Late Friday afternoon, we headed to the Magic Kingdom for our date with royalty…
We had ressies for Cindy’s Royal Table @ 5:30, but due to luck with bus timing, we got there early, so checked in right about 5:00. We waited about 10-15 minutes before getting called back to the waiting room where they do the meet & greet photos with Cinderella. This was really, really fun (even if you don’t have little ones with you, it is sooo fun to watch their reactions.)
There was an extremely tired, whiny, fussy little princess waiting outside. It was so obvious this preschooler needed a major nap. But she was ready for the royal table: had on the $100+ version of princess outfit complete with jewelry, ultra fancy shoes, & tiara— and she had obviously had the deluxe BBB treatment. However, she was not happy royalty at all – she came very close to throwing a major screaming/thrashing tantrum in the outer waiting room, and was just barely under control when their family was called back to the photo room. It was amazing the change that came over her when she saw Cinderella - seriously, it was Disney magic at its best. The whining stopped and she just gazed, absolutely enthralled with the "real" Cinderella.
The cast member playing Cinderella was really, really into her part, and what a sweety she was, playing along with young & old. I don’t know how these kids can keep this up for hours on end, but all the ones we interacted with were amazingly good at the small patter & always in-character chit chat. I realize they have a set bunch of lines they repeat, but it never came out sounding like “lines”…they all seemed to really enjoy what they were doing, and very smooth at keeping the lines moving without seeming to shove people on their way. Cindy greeted DD & her BFF first, because they were a few steps ahead of us, saying how nice it was to have one of her fellow princesses eating at her royal table, which cracked my daughter up (she's 19)and then Cindy asked if BFF was DD’s prince or was he just an escort for the evening? (DD & BFF were about the same age as Cindy-and DD’s BFF is a very, very good looking guy…Cindy was flirting big time! Graciously, of course.) Cindy then gave him an especially dazzling smile when she heard he was just a very good friend!
Then she turns to us and made a big fuss about how she hadn’t realized the Queen & King had accompanied the princess, and oh, pardon her for not acknowledging our majesties sooner! It was great, she actually did a little curtsy to DH & I, welcoming us to her home, and hoping we enjoy our meal. She posed with us for a group picture, wished us a good time and then we were sent on up the steps to the dining hall.
What a treat…I realize that people complain loudly & often about the cost of the castle meals, & that the quality of food doesn’t match up to the cost, and that they felt rushed through the castle experience, etc. especially considering what they paid. But honestly, we figured a goodly portion of the price is simply going for the can't-be-copied location & the guaranteed meet & greet/photo with Cinderella.
The décor in the castle is really, really well done. We’ve been to Biltmore House in North Carolina – you’ve probably seen this place on ads for Lowe’s Home Improvement…it’s the gigantic castle-like house with over 150 rooms (which was built as an over-the-top reproduction of European chateau/castle. Vanderbilt spent millions & millions in the 1890’s to build that place and it’s decorated with many items he bought from European castles. Anyway, we had a fairly good idea of what a castle with no expense spared would like.) Cindy’s Castle had many of the same touches…may not be original or “authentic” but all in all, very nicely done reproductions, and amazing attention to detail. The windows are beautiful, the wall hangings & such are wonderfully well done. We lucked out with a window table, too. There’s really not very many of them and they’re all tables for 2 or tables for 4, so if you have a larger group you will not get a window table. Our view was overlooking Fantasyland…we could see the Carousel (which had just re-opened that day…so it looked beautiful, all freshly painted.) The windows are fairly small, though, so the view is somewhat limited. And the decor throughout is good enough that even if you don't get a window seat, it's still a very nice place to eat!
As for the food, while it is not Haute Cuisine, it certainly is not bad. We enjoyed it. And we never felt rushed at all, although the kids actually did want it to go faster, because they had a concert to go to over at the House of Blues…
Anyway, all the cast members in the dining room stay in character for serving a “royal” table…calling us all My Lord, My Lady, and “what would the princess prefer to drink” etc. The waiters are dressed in knee-breeches & waistcoat outfits like footmen. Our waiter explained how the meal works, with the courses, and even apologized that the Castle was unfortunately located in a “very dry” kingdom so no beer or wine available.
For starters, three of us had the BLT salad, which was a very good salad…an amazing amount of real chopped bacon on this, not just a few baco-bits. BFF had the corn & crab soup, which he really liked…said there were some very nice big chunks of crab in it. For entrées, DH & I had the prime rib, rare. It actually was served rare (which we really like) and was tasty, tender & well seasoned. It was better than the buffet prime rib (which we thought was good, too as you may recall.) BFF had the salmon, which he said was not the best he’d had, but good enough, and he ate every last bit. DD had the tortellini. She said it was “o.k., way better than college food”… but she loves tortellini and did eat most of it.
When it came time for dessert, our waiter warned us that a lot of the castle servants thought the poached pear was not done properly -undercooked- so if we like poached pear we would probably not like this one. BFF & I got the Chocolate Buckle…hard to describe…maybe compare it to a cobbler type dessert except it was all chocolate? Moist, drenched in a very rich chocolate sauce. Luscious bit of chocolate heaven. DD & DH both got the raspberry sorbet, which they really, really liked (Although everyone traded bites on the desserts, I don’t care for raspberry except in frozen adult beverages! But the other 3 liked it very much.)
About ½ way through the desserts, the Castle dinner entertainment started, first with Cinderella’s mouse-maids, Susie & Perla, circulating through the place, stopping for hugs & pics at the tables. Then, the Fairy Godmother came out & did her act…sings a song, asks about birthday & other celebrations, acknowledging everyone in the crowd celebrating, and leads everyone in a Happy-Celebration-to-you-song…was fun, and pretty low-key. Although she flits around during her act & singing, she does not actually stop at tables to pose for pictures…when her singing is done, she hurries off. So if you want pictures, be sure to take them while she's performing because she disappears very quickly at the end of the show. The entire show/character appearance lasts maybe 15 minutes tops. Again, it was entertaining, and great fun to watch the little kids’ reactions to the characters. All in all, good-enough food and an enjoyable time in a spectacular location.
Would highly recommend CRT to anyone with kids that wants to be sure to get a good meet & greet with Cinderella, without standing in long lines outside in the heat waiting for it. My understanding is that the breakfast & lunch are much more crowded & noisy because instead of Fairy Godmother show, there are several princesses visiting in the dining room. We deliberately chose the dinner to cut down on that hubbub, and get better value for the meal $$, but if you’re wanting to see more princesses, you will need to do breakfast or lunch instead. The professional photo comes with the price of the meal (one per table) and is delivered to your table during the meal…a nice keepsake folder with an 8 x 10 of the castle & and 8 x 10 of your group with Cindy. There was also several 4 x 6 copies in there too.
Would we go back…yes. Probably not every time we go to WDW because it is not cheap, and it’s a very time-consuming table service meal (we checked in at 5:00, were walking out at about 6:45, and we actually hurried a bit cuz the kids wanted to get going to their concert at DTD. Had we not deliberately hurried, we probably would have spent at least 15 more minutes there, just enjoying the experience.The time was not bad for a night-out style dinner, but we wouldn’t like to spend too many 2-hour chunks of time eating during Disney-park-time!)