Poll: Advice on Mother's Day MK breakfast: Which time would you choose?

[TigerE]

I am trying to finalize our MK Mother's Day plans and am stuck deciding between the 8:10 PPO CP breakfast and a 10:35am one. We are 2 adults and 2 kids (7 and 9).

Our original plan was to arrive on Sunday morning, start the day with a non-rushed breakfast at 10:35am, and then go to the park (our first FP is for HM at 11:50, and from there on we focus on Fantasyland).

But we will now be flying in on Sat morning, and I just managed to get an 8:10 CP ADR for Sunday. So, I am now debating between:

(1) 8:10 CP breakfast -- do BTMR/Splash/PoC/JC and whatever else fits in right after ... then start our FPs.
OR
(2) stick to the 10:35 CP ADR -- rope-drop BTMR/Splash/PoC/JC and whatever else we can fit in before the ADR.

My reasoning is as follows:

For (1): Pro -- more morning time in the park.
Con -- might have to rush through breakfast (which we don't wish to do, esp. not on Mother's Day -- we actually enjoy meeting the characters, etc.).

For (2): Pro -- no need to rush through breakfast.
Con: spending the valuable morning park time at breakfast (and also a concern that we may miss out on breakfast foods if they run late, esp. given that it's Mother's Day, so people may take longer?? -- we don't care at all for the CP lunch items).

I am leaning towards #(2), thinking that MK will fill up quickly on Sunday, but still worry that (a) we would feel rushed before the ADR and (b) may get seated too late to actually enjoy breakfast.

Thoughts? What would you choose?

 

[mom2rtk]

What time does the park open? If it opens at 9, I'd go with the 8:10 time. If it opens at 8, I'd go for the later time. I wouldn't want to miss the first hour of park time.

 

[TigerE]

Thanks! The park opens at 9am -- it's an EMM day, too, so I believe that it will stay at 9am.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would do option 1. I would hate to rush around in the park starting at 9 am knowing I have to be back near Main St. to go to CP at 10:35 am. If you start with breakfast, even if you are out by 9:30 am, you then have a good 2+ hours to do rides before your FP's start.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

This is an easy one: Get there for RD in FL and get 3 or 4 rides in before your ADR at 10:35. That's around the time the park really gets hopping anyway. You guys will have some rides in and ready to eat while everyone is filling up the park.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks! The park opens at 9am -- it's an EMM day, too, so I believe that it will stay at 9am.

I'd do the earlier pre opening time then. Then you won't have to stop so early in your day.

 

[TigerE]

No closer to making the choice .... Help? I think I am stressing out too much about this, but it's such a long-anticipated trip -- only second one with the kids, and the previous one was 4 years ago ...

How much do you think we can fit in before the 10:35ADR on a Sunday morning with a 9am opening? Will BTMR (x2)/Splash/PoC fit?

Also, how fast does the Splash line build up? Do we have a chance to ride it twice on a Sunday morning with minimal wait if we were to pick the PPO breakfast?

How fast do crowds build up on Mother's Day in general? Will be the park be already full by 10:30, or do we still have the chance to enjoy the rides?

We have never done a late breakfast. I fondly remember the 8am one that we had 4 years ago, but I also recall that it was a bit tight (maybe because our children were really young and required help getting items at the buffet?).

 

[ktlm]

Depends on whether you are morning people or not. If you are morning people the PPO would be great. We are night owls, but not so much morning people, PPO has never worked for us. We always try to hit parks at rope drop- and sometimes it winds up being 10 minutes after rope drop. For us, the 10:35 would be perfect. We would make sure we weren't late for rope drop and get in an hour and a half of short line morning time before breakfast.

 

[sponica]

See how you feel Saturday night...cancel the one you don't want then.

 

[TigerE]

See how you feel Saturday night...cancel the one you don't want then.

Thanks, didn't even think about this one! For some reason, I had a 24-hour cancellation deadline in my head. This would certainly help, as we have an early flight on Saturday morning, so we may well be too wiped by Sat night.

