What day/time for a character breakfast

[Jairy]

OK, I am thinking of choosing Minnie's Breakfast in the Park, after reading all the reviews here. I am going from May 13-20, so we will be in the park from the Wednesday-Monday. What would you suggest the best day/time to get reservations?

 

[bumbershoot]

If doing that particular breakfast, we personally would have a bite to eat early (like a granola bar and a coffee, or a water and granola bar for DS and the hubby), go into the parks and play for awhile, then have a late breakfast with Minnie (the people at Disney Dining can tell you what the last b'fast times are).

 

[Jairy]

If doing that particular breakfast, we personally would have a bite to eat early (like a granola bar and a coffee, or a water and granola bar for DS and the hubby), go into the parks and play for awhile, then have a late breakfast with Minnie (the people at Disney Dining can tell you what the last b'fast times are).

Is there a particular day that would be best? We will have one MM as well, so I am trying to see what I should plan for each day. I am so lost
Thanks!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Good question.

Maybe we can backtrack a bit, and find out how many people you're going with and what they ages are!

For instance, we're a family of 3, and my son is turning 4 end of May.

If we went in for MM that means we get into the park an hour before regular opening (have you checked out the calendar on disneyland.com to get the hours?), and if we had the very light breakfast, we could probably make it to the last seating for Minnie's, as more of a brunch than a b'fast. I would imagine, just going by other character b'fasts, that the last seating would be around 11 or maybe 11:30.

You're well within the 60 days that you can make Priority Seating arrangements (sort of like reservations), so you can certainly call Disney Dining to find out what their last seating would be.

But if your family gets hungry early (if they are school aged so have had a nice meal before going off for the day, rather than a 3 year old snacking when he wants, LOL) then it might be best to get the earliest seating...but by doing that you have to be aware that you're giving up prime park touring time...it's much quieter in the early mornings for riding rides.

As for days...I love weekdays, they make me happy. The park opens a bit later so MM is later (I am a nightowl and only at Disney am I OK with waking up early, but later is still better for me), the weekenders have mainly gone home.

MM days are Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, so it looks like your MM would be on Tuesday.

I've asked more questions than answered you, but thinking things like that helped me start to plan, so maybe it'll help you too.

 

[Jairy]

Good question.

Maybe we can backtrack a bit, and find out how many people you're going with and what they ages are!

For instance, we're a family of 3, and my son is turning 4 end of May.

If we went in for MM that means we get into the park an hour before regular opening (have you checked out the calendar on disneyland.com to get the hours?), and if we had the very light breakfast, we could probably make it to the last seating for Minnie's, as more of a brunch than a b'fast. I would imagine, just going by other character b'fasts, that the last seating would be around 11 or maybe 11:30.

You're well within the 60 days that you can make Priority Seating arrangements (sort of like reservations), so you can certainly call Disney Dining to find out what their last seating would be.

But if your family gets hungry early (if they are school aged so have had a nice meal before going off for the day, rather than a 3 year old snacking when he wants, LOL) then it might be best to get the earliest seating...but by doing that you have to be aware that you're giving up prime park touring time...it's much quieter in the early mornings for riding rides.

As for days...I love weekdays, they make me happy. The park opens a bit later so MM is later (I am a nightowl and only at Disney am I OK with waking up early, but later is still better for me), the weekenders have mainly gone home.

MM days are Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, so it looks like your MM would be on Tuesday.

I've asked more questions than answered you, but thinking things like that helped me start to plan, so maybe it'll help you too.

You are awesome
We are a family of 4, my dd is 6 and my ds will be almost 4 (4 in June). So you think it best to do the character breakfast on the same day that we use the MM? We can have the continental brekkie at the hotel before we go, and then do the late sitting...sounds like that could be our lunch. That would work.

 

[Bread&Butterflies]

You are awesome
We are a family of 4, my dd is 6 and my ds will be almost 4 (4 in June). So you think it best to do the character breakfast on the same day that we use the MM? We can have the continental brekkie at the hotel before we go, and then do the late sitting...sounds like that could be our lunch. That would work.

