Cinderella's Royal Table - is it worth it?

[PamperingPrincessSam]

My sister and I are planning an awesome Disney trip January/February 2018. We have reservations for breakfast at Be Our Guest. I know Cinderella's Royal Table is more expensive so we didn't make reservations...my question is, do you think it's worth the extra expense? It has been probably 10 years since I've been so I don't remember much about it. We do not have a dining plan because we will be bringing most of our own food.

Any thoughts are welcome and appreciated. Thank you!

 

[kellyarms20]

It's worth it in the sense that you have the opportunity to eat in the castle. The character interactions weren't better than Akershus. The only difference between Akershus and CRT is the photo with Belle vs Cinderella, respectively. I had a steak with shrimp which were good, but my potatoes tasted like Play Doh = inedible. The dessert and appetizer I had were ok. If eating in the castle is the main driver, go for it. If it's for the food, skip it. (I enjoy a hot dog at Casey's more ). If it's for the characters, go to Akershus if you can manage it unless Cinderella is a priority. The food there isn't a lot better, but the price is.
We won't eat there again, but I'm happy we had the one time experience of eating in the castle.

ETA: This is assuming you're eating dinner. I've not done breakfast at any of the castles.

 

[Stigsmom]

I would do breakfast there again. They have a plate of pastries as well as your main plate, so plenty to fuel your day.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I hate to be all negative but we went for the first and only time this past July (for lunch). One of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had at WDW - both service and food were terrible (and I have a high tolerance for both of those elements in real life and especially at WDW). The characters and setting are certainly the main draw... but we were otherwise unimpressed.

That being said, it’s still the “castle” at the end of the day - so it’ll always have a certain allure to it.

 

[Haley R]

We went last year for the first time just DH and I and we will be going back again next year. Next year we are taking our 9 yo niece and her mom for their first ever Disney trip. I definitely wouldn't be eating there again if it weren't for that. We did it once and felt done with it, but I really want my niece to experience it. We are using the dining plan so to me it's worth it, but I don't think I would pay out of pocket for it. We can easily use 2 TS meals because we fly in our first night at 5:30 pm so one TS meal won't get used that day anyway.

 

[PamperingPrincessSam]

Thanks, everyone!! I feel quite comfortable with our decision not to eat there. Meeting characters is fine, but we can do that other places without having to pay the high price for the "meh" food. I adore Be Our Guest and I know my sister will, too, so we will be more than content with that experience.

 

[KenHutch]

When my daughter was 5 it was totally worth it, at 17 if she needs a princess fix we do Akershus and the Boy Voyage Breakfast.

 

[mom2rtk]

When my daughter was 5 it was totally worth it, at 17 if she needs a princess fix we do Akershus and the Boy Voyage Breakfast.

I'm not letting my 17 year old daughter go to anything called a "Boy Voyage Breakfast."

 

[DisDreaming4116]

We did it in August and although I was happy with the service, food and character interaction, it was one and done for us although I'll probably be talked into doing it again by my girls. It is expensive and for the price point, you would hope for memorable food. But as all others have said, you are paying to eat in the castle, walk the spiral staircase (pretty neat actually) and meet the princesses.

 

[ajwolfe]

We ate dinner there on our last trip. Not going to lie, we loved it. It was our first meal on our first day, so there was all that to take in consideration and our first time in the castle. However, the food, character interaction (we have 2 boys) and the atmosphere made it worth it for us. Now would I do it again, not so sure because it is pricey. But glad we tried it once.

 

[mkla2015]

IMHO it’s not worth the price. After our last breakfast experience there, we won’t go back. Yes, being inside of the castle is great but we waited almost an hour to be seated, waiter was all over the place, characters were rushed, and the food definitely wasn’t worth it.

 

[DrunkJam]

We have it booked for our upcoming trip. Booked for my daughter who LOVES princesses, and I am not going to lie, all of us are looking forward to having eaten inside the actual castle. The food, well, there is stuff on the menu we all like, so, as long as we like it in real life, then we'll be happy to have been there. I t will have been worth it for us.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

Last time I had breakfast there (several years ago) we didn't like it. Dinner had always been better there.

I think it's much better than Akershus. If you want a princess meal I would say go for it.

 

[TeresaWen]

I just booked dinner on my birthday at Akershus!

This trip we are planning in March is for my birthday (it’s a divisible by 5 b’day - we make a big deal out of those). I want to do something different. Why not! ADRs available every night of our trip for Akershus. CRT - not so much.

I have an alert set up for it. If I found one there I will probably switch. In all my over 30 trips, we have never eaten in the castle.

 

[sanapp]

I would say it is it worth it to do it once. It is not a dining experience I would repeat. We had breakfast there with an 8:00 ADR (love pre park opening times). We were the first in the castle, so my daughter was announced as the princess of the day. I kind of felt bad as she was quite embarrassed, but also she was going through quite a tom boy phase at the time and looking around at all of the little ones dressed as a princess that would have like it so much more. We really enjoyed dining in the castle and the breakfast was okay. I prefer to go to Akershus for a Princess breakfast though. That is the only meal we would do at either location. I don't think I would ever pay OOP at CRT and not really worth doing 2 TS credits. We were on DlxDP when we had our CRT ADR, so really wasn't a big deal then. I am sure you will enjoy either one!

 

[elsbit]

We went for breakfast near Christmas time in 2015. At the time, my daughters were 7 and 4. I ordered the healthy breakfast. It was so bad I couldn't eat it. Hindsight, I should have returned it. I think my husband got steak, which was tough. I cannot remember what the girls got. Across the board, the food was less than stellar at breakfast. All the staff seemed very rushed, which also slightly negatively impacted the experience. It kind of felt like we were cattle being moved along for everything. I also felt the waiter did not care about giving good service because the tip was already automatically included. It was beautiful inside and I did enjoy that aspect. If you are not character driven (we are not so I am not sure if these characters are anywhere else), it isn't worth it.

 

[jillt2ph]

I have this same dilemma... I was able to score an ADR for breakfast just the other day for 12/10, but then I starting thinking about it. Is it still the one plate of food and that's it? I decided to enter a search for Akershus since I know I can have as much of the plain breakfast food as I want, and then have another credit left to book another meal. If I could get lunch at the castle I think I would prefer that...

First world problems, I know. Just trying to see if I can book enough ADRs to make it worthwhile to add DlxDP

 

[TulipMom]

Thanks, everyone!! I feel quite comfortable with our decision not to eat there. Meeting characters is fine, but we can do that other places without having to pay the high price for the "meh" food. I adore Be Our Guest and I know my sister will, too, so we will be more than content with that experience.

I think you've made a good choice. We've done it twice-- for breakfast in 2015 and a few weeks ago for lunch. This past time, we found character interactions were VERY rushed, even with an adorable 5yo Tinkerbell and a 7 yo boy in tow. We are always efficient guests with characters, but we felt like we had whiplash from how quick they were there and then gone. The breakfast meal was actually tasty in 2015. Our lunch meal a few weeks ago was not great. We are "minor foodies with appropriately lower expectations for Disney" and found the meal quite lacking. Though it's fun to be up in the castle, we probably won't return to CRT again.