Disappointed in CRT

[nicki.momof3]

We went in April 2009 (Easter Week) and had the total opposite experience. The food was AMAZING. We had a great window view seat and the princess spent a ton of time with our 3 children. We saw 6 princesses that day at the castle. We had 11:50am lunch reservations.

Loved it so much we will be going back again this easter. Another great thing we did was go to the BBB for a pricesss makeover and our boys got "cool dudes". All the princesses raved about how cool they looked.

If I had to rate the experience it would be a perfecft 10.

 

[nicki.momof3]

Wow-thanks for the reviews. Have a reservation for dinner for 7:20 on Nov 20during the Christmas party and have been questioning whether I should keep that one. Now I am thinking I can cancel and not feel too bad about it!

If you have never been there I would keep the reservation. The castle is something everyone should do once. Just the room alone is magical.


Many times on these boards you only hear the negative. And you always only hear from an adults point of view. We go to the castle for our kids and in their eyes it is MAGICAL!!!.

 

[tlenzendorf]

If you have never been there I would keep the reservation. The castle is something everyone should do once. Just the room alone is magical.


Many times on these boards you only hear the negative. And you always only hear from an adults point of view. We go to the castle for our kids and in their eyes it is MAGICAL!!!.

I agree it is something you do once. 5 year old DD thought it was great, DD9 and DD10 thought it was really bad compared to last time. It was really great last time, though, and this time it was disappointing. Cinderella wasn't even upstairs this time. She posed for a pic, signed the books and that was it.

 

[Joshua_me]

Really, is there anything at Disney that a few MBAs with sharp pencils can't ruin?

Good point. And sadly, to answer your question, no there isn't...

I can remember dining in the castle as far back as the 80's, where both lunch and dinner were top-notch and leisurely experiences.

Huge Caesar salads were made fresh at your table side, prime rib was sliced to order right in the dining area and both the waitstaff and the characters seemed genuinely happy to be there...

Those days are long gone. That being said, though, if I had little children with me that had never been before, I'd still take them for breakfast. At that age just walking into the castle is a thrill. Disney knows this, of course, and slowly has made both the food quality and the service an afterthought.

Throw in the "included" photo package and they have themselves quite the cash cow...

At least the stockholders are happy.

 

[TimPaulaDisney08]

Unless my daughter really wants to go back to the castle, I will do everything to convince her to try the princess meal in Norway.

I will do the same. In 08, we did Askerhus & the princesses were wonderful plus you see almost all of them. Other than my 4 yr old choking on bacon (which she still talks about)--funny what kids remember, it was great! So, I asked DD--do you want to eat in the castle or see all the other princesses. Luckily, her choice was ALL the princesses. I was choking on the thought of how much CRT was going to cost me & will be much happier at Askerhus.

Thanks for the tips! I was wavering--now I know we won't be eating at CRT. I can have 2 princess meals (Park Faire & Askerhus) for almost the price of CRT.

 

[Dillonmom]

If you have never been there I would keep the reservation. The castle is something everyone should do once. Just the room alone is magical.


Many times on these boards you only hear the negative. And you always only hear from an adults point of view. We go to the castle for our kids and in their eyes it is MAGICAL!!!.

Thanks so much for putting this into perspective. We have ADRs for my DD 4th birthday in 2 weeks, and after reading all the reviews, I was starting to get nervous. After reading your post, I realized, this is about a 4 year old and her experience. Before making my ADRs I asked her if she wanted to have dinner at a Pretty place (1900 Park Fare) with Cinderella or eat at the Castle, but only get your pic with Cinderella, and she said "mommy, I need to eat in the castle."
The food may not be as good as it used to be, but hey...my 4 year old has never been there before, and honestly, does she care about the difference bt Prime Rib or Chicken Nuggets, probably not!

Hopefully she will remember her 4th birthday in the castle as a magical experience!

 

[tigger_ttfn]

I agree that it is definitely something to do once especially if you have little girls.

DH and I went in Jan 09 for the first time and did lunch. It was a good to experience once, but I wouldn't do it again. But, we got a pic with Cinderella and we got the center table for two overlooking Fantasyland. Even with no kids at our table, the princesses took time to talk to both me and DH.

The food sounded wonderful on the menu and looked great, but the taste was just okay. All in all, we don't regret it, but I recommend it only to people who are just dying for the "Castle" experience.

 

[nicki.momof3]

Thanks so much for putting this into perspective. We have ADRs for my DD 4th birthday in 2 weeks, and after reading all the reviews, I was starting to get nervous. After reading your post, I realized, this is about a 4 year old and her experience. Before making my ADRs I asked her if she wanted to have dinner at a Pretty place (1900 Park Fare) with Cinderella or eat at the Castle, but only get your pic with Cinderella, and she said "mommy, I need to eat in the castle."
The food may not be as good as it used to be, but hey...my 4 year old has never been there before, and honestly, does she care about the difference bt Prime Rib or Chicken Nuggets, probably not!

Hopefully she will remember her 4th birthday in the castle as a magical experience!

I am glad to hear you are going - your 4 year old will talk about it forever. My daughter loved it. If posisble bring her in a princess dress. The princesses always make a big deal about how pretty the dress is. We did the BBB right before our lunch at the castle and she also loved it. She actually ate only a few bites of her food - she was so excited about being in the castle and the 6 princesses she got to see. That is really all it is about - seeing that little childs face light up when she enters the castle. Bring an autograph book.