 

[kniquy]

For (1): Pro -- more morning time in the park.
Con -- might have to rush through breakfast (which we don't wish to do, esp. not on Mother's Day -- we actually enjoy meeting the characters, etc.).

It is a tough call, but if you are ok with possibly missing some characters and would prefer hitting the rides you could keep the earlier time. We just did CP for dinner and were told that if you miss a character it might be 90 minutes before they come back to your section -- Thankfully we managed to get to all of them, but our 6:00pm dinner (we were seated pretty close to our time) we didn't get out until 7:30 -- I recall this because i made a FP for Pirates for 6:40 so we made it to the ride exactly at 7:40. With an 8:10 reservation being done out and seeing all the characters will be tough by 9am for opening. I think the stress of getting up early for your PPO reservation, rushing through breakfast would take any enjoyment out of your character meal.

If your goal is rides and to enjoy your breakfast maybe just forgo the early breakfast, catch a quick service breakfast or just some snacks to hold you over -- hit rope drop in adventure or frontierland (which is great to accomplish a ton because most people go to PPF or mine train) and then go to your 10:35 reservation (this time should also get you some lunch options as lunch usually starts at 11am). We did rope drop and pretty much arrived at 8:50a for a 9am opening -- we watched the show - positioned ourselves to the left of the castle (liberty square area) and were able to walk on pirates, splash and BTM in a very short time.

24-hour cancellation deadline

Just by 11:59pm

 

[StrwLady]

What does PPO stand for? I've tried but just can't figure out.

As for Early or later breakfast. We have done late breakfast at the CP before. Normally they close one side of the buffet but continually refill each food. I have seen that line be a little long and find we would sometimes have to go back for or wait for a certain food because it was out at that time.

If you eat a late breakfast will you need to grab something to hold you until it's time to eat? If so will that eat up any time? Plus I'd also take in consideration how much time will it take waking back to the front park and after walking to one of the lands .

I think the 8:10 will probably be the best for your family. We are night owls so we always book the last seating time for breakfast but it sounds like 8am is no problem for your family .

BTW my son and I arrive on Saturday afternoon .We are having breakfast at Cape May on Mother's Day.

Enjoy your trip .

 

[BobbyDukes]

Been once on mothers day. Honestly for time of reservation will have to be any time you can get.

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

After a few trips I figured out that what makes my kids happy makes me happy. Will your two want to be up by 6am to get ready and get on bus to parks around 7ish to make your early ADR?

Will they want to wait until 10:30am to eat breakfast after waking up by 6:30am to get ready and get to parks for rope drop?

Those would be big factors in my decision!

I wouldn't want to stress about eating quickly to get to the park so I would likely lean towards the 10:30am ADR. You should be able to get a lot done from 9am-10:30am

Either way- what an AWESOME way to spend Mothers Day!

 

[cadawson]

I’d choose 8:10. It is so magical to walk down Main Street early for PPO ADR. Everything is so fresh and you’ll get a great photo! We were one of the first seated. Piglet came out to us first followed by all the characters in nice time - it didn’t feel rushed. Stick away a chocolate croissant in your bag to take with you - my kids never eat enough with the excitement of the characters!

 

[Haley R]

I chose the 10:35 time. I like to RD at Magic Kingdom then it would be so nice to relax and take a slow breakfast after that.

 

[Surgie2]

What does PPO stand for? I've tried but just can't figure out.

"Pre-Park Opening"

 

[BEASLYBOO]

PPO 8:10, because breakfast at 10:35, afterwards you may as well skip MK, because it will be packed and the waits will be long!

 

[Surgie2]

Ordinarily I don't like to risk PPO since park hours can change but on an EMM morning you're likely safe from that. So I'd definitely go for 8:05 and enjoy your Mother's Day!

 

[StraightToDumbo]

If you RD then you can probably do BTMR/Splash/PoC. Those rides take a while even with no wait.