Dining at Cape May Cafe

Cape May Café is a table service restaurant located in Disney’s Beach Club Resort.  We were able to eat both breakfast and dinner there during our most recent trip to Walt Disney World. Half the fun of eating at Cape May Café is getting there!

Disney’s Beach Club is an EPCOT area resort and is located next to Disney’s Yacht Club on Crescent Lake between EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  Since we were staying at Coronado Springs, we took Disney transportation to Hollywood Studios then a Friendship boat launch to the Yacht and Beach Club.  The Friendship launch stops at the Swan and Dolphin resorts first, then makes it stop for the Yacht and Beach Club.

After exiting the boat and walking down the pier, take the first right and walk past Stormalong Bay, under the slide, and turn left on the sidewalk heading to the tallest blue building—which is the main building at the Beach Club.  When you walk inside the lobby, Cape May Café can be found on the left.  Having to wait for your ADR can be a treat in this well appointed lobby.  There are even little seats in front of a TV for the children.  We didn’t have to wait long for either of our reservations.

Restrooms can be found both inside and outside of Cape May Café.  Turn right when entering the lobby and go through the first archway.  Restrooms are on the right and feature small folded towels to dry your hands.  If you are already seated, restrooms are at the fare end of the restaurant, down the stairs and to the right.  You actually leave the restaurant as the restrooms are located in a hallway connecting the Beach Club and Yacht Club.  This hallway is used for guests getting to/from Stormalong Bay.

Breakfast at Cape May Café is a character meal featuring three Disney characters—Minnie, Donald, and Goofy.  The meal is buffet and features typical breakfast fare.  Drinks are served by friendly Cast Members.

Surprises:  Only 3 characters, hmm. . . this seemed a bit slim and didn’t meet our expectations.  It almost feels like guest appeasement for those staying at the Yacht and Beach Club as other deluxe resorts have character meals—Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary, 1900 Park Fair at the Grand Floridian, and breakfast at ‘Ohana’s at the Polynesian Resort.  Yet, there are plenty of other deluxe resorts that do not have character meals—Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, Old Key West, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Saratoga Springs.

Asparagus!  This is one of the husband’s favorite vegetables and it was available on the breakfast buffet.  He was very happy!

The cost!  While we were on the dining plan, we paid out-of-pocket for this meal.  It was $80 before the tip for our breakfast.  Compared to dinner at Rose & Crown, for example, which came to less than $60, this meal was very expensive. 

Our impression of breakfast:  Been there, tried that, wasn’t impressed—won’t be back.

Dinner at Cape May Café is touted as a Clam Bake.  The square buffet layout is transformed to a seafood buffet for dinner featuring clams and mussels, crab legs, freshly carved beef, various other fish, potato, and pasta dishes.  Salads and desserts are also available.  Clam chowder was also on the buffet.  There’s hot melted butter for crab leg dipping and small metal pails to take to your table for the remains of crab legs, clams, and mussel shells.  A crab leg cracker along with wet wipes and lemon wedges are placed on the table by your server.  What was missing was the small fork that can be used to get the crab meat from the crab legs. 

Surprises:  The boy took a plateful of clams and mussels and enjoyed them.  He said he liked the clams better.  He also enjoyed the cheese pizza and short ears of corn on the cob.  My favorite was the corn bread.  The husband made fun of me for getting seconds.  Something about all of this food and I’m enjoying the cornbread. . . The key lime pie tarts had just the right amount of sweetness to end your meal.

Even though the Beach Club is a deluxe resort, there was a casualness at Cape May Café.  We were in our just from the theme park attire and felt very comfortable. 

Interestingly, we went to dinner at Cape May Café, the same way we had gone for breakfast—a Friendship launch from Hollywood Studios.  You could do the same from EPCOT with a stop at Boardwalk first. 

The manager, Tony, stopped by our table to chat, specifically with the boy.  After finding out where we were from he asked what he would find in our community that he wouldn’t find anywhere else.  Good question!  Our response:  Pioneer Ridge Nature Center—but that is another story.  Our interaction with Tony became even more important later in the day, as the boy left his DS case with his game cartridges, at the restaurant, and we didn’t realize it until we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom for a bus swap back to our resort.  Fortunately, I had Disney Switchboard programmed on my phone and was able to get Tony on the phone.  He confirmed the case was there.  We hopped on a bus back to the Beach Club, retrieved the case, after hugging Patsy, our server, and eventually returned to Coronado Springs.

Our impression:  We are more likely to return to Cape May Café for dinner.  The meal matches the theme of the resort. The food on the buffet was interesting and most likely, not found at other locations at the Walt Disney World Resort.  As the husband put it, Cape May Café is more of a place you would want to end your day. 

On another note:  Bus service from Beach Club was arduous.  To get to the bus stop, walk out of the lobby from the opposite side coming in from the pier.  Head left and walk across the footbridge.  The bus stops are to the left.  There are different bus stops noting various locations, so read the signs and make sure you are waiting at the appropriate stop.  After breakfast, we were headed to Downtown Disney.  It took many minutes for that bus to arrive.  We watched 4 Animal Kingdom busses come and go along with Magic Kingdom busses.  Since the Beach Club offers boat service to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, there are no bus stops for those locations.  After dinner, we waited for a bus to Magic Kingdom.  Both times, the busses made extra stops—at other resorts for pick-up and drop off, and at water parks.  I guess we had grown spoiled by the bus service at Coronado Springs only servicing that resort.  The bus service, as well as our dining experiences, caused the husband I to question if we would ever want to stay at the Beach Club or any deluxe resort.

Cape May Café:  Breakfast—most likely not again.  Dinner—would do again.  Not on our next trip, but after a few more trips we would give it a go.

Let us know your impressions of Cape May Café.