“In alllllllll the world you came to Topolino’s! Let’s have a cheer! For all to hear!”

Breathe in deep, do you smell that? Ahhh yes. The fresh, salty Mediterranean breeze of the French Riviera…mixed with Mickey waffles, fresh ground espresso and some of the most bomb, expertly prepared cuisine this side of Walt Disney World.

Topolino’s Terrace is one of the newest upper tier offerings for character dining in Walt Disney World, serving both breakfast/brunch and dinner. Named after the Italian name for Mickey Mouse and located on the top floor of the gorgeous Riviera Resort, this restaurant offers both stunning views from it’s namesake terrace and French and Italian dishes that are just as quintessentially Mediterranean as the detailed artistic themed costumes that Mickey and his friends don at this experience.

These are the top nine things you should know before you go!

Reservations - Don’t Get Discouraged!

Reservations can be difficult to snag as with any character dining so leading up to our trip we were worried that this breakfast wasn’t going to happen. On this most recent trip to Disney it was Jude’s first time and character meet & greets were still suspended at the parks. Character dining was the only way that Jude was going to have any sort of interaction with Mickey so I was putting a lot of pressure on the chance for us to score any sort of character dining during this 2-day pit stop to the parks. We were spending our whole first day in Magic Kingdom and the plan was to hopefully do a character breakfast the next morning before we did a little resort hopping and then hit the road to Myrtle Beach for our family vacation.

We arrived to Disney with no dining reservations and two nights before the morning that we had carved out for breakfast, Brian surprised me by scoring not one, but TWO reservations for breakfast!!! So we had to make a decision between Chef Mickey’s or Topolino’s.

Real quick as a side note…some of my biggest and best advice when planning dining reservations for your upcoming trip are to:

Sign up for alerts for reservation openings through MouseDining.com
Don’t panic or stress about not being able to get the reservations you want and be diligent about continually checking for openings in the weeks/days leading up to your stay. A lot of people cancel their reservation at the last minute because of many different circumstances and often times you’ll find a lot of times open up suddenly at the last moment. Back when Fastpass was still up. and running, it was the same story. Instead of stressing out about getting your fastpasses reserved two months before your trip, you could literally walk into the park with nothing planned and book several fastpasses the day of. If that’s your style at least!

SO, yes, Topolino’s is popular and can seem impossible to book but persistence and patience definitely pays off here as with any dining reservation. Keep in mind as well that characters do not appear at dinner here, only breakfast!

Allow Extra Time to Take In All the Details

We had heard too many wonderful things about Topolino’s not to let this character dining be the clear winner for us, soaring food reviews alone. Top that with some of the most stunning views of the park and the grandeur of the Riviera and I was sold! I was ready for what they cutely refer to as their, “Breakfast a la Art”.

We booked one of the earliest if not THE earliest reservation, so when we arrived we were the only ones in the lobby area. Before heading up to the top floor restaurant we walked around and admired all of the gorgeous details sprinkled throughout the halls and tucked away libraries and coves of the hotel. There is an absolute plethora of goodies to look at from photos of Walt and his days traveling the Riviera with his family, artifacts brought back from those places and lots of artwork that served as an inspiration to Walt as he created some of the classic fairytale based movies we know and love. If you are a Disney history buff and love to learn about all about the man behind the mouse, this hotel will definitely deliver for you. I highly recommend arriving early to your dining reservation to take a lap around and delve into the details if you aren’t staying here!

Mind the Dress Code

We noticed on Disney’s website that Topolino’s had a dress code, which evidently is the same for every signature/fine dining tier restaurant. To directly quote the guidelines:

“Guests are asked to adhere to the minimum dress code requirements at this Signature Dining experience. Dressier attire is also welcome. Please explore the minimum dress code requirements:

Men must wear khakis, slacks or dress shorts and collared shirts. Jeans may be worn if in good condition. Sport coats are optional.

Women must wear Capri pants, skirts, dresses or dress shorts. Jeans may be worn if in good condition.

