Cinderella's Royal Table vs. Akershus

[VeronicaZS]

I am helping my aunt plan a trip in early December 2016. She wants to bring her daughter and 5 yr old granddaughter who is a big Disney princess fan. With 3 boys I can tell you all about the star wars options but am not up on all of the princess stuff. If you could only do 1 character meal which would you choose and would you do breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Thanks!

 

[Nancyg56]

Honestly, if the funds are available I would suggest CRT for lunch or dinner. But I really think that Akershus breakfast is pretty darn sweet. My girls seemed to enjoy that one better.

 

[gmboy95]

Akershus for girls for sure!!!!.....the cinderella thing is nice, but my kids LOVED Akershush

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Akershus is not all that much cheaper than CRT these days.

 

[crabbygal902]

We have only been to Akershus and we really enjoyed it. For a 5 year old princess fan though...I'd probably choose CRT. Eating a meal in a castle? In the MK? With princesses? That sounds pretty amazing. If on the dining plan, I'd choose dinner at both those locations to maximize your credits. If not, I'd choose breakfast for the least expensive OOP option and to get in early to the park.
I really don't think you could go wrong with either place. Both good choices.

 

[BuzzyBelle]

Akershus is not all that much cheaper than CRT these days.

Akershus is always promoted as the less expensive way to see the princesses, but I don't believe it includes tip like CRT does. Once you add in gratuity it isn't that much cheaper. I understand for those on the dining plan where it literally costs twice as much, but OOP I would pick the one that appealed to me more since the price difference ultimately isn't that much.
We have done breakfast at both and find the food slightly better at Akershus, but there is something very magical about eating in the castle.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Akershus is always promoted as the less expensive way to see the princesses, but I don't believe it includes tip like CRT does. Once you add in gratuity it isn't that much cheaper. I understand for those on the dining plan where it literally costs twice as much, but OOP I would pick the one that appealed to me more since the price difference ultimately isn't that much.
We have done breakfast at both and find the food slightly better at Akershus, but there is something very magical about eating in the castle.

Yep, exactly this. On DDP the extra credit may be a consideration.

But right now, Akershus breakfast is $47.93/$28.76, pre-tip. With a 15% tip (minimum), it's $55.12/$33.08. So, certainly, it is still $75ish/$44 for CRT breakfast. This isn't a rounding error of difference. But it also comes into other questions -- for instance, would they try to do BBB? That's either a hopper or a trip to Disney Springs to do that with Akershus, versus doing BBB and a meal at the castle after.

 

[RachaelA]

We've had 2 horrible dinners (food wise) at Akershus the past two years. We've had an awesome lunch and also a dinner at CRT. Princess interaction is similar, but my girls love the princess processional at Akershus (the past two years one of them has gotten to hold Aurora's hand during it) so that's the only real reason they convince me to keep going back.

If you do breakfast, I'm sure they are both pretty similar food wise.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Akershus is definitely an amazing breakfast...It has pretty much the same princesses as CRT except CRT you have Jasmine and Akershus you have Belle. Akershus is definitely the cheaper option, but if she has never been to Disney, is big on princesses then I would suggest CRT just for the ambiance of eating in the castle itself. I would also suggest Breakfast for both of these places as well...we ate CRT dinner last year but we weren't impressed with the food we got, we think we would of much rather had breakfast there. Anyways if you could swing CRT then I would go with that just bc you are eating in castle

 

[henry72]

Last time we did CRT for dinner (on DDP). The trip before we did Akershus for breakfast. If this is the first (and possibly) only time of going to WDW, then I would do CRT. However I will say that we did it once and weren't impressed enough to want to do it again. We will be going back to Akershus for breakfast in November.

 

[babesboo99]

I can't tell you about CRT have never been there before first time will be this fall. But I can tell you about Akershus we do breakfast there every time we go never miss it the princesses are wonderful and the food is great.

 

[Ladcassidy]

Highly recommend pre-park opening breakfast with the princesses at either CRT or Akershus. I think Akershus is the better choice right now, as an early breakfast could have the family primed for an early morning visit to the new Frozen ride and meet and greet.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

IMO, there is something special about eating in the castle. For that reason, I would choose CRT. To me, Akershus felt like just another character dining experience while CRT felt like visiting Cinderella. Does that make any sense?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

For the big wow, I would say do a PPO BBB appointment, then do lunch at CRT. Get a Princess Fairytale Hall FP+ for the time in between for Rapunzel, since she's not often at CRT.

Puddle of princess overload, right there.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We did dinner at both this trip and I would say they are pretty equivalent. The character interaction is about the same. CRT is obviously Cindy, Akershus is Belle for the picture. The guest princesses change but we've seen Jasmine at CRT twice so if any of those characters factor in go with what the girls like. Otherwise, as pp have said, go for the CRT castle ambiance. To me it's pretty amazing to eat in the castle. Food quality was similar although portions at Akershus were larger and CRT was a little tastier IMHO. You'll be good with either I think.

 

[MouseMama11]

I would choose CRT, simply because it's the castle and is very magical. They give each little girl a magic wand and a wishing star too which adds a special touch. The princesses are very interactive too.

But we have always loved Askershus!! We always go for breakfast and my girls love doing the parade around the restaurants with their favorite princesses! They used to give you a print of you and Belle that they take at the beginning as part of the meal price but they don't anymore which stinks. The reason why we started going to Askershus was because it was cheaper than CRT with the same princesses. Now they're about the same price so I would go with CRT

 

[tinkerbella16]

We did both for breakfast, and I must say - Akershus was a million times better than CRT. On the dining plan it is a better value, but we'd even pay out of pocket for it over CRT because we loved it so much. We were SO disappointed with CRT in November, and we won't go back. They rushed us through the entire meal. We couldn't enjoy the "castle experience" because we didn't have time to sit back and take it all in. We also didn't care for the food - very small portions and it didn't taste great, definitely not $60 great (I get that you are paying for the castle lol but jeez). The food at Akershus was great - lots of good options from the cold buffet and the hot foods they bring to the table are fresh and plentiful. We even got mickey waffles brought to us. The princess interactions were far better at Akershus.. not rushed and they do a cute princess parade with the kids around the restaurant. We loved meeting Belle in her yellow dress - they don't do the photo package that used to be included, but our own camera photos are just fine. I honestly wish I could say there was something special about eating the castle, but there wasn't for us - it felt like we were in and out so fast. A great castle experience is the Beasts Castle, now that is an experience.

We can't wait to go back to Akershus for breakfast in September. We have a PPO ADR. Love it there.

 

[Shanti]

Cinderella's Royal Table is much better, and I recommend dinner.

 

[Duckiedee]

For the big wow, I would say do a PPO BBB appointment, then do lunch at CRT. Get a Princess Fairytale Hall FP+ for the time in between for Rapunzel, since she's not often at CRT.

Puddle of princess overload, right there.

This is what we did when my DD was 5. It was perfect. I think we did a 9:30 or 10 a.m. appt at BBB and then had an early lunch right after at CRT. It truly was magical. I mean you are EATING IN THE CASTLE WITH THE PRINCESSES!!!!

That said, we are doing Akershus this time (and CRT again as we have the credits available) and are looking forward to it. We've been told by several people they felt it is the best breakfast buffet at Disney... we will see (considering we also are going for the newer Sunday Brunch at Cali Grill!)

 

[lsbarton]

We are going to WDW the week after Thanksgiving and plan to make breakfast ADR for Akershus so that we can also (hopefully) catch the new Frozen ride without too much of a line. Have never been to CRT before...may have to work that in too somewhere...