Bkfst @ Crystal Palace

[3Aumillers]

We are considering booking an ADR at the Crystal Palace for October. This will be a first family trip so we have lots of ??. For those that have been to the C.P. would you suggest getting an early or late reservation for bkfst. Is the food / character interaction the same at both?? We are looking for any advantages or disadvantages you can suggest.

Thanks

 

[momof2disprincesses]

We are considering booking an ADR at the Crystal Palace for October. This will be a first family trip so we have lots of ??. For those that have been to the C.P. would you suggest getting an early or late reservation for bkfst. Is the food / character interaction the same at both?? We are looking for any advantages or disadvantages you can suggest.

Thanks

We booked CP for breakfast on our first park day. We were lucky enough to get the first seating offered - 8:05am. That way, we can enter MK early, have Main St. almost all to ourselves and take pictures in front of the castle before we eat. PLUS, we should be done eating around park opening time at 9am. Of course, if you do this, make sure it is NOT on an EMH morning at MK, which would defeat the purpose of this.

 

[xterratri]

We did an 8:05 at CP last Thurs and it was the 'worst' meal of the trip. It wasn't bad but it just didn't meet the standards of the others for food quality and especially service. Chef Mickey's was better food and character interaction. Maybe it was because we were a party of adults or just caught them on a bad day. We did enjoy getting into the park and getting some pictures prior to opening. December, we'll try and get CRT at the request of my women's college attending, princess disliking sister rather than CP again. JMHO

BTW, we are DVC members with APs so we paid cash rather than using the Dining Plan so that can't be used as an excuse for the lack of service.

 

[dkrause716]

We did a late breakfast seating at CP last July and it worked out great for us. The food was wonderful, our server was very attentive and the characters where great too. I found this much nicer than Chef Mickeys. Last January we ate at CM and it was loking a little run down and the food was just OK. Be sure to ask for a smoothy to go at CP. You will love it!

 

[3Aumillers]

We did an 8:05 at CP last Thurs and it was the 'worst' meal of the trip. It wasn't bad but it just didn't meet the standards of the others for food quality and especially service. Chef Mickey's was better food and character interaction. Maybe it was because we were a party of adults or just caught them on a bad day. We did enjoy getting into the park and getting some pictures prior to opening. December, we'll try and get CRT at the request of my women's college attending, princess disliking sister rather than CP again. JMHO

BTW, we are DVC members with APs so we paid cash rather than using the Dining Plan so that can't be used as an excuse for the lack of service.

Sorry to hear that you did not have a good experience at CP. We gave our 3.5 yr old daughter the option of Bkfst with Cinderella or Dinner w/ Cinderella and she chose dinner so guess we will go with 1900 Park Fair for dinner and perhaps dinner at the castle just so we can say we ate there.

 

[xterratri]

We did lunch at the Castle on 5/29, our arrival day. We really liked dining there and liked getting into MK early so that's why we plan on trying breakfast. Hopefully we just caught CP on an off day. We've done Chef Mickey's twice in the last year and had good experiences both times. Maybe I just prefer hot Mickey waffles to cold Pooh ones.

 

[LadyLuc361]

We had lunch at CP last May and it did not go well. We had a PS and still had to wait 45 minutes. (which happens, but is not fun). The food was also just OK. However, I have heard better things about CP breakfast so we are trying it in August. We have a 8:05AM ADR. I am mostly looking forward to seeing main street without hoards of people. I also want to try the breakfast lasagna, which many people say is great!

 

[PoohGal05]

CP was my family's first character dining experience and we thought it was wonderful! We went on the EMH, went to Town Hall to find out where the restaurant was located, and went right there. We gave our names at the podium and within 5 minutes we were seated, early as a matter of fact. I think our ADR (formerly PS) was scheduled for 8:30, but we got in earlier than that. Our server was amazing! She took our drink orders and explained the direction the characters would come around to the tables. She also let us know if we wanted an omlet, if we wanted eggs made a certain way that weren't already on the buffet, to let the chef know and he would fix the food for us. Everything was all hot and fresh and the character interaction was AMAZING! Tigger played with us, two adults, as much as he did with the families! Some of our best pictures from this particular trip was from CP.

When we left the restaurant, my mom said, 'Chef Mickey's has a lot to live up to!' That was our next character dining and guess what? We didn't like it as well. But we tried it, based on other's recommendations.

