Crystal Palace

[Stacy Woods]

Does the Crystal Palace open before the park does? People have mentioned to get a PS early so you can walk down mainstreet while it is still empty. I will be going in April (last week)and want to do breakfast, but do not want to lose valuable ride time. I see where the Crystal Palace serves breakfast from 8-10:30 but the park does not open until 9:00. Does that mean I can get seated early and be out by 9:00 to ride the rides? Also if that is not the case and I want to go for a late breakfast seating how late can I make the reservation? Does the restuarant close at 10:30 or do they take PS's until then?
Thanks

 

[Ellester]

If it is not an Early Entry day, you can eat at CP before the park opens. I think the earliest PS time may be 8:15, but it may be 8:00. Same with Cindy's Royal Table. It is a great way to get a jump start, in my opinion. You will be right at Fantasyland at rope drop while the rest of the people are still strolling down Mainstreet. As far as late breakfast seatings, I think you can get a 10:30 PS. I'm not exactly sure when they switch over to lunch. You might want to ask on the restaurant board if you don't get a definitive answer here. If you are going in April, you should be making your PS's now. Good luck!

 

[JRLATL]

The Crystal Palace does begin breakfast before the park opens. Your name will be on a list at the park's entrance, and they will check this before you are allowed entry. Take into consideration, your transporation to the breakfast. I didn't do that when staying at Wilderness Lodge. The boats did not start until later, and I let DH go off in the car golfing. My (2) DS and I headed to the dock and then I realized my mistake. I had no time to get a taxi. We were so fortunate because a boat arrived, which was supposed to be doing errands for the resort. She was wonderful, and took us to MK, when scheduled to do something else. What a great person ~ we made it just on time. Walking down Main Street without the crowds is magical.
I don't remember the exact times for breakfast and lunch, but once we tried to go for a late breakfast, without PS. They were changing the buffet and we enjoyed an early lunch.

 

[Mom2Ben02]

We LOVED Crystal Palace - actually did it 2x on on Jan trip. We did both as late breakfasts - last seating - and got a really nice brunch for $17! And DS is 15 mos, so he was free...even better!

Karen

 

[KimberAnn]

We had an 8:05 reservation. They did not check our name at the gate but took our word for it.

The food was great, our waiter was very nice and helpful, and getting to see the castle before the crowds was wonderful. No line going in, no line at the monorail, really close parking.

Go for an early reservation, you'll be glad you did.

 

[KaityBsMom]

We also had an 8:05 PS at Crystal Palace. It was great. We were done right before 9am and gathered near Fantasyland for the 9am rope drop. We were there during a low-attendence time, but even then it was nice to get a 'jump' on things.

 

[Lollipop Mom]

Yes, you can get a PS for 10:30. We had a 10:25 PS over our trip at the end of the year. We were THRILLED with how that worked out. They close off one side of the buffet around 10:45 to start setting up for lunch but they do keep the other side stocked w/ breakfast stuff till all of the last breakfast diners are done. We were there from 12/29 to 1/3 so it was *the busiest* week of the year. Lots of people came back complaining of packed restaurants and minimal character time. We had one side of the restaurant just about to ourselves and had a TON of character time. We even have a pic of our family with 3 of the 4 characters that "work" the buffet (Eeyore must have been on a break ). The kids got a lot of time with each character. Tigger even basically rolled around on the floor with my 3 year old.

You can see in the pic below how empty the restaurant was. You can also see the crowd outside gathering for 11:00 lunch seatings! (excuse the blurry spot in the middle...I didn't notice till a few minutes later that someone had left a sticky fingerprint on the camera lens!)

 

[tiberius]

We always love this restaurant. You can definitely get in before park opening--at least on non-early entry days. If you can get the earliest seating, you can be done by park opening. This is my family's favorite character breakfast.