OK....I hate buffets,Your Opinion on Crystal Palace

[wcpamotm]

I find CP pretty good for a buffet. It's a place I would go to in spite of characters.

It's the chronic seating backlog that annoys me. Last time, showed up 15 minutes ahead of ADR and was seated over 30 after ADR time.

But then that should be obvious from the throngs of people always milling about the restaurant entrance.

 

[BoosGram]

Sadly, our experience was not very good. The food was much more limited than I expected and I found myself w/food poisoning after eating there. I can definitely say we will not return there again.

 

[Yoshi]

Of the 4 buffets I have eaten at (Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Hollywood and Vine, 1900 Park Fare), I think the food at the Crystal Palace is the best. We ate there 2 1/2 weeks ago and January 2010 both times for lunch and thought the variety of food was very good, especially the deserts which I thought 1900 Park Fare and Hollywood and Vine were lacking in. The service was also good. If I were going to go back to one of those buffets again, it would be Crystal Palace. I used to like Chef Mickey's a lot in the 90's and early 2000's but felt like the food got worse the past few years.

 

[Magic3forme]

We enjoyed our food last time at CP, in Dec we went to 1900 for dinner. The food was really good and the step sisters were hilarious!

H & V is my least favorite buffet, but we would go there to get the Fantasmic package.

I am not a fan of Chef Mickeys, but we go there all the time for the characters.. not the food.

 

[Jrits]

For breakfast, I think it is the character meal with the most variety & great food

We went in May & did CP, CRT, H&V, Norway, & CM - all for breakfast

 

[MickeyNicki]

We will not eat lunch or dinner at any buffets except Cape May, we find the food at dinner buffets is terrible quality and overly salted

That being said CP is a fantastic choice for breakfast, especially if you go at 8:05 before the park opens and the restaurant is very quiet and relaxing with great hot food!

 

[Minniemouse07]

During our trip in December of 2007 we ate at buffets SIX (Chef Mickey's-D, 1900 Park Fare-D, Tusker House-L, Akershus-B (plated/buffet combo), Hollywood & Vine-L, & Crystal Palace) of our nine table service meals...

I would place Crystal Palace DEAD LAST on that list....and it was far below H&V which I would rank 5th.

Don't get me wrong, it was better than the Old Country Buffet we can go to here in PA, but not up to the quality at the rest of the buffets we ate at that week.

FWIW, I would rank Tusker House first for food with a tie between Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fare for best character meal. They both have great character interaction and decent to good food. You may want to give a slight edge to 1900PF for their Strawberry Soup, but then CM's could get a slight edge for having the big mouse.

Since that trip we have also done breakfast at 1900 Park Fare thumbsup2 excellent!) and lunch at Akershus (food was okay...character interaction we good though). We've also returned to dinner at 1900 PF and CMs every trip!

 

[bigal'sdaughter]

I really want to say - it is what it is... I think its just fine for a buffet (we are going back for lunch) - but honestly we do not do character meals for the food - but for the experience. Now 1900 PF dinner and service was really bad ( Lady Tremaine the BEST though!).
If you are going for the food alone - then maybe breakfast would be better (or skip) BUT if you are not a breakfast person (like us) and you are going so someone can see a favorite character - then do it!

 

[DeborahA]

We actually did CP on our last trip for breakfast. We do not usually like buffets but we went for breakfast so we could get in early for pics at the castle. We were very pleasantly surprised by the food. It was very tasty and varied. My Dh ate so much fresh fruit and puffed french toast that I thought I was with someone new--he loved it. We are going back in a few days and it is on our ADR list.

 

[TruBlu]

Ok, I am having my arm twisted. My family wants to eat dinner at the Crystal Palace. We have ate at Boma,Hollywood and Vine, and 1900 Park Fare(really, really,awful!). Boma and Hollywood in Vine were OK to me. Can I get some opinions on Crystal Palace?

We've never tried H&V because of the terrible reviews, so I can't compare to that one. But, we've eaten at all the others. 1900PF was a "one time only" yuck-fest, Boma was very good and we'd definitely do it again (but some of the options were a little odd), and Crystal Palace dinner has been very good every time we've eaten there. They offer a nice variety. My family really loves the salmon and carved meats. The desserts are yummy, and character interaction is FANTASTIC. We love it.

 

[Fantasmic23]

THE LOWDOWN:

We had a 9:10 dinner reservation for CP on Monday, November 29, 2010. A co-worker of my mother's had raved over CP, though she had only been there for breakfast with her two children. I had originally wanted a breakfast seating, but I kind of dropped the ball a bit when it came to making ADRs. My DD LOVES Pooh, so I happily took dinner at 9:10. I believe we arrived at 9:00, but weren't seated until 9:20 or so. I can't be too sure, though.

