Why is Crystal Palace so popular?

[Cindy's Mom]

like others have said.....it gets you into the park early. Strolling on an empty Main Street with your family is one of the best feelings in the world. CP is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

[princessfionasmom]

My DH loves the food there. We have only had lunch there but are doing breakfast in Dec. My kids love the characters and the food. We have never had a bad experience there and make it a point to go every time we go.

 

[simonkodousek]

Crystal Palace is one of my favorite restaurants in WDW for many reasons, the first being the fact that it is the best (no flames please!) table service restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. The food is far better than that at many other character meals (Cinderella's Royal Table and Hollywood & Vine, for example) not to mention the consistently good service.

One of the more personal reasons that I enjoy dining at Crystal Palace is the magic of having a good meal with characters in the Magic Kingdom with an excellent view of the castle, and just stepping outside on to the patio to watch Wishes afterwards.

 

[MariaEllerºoº]

I miss the Old Crystal Palace though...before character meals...it was really special and a lot better menu!

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

Two words (at least for us): Pooh & Tigger!

 

[Christmas-in-Disney]

For us, it just seemed magical to eat breakfast with the Princesses on Christmas Eve!

I think I was lucky to get the ADR I did. 8:30 am on Christmas Eve and I didn't know at the time about calling at exacly 180 days out and all. I called around 120 or so days out. I wanted Christmas morning which was taken, but what I got suits fine! We got HDDR for Christmas Day dinner!

 

[HappyCamper87]

CP is my favorite Character meal at Disney and even if it wasn't a character meal it would be one of my favorites simply because my family happened to have a great breakfast there when my son as 8 and my daughter was 4 and the castle was pink.

My point is, yes it's a great place to eat the food is fine, the characters are great, but I am a firm believer that it is more about your family's mood at the time of the restaurant experience. And, if your expectations are too high, you are bound to be disappointed.

It is a great breakfast place for our family. We love a big breakfast and a snack at lunch followed by a big dinner. We've only gone at breakfast because that's when we have had a great experience.

Best wishes!

 

[threegoofys]

We have eaten there a few times. It is buffet style food all you can eat. Being that it is one of only a few sit down restaurants in the Kingdom is probably why so popular. Oh yeah it also has the Pooh Gang and great for photo ops.

 

[burberryplaid]

I go there mainly to see my boy Tigger!

The added benefits are the food, which is very good, especially breakfast in my opinion. The service is great (they made us feel special as we celebrated our anniversary there last trip) and the room is spectacular! For breakfast, it's just amazingly awesome to be inside the park before anyone else and see a nearly empty MK and take pics as you journey to CP.

 

[battricia]

I like that they'll make you eggs to order, I know a few other places do this but I don't believe chef mickeys does, if they do please correct me! I really love some over easy eggs for breakfast so that's part of why I like it. Also the puffed french toast and breakfast lasagna are SO GOOD. You have to try them, if even just a tiny bit, because there is so much food. I also love the poo characters so that is a plus, and like others have said, it's in the MK which is nice. It's also really bright with all the windows, and i like that as well. I've only eaten there for breakfast though.

 

[MelanieC]

We tried it years ago for breakfast and decided after reading all the good reviews that we would try it again last year for dinner. WOW - it was fantastic. The food was so good for a buffet. The spoon bread they have there is fabulous. Everything was great! We are definately eating there again next summer.

 

[poohfriend9]

#1 Reason People Like Eating there is Pooh!
#2 Reason is the Food is really good & variety of choices!
#3 Reason is the cute parade with Pooh & friends!
#4 Reason is it's a nice comfortable, relaxing place to eat at the park!
#5 Reason is the great photo opportunities with the characters and the staff is very nice!

 

[Minniemouse07]

I'm going against the grain here but I can't figure out why there are so many raves either...and I've actually eaten there!

We had dinner there in early December last year (2007).

The food was okay...nothing special, the character interaction was eh and the service was terrible...worst service we had in 9 days on the dining plan!

It wasn't terrible/horrible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to go back any time soon.

My favorite character buffets are Chef Mickey's (breakfast or dinner) and 1900 Park Fare (dinner, although breakfast was decent too)!

 

[RllngRckBrw]

...because the selections in MK are limited andit is the only slightly above avg. place in the park.

 

[tigger_03]

We ate lunch there on our last day this trip. I've been a huge Tigger fan my entire life. DD's nursery was done in a Winnie the Pooh theme and they've all been some of her most favorite characters since she was very small. DS absolutely adores Tigger as well.

It's absolutely beautiful inside and out. We had excellent service. The characters each came by more than once (but they did that at each of the character meals we had). It's definitely a place we'd go back to on future trips. And most definitely do an early breakfast before the park opens.

 

[TnTWalter]

Question are there Photo Pass people available to take advantage of emptyness of the park?

I'm still smacking myself for not making my family stop for a photo op in front of the castle one night when we had dream EMH passes and there was NO one in front of the castle. By the time we got back the PP person had left. Boo Hoo.

Why I didn't use my own camera for at least the kids is beyond me.
Trish

 

[BadgerBruce]

DW & I loved our lunch at CP! The food was very good & the characters were fun. We usually only do one buffet each trip, so we go to a different one each year. We liked it so much, we both want to return to CP next year!

 

[speaksfam]

We have ressies for CP at 8:25am, the park opens at 9am. Do you think that I will be able to get an empty park pic of my family before breakfast? Are the photopass people around at that time? Thanks for everyones help!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

CP was our very first CM ever. DH had been many times as a kid but never did a character meal and when we went in 2004 we had no idea about these things. It was an on the fly vacation so no planning.

When we went in March DH wasn't crazy about the meals. Basically spending the cash. He thought it would be fun to pack meals to save money. I told him he lost his mind!!

So to ease him in I booked our first meal at CP because DH was a Pooh lover as a kid. His brother is even named Christopher after Christopher Robin. MIL let DH pick it out.

Anyway DH was hooked after that and loved all of the meals I planned out. WE will do CP every single trip.

We went for lunch and the food was delicious! The kids loved it! I'm not a seafood person but loved the salmon. The characters were fun and DH was hugging Pooh like a big kid.

We are hoping to do BF on our next trip before the park opens. I've heard such rave reviews on it!

 

[distherapy]

To respond to some of the PP, I didn't see photopass people until the park officially opened..

But when you're at CP for breakfast (before the park opens ) and after you check in and wait, you can get a great picture of the bridge and the castle in the background with no one else in it. We have a ton of those and they are our favorites from the trip.