Princess Storybook Dining

[BigTuna07]

We are dining on Saturday at Cinderella's Royal Table and Sunday at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Are these basically the same princesses? The only reason we are doing both is that Sunday is my daughter's 5th birthday and they were full at CRT. Should we keep both or drop ARBH? Thanks!!

 

[ccgirl]

We are dining on Saturday at Cinderella's Royal Table and Sunday at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Are these basically the same princesses? The only reason we are doing both is that Sunday is my daughter's 5th birthday and they were full at CRT. Should we keep both or drop ARBH? Thanks!!

Personally, I would keep it. ARBH is my favorite Princess meal. I love the character interaction. It is not the same Princesses. When we were at CRT it was Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother (and I think the stepsisters but can't remember for sure). We really hit the jackpot when we were at ARBH. We got Belle for our picture and also saw Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Ariel, and Aurora.

 

[DEA]

They have been pretty much the same princesses for the past couple of years. The one-on-one time (pictures and a little conversation) is with Cinderella at CRT and with Belle at Akershus, so that makes some difference.

In my opinion, Akershus beats CRT on price, food quality, and princess interaction. Of course, CRT is in the Castle. Location, location, location. If you can do both, I would say keep the special princess meal for your daughter's actual birthday.

Oh, and I would suggest you also make sure that both venues know (on the ADR) that you are there to celebrate your daughter's birthday. There is usually a little extra that they do for their birthday guests. No guarantees on that, but they won't know to do anything special unless you let them know that they have a birthday girl in attendance.

 

[whitney37354]

We had the exact same set of princesses when we went, but that's not always the case. We "bookended" our trip with CRT & Akershus breakfasts. The food was probably better at Akershus, atmopshere at both was good, character interaction better at CRT, but not bad at all at Akershus. I'd keep both of them.

 

[aubldr]

We were at Akershus on Sunday, and loved it. The initial photo shoot when you come in was with Belle, and we also had Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, and Ariel. Food was good; they had smoked salmon and I ate about a pound of that stuff. We did a breakfast in the castle a couple of years ago, and honestly don't feel that we missed anything by not doing that this time, as the setting is still really good. Personally, I would drop CRT and keep Akershus; it is cheaper (especially if you are on the dining plan), my daughter loved it, and it is a lot easier to get (we booked ours the night before.)

 

[BigTuna07]

Thank you all for the responses so far! I called Disney and they say they will be different princesses, but I keep reading that they are pretty much the same.

We were planning on just doing the CRT because we don't know when we will be back to Disney, but I won a bunch of money in some football pools I am in. I was going to get some tools, but decided to do the 2nd character dining instead! Do I get early votes for Dad of the Year?

I can't figure out how to just quote part of a statement so DEA when you say to let them know in the ADR of her birthday. Is that the section where they ask about special occasion or is it something more? I did fill it out to say what we are celebrating.

Also, we haven't told our kids (going to be 5 DD, 3 1/2 DD and 6 mo. DS) about the character dining! I just hope pictures will do justice to their surprise!!!

 

[ktschultz1]

We just did both last week and they were the same princesses. The only difference was who the initial photo was with and at CRT Belle wears her blue dress. I would bet you will have the same princesses at both locations. (We did Akershus 2 years ago and had the same cast then too) We gave the nod to CRT as being a bit better this time but if you consider the additional cost or extra TS credit I would say they are equal. You could also consider a different character meal - my 4.5 year old DD loved the other characters just as much as the princesses. We did Garden Grill at Epcot and she really enjoyed it - each time we have met Chip and Dale they have been very playful and she thinks that's great.

 

[DEA]

I can't figure out how to just quote part of a statement so DEA when you say to let them know in the ADR of her birthday. Is that the section where they ask about special occasion or is it something more? I did fill it out to say what we are celebrating.

Yup, that should take care of it. They should mention it when you check in for the ADR, at least.

 

[BigTuna07]

We just did both last week and they were the same princesses. The only difference was who the initial photo was with and at CRT Belle wears her blue dress. I would bet you will have the same princesses at both locations. (We did Akershus 2 years ago and had the same cast then too) We gave the nod to CRT as being a bit better this time but if you consider the additional cost or extra TS credit I would say they are equal. You could also consider a different character meal - my 4.5 year old DD loved the other characters just as much as the princesses. We did Garden Grill at Epcot and she really enjoyed it - each time we have met Chip and Dale they have been very playful and she thinks that's great.

I asked our girls if they would like to eat with Mickey or Chip n Dale and they both did not hesitate to say no. My oldest is much more timid than the 2nd one, and she was scared last year of most of characters. She did better by the end of the trip. The 2nd one didn't flinch at all if we held her and didn't need that either at the end.