PPO Crystal Palace Breakfast Question....

[Marissa227]

I had initially planned on doing the Pirates 'n Pals Voyage on our arrival night, Saturday 11/27. However, last night I was able to grab an 8am Crystal Palace for the following morning. We are going to MVMCP that day, and we weren't going to use a park ticket that day, but now I realize I could add an extra park hopper day AND pay OOP for breakfast, for the same $ I was paying for our family of 6 to go on the Pirates Voyage. I think this would let us enjoy MVMCP more too, because the kids would get to take their time doing the rides in the morning, and we could focus on the special events that evening. Of course we would have to take a rest at our resort in the afternoon. We will also be returning to Magic Kingdom the following evening for dinner at CRT. What do you think.... cancel the Pirates Voyage? Is PPO breakfast at Crystal Palace and a few extra hours of park time a good trade off? (kids are ages 15,13,4 and 2)

 

[InTheWick]

In my opinion, the best part of doing it is being able to get pictures on Main Street with the Castle behind you and no people in the way! Walk slowly and really appreciate the magic of Main Street. You can always do the rides at the party and the next day with fast passes. I booked it last summer with the hopes of getting on the 7DMT early, but in reality, my wife and I were floored by how beautiful Main Street was and how easy it was to take pictures with the photo pass photographers with no people in the way! We loved it and got to our reservation 15 minutes late (they didn't seem to mind... we waited 5 minutes to be seated so we sat outside looking at the Castle with no one around). We have another ppo booked at Crystal Palace for our next trip. Our boys are 7 and 5 and still like meeting the characters so it's a win-win situation for us.

I've never done the Pirates and Pals Voyage so I can't compare the two.... but walking down Main Street with virtually no one around is quite magical!

 

[Pumbaa_]

Watch the hours too, we often see last min changes in hours that negate ppo

 

[KNovacovschi]

Keep in mind however that a park ticket is absolutely required for breakfast. PPO though is amazing. We do it every year just so we can experience the park with very little to no people in the background. I love seeing the castle with almost no one in front of it but I also like to go to the entrances of all the areas and see them with no one there.

 

[Nancyg56]

I like CP PPO breakfast, but you are looking a a long day, rest or not. You may or may not have a PPO advantage, depending on whether Disney changes the park opening time to 8 AM or keeps the 9 AM opening. The park is not too crowded forr the better part of the day, so you will be able to get a lot of attraction out of the way. However, will the little ones be too tired to enjoy the party?

You can enter the park at 4 PM for the party, so if I was planning, I would not do a PPO meal on any day I wanted to go to a Party. I would relax at the resort, swim etc. Then have an early meal and go to the party. TO me, there is not a lot f benefit to a long day that may end up with cranky kids and a tired me.

 

[Marissa227]

I like CP PPO breakfast, but you are looking a a long day, rest or not. You may or may not have a PPO advantage, depending on whether Disney changes the park opening time to 8 AM or keeps the 9 AM opening. The park is not too crowded forr the better part of the day, so you will be able to get a lot of attraction out of the way. However, will the little ones be too tired to enjoy the party?

You can enter the park at 4 PM for the party, so if I was planning, I would not do a PPO meal on any day I wanted to go to a Party. I would relax at the resort, swim etc. Then have an early meal and go to the party. TO me, there is not a lot f benefit to a long day that may end up with cranky kids and a tired me.

That was my initial plan too... But now that it's getting closer I'm rethinking because, I have two very active little boys who have been looking forward to this trip for several months, and we're driving from Pennsylvania. After all that waiting, I'm thinking it's going to be hard to have our first full day just "relaxing". Looking back, I should have booked MVMCP for later in our trip, but live and learn! I figure even if we just do 9-noon at the park, we can take a 5 or so hour break mid day, and it will get some of the excitement out of the way so maybe there will be a chance of a nap! Haha.

 

[Nancyg56]

That was my initial plan too... But now that it's getting closer I'm rethinking because, I have two very active little boys who have been looking forward to this trip for several months, and we're driving from Pennsylvania. After all that waiting, I'm thinking it's going to be hard to have our first full day just "relaxing". Looking back, I should have booked MVMCP for later in our trip, but live and learn! I figure even if we just do 9-noon at the park, we can take a 5 or so hour break mid day, and it will get some of the excitement out of the way so maybe there will be a chance of a nap! Haha.

Oh! Well in that case go for it. I did not realize it was your real day one. I will say that on our first trips we did not head straight into the parks. My DGD was fine with the pool, the monorail and Chef Mickey. But we skipped into to a park the next day.

 

[Marissa227]

Ok I can't bring myself to part with the Pirates Voyage Also thinking it may be difficult to get 4 kids ready and out the door early enough for our 8am ADR. Now I'm considering just doing the Pirates 'n Pals and letting the kids sleep in a little. If we decide we can't wait until 4pm to go to the park, we can just add an extra day of park hopper while we are there, right?

 

[Nancyg56]

Ok I can't bring myself to part with the Pirates Voyage Also thinking it may be difficult to get 4 kids ready and out the door early enough for our 8am ADR. Now I'm considering just doing the Pirates 'n Pals and letting the kids sleep in a little. If we decide we can't wait until 4pm to go to the park, we can just add an extra day of park hopper while we are there, right?

It depends on how the kids are in the morning. My little Princesses were a misery when we hauled their sorry selves out for the PPO meal. It was worth it when they finally "woke" up, but holy cow!

I know it is not easy, but I woudl not over book yourselves. There is a lot to do in the parks, and once you start adding on, you lose park time. I'm not saying you have too much in the plan, but I am saying be careful.

 

[goofy4prez]

Watch the hours too, we often see last min changes in hours that negate ppo

And so often there is nothing you can do even when watching. This happened to us this past June 5th when we had an 8:00 am ADR for 8 at CP only to find that Disney on June 3rd updated that the park would be opening at 8:00 am instead of the scheduled 9:00 am, Oh well.. We still enjoyed the brief time prior to everyone getting in, it just changed the way we did our early morning attractions that were not FP+. I'm also glad that I am not one of the many minions who would sell their first born child and stampede over anyone in their way to get to 7DMT at RD.