CRT or Epcot Princess Breakfast for 4 year old?

[KimK2006]

My friend is taking her family to WDW for the first time in May. Which would be better for her DD4 and why? She can't decide which to do. Is Cinderella the only princess at CRT? I know they have multiple princesses in Epcot.

 

[nhl66pens]

There are multiple princesses at CRT too. We did both. At CRT lunch, Cinderella, Jasmine, Aurora, and Snow White were there. At Akershus, Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, Snow White and Mulan were there. I think it varies each day though. The breakfast at Akershus is much less $$$ than the lunch at CRT.

 

[wishing4PA]

I don't know from experience which is "better".
I can tell you I caved and scheduled both.
We will be at WDW for a week. I was able to obtain a CRT reservation but it is on our next-to-last day.
So I kept my first day Norway princess ADR. I don't want to spend all week hunting down princesses and waiting in line not knowing for sure who we will see at our meal.
Since we'll see princesses the first day in Norway, we'll be done with those ladies and not have to wait in lines or chase them down the next couple of days! Whoever we see or see again at CRT will just be a bonus.

 

[wishing4PA]

Also ...
I told DD4 we'll be seeing princesses at Epcot the first day.

CRT will be a surprise.

Also, in case you aren't aware, CRT dinner is fairy godmother, not assorted princesses like lunch and breakfast.

 

[jackal]

We are on the dining plan and we always have done both for the last 3 years. Personally, I like Askerhaus better. They have multiple princesses at both. If you are paying for it without a dining plan, I would do Askerhaus. You get a picture with Belle in her yellow dress included in your meal. At CRT you get Cinderalla.

CRT is two credits on the plan, Askerhaus is one. CRT is much more if paying out of pocket. I feel you get the same interaction at both. Mulan and Mary Poppins have been known to show up at Askerhaus. Although, nothing beats eating in the Castle for the first time.

If money is not an issue, I would do CRT. If it is, Askerhaus is just as nice.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We took our almost 4 year old niece to the Norway breakfast and she loved the Princesses...over 2 years later she still talks about having breakfast with Ariel. We are taking her in 2 weeks and she doesnt know it yet but we are going back there for breakfast!!

 

[KimK2006]

What it the price difference in the two? (My friends are NOT on the dining plan.)

And, what is the difference in the food served? I remember from years back when I took my DD to Akerhaus, they served muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage family style, but I have never been to CRT.

 

[kristenz]

We've done both and I personally like Norway better for breakfast (not lunch - I'm not fond of Norwegian food - personal taste). We've done it a couple of times, the first being when my DD was 3. We've even seen Cinderella at Norway, but it's not guaranteed.

Pros to Norway:

• Price
• more princesses (generally 5)
• good food
• greated by Belle (when we went the photo package was extra, not included - not sure if that's changed)
• good location - still in a castle, but not THE castle

Pros to CRT:

• nice photo package included (photo of castle plus several of you w/ Cinderella) - 1-4 people = 1 photo package; 5-8 people = 2 photo packages; 9+ people = 3 photo packages (at least in my experience)
• greeted by Cinderella
• superb location, especially if you get a table by a window
• "princesses" get wands, "princes" get swords (although I could hve done without the sword - that disappeared right after we got home) - the wand is nice though

Depending on who their favorite princesses are you could go either way. If Cinderella isn't their favorite, I would highly recommend Norway. If Cinderella is the favorite, I would do the castle at least once. After that, we go to 1900 Park Fare for our Cinderella fix (there you see Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine and Anastasia & Drizella at dinner time. A lot busier and noisier, but still ok for a Cinderella fix and not the $$ of CRT.

Also, I've done CRT for both breakfast and dinenr - I would recommend breakfast over dinner. The food is excellent each time but dinner is just the Fairy Godmother and mice and not a lot of one-on-one interaction at the tables (at least we didn't seem to). Breakfast had other princesses and each one made sre to get to every table.

Hope this helps!

 

[wishing4PA]

What it the price difference in the two? (My friends are NOT on the dining plan.)

And, what is the difference in the food served? I remember from years back when I took my DD to Akerhaus, they served muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage family style, but I have never been to CRT.

Why not show your friend the menus from allears net?
As for prices, using lunch as an example, allears says: Adults $24.99; Children 3-9 $13.99
Special Holiday Pricing May Apply. I know I have about $122 (?) on my credit card already for CRT 2 adults, 1 kid (you have to pay up front when you make that reservation if not on the DP).

 

[KimK2006]

Why not show your friend the menus from allears net?

I don't know why I didn't think of that! I will send her the link right now. Thanks for all of your replies.

 

[GatorLady]

when we went the photo package was extra, not included - not sure if that's changed

Photo package is now included at Akershus.

