Scared of the Crystal Palace!

[cmurray234]

Count me in, I just think the food is horrid

Us too. We simply don't enjoy the food selections. Also, my kids are older and couldn't care less about the Winnie the Pooh gang.

I would actually rather eat at CHH.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

Count me in as a Crystal Palace lover. We try to visit every trip for breakfast - it's our little tradition. We've never had any problem - I think the most we have ever waited was probably 10 minutes. The food is fine - since we mostly do breakfast it's just regular breakfast stuff. I much prefer it to Chef Mickey's. The characters can take a while to make it all the way around but just tell your waitress/waiter if one skips you - they will make arrangements so you can see them before you leave (example: Piglet skipped our table and never made it ... we told our waitress (actually I think she may have asked if we saw everyone) and she told the character handler. Piglet met us by the door and took a picture with us and signed books ... easy).

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

We had a good experience with breakfast at the Crystal Palace; but our ADR was at 8:10am before the MK opened. I imagine that with the restaurant's location and it being a character meal that our experience could have been a lot different if our ADR was later in the day, especially around dinner time. I would recommend trying a pre-park opening breakfast ADR if you can get one.

 

[rozlady]

We were there for dinner last Tuesday 12/27) and loved it. The food was very good and the service was also good. The waitresses kept checking on us and made sure our drinks were refilled. All the characters (except the piggy) spent enough time at our table and indulged our 4 yr olds for pictures & hugs. I highly recommend the coconut flan for dessert !!!!

 

[lions1995]

We make CP our first day resvervation every visit. I have never had a bad experience. One time after being seated, we were given a FP voucher for everyone due to our wait (which seemed like it was 10 minutes at the best). Last ime we went, I thought the character parade was scaled down a bit and the characters seemed to take a few more breaks. That said, we saw all the characters over a 45 period. As for the food, for a buffet I think it is good (not great but never bad). As stated before, everyone has their own experciences and opinions. If you try it again and still do not like it (though I hope you do), cross it off the list for future visits.

 

[Mrs. Potts]

My kids are much older now, but we never miss breakfast at the Crystal Palace. In fact we ate there at both Thanksgiving and Christmas time. We had early morning reservations both times and waited maybe 10 minutes to be seated. Oddly enough, we ate breakfast there Christmas morning and it was not as crazy as I thought. I guess everyone slept in that morning!

 

[pamkas]

Why would you wait over an hour before complaining?

 

[JennyDrake]

I am a Hard Core Foodie, so bear that in mind. I have a hard time understanding the masses that adore CP. I didn't think the food was BAD any of the 3-4 times I have eaten there, but there was nothing outstanding and the place is LOUD and chaotic even by character meal standards.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Why would you wait over an hour before complaining?

I never said I didn't complain! We checked in several times but there were throngs of angry people around, all upset with the wait. We realized they were doing the best they could... but it was by far a good experience for us.

 

[scrappinannie]

We've been to CP for breakfast several times and never had a bad experience. In fact, it's one of our "must dos" when we visit MK. That being said, it's never been a fast meal, as most character/sit down meals at Disney are not. We've waited past our ADR time a couple of times, but we go in knowing it's NOT a reservation, just as estimated time of seating, if you will. We rarely arrive early as we know that just means we wait longer with kids that just get more restless. But we love the food and the last time we were there, we probably sat there for over an hour, just enjoying the atmosphere. The characters came around several times, and after 2 times, they no longer stopped at our table but that was fine. We had had our time and were just enjoying sitting back and having a nice meal and watching the characters with the other diners. You kind of have to expect you may miss a character when you leave the table to get your food, but they come back around.

Now, Chef Mickey's I'm afraid of. I love the atmosphere, the characters, even some of the food, but man $90 for breakfast for the 3 of us was a killer!!!And my DD was only 3 at the time, she only ate cheerios and a banana. We may try it again sometime when our little eaters are bigger eaters, but my wallet really cringes at the price of just average food. I've had equal or better food (breakfast anyway) at Golden Corral or Ryan's for $20!!!

But I guess we pay for Disney, don't we? And we're all SUCKERS cause we'll do it again and again.

 

[ashmarie06]

I have eaten there 3 or 4 times. DBF and I went there in June of 2011 and managed to walk up and be seated within 30 min. We saw one character and the food is so, so. Our waitress was awful, and for someone just supplying drinks really didn't have it together. Yet i keep going back and it never gets old. I would definately give it another shot. It has been different every single time i've went.

