Early vs late Plaza Inn Minnie breakfast

[lcp9]

I made two reservations for Plaza Inn on a Saturday morning - 7:10 and 10:40am. I planned on using magic morning a different day, but it might be best to use it Saturday after all (7am-8am.) My concern with the later breakfasts is that I've heard the characters might be more rushed, you don't get to see all of them, and the food isn't as good later...any truth to this? Do characters stop circulating around 11? Thanks!

 

[22Tink]

We had a 10:30 reservation when we were there this past August and it was fantastic! We got to see every character and some of them even came to our table twice! There was such a great variety of characters, too. We left after 11 and they were all still visiting the remaining tables.

 

[Geemo]

We been to the Plaza Inn for CB with Minnie at 7:10am and also 9:40am.
We have found the 7:10 time provides an easier interaction with the characters.

When we have gone at the later time, the people attending seem to be in a more chaotic state. People don't stay in their seats for the character to come to them. Characters are getting pulled in various direction. The handler's try to control things but it's not as pleasant as the early time.

Food is the same for both times.
I just wish they still had bottled water for our meal. The filtered tap water still doesn't taste that great.
Been drinking well water for 40years and the difference is noticeable.

Geemo

 

[calilou]

If it were me, I would do the earlier time and save your magic morning for another day. Arrive early and you'll be done by 8:00 and ready for rides before crowds start arriving. We've done both early times and later times, and both have their place in a schedule. The early times are more quiet and peaceful overall.

 

[superme80]

We did a 10:30 Character meal and it was fantastic. The characters came by 2 or 3 times. There was plenty of food, and we didn't feel rushed.

 

[Geemo]

If it were me, I would do the earlier time and save your magic morning for another day. Arrive early and you'll be done by 8:00 and ready for rides before crowds start arriving. We've done both early times and later times, and both have their place in a schedule. The early times are more quiet and peaceful overall.

I think the earlier time takes less time, since it isn't crazy yet.
I wouldn't give up a magic morning for an early time though.
We use our MM early in the trip and book a CB during a MM that we know we can't attend.

 

[disnerella]

We did the 10:40 this morning. We saw 10 characters and never felt rushed. Thoroughly enjoyed this meal.

 

[lcp9]

I think the earlier time takes less time, since it isn't crazy yet.
I wouldn't give up a magic morning for an early time though.
We use our MM early in the trip and book a CB during a MM that we know we can't attend.

Thanks! Yes I feel this way too...the problem is our options for MM are Thursday or Saturday, so if we do MM Thursday and Minnie early Saturday, we have no opportunities for DCA rope drop without the EMH going on (does that make sense?) so it comes down to which more important: earlier character breakfast or a day at DCA where we can be there at opening?

 

[goooof1]

A later time (9-10 or so) works well for us. We have been on rides for the nice, less crowded morning and built up an appetite! Then we don't have to worry about lunch! The food does not sit around......it's busy there! and they are constantly refilling the food....plus there are omlette stations for made-to-order omlettes. We have had no trouble seeing characters and interacting at the later times.
Take advantage of the Saturday MM because it is earlier and fewer people want to get up that early! When the park is open later (during weekdays), the MM is later and more people can get there.

 

[MICKEYFIL]

We always do the later time but we always show up about 10 or 15 minutes early because sometimes it takes forever to get through the line to get to your table. Best thing we did last time was just walk past everyone who was waiting to get a picture at the front (because we weren't going to buy it) and just paid.

 

[Geemo]

Thanks! Yes I feel this way too...the problem is our options for MM are Thursday or Saturday, so if we do MM Thursday and Minnie early Saturday, we have no opportunities for DCA rope drop without the EMH going on (does that make sense?) so it comes down to which more important: earlier character breakfast or a day at DCA where we can be there at opening?

You have member's opinions of what they feel works when scheduling a CB.

Given your plan I would go to MM on Thursday and book a CB to follow your MM time.

With a 7am MM, I'd book a 9:30 to 10am time. That gives you plenty of time first thing in DL to get several rides done.
I'd plan to pull a FP right before going into breakfast. Star Tours is right there...

Enjoy you trip!!

Geemo

 

[VandVsmama]

We did the EMH/MM + later Minnie's character breakfast last October and for us, it worked out really well. I think that our character breakfast reservation was for 10am or 10:15. We really enjoyed the later breakfast because we wanted to take advantage of the lower crowds in the early time of day and go on a bunch of rides with little wait time. So by the time the character breakfast reservation time slot arrived, we were tired and hungry and ready for a break. Then we go to see 7-8 characters and have them come to US at our table instead of waiting in a bunch of lines to see them.

If 10:40 am on that Saturday you're planning on is the only later time slot available, then stick with that instead of the early time slot. Also, if you want to reschedule it from 10:40 to something like 10:20 or 10:15, then you might have better luck by calling Disneyland dining reservations directly instead of just using the online app/website. I've done that before when I've had a hard time finding the time slot for a reservation that I wanted.

 

[jennilouwho]

We did 10:30 in August and saw 10 characters. Some came by more than once. The hardest part was knowing when to take the kids to get food because we didn't want them to miss anyone and they just kept coming!

 

[Winnowill]

We always do the latest we can get. As the place clears out, you get awesome character interactions. Last time, we saw at least a dozen, and we had Captain Hook and Dale battling each other for my DD8's affection. Plus we had all of our early morning touring.

 

[DisSarahK]

We like the later time and we do it on a Magic Mornign day. We take advantage of low crowds in the park and go on a bunch of rides--then head to the Plaza Inn as the park starts to get busy. Then we eat a leisurely meal at Minnie's and see loads of characters. We just did this last week and it worked beautifully!

 

[jaykay]

We did a 10:30 reservation at Plaza Inn last week. We were there over an hour and only saw Minnie and Pooh. The restaurant was only about half full so I'm not sure what happened to all the characters.

 

[mom2rtk]

We did a 10:30 reservation at Plaza Inn last week. We were there over an hour and only saw Minnie and Pooh. The restaurant was only about half full so I'm not sure what happened to all the characters.

EEK! I would be so disappointed!

 

[V.I.N.C.E.N.T.]

Another late reservationist here! We like treating it as a brunch after getting in several rides in the morning.

 

[lcp9]

Thanks everyone! We did it yesterday and I ended up going for 10:40. It was perfect, and really, most people start clearing out around 11 anyway but we saw all of the characters at least twice (because they didn't really have very many tables at that point...) eeyore, pooh, Minnie, rafiki, max, dale, peter Pan, Captain Hook, and some tall fox that I don't know and we didn't have space in the autograph book for. Ha! The only downside was that as the mom, we only had until 11:30 to eat and the characters kept coming and I kept taking pictures and barely had time to eat. I would definitely do that time again though.

 

[Malcon10t]

We did a 10:30 reservation at Plaza Inn last week. We were there over an hour and only saw Minnie and Pooh. The restaurant was only about half full so I'm not sure what happened to all the characters.

This has been our experience about half the visits we have had here. It is really hit or miss. It has happened with us regardless of the time we book.