Please Help With Dining Choices!

[wakethetook]

So I realize that a lot of the enjoyment and purpose of Disney dining is the experience of it and I'd love to experience it all…but it's getting pricy! I have never dined at any of the following and my girls are 2 and 5. I would love any advice on the compare/contrast side of these experiences, what you think is worth the money etc. My choices are:

Akershus, 1900 Park Fare, Cinderella's Royal Table, and Be Our Guest.

I'm kind of feeling like CRT may be overrated (dodges punches) and if it weren't for the experience of being in the castle I would let it go. From what I can tell (You Tube videos) the princesses there don't offer anything more than they do at Akershus. What are your thoughts??

1900 Park Fare seems a nice alternative. I don't love the ambiance at all but my 2 year old eats free with buffet style. It would be pretty great to meet Prince Charming as well, and I've heard the Tremaines are wonderfully entertaining. Also heard it's loud and still pretty pricy.

I feel like if we did Akershus and CRT it would be princess overkill. And truthfully I worry about my girls meeting the "same" princess who strangely looks different everywhere we go. I want to keep the magic alive! Akershus would be breakfast. Any feedback there?

Finally, Be Our Guest. I am dying to go into the castle. I like that it has the lunch alternative to make it cheaper and more accessible. However, my picky eaters won't touch anything on the lunch menu and I really want to glean all that the castle has to offer. I fear the rush of lunch won't allow for that. Our current reservation is fairly late so I'm hoping that will allow us the time to take in every area of the castle.

Any help/advice/experience anyone could pass on would be SO helpful. Trying to make final choices within the next couple of days!

 

[figment_jii]

I've only eaten at Akershus, CRT, and Be Our Guest...so no real thoughts on 1900PF...

From what I can tell (You Tube videos) the princesses there don't offer anything more than they do at Akershus. What are your thoughts??

In terms of the princesses themselves, I would agree that the interaction is pretty similar to Akershus. We met Cinderella (downstairs for photo package at CRT), Ariel, Snow White, and Aurora at both places. CRT also had Jasmine, while Akershus had Belle (yellow dress, photo package). The princesses may vary, so you won't know for sure who you'll see until you get there. Neither venue's interaction seemed markedly different.

Akershus does have the princess parade, which can be fun (but a bit chaotic in a venue where folks are already moving around to go to the buffet for the first course).

If it were me and I had kids who were into princesses, I'd splurge and go to CRT. The experience is worth it, especially if you kids who are into princesses. The castle is fun and they'll get a wand (or sword for the boys). Akerhsus was fine, but neither had outstanding food, so it came down to atmosphere and experience for my family.

Finally, Be Our Guest. I am dying to go into the castle. I like that it has the lunch alternative to make it cheaper and more accessible. However, my picky eaters won't touch anything on the lunch menu and I really want to glean all that the castle has to offer. I fear the rush of lunch won't allow for that. Our current reservation is fairly late so I'm hoping that will allow us the time to take in every area of the castle.

Aside from meeting the Beast at dinner time, the look of the restaurant is the same at lunch and dinner. To me, I would feel less odd wandering around the restaurant and looking at everything at lunch time. During lunch, guests are getting up to get sodas and silverware all the time. At dinner, it's a TS venue, so there is far less movement. I did see guests get up to explore after they ate, but it looked much more out of place. Also, I've read that they do open the Music Box room now at dinner, but when I was there (a year ago), it was closed at dinner time so you could only go look at lunch.

 

[BSil]

I can only speak to three of those. I haven't been to be our guest yet. First, if your daughters love the princesses then you have to eventually visit them all. My daughter was on cloud nine meeting all the princesses, and getting autographs. That made it worth the money for me. It is out of control costly, but they grow out of that phase so fast I would kick myself if I didn't make sure we did them.

As for ratings:

Akershus: We did dinner there. It was pretty terrible. The bread and butter was good. Much of the rest of the buffet was sliced deli meat. The food aside it was still fun. The princesses do a parade around the dinging room, and the kids get in line with them and snake around the dining hall.

CRT: We had breakfast there. For 2 dining credits it is a complete rip off. The breakfast was ok, but nothing stellar. The cost is to meet the princesses. They did a nice job. They are all announced and come out and around to the tables. Again a pretty fun event. Being inside the castle is pretty neat. That alone had my daughter and my son for that matter very excited. Overall we enjoyed it. I don't think I would do it again, but I'm glad we did it once.

1900PF: We did dinner there. Buffet style. The food was actually pretty darn good. The characters at this place I thought were top notch. The step sisters were a riot. The kids got a kick out of them, and they really stayed in character making step sister faces and trying to convince the kids not to let Cinderella sign their autograph book. This has my vote as the best for the money, but only because the food was decent and the entertainment was good. Only 1 princess here, but it was a good take nonetheless.

Hope this helps. Have fun. No matter what you choose you're going to have a blast with the girls.

 

[wakethetook]

Thank you both so much. It helps to bounce ideas off to people with experience! I think I have decided to splurge on CRT, not with any great expectations of food or anything but because you do need to do it while they are the age when it is most magical!

And i think I have now heard far more wonderful things about 1900 Park Fare than negative so we will do that also! Thanks again for the input!