Ale and Compass Brunch at the Yacht Club Review

If there’s anything a runner needs after a half marathon, it’s a hearty meal! We went to the Ale and Compass brunch after the Wine and Dine Half, and it was the perfect place to indulge. The breakfasts buffet plus entree option offers a variety of choices and flavors for whatever you are in the mood for.

Location and Atmosphere

The Ale and Compass is located at the Yacht Club resort at Disney World. This is walking distance from the international gateway of Epcot. We were staying at the Swan and Dolphin for the race, so after freshening up, we walked here for brunch.

The Yacht and Beach Club are basically one hotel, although the Yacht Club is more nautical and formal and the Beach Club is more casual and whimsical. Ale and Compass follows this trend with the dining room being elegant and preppy. The navy color scheme is broken up with rope and other sailing decorations.

If you are looking for a more laid back, beachy vibe, Cape May Cafe offers a buffet next door that fits that style. Ironically though, you will spend a lot more for a buffet there, though it includes characters. Ale and Compass is a table service restaurant during lunch and dinner, but in the morning you can enjoy a breakfast buffet with your entree.

The Menu for the Ale and Compass Brunch

Breakfast is offered from 7:30 AM until 11 AM and is the only time that includes a buffet. However if you do not want buffet, you can simply order an entree that costs between $13 and $19. For only $23 you can get one of the entrees and access to the buffet of breakfast favorites. If you are getting one of the more expensive entrees, then it makes sense to just spend a few more dollars for the buffet.

The entrees are pretty much all normal breakfast meals with a twist. For a simple breakfast, you could have the Ham and Cheese Omelet or the American breakfast. However, the Blueberry-Bacon pancakes or the Dark Chocolate Cherry Waffles are a much more unique spin on a typical sweet meal.

The smoked pork eggs benedict, the tomato shrimp and grits and the poached egg skirt steak sandwich are much more my style. Ale and Compass does have a vegetarian protein bowl and an egg white omelet for non-meat eaters as well. The kitchen seemed very flexible so I’m sure you could remove or substitute ingredients to fit your dietary needs.

Ale and Compass Brunch Drinks

For brunch, Ale and Compass offers a few different cocktails. I went for the full Captain’s Bloody Mary as that seemed like the proper way to celebrate finishing my first half marathon. It was a spicy mix with lobster claw garnish. You can get it for $12 without the claw or $15 with. I love lobster though and think it is worth the three dollars for some succulent claw meat.

They also have mimosas made with fresh squeezed orange juice. The mimosas consist of sparkling wine instead of champagne, and orange juice. The one other cocktail on the Ale and Compass Brunch menu is the Aqua Fresca libation. This is made with wine, sparkling water and some strawberry and hibiscus flavors.

Ale and Compass also serves some smoothies, juice and a variety of Joffrey’s coffee. A non-alcoholic drink comes with the buffet price, but I can’t resist a Bloody Mary with brunch.

Buffet Offerings

If you decide to get an entree and the buffet, you can choose from a variety breakfast foods. It mainly consists of sweet sides and breakfast proteins. Biscuits and gravy is a popular offering as well which Andrew was excited about.

My favorite part was the charcuterie selection! Ale and Compass had Brie, Gouda and cheddar cheese along with ham, sopressatta, and capicola. The other hit for me was the smoked salmon complete with cream cheese, red onions, and capers. If you like these foods, the buffet will be extremely worth the cost.

For sweet sides there were all sorts of pastries like mini muffins, cinnamon rolls and strudels. Other bread options included croissants, Parker house rolls and cornbread. Finally there is a large selection of fruit and mini parfaits. It’s not the widest buffet spread in Disney World, but for an add on, it has what it needs.

I found everything to be very high quality, especially the meat and cheese. However, our one complaint was that the buffet kind of stopped being replenished after 10:30 when our reservation was. We had to ask for more of the cheese and they did finally add a little more, but it still wasn’t much. If you really want to make the buffet worth it, I would reconsider going at 10 AM just so you know everything will be available.

Ale and Compass Brunch Entree Reviews

As usual, it was my parents, Andrew and I and my sister dining and we almost all got different things. My sister and I both got the Eggs Benedict though because it is just the perfect brunch classic. This one had smoked pork loin and roast tomatoes in addition to the poached egg english muffin. It was very tasty, especially with the spiced herb hollandaise, but it wasn’t the best entree of the ones ordered. The Eggs Benedict also comes with a side of roast potatoes, which was half russet half, sweet potatoes. I felt this was kind of an odd combo. I just don’t find them to go together because then each bite is sweet and savory in an odd way.

The best entree was the Breakfast Flatbread that my Dad got. None of us finished our entrees because there was so much buffet food, so I had a small slice of this pizza and it was amazing! The flatbread toppings include fried eggs bacon, ham, and arugula in addition to a sharp provolone cheese. Not only was it delicious, but I found it to be a great compliment to the buffet, since you can’t get eggs or bacon from there.

Andrew ran the half marathon in an hour and thirty-five minutes so he was hungry for some protein. He decided to order the Breakfast Protein Bowl which is vegetarian and can be vegan. He got it with the tofu scramble, quinoa, sweet potatoes, chard and kale, tempeh sausage and carrot-ginger dressing. It also comes with a side of chocolate-avocado toast which was so enticing to Andrew. I’m glad to see Disney is putting such unique and healthy options and also glad that my husband chose it! He found everything to be extremely tasty except the tofu scramble. I tried it and it suffered the common tofu problem of being mushy. He would order the eggs or do without in the future, because it was plenty of food on its own!

Lastly, my mom got the blueberry-bacon pancakes which were also a hit. They actually had bacon pieces baked into the pancakes and this gave it a salty sweet flavor. I want to try this at home, because it made for a very fun breakfast entree.

Know Before You Go

Brunch at Ale and Compass is not perfect, but I think it comes pretty close. All the entrees were delicious and filling on their own, and the addition of the buffet adds some variety. All our entrees were around $15 so after the $3 cups of coffee you are $5 away from the brunch price. I recommend getting that so you can have a nice pastry, some fruit and some protein with your meal. A day at Disney requires a lot of energy so you might as well start if off with a filling brunch! Here’s a summary of what to know about Ale and Compass Brunch.

• This brunch is technically breakfast and is only offered from 7:30 AM to 11 AM daily. If you have a 10:45 reservation you can still get it, but the buffet runs out by 11:30
• The buffet doesn’t seem to be available for kids but I saw kids going up with their parents so I’m sure as long as a parent has it, they can get their child buffet food as well
• It’s located at the Yacht Club resort which is walking distance from Epcot, a long walk or boat from Hollywood Studios and a bus ride from anywhere else on property. You will have no problem parking at the hotel with a reservation
• Reservations can be made 180 days in advance, but probably only need to be made a week on advance. I would always recommend making a reservation at least a day beforehand. Keep in mind if you cancel on the day of, you will be have to pay $10 per person
• Seating is inside only
• You do not need a park ticket or hotel reservation to dine here

I’ve had breakfast all over Disney World and this is the best value you can find, and so tasty! I recommend going at 10 AM so you can make it brunch instead of early in the morning when you might not be as hungry. It would be ideal after rope dropping Epcot or Hollywood Studios for a couple of rides and then heading here to relax afterwards. Or you can just do a no-park Disney day and start it off with an excellent meal.

The Yacht and Beach Club Resorts are probably my favorite at Disney. Have you been to either of them?