Not permitted are tank tops, flip-flops, swimsuits, swimsuit cover-ups, hats for gentlemen, cut-offs, torn clothing and t-shirts with offensive language and/or graphics.”

We decided to take the safe route and dressed a little nicer (I mean, I needed some kind of excuse to put Jude in that button up that I packed. I mean COME. ON. 😍) But if you get all the way to Orlando and figure out that you didn’t pack church clothes for Disney, I wouldn’t worry too much. As I looked around us I saw plenty of graphic tee’s, flip flops and athletic gear (aka tourist chic) and there didn’t appear to be any sort of policing of people's appearance. However, still thought it was worth mentioning and passing along if you’re planning on eating here on your next trip!

How the Menu Works

Okay, for starters, the dining room is absolutely GORGEOUS. I mean, I’m not a girl that’s big on expensive, fancy things. But that chandelier?!! What even in the heck?! Stunning.

We were seated by the kindest, warmest, most friendly staff who were so accommodating to Jude and made sure we had what we needed for him. The menu is prix fixe style with these options for your breakfast: Quiche Gruyère with house-made pancetta, Sour Cream Waffle, Smoked Salmon, and a few other a la carte type selections. The meal starts out with a basket of pastries brought to your table along with some spreads to accompany them (honey butter, chocolate hazelnut spread and house-made jam). The pastry basket included two chocolate chip muffins (which are great for kids), a couple of croissants and two fruit filled pastries.

We decided to get crazy because hey, we were on vacation, and ordered ourselves an early morning breakfast cocktail. I’m not typically one to drink in the morning (I’m getting old and the alcohol makes me so tired and sluggish, caffeine ALWAYS). However, BOY am I glad I ordered a drink!!! They had a seasonal breakfast cocktail menu on the table and they reeled us in good. I forgot to take a picture of the menu but Brian ordered a breakfast Old Fashioned and I ordered the Espresso Martini. I’m not typically a martini girl but this might have been one of the most perfectly balanced drinks that I have ever tasted. Stoli Vanil Vodka, Espresso, Crème de Cacao and a drizzle of honey down the sides of the glass. Smooth and delicate, an absolute dream.

Each Table Has a Great View

While we waited or our food to come out, the real treat was served. The whole reason we came to the tip top of the Riviera to eat at Topolino’s…Mickey and friends!!! They began coming out one by one and of course the legend, the main mouse himself was first! I never thought I would be that mom, but you better believe that I went up to the hostess before we were seated, explained to her that it was my baby’s first time seeing characters and I asked if there was any way we could be seated at the best possible table for character interactions. Since we were literally the first family there that morning, I figured that it was definitely worth asking. She said, “I’ll see what I can do,” with a smile. Well folks, she delivered! The characters all came right by our table, right next to Jude bug (as close as they could with all of the covid modifications and restrictions).

I do want to point out that even though we got a table close to the center, as I sat and looked around, I noticed that almost all of the tables had a great view of the characters and the tables on the outer rim got an amazing view of the grounds and park icons on the horizon. So there’s really not a bad seat in the house in my honest opinion!

Painter Mickey, poet Minnie, sculptor Donald and ballerina Daisy (ummmmm where is GOOF?!) all come out individually with cute little introductions about every 15 minutes or so and then after they have all made their way around the room one by one they all come out together and performed a fun upbeat song as they rotated around the room and danced a choreographed routine. Jude LOVED it. He clapped and stared and pointed. My heart was absolutely about to BURST from that first sight of Mickey and how much joy it gave me to see my sweet boy lovin’ him some Mickey and friends!!! 😭

Next in the line up was the queen Minnie Mouse herself in poet form! Her dress was so beautiful and intricately detailed. They sell Riviera ears in the parks (and they used to in the restaurant) that are inspired by the same print of her dress!

Donald was next! My personal favorite and ended up being Jude’s favorite too! Jude thought it was so funny how Donald would turn around and shake his little feather booty at him 😂 the cutest!

And last but not least, Daisy made her way around serving some serious diva attitude and dance moves.

GET THE QUICHE!

