Cinderella's Royal Table.....HELP US !!!!!!

[Snakebyte]

My family and I have never eaten at Cinderella’s Royal Table and I’m not sure if we ever will. Reviews of this restaurant experience are mixed, some say it’s must go and some say you must not go. It’s hard to decide. My wife and I have two kids, my daughter is 13 and my son 10, and we have visited Walt Disney World twenty-four times. With all of the reading and all of the research done about this restaurant we still can’t come up with an answer of why we should go. Now currently the cost per person is $74.27 and we have the Tables in Wonderland card (save 20%) and I know you get a family portrait out of it, but still? Is eating in Cinderella’s Castle, having five different meet and greets with princesses, a family portrait, average food, and from what I understand just okay service a reason for paying $306.61. Now I’m not ignorant to the fact where people say that the reaction from your kids is just too precious and too memorable to pass up at any cost, but that can’t be the main reason to go. Please help me figure out why my family and I should go to Cinderella’s Royal Table.

 

[Gophers]

I would tell you that your going to pay a lot for most of the character m&g events but getting the picture with Cinderella with your family is nice and the eating area is nice. Meeting the princesses is cool but they do not stay for a long time. The breakfast food was nothing special but we didnt go for the food. We wanted the experience and it was worth it for us. We got some great pictures of the kids with the princesses and the inside of the castle. Going again with my wife for Dinner this time around. In the end it's really up to what you want to do. We spend $$$$ on the trip and I'm sure you will too. It's what experiences do you want to see.

 

[melanielll]

It depends on how much you like paying for experiences. Have you ever done a dessert party? I doubt anyone at these eats $80 in sweets, but a lot of people feel it is worth it. Same with the Christmas party and a lot of the add-ons that Disney sells now.

To address CRT specifically, I had been to Disney World well over 20 times before we went to CRT. My husband had been almost the same number of times. He is notoriously cheap about some things and balked at the price. Initially, he was not on the reservation. I asked him repeatedly over the 6 months before the trip if he wanted me to add him. He always gave a very strong no. Then - driving to Florida - he suddenly wants to go. I checked the app - can't be added. I called - can't be added. When we got there - I went to guest services - they added him. We went for breakfast. He loved it. Said he couldn't believe we had never done it before. At his request, we went back for dinner on our next trip. We have a breakfast scheduled there on Christmas morning and will be eating in the castle at midnight on New Year's Eve this year.

There is something to eating in the castle. Whether of not it is worth the cost to you - you probably won't know until you try it. We didn't do it when we were younger because money was tight. I don't think it's worth doing if you are going to feel the money being taken from somewhere else. But - if you have been to Disney 24 times, you either aren't hurting financially or have more credit card debt than I care to think about. If it's the former, I say you should go.

 

[Mal6586]

As someone who went and did not really love the experience, I will say it was still a Disney bucket list item, and I don't regret going or spending the money. Did I love it? No, but I would have always wondered what it was like if I didn't go. Looking back on it, I do wish we had done breakfast instead of dinner. I think we would have enjoyed the menu a bit better, but that's just our personal preferences.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

For us, there was something magical about eating in the castle. It is one of the few memories DD has from our first trip. That said, it isn't something we need to do over and over, and it wouldn't have been as special to us if the fireworks hadn't started up in the middle of our meal. It was a beautiful night. I also remember talking with friends on a high school trip about how cool it would be to eat in the castle, so it was a fulfillment of that for me, too.

In your case, the kids are a little older, and it doesn't sound like anyone is particularly excited to eat in the castle. I'd spend the money on something better suited to your crew.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

For us, it was once-and-done and I only did it because I wanted to see the inside of the castle. If that's something that's on your bucket list, sure, I would go. But I would probably do breakfast (which would turn out to be about $50 per person with your TIW card). Is the food worth $50? Absolutely not. It's all about the castle. If you don't feel an overwhelming need to do this, you really don't have to!

 

[melanielll]

I will add that I thought the breakfast was fantastic. One of us got the breakfast assortment, one got the caramel apple french toast and one got the cheese grits with shrimp. We all share so everyone got to try everything. They are also very good about substitutions. My daughter wanted a Mickey waffle - they put a plate of them on the side of her meal. On another trip, my other daughter wanted the grits without the runny egg on top. They volunteered to add a side of scrambled eggs. When we went for dinner, one of our party was not feeling that great - they prepared her a generous plate of simpler foods - all variations of things on the menu - but without a lot of the purees, etc. Also - CRT and Ca Grill have the best wait staff that we have encountered on property.

 

[MinniesYooHoo]

We have been several times. Although I do agree that there is something very special about eating in the castle, people also need to feel as if they're getting their money's worth, myself included. We've only had dinner. I just cannot justify spending $200+ for scrambled eggs and bacon. Dinner is a better value for us so we stick to that. But you know the old saying: To each their own!

