Dinner in Cinderella's Castle

[Jae99]

Our family is visiting WDW during the Christmas holidays. My parents are paying for the entire trip, they have told me make our ADR's for wherever we want with one exception. My mother would like to have dinner in the Castle! I am assuming that she means Cinderellas Castle.

Is this meal a plated meal or is it a buffet meal?

Are there characters present during the meal?

We are using the dining plan and it looks like it costs 2 credits for the dinner. Would we be better off to pay for this OOP or is it worth the 2 credits.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[HatboxGhost]

My wife and I went to the castle last year and we really enjoyed it.
To answer your questions......It IS a plated meal and 4-5 of the princesses come to your table one at time during your meal. Before you head up the stairs to dine, you will take a picture with someone special although its not much of a surprise, I wont ruin it. Also, we just used 2 credits.

 

[stevehousse]

Good luck securing that ADR! They go so fast! You literally have to make it the first hour ADRs r accepted on your 180th day Nd sometimes it isn't even available!!!

 

[HatboxGhost]

Good luck securing that ADR! They go so fast! You literally have to make it the first hour ADRs r accepted on your 180th day Nd sometimes it isn't even available!!!

Agreed. The first time we tried on the 180th, we were DENIED!!!! That sucked, however we kept trying and eventually got through one afternoon during the week which ended up being a couple of months before our trip.

 

[Jae99]

My wife and I went to the castle last year and we really enjoyed it.
To answer your questions......It IS a plated meal and 4-5 of the princesses come to your table one at time during your meal. Before you head up the stairs to dine, you will take a picture with someone special although its not much of a surprise, I wont ruin it. Also, we just used 2 credits.

Thanks for the help.

The last time my parents visited was back in 1999, so I just wanted to make sure that they haven't changed the service style.

 

[Jae99]

Good luck securing that ADR! They go so fast! You literally have to make it the first hour ADRs r accepted on your 180th day Nd sometimes it isn't even available!!!

We don't have no great expectations that we will get everything we hope for in the dining department. I have a feeling that we will have to just keep trying over the months and see what we get.

I am seriously stressed about my 180 day mark. I am not sure if I will have better luck trying to call or doing it online. I haven't been to WDW since I was in my teens and am not totally sure how the online reservation system works.

 

[ImagineerDude]

We don't have no great expectations that we will get everything we hope for in the dining department. I have a feeling that we will have to just keep trying over the months and see what we get.

I am seriously stressed about my 180 day mark. I am not sure if I will have better luck trying to call or doing it online. I haven't been to WDW since I was in my teens and am not totally sure how the online reservation system works.

The online system is super easy! I would go mess around with it and see how it works so you can snag your most popular ADRs before everyone else does. If you want Be Our Guest (which is amazing) be sure to grab that one early as well. Good Luck!!

 

[stevehousse]

Yes but the website doesn't always work. The website for ADRs was down on my 180 day, I had to sit on hold for over an hour as I suspect lot of others couldn't do online either...my call went in at 701am Disney time too...I stil didn't get everything I wanted...

 

[horizons82]

My wife and I had dinner at CRT last year. The experience as a whole was fun--especially if you haven't done it before. The way you are welcomed with chimes being played, the photo-op and the decor of the dining room are all quite nice. However, the quality of the food does NOT match the cost, so as long as you realize you are paying for the experience and not for exceptional food, it should be enjoyable.

If I remember correctly, the dining is actually prix-fixe, in that you pay a flat rate per person and then each person gets to choose their appetizer, entree and dessert from a list of about 3 or 4 items per course.

And yes, plenty of the princess characters will make their way around to all of the tables. Because of this it is geared and most enjoyed by little ones, but my wife and I still had fun with our interactions with the characters. We loved how they stayed in character no matter what topic was being discussed

However, since we went as adults with no kids, the food was sub-par for the cost, so it wouldn't be worth it for us to return. The food at BOG and any signature restaurant are far superior to CRT, but the experience as a whole is a fun one.

If interested, you can read my full and detailed review here:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...Cinderella_s_Royal_Table-Orlando_Florida.html

 

[LWB]

I am not sure if I will have better luck trying to call or doing it online. I haven't been to WDW since I was in my teens and am not totally sure how the online reservation system works.

Definitely try online booking first. The system opens up an hour earlier online than by phone, so your best shot of getting a hard-to-get ADR is online before the phone line opens! I had a problem once with the system not recognizing my reservation and it only let me book for 180 days out and not the rest of my stay, and in that case I had to wait to call in for the rest of my reservations - but usually the online system works just fine.

 

[Jae99]

Thank you all for your help! It is greatly appreciated. The forum members constantly amaze me with their willingness to help as well as their honesty and knowledge of all the aspects of WDW.

 

[HatboxGhost]

Thanks for the help.

The last time my parents visited was back in 1999, so I just wanted to make sure that they haven't changed the service style.

Keep trying to get a reservation all the way up to your visit. We ended up getting ours, after trying a few times, about 2 months before our trip. It was very random like on a Monday or Tuesday sometime in the mid afternoon so you never know when you will get lucky.

 

[Weather_Lady]

We had a nice dinner there last month. Note that one thing which has changed within the past few months at CRT is that the meal is no longer "all you care to enjoy" -- at dinner, you get one choice from each category on the prix fixe menu (one appetizer, one entree, one dessert) and that's it -- you cannot ask for extra portions, and the ones you are given are on the small side. (Still, there is plenty of food to satisfy the average appetite.)

Keep in mind that the focus of the meal is the appearances by several princesses (Cinderella in the lobby with photo, followed by 4-5 princesses, with the regulars being Jasmine, Ariel, Aurora, Snow White and Belle), and the ambiance. While the food is beautifully presented, the quality is "just okay" at best -- at a "normal" restaurant, I'd consider it overpriced at half the CRT cost. Still, it's a one-of-a-kind dining experience, and perfect for a special occasion (even if the special occasion is, "Mom and Dad wanted to go here").

As for value, take a look at the menus for 1-credit table service restaurants you plan to visit. Unless the per-person cost for the prix fixe menu at CRT is more than twice the cost of what you'd pay for two visits to a good 1-credit TS restaurant, you're better off paying out of pocket and using your TS credits for two 1-credit experiences instead. In general, 2-credit restaurants are almost never a good use of your DDP allotment.

 

[steamboatjosh]

We have an ADR for dinner there on our Honeymoon. I can't wait. I did a castle/royal theme for the dining on our first day in Magic Kingdom. Breakfast at The Crystal Palace, Lunch at Be Our Guest, and Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table.

 

[Jae99]

We have an ADR for dinner there on our Honeymoon. I can't wait. I did a castle/royal theme for the dining on our first day in Magic Kingdom. Breakfast at The Crystal Palace, Lunch at Be Our Guest, and Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table.

Wow sounds like a superb tri-fecta of restaurants. Have fun!