Character dining experiences have become a family tradition while we're vacationing in Walt Disney World.
When my children were young I scheduled a character breakfast every day of our trip. It gave us a great start to the day and fun character interactions. All before hitting the parks. One of our favorite character meals is Beach Club Goofy and friends Character Breakfast at Cape May Cafe.
We first tried it on one of our trips in the early 90's while staying at The Yacht Club Resort. The characters were Admiral Goofy and Chip & Dale. Our son's favorite characters at that time were Chip & Dale so it quickly became a must do for us.
Disney’s Beach Club Resort is located right next to Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. The buildings are a pale blue and white stick-style meant to resemble New England beach cottages of the mid 1800s. The interior decor is a beach theme in a soft pastel colored pallette, white wicker furniture, 24-foot-high ceilings and natural French limestone floors. Beach Club Goofy and Friends is open daily from 7:30-11:00am. This is a 1TS meal on the Disney Dining Plan.
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Stormalong Bay, which is in front of both resorts has three sandy bottom lagoon areas and a thrilling shipwreck water slide. Ok, not THAT thrilling, I just like to think it is;)
Cape May Cafe has caught on over the years and become more popular. I hope it's popularity doesn't spoil the charm. ADRs are still fairly easy to get. While you're on property you can also use any house phone to make an ADR or cancel one. The front desk of your resort can also assist in making a reservation for you.
On our last trip Paul and I were sans kids and staying at The Boardwalk Villas for the last half of the week. The first half was at The Wilderness Lodge, a wonderful place to stay and worth another post or two to describe just how beautiful it is.
While at The BoardWalk Villas I had planned ADRs for Kouzzina every day thinking that we would prefer not to travel too far for breakfast. We had a dinner ADR for Cape May, but I had totally forgotten to make ADRs for Cape May breakfast ( I may never live it down).
Well, after the first day's breakfast at Kouzzina (which was very good) Paul decided he wanted to have our traditional Cape May breakfast. I asked at the concierge desk if there were any tables available at Cape May and sure enough there were!
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| Orchids line the waiting area |
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| Time enough to check on the stock market's bad news. |
It didn't take long to cheer Paul up. Donald his favorite was our first character to visit the table. Throughout the meal all the characters visit your table at least 3 times. It must've been quiet because we had characters around us the whole time.
They'll sign autographs or even sit and color.
You won't find PhotoPass photographers here. Make sure you have a camera ready. The family next to us didn't. I took pics for them. We as it turned out all live in the same area of NJ, lol.
Now on to the foodie fare! The buffet is huge starting at the entrance alcove with an assortment of bagels, lox and cream cheese. In the center of the room is the main buffet with sections for yogurt, granola, assorted raisin toppings and fresh fruit toppings. Muffins and baked goods galore, oatmeal and a variety of hot and cold cereals.
There's pancakes, eggs, sausages, bacon and well you get the idea. The name Cafe implies that the restaurant is small. It isn't and neither is the buffet that is replenished continually.
They do have a menu you can order from if you don't see what you want on the buffet. The best part of this buffet is that they have Mickey Waffles! I don't know any other buffet that offers them.
You'll see more adults dining here than other character meals. The atmosphere is calmer and the noise level is definitely lower. There are high ceilings and the tables are spread out with booths lining the walls which may help with the noise. It's a great experience for everyone. I wish I could say I liked the coffee.
The characters are usually Minnie, Goofy and Donald Duck dressed for a day at the beach. All the characters visit each table whether there are children there or not. They kid around take pics and in the case of Goofy take pics of themselves, lol. Goofy decided to use my phone to make a video of himself. It was hysterical! The video didn't come out but we had a great time goofing around with him making the movie. He then decided to play catch with Paul. Tossing a rolled up napkin back and forth. Maybe because we were toward the back and off to the side we had more room to kid around. It was a lot of fun!!
Cape May character buffet is our favorite way to start the day!
