dewhee32
Registered: February 2012
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 5
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Review Date: Sun February 19, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Character interaction; food selection
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Cons:
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Desserts; Kids options
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We just returned home from our trip, 2/12-16/2012, and had ADR for 3:15pm "dinner". The 15th was our last day for the parks and I had previously made a dinner reservation for Downtown Disney (Wolfgang Puck Cafe), but changed our dining 3 days before leaving after realizing we would want to maximize our time in Magic Kingdom. Hence, the 3:15 dinner. It was all I could get.
We have done breakfast here before, so we knew what to expect from the character perspective, but I was slightly disappointed in the food here for dinner. In fact, it was our worst meal of the week. Were it not for the chicken tenders, I wouldn't have found anything, besides salad and ice cream, that I would eat. The kid items were mac and cheese (do I have the only kids who won't eat mac and cheese?), peas and carrots (they don't eat that either), and a beef ziti (nope, won't eat that either). They did enjoy the chicken tenders, which were very good. I can't believe french fries aren't a staple on all the kids buffet lines throughout Disney, but they are hard to find.
I was equally disappointed in the desserts, although I did find a fruit crisp with ice cream that turned out very tasty.
I selected that I would recommend this restaurant, not for the quality of the food, but for the smiles and photos I'll have of my 5 and 1 1/2 year old boys hugging Pooh and his friends.
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Doh
Registered: February 2012
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 16
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Review Date: Tue February 7, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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location
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Cons:
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noisy
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Location is good and buffet provides many options. However, the food is just ok - nothing special. What we did not like is that it was incredibly noisy - and the characters were oddly spaced. Kids missed some of the characters because they were up getting food. Photo ops were rushed. Chef Mickeys is a better option.
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kmark2
Registered: February 2012
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 11
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Review Date: Tue February 7, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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good food, characters are fun, server was on top of things
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Cons:
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We ate here on the DDP on 1/22/12. This was our third time eating here for dinner and I love this place. The characters are always fun and spend just enough time with you. We even got to see Pooh & Tigger twice this time!
I like this buffet because I think they have a good variety of food. The salmon is the best I've had anywhere and they always have plenty of vegetables. The kids of course love the soft ice cream and the toppings bar. I had the cobbler with some ice cream on top. There were others things for dessert but we ate so much for dinner there wasn't room for much dessert.
Our server was also very good with getting the plates out of your way and refilling your drinks. I was almost done with my drink and he automatically just showed up with a new one without me asking.
Overall, great place and we'll be back on our next visit!
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psubelle
Registered: October 2011
Posts: 16
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Review Date: Mon February 6, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Food was decent, love the characters
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Cons:
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Buffet staff rude, no piglet again
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This was our second visit to CP, first time we went for breakfast. The breakfast was definitely better, although we were all happy to have some ice cream at the end of our meal. Every time we visit the CP, we never see Piglet, even if we are there for an hour+. Some people end up chasing down the characters so they can leave but we didn't want to do that. If you get a change to eat here, go for breakfast, dinner wasn't anything special.
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dancemom
Registered: January 2012
Posts: 15
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Review Date: Mon January 23, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Good food, fun characters
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Cons:
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Took a long time for all the characters to come by
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We had lunch here and really enjoyed taking a break from the crowds. For a buffet the food is quite good and there are plenty of options. All my kids love the characters here. It did take a long time for all of characters to stop by our table though.
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AmyVee
Registered: January 2012
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Mon January 23, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Convenient, Characters, Good food, Buffet,
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Cons:
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Very cold, Not a ton of variety
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Overall, I really like the Crystal Palace. It's very convenient. You can enjoy your day at Magic Kingdom and not have to get on another bus to go to your meal. I liked that we could pop in, have a very nice meal, get out of the heat for a while, and then be right back in the action of the park. I also really liked the fact that the characters are there. They really make it more exciting. I was impressed with the food and really liked that it was a buffet. I felt like I was getting my money worth because I could keep going up. It was good for the kids as well because they had a kids section that they enjoyed and could get endless chicken tenders.
The only things I didn't like about it was the temperature. It feels really great at first if you're there in the summer. It's freezing cold and is a great change from outside. However, by the time I was done with my meal I was shaking I was so cold. We obviously didn't have any sweatshirts with us since it was about 90 something degrees outside. It was a good temperature to begin with, but overwhelming cold after a while. I also didn't think there was a ton of variety. The food I had was good, but I would have liked to have more variety for what I paid to eat there.
I would definitely recommend eating here if you are in Magic Kingdom and looking for a break from the heat and a chance to see some characters.
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slamborne
Registered: October 2011
Location: Rockledge, FL
Posts: 10
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Review Date: Sat January 21, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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selection
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Cons:
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You're never quite sure when the characters are coming
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This is the first time we ate at the Crystal Palace for lunch instead of dinner and I would definitely do that again. We had a large group and had to wait about 20 minutes even though we had advance reservations. We were seated at 3 tables but at least they were next to each other.
Our server was a bit slow but then did bring refills without us having to ask. We took our time with lunch which was good because it did take a while for the characters to come around and this time there was no parade. I'm not sure if they just do that at dinner or somehow we missed it.
There was beef and turkey on the carving board and the buffet choices included salmon and shrimp and a variety of pastas, potatoes and vegetables. They did seem a little slow in replenishing the dessert buffet, but still there were lots of choices and they brought a birthday cupcake to our table. I'm not sure if that was because the server saw the button or because I put it on the reservation.
If you love Pooh, it's a Disney must-do. If you're looking for a bargain, it's not the place for you.
