Terrible Time at Crystal Palace

[haley's mom]

Anyone else have issues with CP? We ate dinner there for the 1st time this past Tuesday (our arrival day). We arrived early for our reservation, checked in and waited almost 35 minutes to get a table. Once inside it was freezing. My DD and I changed into jeans, but I did not pack a long-sleeve shirt that was required.

Anyhow, my DH and I took turns going to the buffet, to be sure and not miss any characters. Well, we did not have to worry! We were done eating in about 45 minutes. Sat around for an additional 10 minutes, until I finally asked our server WHEN ARE THE CHARACTERS COMING TO OUR TABLE? We were there for 55 minutes and no characters! Our server (Carrie) was great and contacted a "character keeper". The girl comes to our table and accused us of being at the buffet and missing the characters. Now that was terrible assumption. We met 0, count them 0, characters. So how long were we at the buffet????

So she tells us that she cannot bring the characters to our table, but she can walk us to them. Which was a nice touch, but if I wanted to wait in line to see the characters, I would not have paid $90 for this meal. I would have went to Animal Kingdom and waited in line.

I picked this due to great reviews, and I am so upset and disappointed. You are supposed to be able to dine with the characters. Not walk around and squeeze in between other guests and feel rushed.

I feel like writing a letter to Disney and venting. Would this be wrong?

Finally I was talking to a woman on Sunday at the Christmas Party and she was complaining about CP and only getting to meet 2 of the characters.

What is going on?

 

[Luvamouse]

I am sorry that it worked so poorly for you. I felt it was very well organized when we went on the 21st of November. We did wait about 20 minutes after our ADR time, but I expected some wait. I found it rather comfortable in there as it was at least 80 outside! We saw all the characters with plenty of time in between to run back to the buffet for seconds, dessert, etc. However, I'll bet that there are some times when they get hung up at a table and the whole thing is out of whack.

I agree that it is unacceptable to only see 2 of them for the price you pay. I also don't think it makes sense to blame you for being at the buffet. It isn't like you leave to get food when the characters are 2 or 3 tables away. Give it a day or two, but if you decide to write a letter, be sure to explain it in good, practical terms of what you expected and what you got. Feedback-- good and bad-- never hurts.

 

[englishrose47]

We were there in May and had great Character interaction they all came around spaced out nicely and the server kept us informed when they would be coming1 I noted you didn't complain about the food ! I thought it was the best buffet of our trip. I am sorry that you had such a bad experience, but I think it is not the norm for CP!

 

[Pumbaa_]

How disappointing! I'm sorry your experience at CP was so disappointing. I can honestly say we have never experienced that. I would write a letter to Disney to share your story. If nothing else, it will make you feel better to tell them what happened.

Hope the rest of your trip was better

 

[Eoywin]

This seems strange to me... we were at the CP in October, and we had a similar stragedy as I really wanted pictures with the characters.

We got to meet Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tiger, and got to spend a few minutes with them.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience!

 

[kldmom2000]

We had a similar first-time experience in August....

I booked lunch @ CP based on all the rave reviews here on the Dis. It was insanely hot of course because of the summer. We showed up @ 11:30 for our 11:45 ADR. There must have been over 75 people waiting outside (I'm NOT exaggerating!). They were still honoring walk-ups and giving them pagers. At 12:30, we were seated. The characters must have JUST been in our area because we waited nearly an hour before we got a visit from Pooh and Piglet.... then another 20 min for Eeyore. Tigger never made it from the other side of the restaurant in the 1 hour and 30 min. we were seated and he was the one my 7 yr old DD wanted to meet most

The line for the buffet was INSANE The food was excellent, but not worth the hassle and crowd IMO.

Suffice to say we will not be dining @ CP again

 

[AnnetteF]

We had a very similar experience to yours when we were there in August. We waited a long time to get in. DH and I aren't big fans of buffets but DD is 3 1/2 and I thought she would really love seeing Pooh and friends. As it turns out, we thought the food was very good, but sat for a long time before any characters came near us. I didn't even feel like I was at a character meal! And either DH or I were at the table with DD at all times, so we definitely did not miss them. Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet each came to our table once for a very brief visit and posed for a picture, but we were done with our meals for a while and still waiting for Pooh! We finally complained to our server and he eventually came over, but we were very underwhelmed by the whole experience. DD was even dressed in her little pink Pooh dress, but got very little attention from any of them. This was very different from our experiences at LTT, GG, H&V, CRT, and PSB, where we frequently saw characters multiple times at one meal.
DD actually got the chance to see Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore again on that trip in the UK in EPCOT. That was a much better experience with those characters and we won't be going back to CP.

