Plaza Inn Minnie & Friends breakfast - earliest reservation time?

[Laur0406]

I know we don't know the park hours for March yet, but we're planning on starting our first day in the parks with this breakfast, on a Monday. Are there reservations available before park opening on non-Magic Morning days? What time would it open on Magic Morning days? We have tickets with MaxPass and one magic Morning...would it make more sense to do the breakfast on a Magic Morning? Help me please

I hope this is clear! I find it hard to get info on DL this far in advance and I am a bit of a planner as far as figuring out our rough schedule.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Monday doesn’t have MM, so it will open when the park opens.

Most people (myself included) would encourage you to schedule it later and not give up those incredibly valuable, golden morning hours - it’s honestly kind of a waste to spend the early morning sitting at breakfast IMO. We usually go at about 10 and make it more of a brunch.

 

[LizzyS]

Monday doesn’t have MM, so it will open when the park opens.

Most people (myself included) would encourage you to schedule it later and not give up those incredibly valuable, golden morning hours - it’s honestly kind of a waste to spend the early morning sitting at breakfast IMO. We usually go at about 10 and make it more of a brunch.

I agree with this. The first 2-3 open hours at DLR are the most valuable and I wouldn't schedule a breakfast at park opening myself.

 

[Laur0406]

Thank you! Honestly, I would never have thought about that. We'll have a light breakfast at our hotel and then a later bigger breakfast after riding some stuff first thing.

On that note...what would the latest seating typically be?

 

[pennym]

We go first thing on a magic morning when we couldn't get in early otherwise. That way we've finished our meal as the park opens to everyone else, including us, and we head straight to an uncrowded Adventureland!

 

[Aurora0427]

Thank you! Honestly, I would never have thought about that. We'll have a light breakfast at our hotel and then a later bigger breakfast after riding some stuff first thing.

On that note...what would the latest seating typically be?

We always schedule character breakfasts as brunch. We just did Minnie’s breakfast on 10/15. We had a reservation for 10:20. We and another couple shut the place down.... the characters came by multiple times and had dance parties with our kids. It was great. Minnie even came to see us twice because she was finished taking photos at the front with guests.

 

[Laur0406]

We always schedule character breakfasts as brunch. We just did Minnie’s breakfast on 10/15. We had a reservation for 10:20. We and another couple shut the place down.... the characters came by multiple times and had dance parties with our kids. It was great. Minnie even came to see us twice because she was finished taking photos at the front with guests.

This sounds so amazing. I would be worried that the later it got the less interaction but it almost sounds like the opposite. Was just over an hour enough time to eat? Did the food keep coming out fresh up until around 11:30 when they tear down?

 

[MonocularVision]

We always schedule character breakfasts as brunch. We just did Minnie’s breakfast on 10/15. We had a reservation for 10:20. We and another couple shut the place down.... the characters came by multiple times and had dance parties with our kids. It was great. Minnie even came to see us twice because she was finished taking photos at the front with guests.

I can second this strategy. You get the bonus of being able to hit the park when it is least busy and then hit this buffet when it is least busy. There have been sporadic reports though of folks trying this and not getting many character interactions so perhaps a YMMV warning is in order.

 

[smartlabelprint]

My preference is to schedule my Minnie’s during MM on a day I’m not using MM. we’re usually done before MM is over and they let you in the park a few minutes early.

 

[Aurora0427]

This sounds so amazing. I would be worried that the later it got the less interaction but it almost sounds like the opposite. Was just over an hour enough time to eat? Did the food keep coming out fresh up until around 11:30 when they tear down?

They refreshed the food at least once. An hour is PLENTY of time. We were there longer because of multiple character interactions. The only character I had to chase down was Rafiki. I was worried he’d skip us and I just spoke with one of the CM’s for the characters and they made sure he came by.

 

[Aurora0427]

I can second this strategy. You get the bonus of being able to hit the park when it is least busy and then hit this buffet when it is least busy. There have been sporadic reports though of folks trying this and not getting many character interactions so perhaps a YMMV warning is in order.

We didn’t have this experience but I’m sure it happens. @Laur0406 I wouldn’t book any later than 10:15. That may help.

 

[Laur0406]

@Aurora0427 @MonocularVision thanks! We'll aim for a 10 or 10:15 reservation. Thanks so much!!

 

[mouschievous]

My preference is to schedule my Minnie’s during MM on a day I’m not using MM. we’re usually done before MM is over and they let you in the park a few minutes early.

That's exactly what we did. Our reservation was 7:20 or 7:30. We had already used our one MM that we got with our 3 day pass, so this allowed us to get in early and get fast passes booked while we were having breakfast. Going so early also made for fabulous interactions because there weren't that many people there yet. We got to spend quite a bit of time with Minnie when we got there because no one else was waiting, so that was great. We left around 8:30 or 8:45 and it was packed, with a line to see Minnie.

 

[Laur0406]

My preference is to schedule my Minnie’s during MM on a day I’m not using MM. we’re usually done before MM is over and they let you in the park a few minutes early.

So if we do this, we don't have to use our Magic Morning? But we can still get a reservation that early?

 

[smartlabelprint]

So if we do this, we don't have to use our Magic Morning? But we can still get a reservation that early?

Correct

 

[smartlabelprint]

That's exactly what we did. Our reservation was 7:20 or 7:30. We had already used our one MM that we got with our 3 day pass, so this allowed us to get in early and get fast passes booked while we were having breakfast. Going so early also made for fabulous interactions because there weren't that many people there yet. We got to spend quite a bit of time with Minnie when we got there because no one else was waiting, so that was great. We left around 8:30 or 8:45 and it was packed, with a line to see Minnie.

Yes! We couldn’t even eat, there were so many characters constantly surrounding us. We did have a cute baby at the time.

 

[misslassie]

That's exactly what we did. Our reservation was 7:20 or 7:30. We had already used our one MM that we got with our 3 day pass, so this allowed us to get in early and get fast passes booked while we were having breakfast. Going so early also made for fabulous interactions because there weren't that many people there yet. We got to spend quite a bit of time with Minnie when we got there because no one else was waiting, so that was great. We left around 8:30 or 8:45 and it was packed, with a line to see Minnie.

I’m so glad to read this! This is the thought process I’ve used for our visit coming up- park opening is 8am but we have a reservation for 7:10am. I figure it gets us into the park early so gives us an hour of bonus time, and even if we stay a little longer it’s still better than using 1.5-2hrs of park time later in the morning. It all depends on how much time/ how many days you have in the park though! And my family is always starving for breakfast first thing so we’d still have to feed them early if we did a brunch reservation!

 

[TikiTikiFan]

We usually do Minnies at 10:40 (about the latest reservation you can get) and have always had good experiences. I don’t think a later time impacts the quality at all.