 

[minnie mum]

Not sure why anyone would be scared of a restaurant. If you don't like it, then don't go. If you want to give it a second chance (after all, any restaurant can have an off day, or any server can have an off day) then give it a shot. Every person has his or her unique perception when it comes to dining. What I find enjoyable may not be for another person. And vice versa.

 

[Keegansmommy]

We've done dinner there twice and it's been awful. We're trying lunch there this trip just so my little boys can have a character meal with some different characters. I'm really hoping the food AND service is better.

The worst experience was when we went for my mom's b-day. We had ordered a custom cake and had it sent there. The cake was NOT worth the money it cost. It looked like something someone just learning how to decorate whipped up. Anyway, we finished our dinner and sat there FOREVER. My mom didn't know about the cake but we finally had to ask our waitress where it was. She was very confused even though the CM checking us in asked about it and it said in large letters on our receipt that we had a cake. She finally got around to bringing it out and just set it on the table. We had to track he down again to ask for a knife to cut it and forks (since she took our other ones). Our other experience wasn't much better than that.

 

[crusoe2]

I'm a little leary of trying CP again myself. We had lunch there a couple years ago and were pretty satisfied with it. The wait wasn't that long and the food was okay (altho nothing to write home about). The pictures I've seen of their breakfast buffet looked yummy tho. So for our trip last June, I booked a pre park-opening breakfast. So many people recommend this and we thought it'd be great to get in early, have a nice breakfast, and be ready to hit the attractions just as they were opening. We had an ADR for 8:15 and arrived about 8:10, checked in at the window, and got our beeper. At 8:45 we were still waiting to get in so I went back to the window to see what was up. The CM acted put out that I'd asked and assured me it would only be a few more minutes. I wasn't offered any explanation as to what was taking so long and can't imagine what the hold up was - our ADR was for 10 minutes after opening time and was supposed to be one of the first seatings of the day. We shouldn't have had to wait for someone else to finish their meal before we could be seated. And it kinda defeated the purpose of going so early if we weren't going to be seated until about time for the park to open to the general public. At any rate, I told her no thanks and gave her the beeper back and we got our Mickey waffles at Sleepy Hollow later that morning.

 

[DznyCrzy11]

Check out Ohana for breakfast! We have eaten there a couple times and both times were above expectations! Both times we had ADR. We had about a 10 minute wait before being seated, but it didn't seem that long because they also take a picture. Mickey Mouse, Lilo, Stitch, and Pluto all go to EACH table!!! The food was great both times and the place is clean and has a great atmosphere!

 

[jdearman77]

I thought the food was good, not great but good for the value of the character meal experience. Its your standard buffet style b-fast though nothing fancy.

You get quality time with the Winnie the Pooh chars, you'll see piglet, Tigger, and pooh and the gang and its a fun experience.

Overall I'd rate it a B+/A-

I had no problems getting in at my assigned time by Disney Reservations
(I had the dining plan then as I stayed at All star Music)

But this time I'm staying off property at Silver Lake Resort so I'll find out if they treat non disney guests differently or not
I have a dining online reservation for Crystal palace char breakfast on Feb 2nd.

 

[jdearman77]

Ohana is impossible to get a reservation online. Every time I check its sold out no matter what date-time you try for.

I tried for my entire trip b-fast and dinner for the char b-fast/dinner Jan 27-Feb3 and every day it was sold out no reservations were available online

How do you get into Ohana? Do you have to book like a year in advance at least?

Are there last minute cancellation # or something where you can call a day before or the day of and see if they have a spot open up?

 

[MLinDisney]

My family ate breakfast there before park open and it was wonderful. There really wasn't any crowd (we were there in late October) and we had great interaction with the Pooh characters.

Going into the MK before it's open was REALLY cool. Main Street was mainly deserted and we got some great Cinderella Castle pictures.

As far as the restaurant itself we loved the variety and food quality at breakfast. We've never tried dinner there.

I'm going in September. I will be making ADRs March 5th. I want an 8:05 ADR because we would love to see the park before opening and after breakfast, get to the rope first. I wanted to check to see if I could get an 8:05. The other day, I went online at 6 am and put in CP at 8:05 and 8:20 came up. I tried a few days in a row, but before hand I had the time and CP typed in all ready and all I had to to is click "search for a table" and each time it came up 8:20. Is this because of the 180+10? The families who check in a week before me had first choice?