Darn!!!!!! Kevin Loved Crystal Palace!

[WaltD4Me]

I always love Kevin's restaurant reviews, but I admit to loving them the MOST when he gets served swill or when the service is shall we say..."less than stellar." All I have to do is think about his O'Hana review and I get a laugh...or the Tony's review where the CM kept moving him around the waiting area. And of course the Sad Little Crab Cake debacle. The description of the crab cake is hilarious on it's own, but the part where the server comes back explaining he gave Kevin the dinner menu to accomodate his never mentioned dietary restrictions is also hilarious. So basically I look forward to Kevin getting served inedible food and having bad or "unusual" service. ( Sorry Kevin )

 

[MenashaCorp]

Schadenfreude. A lot of us are right there with ya.

 

[wishspirit]

lol!
So true! We don't mean to wish bad food on you Kevin But they are just so funny!

 

[SamIAm21]

However, I am relieved that Kevin liked Crystal Palace. I will be having dinner there this June. Whew!

 

[hannah's dad]

We've eaten at the Crystal Palace a few times and have always thought it was quite good. Also, I'm with Pete - we ate at the Liberty Tree earlier this month and was disappointed. I don't think we'll go there again anytime soon.

 

[Minniemouse07]

While on the grander scheme of things our meal at CP wasn't HORRIBLE, it was our least favorite that we experienced during our nine day stay in December.

We didn't find the food all that interesting. It wasn't bad and there were lots of things to choose from, just seemed like more of the same buffet items...nothing to differentiate it from CMs, 1900 Park Fare, Hollywood & Vine, etc.

We dined at FIVE character meals and SIX buffets during our stay and I would rank this the lowest out of all of them.

The character interaction was nothing more than a pause to take a photo and sign dd's autograph book. All the other meals the characters interacted around w/ the kids on some level...some more than others... at CP there was nothing.

The service was less than satisfactory. While I appreciated the cupcake w/ the candle and card for my ds' 2nd birthday (his actual birthday), I didn't appreciate the server bringing it to him five minutes after we were seated! It was quite difficult to get ds to eat his dinner with a chocolate cupcake in front of him to play with! I resorted to distracting him and hiding it until he ate something not containing sugar!

Again, while it wasn't a horrid experience w/ unedible food... I found Crystal Palace to be less than magical, especially with it being located IN the Magic Kingdom.

I do agree about the bread pudding though...it was yummy!

 

[tinkbutt]

I must admit I like to here kevin explain a bad review but I don't like when they are on property

 

[willis37862]

I haven't heard this weeks episode but I am glad to hear Kevin likes Crystal Palace. It's a favorite of mine

 

[burberryplaid]

Oooh where's the drooling smilie! We LOVED CP for breakfast last trip and we have it booked for the night of our P&P party. I can't wait!

Another nice feature, you're not roped into a photo package there so they don't overcharge IMO. Glad to hear Kevin enjoyed it.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Oooh where's the drooling smilie! We LOVED CP for breakfast last trip and we have it booked for the night of our P&P party. I can't wait!

Another nice feature, you're not roped into a photo package there so they don't overcharge IMO. Glad to hear Kevin enjoyed it.

This is true about CP not making you get the photo package. I think that is a horrible policy. It should definitely be optional everywhere.

 

[drwitz]

But I am a little confused that Kevin said he liked it better than the other TWO restaurants in the MK, Tony's Town Square and Liberty Tree Tavern.

Didn't he forget Cinderella's Royal Table?

I consider that a full-service restaurant, and I like it better than Crystal Palace.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Ok...I'm old and forgetful.

There are 5 table service dining establishments in the MK.

Crystal Palace - good
Tony's Town Square - Not so much. Not horrendous...but I would go again unless I was working
Liberty Tree Tavern - Havent reviewed this, but Pete did. But I have eaten there and in my opinion, it's basically Stouffers frozen dinners for lots of money and hugs from Goofy.

Now the other two...

The Plaza...wonderful "old school" Disney and while it's not counter service...I think of it as more of a sandwich shop kinda place. Good....but different from a "dinner" place. It's really a gem.

Cinderella's Royal Table....Havent been there in a while so I am working off old information but I think this has become a bit ridiculous. It's become less of a restaurant and more of an "event that if you dont get a reservation for....your vacation will be ruined." Reservations are horribly hard to get and I dont want to make any feel bad about not being able to get in.

In addition....I feel like I need to borrow a kid to take with me. If it's just John and I... I feel like it's gonna be creepy. "C'mere Princess...."

 

[beachwarmer]

Cinderella's Royal Table....Havent been there in a while so I am working off old information but I think this has become a bit ridiculous. It's become less of a restaurant and more of an "event that if you dont get a reservation for....your vacation will be ruined." Reservations are horribly hard to get and I dont want to make any feel bad about not being able to get in.