 

[robl45]

Maybe breakfast is worth it, but I wouldn't go again for dinner. Frankly its just too expensive. We went twice, second time because my wife wanted to go again. My DD who is 6 liked it, but nothing that was overwhelming that we needed to do again and no one really cared for the food honestly. The filet was decent but its decent at Chef's de france for half the price. They don't even have french fries. We used to eat at the castle years back before they turned it into character dining at dinner time and frankly it was somewhat reasonable and fun. Now its just overpriced for what you get.

 

[DeterminedOne]

My first thought was "do it", but then I read the part about $306. Lol! I tend to be a cheapskate that way, though. BUT, I'm sure this vacation is costing an arm and a leg anyway, so why not. This is one of the reasons I love the DxDP/packages. So many things I would have never done if paying out of pocket at the time of service. Like parasailing. Would have never done it, but I am so glad we did. The view up there is downright incredible! I say DO IT! We are a party of two adults. My husband was convinced he wouldn't like it because of the princess theme. Wrong!

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

I think the experience of eating in the castle is wonderful. We went for dinner our first year that we went to Disney! We have only went that one time but I would definitely do it again!

 

[Allie B]

We went and used dining credits. It was a memorable experience with our then 5 year old daughter. Can't say I would have forked out $300 just to do it though.

 

[allsaintsatx]

It doesn't sound from the post that you really want to do it? Every reservation I've ever had that I kinda sorta wanted to do but didn't really care about too much I ended up canceling! We really wanted to do CRT, and we thought it was incredible! The ambiance is almost surreal, the food was great, the character interaction was stellar, we even saw fireworks through the windows. It was as close to a "magical" evening as one can get! But if you're not down for it don't do it. We've had pretty magical experiences at Cosmic Ray's too!

 

[mousehockey37]

My family and I have never eaten at Cinderella’s Royal Table and I’m not sure if we ever will. Reviews of this restaurant experience are mixed, some say it’s must go and some say you must not go. It’s hard to decide. My wife and I have two kids, my daughter is 13 and my son 10, and we have visited Walt Disney World twenty-four times. With all of the reading and all of the research done about this restaurant we still can’t come up with an answer of why we should go. Now currently the cost per person is $74.27 and we have the Tables in Wonderland card (save 20%) and I know you get a family portrait out of it, but still? Is eating in Cinderella’s Castle, having five different meet and greets with princesses, a family portrait, average food, and from what I understand just okay service a reason for paying $306.61. Now I’m not ignorant to the fact where people say that the reaction from your kids is just too precious and too memorable to pass up at any cost, but that can’t be the main reason to go. Please help me figure out why my family and I should go to Cinderella’s Royal Table.

If you can't figure out a reason to go, then there's no reason to go. There's nothing anyone should say that should change your mind. You figured it out to be over $300 for the meal and you have no quantifiable reason to spend it. So don't.

 

[pjhootch]

Clearly you've been to Disney enough times to know what you like. If you have never felt the desire to eat in the castle, then you definitely should not throw $300 at it. We did it years ago when our kids were about 11. Cinderella came around and talked with the kids and made my son blush. It was cute. It was expensive. It was so long ago but I think it was $30 each or $35. We enjoyed it even though it was an impulse meal over Thanksgiving and we got lucky getting a reservation when we arrived at the park that morning. But there is no reason to try it without really wanting to spend that much money.

 

[bwbuddy5]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/poll-cinderellas-royal-table-vs-norways-akershus.3620276/

 

[scard192]

we did it once when the kids in our group were 3,7,9. we had FD and arrived late so did not use our TS credit that first day so using 2 for CRT did not short us any credits.was worth doing once, but not sure I would pay OOP, plus our kids are older now.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I can't tell you what we ate, but I can tell you I remember eating in the castle as a kid (many, many years ago - think I was younger than your kids at the time). Do your kids have any opinion? I don't think there's any reason to "force it" - plenty of other opportunities to make memories. As you say, by all accounts not a culinary event but more experience-based. Yet if no one asking for it, probably better ways to spend $300. Have fun!! Love to see other families who enjoy repeat visits to WDW!

 

[IrishNYC]

With kids that age, unless they're really, REALLY wanting to eat there, I would not bother.

 

[MoreTravels]

I think it is over rated. We have been there a couple of times, often on Deluxe Dining plan so we need to find signature restaurant to use up 2 credits per meal. Let me tell you, it looks nice from OUTSIDE but it's just unimpressive from the INSIDE. You have this small dining room that does not look like a royal dining room at all. It looks more like a church... they give you this cheap princess wand made of plastic and a "wishing star" from acrylic... and they are supposed to make you feel special. They have less princesses than Akershus Epcot. If your daughter is really into princesses, I would recommend going to Akershus Epcot instead. In addition to all or most princesses, you get adult food like smoke salmon and peeled shrimps... And let me tell you, once you step inside Akershus, you will not really be able to tell the difference with Cinderella Royal Table dining room.