Cinderella's Royal Table without kids?

[GPC0321]

Okay, I want some advice. As stated in my introduction post in the welcome thread, I'm traveling to Disney with my parents who are now in their early 70's. They are very "young" 70's (my mother still works full time and my father has remodeled the kitchen and two bathrooms in their house all by himself over the past year). Still, this may be their last trip to Disney, and I want it to be the best it can possibly be. We have the deluxe dining plan and because of arrival and departure times on the first and last days of our trip, we will have some extra "credits" to play around with. So, I want to include at least one of the 2 credit meals while we are there.

In my head, I want our last night there to be as, well..."magical" as it can be. We're going to start our park visits with the opening celebration at Magic Kingdom, and I want to end our last day/night with the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. I would really like to have dinner in the MK that evening/night, and I've always wanted to do Cinderella's Royal Table (but we never did reservations or dining plans or any of that back when we've gone before).

Is it cool for a party of three adults without any kids in tow to eat there?

 

[ErinsMommy]

I'm personally not a huge fan of CRT as I feel it's very rushed - but if you all would enjoy it, go for it! Personally speaking I would try for BOG which has great atmosphere and only I dining credit and save the 2 credit meals for either a dinner show like Spirit of Aloha or hoop Dee Doo review or even a signature dining.

 

[deannaf87]

No one will think twice about a party of adults only eating at CRT, but for the sake of food quality have you thought about maybe doing Narcoosees or California Grill instead? It would be better food and a less rushed atmosphere.

 

[MarieLightning]

The first time I ate at Cinderella's Royal Table, it was me (23), my wife (19), my Aunt (60) and my Uncle (61). We definitely didn't feel out of place, or overlooked. All us girls got out magic wands, and my Uncle could have gotten a prince sword if he'd wanted, though he declined it. Princesses came around to us and although it's true they probably spend a bit less time with a group of adults than they do with a table that will have children, I still didn't feel like they were trying to get over and done with us quickly so that they could move on.

The food was definitely great as well, and both my wife and I are picky eaters.

There's just something to knowing you're eating inside the castle. It definitely does have that magical aspect, at least for us it did

 

[ForeverAlice]

When we were at CRT we saw several tables without children. I thought it as awesome!

 

[Alesia]

I find CRT to be pretty unmagical. The character interaction is rushed, the atmosphere is chaotic, and the food is mediocre (at best.) If you want magic, get an ADR at the California Grill in time to see the fireworks.

 

[GPC0321]

Okay, I'm going to have to check out the California Grill.
My original plan was to do BOG for dinner and then get to a spot to see the fireworks. And I wanted to use the extra meal credit on Fulton's Crab House at DTD.

Thanks for the input! I have worried about the princesses...bugging me, LOL, when I'm trying to eat. We're going to do breakfast at the Crystal Palace the first morning we're there. The Pooh characters are my faves.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I find CRT to be pretty unmagical

1) I agree.
. . . it seems rushed
. . . the food is not all that good for the price
. . . the character interaction is far better at other character meals
2) For a "magical trip", sure, go ahead and add a character meal somewhere, sometime DURING the vacation.
. . . we took our parents to WDW at the age of 88 (their age, not mine)
. . . as long as we walked semi-slow, the pace was fine with them
. . . w had one character meal, just so they could experience it, and one was ample according to them
. . . overall, a VERY fond memory of parents no longer with us

3) I would use a Signature Dining location for the farewell dinner.
4) No characters, but good service and nice food, something most adults favor.
5) I would recommend Artist Point (or Citricos, as a second choice), because both have relatively low noise levels.
. . . the eatery décors do a good job at sound-deadening
. . . they usually do not have a lot of nosy kids or unruly adults
. . . both have some unique menu items, especially at Artist Point

NOTE: For the opposite reason of picking Artist Point or Citricos, I would avoid Narcoossee's, California Grill, or-Flying Fish, as all are very noisy. Many adults feel this is not conducive to an tame adult meal.

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

Just my 2 cents here. If you are wanting to eat inside the castle go for it. You will not feel out of place. There will be other tables with adults only. I have a son, so we are not into the princess thing. We very nicely say hi and then let the princesses go on their way. They are at our table maybe 30 sec. I love eating inside the castle and it is a must do every trip. We have never felt rushed through dinner. I am wondering if it is because we always do a late dinner around 8:30 p.m.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Our last meal is always SOA. Love it or hate it's tradition. Maybe you should try one of the dinner shows instead.

 

[GPC0321]

Just my 2 cents here. If you are wanting to eat inside the castle go for it. You will not feel out of place. There will be other tables with adults only. I have a son, so we are not into the princess thing. We very nicely say hi and then let the princesses go on their way. They are at our table maybe 30 sec. I love eating inside the castle and it is a must do every trip. We have never felt rushed through dinner. I am wondering if it is because we always do a late dinner around 8:30 p.m.

See, if we did it, I'd want a fairly late dinner too so that we wouldn't have a lot of down time between dinner and the fireworks. And like you, eating inside the castle just seems like such a cool thing to do. This will be the Monday after Easter, by the way, we're going to be there over Easter weekend. Ahhh! So I'm going to have to figure this all out and make reservations as soon as possible (is it 180 days out that we can make reservations?).