THE GOOD:

*DD (12) and DS (8) loved the buffet, as I suspected they would. My kids love any kind of buffet. They loved the mac and cheese, especially DS. DD loved all the pasta type salads.

*DS is a type 1 diabetic and has food allergies (tree nuts, bananas, sesame). The chef was excellent about walking us through the buffet, letting DS know what the safest choices were. Unfortunately, everything at the dessert buffet was off limits (food allergy wise) except the ice cream. DS LOVES ice cream, though.

*Characters came around in a very timely manner. They were wonderful (Pooh especially) with the kids. Piglet was kind of "Hi and Bye", but he's not really a favorite with my kids. Sorry, Piglet.

*The server was a nice, attentive, softspoken man from South Carolina. He didn't know exactly where Connecticut was when he asked where we lived, but he did know that it was "somewhere in New England". Fair enough. He did give DS a tip on where to find a Hidden Mickey in the restaurant.

*As we were leaving CP, a cast member took a picture of us standing in front of the Christmas tree. At the last second, Tigger literally slid into the shot. We're all standing and Tigger is lying across our feet. Awesome!

THE BAD:

*DH hated the buffet. Really. Hated. It. Hated it to the point where he gave us the "Quantity versus quality" lecture all the way back to the monorail. Nothing at the buffet put a smile on his face. The kids posing with the characters, yes. The food, NO. He might or might not have had a minor bathroom complaint.

*The buffet was OKAY for me. It was definitely tolerable, but not one of my more memorable buffet experiences. Of course with DH sitting across from me making those "gross" faces, it was hard to really eat or enjoy anything.

*For some reason, DS thought that Pluto (his favorite) would be there, too. After Pooh gave him a big hug, he forgot all about it.

THE UGLY:

*DH got really sick the next day (Vomit sick), but I don't blame CP. I blame that Something Umbrella place in Epcot (Electric Umbrella, maybe?). I told him I didn't like the look of that hamburger. Boo. I had to cancel that night's dinner reservation at Biergarten and DH waited for us while we used our FPs for Soarin'. We went back to our resort shortly after that.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Never again for CP, at least not for dinner (DH tells me never again PERIOD, though).

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

We're going for Lunch in March. I'm a bit scared about the food, but we're going because my DD loves Pooh. I'm not going to tell her "no" because I'm afraid the food is gross! We're at DISNEY, I can't say no to a character meal that she requested! I'm sure I'll find something and anyway, Dining reviews are very subjective. It's really funny - you can ask about literally any restaurant (other than Victoria and Alberts) and you have some people say that they eat there every year, whereas others say that the food is SO disgusting, they're rather eat dirt. I agree that buffets are iffy - I don't expect amazing food at buffets - but I doubt that every last thing is inedible.

 

[Pig Pen]

We like buffets but CP is probably our least favorite. We avoided H&V for years because of the reviews but finally broke down and took our grandson last summer and really, really enjoyed it! He loved the characters (he was 3) and the food wasn't bad.

That being said Boma and Tusker House are our favorites.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

LOTS of people LOVE it, I HATED it.... I found it to be too loud,busy and crazy!!!!!! Plus the food was horrible (to me anyways).

I really loathe Buffet's tho, I feel like there are too many people packed into one tight space. Many people enjoy dining here, so you might like it too!!

However for me personally, I would choose something else

 

[RCharnay]

We waited the longest for our table at CP, the food was mediocre at best, the characters took forever to make the rounds (we left without seeing them all because it was noisy and not a welcoming place) and we paid as much or more for our dinner there as some of our nicer meals of the trip. I won't say I won't ever go back (a grandkids request might make me cave) but I will never willingly go.

 

[ValpoCory]

The best thing about Crystal Palace is making before-rope-drop-reservations, allowing you to get great pictures of the castle with very few people in the picture.

The actual buffet is pretty standard. Nothing great, but nothing horrible either.

We make an early morning ressie at CP on our first full day each Disney World vacation. It's a great tradition. Monday morning can't get here soon enough.

 

[RMulieri]

HAving eaten Breakfast,lunch and dinner at the CP.I can honestly say, I won't be going back.The food was meh and not worth the $$.the service and characters were great though

 

[ncc1701]

DH & I won't do any buffet for dinner. Too many other otption in WDW we would rather doThe CP for breakfast is a must for us.We do it every trip. Have always been happy with the food selection.

 

[imthatgirl]

We've had lunch and dinner there. It was nothing special. If you happen to get in from of the windows the view is nice....but almost always ruined by the people waiting for their tables.

We're in no hurry to return.

 

[OzFan]

I am not a buffet person either, however i really like Boma. That being said I really disliked the food at CP for dinner (breakfast is good).

Ditto!