Plaza Gardens v. DLH breakfast

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by Elodie

Aha! Just been hunting around to figure out where you'd replied about PG & meal plans, and found it here. I wasn't sure anyone would reply since I was hijacking this thread a bit 😊 Thanks again!

See more...

We've also prebooked PG & we don't go back till Halloween, it was almost booked up too when I added it on. I'm only paying €8 pp as we have free breakfast voucher with the plus plan.

[Elodie]

Originally Posted by Tink75

No problem! Not sure what the jerking bit was meant to be 😂? I think I was meaning I can't help with them saving slots for those not on a plan? 😂

See more...

Haha, that's what I hoped you meant! 😂

[Guest]

We did both in April and actually preferred the PG breakfast. The choice was pretty much the same, PG was a lot busier and we did need to queue a little but it was much hotter. The characters interaction was good, would definitely do it again. We did the later sitting, 9.45am,but we were late in so had I left early to go over and get the BTM fastpasses.

[popsicle]

As it was me who began this thread, I thought it only polite to give my opinion, even though there have been reports from other people on various different threads. Firstly,we were almost first in at the 8-15 a.m. slot, going straight in from the park gates opening - no queuing. Then we were out again in 1hr 15mins - having seen the 6 characters in a very organised manner. There was no rush to get us out, lots of people were still in there. The food was excellent and almost identical to that at DLH. The only thing I noticed missing at PG was baked tomatoes! I'm not sure about the bread rolls because I am coeliac and can't have any at all, but they certainly had a good variety. The waffles etc. were the same apart from NO donuts, according to my grandchildren! One thing I preferred in PG was having a hot drinks machine, as opposed to being served at the table in DLH where the tea always seemed to be cold!
These are only minor points I know. This was our first visit to PG and we were pleasantly surprised. We had had character breakfasts twice before, when it was at Cafe Mickey. I thought that the PG food and the restaurant itself were far superior to Cafe Mickey.
As our original booking (DLH) was made before October, full hotel breakfast was included. Because of this, Character breakfast only cost 5 euros each extra, and we were able to book it earlier than the 3 days. I am very pleased that we did it.

[sammykitten]

thanks OP, and the other reviewers in the thread, its very useful to get some feedback from those who have done both .

[sarahdisney]

What characters do they usually have at PG?

[popsicle]

We had Mickey, Scrooge McDuck (i.e.Donald's Uncle), Daisy Duck, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger. I believe it's always the same six, for now anyway.

[Tink75]

OK, so I'm going to be a 'negative nelly' here, but we didn't think the breakfast was that good. We didn't have breakfast at DLH this time as we booked after it changed, although my parents did as they paid for a premium dining plan.

While the food was fine, and I agree with others that the choices are good - no issue there - personally, I'd say on a par with the 'old' DLH breakfasts from a few years ago, except the drinks machines - which, while a nice idea, had very long queues as there were only two in our half of the restaurant and they took ages to pour a drink! A few times I had to come out of the queue to go and sit at our table so my children didn't miss out on characters (and this did happen - Daisy missed out our table, even though I could see the table from where I was standing and she wasn't even near our table at that point!).

The biggest issue for me personally, was the lack of character interaction - PG is a big restaurant and it was full, so characters can't spend any decent time with you or really interact with you. In fact, both Piglet and Eeyore didn't sign (so 2 out of 6), despite Eeyore signing at our dinner at Inventions. We got talking to someone else later at DLH and they were upset about this as it was the only character meal they did.

The other issue was the scrum to get in at the beginning. They were late letting people in (second sitting) due to late leavers from first sitting and everyone was congregated around the steps which wasn't the best. Of course, once they opened the doors it was a like a tidal wave... not exactly relaxing, and there was a scrum for breakfast too at the beginning but it did settle down.

To be fair, the food was fine as I said earlier, but I wouldn't bother again unless they tweak it slightly with the characters - not sure how they could do this. I'd pay the extra and do a lunch or dinner at Inventions instead. I've done both a good few times now and never had poor character interaction - they always spend time with you and often end up revisiting our table. I asked our children which was their favourite character meal this last visit (AdC, Inventions dinner, PG breakfast), they said Inventions without a doubt.

I also think they need to rotate the characters at PG - many people thought they'd bring in a Pooh themed breakfast but it didn't happen (some were happy with this, some weren't!). But I do think they could switch it around a bit more. There were lots of characters within the parks during the day, so why not bring some of those in instead now and again.

I'm sure though things will improve as it's early days. Have to say, I didn't ever do the breakfast at CM so can't compare it to that. I know a few people who feel the same way about PG, so it's not just us. I think if I had a (hot) buffet breakfast included in my hotel, I wouldn't upgrade to PG, but understand people like the benefit of being in the park and seeing some characters, and for some hotels, the food is a definite upgrade. I am pleased we did it, just to say we tried it but it wouldn't be top of my list to rebook.

[dav220588]

Our character interaction at PG was so bad I actually complained to DLP and they're part refunding me for the meal. I'd advise if you do it to ask to be seated near the centre of the room. The characters seem to start around here so by the time they got to us in the conservatory section they were really rushing and were being really iffy about taking individual pictures and stuff.

[popsicle]

We seemed to have missed all of the negative issues. By being first in PG we were actually seated by 6 mins. past 8am. We were in the middle of the room but near the buffet so we got our food straight away - hot and fresh. It also meant we didn't have to wait long for the characters. Because I was at the drinks machine (for which there was no queue at the time) I would have missed Mickey at our table, but my grandson came to warn me. Looking at the times on my photos, we actually spent an average of just over a minute and a half with each character, plenty of time for several photos with each. They were in no rush to move on. We were all done and dusted and on our way to Buzz by quarter past nine, and so missed the arrival of the 2nd sitting, which sounds as though it was a bit of a scrum. It seems that being early was the secret to our good experience, but of course not every body can be first. I agree they should change the characters around (maybe they will), but as this was a one off for us it didn't matter, we were happy with who we had.