Which do you like better for lunch, Crystal Palace or H&V?

[Dana_Buckley]

We will be park hopping from MK (rope drop) to MGM around lunch time. Wondering the best place to eat with almost 3 yr old DS & MIL? I think H&V sounds neat with the costumes, but may be tough to get there early enough to eat. I don't really want to rush out of MK, although we will be back another morning. Crystal Palace sound good too, for DS....hmmmm, what to do? I guess I could even do 1900 Park Fare too?? Never been to a char lunch. Not planning any other char meals for this 4 day trip (really only 2 whole days, 2 half days).
Thank you for your input. Have a great weekend!

 

[sha_lyn]

I love both. Maybe you could do breakfast at CP before MK opens, then a late lunch at H&V on the same day. 1900 PF does not serve lunch. They serve the Alice in Wonderland Tea party during that time. If you had to give up one, between CP and H&V I would give up CP and try to do 1900 PF instead for dinner one night.

 

[ahutton]

Depending on when you are going your decision may have been made for you... Crystal Palace is being refurbished. www.wdwig.com has information about the time frame. You could look at having lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, or even at Cinderella's Royal Table. Lunch is much easier to get in the castle, and really is a neat place to see.

 

[Dana_Buckley]

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm not much of a fan of breakfasts, either you have to go too early for me, or it cuts into park time. JMHO I don't really want to do a sit down dinner either. My DS gets rather crabby by then, last trip he fell asleep on our way to dinner.
We will be there in mid-January, so CP should be open then. I just still can't make up my mind.
Has anyone been to both? Which would you go back to? Thank you!

 

[rcyannacci]

Although it was 2 years ago, I went to the CP and walked away being only impressed with the view of the castle. I thought the food was a bit ordinary, and with so many good places to go, I doubt we would return to this buffet.

 

[arizonacolbys]

We LOVE the Crystal Palace for breakfast (Tigger is my favorite), but it will be closed when we are at WDW in December. We've never done lunch/dinner there, though.

We always eat at Hollywood & Vine for lunch. We like to do an early lunch, around 11:30 & we usually have some characters to ourselves! The food is always great & fresh that early.

We haven't done 1900 PF yet, but considering it for this trip.

Hope this helps!!

 

[jwfla422]

We went to both during our trip last December.

From our experience I prefer H&V. I thought the food was better and the character interaction was better.

CP's Pooh & friends took quite a long time to get around the crowded restaurant. We were also quite a ways away from the buffet which had offerings that I didn't find too appetizing. The quality just wasn't there. (Of course, this was our experience).

H&V's characters came around the restaurant a few times and it wasn't really busy. Any table in the restaurant is not too terribly far from the buffet. The food quality was good (as well as the assortment). Minnie greets everyone at the door, dd enjoyed that. (she was 3 at the time)--but ask me about breakfast here and I'll give you quite a different story. It was a disappointing experience, would only go here for lunch.

1900 Pk Fare doesn't serve lunch. MK resort restaurants that servce lunch are the GF's Grand Floridian Cafe, POLY's Kona Cafe (good, but no characters), WL's Whispering Winds Cafe (a whole different experience), CR's Concourse Steakhouse (no characters). These are all a monorail or boat ride from MK.
All others are counter service types.

MGM restaurants that serve lunch include 50s Prime Time cafe (ok), Sci FI Drive In (fair) & Brown Derby (ok). The rest are counter service.

 

[Dana_Buckley]

Thank you everyone, you have been very helpful! I think I'm planning on H&V, just to be sure we get to MGM early enough to get everything in. I'll have 3hrs at MK, but we'll be there another day too, for a bit longer. Thanks again.

 

[n2mm]

My grandson (8 now) has done most of the character meals. His favorites are H&V (and so is mine). He did CP when he was a little guy, but has since moved away from pooh and gang and loves THE DOG. So we now only stick to H&V and Chef Mickey. H&V does not have characters at dinner. Which is when us big kids like to eat there--yummy strawberry shortcake!!

 

[eeyore0062]

Definitely Hollywood and Vine!!!!! We like the buffet there better, and the character interaction is much better. If you are going before December 15th, it is a moot point, as the Crystal Palace will be closed for refurbishment, and the characters are at Tony's... and that is an Italian pre plated meal.