Where: Magic Kingdom, Cinderella’s Castle
Date: Monday, May 11, 2009
Time: 2:20 PM
Party Size: 3 Adults, 2 Children
Cinderella’s Royal Table is a character meal featuring Cinderella and a few other Disney princesses (only for breakfast and lunch- Cinderella fairlygodmother only at dinner). It is located inside Cinderella’s castle in Magic Kingdom, I believe in either the second or third floor. Considering that this was 2 TS credit meal and the fact that this was one tough ADR to secure, we had some pretty lofty expectations going in.
Décor
As soon as you check in, the experience begins. You are officially guests of Cinderella and are led to a photo-op with Cinderella herself. I really liked the décor in the first floor- knights, stone walls, large medieval banners, spiral stone staircase with a balcony, a big fireplace, etc. It really does set the mood and takes you to a fairytale land. But, it was really crowded in there, and there was a long line to the photo op. I think it was a mistake to have that many people in the photo-op room. Once the experience begins, people should be able to start soaking up the atmosphere. Instead, waiting on a winding line for the photo was like waiting on line for a ride, and took away from the immersive feeling you got when you first walk in. Once we took our photos with Cinderella, we were told to wait on the side until our names were called, which contributed to the crowded feeling. Then, all of a sudden, I hear someone call out our name in a loud voice, saying that the royal family is inviting us to dine with them in their royal banquet hall, and proceeds to give us an invitation. From there, we head on upstairs via the spiral staircase. The dining room does look alike a medieval banquet hall, and the cathedral-like windows add a lot to the atmosphere. All the servers are dressed like they are servers at a royal castle, the tables have runners with a royal-like emblem on them, the light fixtures, chandeliers, and sconces are fairytale/rustic and fit very nicely with the overall décor, and the room felt very open with nice high ceilings with ornate wood trim and high arching columns. The main dining floor is a multi-level room, with the center part sunken in a couple of steps, which added some depth to the space. Table spacing was also nice and roomy, great for kids to pose with the characters without bothering the next table. One thing I would change out are the chairs- didn’t seem too castle-like at all. Would have been nice to see the wooden chairs with the high backs and fancy woodwork- instead, they were quite ordinary. Overall, however, I was impressed with the decorations and it felt engaging and absorbing.
Décor Grade: 8.3
Service
When we first walked in for the photo op, there was a line usher who was totally out of character, who was more interested in making sure the line was moving with optimal efficiency than putting a smile on her face and being a true squire of the court. I understand it’s crowded and you need to keep the line moving, but can you at least do it with a smile? Isn’t that the Disney prime directive? Do everything with a smile? In any event, once we were seated, our waiter immediately said “Welcome to the royal banquet my lord,” which kind of caught me off guard. Did he just call me “my lord??” He was very friendly, explained the menu very well, was always pleasant in his demeanor, and nailed our order to a tee. The only negative, and this is not his fault, is that it started getting a bit too weird for me when he constantly would refer to me as “my lord.” “More diet coke, my lord?” “Are you still working on that, my lord?” “My lord, princess Snow White is approaching.” I started feeling uncomfortable. I even told him, “Hey- you don’t have to call me that.” He said “Sure thing, my lord.” Another positive thing of note was that it just so happened that in one of our photos with Cinderella, our daughter had her eyes closed. Mind you, these pictures are included in the meal. Well, the photo person came to our table, told us our daughter’s eyes were closed, and offered to retake a new photo with Cinderella. We did just that, and the second picture came out great. Cinderella was very gracious as well, as her photo op time was over, and she actually went back to the photo op place to retake the photo with my daughter. They did not have to do that, especially since the pictures were already covered, so I really appreciate the gesture. So, other than the creepy salutation from the waiter and the non-smiling, semi rude usher, I thought the service was great.
Service Grade: 8.1
Food
I was a bit disappointed when I saw the menu because it only had 5 entrée choices and a tasting plate. The tasting plate was essentially a cheese plate with prosciutto, olives and some salad. Generally, it was pretty forgettable and wasn’t very good at all. The cheese was a bit too hard, like they had left it in the refrigerator without an airtight seal. For our entrée, I had the pan seared salmon and the wife and our friend had the major domo pie, which was supposedly their specialty. The salmon itself was fresh and tasted OK, but I think they may have cooked it at too high a temperature, or left it in the pan too long. Good salmon should taste like it was cooked just beyond rare, where it’s still juicy and it nearly melts in your mouth. Also, the seasoning and sauce is an absolute key to good salmon, and CRT missed the mark here as well, as the sauce was just too bland. I see where they were trying to go with it, a creamy, lemony sauce, but as the fish by itself is bland, the sauce needs to be a bit overpowering to compensate. It’s really a fine line, as a sauce too overpowering takes away from the natural flavor of the fish. CRT really missed the boat on the preparation front which did not do justice to good piece of fish. Also, the side was a cole slaw-like salad concoction that just did not go with the salmon. It also had too much celery in it. The major domo pie is essentially shredded beef inside a light, flaky pastry. My wife enjoyed it, but I have to say that it could’ve been a lot better. My question was: Where’s the beef? There was some meat crowning the top of the pastry, but for the amount of bread, there was way too little meat. To make it worse, the little beef that was there was too tough, and not juicy enough in my opinion. The sauce was good however, and it went well with the bread and the mashed potatoes. The sauce definitely saved the dish from being a complete disaster. The kids had the chicken strips, which were OK, but clearly of a frozen, pre-packaged variety. For dessert, we all had some ice cream with fruit, nothing out of the ordinary neither good nor bad.
