This review is from our very first character dining experience. We visited a couple of years ago, when our daughter was two and we weren’t sure how she was going to do with the characters.
Time to explore the character dining experience at Cape May Cafe. The characters are only at the breakfast buffet; keep that in mind when planning for the character dining experience. We have not had dinner at Cape May Cafe yet, but we will hopefully be able to experience that on our next trip.
Cape May Cafe is located at Disney’s Beach Club Resort and is right off the lobby, very easy to find. The cast members are very helpful and there is usually someone standing outside the lobby door who you can ask for directions. They also have a greeter right inside the lobby, and they are very helpful, but the restaurant really is easy to find. When you enter the lobby, make sure to take a look around. Disney is very good with details. The chandeliers were pretty impressive.
When you are done checking out the lobby, you can make your way to the podium in front of the restaurant. They will take your name and, if there is a wait, they will give you a buzzer to let you know when it’s time to eat (like most other restaurants do).
If you do have a wait and you have little ones that might get impatient, they have a waiting area for kids. It comes complete with little comfy chairs and a TV that plays cartoons. If you would rather they not watch TV, you can walk them around the lobby and look out the windows at Crescent Lake, and it’s a pretty nice view.
Once you have been buzzed, check out the theme of the restaurant as you are walking in. The beach theme is pretty fun. They have beach umbrellas as decorations and they have a sand castle in a case that we were lucky enough to sit by. The kids loved looking at this in between eating and meeting characters!
The food offerings are standard for a breakfast buffet at Disney, with a few special things thrown in. There was a Hollandaise sauce that was delicious!
Here are some of the breakfast offerings:
- Four Cheese Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo
- Carving Station
- Mickey Waffles
- Cheddar Cheese Grits
- Fruit
- Oatmeal
- Cold Cereals
- Pastries
You can see some of the offerings on Disney’s website, Cape May Cafe Breakfast Menu. To be honest, as big as Disney is, they lack when it comes to details on their website. So, the menu is not complete by any means, but it will give you an idea.
While you are eating, the characters will come to your table to visit, one at a time. The characters are dressed in beach attire and they all look pretty cute. The three characters that were there when we visited were Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. They all took their time at the table and made sure to sign all three of the autograph books and take lots of pictures.
Our daughter loved meeting all the characters! This was such a great way to introduce her to them. If she had been afraid, they would have just signed the books and left. Then we would have known we didn’t need to wait in line in the parks. It’s a great way to “test the water” with kids who have never met the characters. She loved having her picture taken with them and was all smiles.
Our friends’ son didn’t want his picture with the characters, so they just signed his book and he was happy with that. Their daughter wanted to have her picture taken with the characters, but she was a little nervous and shy. So when Minnie came around, she sat next to her and just gently held her hand to get her feeling comfortable. We have some pretty cute pictures of this. The characters are so good and so patient with all the kids, that’s reason enough to visit Cape May Cafe!
Once we were done with breakfast and meeting the characters, we packed up and headed outside to look around. It is a beautiful resort! I loved walking around the lake and you can see The Boardwalk Inn across the way. The Yacht Club is right next to The Beach Club, so you can wander over there and look around too, it’s another beautiful resort. Plus, you can take the Friendship boats from the Yacht Club to Epcot, the Boardwalk, and Hollywood Studios (you can also walk to the parks and the Boardwalk from The Yacht and Beach Club).
So, would I recommend Cape May Cafe? Absolutely! The food is good (again standard Disney breakfast buffet with some special items mixed in) and the characters are fantastic with the kids (and adults)! We will definitely have Cape May Cafe on the list of reservations for our next trip and I’m hoping to try dinner there too.
The cost is listed as $15 to $34.99. The range in cost probably depends on what time of year you go and child price vs. adult price. If you do eat here, make sure to poke around the resort after. It’s fun to explore all the different Disney hotels!
Thanks for reading!
*Liz*
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