Recently, my friends and I went to the Plaza Inn on Main Street for Breakfast in the Park with Minnie and Friends. Considering I am the only one in my family that enjoys character meals, I was grateful to have a chance to partake. I had always avoided Minnie and Friends as a dining choice due to its name and location. I had many assumptions going in. First, it’s called Minnie and Friends, and the umbrellas outside are pink, so it must be girly. Second, it’s located inside the park, so it must be difficult to get a reservation, and have below average food for an expensive price. Third, it is probably just Minnie and two or three friends.
All of these assumptions were wrong, way wrong. I was happily surprised to find out that Minnie and Friends character breakfast is easy to get into, not overly expensive or crowded, not just for girls, and has tons of character interaction time. There are many characters at Minnie and Friends that all would enjoy. We saw Minnie, Dale, Rafiki, Honest John, Eeyore, a Mary Poppins’ Penguin, and the Fairy Godmother.
Now the food is not amazing, but it is definitely good (except for the hash browns, but I have yet to find good hash browns on any buffet). The food is even better when considering the price compared to other character dining at the Disneyland Resort. The price is $23.99 for adults and $11.99 for children under ten years of age. It is the cheapest character breakfast buffet at the resort. Goofy’s Kitchen is $29.99, PCH Grill’s Surf’s Up Breakfast is $25.99, and Storyteller’s Cafe is the same $23.99 price, but it has an add-on cost of gratuity and sales tax. Minnie and Friends is serve yourself everything including drinks, the only service given to the diners is the picking up of plates. So tips are not required, or if given, are not needed to be the traditional 15%-20%.
The menu offers all you care to eat of the usual breakfast items including cereals, made to order omelets, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, french toast, Mickey Waffles, a variety of muffins, croissants, danish and fresh fruit. As I was dining in the park, I wasn’t expecting the actual food to taste good, but it did. Much to my surprise, the biscuits were flaky, and the baked goods were fresh and tasty. My favorite item, by far, was the made to order omelet. The chef behind the counter created an omelet that was light, fluffy, and full of yummy ingredients. Even though they don’t offer as many choices as the omelet bars at the other buffets, Minnie and Friends’ thin omelet is my favorite of the bunch.
One of my favorite aspects of the Minnie and Friends Breakfast in the Park is that everything is self-serve. You pay before you are seated, so once that is done, you are free of waiting. Now some may disagree, but I rather enjoyed not having to wait for my server and ate at my own pace. Drinks are self-serve as well, which includes bottled chocolate milk that isn’t free in the park. Now I am not suggesting you should take one for the road…
The buffet is limited in size due to its location, so the crowds and lines are not an issue. This helps with character interaction as well. It was the most characters and the most character time per person than I have experienced anywhere else. When you add in the fact that you are actually inside Disneyland, I think Minnie and Friends Breakfast at the Park is a good value. It has good food, doesn’t require additional costs, has a lot of characters, and is actually inside the Happiest Place on Earth. I will definitely be back, now if I could just convince the rest of my family to join me…
Leave a Reply