We are heading to the quaint New England shore today for a breakfast buffet at Cape May Cafe!

The expansive restaurant, located at Disney’s Beach Club Resort, is a favorite among guests for a couple of reasons: 1.) You get to see Minnie, Donald, and Goofy in their BATHING SUITS! SO FUN! (OK, that sounds weird as I read it over, but you know what I mean, right?), 2.) It’s slightly easier to get an advance dining reservation here than at one of the other, more well-known character breakfasts, like Chef Mickey’s or Crystal Palace.

We hadn’t been back to Cape May for breakfast in quite a while, so on a recent trip, we headed over one morning pre-park with AJ’s Mom and AJ’s Dad to see what was new.

Atmosphere

You enjoy the same open, airy feeling at Cape May that you sense throughout the rest of the Beach Club Resort. The stick-style architecture (I totally learned that from Samantha Brown back when she was doing “Great Hotels” on the Travel Channel…remember?) brings to mind Victorian beach house themes.

Check in at the podium, and soon you’ll be making your way to one of two dining rooms — a large main room, or a smaller one adjacent to the restaurant’s entrance. I much prefer the large main dining room since it has a lot more to look at and has slightly easier access to the buffet. 😉

The palette is pastel, and vintage-style beach umbrellas and chairs adorn the space to drive home the seaside feeling. The colorful carpet depicts beach umbrellas, too.

Seating is comfortable, with a mixture of roomy chairs, booths, and banquette and chair combos.

Since this is a buffet, the space is busy with foot traffic as guests help themselves to the eats.

On the morning we visited, it was pretty quiet, as you can see! That can translate to lots of extra time with your favorite characters, and is another reason why Cape May Cafe is a gem of a character meal!

The buffet is the traditional set up. I love the colorful tile surround, which echoes the pattern of the carpet and ties the decor together nicely. (I’d never noticed that until this trip! There’s always something more to learn, eh?)

One of the best features of breakfast at Cape May is fun interaction with characters! Let’s take a look.

Characters

Character meals

are a great option for interacting with your favorite Disney friends in a comfortable, air-conditioned setting. And one of the best features of trying different character meals is that you’ll run into your favorite Disney pals wearing a wide range of attire!

At Cape May, you’ll find characters dressed to hit the beach after breakfast is over! Be aware, however, that characters only appear here for breakfast. So if it’s a character dining experience you’re after, book the morning meal. Also, the character number here is somewhat limited, and you won’t see Mickey. He must already be riding the waves!

Isn’t Minnie cute in her straw hat?

And Donald’s sporting a new version of his no-pants sailor suit, complete with waves and an anchor on his hat.

But Goofy may be my favorite (and he’s definitely AJ’s Mom’s favorite). With colorful swim trunks and a life vest, he’s ready to hit the sand!

Hanging out with the characters was fun, but I was ready to dig into some Disney yums.

Eats

Cape May works much the same as other Disney buffets: once you’re seated and your server takes your drink order, you’re free to visit the buffet as many times as you’d like. Pace yourself, however. There’s a lot to take in!

To make it easier to organize, I’ve broken the food up into major categories.

Breads, Cereal, and Fruit

To start, you’ll find a large assortment of Breads, Cereal, and Fruit. Miniature Muffins are just the right size to sample a variety of flavors.

Croissants and Danish are flakey and fresh. You’ll find Cinnamon Rolls here as well.

The Chocolate Cheese Pastries were especially tempting! (Don’t worry — you’ll walk off the calories in the parks!)

Fresh Orange Cranberry and Banana Bread were also options the morning I visited.

White and Wheat Bread, English Muffins, and Bagels are located conveniently by the toaster if you’d prefer toast to pastries.

And of course, you’ll find Butter and an assortment of Jams and Jellies nearby as well.

Would you prefer cereal? No problem — handy dispensers house varieties of Kellogg’s Cereals, and your server provides the milk.

If you’d like hot cereal, you’ll find that as well. But in addition to the familiar Oatmeal, Cape May also offers some healthy and trendy tastes, like Apple Cranberry Quinoa.

It’s a healthy and substantial way to start your day!

There’s also a fantastic selection of Fruit, all fresh and ready to eat! This is something that Disney usually excels at, but I thought this spread was particularly bountiful.

