I love booking character meals when visiting Disneyland Paris*. They are a great way to meet the Disney characters without joining long queues, perfect for someone with autism. But the pandemic and current renovations have changed the character dining options available at Disneyland Paris. With the Disneyland Hotel* being renovated the Inventions restaurant is currently closed reducing the character dining options. Inventions was a great place for character dining, we enjoyed both character brunches and dinners there. Cafe Mickey in the Disney Village* has closed down and is being replaced with another dining option as the area gets a makeover. Thankfully with the social distancing rules relaxed there was an option for a character breakfast at Disneyland Paris during our summer holiday visit last year. It was so nice to get close to the characters again and enjoy the character interaction.
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We love sharing our Disneyland Paris adventures on our blog. Make sure you visit our Disneyland Paris Trips and Experiences post to read all about them.
Where Does The Disneyland Paris Character Breakfast Take Place?
At the moment character dining takes place inside Disneyland Park*. This is at the Plaza Gardens Restaurant which is a buffet restaurant. You will meet classic Disney characters at this breakfast. Since reopening after the covid closures, Mickey Mouse and his friends normally appear at the Plaza Gardens character dinner. If you have a Princess fan you should consider booking breakfast at the Auberge de Cendrillon. This is home to the princess character breakfast. We haven’t experienced a princess breakfast yet as they have only recently reopened this option.
5 Things To Know When Booking A Character Breakfast At Disneyland Paris
- As Plaza Gardens Restaurant is inside Disneyland Park you need valid tickets* to enter the park on the day of your booking.
- There are two breakfast sitting times available, 8.15 am and 9.45 am. The 8.15 am time should only be booked by onsite guests* who have access to the extra magic hours.
- Booking the 8.15 am slot might mean that you get to be some of the first guests to enter Disneyland Park. This will mean fewer people in Main Street USA for those perfect castle pictures.
- If you have a Disneyland Paris meal plan* or Disney hotel breakfast plan you only have to pay the top-up price for your meal.
- If you are staying at an off-site hotel you can only book a character breakfast three days before the date you require. Onsite guests can book the character breakfast up to twelve months in advance. It must be added to your hotel booking.
Our Character Breakfast Experience at Disneyland Paris
Our booking for our character breakfast was for the 8.15 am slot. We are normally up early so the earlier breakfast suits us. I also love the chance to see an emptier Disneyland Park. This is really one of the perks of booking a breakfast in a Disney theme park. It gives us the chance to take photos in front of the castle without lots of other people in them.
This was our second visit to Plaza Gardens Restaurant for a character breakfast. Our first experience was before the pandemic when we visited Disneyland Paris for the Christmas season. We enjoyed our most recent visit as much as we enjoyed our first experience. It was fun being able to cuddle the characters and take photos and selfies with them again. We didn’t have any autograph books for them to sign and even without those the characters spent a good amount of time with us.
Which Disney Characters Did We Meet During Our Plaza Gardens Restaurant Breakfast?
We met five characters at our character breakfast. They were
- Geppetto
- Eeyore
- Tigger
- Captain James Hook
- Mr. Smee
I think Captain James Hook and Mr. Smee can be some of the rarer characters to meet at a Disney Park so it was nice that they were there. Geppetto is possibly a character that we haven’t met that often either. I know that you might expect to meet Mickey Mouse but we weren’t worried that he wasn’t there during our breakfast. We met Mickey Mouse in Fantasyland during our trip. He was also at our character dinner.
What Food Will You Find At The Plaza Gardens Restaurant Buffet Breakfast?
We feel there is a good selection of food available in the Plaza Gardens Restaurant buffet breakfast. Our son has a very limited diet and he left breakfast with a full tummy. There are food options that will keep everyone happy. You can help yourself to hams, cheese, fruit and pastries if you want a continental breakfast. There are hot breakfast items to create a full English breakfast. You will be able to find Mickey waffles and pancakes, which are a must for any Disney holiday. There is also a good selection of cereals and yoghurts. As it is a buffet you can help yourself to as much or as little as you want.
Our video below captures our time in the Plaza Gardens Restaurant.
Do We Recommend Visiting The Character Breakfast at Disneyland Paris?
If you have already paid for a breakfast package at your Disney Hotel I think you should really consider adding a character breakfast to your stay. We were staying at Disney’s Newport Bay Club* and it cost us just over £12 each to upgrade one of our breakfasts to the character breakfast at Plaza Gardens. The prices do vary depending on the hotel you stay in. It is worth working out how much you can save on the regular price if you upgrade your food package.
Going to the early character breakfast gave us time to see a nearly empty Main Street and take some lovely castle photos. We got to meet some Disney characters during our trip without having to queue. The characters come and visit you at your table so there is no rushing around after them. The park is still fairly quiet when we had finished our meal. We feel these are all positive reasons to book a character breakfast.
If you are staying at an off-site hotel you might want to consider if going to a character breakfast is worth it for you. Your breakfast would be during regular park hours and therefore eating into your theme park time. You might find a character dinner a better option. A dinner would give you a break later on in the day, perhaps giving you time to rest before watching the fireworks.
We do try to have at least one character meal during our trips to Disneyland Pairs. We don’t always find the time to meet characters any other way due to our son struggling with queuing. Booking a character meal means we will at least get some photos with the characters without any stress which is always a positive thing for us.
We love sharing our Disneyland Paris adventures on our blog. Make sure you visit our Disneyland Paris Trips and Experiences post to read all about them.
Books to help you plan your trip…