Thoughts on the Crystal Palace for dinner

[jakeybake]

Hey there,

We have been going to WDW over the last 24 years and I'm surprised to say that in all those years we have never dined at the Crystal Palace even once! I was thinking of giving it a try this year and wanted to pick the brains of my fellow Disers and get their thoughts on the restaurant and if they would recommend it.

Some background. My children are 17 and 13 so they aren't of the age in which they are dying to see characters but I love to book character meals while in WDW since I can get non-character meals here in Boston anytime I want.

Here are the other restaurants we have booked, all of which we have dined at before and loved.

Cape May (breakfast and dinner)
1900 Park Fare
Via Napoli
Yachtsman Steakhouse (date night with my DW)
Chef Mickey's
Be Our Guest

Thanks in advance for any input!!!

Jay

 

[pumba]

we have been going to disney the last 20 plus years and this is one restaurant we do not miss out on...whether the kids or grandkids are with us..we have even gone with a few other adult couples...we love the atmosphere and the food is pretty good too

 

[The Librarian]

We also had a really positive experience (Dec 2014). It was our first character meal of the trip so we had forgotten the character meal drill.

i.e. Fill up your plate...spot the characters near out the table....get your camera out quickly while balancing your plate...speed walk back to the table to get there in time to take pictures.

The characters are so cute and cuddly and we all found food we liked (I'm the only non picky eater in our family). The food seemed decent, I remember eating some kind of pesto covered salmon that I liked. Winnie the Pooh characters are among my favourite, brings back childhood memories. My own kids didn't have much of a clue about the characters-had not watched movie or read the book-but they still had an amazing time.

 

[Nancyg56]

I liked dinner there. WE were there for the characters, my DGD was 4, however the food was good and the service was excellent. WE scheduled dinner as a respite on a day when we arrived in the afternoon, and planned on staying until after Wishes. That worked out perfectly

 

[JZCubed]

Cape May (breakfast and dinner)
1900 Park Fare
Via Napoli
Yachtsman Steakhouse (date night with my DW)
Chef Mickey's
Be Our Guest

Thanks in advance for any input!!!

Jay

I get that you want to enjoy Character meals, but you already have so many.

Crystal Palace is fine - in my opinion, somewhere between the very good food at Cape May/1900 and the less than good food at Chef Mickey's.

There are other fun/unique/new dining experiences at Disney (in no particular order):
-- Splitsville for better than expected food and bowling.
-- House of Blues for either Gospel Brunch or before Cirque de Soleil.
-- Ice Cream focus - either at Beaches & Cream, Ghiradelli, or the Fountain (near mini-golf).
-- Biergarten or Marrakesh in Epcot.
-- Sanaa for the view of the animals (in daylight).
-- Sci-Fi, 50's Prime Time & Whispering Canyon are also unique.
-- Anything in newly opened Four Seasons.

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

I've had the opportunity to eat at CP for all 3 meals and of the 3 my least favorite was breakfast. More so because I like the carving stations and the breakfast didn't have a carving station because they were making omelets there. And I'll note that all 3 times it was adult only for my group.
The characters are fun (especially Tigger when he is in a bouncey mood. Sometimes Tigger is too slow moving with less personality) but if you stay long enough the characters make their rounds more than once.
I'm hoping to do more resort dining than park dining this next vacation.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

We have eaten at Crystal Palace for all except one trip and for every meal. While we prefer breakfast we do also love the dinner. The location is perfect, entering the park early for breakfast on our first day is a favourite. The food is nice and plentiful if not posh and the characters are unobtrusive if you request.
The year we didn't go because we thought the kids had outgrown character meals we wished that we had. Last year we spent our first breakfast there again despite ds being 16 and dd12 but we did take one character each

 

[williamscm3]

One of our favorites! My husband prefers dinner. I love breakfast food so I would pick breakfast. I think you would enjoy either

 

[Newsies]

I love Crystal Palace. Would you consider doing breakfast there instead? If you book a pre-park opening meal, you can take photos in front of the castle on a nearly empty Main Stree USA. Also, breakfast has some lovely and unique items on the menu you can't find anywhere else- like Pooh's Puffed French Toast and Pooh's Breakfast Lasagna! If dinner is more your speed, I'm sure you'll enjoy that as well. The character interaction is awesome

 

[NavyDad]

We love CP and have made it a tradition. However I would say we STRONGLY prefer breakfast to dinner.