Princess Loving Daughter......

[kidneymomma]

My daughter loves all things princesses and wants to be a Princess when she grows up (the joys of being 5). So I am hoping I get a CRT. If I do get the coveted CRT would it be worth it to do 1900 Park Fare as well? I don't think we would enjoy the one at Epcot because I'm worried about the food and the only breakfast I'm planning on scheduling is brunch at Chef Mickey's on our departure day. I know CRT will have most of the princesses covered. But she literally can't get enough of all things princesses! Has anyone else done both? What are your thoughts on doing both?

 

[muchado]

I am a first timer so not one to give advice on anything Disney except to say that I have a princess-obsessed 5 yr old and we're debating between CRT and Akershus. I wasn't even aware 1900 Park Fare had princesses.

 

[Jon84]

Gotta be Akerhaus Breakfast from what I've seen. 1900 has Cinderella and related Characters for dinner.

In Cali Adventure we did Ariel's Grotto where you get lots of different princesses, which is how Akerhaus works.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

It has been awhile since DD was young and obsessed with princesses but none of us enjoyed CRT, the experience or the food... it was cool to go in the castle but she never wanted to do it again... On the other hand we did Akershus in EP for breakfast multiple times. Decent food, family style, time with princesses, meet n greet with Belle and a free picture (not sure if they still do that).

 

[Kimosabe]

1900 PF is going to give you only one princess for dinner -- i.e., Cinderella. However, it does have Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother (I think -- she was there when we did it), and the stepmother and stepsisters, too. It is probably our favorite "princess" themed character dining, as the steps are hilarious and really make the experience a lot of fun. At some point during the meal, some ballroom dance type music cranks up and Cinderella and the Prince pick someone to dance with them. When we went, we had two families, including three little girls/cousins all dressed like Cinderella and having just been to the Bippidy Boppidy Boutique that afternoon, and Prince Charming danced with all three of them together. As such, our specific memory of that meal is pretty awesome. Either way, it gives you a princess theme but a totally different type of character interaction (and the only place to visit with Prince Charming if your daughter has any desire to do so).

1900 PF for breakfast will include Alice and Mary Poppins, among other British characters (Mad Hatter and some of the Pooh gang). It is a neat assortment of characters, and MP is one of our daughters' absolute favorites, but not exactly princesses, so just be careful which meal you are planning there so that you'll know what you're getting.

And as a final note, if you do the 1900 dinner...be careful not to put the two Cinderella pictures right next to each other in your autograph/scrap book. On our first trip with our girls, we ended up with three photos with Cinderella from various places around WDW, and as you might imagine, she had woken up on three different sides of the bed during that trip. Thankfully, the girls were young enough (oldest was five) that the issue never came up, but again, we focused on not having the three pix anywhere near each other - ha!

 

[kidneymomma]

I see on Askerhaus page that breakfast is until 11; can I get an 11 reservation for breakfast or will it be switched over to lunch? What would be the latest time you would try to get a breakfast resi there?

 

[figment_jii]

There appears to be a gab between breakfast and lunch times at Akershus (e.g., breakfast is from 8:00 am to 11:10 am and lunch is from 11:55 am to 3:30 pm today), so if you got an ADR for a breakfast time, you should be getting breakfast foods. There are princesses at all three meals, so in that way, you'll be okay regardless of what time you dine at Akershus.

Overall, if I had a princess-obsessed child with me, I would probably look to CRT and Akershus for the most princesses. The only draw back is that there is considerable overlap between the two (e.g., often times Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, and Aurora are at both locations).

 

[SM101]

She's only going to be 5 once. I'd go for both CRT and Akershus, a day or two in between if you can.

 

[kidneymomma]

Aurora is her favorite princess --so she will be happy to see her more than once. She has one of those soft princess dolls from the Disney store & it looks awful because it goes everywhere with her. I have to bribe her to wash it. I've had to stitch up her dress numerous times. She received a new one for her birthday but the dress was a little different & it wasn't as special she said because she didn't get it from the Disney store with me.

The reason I was considering 1900 park fare was the evil strep sisters & mother. They don't do any other meals correct? And Cinderella is another fav. Is Prince Charming at both CRT & 1900?

 

[shaneray]

Prince Charming is only at 1900 as are the steps.

 

[kidneymomma]

Well maybe I should do all 3; I was thinking on doing Crystal Palace because once upon a time before she became princess crazy she did enjoy watching Winnie the Pooh, and our 2 year old son will be with us. I know he won't remember it but when he looks back at pictures I don't want them to be all princesses. We are doing chef mickeys on our departure day; as he is obsessed with Mickey and I was planning on doing Hollywood & vine the fantasmic dinner package to see the Disney Jr characters.