For our entrees Brian ordered the quiche gruyère featuring house-made pancetta which comes with roasted potatoes and field greens with lemon vinaigrette. As a little tip, our waiter let us know that because the menu is fixed at $42 a person, you can order additional entrees if you are feeling extra hungry at no additional cost. So of course Brian wasn’t going to pass on trying a couple of different things! He ordered the wood fired butchers steak along with the quiche which features polenta, pomodoraccio tomatoes, roasted onions, wild mushroom conserva and watercress. I ordered the smoked salmon which comes with an everything bagel, tomato, red onion, cream cheese and capers served in a, “build your own bagel” sort of style. The salmon was delicious but in hindsight I would have definitely ordered Brian’s quiche. I had heard so many raving reviews about it that it kind of seemed like a staple of the breakfast there. And for good reason. It was rich, flakey and baked perfectly. Brian did let me try his though, what a giver!

Order as Much as You Want

Once we found out we could order additional food because it was covered under our fixed price we went ahead and ordered Jude a fruit plate and some Mickey waffles for him to try for the FIRST TIME. Oh man, what I wouldn’t give to be able to go back and try those magical waffles again for the first time. Yes, I teared up watching him take his first bite!

Take Advantage of the Rooftop Terrace

We took our time eating since we didn’t have park reservations for that day and honestly you’re paying quite a bit and getting a gorgeous view, so why rush? We were pretty surprised though by how many families quickly scarfed down their breakfast and hurried off most likely to get to the parks. We thoroughly enjoyed being able to relax and enjoy the experience with no plans for the rest of the day.

If you eat here you’ll definitely want to take advance of the rooftop terrace! After we were finished eating we headed out there to take in some of the sights. You can get some pretty awesome panoramic views of Tower of Terror with the very top spires of Batuu next it, the Tree of Life sitting right beside Everest and Epcot/Spaceship Earth (to the right of the frame of the pic below). The morning we were there they were actually doing tests for the new show Harmonious in Epcot’s World Showcase Lagoon so we got to see jets of water shooting into the sky and light projections from our breakfast table! The pink colored buildings with the bluish roofs you see in the pic below is Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.

Explore the Grounds

I know I was going on about the awesomeness inside of the Riviera but when you get done eating you should absolutely take a stroll around the grounds! Equally as gorgeous! The French inspired architecture and landscaping is to die for and my favorite, favorite part of the whole resort are these sweeping mosaic walls that they have on the path over to the Skyliner gondolas station. They are both panoramic scenes that stretch from one side of the tunnel and connect over to opposite side.There is a Tangled themed one where one side is her tower in the woods and the other side is the castle scene with the famous floating lanterns. The other mosaic is my personal favorite, a Peter Pan one, with one side starting in London at Big Ben and ends on the other side in Neverland and the Jolly Roger. There is also a pretty fountain in the middle. The whole area makes for some seriously great photo ops. Also, you never have to worry about who’s going to take your family photos in Disney. Most of the time someone will offer or will return the favor if you offer to take theirs. Disney people! They’re the best!

The Riviera has a gondola station so we took it over to Epcot and resort hopped around the Boardwalk (you can get a really awesome sneak peak at the new France pavilion expansion from the gondola ride over!). This was the first time we had really spent much time at the Boardwalk other than running through it during our RunDisney 10k (you can check out my post on that race here) so it was nice to take in the sights and check out the Boardwalk, Beach Club and Yacht Club.

Needless to say, we had an absolute dream of a last day of our trip with Jude bug for the first time. It was so so relaxing and laid back and really allowed us to take a deep breath and take it all in. I would definitely recommend Topolino’s to the highest degree: amazing food, gorgeous views and as always, a world class experience along with so much to offer from the resort on it’s own! You NEED to make Topolino’s part of your next trip itinerary if you haven’t been before! Here’s to hoping you’ll have as good of a time as Jude did meeting Mickey for the first time and having dreams of him all the way back home 😴

9 Tips to Make the Most of Topolino's Terrace - Riviera Resort