Food Grade: 5.7
Character Interaction
The rundown of princesses were: Cinderella for the photo-op, then at the lunch itself was Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Jasmine and Belle (blue/white outfit). The princesses were not overly engaging, and did what they were supposed to- say hello, pose for pictures, sigh autographs, then move on. They all pretty much had their plastic smiles on. However, that was enough to make a difference in the experience and brighten the day for my 3.5 year old daughter. I also especially appreciated Cinderella for going back to the photo-op place to retake the picture with my daughter. Very classy move.
Character Interaction: Very Good
Value
For 3 adults and 2 children, we paid a total of $204.12, based on $37.99 per adult and $24.99 per child. For the quality of food, it was a total ripoff. $38 bucks for some hard cheese, bland and overcooked salmon or a piece of bread with a little beef in it, and ice cream is way too much. Also, $25 bucks is also way too much for a couple of chicken fingers, fruit and ice cream. Thank goodness CRT is not just a restaurant. The real castle-like environment, 2 free photos with Cinderella, and the pictures/autographs/interaction with the other characters made the price much more palatable. If you go in to CRT looking at it as a princess experience in a castle with some food on the side, I guess the price is OK. However, if you’re on the
DDP, this is definitely not worth two TS credits. We had meals in 1 TS credit restaurants for 5-6 people well over $150 so $200 here is not worth 2 TS credits. If this is a must on your ADR list, I would suggest going OOP on this and using your TS credits elsewhere, like true signature dining places.
Value Grade: 7.0
Overall
Despite a poor meal, we had a good experience at CRT. Again, I must stress that if you go to lunch here for the food, you will be disappointed. Aside from the food, which was for the most part terrible, the character interaction is good and the setting is very nice. You’re in Cinderella’s castle for pete’s sake! There could be some things done to the experience to make it better, like the logistics of the first few moments after you check in (the photo-op room is too crowded, line too long), better food, etc, but overall, it was a winner.
The Last Word: 7.5 Total captivation in fairytale land aside from a couple of hitches make up for a small menu selection and poor food.
One side note about the princess hair and makeup. I am by no means an expert on what good hair and make up is, but I can sure tell you just by observation what isn’t. Across the board, maybe with the exception of Jasmine, the hairpieces covered their foreheads too much, and the hairstyles themselves could’ve been done better- maybe introduce some modern styling techniques while maintaining the historic charm of the cartoon character. Their makeup was also so heavy it looked like it was just caked on and blowdried. Up close, you could see the layers upon layers of foundation. I guess since they do this so often, those elements become just part of the ordinary routine and may be overlooked, but a fresh makeover of these princesses would help a lot. Now don't misunderstand, I am not knocking the person behind the character at all! They were all fine and beautiful. I'm just talking about the hair and makeup.
It was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I couldnt get to see the whole routine as our names were called relatively quickly (gotta love ADRs!). Once we took our family photo, we went inside. There are two main dining rooms, one on the left and the other on the right, with a central buffet room. The space is themed very nicely, from the floors, to the worn down stone walls, to the fabrics hanging from the ceiling (very nice tough). The tables were distanced well so it was very kid friendly. The buffet area is expansive so you never really run into other people and get what you want relatively quickly. I did spot a few dislikes however with the space. You enter the restaurant right into the central buffet room, which has a feel of one of those large rest areas off a major interstate. It felt more like a busy lobby than a restaurant. You make a left once you walk in and there is a very wide alcove with the restrooms, like it was intentioned for high traffic, not a restaurant. The buffet tables and settings looked older and tired, though Im sure it was intentional in maintaining the safari village motif, but it made me believe the food was going to follow suit. The glass over the tables were stained in need of some windex and the plates that had the food in it looked like they came straight out of the $0.99 store. I understand trying to keep up with a particular theme, and here, it is supposed to be the Harambe marketplace, but in my opinion, certain things need to look new and fresh, like the place where the food is being taken from, and the flow of the restaurant needs to remain like a restaurant. The tables and chairs also seemed quite ordinary and something you would find anywhere. There were also too many artifacts and stuff hanging on the walls, and even though they were all appropriate for the setting, it was too much and made it look less authentic and more touristy. A great theme restaurant should really immerse you in that environment and Tusker House did deliver, but there were a few things that needed some more attention.
I wonder if they've taken it out of the guide book by now...
I guess that filled my character meal quota for a while. 