When we were planning our trip for July, my mom asked me, 'Are we going to Crystal Palace?' The look in her eyes were that of a child! It was great!

42 days and counting for us!

 

[slp87]

We've eaten at CP twice before park opening and we love it! Like someone else said we always stop to take pics on Main Street and make sure to have a photog take our family pic in front of the castle. It's awesome to not have anyone else in the pic. As far as CP goes, we feel the food is very fresh and because the restaurant is still filling up, we get a little more attention from the characters. We ate another character breakfast at one of the last seatings and we will never do that again. When the food ran out it was not replenished. There was no fruit left!

 

[2BOYMOM]

We always eat breakfast at CP - it's our favorite place! We have two teen-age boys and they love it also. We normally eat a late breakfast (around 10:30am) so we can go at least 2 hours before my boys start begging to eat again! Just the way life is with two teen-age boys I guess....


Kim

 

[tinkerbell60]

We loved Crystal Palace!! We had a late breakfast but we had our PS on an EMH day which I would not recommend if you are eating later - we had to stop riding to make our reservation, by the time we were done MK was packed to the gills ( this was during Easter ). We loved the breakfast but regretted missing out on the time in the park when it had been less crowded.

 

[zoe69]

I have been to CP many times for the breakfast and LOVE it. The omlette chef is wonderful, and the rest of the buffet is good. I've been to CM, & 1900 PF, but CP is my fav as far as breakfast FOOD is concerned.

 

[philaround]

DW & I did a slightly later PS at CP in May. It was an EMH morning at the MK. We got in at 8AM and did a wholw bunch of stuff between 8 and 9AM and then went to CP for our 9:15 PS. Since it was just us 2 adults this time everything worked out great with this timing.
To get to your actual questions.
We have eaten at CP many times, with and without kids, and have always thought the food was quite good and have always had great interaction with Winnie & friends at whatever time we ate breakfast, lunch or dinner.

 

[rt2dz]

We've done both a late PS/ADR at CP that was beyond really bad for many reasons. And we've (recently) done an early PS?ADR for CP which was slightly bad to mediocre. I can say the nice thing about an early ADR is seeing main st. empty, but not worth the cost of the meal. I would suggest 1900 Park Fair at the GF if you just want to dine with Pooh. Pooh and friends are everywhere throughout WDW, so it's not like you'll miss them anyhow. The food at 1900 is much better, better character interaction, better service, & just as pretty as a restruant. Plus you get other characters. And MK is just a short monorail ride away.

 

[Merriwind]

Gosh, I hate to hear all of these bad experiences at CP of late. We have always liked it. It's probably not our very favorite character meal, but we've always had at least good food and service.

We have had breakfast both early and late there. Early pros are definitely getting into MK early, having Main St. to yourselves, getting a head start on your day. Late pros are less crowded, choice of b'fast and lunch foods if you time it right. I think (and hope) you'll enjoy it either way.

 

[SuzEm]

We enjoy breakfast and dinner at CP. For breakfast we always try to get either first seating on non-EMH day, or last seating on EMH day. The last seating on EMH day gives us plenty of time to do and see what we want that morning, then we relax with a great breakfast, then hop to another park to avoid the crowds that build later in the day at the EMH park.

 

[newholidayx2]

DS & I have an AR here for 805am early brkfst on a non-EMH day

also booked early lunch AR here same day in case we cant make it to MK from WL before MK opens

 

[Crazy Kanga]

We absolutely LOVE the Crystal Palace for breakfast. We have a 10:30 AR for an early EMH day. We can't wait!

 

[mill4023]

We did an 8:10 PS at CP on a non-EMH day. We were seated within 5 minutes and we all enjoyed the food and the character interaction. But we didn't get out of there until about 9:15, which defeated the purpose of trying to be in the park before the general public. Yes, we could have finished by 9:00, but we would have had to rush and I promised my wife we would relax and not rush during our vacation. I think one of the reasons it took longer was because we had small children who needed help getting food and we couldn't leave the kids alone at the table so my wife and I had to take turns going to the buffet. Plus, we spent some time waiting and not getting food because we were afraid we'd miss the characters. When all our kids are older, I might consider doing an early breakfast again, but until then, I'll stick with the latest breakfast time or just do a lunch PS instead.