Parking/Transportation Situation: Parking is in The Magic Kingdom main parking lot, at the Ticket and Transportation Center. You will ride the parking tram to the TTC, then either take the monorail or the ferry boat to the park. If you are coming from The Grand Floridian, Polynesian Village, or The Contemporary, take the monorail, or a boat, and allow for 20-30 minutes transportation time. (You can also walk from The Contemporary, in about ten minutes.) From Fort Wilderness and the Wilderness Lodge, take the boat. From Epcot, take the monorail. From all other resorts and parks, take the bus and allow anywhere from 45 minutes-1.5 hours transportation time. ALSO ALLOW TIME TO GO THROUGH BAG CHECKS, GO THROUGH THE GATES, AND WALK THROUGH THE PARK!
Meals Served: B, L, D
Characters/Entertainment: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet
Type of Cuisine: American fare
Type of Menu: Buffet only
Guests Who Would Enjoy This The Most: Kids, kid and more kids
Level of Difficulty of Getting a Reservation: Moderate
Fun Stuff for Kids: The main focus here are the characters. Your friends from the Hundred Acre Wood will visit tables while you dine. About once an hour, the Cast celebrates birthdays by dancing around to a birthday song, and encouraging Guests to wave napkins above their heads. If you happen to be sat at one of the few window tables that faces the Castle, you may have a view of some of the 3 o'clock parade, the Electric Light Parade, the Castle show, or Wishes, depending on what time you dine. I say this with great hesitation though, because very few tables actually have a view and you cannot request a table with a view in advance. You can ask once you are there, but the amount of time you will likely have to wait to get one is not usually worth it. You'd be better off finishing up, and watching from outside.
Rating of Appeal to Kid-Diners: What rides?????
Rating of Appeal to Kid-Diners: What rides?????
Stand out dishes: Salmon with Pineapple Salsa, Parker House Rolls with Garlic Butter, Carved Beef, Turtle Cheesecake, Peach Cobbler, Carved Ham
Best Use of Dining Plan Point: Only one option here, the All-You-Care-To-Eat Buffet. However, as a general rule of thumb, buffets will give you the most "bang" for your Dining Plan buck! And being one of the more costly buffets, using a point here makes a lot of sense.
Best Use of Dining Plan Point: Only one option here, the All-You-Care-To-Eat Buffet. However, as a general rule of thumb, buffets will give you the most "bang" for your Dining Plan buck! And being one of the more costly buffets, using a point here makes a lot of sense.
Experience: The Hubs and I brought the littles to The Magic Kingdom last Saturday to visit a friend who was in the park. Since the weather was projected to be scorching hot, humid as a sponge and potentially rainy in the afternoon, (again, summer), we decided it would be a smart idea to do a full service lunch. Our options to book that morning were The Plaza or Crystal Palace, so we figured the kids would like to chill with their friends from the Hundred Acre Wood. We booked the 1:10pm, since it was already 10am and that would give us enough time to do one or two things, say hi to our friends, and head in to eat.
Since we were totally melted messes by 12:30pm, after having danced with Woody and Jessie at Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It!, we opted to check in early, and see if we could be sat. We were called in at 12:45pm, which was perfect!
We were taken to a window table, facing baby care and first aid. As I mentioned above, it's important to note that very few tables actually face the Castle and would allow for you to enjoy the parade or fireworks from inside, so I would discourage anyone from selecting this restaurant specifically for the view. The inside of the location is beautiful! Since there are so many windows and skylights, it resembles an atrium or even a greenhouse, with bright sunlight streaming in from everywhere. Likewise, when it clouds over, it gets a little gloomy, but I think Eeyore likes it that way.
The server came right over and did an awesome job of explaining which way the characters move around the tables, so that we would know when our turn was coming. She did miss K's egg allergy, which was written on our receipt when we were sat. When we reminded her of the allergy, she said that she would get our drinks and that we should stay at the table until the chef was able to come over. Well, the chef must have been caught up doing something, because we waited about 15 minutes and still hadn't seen a chef. Luckily, we had a visit from Tigger which distracted the kids for a while. They loved hugging the day-glow orange tiger and smiling for pictures with him.
When the server came by again and saw that we still did not have plates in front of us, she gasped and apologized. We said it was not a problem and that if it was ok with her, that we would go up and at least get fruit and stuff that we knew he could eat. She said that was absolutely fine and so I went up with D and got a round of apple slices, grapes, cheese, salami and cantaloupe for K. While I was up, the chef came to the table and informed The Hubs as to what we needed to avoid, (chicken nuggets, desserts and a couple of other side items). I will say this for the food... considering the preschool audience that this place draws, I was expecting very basic, bland food, but that was not the case. Sure, there was a good kid's section, serving up corn dog nuggets, pasta and meatballs, and mac and cheese, but there were also all sorts of salad choices, stir fried noodles, pierogies, two different kinds of fish, and carved beef and ham. There was a wide variety of nicely flavored foods, and everything was hot and fresh. D liked the salmon with pineapple salsa and the mac and cheese. K ate a whole bunch of stir fried noodles and a good helping of ham. The Hubs was happy to enjoy chicken tender and mashed potato sandwiches, which he made using the garlic buttered Parker House rolls. That man will make a sandwich out of ANYTHING! Pasta, steak, cupcakes... He got skills. He also liked the roasted chicken, which had a spice rub that was flavorful without being too hot or too salty. Personally, I was a big fan of the tilapia and the pierogies. Mini pockets of pasta filled with mashed potatoes? Um, yes.
