The Danger With Breakfast Reservations at Disney World

Planning a Disney World trip can be complicated enough between hotel decisions and picking what tickets to buy (and what dates to buy them for), but throw dining plans into the mix and you’ve got a real recipe for a massive planning headache. 😖

Breakfast can become a particular point of contention for some families. Do you wake up early, book a full-on Table Service breakfast reservation, and start your day that way? Should you grab something from the hotel food court to speed up your day? Do you just survive off of granola bars and excitement, or maybe skip breakfast altogether? There’s a lot to consider, but for the purposes of this post, we want to alert you to some very specific DANGERS surrounding breakfast reservations in Disney World.

While making a breakfast reservation can be awesome for some, there are certain complications that can come with it. Let’s go through them!

1 — Many of the Breakfast Options Aren’t All That Unique

One of the big problems with booking a Table Service reservation for breakfast in Disney World has to do with the food options available. Oftentimes, Table Service breakfast meals in Disney World are full of the standard breakfast eats you can get almost anywhere — eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, etc.

Now, if you absolutely LOVE those standard breakfast eats, then that might not be a problem for you. But for the money you’ll pay for that meal (a danger we’ll get to in a minute), it just might not be worth it compared to the more unique eats you’ll typically find at lunch and dinner.

This isn’t to say that all Table Service restaurants only serve up “standard” breakfast eats. You will certainly find some spectacular and unique breakfast options in some spots. For example, the breakfast options at Boma (Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge) are more on the unique side with things like Chakalaka (a Tomato Stew), Pap (a cornmeal similar to grits), and Bobotie (an African dish with spiced ground meat).

But if you look at the breakfast menu versus the lunch/dinner menu at many places, you’ll probably find a stark difference in the number of more unique dishes offered. Again, this might not be an issue for some, but if you’re an adventurous eater or want to make sure you’re paying for food you can’t necessarily get back home, then a breakfast Table Service reservation might not be the way to go at most spots.

Click here to read about the most POPULAR breakfasts in Disney World

2 — You Miss Out on Time You Could Be Spending in the Park on Rides

Another downside to Table Service breakfast reservations is that they can take a decent amount of time. Even if you’re a fast eater, the whole process of a Table Service meal — sitting down, looking at the menu, ordering food, being brought your drinks, getting your entrees, and then ultimately getting the check and paying for your meal — can take an hour or more.

If you’re not in a rush to get anywhere, then that might be a-okay with you. But for those looking to get on a lot of the rides in Disney World, this hour+ experience can be a significant setback. Oftentimes, rides in Disney World can have shorter waits in those early morning hours. As they say, the early bird gets the worm!

Whether you use Early Theme Park Entry to get in 30 minutes early or rope drop to be one of the first non-Early Entry guests in the park, getting to the park early can be a huge advantage.

While others are sleeping in, you can take advantage of shorter waits to get on some of those popular rides in less time. If getting on a lot of rides is a priority, we do recommend arriving at the parks early to take advantage of that morning time.

Since a breakfast reservation can throw those plans off, consider scheduling a brunch or lunch reservation instead. That will let you still take advantage of shorter waits earlier in the morning but also get in a Table Service reservation for your day.

Click here to see our ranking of every restaurant in Magic Kingdom!

3 — Breakfast Might Not Give You All That Much Bang for Your Buck

Another reason to skip those Table Service breakfast reservations in Disney World is the price. Though breakfast can often be cheaper than lunch or dinner, it is still expensive compared to eating at outside restaurants or Quick Service meals. And considering the fact that the breakfast eats may not be all that unique compared to lunch/dinner, it can make that high cost even harder to justify.

Again, this might not always be the case. For example, if you book a breakfast buffet at a place like The Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom and time your reservation so that you can pick up breakfast eats just before the restaurant shifts over to lunch food, and then also hit the buffet again for lunch eats once the shift has taken place, you could REALLY get some bang for your buck (2 different meals in one and all at the cheaper breakfast price!).

But, if your family isn’t the biggest fan of breakfast food anyway, doesn’t love to start the day off with a huge meal, and/or can survive on a granola bar for breakfast, you’re likely better off skipping the Table Service breakfast reservation and saving the money to buy a nicer lunch/dinner.

Also, if you’re trying to save money on at least 1 meal in Disney World, breakfast is the easiest one to do that with. You can easily get breakfast-type food items from local grocery stores to eat in your room (donuts, pastries, snack bars, fruit, etc.). It’s not always as easy to pack a suitable lunch for the parks, so if you’re trying to really save on one meal, this is it.

We Instacarted Snacks to Our Disney World Hotel Room. Here’s What We Didn’t Expect.

4 — If You Make a Really Early Breakfast Reservation at a Hotel, It Can Be Complicated to Get There

There’s another danger you might not even be considering when making breakfast reservations and it has nothing to do with money or rides — but everything to do with convenience and time.

If you book a really early breakfast reservation at a Disney World hotel restaurant, like the fan-favorite Topolino’s Terrace — Flavors of the Riviera (a character breakfast meal), you’ll have to figure out how to get from your location to the hotel where the restaurant is located (Disney’s Riviera Resort, in this case). That can be a lot more complicated than you might think.

Generally, there is no direct hotel-to-hotel transportation at most places in Disney World (with some exceptions, like those hotels that are connected by the Monorail or Skyliner). If you’re hoping to go from Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort to the Riviera, your typical route is to go from All-Star Movies on a bus to a nearby park and then get a bus (or maybe the Skyliner) from there to the Riviera.

That can take a LONG time. And if your dining reservation is really early, the process might not really be feasible or it might take longer than you’d expect.

If you have your own vehicle and are willing to drive it to the hotel where you’ve booked your dining reservation, then that might not be an issue. But, if not, you might want to think about using a rideshare service or taxi to get to where you need to be on time. That’s an extra cost to factor into your day.

Click here to learn all about Disney World’s transportation

But…It’s Complicated

Yes, there are some big dangers with booking breakfast reservations in Disney World, as we’ve identified above, but (as with most things) it’s complicated!

While there might be a multitude of reasons NOT to book a breakfast dining reservation, there are many reasons to book a Table Service breakfast meal and lots of reasons why you might love it.

As we noted, breakfast can often be cheaper than lunch/dinner. So if you’re only going to eat out for only one meal per day and you’re looking to stick to a super strict budget, breakfast might be the way to go.

If you want to have a unique experience, you could also book a really early breakfast reservation for a park like Magic Kingdom and be one of the first people in the park, giving you the chance to get some really unique photos in front of the Castle without too many people around.

Breakfast can also help you get access to some interesting spots. For example, if you book an early breakfast reservation at an EPCOT area resort (one of the ones with walking access to the International Gateway back entrance to EPCOT) you could take Disney transportation or a rideshare or taxi over to the hotel and have an early breakfast there.

Then, you could walk to the back entrance into EPCOT, which is closer to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After than the front, giving you a unique advantage.

Ultimately, whether a Table Service breakfast reservation will work for you depends on a number of factors. Just be sure to keep our warnings above in mind before you book.

For more breakfast tips, click here to see our list of the BEST character breakfasts in Disney World. And stay tuned for more news!

Are you a fan of making breakfast reservations in Disney World or would you rather grab something quick and head to the parks? Tell us in the comments!

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