Princess Breakfast at Epcot -- advice?

[Heather]

We are trying the Princess Breakfast at the Norway pavilion (since we couldn't get castle ressies this year ) and wanted to ask how early the buses leave from the resorts. Epcot doesn't open until 9 the day we have our PS, but our PS is for 8:30 and it's a fairly long walk from the front gates over there -- how early has anyone gotten on a bus for this? Any other advice or info on it?

Doing the single digit countdown (despite swearing we'd never go at a holiday time again!)!
Heather

 

[Goofmeister]

They told us to arrive at the park 1/2 hour before the PS to give us enough time to cross future world.

I've heard the busses start running 1-1.5 hours before opening.

I've never had trouble getting on a bus 1 hour before opening.

We really liked this one; almost better than CRT. The castle tips it in favor of CRT.

 

[Badger Brent]

You could always take a cab to give yourself a piece of mind. I've done this in the past and it has worked well. We enjoyed the breakfast very much there. Just let them know right away what refills of drinks you will be needing often. That was are only problem.

 

[TreeOfLife]

Yup, I always notice they seem to be stingy with the drinks. One refill and then the waiters disappear on you...

 

[2tinksmom]

If you wanted to, you could take the bus to the Beach Club and it's a very short walk to EPCOT's WS entrance.

 

[nativetxn]

I'm going to move this to our Restaurants board for you.

 

[MaMudduck]

Heather, What hotel are you staying at? and what day of the week is your ressie for?

In Oct, I when through this crazy, hair pulling morning trying to get there. Our Ressie was for 8:30 too, I was told by bus drivers & CM's (3 different people) that there would be a bus at 7-7:30am to get us there. NOOOO way, the first bus STARTS running 1hr before the park opens. There is no such thing as a Character breakfast bus, like the other bus drivers told me.
By the time the bus got to our stop at CBR it was 8:10am, we arrived at Epcot at 8:25am & ran to the Norway pavillion. Needless to say not a happy morning. We got there at 8:35am but it was the ok because they were just starting the "opening" ceremony.
So if you have ressies on Wed. (EE) the buses will start running at 7am, otherwise 8am....if you have small children or would like to peacefully enjoy worldshowcase in the quiet of the morning (my personal fav!), taking a taxi is way better.
This is a wonderful breakie , you'll enjoy it, I've done it twice now.
(last year we had a car, it was alot better for getting there)

 

[Safari Steve]

There is no direct resort-to-resort transportation, so a bus to BC is a no-go.
Generally, WDW busses start at 7:45 on a normal open day.
Double check with your front desk about busses.
If you don't have a car with you, take a taxi to be safe.
The CM should have advised you that you will need to provide your own transportation for such an early seating (it's on the screen in front of them)... but even if they didn't tell you, it's still true.
Tripple check with your front desk.

Have fun.

Guaranteed 5 princesses + no stairs to climb = better than guaranteed 1 princess + lots of stairs. PSB wins in my book!

 

[rdrjj5]

MaMudduck
What is the opening ceremony? We have a ps for 8:50 is it worth us going a litttle early to see this?
thanks

 

[MaMudduck]

All the waiters and waitress come out and sing a good morning song in Norweign. A 'little' princess is picked to wave her magic wand at the door to open it and poof! the doors are magicly openned by a 'real' princess on the inside ( it was Cinderella on our morning, which was a wonderful surprise because she's usually not at PSB breakie.) It's cute but I wouldn't come extra early just for that. But with a 8:50 ressie you may see it anyway. I think it was at about 8:40-45am
After the doors open they give your PS to one of the servers to take you inside.

 

[Heather]

Our ressies are at 8:30 this Saturday (we arrive Friday night, so this will be our very first thing, for my little one's 5th BD) and we are staying at WL. I'm thinking we're going to need a cab.

THanks so much to you all for the advice -- I'd never heard of the opening part, and without all the help, we'd have been very, very late (and stressed).

 

[SnowWhiteIsDreaming]

Hi Heather,

We were there a few weeks ago. We stayed at the WL and had an 8:30 PS for the PSB. We took the Epcot bus from the WL - it starts running at 7:30. We were at the bus stop at 7:00 cause I didn't know it started running at 7:30. The bus came around 7:33, and we got to Epcot by 7:45 or so. We had to wait at the Epcot turnstiles for 10 minutes to be let in. They don't let anyone in until 8:00. There were 3 other groups of families waiting with us (some of them were on the same WL bus as us).

When they opened the gates, we leisurely (but very excitely) walked to Norway (and I've never been to Epcot so we just followed our map). We were the the second to check in at the podium. I mentioned that it was my DD's bday the next day and they made her "princess of the day". She was so proud to wear the sequined cape and princess hat, and wave the wand to open the restaurant. Snow White escorted her to her 'throne'. Loved this restaurant!

Anyways, if you get down to the bus stop before 7:30, you will have NO PROBLEM getting there with oodles of time. I would get to the bus stop by 7:10-7:15 if you are a little nervous about it so you won't miss the first Epcot bus. Have a great princess breakfast

 

[ktozj]

We will be driving to the parks each day instead of riding a bus and are staying off site this year.

We have a PS at the Princess breakfast at Epcot on Dec. 24. The PS is for 8:30 and the park doesn't open until 9:00.

Does anyone know what time the Parks gates open for parking prior to the time the actual park opens?

 

[MaMudduck]

You can get in the parking lot really early... If you're there by 7:45 you'll have no problems. Just tell the attendent you have an Character breakfast to get to, if there's a problem. Just remember that you need to go the the right hand side entrance with your PS confirm. #, keep this number handy, sometimes you get asked a few times for it.