Breakfasts with Characters at Disney World (Ranked for 2023)

Below, we rank the best character breakfasts at Walt Disney World. In addition, we’ll discuss character breakfast locations, types of food, and what characters you’ll encounter at each meal. You’ll probably want to plan at least one fun breakfast during your Walt Disney World vacation. So why not make it a breakfast with characters? Most character breakfasts at Disney are buffets with options like bacon, eggs, and limitless Mickey Waffles. That doesn’t sound too bad when paired with a few favorite characters!

See Our Top 6 Choices for Character Breakfasts in 2024 for the most updated information.

Best Character Breakfasts Ranked

Here are our rankings for the best character breakfasts at Walt Disney World in order from the best to our least favorite:

Topolino’s Terrace
Cinderella’s Royal Table
Tusker House Restaurant
The Crystal Palace
Cape May Cafe
‘Ohana
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Garden Grill
Hollywood and Vine
Chef Mickey’s

*Note that 1900 Park Fare returns in 2024. This character meal at Disney’s Grand Floridian will have a breakfast option. If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World Resort, you can make reservations for character dining starting 60 days out for the entire length of your stay. Off-property guests can make reservations beginning 60 days out and then one day at a time afterward.

When planning a character meal, you’ll want to allow enough time to enjoy the experience without feeling rushed. For instance, getting seated on a busy morning could take some time. Then, you’ll have to order or select food from a buffet. After that, there are pauses during breakfast when characters arrive at the table.

You probably don’t want to spend most of the meal watching the clock because you have to get to Magic Kingdom for that Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Lightning Lane. So, as you plan, remember to allow enough time to enjoy your meal.

Additionally, you’ll want to consider whether it works best to enjoy a character breakfast at one of the theme parks or a resort. For the parks, you’ll need valid theme park admission, a theme park reservation, and a dining reservation.

#9 Chef Mickey’s

Chef Mickey’s is our least favorite character breakfast at Walt Disney World. You’ll find this popular character restaurant on the fourth floor of Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Unfortunately, the food at Chef Mickey’s gets less than rave reviews. It’s also one of the loudest character meals.

While it’s fun to see the monorail overhead, this open-air restaurant lets in a good deal of noise from the bustling Grand Concourse floor outside its entrance. Between all the guests and other commotion, it can get noisy. Regardless, guests love to see their favorite characters dressed as chefs! Characters at Chef Mickey’s include Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Pluto.

Chef Mickey’s is open for breakfast between 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. As of this update, breakfast costs $54.00 per adult and $30.00 for children ages 3-9. You can preview the current price and menu here on Disney’s site.

Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s is a buffet. Items include scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, beef brisket, Mickey waffles, and buttermilk biscuits with gravy.

Signature selections include:

Waffles, House-made French Toast, Seasonal Pancakes, and Croissant Beignets
Carved Pit Ham and Andouille, Peppers, and Onions
Steak and Egg Scramble, Omelets, and Tofu Scramble

For many, Chef Mickey’s is a must-do, at least once. However, it’s not one of those restaurants that many will return to time and time again.

#8 Hollywood and Vine

The Disney Junior Play n’ Dine Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine is the only character breakfast at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which comes in at #8 on our list. While we think this restaurant is a decent value, the characters at breakfast are geared toward fans of Disney Junior, so you can expect to dine with a lot of toddlers!

Hollywood and Vine serves breakfast daily between 6:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The buffet includes pastries, bacon, sausage, omelets, oatmeal, salmon bagel casserole, waffles, sticky buns, and more.Pricing for this meal as of this update is $47.00 per adult and $30.00 per child ages 3-9 years old. You can view the full menu with the current price here on Disney’s site.

Characters at the Disney Junior Play n’ Dine Breakfast include Fancy Nancy, Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, and Roadster Goofy.

Breakfast is the only time to meet Disney Junior Pals at Hollywood and Vine. During lunch and dinner service, the experience transitions to Minnie’s Seasonal Dine, which involves entirely different characters.

#7 Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall was formerly our seventh choice for best character breakfast at Walt Disney World. This was a tough call, but we thought one stood out a little more since there are two options to have breakfasts with princesses.

However, if you’re interested in trying a little Norwegian cuisine, you’ll want to consider planning a meal here. Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is located in the Norway Pavilion at Epcot.

For breakfasts, guests could formerly enjoy an all-you-care-to-enjoy skillet at the table. In addition, guests could select items from a smorgasbord buffet that offered authentic Norwegian dishes.

We’ll provide an update if and when breakfast returns. In the meantime, you might consider having dinner at Akershus. Princesses include Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, and Ariel.

Preview the menu and price for dinner here on Disney’s site.

#6 ‘Ohana

‘Ohana is located at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and is our sixth choice for best character breakfast at Disney World. We last visited ‘Ohana a few years back to try the Best Friends Breakfast.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the best experience due to being seated over an hour after our reservation time. However, we recently returned and found the experience was much improved. One of the things Ohana does have going for it is this tasty, freshly-made pineapple coconut bread. It was delicious.

Instead of a buffet at ‘Ohana, breakfast is served family style at the table. You’ll receive an all-you-care-to-enjoy skillet and can request more of anything you desire.

‘Ohana’s breakfast skillets include scrambled eggs, pork breakfast sausage links, Hawaiian-style ham topped with pineapple compote, breakfast potatoes, Mickey-shaped waffles, and biscuits.

At the time of this update, breakfast costs $49.00 per adult and $30.00 per child ages 3-9 years old. You can preview the current price with the menu here on Disney’s site.