We happily munched and lunched for the next hour, occasionally enjoying visits from Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and the bear himself, Pooh! The characters did a good job of stopping at the tables long enough for hugs, pictures and autographs, and the character greeters were efficient at keeping excited kiddos from other tables away. They were not, however, very good at positioning themselves OUT of camera range for the character photos, as I have a greeter in almost every shot of the kids. See? Whoops!
When it was time for dessert, K was happy to receive a bowl of soft serve ice cream from the self-serve machines. "Oooooo, ice keeeeeem!", he exclaimed! Our server also brought him some packaged egg-free chocolate chip cookies. D dug into some peach cobbler, which she liked a lot. The Hubs liked the turtle cheesecake squares. I was disappointed in dessert, since dessert is my jam and the offerings here were not all that exciting to me. I really wished there was something yummy and chocolatey, but alas, there was not. Trust me, I was plenty full from lunch.
Overall, we found service to be pleasant and efficient. The food was tasty and surprisingly "adult". It does get pretty loud, due to the amount of small children, but nothing that those with their own kiddos aren't used to. The littles had fun with the characters and left with smiles on their faces, which is always what matters to us the most.
Since we had obligations for that evening, we walked out of Crystal Palace and right on down Main Street. Time to bounce on home like Tigger! TTFN, Magic Kingdom!
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to D (6 yo girl) So D what did you like best about Crystal Palace? "I liked seeing the characters and I didn't really eat that much, but I liked the food. Like, I liked the food, and I liked... what else? I liked the salmon. Aaaannndd... what else did I like? And.... I liked the dessert. The ice cream and the peach pie thing. And, yeah, I think that's it. Oh, and I liked looking outside the windows." ....You done? "Yeah." I don't even need to bother asking you questions anymore, do I? "No."
Since we were totally melted messes by 12:30pm, after having danced with Woody and Jessie at Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It!, we opted to check in early, and see if we could be sat. We were called in at 12:45pm, which was perfect!
We were taken to a window table, facing baby care and first aid. As I mentioned above, it's important to note that very few tables actually face the Castle and would allow for you to enjoy the parade or fireworks from inside, so I would discourage anyone from selecting this restaurant specifically for the view. The inside of the location is beautiful! Since there are so many windows and skylights, it resembles an atrium or even a greenhouse, with bright sunlight streaming in from everywhere. Likewise, when it clouds over, it gets a little gloomy, but I think Eeyore likes it that way.
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| Kid's Selections: Mac 'N' Cheese, Pasta, Corn and Peas and Corndogs |
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| Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, Spoon Bread, and Green Beans |
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| Stir Fried Noodles, Rice and Collard Greens |
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| Chicken Tenders, Pasta and Pierogies |
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| Tilapia with Citrus Beurre Blanc and Salmon with Corn and Pineapple Salsa |
When it was time for dessert, K was happy to receive a bowl of soft serve ice cream from the self-serve machines. "Oooooo, ice keeeeeem!", he exclaimed! Our server also brought him some packaged egg-free chocolate chip cookies. D dug into some peach cobbler, which she liked a lot. The Hubs liked the turtle cheesecake squares. I was disappointed in dessert, since dessert is my jam and the offerings here were not all that exciting to me. I really wished there was something yummy and chocolatey, but alas, there was not. Trust me, I was plenty full from lunch.
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| Brownies, Sugar-Free Raspberry Tarts, Turtle Cheesecake, Coconut Flan and Key Lime Pie |
Since we had obligations for that evening, we walked out of Crystal Palace and right on down Main Street. Time to bounce on home like Tigger! TTFN, Magic Kingdom!
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to D (6 yo girl) So D what did you like best about Crystal Palace? "I liked seeing the characters and I didn't really eat that much, but I liked the food. Like, I liked the food, and I liked... what else? I liked the salmon. Aaaannndd... what else did I like? And.... I liked the dessert. The ice cream and the peach pie thing. And, yeah, I think that's it. Oh, and I liked looking outside the windows." ....You done? "Yeah." I don't even need to bother asking you questions anymore, do I? "No."
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to K (2 yo boy) K, did you like having lunch with Pooh? "I see Inny Da Pooh, an Piggit, an Tee-gar!" I know! Super fun, right? "Right, Mamma. Inny De Pooh upstairs. An Simba." I know that you have a Winnie the Pooh up in your bed, and a Simba, too. I got them for you, actually. What did you like to eat at lunch? "Uuuuuuummmmmm..........uuummmmmmmm.....uummm... Brocky." What? Broccoli was your favorite thing? "Brocky and ice keem." Of course.
Will we be back: I will go back if one of the kiddos requests it and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone, but there are buffets with lower price tags, outside of the parks, that I would prefer.
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