plaza character breakfast advice

[Lone Star*]

I'm about to book my reservation for our trip Nov 6-10th. I want to book the Plaza for Minnie and friends on Nov 7th. However, the park hours are not posted for that time yet. It seems likely that the park will either open at 9 or 10am that day. However, I can't decide if I should book an early time to maximize our time before the park opens; or book at later time and take advantage of the shorter wait times in the morning. What do you think? This would be our first day in the park and I thought it would be nice for my 5 yr old to get some time warming up to the characters.

also, I'm sooooo excited!!!

 

[AussieCaribou]

When my kiddo was 2 (15 years ago!) we did the Plaza in Breakfast first up in the morning. We go in befor the parked open and were on the second table seated that day. The interaction was great. My DD was able to get over the 'they are SO big' issues and we were able to go straight to Fantasyland after eating without missing much time in the parks. Since then, we have done the Plaza at several times of the morning. First thing is still our favorite.

 

[egritz]

What I always do is I go to Magic Morning on Tuesday morning with my park hopper ticket to take advantage of the lower crowds and shorter waits, then on Thursday I make the first reservation available (during Magic Morning) and we are usually done right around the time the park opens, BUT we are already in the park and at the main street, so still ahead of the regular park crowds.

 

[MikeRx]

We do it a bit differently and book near the end of the breakfast window and treat the meal as a brunch. This maximizes our time in the park with the least amount of people from rope drop until our reservation at 10:30am. We call this the "golden hour(s)". We've had great character interactions and a relaxed meal because we've hit the morning hard and done most of the key attractions before the crowd arrived. Some don't like this strategy, but we love it. I don't like the chance of things running long even with a pre-rope drop breakfast and seeing the crowd stream by while I wait for Winnie and gobble down my meal... Pre-rope drop reservations have worked well for us in WDW at the Crystal Palace, but the times are not sufficient for us at the Plaza. Just my thoughts.

Mike

 

[22Tink]

We booked a later one on our magic morning day. We got to the park first thing, toured for a couple of hours and then had a 10:30 breakfast. It was a great relaxing meal. I'd definitely do it that way again, even without the magic morning.

 

[Kindermouse]

This trip we book plaza at 7:00 because we don't have a MM. If I had a MM I would use that for rides-its only best to do the first ADR if you dont have MM otherwise it eats into your morning which is the best park time of the whole day IMO.

 

[Lone Star*]

thank you, everyone! I had no considered booking the breakfast on our MM day. That's our second day in the park, i think (I'm still a little fuzzy on which days are MM). A later time on the MM day might work well too! decisions, decisions...

 

[Disney_Alli]

thank you, everyone! I had no considered booking the breakfast on our MM day. That's our second day in the park, i think (I'm still a little fuzzy on which days are MM). A later time on the MM day might work well too! decisions, decisions...

MM days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays baring any special events.

 

[Keels]

We were there for an 8:40 a.m. reservation on Friday (park open was 9 a.m.). We were the second table seated, and it was like a character explosion. We walked to our table and they were all there, just waiting for someone to show up to play. Legit, it took us 30 minutes after we were sat before we could get up to get food because the characters JUST. KEPT. COMING. It was awesome. Well worth it. The mom in our party had to make an emergency run for a new Autograph Book because we weren't expecting so many characters in such a short span of time!

Our characters: Minnie, Chip, Dale, Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore, Rabbit, Rafiki, Captain Hook, Suzy, Perla.

On that day, we were still able to do all four mountains, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Pinocchio, IASW and the 8-year-old was in Jedi Academy by 1 p.m. I'd say it was a productive morning.

 

[Lone Star*]

MM days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays baring any special events.

Great! Thanks! that's what I thought but wasn't positive.

 

[brandimay412]

We have reservations at Minnie and Friends next week. We're sooo excited! We usually do Goofy's Kitchen so this is new for us. I do have a quick question maybe somebody can answer. The park opens at 10 and my reservations are at 10 (not a . Will we be able to enter the park early to make it to our reservation on time? I've seen the other posts about entering the park when the reservations are before the park opens but mine is for the same time as the park opening so I wasn't sure if we're gonna be on that "list" that allows us to enter the park early for this breakfast.

 

[egritz]

thank you, everyone! I had no considered booking the breakfast on our MM day. That's our second day in the park, i think (I'm still a little fuzzy on which days are MM). A later time on the MM day might work well too! decisions, decisions...