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bmaddux
Registered: January 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Mon January 16, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? No
| Rating: 3
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Pros:
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Our waiter was nice
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Cons:
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The food was subpar, characters barely circulated, and the buffet staff was rude
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We had ADRs for Crystal Palace for dinner on the next to last night of our 10 day stay. At this point, we had eaten at Chef Mickeys, Hollywood and Vine and The Garden Grill, as well as Boma at AKL. We had been happy with the quality and selection of the food everywhere, until Crystal Palace. The selection was unusual, the quality was subpar, and there were many foods that ran out. Also, the buffet staff was rude (one lady was upset that a Ranch Dressing squeeze bottle had the lid missing and was in the wrong place and chastised a customer for it being out of place... a customer that hadn't touched it).
As for the characters, at every other Character meal, the characters showed up to our table multiple times. At Crystal Palace, we were there for an hour and Pooh never made it to our table, and Eyor and Tigger barely made it before we left. That annoying part was that there were other tables that they visited twice before ever coming our way.
It was a very disappointing experience after great experiences every where else.
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jrwkaw2733
Registered: January 2009
Posts: 13
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Review Date: Wed January 11, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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service was good
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Cons:
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characters were slow to make the rounds
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The service was good here and the food was just okay. The characters took awhile to make the rounds so make sure you are not in a hurry to get somewhere else. Overall we had a good experience.
I am glad we tried it once but we will not return. I felt like we had a better character experience at Animal Kingdom with the Winnie the Pooh character spot.
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llarson
Registered: December 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 10
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Review Date: Fri December 30, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Excellent Food, Character Dining
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Cons:
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We dined here twice during our Thanksgiving visit of WDW, both dinners on Nov 22nd and Nov 25th, 2011. We loved this restaurant! Food was excellent! Lots of varieties, and very delicious. My 3-year old loved seeing Winne the Pooh and its friends. We had a great time during both visits. We would definitely return!
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canadianholly
Registered: October 2010
Posts: 14
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Review Date: Tue December 13, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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characters, easy buffet food for kids
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Cons:
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very busy, nothing really tasty
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We usually come away from a buffet with something that we liked, something special that they did well, but nothing stands out. Food is edible and plenty but thats about it. Mostly people are here for the characters. Tigger came over just as we were seated, that felt a bit rushed as we were not ready with anything yet. (autograph book or camera. we had to time it when the characters were coming over so we could run to get food and get seated and ready for them (autographs and pictures). It was fun to see them but I think my DH enjoyed it more than DD. We would try a different one next time.
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Fitzboyzmom
Registered: November 2010
Posts: 94
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Review Date: Wed December 7, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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This was our first meal after we arrived. We waited a long time for our table along with lots of other people. I thought the food was very good. The sundae bar is kind of a joke...just chocolate and vanilla ice cream and sprinkles when we were there. Our waiter was really nice, but dragged the dinner on for way too long. They should really ask if you want to wait for all the characters. We didn't care since we'd been there before. We basically ran out the door to see the fireworks. The good news is that the view of the fireworks from the front of the restaurant was really good, but we missed a lot of it.
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mommyrosa2
Registered: November 2010
Posts: 21
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Review Date: Wed November 9, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 3
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Pros:
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Characters
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Cons:
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Food
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We had dinner on 10/24 (our first time back in about 4 years after a terrible breakfast experience). We had ADR's at 6:10p and didn't get seated until a little after 7:00p (our longest wait all week). This place was packed and what really "irked" me was that they were taking "walk-ups" about as quick as those with ADR's. The food selection was not great. A lot of the food was flavorless and a lot of it was barely edible - simply not good. The kid's section was a mess (mac n' chz mixed with Chix nuggets,etc.) and they were running out of food at several stations faster than they could replenish. The dessert selection was also lacking. As for the character interaction, we felt really rushed and my DD's were disappointed that Tigger never made it over to our table and we took our time eating. The waitress was SLOW and the whole place was just chaotic...even the restrooms were completely disgusting. My youngest DD13 really wanted to try this place for the characters & we were really hoping for a good experience, unfortunately we all left pretty disappointed again - needless to say, we won't be returning anytime soon!
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abbellire
Registered: November 2011
Posts: 13
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Review Date: Mon November 7, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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beautiful decor, fun characters
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Cons:
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crowded, slow service
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We had an early dinner ADR here (3:15pm). It was already very crowded when we got seated. We waited about 15 minutes to get our initial drinks, and then our waitress disappeared as I'm sure she was busy serving the other many tables that had just been seated as well.
We ended up meeting all the characters relatively early on, which was nice because then we could just sit back and relax without worrying what order the characters would come in, or if we would miss them by going to the buffet (TIP: Have one parent stay back with the kids while the other one gets plates of food, so you never miss the character meetings.) All of the characters spent several minutes with DS4 and allowed us to take several pictures with them, despite the increasing crowds.
The food was decent. Some of the items served here were not really to my liking, but there was plenty of other stuff to eat that was delicious. Since it was so crowded, I did have to wait about 5 minutes just for 1 slice of turkey, but it was really, really good. The cappucino/amaretto/whatever mousse for dessert was the best! My husband especially liked the key lime tarts. DS4 was not all that impressed, but this was our last meal of the trip and I'm sure by that point he was getting tired of macaroni & cheese, chicken tenders, and fruit for his dinners (despite us offering him several alternatives!)
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leit
Registered: October 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Thu October 27, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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We ate here in Sept during free dinning. After we checked in with our name they called us so there was no wait time. The food was better then I thought it would be I loved there potatoes. The characters were good except for Pooh. Our server told us which order the characters go to the table so we would be ready. Pooh didn't follow the order like Tigger, Piglet, and Eeorye did so I was not ready with the camera and daughter had food in her mouth then he walked to the next table. However all the other times we have eaten there all the characters have been great. We did get our picture with Pooh at breakfast at 1900 Park Fare the next morning.
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