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

[Gorechick]

I've eaten there several times, going back to when it was King Stefan's Banquet Hall. I've always enjoyed my meals there. The last few trips we did PPO breakfast, food was good, princess interaction pleasant and we had a great time.

 

[Shanti]

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.

Different-sized parties pay different amounts to eat at CRT, and different families have different emotions about meeting Disney princesses and getting to eat in Cinderella's Castle. For me, who usually travels in a party of 2 or 3 and loves the magic of Disney for myself & my child, it's been totally worth it to dine there the few times we've been. For someone who has visited WDW 24 times already & hasn't yet seen fit to go, & is focused on calculating the cost, it's likely going to be a waste of money for that person. Nothing wrong with either perspective, but that's what it's all about, perspective.

When people ask if such and such paid attraction is "worth it", my instinctive reaction is: If you really want to go, go. It will be worth it. If you don't really want to go, don't. It won't be worth it.

 

[bluezy]

We had dinner there last June. It was a "meh" for us. I'll admit that our kids are all adults/teens/tween and none of them have ever been overly crazy about meeting characters even when they were much younger. However, our oldest son and his wife have eaten at CRT on several trips and loved it, and I had it on my Disney Bucket List (albeit very low on the list), so we decided to try it last year...with all of our kids...so a total of 8 Disney adults. While we thought the food was good, it certainly wasn't $70 good. We put the food at about $35 good. And to us, the picture with Cinderella and the M&G with the other princesses wasn't worth $35 (we had already seen Cinderella and some of the other princesses at PFH earlier in the trip). And it sucked up about 2 hours of our time. We waited nearly 45 minutes after our ADR time until we were seated. I know that's not unusual, but it's frustrating to sit in that waiting area and see families come and go and we're still sitting there. We had requested that we all be at one table when we made the ADR and also when we checked in and we were willing to wait a little longer for that. But even after the 45 minute wait, we were seated at 2 different tables. And to add insult to injury, as we were being led to our table, we passed an empty table for 8 (or maybe 10) that remained empty the entire time we were eating. We asked about it as soon as we were seated but were told it wasn't available. So for us, it was a once and done. I'm glad we did it once so that we know that's it's not worth the price for us. I'd much rather spend that money on something else.

I will say there was one little "surprise" we really enjoyed...we finished dinner at about 9:55 p.m. By the time we were leaving the castle, the fireworks had just started so we couldn't leave the castle area. We were confined to the concourse area and the front "deck". It was a unique perspective of the fireworks -- we got some really neat pictures. But the coolest thing (to me) was standing there and looking down Main Street at all. those. people. I felt like they were all looking at us standing there at the front of the castle (I know they weren't. ) That's actually my favorite memory of that evening.

So...my advice would be that if the kids aren't asking to go there, spend your time and money somewhere that the whole family *does* want to be. If they've expressed an interest in going, then by all means, try it.

 

[melanielll]

Well - we went to Akershus. There were three princesses total. A really grumpy Belle at the front. Ariel and Snow White walked through the dining rooms. That was it. CRT has never not had 5 when we were there. I also found the food to be far superior at CRT. And the service was also much better at CRT. The oddest thing about CRT is that some of the plates are Fiesta Ware - not really royal.


Edited to add - I was quoting a post from a bit upthread that mentioned Akershus. The quote has vanished. Here's part of it...

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.

 

[bwbuddy5]

We were debating between CRT and Akershus for princesses too, but then realized using Touring Plans, that if we scheduled Akershus at 8am, we could do Frozen without a fastpass, knock off Test Track after a 20 minute wait, use our Tier 1 for Soarin', and it really opened up our touring. It even appears we can take a 3-4 hour break back at the resort in the afternoon, come back for a meal in the evening, and goof off in World Showcase until Illuminations.

Not to mention that CRT is 2 dining credits, Akershus is one.

 

[MoreTravels]

We saw Belle at the front, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, and even Cinderella at Akershus. The cast member changes so maybe on a slow day, they bring in less worker.

 

[SA mom]

I've been twice and both times were special. The first time, I was about 25 and my mom and I went with my sister and her family. I had never been in and remember being gobsmacked by the interior. The food was fine, but the atmosphere was the most amazing part.

The second time was with my own family. Our girls were 6.5 and one has autism. It was June and it was 98 degrees outside. It was a wonderful, relaxing lunch. The food was tasty (not amazing, but enjoyable) and the girls had a great time. That trip was magical in so many ways, but mainly because our daughter with autism was actually talking about the same things we were.

It's hard to say if it would be great for you, but I would say the food is secondary. The experience is the main course.

 

[holden]

We ate dinner there in June with our DDs 14 and 10. I wouldn't do it again. For the same amount of $ we really could have had an awesome meal elsewhere.

 

[HopperFan]

HIGHLY overpriced meal. Food not worth it, characters not worth it, service hit or miss .............

the only question is will sitting in the castle to eat make or break your trip? Only you can answer that.

We used to go each year if on the DDP or if just DS & I paying cash ............. haven't been in about 5+ years because doesn't even come close to the cost in value for us.

 

[hmcater]

To be honest, I would skip it. Your kids are a little older, so not at that age where meeting the Princesses is a big deal. When you take that away, your paying for sub par food to eat in the castle. There are many other things that you could enjoy spending that kind of money. The only take away that I got out of it, was that my littlest at the time was 5 and loved the princesses. Other than that, I never need to do it again.

 

[Nancyg56]

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.

I agree. I like the Castle, although I prefer lunch and dinner, but if I was ambivalent I would not book it.