 

[Joanna71985]

I've done both Norway and CRT, and I like CRT better.

 

[ms*mountaineer]

We did both for breakfast on our last trip. I liked Akershus better - the pace of the princess and wait staff was more relaxed. I felt rushed at CRT. Having said that - the food was good in both places, the photo package was nice in both places and we got to see the same number of princesses in each place.

CRT breakfast and lunch will have Cinderella in the lobby for the picture and then 4 more princesses will circulate the dining room. They can vary - no guarantee on who you will get. CRT dinner is Cinderella in the lobby for picture and the Fairy Godmother and mice will come out and do a short show (will not meet-n-greet table to table).

Akershus will have a greeter princess for the photo and 4 more princesses to circulate the dining room - this will happen at all 3 meals.

Our experience was this - my girls (DD5 and DD7) did not seem to get any extra "kick" out of actually being inside the castle. Once inside, both dining rooms look "royal" and both times the girls were excited to see all the princesses. I'm glad we did both. I supposed I would do CRT again if my girls really want to next time - but I will try to steer them to Akershus if I can. It's just about the same bang for the buck - and I enjoyed the meal more because of the pace.

 

[Wendy_in_Wonderland]

We're going to be doing both on our trip. We are on the DDP and are traveling with two girls who adore princesses! We knew from the get go that we were going to do CRT but once I started looking at menus, Akershus looked great, there's different food, and a chance of different princesses (My DD adores Mary Poppins so fingers crossed!)

 

[Suellen]

We always schedule both. We love the princesses in Norway for Breakfast and enjoy dinner at CRT!

At CRT Dinner there was ONLY Cinderella and she wasn't at the dinner... just in the entryway before going upstairs.

 

[divawife]

If she can have her do both, but as someone else reminded you-CRT dinner doesn't have any princesses visiting the tables only the Fairy Godmother with the mice (Cindy is always downstairs taking pics-breakfast, lunch and dinner but doesn't come up to visit tables not for any of the meals). The castle is beautiful inside, we did it once for lunch a very late lunch ADR at 2:45 pm just pre-dinner. The princesses were great, very nice and not rushed. However, we ate in the tier area above the main floor although we could see everything just fine (only 3 or 4 steps up) that is because we were in the last lunch group and they were beginning dinner in the main area below us. Even with the late lunch we had to wait almost a 1/2 hour to go upstairs.

We did Norway for a very early lunch at 11: 30 just as breakfast was ending-we sat on the side not the main dining area which was just fine. That is because the are cleaning up the end of breakfast in the main room while the first lunch people begin on the side room. The princesses again were not rushed and very sweet. We saw everyone except Mulan and Snow White. Even Cindy herself was at Norway. We like the ethnic Norwegian food but if they are plain or picky eaters go with breakfast.

Both have the pics included (1 set for party of 4 and 2 sets for 5 or more which means you can have more than one pose) They are great.

May I also suggest the 1900 Park Faire dinner at the Grand Floridian? You will meet Cinderella and her prince too. Plus the very, very funny stepsisters and kind of droll stepmother. It is a buffet

Suggest bringing the little girl's princess outfit, she can wear it all day or change into it. It will be so worth it.

 

[distherapy]

We have done both and I can't imagine what it would take to get DH back into Akershus. CRT was lovely and we had a relaxed meal and enjoyed the princesses and wand/sword. Akershus was unbelievably loud and cramped. CRT was the only request my 4yo son made for our upcoming trip.

The price difference is pretty big, though, so show your friend the menus and price differences - and there are plenty of pics on Dining Review threads if she wants to see them!

 

[ljcrochet]

I just ask my 3 1/2 year old twins who have done CRT for breakfast twice and the epcot one once. One said the castle. THe other said epcot but when we were at Disney she kept on asking when we were going to eat in the castle.

 

[chip007]

Keep in mind that a reservation at CRT is much harder to get.

We've gone the last two years to Norway with DD who is now 5. This is the first year I was able to get a reservation at CRT since we usually only book about 2 months before the trip. DD loved the lunches with the princesses, but she doesn't even know that it's possible to eat in the Castle.

This year there will be a special invitation from Cinderella on her bed the night before asking her to come for breakfast at the Castle. I expect she will flip.

 

[PrincessMomto2]

We did both on our last trip in August of 2007. CRT was my family's favorite of the two. We felt very rushed in Norway. It was packed and the princesses moved much more quickly. We felt more relaxed in the Castle (of course that was packed as well but somehow it just didn't seem as loud or busy).

We would reccomend breakfast at CRT hands down. I have a great pic of both my girls during the wishing ceremony which was very cute. We are going back in June and have already made our CRT reservations. We decided to skip Norway this time around.