The continental breakfast in our hotel didn't start til 7am and that was the same time MM was for us. We were out of the hotel by 6:45am headed to DL. So be careful with that plan, double check the times. Also be careful with the last seating at Minnie's Breakfast. Last week while there we took the 10am seating and by 11am all the fruit was gone and they were not replacing a lot of it. So I was happy when I had called for PS the cm talked me out of a later seating. We ended up doing MM and our Character Breakfast on different days and it worked out great for us. (actually planned the Character meal for our last day there , Friday, so my dd(2) would have time to warm up to characters-it wasn't dependant on when MM was)

 

[reynmagsmom]

sorry to hijack but..... i have ressies for goofy's on 4/2 at 9:30am im thinking of changing it to a later time like 11 or 11:15 to make it more like lunch will we still get all the characters that late or will they be rushing us through?

 

[bumbershoot]

Those are such good points, Bread&Butterflies.

Jairy, I'm not sure if we would or would not schedule the breakfast on the same day. Since we haven't done that breakfast yet, we haven't had the scenario. The trip where we had MM (staying at Paradise Pier hotel, before we upgraded to APs and staying offsite all the time) we actually had an early breakfast at the Lilo and Stitch b'fast in the hotel, then went over around opening and continued our day.

However, that experience caused us to realize that it's HARD for our family to have an early b'fast. It's just too much food too early, and then having to walk to the parks and around the parks when we just want to sit and continue to wake up...it's just too hard for nightowls like the three of us are.

So on our trip in December, we spent some hours at Disneyland then went over for our PS at Grand Californian's b'fast (the Chip and Dale character meal), and having the light b'fast at the hotel then nice b'fast food at around lunchtime was good. For us. We like having b'fast food all the time. And since our stomachs were more awake,it was easier to continue with our day after.

But your stomachs might be different.

And like Bread&Butterflies mentioned about Minnie's late, we experienced problems with the last seating at the GCH b'fast, b/c although the buffet was still good, they stopped serving from the menu, which was what I wanted to order from. Disney Dining didn't know that that time was when they stopped the menu, but at least the hostess told us when we checked in.

So I guess I know there are issues sometimes, and I should have mentioned it, but I was up much earlier than normal on a weekend and hadn't had my coffee yet!


Thinking more....

Since your kids are prime age for Fantasyland and maybe even Nemo, and since those are areas/rides where going first thing in the morning is fairly important to lower time spent in lines... I still do think that having b'fast maybe a bit later would be good. That way you're not having food while the lines at Peter Pan get longer and longer. (by the way not everyone agrees with me that Nemo should be "done" in the very first hour of the morning...many people like going later)

 

[ballarinamom]

Molly, we do just like you. We love going to Minnies on MM days. We get the last seating time and grab a small bite while in line at the gates. We bring muffins and poptarts for these days. It works great!

 

[colbybug]

It' s my sons' sixth b-day on Sunday. We are doing early entry which will put us in the park at 7:00 am. I figured that this gives us 3 1/2 hours to do Fantasyland or Nemo and then we have PS for Minnie and Friends at 10:30. By then we will be starving and our breakfast will be a little more like a brunch. We also have PS for Carnation Cafe at 5:30 so we can catch some of the parade as it goes by. In between meals, there is always a corn dog or BB skewer to be eaten ! I am making myself crazy with all the little details within the big planning picture! Sheesh!

Kathy

 

[colbybug]

anyone out there??? Inquiring minds need to know.... tee hee!

 

[ballarinamom]

Your morning plan is perfect. Carnation Cafe is really great. But don't expect to be able to see the parade very well as there will be several rows of people standing up in front of you who will be sitting down

 

[ptlycloudy]

We have done Minnies several times after MM at about 10:30 and love that time. My girls are 6 and 4 and that time works well for us. We actually usually do it on the spur of the moment and do it without a PS so they seat us outside, which we love. I have not noticed any trouble with less food but then we don't really linger over food. With small kids they eat quick and are done, then we linger to enjoy the characters. There doesn't seem to be less characters either.
Although my youngest would have been happier if Capt. Hook and the Mad Hatter didn't show up!! She was very scared of both. They both tried to win her over but she wanted no part of them!

You most definitely can't see the parade from carnation cafe. Maybe the very tops of floats? We usually get a counter service meal and park it on the curb and eat while waiting for the parade. About the time we clean up the trash the parade is starting. My girls call it their Disney picnic!