But, perhaps the best part of the experience is the characters you’ll meet. Characters at ‘Ohana included Stitch, Lilo, Mickey, and Pluto.

*Characters are only offered at ‘Ohana during breakfast.

#5 Cape May Cafe Character Breakfast

Our fifth choice for best character breakfast is Cape May Cafe. We love the characters at this restaurant, but similar to Chef Mickey’s, it is one of the louder restaurants. Cape May Cafe is located at Disney’s Beach Club Resort. This character breakfast, known as Minnie’s Beach Bash, offers the opportunity to meet Minnie Mouse and friends in beachside attire.

Cape May Cafe is open daily for breakfast between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Breakfast is the only meal where characters are present. At the time of this update, breakfast costs $47.00 per adult and $30.00 per child ages 3-9 years old. You can preview the current price with the menu here on Disney’s site.

Cape May Cafe’s buffet includes bacon, sausage, crepes, oatmeal, grits, cheddar biscuits, gravy, carving stations, and more. In addition, a unique bread service of salted caramel buns is brought to the table separately. You will likely end up requesting more. Our order of buns was mouth-watering.

Characters at Minnie’s Beach Breakfast Bash include Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, and Goofy. Since this restaurant reopened, we returned to provide an updated review.

Related: Cape May Cafe Breakfast Review

#4 The Crystal Palace

Arguably, The Crystal Palace is the prettiest restaurant at Walt Disney World. It also comes in as our fourth choice for best character breakfast. Mainly, Crystal Palace is so high on our list due to its unique characters. But it’s also a pleasant place to enjoy breakfast at Magic Kingdom.

The Crystal Palace serves a breakfast buffet daily between 8:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Expect standard breakfast buffet items like bacon, pancakes, Mickey waffles, and more.

In addition, The Crystal Palace has a few signature items:

Blackberry Streusel Coffee Cake
Signature Breakfast Lasagna
Churro Mickey Waffles

Like most character breakfast buffets, the price is $48.00 per adult and $30.00 per child ages 3 to 9. Check the current price on Disney’s site. Characters at The Crystal Palace include Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. We have a review of our experience for more about this meal. (The Crystal Palace Breakfast Review)

#3 Tusker House

Our third choice for best character breakfast at Disney is Tusker House at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Tusker House is located inside the Africa section of the park near Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Tusker House offers a breakfast buffet daily between 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Buffet items include scrambled eggs, Mickey waffles, Simba waffles, bacon, sausage, and roasted potatoes.

Pricing for this meal is $47.00 per adult and $30.00 per child ages 3-9. The full menu is available on Disney’s site. Characters at Tusker House include Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Goofy. Donald and his friends appear in safari suits.

Related: Tusker House Breakfast Review

#2 Cinderella’s Royal Table

Cinderella’s Royal Table is one of the best character breakfasts at Walt Disney World. We love this meal because it consists of made-to-order entrees instead of a buffet. Upon arrival, you’ll receive a delectable basket of pastries for starters. Guest can then select an entree item from the menu. Entree selections include:

Traditional Breakfast
Baked Quiche
Royal Avocado Toast
Shrimp and Grits
Beef Tenderloin and Egg
Caramel Apple Stuffed French Toast

Children are allowed to choose multiple items from a kid-friendly menu. Prices and other menu items are available here. Cinderella greets guests at the restaurant’s entrance. Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White, and Rapunzel meet at each table during the meal. Sometimes, Tiana is in the rotation.

#1 Topolino’s Terrace

Finally, we’ve made it to our top choice for best character breakfast at Walt Disney World. Topolino’s Terrace is located at Disney’s Riviera Resort.

This location is only a character dining experience at breakfast. At night, Topolino’s Terrace is considered fine dining. Topolino’s Terrace breakfast has a prix fixe menu. You receive a bucket of pastries for starters. Then, you can select an entree. Disney’s policy for prix fixe menus has been that you can order more than one entree. However, things can change, so you’ll want to check with your server.

On our last meal, I went with the Quiche Gruyère, which was delicious.

My son went with an allergy-friendly waffle with a side of bacon.

Sometimes, when we’re enjoying a long, leisurely meal, we order three entrees and share them between us. For this visit, we had a seasonal fruit plate that was included in the prix fixe meal price at the time. Pricing for this meal is $49.00 per adult and 30.00 per child ages 3-9 years old. Preview the current menu with pricing here on Disney’s site.

Characters at Topolino’s Terrace include Mickey Mouse (painter), Minnie Mouse (poet), Donald Duck (sculptor), and Daisy Duck (dancer). If you want to learn more, we have a complete review of Breakfast a la Art with Mickey at Topolino’s Terrace.

A Few Extra Tips for Character Breakfasts

Overall, it’s hard to go wrong with the various character breakfast options at Walt Disney World. While you can’t expect the highest quality of food from some of the buffets, the character interactions have a way of making up for it.

Don’t get me wrong, many of the buffets have tasty specialty items. However, basics like waffles and bacon are the same items you can order at a value resort’s food court. Also, remember to bring autograph books to character meals. Characters often take the time to sign autographs when they visit the table.

Lastly, PhotoPass photographers are not usually available at character meals. Therefore, you’ll need to take your own photos when characters come to the table. So have your phone or camera out and ready. Each character visits the table once during the meal.

Additionally, you might enjoy learning what characters meet at Disney World. That article includes a list of every meet available. For other breakfast spots, try our list of Disney Restaurant Reviews or these individual restaurants:

In the Comments

Do any of these character breakfasts at Disney World sound appealing? Which one would you pick? Have you dined at any of these before?

Breakfasts with Characters at Disney World (Ranked for 2023)