We have only ever been to the Crystal palace for breakfast but this trip we are going to give the Crystal palace a try for dinner. Can you guys give us your thoughts on the dinner offerings? Thanks in advance
Hi!
I've been many times over the past few years - DS is a huge Pooh fan.
I like the food! They have very good salmon (both lunch and dinner) and interesting vegetable dishes and salads (i.e., more complicated than you'd want to bother making yourself at home). The roast beef (hand carved beef - I think its called roast beef) was good too. The desserts were good - not at all like the crappy bite size ones at Hollywood & Vine's lunch. (I can't comment on the breads/starches - haven't tried them.) Separate kid area was same as the other character meals - mac/cheese, nuggets, broccoli if memory serves.
We always have had great service, but you do yourself a huge favor if you can eat at an 'off' time: our 3:30pm dinner was one of our fondest memories of Disney World: nearly empty restaurant, tons of lengthy interactions with the characters (my 2nd DS is scared of them, so hides under the table when they approach; each character got down on the floor to look at him under the table. I still laugh when I look at these photos). When we went at Noon for lunch, during 1st week in December (wasn't a busy day at MK), the line for the buffet was very long. Never a line at the off times we've been to - you just walk over and take what you want, no wait. It felt like people were sitting at our table during that Noon lunch - butts brushed against each party's table, e.g.
Long story short: go for the characters, don't go during the busiest meal times, and you should have great service and might be pleasantly surprised by the food.
If it helps, for you to judge my taste, I really dislike the food at Old Country Buffet. I.e., C.P. is far above that quality level of food.