'Ohana & Minnie's Seasonal Dining

Look! It's my first official 'blog' post!

I wanted to discuss Character Breakfasts.
I love them, most of them!

I recently visited two from my last trip;  Minnie's Seasonal Dining Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood & Vine located in Hollywood Studios and  "Ohana Best Friends Breakfast
Neither disappointed.
Here are some things to consider when doing them.

Pretty much all Character Meals are set prices. Breakfast being least expensive and Dinners being most expensive. If using the Dining plan, I recommend a dinner. Not just for the cost advantage in savings but it is also a great time to rest a bit from park touring.
If paying out of pocket, I suggest a breakfast since it is your cheapest option.

Many people or forums have recommended early dining reservations at the parks (any table service) in order to gain early entrance to get that one extra advantage in park touring. I don't recommend this as much any more, especially with Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom. When booking dining, they typically release 180 days from arrival date. Closer to your arrival date, the hours are usually updated and the opening hours are set earlier thus losing your advantage. Magic Kingdom especially.

I recommend instead, just arriving early as you usually would and then taking a late breakfast to rest from your mad morning rush. Other option, you could still grab your early breakfast once your dining dates have been released and review your options once the hours have been adjusted. If the parks have not added the early extra magic hours, keep your early reservation! Love to keep options open. Doing do tends to make the trip go smoother.

How much time is involved with Character Dining.... Well this is where it can get tricky. Average is a full hour. Sometimes, the character rotation is off and it can take 1.5 hours. I have never had it last longer than that.  If doing a character breakfast outside of a park, consider doing so on a non-park day. The transportation to and from can really eat into your day. You are already taking 1/5 for dining time plus possible (depending on location) another 1-2 hours in travel time. BUT... enjoying a dining location at another resort also provides an opportunity to tour it!

I always love to do Character breakfast meals on our last day. Relax to wake, pack and head out to our last hoorah before heading home.

Most dining is buffet which makes it great for the picky eaters but also means everyone (but babes under 3) pay. Most Character dining offers 4 characters but some offer 5. Cape May is the only one that offers only 3.

One thing to consider, if you want to meet characters in your trip, a character meal is a great option.
You can meet (on average) 4 characters within an hour. That equates to a character every 15 minutes. When meeting characters around the park, you can easily spend 15,30 or even more minutes waiting to meet one. During the meal, you are getting the characters, resting, eating all within that allotted time. Win-Win

Minnie's Seasonal Dining is called that for a reason, each season the characters are adorned with new outfits to match. Spring, they had on what looked like their Easter Finest. We met Daisy at the front for a Photo Op. Donald, Mickey, Minnie & Goofy all met us at our table.
The food was great, the desserts were yummy and the service was ok. I won't brag about our waitress this go-around. For this dining event, many times they will sign autograph books but sometimes they instead hand out pre-printed signature cards. One this occasion we did receive the card. I didn't ask if they would still sign upon request. Always ask if you would like one. They can only say no but they could say yes!

For 'Ohana, We met 4 characters. This was a limited menu family style brought to the table. They were running a little behind. (20 minutes)
Stitch, Mickey & Lilo came around to the table to meet us.
Our food consisted of biscuits, Ham with pineapple glaze, stitch waffles, Sausage, eggs, pineapple rolls, fruit, Fried potatoes. Halfway through the meal, kids are led on a parade by the Characters around the restaurant to a fun song!(My timid kid refuses to do it)
Our waitress was missing most of the time. erg. The wait staff around us servicing the other tables were super nice and always around. I am guessing ours was just having an off day

One more thought to consider! Your pictures with the characters: They will not always have the best background when at the restaurant. You may have photo bombing from guests around you. Only guaranteed a Nice character with a clean back ground during regular M&Gs or if the Character dining offers a photo op.

These are my thoughts, what do you think or what has been your experience.