DO NOT DO THE BREAKFAST ON THE MORNING YOU ARE GOING TO USE YOUR MM ENTRANCE!!!!! That is a total waste of your MM. If you follow my plan, do the ADR on the 2nd morning that offers the MM early hours.

 

[Rubygoose]

DO NOT DO THE BREAKFAST ON THE MORNING YOU ARE GOING TO USE YOUR MM ENTRANCE!!!!! That is a total waste of your MM. If you follow my plan, do the ADR on the 2nd morning that offers the MM early hours.

I think OP meant having a later breakfast on their MM day. That way they can make use of the MM time.

We always do a 10:15/10:30 breakfast on our first park day, whether it's rope drop or MM. My family is never really hungry first thing in the morning, but we're always ready for a little break by 10:30.

It looks like there is a Tuesday and a Thursday MM during the times you'll be in the parks, so I would suggest you use your MM on one of those days and do the Minnie and Friends Breakfast on the other day (unless, of course, you're staying on site and can take advantage of EE every day of your stay.)

If you have a child who may be a little nervous around characters, a character breakfast is a good way to test them out without waiting in a long lineup only to be embarrassed.

 

[Lone Star*]

DO NOT DO THE BREAKFAST ON THE MORNING YOU ARE GOING TO USE YOUR MM ENTRANCE!!!!! That is a total waste of your MM. If you follow my plan, do the ADR on the 2nd morning that offers the MM early hours.

I think OP meant having a later breakfast on their MM day. That way they can make use of the MM time.

We always do a 10:15/10:30 breakfast on our first park day, whether it's rope drop or MM. My family is never really hungry first thing in the morning, but we're always ready for a little break by 10:30.

It looks like there is a Tuesday and a Thursday MM during the times you'll be in the parks, so I would suggest you use your MM on one of those days and do the Minnie and Friends Breakfast on the other day (unless, of course, you're staying on site and can take advantage of EE every day of your stay.)

If you have a child who may be a little nervous around characters, a character breakfast is a good way to test them out without waiting in a long lineup only to be embarrassed.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant...Booking the breakfast at 10:30 wish on the MM day.

I'm still a little undecided haha. My DH isn't a morning person, so I am a bit worried about getting him out the door for an early reservation. We are not staying on site, so Tuesday is our only opportunity to use MM.

 

[egritz]

Yes, that is exactly what I meant...Booking the breakfast at 10:30 wish on the MM day.

I'm still a little undecided haha. My DH isn't a morning person, so I am a bit worried about getting him out the door for an early reservation. We are not staying on site, so Tuesday is our only opportunity to use MM.

Okay, phew, lol.

While Tuesday is your only day to use MM....you can still make a reservation DURING MM on Thursday even without having another MM on your ticket, if you get the first reservation of the day (10 minutes after park opening for MM) chances are pretty good you'll be done by the time the park opens to the rest of the guests, but you'll be ahead of the crowds since you're already inside the park. That's what we always do & wrote earlier, not sure I explained it well (I think earlier in the post you said you'll be there through Thursday).

 

[Kymberleigh]

Okay, phew, lol.

While Tuesday is your only day to use MM....you can still make a reservation DURING MM on Thursday even without having another MM on your ticket, if you get the first reservation of the day (10 minutes after park opening for MM) chances are pretty good you'll be done by the time the park opens to the rest of the guests, but you'll be ahead of the crowds since you're already inside the park. That's what we always do & wrote earlier, not sure I explained it well (I think earlier in the post you said you'll be there through Thursday).

I never thought of doing it that way - that's a really good idea!

 

[Lebestiole]

We do Plaza around 10:30 in the morning. We go to the parks early and enjoy the rides, then we get hungry and hit the Plaza. The food is amazing and character interaction is great!

 

[Lone Star*]

Thank you everyone. I ended up booking a 10:30am breakfast on the 8th!

 

[frisbeego]

I planned to do Plaza Inn on our first day (Tuesday) during MM. Then, I planned on using our MM on Thursday. Is there a risk that Disney will deduct the MM credit on Tuesday?

 

[Kindermouse]

I planned to do Plaza Inn on our first day (Tuesday) during MM. Then, I planned on using our MM on Thursday. Is there a risk that Disney will deduct the MM credit on Tuesday?

I think they will use it if you have one on your ticket. I'd book plaza for a late brunch if you really want to do it your first day or I'd book for Thursday if I were you.