Thank you for your patience everyone. It's been a busy, tiresome week. My sister and I have been planning a surprise trip to Disney World for my mom's birthday. We're flying her down with my stepdad (her husband) to see my sister and spend 4 days, 3 nights at the Polynesian. It's been hard communicating back and forth with my sister, who is currently a CM, as our schedules don't always coincide. So we've finally booked the Polynesian from August 4th-7th and now I'm working on ADRs. I also still need to book the flights... but I'll do that when I'm back at work on Wednesday
Now, it's time for a juicy review of Cinderella's Royal Table!
Our ADR was at 1:50pm and we were STARVING by this point. We had arrived early to MK and happened to time it right when the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade was starting. Despite the hot sun, I got right into the action, dancing in the conga lines, etc. My mom didn't join in as much as her legs were hurting (she doesn't exercise enough...shhhh don't tell her I said so!
) After the parade, we headed up to the castle to check in. To be honest, this was the first time I had ever seen where CRT was. Every time I have walked by the castle, I have never noticed it!
Shocking... I know. The place was pretty busy and the check-in podium was very strict as to when you could go in. We arrived 10 minutes prior to our ADR time and they wouldn't let us in early. While we waited, I snapped a few photos:
The mosaic work on the walls were astounding. It really gives you a true castle feel.
Eventually our names were called and were led inside the castle to a room already filled with people. We entered the queue line that was set up to take a picture with Cinderella. This process felt a bit odd to me... I guess they do it to avoid Cinderella being mobbed when she comes off the elevator? It felt more like Cinderella was the freak show and everyone had paid admission to see her. The waiting game was fun, however, as the duke (I guess that's what you'd call him?) had us playing guessing games. All Disney related of course. It made me recall some Disney movies that I haven't watched in a decade.
Finally, Cinderella made her appearance. By this point, my mom and I were getting cranky and hungry. We just wanted to get the picture over with and eat! While we were still in line, our names were called since our table was ready but we hadn't even gotten our photo taken! I was getting rather flustered at the way everything was organized...
We took our photo. Had our blue invitation to head upstairs. Done.
The spiral staircase was awesome. I am a huge fan of spiral staircases. Always wanted one in my house or even room! I snapped this photo on our way up the stairs:
I apologize for the image quality (my camera sucks in low light). You can see how many people they stuff into this photo op room. Poor Cinderella... The decor is really well done though. Did I mention I want my house to look like this? (minus the mob of people of course)
We reached the top of the stairs where it opened up into a grand dining room. There were huge stain glass windows that allowed natural light in. It was stunning. To our surprise, we were sat right beside one of these grand windows. It was beautful:
View from our table. It was breathtaking. It was just amazing to finally be eating in the castle after so many years of just imagining what it was like in there....
The open concept of the dining room made for a noisy environment but the place felt nice and airy. The tables and chairs were of great quality and we never felt cramped. Really really liked it in here. Our server was awesome too. I made myself remember our server name but now, of course, I have forgotten
That'll teach me for waiting too long to write these reviews! She was really great though and wonderful to strike up a conversation with. We found out that she loved to cook and always wanted to be a pastry chef. Anyway, she took our orders and made a couple suggestions. My mom ordered Major Domo's Favourite Pie and I ordered the Pasta al Pomodoro. While we waited for our entrees, we scarfed down the appetizer that consisted of cheese, grapes, and some sort of salad with artichokes in it. Sorry no pictures of that... but here are the entrees!
The pie was delicious but my pasta was a bit disappointing. The taste was bland and it seemed like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for a little while before it was brought to our table. The middle of the dish was nice and hot but the outer edges were already cold. I didn't care much since I was so hungry. I ate nearly the whole thing.
In the middle of our meal, the picture we took earlier with Cinderella arrived:
The photos came in a very nice folder (felt expensive) like this. I am not including the picture of us with Cinderella... it didn't turn out that great unfortunately (or let's just say neither of us were very photogenic that day)
Also, while we ate, there would be a fanfare welcoming each princess as she entered the dining room. There was Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, and Sleeping Beauty.
I loved Ariel's dress!
After our entrees came dessert!
We both got the no-sugar-added sorbet with berries. Our server added a chocolate crown because she thought we deserved it.
It added a nice touch to the dessert. I ate nearly the whole thing but sadly my mom's mostly went to waste. She was too full!
Cinderella's Royal Table was a really enjoyable experience. I am happy to have finally found out what the hype was all about and, yes, the food isn't great. IMO, you are paying for the experience and the atmosphere. It's unfortunate that the kitchen can't keep the quality of food at the same level. It would be a phenomenal experience otherwise. My suggestion is to come here hungry. Everything tastes better when you're starving, right? It certainly did in this case (even with my pasta fiasco). Your little princesses will LOVE this place.
We had fun too getting pictures with all the characters. And the service was efficient and friendly. What more could you ask for? The fact that this experience costs 2 table service credits makes me think twice before making a reservation. It's good value that the pictures are included with the total meal price but it's not much different from 1900 Park Fare, at least in a characters sense. But, alas, you eat in the castle and you can't have that experience anywhere else in WDW! This is something that you must try at least once. After that, it's up to you if it's worth returning or not.
Overall rating:
(for the food)
(for the service and experience)
on the advice to go when you're starving b/c everything tastes better when you're hungry! 
The view from your table is amazing... that is worth it right there!!
to you and sis for planning a surprise b-day trip for your mom. She's going to love it! 
What nice kids you are! 
but I agree try it at least once!
