The Breakfast Buffet is Returning to Disney’s Cape May Cafe, But Where Are the Characters?

Disney recently announced that a number of fan-favorite restaurants will be reopening around the Walt Disney World Resort, including Jiko- The Cooking Place at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Flying Fish at Disney’s BoardWalk, and Ale & Compass at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort just to name a few. Among restaurants reopening, or rather returning to its pre-pandemic format, is Cape May Cafe, located at Disney’s Beach Club Resort.

Cape May Cafe is a family-favorite spot for a dinner buffet loaded with seafood plus options to upgrade to even more fresh seafood with crab legs and whole Maine lobsters. In the past, breakfast at Cape May Cafe offered a fun and casual character dining experience where Guests could meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and friends dressed in all of their adorable beach gear.

When it was just announced that the breakfast buffet would be returning, we were hoping to see the return of character dining at this location, but in the official announcement on the Disney Parks Blog, there was no mention of characters.

Currently, Disney’s official website has a short description for the returning buffet experience that reads:

Starting February 15, 2022, stop by this New England-inspired venue for buffet meals––including a bountiful breakfast or sensational surf and turf dinner.

Disney’s official site also includes a short note stating, “Character Dining is currently not available at this location,” with no further information on the offering.

While many character dining locations have remained either closed or without characters for much of the reopening of the Walt Disney World Resort so far, others have made character dining work with some restrictions. Chef Mickey’s for instance, another popular resort character restaurant with breakfast and dinner buffets still have characters including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald, they are simply distanced. The characters do not come right up to Guests’ tables, but they are able to interact with them from a distance and pose for selfies.

It seems a distanced character experience would be possible at Cape May Cafe, too, and while we are sure there is some level of staffing challenges that are factoring into which Disney character locations are able to come back, we do find it peculiar that no mention of Cape May’s character breakfast was made in the reopening announcement.

If you are looking for character dining during your next Walt Disney World vacation, here is a list of locations currently open you may want to make reservations for:

• Chef Mickey’s at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Garden Grill Restaurant at EPCOT
• Hollywood & Vine at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Topolino’s Terrace – Flavors of the Riviera at Disney’s Riviera Resort
• Tusker House Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

In the meantime, we hope to see characters return to Cape May Cafe soon as the restaurant truly did offer a fun character breakfast, and a great way to start the day off before heading to a nearby Disney park like EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We will keep you updated here on Disney Fanatic on any character dining changes, and we hope to have good news soon!