In addition....I feel like I need to borrow a kid to take with me. If it's just John and I... I feel like it's gonna be creepy. "C'mere Princess...."

Kevin...I have an offer to make to you. The next time my family is in Disney World I would like you and John to join us at CRT for lunch...and your parents too if they would like.

I have been outraged at Disney for increasing prices, holiday surcharges and making you buy the pictures. This meal is way too expensive....but there is an indescribable quality to this meal when you have a Princess loving little girl. (If you come with us maybe your eloquent style and professional reviewer will be able to capture it.) I cannot justify the price of the meal with the quality of the food....and we are paying in Canadian dollars which usually makes it even more expensive. I swear I will not pay the price to go back, but when you see the magic this experience is through the eyes of a child I cave in every time. I will be on the phone at 6:55 am hitting redial 180 days before our visit. I have the most incredible photo from our December trip that could help me explain...but I don't post photos of my child on the internet. (Not that there is anything wrong with doing that if you so choose. It is just a personal choice.)

We have eaten at CRT the last five years.....and my husband who does not like to part with money very easily just asks what meal we are eating there....and this is an extra meal on top of the dining plan.

As a disclaimer you have met us at both the Dec Podcast meet and on Christmas Eve... I do not have a cistern or any plans to dig one....my DD is pretty well behaved and I do not require any of John's Babysitting in a Locker service.

 

[goofy89]

Beachwarmer-
Interesting thoughts on CRT. I don't have any girls and don't think my boys would give a flip about it.

It would be interesting to know of the guest that have gone to CRT, how many think it's worth the effort and price and how many feel it was a rip-off.

Maybe there's already a thread on the subject.

 

[amycishere]

I too am also glad he loved Crystal Palace. We will be eating there the night of our P &PP for the very first time!!

 

[WaltD4Me]

Maybe there's already a thread on the subject.

MAYBE?!

No maybe about it, there have been MANY of threads on the subject the Cinderella Castle meals. It's one of those Disney trip things that discussed often.
Basically, some think it's worth every penny and will do it again, some think it was ok to do once and some think it was a huge rip off.

 

[cyberbox2]

We ate breakfast at CP in May of 2006 and really enjoyed the food,atmosphere and the character interaction.

I hope to make an ADR there for this august so we can give dinner a try.

I agree with Kevin, we did CRT in 2005 and loved the experience but that is really what it was, an event and not do much a premium food experience.

Via iPhone

 

[DisneyKevin]

Kevin...I have an offer to make to you. The next time my family is in Disney World I would like you and John to join us at CRT for lunch...and your parents too if they would like.

I have been outraged at Disney for increasing prices, holiday surcharges and making you buy the pictures. This meal is way too expensive....but there is an indescribable quality to this meal when you have a Princess loving little girl. (If you come with us maybe your eloquent style and professional reviewer will be able to capture it.) I cannot justify the price of the meal with the quality of the food....and we are paying in Canadian dollars which usually makes it even more expensive. I swear I will not pay the price to go back, but when you see the magic this experience is through the eyes of a child I cave in every time. I will be on the phone at 6:55 am hitting redial 180 days before our visit. I have the most incredible photo from our December trip that could help me explain...but I don't post photos of my child on the internet. (Not that there is anything wrong with doing that if you so choose. It is just a personal choice.)

We have eaten at CRT the last five years.....and my husband who does not like to part with money very easily just asks what meal we are eating there....and this is an extra meal on top of the dining plan.

As a disclaimer you have met us at both the Dec Podcast meet and on Christmas Eve... I do not have a cistern or any plans to dig one....my DD is pretty well behaved and I do not require any of John's Babysitting in a Locker service.

Please understand that I am not saying anything bad about CRT. I haven't been there recently enough to really have an opinion about the food.

I have avoided it for a few reasons.

It's very, very difficult to secure a reservation and I would hate to think we were taking the place of a family with kids.

It seems that most people describe it as "an event with food" with the food being almost an afterthought. Reviewing the food seems almost pointless in this situation. We often hear people say that their kids were so excited that they never really ate anything.

My issue with CRT is that it has achieved the status of being a "make or break" event....sort of like scoring a table at Le Cellier. I have actually had people tell me that their vacation is ruined because they can not get a reservation.

I love helping folks have the best vacation possible (which is our goal) so reviewing this location seems to be an excercise in futility. If we go and dont like it....people will assume it's because we dont have kids so we couldn't understand and if we go and like it....people will be frustrated and we run the risk of more "ruined vacations" when they can not score a reservation.

From my point of view....a CRT review is a "no win" situation so I think it's best to just accept it for what it is.

Hope this explains things a bit better.

Kevin