Let's Talk 7AM Chef Mickey's

[AZMermaid]

Hi! We have this booked for the first week of June. We are staying at Bay Lake Tower so transportation is not an issue. We have had really bad luck with character meals in the past (mostly not seeing characters- this is all at Disneyland) so we tend to be gun shy about character meals. My kids will be 5(DD) and 6.5(DS). I know there are a ton of variables.... but for those of you who have done an early CM reservation...

1) Were you sat pretty quickly?

2) Did you have that awkward... can I get food now, Donald's is coming stress? Or is it decently spaced after you are seated.

3) How long did the meal take- seeing all the characters and shenanigans? Right now, MK opens at 9. I am thinking there is a good shot of it changing to 8:00. I have no illusion that we will make it there by 8... but is 8:30 realistic? We are headed for Adventureland first, so being there right at rope drop isn't as important. I don't want to rush the meal- just trying to get a picture or what to plan for.

4) Did you walk to MK or take the monorail? How long does the monorail take? I know it stops a bunch. We are not bringing a stroller.... so hope to minimize walking when possible. But- I get antsy at the start of the day- haha!

5) Anything else I should know? Thank you!

 

[schrammalot]

We were usually sat within 5-10 minutes.

There wasn't an awkward moment because it looked like we were at the end of the character route.

Meals have taken anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. They can work their way around the room quickly.

We always walk when we can, but we also don't have kids. I can't tell you the monorail times since we never take it from CM to MK.

 

[Lisa F]

Hi! We have this booked for the first week of June. We are staying at Bay Lake Tower so transportation is not an issue. We have had really bad luck with character meals in the past (mostly not seeing characters- this is all at Disneyland) so we tend to be gun shy about character meals. My kids will be 5(DD) and 6.5(DS). I know there are a ton of variables.... but for those of you who have done an early CM reservation...

1) Were you sat pretty quickly?

2) Did you have that awkward... can I get food now, Donald's is coming stress? Or is it decently spaced after you are seated.

3) How long did the meal take- seeing all the characters and shenanigans? Right now, MK opens at 9. I am thinking there is a good shot of it changing to 8:00. I have no illusion that we will make it there by 8... but is 8:30 realistic? We are headed for Adventureland first, so being there right at rope drop isn't as important. I don't want to rush the meal- just trying to get a picture or what to plan for.

4) Did you walk to MK or take the monorail? How long does the monorail take? I know it stops a bunch. We are not bringing a stroller.... so hope to minimize walking when possible. But- I get antsy at the start of the day- haha!

5) Anything else I should know? Thank you!

I can answer #4 having stayed at BLT in 2014... Although you will be in the tower and closer to the monorail, in that direction CR is actually furthest from the MK (it's the first stop leaving the MK) so it can take you a while to get around, especially with all of the loading and unloading that will happen that time of day. Maybe 20 minutes or more? and then down from the monorail to the gates. I am a slow walker and it's about 10 min from CR to MK. If you are a brisk walker more like 5. I don't think I EVER took the monorail to the MK when we stayed there but we took it back most of the time.

 

[tinkerbell1967]

Anytime that we have had a character breakfast the servers have always come around and ask if we have seen all the characters we have never had an issue of missing any

 

[caliope]

We've done a 7:15am ADR at Chef Mickeys. We checked in at the podium at 7:00, told we wouldn't be seated until our ADR time, and given a pager. It went off at 7:05 (so much for no seating before ADR time) and taken to the third table seated that morning. They started seating in the back right corner near the door where the characters enter the dining room. Our server told us we had a few minutes before they started coming around, so we had time to get food. Once they started, the five characters came in pretty rapid succession. It certainly wasn't a leisurely breakfast, but then again, we got what we came for (food and pictures) and we were done quickly. I'd say we were paid and on our way before 8:00 if not earlier (memory on time is a little fuzzy because it was a year ago). We didn't go to MK that day but we have walked from CR to MK on other occasions and, as others have said, it's a roughly 10 minute walk. It's definitely faster to walk than monorail. The line to get on the monorail at CR always seems so long and congested.

 

[AshleeH]

First of all, you should never leave without seeing all the characters! Catch every single waiter/waitress/handler to make this a reality if you have to, but you are paying a premium to see these characters with no lines.

1) Were you sat pretty quickly? The only time I've ever waited was for a dinner on our arrival night - we waited nearly an hour. For all of our breakfast/brunch reservations, we've never waited over 15 minutes.

2) Did you have that awkward... can I get food now, Donald's is coming stress? Or is it decently spaced after you are seated. They will tell you the direction the characters will come from when they seat you.

3) How long did the meal take- seeing all the characters and shenanigans? Once seated, an hour is a good bet. Give or take 15 minutes - I've eaten at some character meals where we're done in 30 minutes and some where it's taken 90. There's just no telling how much time each character is going to take with each family. But even if you miss rope drop, you're still making memories, so I wouldn't stress about it.

4) Did you walk to MK or take the monorail? How long does the monorail take? We always stay at BLT and the only time we ever take the monorail is as a novelty for the kids - never to get to the park. It can take forever! We take it when we go eat at 'Ohana or something like that, but no, that walkway is worth it's weight in gold and you're at MK 10 minutes after leaving Chef Mickey's. One memorable experience was actually taking the monorail back to the Contemporary for our midday break. My younger son wanted to ride the monorail, my older son wanted to walk, so we split up and my husband and oldest walked back to our room in the Garden Wing (15 minute walk). They were back in the room for 5 minutes when my husband called me to ask where we were: The doors to the monorail still hadn't closed. We were still waiting at MK. So no, I never take it and depend on getting anywhere remotely quickly anymore.

5) Anything else I should know? Just remember, there is no telling how much time each character is going to take with each family, so even if you miss rope drop, you're making great memories in exchange for that few minutes you may not be getting in line for a ride. Just please don't be one of those parents ruining those memories by berating the kids to hurry up and "don't take all day" - I seem to see more and more of these each year and it makes me so sad that they can't just be in the moment and let the kids bask in where they are for a little bit of time.

I have a 7:00a.m. reservation coming up in a few weeks, so I definitely understand everything you're worried about. Frankly, I'm most worried about getting out of our room and to the restaurant on time... and I'm staying in the hotel lol!

 

[AZMermaid]

Thank you! Our really bad character experience was at Plaza at Disneyland. We were sat outside all alone and watched 6 characters do the upper patio and then go on break. After 45 min we did complain, then we did see 3 in the next 30, but those characters hadn't gone upstairs, so patents sent their kids down to cut in on us. My kids were toddlers and after 90 min... it just wasnt worth it to complain about all the ones we never saw. Plaza has like 6-13 characters from reports I've read... which I know is a lot. I saw at least 8, of which 3 were sent out to see us. In hindsight, I prob should have gone to City Hall. I also learned not to go to the later seating- all bad reports from the Plaza seem to be at 10:15! WDW seems to have a better flow to character meals... or at least I hope so. We did actually have a great experience at Aulani, and they only have 3 characters at their meal... so it's not the quantity as much as being ignored.

But anyway.... thanks for all the advice. Looks like we are walking! Yes, I have no plans to rush us out of breakfast... just trying to plan a little!