Akershus at Epcot:
When we arrived at the Epcot entrance, we were checked off the guest list for the character dining reservations and entered into a mostly deserted park. (Talk about feeling special!)
Deserted park:
It was an odd feeling walking through the park and stopping to take photos with no one around. We made it to Norway well ahead of our 8:40am reservation, checked in, and were told we would have a brief wait before we were seated.
Princess poses:
After a few minutes we were called to join the short line to have our photo taken with
drum roll please
.. Cinderella! We posed like a princess with Cindy and then were escorted to the finest table for two in the joint.
In actuality, I really, really liked this dining experience. I had thought about cancelling this dining reservation since it was so expensive for a breakfast. Knowing that it is a character experience didnt temper my hesitation since I dont have a little princess to dress up and participate in the princess promenade. Im very glad that I did not cancel and the expense was an after thought since I would still go back and enjoy this again.
Our server, Joergen, was attentive and did a fine job. We were shown the cold buffet area and our drink orders were filled. The plate of hot food arrived shortly. There were plenty of very American choices at the cold buffet I skipped anything that came from the sea (herring and salmon) only because Im not a fan of fish anyway. I started with the fresh fruit and some danishes. They also had bagels, muffins, croissants, yogurt with various toppings, cheeses and sliced deli meats.
Note: Sorry the food pictures are so small. I uploaded them too small and now when I go to resize them the resolution gets messed up. At least you will have an idea with these "thumbnail" size photos.
"Cold buffet" items:
The hot platter of food contained scrambled eggs cooked to perfection, some wonderfully good (and Im sure hardly any calories) cheesy potatoes, and some bacon & sausage. My plate was heavy on the potatoes, light on the bacon, and just right on the eggs.
Family platter of hot items:
My "hot items plate"
My fruit and danishes plate:
Thank goodness for my attentive daughter who noticed that there were Mickey waffles served at some tables. I was so busy digging into my food that I didnt even realize that you could ask for them. The one food item that you will see repeated in my breakfast dining reviews Mickey waffles! I LOVE those things! So I flagged Joergen down and begged for some Mickey waffles (well, in reality, I did ask nicely even if he heard some desperation in my voice.)
He served the waffles on a separate platter and said those magical words you can have as many as you want, just let me know. Even though I only ate two, if I could have boxed and taken some home with me I would have.
I mentioned that this was a character dining experience and I believe that the princesses rotate. This particular day, we were graced with Ariel and Snow White. Every 20-30 minutes or so they have a little parade with the princesses the princess procession. It was adorable to watch the little ones grab hands and follow-the-leader through the restaurant while they play some song about princes and princesses and wishing wells and I think they mentioned a dragon too!
Between parades the princesses visited the tables - we took photos with Ariel and Snow White.
I loved the enchanting décor which replicated a storybook castle. It had soaring ceilings, bold colored banners hanging from the cross beams and large cathedral windows with rich wood accents throughout.
Thoroughly satisfied with our dining experience, we were presented with our package of the photos that were taken when we entered the restaurant, paid our bill ($68.20 with TIW discount) and prepared to leave.
But wait!!! There was Belle greeting the guests and posing for photos. They had swapped out Cinderella for Belle. Im not prejudiced against blondes but I do prefer women who fall for the bad boys so I really wanted photos with Belle. I took a photo of Belle from afar (because I would never intrude on anyones photo op) and a very intuitive cast member told me that they would be happy to take our photo with Belle. How very nice!
Final analysis on this one...I loved the food, the service was great, the princess interaction was perfect, and the photo package maked it a sweeter deal. I would love to eat here again and relive the entire experience. It was worth the $30+ in my opinion.
Next Up: Chefs de France. Interesting waiter story with this one... stay tuned!