Disney Dining Reviews, Part 1

Last week my family and our good friends vacationed at Disney World. In addition to the rides and attractions, we always enjoy good food. In the past we have always booked the dining plan, which allows you to prepay for your meals prior to your trip. We received one table service meal, one counter service meal, and one snack (such as a Mickey ice cream bar or pretzel) per person per day. This time we took advantage of a free dining plan offer, so basically we ate for free!

Because Mr. Lego was over the age of 9, he could order from the adults menu, which opened up a new vista of food for him. But it also presented a few problems as sometimes the items included didn't appeal to him as much as the kids menu. But we overcame the pickiness and no one went hungry.

One of our favorite meal experiences is breakfast at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. We always book an early reservation so we can enter the park before it officially opens. It's peaceful and quiet, a huge contrast from later in the day when the park fills with guests rushing here and there.

Some of the items included were pancakes, Mickey waffles, an omelet station, and hubby's favorite, Pooh's breakfast lasagna. It's a layered concoction with fruit, cream, pancakes and waffles. There was also bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit, yogurt, cereal, biscuits, sausage gravy, and bagels.

This is a character meal with Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger. Each character comes to your table and stops for pictures and fun. We really enjoyed the interaction and food. We'd give this restaurant 4 out of 5 stars. We did have some wait time for the characters that slowed us down, but the food was very good and there was plenty of variety.


Another character meal we liked was Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in the Norway pavilion at Epcot. A cold buffet with various kinds of fish, cheese, bread, salads, and fruit starts off the meal. You then order from a selection of Norwegian favorites. I ordered the seared salmon cakes with cauliflower soup on the side. Yummy! The best part of the meal was dessert, which is served family style. We had a choice of fruit tart, chocolate mousse, or the always delightful rice cream.

This meal featured princesses, which of course, the Princess loved. Belle greeted us as we arrived, then four more princesses stopped by our table. Ariel wanted a picture of the Princess since the Princess was wearing a picture of her (Ariel). Very sweet! This restaurant gets 4 out of 5 stars, mainly because the tables are close together and there isn't much room to get around. The food, however, is excellent, though I can see people not enjoying Norwegian dishes.


At Hollywood Studios, we ate dinner at the 50's PrimeTime Cafe. As you can tell by the name, the theme of this restaurant is the 50's. The tables are laminate with small TV's playing clips of black and white television show at each one. The servers pretend to be your brothers and sisters, threatening to tell "Mom" if you don't eat your veggies. The whole atmosphere is fun and light-hearted.

I chose the salmon with mushroom ragout. I loved the mushroom ragout, but the salmon was a little bland. Charles got the chicken pot pie and he raved over it.



The desserts were served in large sundae glasses reminiscent of a soda shop. I don't think anyone was able to finish theirs because the portions were so huge! But it was fun trying.


Out of 5 stars, we'd give this a 4. Nearly every dish had a sauce component which Mr. Lego didn't care for. But we were able to finagle it so he could eat something by sharing with his sister, who could still order from the kids menu.

I've got some more table service meals to review, then I'll post our favorite quick service meals, too. Maybe the next time you go to Disney, you can try some of our faves.