Sunday Brunch: The Wave - Breakfast

19 August 2012

As my faithful readers know, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day containing my most favorite meals ever, and getting breakfast around Walt Disney World has been a little project and fun weekly activity for my friends and I. With the unique, yet Disney classic Tonga Toast at the quick service Captain Cook's to the hearty breakfast buffet at Fort Wilderness's Trail's End restaurant, Walt Disney World offers quite a variety of breakfast experiences. The bar was set higher once I discovered the wonders of the flavors of the American Breakfast at 'The Wave (of American Flavors)' at the Contemporary Resort. Opening in 2008, the Wave is a table service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Taking the spot of the former quick service restaurant and arcade, the Wave has a lot of space, holding the main dining room, a very contemporary wave inspired lobby/entryway, and a lounge.

The steelwork and lights evoke the shape and intensity of an actual wave. Image from http://www.contemporaryresort.net/Wave_Photo_Gallery.html

After the failed attempts and near impossibilities of trying to book a reservation with Chef Mickey and his culinary pals for my birthday breakfast last year, I stayed away from the Contemporary at breakfast time. I knew the Contempo Caf' next door to Chef Mickey's also served breakfast, though it was more akin to the quick service breakfasts available at all the resorts. My life changed in May 2012 when Hidden Mickey Monday Alex told me about getting breakfast at The Wave with her mother, who was staying at the resort. They had discovered that Chef Mickey was not the only one serving a breakfast buffet at the resort.

Though Mickey and Friends won't be joining you for breakfast, this buffet is filled with so many good foods it will make you forget about that mouse

The Wave features a regular a la carte menu with such American flavored entrees as Eggs Benedict, Classic Smoke Salmon, Multigrain Waffles, and their signature Sweet Potato Pancakes with Pecan-Honey butter. These items can be served to you as a single, meal portion entr'e, but the most exciting part is they are also available in the Breakfast Buffet. Most of the menu is also found on the buffet, including each of the aforementioned entrees.

Menu or guide to the buffet? At the Wave it is both!

The Garde Manger features cold items such as fresh fruit, vegetables, and even smoked Salmon

The Honeydew Melons are locally grown; using in season, local produce is best for the environment and for your health, truly a Contemporary concept of dining

Pastries!

Delicious spreads

An incredible bread sculpture display decorates the buffet

On top of the expected bacon, scrambled eggs, grits, and sausage, the buffet features some innovative twists on traditional American breakfast fare. A sausage gravy adds an additional level of savory to biscuits and gravy, though I didn't care for it too much. The Multigrain Waffles added a level of healthiness and the hearty flavor of the grains to an already favorite breakfast treat. Norwegian Smoked Salmon brought a little classiness to the Disney breakfast buffet. Though my favorite item is hands down the Sweet Potato Pancakes with Pecan-Honey butter. I've had pancakes, I've had sweet potatoes, I've had potato pancakes, but putting it all together is a heavenly breakfast treat with a whole new dimension of flavors for a pancake. The sweet and nutty Pecan Honey butter adds just the right amount of flavor to highlight the beauty of the sweet potato. No other words can describe the feast completed with Sweet Potato pancakes.

At almost $20 per person for the Wave's buffet, this is probably another one of the best deals for great dining at Walt Disney World. Not just because that is an incredibly reasonable price for a Disney all-you-care-to-eat buffet, but also because the Wave brings the breakfast buffet to a new level. As an adult, one does enjoy the simplicity of American junk food in the parks, but the quality and innovation in the traditional American breakfast found here definitely caters to the experienced palettes of adults and adventurous children. Upstairs at Chef Mickey's the characters are the star, with breakfast as merely the background purpose for dining with the characters. Downstairs at the Wave, the breakfast is full of character. If you still need your morning dose of Mickey, you're definitely find him here. This is Disney after all.