Liberty Tree Tavern vs. Crystal Palace

[WDWFigment]

What would you recommend for three adults who are still kids on the inside (we love getting character pictures) but are more concerned about food quality?

We'd rather eat with the characters at Liberty Tree Tavern (not huge Pooh fans), but it looks like the menu at Crystal Palace is much better. Of course it's hard to tell by only looking at an online menu, so is the menu really better? What would you recommend for us?

EDIT: Today when I called Disney Dining on my daily attempt to 'improve' our reservations, I ended up with a reservation to Tony's Town Square at 4:30 p.m. I would much rather eat at 4:30 p.m. than 6:50 p.m. (our current reservations at LTT, which would make us miss the start of the P&P party) but I'm still fairly confident we'll be able to get into any of these restaurants between 4 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. (don't know why, I just am). So know the question changes...which of the three would you recommend?

 

[RiversideBunny]

You are probably talking about dinner since the characters are at LTT only then.
In that case I'd almost say 'Do you want turkey and a Thanksgiving type dinner or a whole smorgasbord buffet?'

We always do Crystal Palace for breakfast and Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner.
In fact the first thing we like to do when arriving at WDW the first evening is to go do the Haunted Mansion and then go to LTT for dinner.
A great start.

 

[shoppingnut]

Considering that I don't like thanksgiving food, it would have to be CP for me. I have been to CP many times and do like the selection there and I'm not a big pooh fan either.

 

[WDWFigment]

Sorry, we are talking about dinner. I'm not really concerned with which way we eat dinner, I would like more variety if possible, but if it's a variety of a bunch of food that is inferior to the more limited offerings of LTT, then LTT gets the nod.

Also, I apologize for posting in the travel forums, for some reason I thought I was in the Dining forum. I'm sure mods will move it, but until then--sorry!

Thanks for the advice, RiversideBunny! :wave:

 

[sbkline]

Sorry, we are talking about dinner. I'm not really concerned with which way we eat dinner, I would like more variety if possible, but if it's a variety of a bunch of food that is inferior to the more limited offerings of LTT, then LTT gets the nod.

Also, I apologize for posting in the travel forums, for some reason I thought I was in the Dining forum. I'm sure mods will move it, but until then--sorry!

Thanks for the advice, RiversideBunny! :wave:

No need to apologize about the forum. I've noticed that the dining forum gets much less traffic than this forum, and if you post in that forum, you'll be lucky to get a response the same day.

I don't suppose there's any way to eat at both? Are you only doing one or two table service meals the whole trip, or are you on the dining plan? If you're on the dining plan, do you only have one night that you can eat at the Magic Kingdom?

I just wondered if you have time or money to eat at both so you don't have to make a choice. I had both places on my list to eat at for supper next year, but then I ended up only scheduling one night in the MK instead of two. So I think we'll do breakfast at CP and supper at LTT.

 

[mouselvrmom]

I love the liberty tree tavern! It is a must do for us, as is crystal palace.

However, if you are strictly going off of food quality. I think you may find a little bit better selection at crystal palace.

I like the food at LTT, but last time we were there, the meat was a little dry, the gravy was pretty congealed, so I didn't want to put that on the meat to make it less dry. The potatoes were good as were the green beans, but you would get much more of a selection if you did CP.

It's really up to your preference. I personally would try to do them both.

 

[tooltime]

i remember a thread on the best burger at wdw, LTT seemed to have it.

attached was a pic of this cheeseburger that i still think about!

 

[WDWFigment]

We are on the dining plan, but our credits are already used up (and then some, as we're going to pay for Ohana Character Breakfast out of pocket). Here is our dinner schedule:

Dinner Reservations
Thursday, August 16th: California Grill at 6:00 p.m.
Friday, August 17th: Brown Derby at 4 p.m. – WILL CANCEL
Saturday, August 18th: Liberty Tree Tavern at 6:50 p.m.
Sunday, August 19th: Les Chefs De France at 6:30 p.m.
Monday, August 20th: California Grill at 9:40 p.m. – WILL CANCEL
Tuesday, August 21st: Ohana Character Breakfast at 9:40 a.m.
Olivia’s Café at 3:50 p.m.

 

[WDWFigment]

I guess I should add another asterick to this... we already have reservations for LTT at 6:50 p.m., but we probably will cancel if we can't get something earlier, as we don't want to miss any of the Pirate and Princess Party!

