided to visit MK on saturday. so we miss thursdays EMH, but I managed to get ADR for character breakfast for CP at 8.05 on saturday. I calculated that it might be that we arrive to ASMo 10pm or after on wednesday so visiting MK right away on thursday would have too exhausting. (I realized that when I checked how early our flight from Finland is leaving... we need to be at the airport by 5 am. so it will be very early morning )

 

[bigmoonmullen]

Hi:

I would suggest, if available, to book the earliest (8:00-8:30) possible CRT Breakfast at the castle... You get into the park early where you can walk down mainstreet when only a very few people are in the park.

Have a Great Trip,

Mart