After our adventures in Toon Town, we made our way over to the Plaza Inn for the Minnie and Friends Character Breakfast. We prefer to have a late breakfast (this was at 11:00) to take advantage of when the parks are less crowded when they first open. Thus breakfast is more like lunch and it’s usually less expensive than a lunch sit-down.

We had never eaten here before. I had purchased character meal vouchers before our trip that included the meal, tax and gratuity. When I checked in, they gave me my “coupons” and then when we walked in we “paid” with them immediately. I was confused as to why we paid first, since at all the buffets we’ve had at Disney World you pay at the end. Well, the reason why here: the food is cafeteria-style–even the drinks. So there is not much service involved. They may clear plates occasionally.

The chef did come to our table due to my gluten allergy and brought me out everything from the kitchen since he was concerned about cross-contamination. My food was basic, I thought it was good. I had gluten-free Mickey waffles, fruit, eggs, and bacon.

My husband and sister said that the food from the buffet was pretty mediocre but that wasn’t why I wanted to come here anyway.

The reason I wanted to visit was because of the large number of characters this breakfast has. We met The Fairy Godmother, Chip and Dale, Susie the Mouse from Cinderella, Max from Goof Troop, Tigger, Eeyore, Minnie, Rafiki, and Captain Hook. That’s ten characters! And the interaction was phenomenal. It helped because since it was the end of service (having an 11 am ADR) there were not many people in the restaurant so the characters spent a lot of time with Anthony. The Fairy Godmother visited first, I think  I was more excited to see her than Anthony was. Cinderella was my favorite Disney movie growing up.Minnie got lots of hugs from Anthony, she is one of his favorites.Anthony had NO IDEA who Rafiki was since he had never seen the Lion King, he was more interested in the Pooh characters. (PS- I am now in good standing as we own Lion King and he has seen it several times since this trip and now loves it.)Anthony has loved Eeyore since he was a little baby. And would not stop hugging him here.

We ran into Peter Pan on our way into breakfast and he told us to tell Captain Hook about a  surprise Pan has for him later. I believe he and Hook were discussing this topic during breakfast. Anthony’s a huge fan of the Goofy movies so he recognized Max immediately and was full of hugs.Again, mom was more excited to see one of the mice from Cinderella than Anthony was!

We had met Dale earlier in the meal. When Chip came over it was towards the end and  Anthony was ready for a nap so he just sat on the carpet. Chip sat right down next to him and then out of nowhere Dale came running over and Anthony was so incredibly happy.

While the food was not stellar, the characters and how much time they spent with our son will be the reason we return here. I mean where else will you see Captain Hook and the Fairy God Mother in the same place?  I definitely recommend a later seating to maybe get some extra character time.

This is Part 2 in a series on my family’s trip to Disneyland. Keep a look out for Part 3 next week! If you would like to read other posts from this trip report, click here to go to the Table of Contents.