When people ask if such and such paid attraction is "worth it", my instinctive reaction is: If you really want to go, go. It will be worth it. If you don't really want to go, don't. It won't be worth it.

I think that thee meals are very subjective, so I agree with the quotes poster. If you are looking for a reason to go, I would go elsewhere.

To be honest, I really think that a better value with awesome interaction is Akershus breakfast. I like to bring the kid to all the Castles, and Akershus is always a favorite Castle for them.

 

[wdw4rfam]

After 20+ trips ourselves, we finally tried it because it was on the bucket list. We were all totally disappointed. The service was ok, from where we were sitting, it really wasn't that great of atmosphere either. The food was ok, but honestly my steak was better at sci fi the night before, and there was a lot more of it. It cost almost double every other meal, and the experience or atmosphere that everyone says you are paying for, didn't make up for it. We also tried akershus, and we actually disliked the food, but we felt the atmosphere there as well as characters were better, and a lot less money. I still felt better leaving there even though I didn't like the food.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

We had dinner there last June. It was a "meh" for us. I'll admit that our kids are all adults/teens/tween and none of them have ever been overly crazy about meeting characters even when they were much younger. However, our oldest son and his wife have eaten at CRT on several trips and loved it, and I had it on my Disney Bucket List (albeit very low on the list), so we decided to try it last year...with all of our kids...so a total of 8 Disney adults. While we thought the food was good, it certainly wasn't $70 good. We put the food at about $35 good. And to us, the picture with Cinderella and the M&G with the other princesses wasn't worth $35 (we had already seen Cinderella and some of the other princesses at PFH earlier in the trip). And it sucked up about 2 hours of our time. We waited nearly 45 minutes after our ADR time until we were seated. I know that's not unusual, but it's frustrating to sit in that waiting area and see families come and go and we're still sitting there. We had requested that we all be at one table when we made the ADR and also when we checked in and we were willing to wait a little longer for that. But even after the 45 minute wait, we were seated at 2 different tables. And to add insult to injury, as we were being led to our table, we passed an empty table for 8 (or maybe 10) that remained empty the entire time we were eating. We asked about it as soon as we were seated but were told it wasn't available. So for us, it was a once and done. I'm glad we did it once so that we know that's it's not worth the price for us. I'd much rather spend that money on something else.

I will say there was one little "surprise" we really enjoyed...we finished dinner at about 9:55 p.m. By the time we were leaving the castle, the fireworks had just started so we couldn't leave the castle area. We were confined to the concourse area and the front "deck". It was a unique perspective of the fireworks -- we got some really neat pictures. But the coolest thing (to me) was standing there and looking down Main Street at all. those. people. I felt like they were all looking at us standing there at the front of the castle (I know they weren't. ) That's actually my favorite memory of that evening.

So...my advice would be that if the kids aren't asking to go there, spend your time and money somewhere that the whole family *does* want to be. If they've expressed an interest in going, then by all means, try it.

You say you had a "unique perspective" of the fireworks and make it sound pretty cool. How well were you able to see the projections and the fireworks being that close to the castle?

 

[melanielll]

About the fireworks - You don't see the projections, but the lower stuff is basically happening right outside of the window. We were in the castle in May during Happily Ever After. It was cool. Now - some kids were screaming and crying, but we thought it was fun.

 

[bwbuddy5]

btw, two weeks ago, the Disunplugged best and worst character meal podcast was posted, based on over 3000 guest responses. Neither of the princess meals made the top 5, but it sounded like Akershus was just bubbly under. I think the Top 5 worst character meal podcast is this week, will be interesting to see.

 

[Nancyg56]

You say you had a "unique perspective" of the fireworks and make it sound pretty cool. How well were you able to see the projections and the fireworks being that close to the castle?

You will not see the projections at all and your view of the fireworks will be limited to what is visible outside of your window. If you have not seen this new fireworks show, I would advise against having a meal in CRT timed for the show.

 

[DrunkJam]

WE are going next trip. Just because, DD is a princess nut, and, we've never eaten in the castle. We're on DXDP, so it's not a *bad* use, and even if the food is not all that, I am quite excited to be inside the castle! This does not do it for everyone. If you have no interest then it really is very expensive!

 

[Nancyg56]

WE are going next trip. Just because, DD is a princess nut, and, we've never eaten in the castle. We're on DXDP, so it's not a *bad* use, and even if the food is not all that, I am quite excited to be inside the castle! This does not do it for everyone. If you have no interest then it really is very expensive!

For a Princess fan this is NOT a waste of credits. I have not had a bad experience there, and think that the Castle is special. I also think that if your DD is a Princess fan, if you can get Akershus Breakfast you are in for a treat. There is a little overlap, but Belle in the foyer is pretty darn nice, and the Castle itself is impressive. Also, that breakfast is delicious!

 

[ErinsMommy]

other than dining in the castle, I don't find much else worth the cost. we go on the dining plan and usually have extra credits to burn so we just go for the view and castle.

 

[DrunkJam]

For a Princess fan this is NOT a waste of credits. I have not had a bad experience there, and think that the Castle is special. I also think that if your DD is a Princess fan, if you can get Akershus Breakfast you are in for a treat. There is a little overlap, but Belle in the foyer is pretty darn nice, and the Castle itself is impressive. Also, that breakfast is delicious!

We have CRT dinner one day, and Akershus Breakfast another day (AND 1900 park fare dinner yet another day. The Princess loving small girl is going to melt from joy!) I am glad to hear they are both worth doing!