 

[sbkline]

We are on the dining plan, but our credits are already used up (and then some, as we're going to pay for Ohana Character Breakfast out of pocket). Here is our dinner schedule:

Dinner Reservations
Thursday, August 16th: California Grill at 6:00 p.m.
Friday, August 17th: Brown Derby at 4 p.m. – WILL CANCEL
Saturday, August 18th: Liberty Tree Tavern at 6:50 p.m.
Sunday, August 19th: Les Chefs De France at 6:30 p.m.
Monday, August 20th: California Grill at 9:40 p.m. – WILL CANCEL
Tuesday, August 21st: Ohana Character Breakfast at 9:40 a.m.
Olivia’s Café at 3:50 p.m.

If I counted correctly, that looks like 6 nights, so 6 credits. You are using 2 at California Grill, none yet on Friday since you said you're cancelling that one. One on Saturday at LTT, so that's 3 so far. Sunday the 19th is 4. You're cancelling the CG ADR on Monday the 20th, so you're still at 4. You said you're paying out of pocket for Ohana, so that leaves 2 dining credits left. You're using one for supper at Olivia's Cafe, so if I am figuring correctly, you still have one credit left. So it looks like you could add one more ADR and still only be paying one restaraunt out of pocket.

 

[WDWFigment]

This might be another problem, then. Are your dining credits gone as soon as you check out of your resort? (To answer your question, we're only staying 5 nights) We check out on Tuesday morning, but our flight isn't until 8:55 p.m. on Tuesday, so we were planning on eating at both Ohana and Olivia's after we check out. This is really bad news if the credits are gone once you check out, I never thought about that... Please don't give me bad news!!!

 

[majortom1981]

hmm

i have eaten at both for dinner. I like the crystal palace better food wise.

 

[sbkline]

This might be another problem, then. Are your dining credits gone as soon as you check out of your resort? (To answer your question, we're only staying 5 nights) We check out on Tuesday morning, but our flight isn't until 8:55 p.m. on Tuesday, so we were planning on eating at both Ohana and Olivia's after we check out. This is really bad news if the credits are gone once you check out, I never thought about that... Please don't give me bad news!!!

No, there's good news for you. Your credits expire at midnight of the day you check out.

So if you check out at 8 AM Monday, for example, you have until midnight to use your remaining credits.

 

[bhealthy]

Your credits end as of midnight on the day you check out. You're okay there. As for CP or LTT, I've only eaten at LTT and it was just ok, nothing great, no choices. My sister and I are going to try CP in Sept. We're not big Pooh fans either, but it seems like more of a selection of foods to try. Hopefully we won't regret it. Either way, whichever you choose it will give you a reason to go back again to try the other (not that any of us need an excuse to go back:animwink: ).

 

[Jessie&Buzz]

Your credits end as of midnight on the day you check out. You're okay there.

Darn it! I let 2 cs meals go to waste. I would have used them for breakfast that morning if I would have known. I was given wrong info by my sister.

 

[paul436]

I've only had the character breakfast at Crystal Palace, not the dinner but it was very good. I have had the character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and LOVED it. The characters, the food, the theming...it was all great. I really enjoyed it. My wife was very disappointed that we couldn't get a ADR for the LTT on our upcoming trip at the end of August. I was going to keep calling and hope to catch an opening but I figured I have to save something for the next trip.:hammer:

 

[WDWFigment]

No, there's good news for you. Your credits expire at midnight of the day you check out.

So if you check out at 8 AM Monday, for example, you have until midnight to use your remaining credits.

Phew, thank my lucky stars. My heart skipped a beat for a second... I thought I hadn't planned around that aspect of the trip well enough. (Well, I hadn't, but I got lucky instead!)

 

[elabron]

Are you trying to stay in the MK for dinner? If not, have you considered Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary?:shrug: More variety and VERY fun atmosphere.

I've only eaten breakfast at CP.....I wasn't too thrilled with Liberty Tree for dinner. It's sponsored by Stouffer's frozen foods, and to me, that's exactly what the dressing and mac and cheese tasted like.

But, my kids seemed to enjoy Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale much more than they did the Pooh gang.

 

[WDWFigment]

Thanks for the Chef Mickey's suggestion, but we're staying in MK for dinner.

The plan for that day is to go to Typhoon Lagoon from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., go back to SSR, change clothes, and head over to MK for dinner, followed by the Pirate and Princess Party. I'd really like to eat as close to 4 p.m. as possible, as I don't want to miss any of the P&P party. The current 6:50 p.m. reservations are merely for 'backup' in case we can't swap them out for an earlier time.

 

[WDWFigment]

Update to our plans:

Today when I called Disney Dining on my daily attempt to 'improve' our reservations, I ended up with a reservation to Tony's Town Square at 4:30 p.m. I would much rather eat at 4:30 p.m. than 6:50 p.m. (our current reservations at LTT, which would make us miss the start of the P&P party) but I'm still fairly confident we'll be able to get into any of these restaurants between 4 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. (don't know why, I just am). So know the question changes...which of the three would you recommend?