On a budget and need to let go of either Crystal Palace breakfast or Garden Grill dinner.

[LovesTimone]

Crystal Place... There are more options to choose from - its a true buffet, and for my family we love breakfast here. We try to get either a before park opening so we can get some shots of the castle and such without the crowds, or when they are turning over to lunch 11:00 to 11:30 mark.. we have been a few times where there are only a few breakfast items and more lunch items, and once or twice they had completely almost switched to lunch... with just some Mickey waffles, left from breakfast but they were hot and good.

We are really not big on the family style, for us the selection is not adequate for the cost. Plus getting refills has been an issue. Plus we have picky eaters so for us a traditional buffet is the way to go.

 

[cobright]

CP is a treasure, easily the best fur char experience from a quality of interaction perspective. And the food is quite good. I thought the characters at GG were great but the food was just okay.

Thinking outside the box...CRT is really a poor value imo. Food value and character interaction simply don't rate the price they charge. Yes Akershus is not inside THE castle, but it's inside A castle (of sorts). Or a fortified Viking dining hall, which is pretty sweet. The food is great. And the princess MnG means a lot less character stalking in the parks. And for a much cheaper price, gurl-kiddo maybe gets a special souvenir for relenting on CRT. I think there's a dessert party in MK that about matches difference in price.

Failing that gambit, or in addition to it maybe, dump rainforest Cafe. Come on, this place couldn't pop the Disney bubble any harder if it were a Panda Express. If you've sunk the money into a gift card I would still take the loss and sell it through a service like raise.com. You lose about 20% of the card value but get that money liquid again to spend on Magical Disney Fun. If that doesn't work for you, you can probably use the rainforest gift card at T-Rex in Disney Springs. I personally hated TRex even a little more than the Rainforest Cafe, but at least it's a uniquely Disney experience. The kids also enjoyed TRex. They enjoy Rainforest too but there's one of those in most states.

So that's my, only partially solicited, advice. Good luck, happy dining.

 

[Jnbm63]

CP is a treasure, easily the best fur char experience from a quality of interaction perspective. And the food is quite good. I thought the characters at GG were great but the food was just okay.

Thinking outside the box...CRT is really a poor value imo. Food value and character interaction simply don't rate the price they charge. Yes Akershus is not inside THE castle, but it's inside A castle (of sorts). Or a fortified Viking dining hall, which is pretty sweet. The food is great. And the princess MnG means a lot less character stalking in the parks. And for a much cheaper price, gurl-kiddo maybe gets a special souvenir for relenting on CRT. I think there's a dessert party in MK that about matches difference in price.

Failing that gambit, or in addition to it maybe, dump rainforest Cafe. Come on, this place couldn't pop the Disney bubble any harder if it were a Panda Express. If you've sunk the money into a gift card I would still take the loss and sell it through a service like raise.com. You lose about 20% of the card value but get that money liquid again to spend on Magical Disney Fun. If that doesn't work for you, you can probably use the rainforest gift card at T-Rex in Disney Springs. I personally hated TRex even a little more than the Rainforest Cafe, but at least it's a uniquely Disney experience. The kids also enjoyed TRex. They enjoy Rainforest too but there's one of those in most states.

So that's my, only partially solicited, advice. Good luck, happy dining.

I have $100 worth of gift cards I got for free from couponing. That is the only reason we are going to Rainforest cafe and the closest one is 4-5 hours away from where we live. Thanks!

 

[TwoMisfits]

I have $100 worth of gift cards I got for free from couponing. That is the only reason we are going to Rainforest cafe and the closest one is 4-5 hours away from where we live. Thanks!

7-10 is a good age for the Rainforest Cafe, so you all should have a good time there (especially since you can pretty much ignore pricing thanks to the gift cards)...

PS - And most Rainforest Cafe's consider kids 10 and under, not 9 and under, so you should be able to have all 3 kids order from the kids menu, if desired, with zero hassle or worry, even though it's 3rd party...https://www.rainforestcafe.com/menu.asp and https://touringplans.com/animal-kin...t-cafe-animal-kingdom/menus/kids-lunch-dinner

 

[cobright]

I have $100 worth of gift cards I got for free from couponing. That is the only reason we are going to Rainforest cafe

If you like rainforrest cafe then by all means; some people must like them. But it's possible you might be able to use those gift cards at T Rex instead. The foods not any better but the decor is pretty awesome. If you got any dinophiles it would balance out the princess and pooh items on the itinerary already.

I'm certainly not suggesting anyone eat at T Rex, but the foods no worse than rainforest and it's something that can only be done at WDW.

 

[Nancyg56]

If you like rainforrest cafe then by all means; some people must like them. But it's possible you might be able to use those gift cards at T Rex instead. The foods not any better but the decor is pretty awesome. If you got any dinophiles it would balance out the princess and pooh items on the itinerary already.

I'm certainly not suggesting anyone eat at T Rex, but the foods no worse than rainforest and it's something that can only be done at WDW.

I would check to see if they are valid at Trex as well. When we dined at Rainforest, they just phoned it in.

 

[rg35]

There's no benefit to PPO ADRs anymore. Crystal Palace is fine. It's an expensive breakfast. Does your party love the Pooh characters?

I like the meal at GG and thought the character interactions there were excellent. I know that CP is "winning" as the ADR to keep, but I wouldn't keep that one. I also think breakfast buffets are a much worse value than other AYCTE meals.

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

If you like rainforrest cafe then by all means; some people must like them. But it's possible you might be able to use those gift cards at T Rex instead. The foods not any better but the decor is pretty awesome. If you got any dinophiles it would balance out the princess and pooh items on the itinerary already.

I'm certainly not suggesting anyone eat at T Rex, but the foods no worse than rainforest and it's something that can only be done at WDW.

We used to have a TRex Cafe in KC but it closed a couple years ago so we never ate at the Trex but ate at the Rainforest Cafe our trips for the same reason. Trex wasn't special for our area but Rainforest was unique as there isn't one near our area. Now this fall we ended up at both due to some last minute schedule adjustments and with my Landry's card we could skip the line without an ADR. And yes OP I would recommend T Rex over Rainforest as the food is similar but our service was far better at T Rex than Rainforest. I also felt the effects and theming was better at T Rex.