I appreciate everyone's input so far. I'm still figuring it all out. I might crunch the numbers on our dining plan and see if we can swing two "2-credit" meals. We SHOULD be able to. I'm trying to get the dinner locations to coincide with the places we will be visiting, so eating at the other resorts isn't really appealing to me, though I understand the food is wonderful at some of the restaurants. We'll be spending most of our evening time in Downtown Disney, Magic Kingdom, or EPCOT, so those will be the places we'll likely want to have dinner. I already know I want to eat at La Hacienda de San Angel prior to (or during?) IllumiNations.

 

[quakechicago]

I totally agree with many people. If it is your dream, go for it, but if I didn't have a 4 yo I'd be RUNNING to a signature dining option.

 

[Alesia]

See, if we did it, I'd want a fairly late dinner too so that we wouldn't have a lot of down time between dinner and the fireworks. And like you, eating inside the castle just seems like such a cool thing to do. This will be the Monday after Easter, by the way, we're going to be there over Easter weekend. Ahhh! So I'm going to have to figure this all out and make reservations as soon as possible (is it 180 days out that we can make reservations?).

Make sure you allow 90 minutes for dinner. If you want to see Wishes, you'll need to make your ADR for about 2.5 hours before Wishes starts.

If you want CRT, you'll need to make that ADR as soon as your window opens - 6:00am, 180 days from check-in.

I already know I want to eat at La Hacienda de San Angel prior to (or during?) IllumiNations.

Just so you know, you cannot see IllumiNations from La Hacienda de San Angel.

 

[GPC0321]

Okay, I just watched a review and a couple other videos on Youtube, and it looks a little hectic and probably not worth the 2 credits. So I'm nixing that idea. Thanks guys!

 

[GPC0321]

Just so you know, you cannot see IllumiNations from La Hacienda de San Angel.

Really? In all the things I've read about it and reviews I've seen, they say it's a good place to watch IllumiNations from if you have a window seat. I wasn't really planning on watching it from the restaurant anyway, but thought eating there would be good prior to IllumiNations.

Since you cannot see IllumiNations from there, would the San Angel Inn be as good or better? I'm torn between the two. I *think* we ate at the San Angel Inn once when I was a kid, I know I've been on the boat ride, and I've always thought it was such a cool place. Plus, I love Mexican food.

 

[Alesia]

Really? In all the things I've read about it and reviews I've seen, they say it's a good place to watch IllumiNations from if you have a window seat. I wasn't really planning on watching it from the restaurant anyway, but thought eating there would be good prior to IllumiNations.

Since you cannot see IllumiNations from there, would the San Angel Inn be as good or better? I'm torn between the two. I *think* we ate at the San Angel Inn once when I was a kid, I know I've been on the boat ride, and I've always thought it was such a cool place. Plus, I love Mexican food.

Never mind, I was confusing it with San Angel Inn. Why do all of the Mexican Pavilion restaurants have similar names?

La Hacienda has some window seats. I would still rather watch IllumiNations from somewhere outside, though.

 

[JZCubed]

Okay, I want some advice. As stated in my introduction post in the welcome thread, I'm traveling to Disney with my parents who are now in their early 70's. They are very "young" 70's (my mother still works full time and my father has remodeled the kitchen and two bathrooms in their house all by himself over the past year). Still, this may be their last trip to Disney, and I want it to be the best it can possibly be. We have the deluxe dining plan and because of arrival and departure times on the first and last days of our trip, we will have some extra "credits" to play around with. So, I want to include at least one of the 2 credit meals while we are there.

In my head, I want our last night there to be as, well..."magical" as it can be. We're going to start our park visits with the opening celebration at Magic Kingdom, and I want to end our last day/night with the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. I would really like to have dinner in the MK that evening/night, and I've always wanted to do Cinderella's Royal Table (but we never did reservations or dining plans or any of that back when we've gone before).

Is it cool for a party of three adults without any kids in tow to eat there?

I'd rethink the DxDP.

Difficult to spend $110/day with 70+ year old eaters.

Be Our Guest is a lovely room for dinner and better value. Ask for the more intimate 'West Wing' upon arrival. You meet The Beast at dinner.

But to answer the question - I'm in the minority on this Thread, we like CRT.

 

[lwc]

We have had dinner at CRT twice and have had very enjoyable, "magical" experiences.

The food wasn't wonderful, but it was good. We are going for lunch this trip. (Because my HUSBAND feels it is a must do, and my soon to be 9 year old son wants to eat there on his birthday and we are having dinner at BOG that night. Yes my 7 year old daughter appreciates the supportive "princes" in her life.)

 

[lwc]

We love dxddp, FWIW.

We generally do several signatures and or dinner shows paired with late breakfast, brunch or early lunch.

Or, on long park days, an early breakfast, late lunch, late dinner.

 

[GPC0321]

I'd rethink the DxDP.

Difficult to spend $110/day with 70+ year old eaters.

Be Our Guest is a lovely room for dinner and better value. Ask for the more intimate 'West Wing' upon arrival. You meet The Beast at dinner.

But to answer the question - I'm in the minority on this Thread, we like CRT.

Thank you for posting this! I just ran the numbers and realized that you're exactly right! Downgrading from the deluxe plan will save us around $600, and even if we purchase breakfast OOP, we'll still be saving. I'm glad you brought my attention to it.

No CRT for us, though I really appreciate everyone's input! Now I'll be scoping out the best bang for our buck in quick service meals!