Enjoy

 

[tlenzendorf]

I agree, its nice for the girls ONCE to see it, especially if they believe. But we will not go again unless things change. It is really not worth the money, especially if you are on a budget.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I've never done it and will not with what I am reading.

I did notice that the buffets had lower quality foods than the non-buffets.

Next trip I will only do CM since it's sort of a tradition.

 

[reducereuserecycle]

I am trying to decide if should we "waste" 2 credits for the breakfast for our 2 year old (will be almost 3) daughter to eat in the castle or wait until she is older? of course the way things are going, by the time she is 4 or 5 it will probably only be worse



what are your opinions?

is the food much better at Aukerhouse?

 

[danalea10]

I agree with most of the other posters. It was my first time eating at the castle and although I am glad we did it we will not go back. It was exactly as others have said rushed and the food wasnt that good. The interaction between the princesses was limited and the waiter wasnt that great. We also ate at akershus and the interaction between the princesses and my children was a lot better but the food was not that great. I agree that if you have never been- eat there it is worth it once.

 

[tlenzendorf]

I've never done it and will not with what I am reading.

I did notice that the buffets had lower quality foods than the non-buffets.

Next trip I will only do CM since it's sort of a tradition.

Honestly the buffets were my favorite. We could set our own pace and we didn't feel so rushed.

 

[BMXmomma]

Sad to hear about CRT. I have seriously been contemplating whether our not keep my ADR. We have done Akershus and 1900 Park Fare previously as we were never able to get CRT. Maybe we'll stick with what we know.
Thanks for the info.

 

[pickles]

I have eaten there twice..once for lunch and once for dinner. You do need to do it once..it is cool

that said, the food is rushed. My one server wouldnt let me have the kids salad I wanted.."hello, the kids one is cheaper than the adult, save disney some money and make your customer happy" I cant say i was full afterwards.

I personally hate princesses so dinner was a fine time for me and if they could get rid of the rest of the characters at dinner and make that a romantic dinner that would be just fine with me!

However, my daughter loves princesses and she enjoyed her lunch there(we went when they had princesses and when they did the thing downstairs with just the one)

the 2nd time my 2 sons didnt get the swords they should of and I didnt realize until too late they were suppose to get them(I just thought all those parents had bought their sons swords for some reason)

anyways, try it once, expect the worse and be happy when it turns out better than planned. Oh and the food I thought tasted good overall, just wished they had offered me some more

 

[Jenngoofys]

I am glad to hear you are going - your 4 year old will talk about it forever. My daughter loved it. If posisble bring her in a princess dress. The princesses always make a big deal about how pretty the dress is. We did the BBB right before our lunch at the castle and she also loved it. She actually ate only a few bites of her food - she was so excited about being in the castle and the 6 princesses she got to see. That is really all it is about - seeing that little childs face light up when she enters the castle. Bring an autograph book.

Enjoy

I agree It is about the kids experience and they are only young once and believe for such a short time. Make it a day to remember. I mean it is THE CASTLE!!!! I was so excited seeing how happy my daughter was and the fact that i even got the reservation!! It is a once in a lifetime experience. Just think of all the time you will save not standing in line to visit characters and some you cant find any where but the meals. Count your blessings you were able to get the reservation at all I know people who would eat Mcdonalds food in the castle as long as they could get in and would pay the same price.

 

[goofy4tink]

Good point. And sadly, to answer your question, no there isn't...

I can remember dining in the castle as far back as the 80's, where both lunch and dinner were top-notch and leisurely experiences.

Huge Caesar salads were made fresh at your table side, prime rib was sliced to order right in the dining area and both the waitstaff and the characters seemed genuinely happy to be there...

Those days are long gone. That being said, though, if I had little children with me that had never been before, I'd still take them for breakfast. At that age just walking into the castle is a thrill. Disney knows this, of course, and slowly has made both the food quality and the service an afterthought.

Throw in the "included" photo package and they have themselves quite the cash cow...

At least the stockholders are happy.

Yep..have to agree. We ate dinner there, many years ago, and it was one of the best meals we had had at WDW. My beef was incredible.
We ate breakfast there when dd turned 13, with her friend, we had eaten lunch there when she turned 6 because we used a TA who had no idea how the system worked and didn't try to book it soon enough!! That lunch was quite good. So, besides our breakfast there last week, we've eaten at each meal at least once. This past breakfast suffered by comparision. But...if your dd's have nothing to compare it with, go for it. We took my eldest dd, 33, to have breakfast there simply because she had never eaten there before, and everyone should do it once. But, no need to do it again.

 

[Richser]

We'll be doing CRT and PSB for breakfast for the first, so hopefully both will be enjoyable experiences for our 4 girls!

 

[tlenzendorf]

We'll be doing CRT and PSB for breakfast for the first, so hopefully both will be enjoyable experiences for our 4 girls!

OP here. I hope they have better experiences than we did. Like I said, I think its good to experience once, our DD5 who had never been there before liked it, but unless things change we won't be back. DD10 and DD9 were quite disappointed in how different things were from our last trip.

 

[Drusilla]

I booked dinner mid-way through our trip and breakfast on our last day at CRT this morning. I've decided it's not about the food, but the experience that we're paying for. I have 5 and 8 year old daughters who really really really wanted to eat there. I was shocked I could get ADRs for both on the days and times I wanted. Now maybe I know why... oh well... They are only young once and I never got to go inside the castle when I was a kid so I'm looking forward to it to.