What's so Special about Cinderella's Royal Table???

[sweetpeakaris]

I have never eaten there before, was thinking about trying it our next trip. But the menu for Lunch and Dinner does'nt look that great to me, not enough variety of food imo, and by far the smallest entree' menu i've ever seen. I am not a picky eater, but the things on CRT menu do not look tasteful or appealing to me or for anyone in family. Why does this place book up so early? What's so special about it? I know that for Lunch for characters are there, but I can't justify spending that kind of money to eat there with a menu that does'nt look good to me. Also, I am not into giving away money just for the atmosphere. IMO, since the characters are not there for Dinner, they really need to hype up the menu. I know i may be in the minority here, as i see people raving over CRT and trying to get in. So if you've eaten there, would you go back? How was the food?

 

[disneysnowflake]

I believe it's popular only because it's in the castle and you get to meet Cinderella.
It's not the food, just the experience.
I have boys, so we have no desire to go here.

 

[JenLynn]

Can only speak for myself and my family. We have been to Cinderella's Royal Table 3 times for breakfast. I love the fairy tale of the princesses and eating in the castle is magical for me. It has been a great chance for us to meet the princesses. Also, I enjoy the breakfast served there.

Now, would I go there for a reasonably expensive dinner without the princesses? Personally, no.

Quick story - at breakfast a week ago in CRT, the server called me "My Lady" when I asked for another glass of juice. My DD (5 yo) looked at me when he left and wanted to know why he called me "My Lady". I told her that while we were eating in the castle we were all royalty. When he returned he called DD "princess;" her eyes got wide and she whispered to me "We really are princesses!"

 

[Kaycee]

What's so special about CRT for most people is the opportunity to dine in the castle with the princesses.

I have boys who have no interest in meeting princesses. We had a non-character meal at CRT because we wanted to dine in the castle. We enjoy the atmosphere of restaurants, and that is a factor in many of our WDW dining choices. However, we won't dine at a restaurant solely for theming - we have to like the food too! At CRT, we thought the food was good, but not great. We would probably dine there again, although it isn't one of our must-dos.

If atmosphere doesn't mean much to you and you have no interest in dining with the princesses, I can see why CRT wouldn't appeal to you. But these things are very important to some people - hence the popularity of CRT.

 

[bavaria]

After 10 yrs of visiting WDW, I had never eaten here. However, last year I was with a group of 10, including 3 under age 4. We went for dinner, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food - in fact, one of the best entrees I have eaten at WDW, and I often frequent the higher end restaurants such as California Grill, Narcoosees, etc.

The only challenge was that the kids couldn't sit still as Cinderella does not come into the dining room, so they constantly wanted to go downstairs to visit with her. This was at the end of September just before a hurricane, and there were very few children around, so they did get a lot of personal time with the princess.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. I personally wouldn't go through the challenges of trying to book here for breakfast or lunch, but since the GF concierge was able to get our large party in for dinner at short notice, it was a good option.

 

[Luv2Roam]

1) It's eating in the CASTLE Who doesn't love that!?
2) GOOD FOOD and service

 

[jana]

It's very popular because of the chance to meet the princesses and eating in the castle ( a Disney icon) is a major attraction for many guests. Little girls in particular LOVE this character interaction. It is also a relatively small restaurant so has limitted spaces available. That combination means it gets increadably booked up and hard to get in to. To try and build capacity Disney has now made the lunch character as well (roughly doubling the amount of people who can attend) and has added "Princess storry book dining" at the Akerhus restaurant in the "castle" at Norway in Epcot for Beakfast, Lunch and Dinner. So the # of people who can eat with Princesses in a castle has been increased by a factor of about 5 AND THEY ALL STILL SELL OUT pretty much well in advance. Cindy's is still the most requested, but Akerhus gets sold out pretty quickly as well.

If you are not so sure on the food at Cindy's you may prefer the food at Akerhus (Princess story book dining)

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Thanks everyone, your posts are very informative. Now i know why it's so popular, and may try it next trip since i have 3 girls, 1 Boy, I think the girls would love it, so i would maybe do breakfast or lunch. I only see an appetizer that i want though, I really hope they add more to the menu oneday.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

They've got to keep the menu simple. It's not one of the bigger places to eat so they've got to move people through, especially at Breakfast and lunch. The best way to do that is with a limited menu. Breakfast is completely preplated
Lunch has only 4-5 entrees so I'm sure that's easy to keep a handle on and keep em ready right on time. The rest is preplated.

