Crystal Palace - Problems?

DisneyFamily123

Use the Force, Luke!
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
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Any recent experiences? Allears.net reviews complain about 1 hour waits and not so good limited food selections. I'm shocked because last year the dinner food was very delicious and we waited only a few minutes to be seated. We are going for lunch twice this next trip.
 
We had a 3:35 ADR on 10/4. We waited for about an hour to get seated so I think the rumors are true! I've never eaten here before so I can't compare. We did enjoy it, both the characters and food. The other restaurant we had over an hour wait for was 1900 Park Fare dinner. This really bothered me because it ended up cutting into our MNSSHP time. :sad1: All the other restaurants we ate at we were seated immediately.
 
We had an 11:50 ADR in September and were seated within 10 minutes of check in. The food was wonderful, especially the flank steak and pork loin.
 
We had a 10:00 ADR on Oct. 2nd. Checked in about 20 minutes early and they called us at 10:00 exactly.

As far as the food selection goes, I didn't notice any difference -- we eat there every trip, but only once for breakfast before. We also ate at CM's last week for breakfast and I prefer the selection and food at Crystal Palace.

All of the other ADR's we had for the week we were either taken on time or early (an hour early at Chefs de France) except for 'Ohana which took 10 minutes past our ADR.
 

I just ate there last week on a whim!! No ADR, went to the window and was seated within 10 minutes. Now, I was alone so that may have been the reason. But it didn't appear to me that people were waiting that long. I would have "heard" some sort of "discussion" on the porch.

As for the food I found it to be just fine! There were more than enough different dishes for me to endulge on. :rotfl:
 
Can't comment on dinner... We had an 8:15 am adr. Checked in & got seated within 10 minutes. Characters were great and food was good; plentiful with a decent selection. I did notice later that morning that there was quite a line though.
 
I think the wait is like all restaurants, depends on when you go. If you go at peak breakfast or dinner hours, the wait can be an hour.
As far as the food goes, we enjoyed everything except the carved meats. They were very fatty and the carver at the time was only giving out super thin, almost see through slices that was like getting a small slice of bacon. After you cut off the fat, it was a bite. When hubby asked for more, they told him he could have one slice. When I asked for more he told me I had to finish that and then come back for more. :rotfl: I felt like a 2yo!
In fairness to the carver though, we found that to be true of every buffet we went to that trip. We figured it was just another cutback. If you are vegetarian, it would work out great. :lmao: The side dishes and desserts were very good. :thumbsup2
 
We were there in SEptember and we were fifteen minutes early and we were seated right on the adr time.......we enjoyed our meal and also the interaction with the characters (just hubby and myself)....the desserts were delicious
 
Count us as one of those waiting over an hour past our ressie time. We were there at the end of August with a 6pm (or so) ADR. Got in line to check in a couple of minutes before 6, and it took FOREVER just to check in. There were several people in front of me that were trying to book ressies for later that night, but were told that there were none available. How about putting up a sign stating that, then? Why have a bunch of extra people crammed into that little space on the porch for no reason?

Once we checked in, we tried to find some free space to stand with our 3 kids (8, 3, and 1). It was pouring rain so everybody was squished in on the porch trying to stay dry. Can you imagine trying to keep a 1 1/2 year old still and out of the rain for over 45 minutes???

Then, the CMs periodically come out and, not all that loudly for the most part, call out a name. If you could hear it, and if you could understand it (there was one CM with a thick accent that was largely unintelligible), you would then be allowed inside. Many people had to ask "oh, did you say Miller"?? There was one male CM who was actually loud enough and clear enough. Why not have him call out all of the names?

We struck up a conversation with another family while we were waiting, who had a similar party size and a later ADR than us. They were called first! WTH? So, now my husband went up and asked what the story was with our reservation. Suddenly, he was told that our table was ready right away!?!? But no, we didn't get seated yet. We're now standing inside, being told by the CMs that we're not allowed to be there, to which we were saying that we were told that our table was ready. But the CM that had told us that had disappeared. Another 5 minutes waiting, and we catch a CM going outside to call our name.

One of our worst restaurant experiences ever!

The food was OK. The characters were OK, but our 1 1/2 year old had fallen asleep before they all came around. Our waiter did give us a Fast Pass voucher for our trouble (and, I guess to compensate us for the several rides that we could have ridden instead of standing outside).

It will be awhile before we'll be back to CP.
 
I can't say anything about dinner or lunch, but we always have breakfast ressies around 8-8:15 and we always get seated quickly! We also get there about 10 minutes before our ressie time to make sure.
 
It sounds like they are ju making too many reservations and are getting backed up as the day goes on. It seems the people in this thread do fine at breakfast, but lunch and dinner become problematic.
 
Definately depends on how crowded they are. Last time we went in August had about a 15 minute wait. No problem with the food. :)
 
We had a 4:55 pm reservation at CP on Sept. 18th (my b-day and a MNSSHP night). We waited in line for 20 minutes just to check in. :scared1: The people in front of me did not have a ressie (I heard them talking) and I felt like saying, "It's free dining, don't waste your time". But not being one to butt in, I kept my mouth shut and they were turned away in 2 seconds flat. I agree with the PP who said they should put a sign up saying they aren't taking walk-ins. After finally checking in, it was 10 minutes past our ressie time, and then we waited another 20 minutes to be called. So, 40 minutes total wait past our ADR time. Food was ok; characters were very good with our 4 and 6 year olds, especially Tigger. I'd give it a solid "meh" overall.
 
we have always had a good expereince here-sometimes the wait has been long...agree with PP breakfast seems to move quickly but when it comes to lunch and dinner it does get backed up! we still like it though...
saw it is going under rehab in Jan till Feb 13th...does anyone know if they will be taking ADR's for Feb 13th or will they start the day after?
thanks
 
We were there Dec 2008 for lunch and we thought the food was horrible. Below average buffet food in our opinion. And Tigger was rude -skipped several tables and then was even heard talking when a dad was wanting to take several pictures - "How many pictures do you want, man!!!" When we went in Sept/Oct this year for 12 nights Crystal Palace wasn't on our list.
 
We had a great experience this past June. We only waited maybe 10 minutes and went in. The CM even took our pics in front of the topiary in front. I thought the buffet was really good and the characters were awesome to us! Loved it and we want to go back for an early breakfast our next time there.
 
We went in late September for a 4:30 reservation for a party of 6. We waited about 15 minutes. I found the whole setup chaotic. We were seated in the middle of the room and you never knew where the characters started or ended, so we were afraid to take the kids to the buffet in case they would miss them. We ended up sending one adult at a time to go get food for the kids.
 
We were there Sunday morning, with 10:25 ADRs. We checked in early, and were seated after a mere 55 minute wait. Of course, they had closed off one of the two sides, so we waited a mere 15 minutes in line to fight over the meager selection of breakfast items remaining.

Normally we have 8:05 ADRs, and are seated by 8:15, but Sunday was ridiculous.
 
It was horrible. We waited an hour and a half for our table past our reservation time. Out spot was for 7 pm and we sat around 830. The food wasn't that great either. Thank goodness it was not raining and it had cooled off some. Everyone was really mad that night waiting for a table. We missed the castle fireworks because we were still eating. I was not a happy camper that night nor were my children who had been up since 330 am since it was our first night and we had to fly in.
 
We've eaten there many times and have never waited more than 15 minutes for our table. That includes the times we've eaten there during free dining and Christmas. I think the food is pretty good, nothing spectacular, but I haven't found any food at Disney to be spectacular. I'll be there again in December for my birthday meal.
 

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