Crystal Palace

[animallover11]

Has anyone ever been to Crystal Palace? I am going there for my first time.

 

[SmallWorld71]

We went for dinner last August and loved it. Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet were there circulating and they also did a cute little parade with the kids. We thought the food choices were excellent for a buffet. Although every restaurant can have some bad experiences, on the whole Crystal Palace gets very good reviews here on the DIS.

 

[spaceace510]

i agree with the last post. however i went for breakfast and had a great time. A CM even sprinkled me with pixie dust!!!!

 

[debilovesmickey]

We are going there for an early lunch in a few weeks. Our first time as well...
Debi

 

[Kae]

We have had lunch at CP 2 times & enjoy it very much.

Kae

 

[mdoc]

We were there for lunch last week. The food was delicious, but our overall experience wasn't that great. The lines for the buffet were huge; it took forever to get our food, and forget going back for more. It took 90 minutes before all of the characters got to us (and we had to go hunting for Eeyore - he never made it to our table). The character interaction was rushed and not very good at all. The buffet was good, but it wasn't good enough to justify the price. I wouldn't have gone there but for the fact that it was a character meal, and I was sorely disappointed with the character interaction. All of that said, we were there during Easter week. Maybe at a less busy time it'd be better.

 

[catne]

We've been there for dinner on 3 trips...great experience every time (we go in May) Characters were great (although occasional problems with rude parents pushing their kids at the characters when they're at someone else's table. Usually the character's CM handler tells the kids to go back to their own table, the characters will get to them. And they usually do.) We have had to wait in line at the buffet for maybe 2 minutes, but not every time...it just depended on your personal timing when we were there (like there was no line at the meat/entree area, but there was at the salad/side dish area.) Food is way better than your usual out-of-the-World buffet (we go to places like Golden Corral & Old Country Buffet...Disney's buffet are way above them in quality & choices.) The servers at the Crystal Palace have all been wonderful, cracking jokes with the kids, telling you what's really good that day (and they were right every time.)

We loved the Crystal Palace. Enjoy!

 

[pixie08]

We had a great time for breakfast!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We were there March 3rd for lunch and it was very enjoyable. The kids loved it. Our first character meal ever. The food was very good. The buffet wasn't very packed. The characters came around 2-3 times each.

When we sat down the CM told us to take our time and not rush especially since our 2 year old was sleeping. She woke up by the time we sat down and loved it all.

We plan on going again next time!

 

[Joan S.]

Hi, We ALWAYS have Breakfast at the CP every trip. IMHO it is THE BEST breakfast buffet!! We get an ADR for about 10:15 and it serves as brunch for my family. It also has two of the BEST CM's in WDW Karen (the server that we always get!) and Zelda (a manager/trainer). We will be having breakfast there on Friday May 16th. Joan

 

[KatMark]

This is one of our must-do's every year we go to Disney. Love the puffed french toast at breakfast and seeing my fav characters.

 

[disneymath]

We went in for dinner in mid-December. It was our first character meal - the only reason we went was b/c my (at the time) 6 month old nephew likes the Pooh characters. The meal was delicious and the character interaction was phenomenal! Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet made the rounds to all of the tables - it seemed like their handlers were checking tables off on a map to ensure that no one was missed! Our little "piglet" loved the characters soo much ... he was gurgling and grinning and even had diners at other tables commenting "Look at that baby - he's so happy!" It wasn't overly busy - Tigger and Piglet actually made it to our table twice before we left.

We've already got reservations to go back this August.

 

[Beautybelle43]

OP: are you going for breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

CP is my favorite WDW breakfast! The food is fantastic and characters are great!!

I can't vouch for the crowds though, because we always go during value/low crowd season.

 

[teach22180]

We've done breakfast and lunch at CP, and I especially recommend it when it's super hot outside. The A/C break in the middle of MK cannot be underestimated!! Plus, there's Tigger.

 

[momof3littlelilos]

We love breakfast at CP.
We like getting the earliest possible ADR, Before park opening. That way you get to enter the park early and get to walk down a nearly empty Main Street

 

[esdras]

We did Crystal Palace in '06 - during Free Dining (first week of September) - the restaurant was quite full, even though we booked about as early as possible for a dinner seating.

However, EACH character did come to our table and our kids and my wife (I mean, really, I just had to stay at the table to guard our stuff ) got pulled into one of the "parades".

Character wise, this was great.

In '06, we did two character buffet dinners - this one and Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary - while we were pleased with the character interaction at both, the food at Crystal Palace was FAR BETTER than at Chef Mickey's. I realize some will disagree, but we're planning on going back in '08 - we have no desire to go back to Chef Mickey's - but we will almost definitely go back to Crystal Palace.

 

[browntrout]

We have a 8:10 am ADR on 05-01. Looking forward to getting in the park and getting some pitctures on main street before it's flooded.

 

[Beautybelle43]

We did Crystal Palace in '06 - during Free Dining (first week of September) - the restaurant was quite full, even though we booked about as early as possible for a dinner seating.

However, EACH character did come to our table and our kids and my wife (I mean, really, I just had to stay at the table to guard our stuff ) got pulled into one of the "parades".

Character wise, this was great.

In '06, we did two character buffet dinners - this one and Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary - while we were pleased with the character interaction at both, the food at Crystal Palace was FAR BETTER than at Chef Mickey's. I realize some will disagree, but we're planning on going back in '08 - we have no desire to go back to Chef Mickey's - but we will almost definitely go back to Crystal Palace.

I think any ADR that allows you to be in the park before park opening is a fairly popular one to book, so you might find it busy. We opted for an 8:25 ADR during a value season weekday (no free dining)and buffet lines were short.

I forgot about the "Pooh-rade"!! This is so cute!

I think the food options are more creative with more of a variety over at CP rather than Chef Mickeys. We also found the food to be piping hot and they were very about about keeping things full and neat.

Service in general was excellent.

I'm actually not huge on meeting the non-speaking characters (it sorta creeps me out- please no flames!!), but I am a huge Winnie the Pooh fan, so it's a must do for me.

 

[Millie12591]

We loved CP! I love the beauty of the outside and the inside, it's so lively and the characters are a serious bounus!
We did the 8:05 a.m. ADR and thought it was so cool to come down Main St. without everyone and there mother. I thought the food was outstanding for a buffet, can't go wrong without trying the wafflles, french toast and the breakfast lasagna. You won't regret going here, besides your already in the park when it opens so you can book your body over to the ride you like before everyone else gets there, well that is if your done eating before the park opens. Oh! I forgot to suggest taking pictures in front of the Castle with your family while the park is still fairly empty, you'll want to do this before your ADR's, that way you'll for sure get the picture without the crowds.

 

[Jessma9902]

We always enjoy CP... as we did in December... see my review at:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1666885&referrerid=157038