It was bright and early Tuesday morning and our alarm had just gone off to stop us sleeping in and missing something very exciting we had planned! Our 2 year old, Hilda, was sleeping soundly in her cot as she was up until nearly 11pm the night before watching the fireworks! So we snuck out of bed and started to get ready to head out before waking her. This morning we were heading to Plaza Gardens for our character breakfast!

I have been here once before when I was on a work trip tasked with taking photographs. I was lucky enough to meet Mickey Mouse at my last breakfast which I didn’t realise at the time was a pretty lucky feat. At the character breakfast you enter the park before opening time (if you book the first slot) and the characters are complete luck of the draw. You have no idea who you’re going to get until they turn up at your table.

I booked breakfast at 8.15am because despite being way too early for us to be up and out of the door for, I had read that this slot has its benefits. The park opens to hotel guests at 8.30am for extra magic hour but opens to public at 9.30am. Therefore by that logic, if you enter the park at 8am for breakfast you get to grab those super quiet moments for photographs! Did it pay off? Well despite having to wake Hilda up, I think the photos speak for themselves!

We were a little late entering Plaza Gardens but we didn’t miss anything. It just meant we were walking into chaos with all the characters already doing their rounds. Immediately I spotted Goofy, Daisy and Tigger bouncing around the tables. We took our seat nicely nestled out of the way from the busy area and contemplated what to do next. It was a crazy exciting atmosphere where you were afraid to go grab any breakfast in case you missed something!

We seated Hilda in her high chair and we could already see that Pluto would be first to stop by our table. This is great, I thought, another dog (her favourite animal) the same as meeting Max yesterday which went really well. So she’s pointing to Pluto saying doggy and staring in amazement until she asks to be picked up. Suddenly she’s shaking in fear and she’s absolutely terrified! I shouldn’t laugh but the photograph of this moment says it all!

Rather than subject her to any more of this madness I got a selfie instead and he moved on to the next family. Have we traumatized our child for life? Time will tell.

The rest of the breakfast was similar to the Pluto fiasco only I was holding Hilda whilst she repeated the quiet, scared words of no no no whilst burying her head into my shoulder. When the characters weren’t so close she’d occasionally continue to munch on her Mickey waffles whilst getting slightly braver and pointing to any characters she caught from a distance!

But let’s talk about Minnie Mouse. I don’t know how it is possible for a barely 2 year old to be so obsessed with a cartoon character they’ve only ever seen on their own clothing. But somewhere along the line my daughter has decided that Minnie is her favourite. I’ve personally never been a fan but have now found myself with a new attachment to the character purely just because my daughter likes her so much! So naturally when Minnie turned up you can bet she was excited!

From the moment she saw those polka dots she was smiling and her eyes lit up. She was waving at her from afar and repeating her name in a very quiet yet excited little voice. Of course the moment Minnie came over she went right back to being absolutely terrified and as before, the photos say it all!

Despite being so fearful she still got the opportunity for plenty of waves and a chance to see the characters up close. I wasn’t a big fan of characters when I was a kid either so I don’t blame her! I wouldn’t say I was even now actually but for the sake of the money paid for this experience I took one for the team and made sure I got some pics instead!

In usual Hilda fashion, we asked her if she enjoyed it at the end and she said yes. Throughout the day she proceeded to repeat the words Minnie Mouse over and over again in the saddest voice imaginable like she was missing her hero. Kids… Who can figure them out!?

What a start to our second day at Disneyland and the day was only just beginning..

~ Character breakfast at Plaza Gardens done in June 2025 ~