 

[mom2my3kids]

We ate breakfast there in Sept, had a blast the kids got to meet all of the characters except Piglet we were in the buffet line when he came around.

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

We had a great experience for lunch there in May and will be going back next May as well. It is the one place that we are repeating from our last trip.

 

[Hootch]

problem, but I have seen it happen. This past summer as we were being seated a woman at a table next to us was complaining to a manager that the characters had not been by their table. All four were there right after that. It's a big deal when you have young kids and the woman did the correct thing.

I think we did four character meals this year and only at CRT were did someone verify that all the characters had been there.

 

[MickeyNicki]

While we have never had issues with the food (it is always good) the character interaction has been terrible? We were there for breakfast in Oct and we were there for about 40 minutes and all 4 characters were on the other side of the dining room and never made it over to our side. Now we are just 2 adults so it really isnt that big a deal but there were families around us that were flipping out and yelling at waitresses and asking for the manager. I think they should have 2 characters on each side at all times.

 

[missypie]

It makes no sense to me that so many of the Character Meals are buffets. It makes you afraid to leave your table, for fear of missing a character. For a calmer table service experience, try Akershus (the princesses) or Liberty Tree Tavern (Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale in colonial costumes.

 

[doodle]

Hi haley's mom! Sorry you had a bad experience. You ask about writing Disney........I think you definitely should. While your experience is probably not typical it seems clear that others have had similar experiences. Disney needs to know what the guest's experience is. Below is the info to contact them.

WDW Guest Communications
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL
32830-0040

wdw.guestcommunications@disneyworld.com

 

[hdmichael]

We ate there twice last week- Tuesday (11/27) and Thursday (11/29). On Tuesday, all of the characters but Piglet stopped at our table within 15 minutes, but we were there for over an hour before Piglet stopped. The second time the characters were more spaced out, but it still took almost the entire hour for them to get around to our table. For none of them to stop by in the time you were there is inexcusable, and they should have brought them over to your table. You couldn't have missed all of them, it was obviously a mistake on their part.

 

[PlutosFriend]

Sorry you had a bad experience. We personally have not had any issues there, but the past two times we have been there, I have witnessed two other upset families complaining about the characters missing their table

 

[PlutosFriend]

It makes no sense to me that so many of the Character Meals are buffets. It makes you afraid to leave your table, for fear of missing a character. For a calmer table service experience, try Akershus (the princesses) or Liberty Tree Tavern (Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale in colonial costumes.

Good point! Another one that we really like is The Garden Grill

 

[haley's mom]

We ate at CP (dinner), LTT (dinner), Tusker House (breakfast), Chef Mickeys (dinner), Ohanas (breakfast), Princess Storybook Breakfast, and 1900 Park Fare (dinner). We did not have any bad experience at any other meal except for CP.

Although we had a bad time at CP, at 1900 Park Fare, my dd4.5 was chosen as the princess to open the restaurant and Cinderella and Prince Charming walked her to our table. An excellent last emal after such a terrible first meal of the trip.

 

[Mkrop]

We did fine at CP at the end of April. It was one of our best meals and the character interaction was great. I think you must have an off day

 

[willis37862]

I feel like writing a letter to Disney and venting. Would this be wrong?

I would write them a letter and let them know what a disappointing experience you had there. If people don't let them know that they are not handling the character rotation very well at this restaurant they won't know to fix it. I am sorry you didn't have a better time there, CP is one of my favorite WDW restaurants but I have noticed at times it was a long wait to see the characters.

 

[amarberry]

It makes no sense to me that so many of the Character Meals are buffets. It makes you afraid to leave your table, for fear of missing a character. For a calmer table service experience, try Akershus (the princesses) or Liberty Tree Tavern (Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale in colonial costumes.

I agree! DH hates the character meal buffets because he finds it so stressful. Not cool when you are on vacation. The line at CP can be insane at peak times. We enjoy the food at CP, but we always seem to be a little irritated at the end of the meal.