Cindy's Royal Table vs. Crystal Palace?

[mlbretscher]

I need some help planning our first trip to WDW this September. Could some one please tell me about the Crystal Palace - is it in the same lacation as CRT? Is CRT in the castle? Which has a better dinner/lunch? Do both book fast (ie: am I already too late to book for a 9/10-9/18/04 visit to WDW). Any information would be great!

Thanks

 

[bobcat]

CRT is in the castle and it books very fast. Usually within a couple of minutes of the reservations being opened up. That doesn't mean you can't get a reservation, you just have to keep trying, and sometimes spaces open up closer to the day you would like as people cancel. There is a reservation fee that they charge to your card and if you don't show up they will charge you the amount of the meal. I haven't eaten here since this went into effect so someone else will have to give you more details. CRT characters are there for breakfast only although they do serve lunch and dinner as well, just no characters. The storybook breakfast in Epcot Norway is a good alternative if you want to eat with the princesses. The food at CRT is very good and comes preplated with seconds available.

Crystal Palace is located across the hub from the castle att he end of Main Sreet before you enter Adventureland. This is a buffet with Pooh characters and the characters are at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food is very good. You can usually get a seating here since there are three meals available.

 

[disneyfan551]

I've been to both several times, and we prefer the CP! The restaurant is beautiful, the character interaction is great and the food is fabulous!!

Eating in the castle is nice, if you do the breakfast, for little ones. But, lunch/dinner there is no biggie IMHO.

 

[daisy112878]

We go to CRT for a princess breakfast and a dinner while at WDW. At dinner we have not been charged a deposit but at breakfast they did charge us for a deposit. The reservations for dinner don't usually go as fast as the breakfast reservations do. The breakfast has princesses at it and the food is preplated food. For dinner and lunch they have menus and no princesss. Sometimes you can catch the Fairy Godmother or Cinderella in the lobby area. The dinner menu is really good. I usually get the steak and it's always good. They also have a special smoothie type drink that comes in a special glass and you get to keep the glass. Also the view is really nice up there.

I have never been to CP so I can't comment on that one.

 

[gigi1313]

we're going to be at wdw from 8/30 thru 9/6 and called just last week for crt ressies and had no problem... actually got our choice of dates, made a decision, then changed our minds, called back and were still able to get a ressie for a diff't date... we did not get the "perfect" time that we would have liked, but still... we got in!

 

[44disney]

Both times we have eaten at CP we had problems with the characters being very slow to visit our table. We had finished with lunch at least 20 minutes before the last character showed up -- I think we spent close to 1 1/2 hours in there!

Last time we ate at CRT for a late breakfast (I think we had a 10:15 or 10:30 seating time) and had no problems. In fact, when we were done the restaurant was closing, getting ready for lunch, and as we left the Fairy Godmother was still in the waiting area and was by herself, so she talked with my kids (DD3 and DS6) for about 10 minutes and gave them handfulls of pixie dust!