CRT vs. 1900 Park Fare, dinner on DDP

[Camps]

Hi All,

I am finalizing our trip for January 13 and am stumped on this... hope someone with experience can help me. (Keep in mind, we have never been to WDW, and are going with me, DH, and 2 DDS - - ages 3 & 6.)

We are on the DDP and have ADRs for:

Day 1: No plans, kids will be wiped from very early flight... play it by ear
Day 2: The Crystal Palace - - Bkfst (8:10 AM, pre-rope drop)
Day 3: CRT vs. Park Fare for dinner
Day 4: Chef Mickey's - - Dinner @ 5:15 PM
Day 5: Tusker House - - Bkfst @ 9:05 AM
Day 6: Akershus - - Bkfst @ 8:10 AM

So... I know this is heavy on character meals, but I think that having never been there, and havign young kids, that this is something that they will really enjoy. And it will break up the day and give us a chance to sit for a bit. (And in 2 of the cases it gets us in the parks before they open... no mad rush.)

My main question is about CRT. I know that this takes 2 TS credits, and that there is not necessarily "value" in it... but it is the palace, right? And we've never been there before. Should we skip it, since we are doing Akershus anyway, or is it worth it to be in the castle?

Any experts out there? TIA!

 

[TDC Nala]

How many nights are you staying?

If you are staying 5 nights you won't have enough credits to do CRT on the plan.

 

[Camps]

We are staying 6 nights so we'll have enough credits, but will have to pay oop for a meal that first night, or just split some CS meals (which is my current plan).

 

[pigletforever]

Do you already have a ADR for CRT? I think that would be a good thing to know. If you don't it may be hard to get one at this late date and that would settle your dilemma pretty quick

 

[EvilQueenT]

i think you'll have a good experience either way you go. i think eating inside the castle at crt is a must do at least once in a life time. a variety of princesses come to your table one at at time. they're very sweet and you get pics with a variety of princesses so for those two reasons i like it. on the other hand at 1900 park fare you have the cast of cinderella. cindy and her prince are the sweet/quiet like you'd expect but the step sisters are HYSTERICAL. i don't love a buffet but they have a good variety to choose from. you loose the castle effect by eating here but it was more entertaining/fun in my opinion.

 

[kydisneymom]

We did CRT our first trip because I thought we had to! While it was fine, you get the same princess experience if not better at Akershus. No it's not the castle, but a great experience nonetheless. We did 1900 the last time and it was excellent. All the characters really get into the kids and carry on with them. It was a great surprise. It looks like your dining has covered it all, I would leave off CRT.

 

[Camps]

Thanks for your input!

We do have CRT reservations currently. They are for a 7 PM dinner on our second official night.

Hmmmmmm... I think that since it's our first time, and likely our last, I'll keep them. It is the castle, and our girls will probably love it. But it is also going through some kind of refurb and some windows will be blocked.

 

[bigal'sdaughter]

Hi! We are doing CRT at the end of Jan too!
Last time we did Park Fare - mainly because DD was only 2.5 and we booked later and we could not get a good time for her at CRT. So we are doing it this time (surprise birthday gift!)
We had the worst wait of our entire trip at PF -45 min and very late by the time we were sat and the food was just so-so... But the character interaction was the BEST of our entire trip. DD LOVED the Lady Tremaine. All of the characters were excellent...
So honestly since you do have Norway - I feel that either way you can't go wrong.
- We are going to do a lot of character meals too... We like TS and we feel that waiting for characters with an antsy almost walking baby this time may be tough!

 

[DadwhoLOVESDisney]

Sounds like you might already have decided to keep the castle. Just in case, here's a link to our trip report where we visited 1900 Park Fare.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2600854&page=3

We went to Norway for the princesses on a previous trip. Nice princess experience, but the kids didn't eat the food. I like trying new things -- but I didn't care much for the buffet...

Good luck --

 

[Camps]

Thanks again! Wow, terrible that you had such a wait at PF. I hope that we don't encounter long waits, but I'm sure we will

Yes, so Cinderella's castle it is. Probably not worht 2 TS, but... at these ages I think that they will LOVE eating in a castle, maybe more than seeing princesses

I really, really appreciate hearing from people who have BTDT. Thanks again so much.

 

[mortimor]

We enjoy the Tusker House during lunch with the seating for the Nemo show. We have found it works great and allows us more time to sight see, rides etc. We also love the character meals, but try to get them late morning so we can get on the rides at opening. We have never had any luck getting reservations at opening.

 

[Camps]

I think that I got fairly lucky because I was able to grab an early morning reservation for The Crystal Palace so we can enter before the park opens. And I think that we can enter Epcot before opening also because our reservation is for 8:10 AM and the park opens at 8... but that's it.

 

[2Tiggies]

Probably not worht 2 TS, but... at these ages I think that they will LOVE eating in a castle, maybe more than seeing princesses

Your decision makes sense to me. CRT used to be a lot harder to get a reservation and I never managed to snag one on previous trips. This year my DD was 8 and not really into the princesses. It was a surprise trip so I didn't consult her first, but didn't book it. I offered it for next year's trip and she wasn't interested - wants to do PF instead. The point I am making is that the novelty of eating in the castly may (or may not) wear off. You never know. So yes, eat there while you know that their enjoyment makes it worth 2 credits. I couldn't bring myself to do it now, knowing that my daughter could care less either way.

Hopy you have a wonderful experience.

 

[rjvose17]

Im gonna keep this short and sweet.

We just got home today, we did both Akershus and CRT this trip on the dining plan. Glad we did it because we wouldn't ever want to do this out of pocket. We went last May and went to 1900 PF and enjoyed our time and found it was worth the time and money as character dinners go. With that said we were so disapointed in CRT. The princesses were fine, but the food was not good and it wasn't all that magical. I dont know I was more excited than my girls 4 and 7 and they liked it but were way more excited to interact with the step sisters at 1900. They had a lot of fun with them. Also we seen the same princesses at Akershus. The food was better at Akershus, not a whole ton better but some. After eating at all three places, if I were to do a character dinner again (we have also done hollywood and dine) I would do 1900 over all in a heart beat. None of the food is going to be great like the other posters have said but in my honest opinon it was the most bang for our buck when we had to actually pay for it. Im glad that we tried the others to say we have done them but will not ever be doing them ever again.

Good luck and have a great time!

 

[Camps]

Thanks again for your replies! Man, this is not an easy decisions

I think that we will go with CRT this time because of the DDP, because I would never pay OOP for this (well, honestly, I would probably not pay OOP at these prices for most of these places...).

I figure that going in I will not expect too much, but at least we will eat in a "castle" and if the food is atrocious, well, I don't have high expectations anymore, lol!

Now for more pressing concerns, my youngest is literally exactly 40 inches tall with her sneakers... so I will be stressing about that for the next 25 days! I mean I know that my 40 inches may not be Disney's 40 inches. (Either way, it's okay... I want her to be safe, and there seems to be plenty to do for her age/height if she's under. In the meantime I am force feeding her milk with growth hormones... JOKING!)