This used to be my family's favorite character meal. By family, I mean me, dh, and 2 kids; my parents, my brother and his wife and kids; and my single brother. We loved the place- I mean, we try to eat here at least twice each trip. However, after this past Jan. trip, my parents have vowed to never return. We ate here twice in Jan- once for dinner and once for lunch. Both experiences were less than great. The food was ok- not as good as we had remembered and some of it cold- and my mother got an upset stomach after both times we ate here (never has happened before). The characters, however, were a different story. The first dinner, we were seated and then told to go ahead and get our food b/c the characters were a while away. So, we did- except dh and dd stayed at our table with our stuff and were going when someone got back. Well, as soon as we were out of sight he said, Eeyore came by. Ok, no problem, he asked the handler to bring him back and he said he would- there were 3 tables that were told to get their food and all 3 missed Eeyore. Well, we finished our meal- dessert and all- and still had only seen 2 characters. Pooh is entering our room, so we wait to see him- a good 20 more minutes. During that time, I go ask Eeyore's handler again to please bring him back b/c 3 tables missed him. No problem he said, as soon as Eeyore finished his rounds. Well, we watched from the other side of the restaurant as Eeyore finished his last table and went in for a break. Pooh was still a few tables away, and we had been waiting and waiting, and I was getting ill. So, I went to ask for a character manager (the waitresses try, but can not do anything with the characters really, you have to have their handlers or the handler manager). The manager comes over politely and I explain what had happened and how we missed Eeyore. He offers to meet us in the middle of the restaurant to get our picture with Eeyore- I said that would be great- but he missed 2 other tables also. Basically the guy said that if they didn't complain, it was not his problem. I told the other tables to complain, but I don't think they did. But, Pooh still was not there- so I asked if we could wait on Pooh b/c we hadn't seen him either. Fine he said. Anyway, we did see all 4 characters, but it took asking for a manager and waiting probably 30 minutes total after we had finished eating- we were in that place forever!!!
We decided this may have just been an off day and kept our ADR for lunch later in the week. Our lunch was 5 days later. Unfortunately, it was the very same thing that day. We were on the opposite side of the restaurant and had the same experience- this time it was Piglet we missed- and the tables around us. And, we left b/c we didn't want to sit there after our meal to wait on the other character- so we were there over an hour and saw only 2 characters. The food was ok this time too- not as good as in trips past.
I don't know what has happened to Crystal Palace, but we were very, very disappointed. This used to be the place we looked forward to the most (except the castle breakfast- for the princesses, not the food), but now it could be off our list permanently. Maybe they were just having a bad week, but it was very disorganized and chaotic- unlike any of the other character meals we ate at that week or have eaten at in the past.
. Really, IMO the two meals are very similiar except different characters, and CP has more of a variety for the food.
