Cape May Cafe, at Disney’s Beach Club Resort, is one of the best character meals on property, in my opinion. It’s more “below the radar” than more popular character meals (e.g. Chef Mickey’s and Cinderella’s Royal Table), so reservations are a slight bit easier to get; the food is fantastic; and the characters are all dressed in their bathing suits ready for a day at the beach — how much fun is that? At this meal, you can see Goofy, Minnie, and Donald (this used to have Chip and Dale, but they’ve been replaced!).
Goofy Visits With a Little Guest
(More character photos later in the post!) Located on the right hand side of the Beach Club’s lobby (entering from the parking lot), Cape May Cafe is a large restaurant with a Beach theme — decor includes light colored woods and old-fashioned wooden and canvas beach chairs and umbrellas. The restaurant is also the location for the Beach Club’s Clam Bake buffet each night (we’ll cover this in a later blog!).
Cape May Cafe Decor
Cape May Cafe
Once you’re seated with your drink order taken, you’re free to visit the delicious buffet, which begins in the foyer of the restaurant with bagels and lox, and moves into the main area of the restaurant with dozens of other options. These include different flavors of yogurt accompanied by granola, raisins, and fresh fruit for toppings; oatmeal and cream of wheat; pancakes and mickey waffles; egg dishes and meats; and a whole buffet of delectable baked goods! There’re also plenty of cereal choices.
Buffet Items
Hot Buffet Selections
Bagels and Lox
Yogurt with Toppings
Cereals
Bakery Items
Baked Goods
Eggs and Breakfast Meat
Biscuits and Gravy
Fruit
Hot Cereal
Mickey Waffles
Food plate all ready to go: mickey waffles, eggs, breakfast pizza, homefries, muffins, and sausage
And now for the characters! This breakfast offers a truly unique photo experience with the characters all ready for their day at the beach!
Goofy's about to hang ten!
Silly Donald! You Don't NEED A Swimsuit!
Minnie's Ready for Her Close-Up
I can highly recommend this character breakfast (even if you don’t have kids!). It’s thoroughly enjoyable, slightly “quieter” than the others, and has great variation in the available food. We’ve enjoyed every trip here.
Be sure to let me know about your favorite character breakfast and your Cape May Cafe experiences — I love hearing your stories! Happy Labor Day!
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I have stayed at the Beach Club like around 20 or so times so I always see this character breakfast on the way to the pool. I have never gone to it though, but it always looks like alot of fun.
Hey Jackey! Thanks for your comment! It IS a lot of fun; you should check it out. Have a Mickey Waffle for me!
When hubby and I were on our honeymoon we stayed at the Beach Club. One morning we opted to go to Cape May for breakfast. It was empty and we loved it. Looks like it has grown a lot more over the last eight years (food selection wise). We made reservations to go early during our May visit, but canceled. Traveling early to Cape May from Pop Century without a car was not the easiest with two little ones. Next time we head back we will definitely have to go there.
AngelForever — No kidding! That’s when you schedule late breakfast! 😉 Thank you for the comment!
Thanks for the blog, AJ! It was great timing! I just made my ADR for the character breakfast at Cape May for our November trip! Can’t wait to try it! Really looking forward to those Mickey waffles!!!
aw goofy is so cute 🙂 too bad they don’t serve tonga toast there LOL I think thats an amazing Disney breakfast option but yay for Mickey waffles 🙂
Great post, AJ! I’ve never been there for breakfast before (I’ve enjoyed their dinner buffet a number of times!), but it looks great.
Lea: You’re gonna love it! 🙂
Rachel: He IS isn’t he? Hmm…maybe we should drop “tonga toast” into the suggestion box.
Tim: Thanks! I really need to do some more dinners there.
I absolutely love Cape May Cafe for breakfast. Easily my favorite for a character meal in WDW. Especially for adults because it IS much more calm than the other meals I’ve been too. I always recommend it!
We have an ADR for Cape May Cafe for breakfast for our upcoming trip in October. This is one of the few character meals that we haven’t experienced yet. I’m looking forward to comparing to Chef Mickey’s, ‘Ohana and 1900 Park Fare. I also want to get a good look at the Beach Club for a future stay. Thanks for the great post! 🙂
Kelly: I agree 100% that it’s calmer for grown-ups than a lot of other character meals. I really enjoy going at the end of the breakfast rush so that we can linger a bit.
Ajcenac: I’d love to hear your comparison between Cape May, ‘Ohana, and Chef Mickey’s!
I’ve always wanted to go to this breakfast, but my family seems to regularly end up at Chef Mickeys. They can’t get enough of the napkin twirling, I guess! I’ll have to send them this link & get them there for our next trip. Thanks for all the food photos, those Mickey waffles are my fav!!
We are going to Disney in May and I am seriously considering this restaurant for the clam bake – can’t wait to read your review on that!
I was at the Cape May Buffet the week of Columbus Day.
It’s a great buffet to do solo. Had my photo taken with each of the 3 characters
by just asking a waiter and the actual manager.
Heather — Did you guys make it to Cape May yet?! Would love to hear your review!
Disney Family — Did you see the Clam Bake review? Are you guys going to the restaurant?
John — Thank you for this review! Great point that this would be a good one for solo travelers. Where else did you dine?
We have a reservation at 10:55…will the characters stick around? Or do they skip town at 11am when my research shows breakfast is over? (are we gonna get sub par food with the last bkfst reservation?)
Hey Dawn! Yep, the character should stick around. In fact, since you’ll be one of the last tables around, you’ll probably get extra time with them! And you shouldn’t get sub-par food at all. Usually, if buffets have two duplicate sides, they might shut down one side, but you’ll still have all the same food available — and ample quantities. That’s been my experience with late seatings at buffets.
Does anyone know how much time I need to have in order to drive from the pop century resort to the Cape May cafe by car? We are going at the end of this month. Thanks!
Nathan — The total mileage is probably under 10 miles between the two, but give yourself 20 minutes or so so that you can park at Beach Club. 🙂 Enjoy!
Just had breakfast last Friday. LOVED it. Food was outstanding. They had a light quinoa breakfast salad, with blueberries and some other goodies. Anyone else been there recently and remember what it was called? Never got a chance to go back up and write down the name of it – I’d love to try to recreate it here at home!
Also, just a shout out to the Chefs here. I have a dairy and an egg allergy, and am used to just making meals like this work. The chef (or one of them, I don’t know) came out and personally put together some meal options for me, noted what I could and could not eat at the buffet. Never had that kind of attention at a restaurant due to my allergies. Given how much breakfast for 5 of us cost, it was MUCH appreciated! Had my own dairy and egg free Mickey waffles!