Cinderella's Castle....isn't it popular any more?

[Moomduck1]

I always thought it was hard to get reservations at Cinderella's Castle. I decided to try for our trip in January, and I had plenty of choices. Then I called back later in the day and was even able to change times. Was I just lucky? Or have the crowds moved elsewhere?

 

[capeseal]

Just had the same thing happen for us earlier in the week! I was going to try to book the breakfast in Norway and then Cinderella's Castle popped up. Since I've tried unsuccessfully to book CRT the last two trips we went on, I decided to go for it. I can't wait to see DD's excitement when we walk into the castle for breakfast. DH was saying we must have picked a really dead time to travel to DW. I figured it was some sort of computer glitch until the entire booking went through

 

[RMAMom]

I think people prefer Akershus to CRT its a better value and there are more princesses.

 

[El Perro]

Having Akershus with princesses has made it easier to get CRT. We were able to book it about four months out for Feb of this year but even then there was only one time available. Make no mistake - CRT is still in extremely high demand. You just don't need to book it right at 180 days anymore.

IIRC the CRT used to only be breakfast and now there are princesses at every meal. That has also helped to distribute the demand more evenly.

 

[santadog]

I was able to book an 8:15 AM breakfast (park opens at 9) about 2 months out.
I've never eaten there before, so we're looking forward to it!

 

[Moomduck1]

We booked for dinner. It will be nice to see the princesses, but we want the experience of eating in the castle. We had breakfast there when DD was a little girl, but she doesn't really remember it. (I do though!!) She is 22 now and dying to eat there. Should be fun!

 

[Goofypop]

Of all the research I have been doing on Disney over the past few years I had no clue that they do a Prince/Princess of the Day ceremonies for the first kid of the day at CRT Breakfast. But we were the first family at the gate in the morning and when they let us in we walked right past all of the Mainstreet stuff and right to the castle. We were the first family and the CM was being pretty chatty but I didn't think much of it. Now, you need to know, our son is very shy and to him the princesses are very pretty and make him blush very badly! The CM brought out a sword for him and a sticker that said Prince of the Day (and they brought a wand out for my DD15). This was one of the coolest things to happen to us at WDW so far.

 

[westonkamom]

Maybe it has to do with all the negative reviews regarding the food??? We loved the Norway princess breakfasta and that one is only 1 credit, plus you get the free photo with Belle!

 

[Goofypop]

Maybe it has to do with all the negative reviews regarding the food??? We loved the Norway princess breakfasta and that one is only 1 credit, plus you get the free photo with Belle!

Yes, but at Norway you're not getting to eat in the castle either.

I don't understand all the negativity about the castle. For us, the food was great, and we had a ton of princesses some by the table.

 

[Pikezh638]

Yes, but at Norway you're not getting to eat in the castle either.

I don't understand all the negativity about the castle. For us, the food was great, and we had a ton of princesses some by the table.

We went last July for dinner, and we were inside during the firework show. The food was great, the service was amazing, the princesses came by our table and we had pictures with all four of them; Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, and Aurora. It was the first time I have been there and it was AMAZING. All the guys got CRT Swords, and all the girls got CRT wands, and every so often they would do a guest involvement thing where you are using the wand/sword.

PLUS you are in THE castle

 

[Goofypop]

PLUS you are in THE castle

Absolutely. We have dcone both but truly prefer CRT any day.

 

[cdgrill]

PLUS you are in THE castle

Also must agree here....CRT ALL the way! Such an incredible experience. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary there at dinner two years ago....LOVED IT.....my DH and DS (he was 9) both got the swords....I got a wand.....our waitress presented us with a large gift box....in honor of our anniversary, as a gift from the castle, we received beautiful etched, matching wine glasses....they also brought us a special dessert with a chocolate crown on top! It's my favorite place to eat. We have ADR again for this trip (Aug 21-Aug 26) and will again be there for our anniversary!! So excited!!

 

[cdgrill]

Make no mistake - CRT is still in extremely high demand. You just don't need to book it right at 180 days anymore.

This is very true....I noticed I was able to tweak my CRT ADR MANY times starting at the 180 mark, but as we got closer to our dates (Aug 21-26) there was not an available time to be had. We are very happy with our 8:30 dinner ADR!

 

[Goofypop]

We never messed with CRT until this past trip because we'd always heard that if you weren't up at 7am EST calling to book it at 180 days out then you weren't going to get in. Now, it is nowhere near that bad.

Do they do anything like the Prince/Princess of the Day at the Norway Breakfast? I don't remember it then but we also weren't quite the first ones there that day.

 

[anut4disney]

We are doing both. We are eating dinner at the castle (no characters) and breakfast in Norway (with characters).

We have eaten at the castle a couple of times but never Norway.

A little over 4 months to go and I am so excited.

 

[wysteria]

I thought it would be hard to get reservations there too over christmas, but got a time for dinner right away. We also booked norway as well, will do both.

We just really want to eat inside the castle

 

[mss]

We are doing both. We are eating dinner at the castle (no characters) and breakfast in Norway (with characters).

According to the WDW website, there are characters at the castle for dinner.

 

[cymbaldiva]

Yes, but at Norway you're not getting to eat in the castle either.

I don't understand all the negativity about the castle. For us, the food was great, and we had a ton of princesses some by the table.

For me the thrill of the eating in the Castle was done with the first visit - it was nice and I'm really glad we did it, but it's definitely nothing to rush back to.

I like to pick my restaurants for the food; unfortunately the Castle just isn't worth it as far as a dining experience.

 

[midge3426]

We use to love eating at the Castle. We never missed a visit, but when it got changed to a two ticket charge, the food went downhill. You are now receiving smaller portions and the food quality is not as good, The little floor show was okay, but it did not make the castle worth two tickets.

 

[capeseal]

When we priced it out of pocket, there wasn't a great difference in the cost per person compared to Norway (which we have done before) so we decided eating in the castle would be worth it this one time. If we were on DDP, I think we'd do the breakfast in Norway rather than use two dining credits on CRT. We really liked the Akershus breakfast, just think the thrill of castle dining for our 3.5 year old will make it worth the extra money. I really didn't think I'd be quite so excited to dine at CRT, but I feel like a kid myself, all giddy about our January breakfast. We decided it's the only character breakfast that we'll do this trip. I can't wait!