You could easily make a meal from fruits and breads! But don’t fill up — there’s more to come!

Salads and Other Cold Items

Before you move onto the hot foods, there are lots of other cold selections to sample. Start with a couple of interesting salads. First up is an Apple Spinach Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette. Mmmm — bacon on my salad! Yesss!

Quinoa and other whole grains show up in the other salad offering, Healthy Grains Fruit Salad, which features a mix of Quinoa, Barley, Dried Fruits, and Almonds, garnished with Citrus Ginger Dressing. I’m guessing the pineapple in there was attributable to some “fresh fruit overboard” from someone else’s helping themselves.

You’ll find Hard Boiled Eggs on the cold bar too, along with Cottage Cheese, Applesauce, and Granola.

Mixed Berries and whole fresh Strawberries are the perfect accompaniment to Yogurt. We could choose from Strawberry or Vanilla in low fat versions.

Pastrami-style Smoked Salmon with traditional garnishes were also available.

A selection of Charcuterie and Cheeses lends a continental feel to the spread.

The cold meats and cheese offer a nice contrast to fruits and sweet breads that you find on this side of the buffet.

Entrees and Sides

Next, be sure to explore the hot bar. Interestingly, Cape May doesn’t offer any customizable breakfast items, like Create-Your-Own Omelets. However, there is a wide array of traditional favorites, so you’ll probably find something that pleases you.

Scrambled Eggs come in two varieties. There is the traditional plain version.

But you can also spice things up a bit with Chorizo and Four Cheese Scrambled Eggs.

There was an ample supply of fresh Sausage and Bacon to complement the eggs, as well as crispy Breakfast Potatoes.

Cape May also offers a Frittata daily. During our visit, the popular dish was made with Spinach, Bacon, and White Cheddar Cheese.

Salsa and Ketchup stand by for garnish and dipping.

There’s also normally a seasonal veggie on stand by. But since this is vacation, you can count on having your Asparagus with a hearty side of rich Hollandaise. 🙂

Even though this is supposed to be New England, a little southern flavor creeps in with the addition of Cheddar Cheese Grits.

And you can’t have vacay breakfast without Biscuits and Gravy! At least my husband can’t!

Next, there’s a good selection of warm, sweet options. Thick-cut French Toast is always a good option, especially when there are Caramelized Bananas close by! Make your own bananas foster french toast!! (I did!)

And hooray for mini-Mickey Waffles! I know they’re on every single Disney breakfast buffet, but I seriously never get tired of them!

They’re just so cute! And I swear, they taste better than regular old waffles.

You have lots to choose from when it comes to smothering your waffles. Maple Syrup, Chocolate Chips, Strawberry Melba, and a big bowl of Whipped Cream are right there waiting for you!

And just in case that’s not enough sweet stuff for you, go ahead, have some Bread Pudding!

For my part, I decided to go with some healthier options and small portions of a couple of my favorites.

With all of that beautiful fresh fruit, making a tasty bowl of yogurt and granola was a snap. Isn’t it pretty? This is one of my favorite breakfast dishes at Disney.

But after I got my healthy fix, I had to indulge just a bit. First, I tried a small portion of french toast with caramelized bananas.

Although it was very sweet, the toast was fresh and the banana topping was delicious. This was definitely a winning combination for me.

But of course, I wasn’t leaving without a Mickey waffle!

And while all of those fun garnishes were awesome, I went the classic — maple syrup.

It’s just perfect to dunk those little ears in before nibbling them right off.

Overall

Cape May Breakfast continues to be one of our favorite buffets at Walt Disney World for a number of reasons. To begin, the food here is some of the best buffet food you’ll find on property, so even if you aren’t all that interested in characters, you’re likely to appreciate the spread. Second, even though it’s grown a bit in popularity, it’s still less crazy busy than the most popular character dining spots. Finally, because it’s located so close to both Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it’s a pretty convenient starting point for your day, even if you’re not staying at Beach Club.

With good food, a breezy atmosphere, and cute characters, I think Cape May is definitely worth a spot on your meal calendar.

Is Cape May Cafe one of your favorite Disney dining destinations? Let us know in comments!