Crystal Palace.....good or not so good?

[Topher99]

I am wondering what your experiences are with Crystal Palace for dinner? Also, what characters are there? I have looked at WDW dining to see what they serve, but it seems to be very generic. Can someone please let me know what they serve and what is good? Thank you!!

 

[RealBlast3]

I have gone here so many times over the years, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in fact! It's really terrific! I enjoy all the food here tremendously. It's also a beautiful location and quite spacious. It's always lovely to eat here. I think it's probably the best overall choice to eat in Magic Kingdom, actually, certainly the most affordable and most bang for your buck of the sit-down restaurants, Skipper Canteen sight unseen.

I think there are always plenty of choices of food to eat at too, and something for everyone. It's certainly miles better than, say, the buffet at Chef Mickey's which is probably the worst buffet in the entire of Disney World. I have better memories of Crystal Palace than the other character dining buffets I've been to as well, and I've been to all of them save whatever they have at Swan/Dolphin.

As for characters, it's all the Winnie the Pooh ones, which include him, and Piglet, and Eoyre, and Tigger, too! The character interactions are some of the best and longest at the parks, to be honest, and they're pretty nice with always having helpers available to take pictures of your group if you need it, too. They also have a cute musical conga like parade for the little ones, where they can join the characters during the meal and march through the palace.

It's a great experience, I couldn't recommend it higher. I can't quite remember the exact dishes but there's lots to pick from, from pasta to carving board stations for meat. I am always stuffed. I wouldn't think anyone, even picky eaters, would have a problem here. It's not quite fine dining, but it's very, very good and tasty and I feel compares favorably to all the other character buffets. Sometimes the listed menus online don't tell the whole story and aren't completely accurate.

If you really want a buffet that isn't generic at all, than I'd suggest going to Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge's Jambo House, if you desire more exciting and adventurous offerings that are delicious.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

I've been for lunch (which I think is the same menu). The food was fresh and tasted good, but yay kinda generic. DH really enjoyed the shrimp.

 

[Dis703]

Most of the food is just average with a few stand outs here and there. We've dined here several times now and it's worth a try.

 

[mdelano4]

I've said it many times over the years, the only thing consistent about WDW dining is its inconsistency. Been to CP several times. Sometimes it's been good and sometimes not so much. It's a nice location with nice atmosphere. Go for it and enjoy. No need to fret since you really can't predict how good it will be on a particular day.

 

[cruising spud]

We go to the Crystal Palace every time we visit Disney (around 15 visits) and we have never been disappointed.

 

[DisTXMom]

We do CP every trip, but for breakfast. Honestly, there aren't any dinner buffets I'm blown away by at WDW. I've always heard good things about CP lunch and dinner, we just always do the late breakfast because we like breakfast food and it's hard to mess it up.

 

[Thing 1]

Done it many time and all three meals ... consistently good. Never great or bad but always pretty good. Good service and good to excellent character greats.

 

[jpeterson]

Just went a few days ago for lunch, have also been there for breakfast. Both were good. Not amazing. But not bad. Worth it for the kids to see the characters and it is a nice space.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We've done dinner three times and it was very good every time.

 

[jsbowl16]

We usually go for breakfast and it is always good but last year we switched it up and went for dinner and the highlight of the meal was the salad. It was one of the worst meals we have had at Disney and we will not be back for dinner anytime soon.

 

[Babsy]

For years the CP was the first ADR that we booked. Wonderful food at great prices! However, the last three trips the CP food has been terrible! I couldn't even find a decent dessert and it is hard to fool up sugar laden food! NO bread pudding, NO berry or apple crumble, NO bowl of fresh fruit!!! Plus the price now borders on the ridiculous! We left on our last visit without getting full from an all you can eat because we couldn't eat the food. Ugh!

It is to the point that we won't book there again unless we plan to suffer through the poor food for kids that want to see Winnie the Pooh and gang and this is the ONLY option.

Perhaps we have been unlucky and hit three 'off' days....but there didn't use to be any off days, once upon a time.

 

[NewmanFamily6]

Our family has always enjoyed the Crystal Palace. The character interaction is also some of the best we have experienced

 

[twoplustwins]

Love it for breakfast! We've always had great character interactions there.

 

[prprincess]

I used to love it, and then I felt that it went downhill, but when we went in August, my kids HAD to have it. So I made lunch reservations, and to my surprise, it was really good! The Crystal Palace that I remembered years ago. The food was fresh, and tasty. And it honestly was one of the best character meals that we had the entire trip.

 

[LaBelleVie]

We've only been for breakfast (which was good...lots of variety), but the character interaction was great!