 

[kidneymomma]

So we are surprising DD with this trip but we've been to land and did Ariels Grotto. I asked her about that and asked her if we ever went to world if she'd want to meet the steps she said no, and no to Prince Charming too. So I guess that eliminates the need for PF

 

[ktlm]

I had a Princess crazy kid from age 2 to age 8, and one who still really likes them at age 9, but is not quite as obsessed. Our house was all Disney Princess all the time for years. Her walls are painted Bibbidi, Bobbidi Blue (real paint color from the Disney line). We go to WDW every year, and for a few years we did CRT, 1900 dinner, and Akershus every trip. When they are that Princess obsessed, there is no such thing as Princess overload. Akershus is the only one that has dropped off the list- she much prefers CRT- who doesn't want to eat in a castle and get a wand and star? She is a huge Cinderella fan so the steps, stepmother and Prince are on her must list. The stepsisters are hilarious at 1900. But, if your DD really doesn't want to meet the Prince, Steps and Stepmother, then that would be the one to cut out. DD doesn't mind princess overlap- she would have seen them all every day if she could- but you will get overlap at CRT/Akershus as someone said above. The main difference is that at CRT you get a formal portrait with Cinderella, where at Akershus you get a formal portrait with Belle. CRT has Jasmine, and not Belle. The only other place that DD has ranked as high as Princess meals is Biergarten at Epcot. There is a band that plays and a dance floor where the kids can go out and dance during the show. If you don't want to do Akershus, that is another one to consider.

Unlike Ariel's Grotto where there is some variation as to which princesses might be there, CRT and Akershus are standardized. Unless someone is sick and there is a substitution, the ones listed above are the ones you are going to get. We were so excited to see Tiana Rapunzel Mulan and Pocahontas at Ariel's (not all on the same trip). We also love seeing Belle walking the tables in her gold dress at Ariel's as the long time rumor at WDW has been that she can't because the dress is too big- which clearly is not true. She used to walk CRT in her blue dress, but they switched her out with Jasmine when Enchanted Tales with Belle opened.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I must say Akershus for breakfast was one of our favorite meals of the trip and a great way to utilize dining plan credits, since it is only 1 TS credit and not 2. You get the photo with Belle before being seated and when we went in November, we had Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel and Snow White come around to the table. Not only were the princess interactions great, but the food was great too, so for 1 credit on the ddp, this is the way to go for us. We even enjoyed it so much, we said we'd pay OOP when we take my niece for her first trip in 2016. I am glad we got to go before they started charging for the photos with Belle in the foyer- these were definitely an added bonus to only using 1 TS credit on our dining plan... it is a shame they don't include them anymore. I don't think we would do lunch or dinner here, as we loved the food for breakfast.

CRT gets so many negative reviews - I see negative reviews all the time for the food and that the princesses were rushed through. You are definitely paying for the location with this one. I wish I was going to Akershus again this year, but my friend really wanted her daughter to experience the castle so we are doing breakfast at CRT.. I am hoping we have a better experience than what I read.

We also did 1900 PF for dinner last November and the characters were awesome- Cinderella, Prince Charming, Step sisters and Lady Tremaine. It was our least favorite meal of the trip, because of the food but we loved the characters at this meal.

 

[kjmollypup]

So we are surprising DD with this trip but we've been to land and did Ariels Grotto. I asked her about that and asked her if we ever went to world if she'd want to meet the steps she said no, and no to Prince Charming too. So I guess that eliminates the need for PF

Well, I'm glad she's helping you narrow it down! I just did Akershus breakfast last week, which was one of our favorite meals of the week. The food is a little different (meats and cheeses before 9 AM isn't my usual cup of tea, but some of our party really enjoyed them). What we really liked was not having to go to another buffet line. By that point in the week, we had done Chef Mickey's breakfast and Hollywood and Vine lunch, both of which were fun with the characters, and both of which were not restful in the slightest as I had to time getting my food and even eating it with trying to get autographs and pictures of the characters. Since breakfast at Akershus was served family style, and we were able to ask for more of some items, it made things much more enjoyable. Both my six year old girl and four year old boy are still talking about the kiss he got from Ariel there.
The next morning we did Crystal Palace, and it was another buffet, and more of the same in terms of trying to take pictures. The positive for you is that both CRT and Akershus will be more relaxing meals in this sense, and we liked the food fine enough at all places, but we have already said we will try to do more family style next time. Just my two cents.