There is no restaurant at Sleeping Beauty's castle in DL to my knowledge, It really is unique and ya gotta do it at least once. I consider myself lucky to get it my first trip. Part of that has to do with them just adding the lunch so it's not common knowledge they have it yet. As soon as it is, I expect it to be as hard a ticket as breakfast. So get it now while it's still a bit easier. Some on this board have reported they tried 4 and 5 times and never got it. If breakfast is sold out when you ask, take lunch. Oh and you have to call right at 658 eastern. LMAO I hit redial 4 times and got the we're closed message before on the 5th time I got through. They have a terribly large holding queue. Write down what numbers you have to push to get through the auto sequence so you can do that quickly. Keep holding past the sold out message. And Good luck. I got through within 30 seconds after opening and waited about 25 minutes after I got through. But I got lunch fairly easily. I figured breakfast was gone and went right to lunch to save time. The CM almost blew it. She checked the wrong day first.... Fortunately, I still got the lunch fairly easily at prime time.

People have been known to blurt CINDY'S TABLE for 4!!!! before the CM gets done with the greating. It was that tight a ticket. It's not quite as tight with the lunch but I'm guessing it eventually will be. Now's the time to do it.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Are the characters only there for breakfast and lunch?

 

[bigbabyblues]

Are the characters only there for breakfast and lunch?

Yes. The character lunch just started in June, and the breakfast is really hard to get an ADR for, I don't know about the lunch.

We really like the food here, we make it a point to have dinner here each trip.

Steph

 

[lillygator]

for us it is the thrill of dining in the castle, after all, DD thinks we live there!!

 

[trirae]

We did the breakfast at CRT when we went in October. It was truly a magical experience. The food was very good. I was actually surprised because most reviews consider it fair, but we thought everything was tasty. Service was fabulous. Most of all, I just can't explain how it felt that our first morning at MK we were started out by eating breakfast with Cinderella in her castle. Beyond the kids, we felt it too. I'm really torn on our next trip because I would love to give my dd the opportunity to meet other princesses at PSB, but that CRT was something special.

I probably would not do the dinner without the characters, and the lunch menu doesn't do much for me, so I would still consider the breakfast as my choice.

 

[aubriee]

I probably would not do the dinner without the characters, and the lunch menu doesn't do much for me, so I would still consider the breakfast as my choice.

I agree the lunch and dinner menu don't appeal to me. However I was lucky enough to get CRT for breakfast for my 8 y/o GD in January. She is not into the Princesses, but I wanted her to have the experience of eating in that castle. I asked her dad if he wanted to join us and he did. I don't know who I had the most fun watching, my GD or her single dad. They both loved it. I went solo in May and didn't bother with it, but am taking my younger son and D-I-L in Sept and my D-I-L (even as an adult) wanted to eat there for the atmosphere, so I've booked the breakfast again. Everyone needs to have that experience of being treated like royalty and eating in that environment at least once. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the food.

 

[stczt]

We are going in Sept. I booked Cindys for breakfast and dinner the same day. I just wanted to eat in the castle, I am vegetarian so its always hard for me to find something. But, I really want to try the dessert. And just to do it.

 

[bavaria]

You'll enjoy the veggie dinner, I am sure! I was actually surprised to find it one of my favourite veggie meals in WDW (But if you ask me what I ate, I probably won't be able to tell you - the memory is starting to fail as I age!)

 

[magicmato]

Does anyone know if you can get other dishes for kids if they would not eat what is on the menu for lunch? I mean, if we wanted just PLAIN pasta with butter instead of with sauce, can they accomodate this?

 

[TinkerbellMama]

Thanks everyone, your posts are very informative. Now i know why it's so popular, and may try it next trip since i have 3 girls, 1 Boy, I think the girls would love it, so i would maybe do breakfast or lunch. I only see an appetizer that i want though, I really hope they add more to the menu oneday.

The menu is the reason my family will not be going to CRT anytime in the forseeable future. We had considered it for the fall, but as we are mostly vegan (dh isn't, but my whole family including parents and myself are) there just isn't anything we would consider paying $28 to eat. We can buy 2 boxes of Barilla and some spaghetti sauce at Publix and have the same meal, it seems. I wish they had more options!
We're going to try to get Crystal Palace, instead!!

 

[stczt]

when I made all my ps the cm told me to call the resturant directly and talk to the chef and see what we can come up with. So about a week before we go I'll call all the places I've booked.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Well, I have done CRT for breakfast and nack when it was King Stefan's I had a pretty good steak there.

Food was good but not spectacular both times, though I *loved* seeing Mickey Mouse molded butter at the dinner as a teen! lol.

It is mostly for atmosphere. Give a true Disney lover an opportunity to be called "Princess", be sprinkled with "Pixie Dust" (Mickey confetti), possibly meet the Princesses all in one location, and eat in the most prominent and beautiful Disney icon, one that is one of the few remaining parts of WDW that has Walt Disney's fingerprints still all over it and they will take it - and make CRT reservations (if they can get them) at least once in their lifetime, even if just to say they were *in* the castle, looked out those beautiful windows and saw what it all looks like in there. I mean, I held my breath walking up the stairs! lol

Anyone with "little princesses", who thinks they're still a princess (in a good way of course ) or who is a true fan of Walt Disney and the appeal makes perfect sense.

IMHO, I *do* think that such an amazing atmosphere could do with a better menu.