ktschultz1
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2009
- Messages
- 70
Traveled to the world 1/20 1/29 for our second time. It was myself, DH and our two DDs age 4.5 and 1. We ate at a lot of the character meals quick reviews and our ranking are below, sorry no pictures. If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer them!
Princess meals
First Place CRT We didnt have high expectations for CRT given the mixed reviews and we were pleasantly surprised. We were seated promptly and had a nice window seat there seemed to be more space between tables here than there was at Akershus. The rock shrimp cocktail was good, DH had the seafood pasta which was very good, I had the beef tenderloin which was acceptable but not great. The Valrhona mousse was better than the dessert trio. The childrens chicken nuggets were actual chicken breast and came with cheese, grapes and corn plus a decorate your own cupcake - DD was too wiped out to eat much of it but I assume it was all fine.
Second Place- Akershus - Second time dining at this restaurant and we were not as impressed as the first. Tables in the area we were sitting in were way too crowded which prohibited us from getting good pictures or the princesses having too much room to move around while interacting with the kids. Salads and fruit on the cold buffet were fine, main entrees salmon and beef tips were ok but not great, chocolate mousse was the best of the desserts. The childrens meal was very nice salmon and corn plus the cold buffet.
A distant Thrid 1900 Park Fare. This experience isnt even in the same league as CRT or Akershus. There is really no magic to the interaction with Cinderella, Prince Charming or the Fairy God Mother. The step sisters are comical but not enough to warrant a reservation here. The food quality was terrible on par with an Old Country Buffet and considering the restaurant is located at the GF I expected much more. I was able to make a nice meal of the salads and fruit but the meat options and desserts were unappealing.
I would recommend either CRT or Akershus to anyone looking for a princess meal. CRT was a better experience but given the 2 credits on the DDP or the additional cost over Akershus if paying out of pocket I would say they are about equal. I would not recommend 1900 Park Fare to anyone. The step sisters were fun to interact with but the food quality is so much poorer than either CRT or Akershus they arent even comparable.
Character Meals-
Tusker House Breakfast Good quality fresh breakfast foods and lots of options. A few ethnic dishes which were fun to try plus all the regular breakfast items. Characters made it around the restaurant several times and there was enough space for them to play around with our children without bumping into the other tables.
Crystal Palace Good selection of fresh fruit and salads. Meats tasted bland and werent great cuts. Desserts were ok. Took characters the longest to make it to our table of any character meal we had.
Garden Grill It was nice to be served here and not have to run to the buffet although there werent as many options this way. Mahi Mahi was good, steak was good, turkey was ok. Salad had a bit too much spicy kick to the dressing. Kids options were good chicken legs, mac n cheese, broccoli and sweet potato fries I tried the broccoli and fries and they were a nice change from the standard kids buffet items. Neither the adult nor the kids desserts were very good. The adult dessert was a cobbler which would have been much better were it served with ice cream and the kids option was a red velvet cake lady bug which was very dry. Interaction from Chip and Dale was great, Mickey and Pluto was good.
Of these character meals I would recommend Tusker House first and would put Garden Grill slightly above Crystal Palace mostly because the quality of the meats was better at Garden Grill and the setting is a bit more unique. However, our DD 4 enjoyed all of them and the two buffets were better for picking out items our 1 year old could eat.
Non Character Meals Raglan Road was the only non character meal we did the dancers and music were great but the food was very rich. I had the chowder and it was good but I couldnt eat it all because of the richness. DH had the ribs and it was ok but was prepared more like and tasted like a roast and he was expecting actual ribs. The childrens meal was good fresh battered chicken strips and fresh steamed veggies in butter which were really good. The bread and butter pudding was good but again too rich and the dunbrody kiss was good. This was a difficult place to eat with our kids. The restaurant is kid friendly but we were seated right next to the stage which was nice for seeing the dancers but was hard when the dancers were performing and we needed to move around to tend to the kids, run to the bathroom etc as everyone in the dining room was facing our table constantly. I would recommend Raglan Road only if you have kids that are over 3 or so and can sit for a bit longer than our 1 year old could.
Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has. Hope this helps someone.
Thanks!
Princess meals
First Place CRT We didnt have high expectations for CRT given the mixed reviews and we were pleasantly surprised. We were seated promptly and had a nice window seat there seemed to be more space between tables here than there was at Akershus. The rock shrimp cocktail was good, DH had the seafood pasta which was very good, I had the beef tenderloin which was acceptable but not great. The Valrhona mousse was better than the dessert trio. The childrens chicken nuggets were actual chicken breast and came with cheese, grapes and corn plus a decorate your own cupcake - DD was too wiped out to eat much of it but I assume it was all fine.
Second Place- Akershus - Second time dining at this restaurant and we were not as impressed as the first. Tables in the area we were sitting in were way too crowded which prohibited us from getting good pictures or the princesses having too much room to move around while interacting with the kids. Salads and fruit on the cold buffet were fine, main entrees salmon and beef tips were ok but not great, chocolate mousse was the best of the desserts. The childrens meal was very nice salmon and corn plus the cold buffet.
A distant Thrid 1900 Park Fare. This experience isnt even in the same league as CRT or Akershus. There is really no magic to the interaction with Cinderella, Prince Charming or the Fairy God Mother. The step sisters are comical but not enough to warrant a reservation here. The food quality was terrible on par with an Old Country Buffet and considering the restaurant is located at the GF I expected much more. I was able to make a nice meal of the salads and fruit but the meat options and desserts were unappealing.
I would recommend either CRT or Akershus to anyone looking for a princess meal. CRT was a better experience but given the 2 credits on the DDP or the additional cost over Akershus if paying out of pocket I would say they are about equal. I would not recommend 1900 Park Fare to anyone. The step sisters were fun to interact with but the food quality is so much poorer than either CRT or Akershus they arent even comparable.
Character Meals-
Tusker House Breakfast Good quality fresh breakfast foods and lots of options. A few ethnic dishes which were fun to try plus all the regular breakfast items. Characters made it around the restaurant several times and there was enough space for them to play around with our children without bumping into the other tables.
Crystal Palace Good selection of fresh fruit and salads. Meats tasted bland and werent great cuts. Desserts were ok. Took characters the longest to make it to our table of any character meal we had.
Garden Grill It was nice to be served here and not have to run to the buffet although there werent as many options this way. Mahi Mahi was good, steak was good, turkey was ok. Salad had a bit too much spicy kick to the dressing. Kids options were good chicken legs, mac n cheese, broccoli and sweet potato fries I tried the broccoli and fries and they were a nice change from the standard kids buffet items. Neither the adult nor the kids desserts were very good. The adult dessert was a cobbler which would have been much better were it served with ice cream and the kids option was a red velvet cake lady bug which was very dry. Interaction from Chip and Dale was great, Mickey and Pluto was good.
Of these character meals I would recommend Tusker House first and would put Garden Grill slightly above Crystal Palace mostly because the quality of the meats was better at Garden Grill and the setting is a bit more unique. However, our DD 4 enjoyed all of them and the two buffets were better for picking out items our 1 year old could eat.
Non Character Meals Raglan Road was the only non character meal we did the dancers and music were great but the food was very rich. I had the chowder and it was good but I couldnt eat it all because of the richness. DH had the ribs and it was ok but was prepared more like and tasted like a roast and he was expecting actual ribs. The childrens meal was good fresh battered chicken strips and fresh steamed veggies in butter which were really good. The bread and butter pudding was good but again too rich and the dunbrody kiss was good. This was a difficult place to eat with our kids. The restaurant is kid friendly but we were seated right next to the stage which was nice for seeing the dancers but was hard when the dancers were performing and we needed to move around to tend to the kids, run to the bathroom etc as everyone in the dining room was facing our table constantly. I would recommend Raglan Road only if you have kids that are over 3 or so and can sit for a bit longer than our 1 year old could.
Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has. Hope this helps someone.
Thanks!
