Review: The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace is one of the most popular dining locations in the Magic Kingdom. It’s an all you can eat buffet with characters with from the Winnie the Pooh series. Kids love this dining experience, but is it worth the cost?

Food: The food at the Crystal Palace is decent. They have a nice mix of foods. The carved meats and the desserts are what stand out. Everything else is just average. There are a couple of buffet style restaurants in Disney World that are better.

Atmosphere: The Crystal Palace is a beautiful well lit restaurant with lots of windows and has a Victorian style to its decorations. The seating areas are the downfall of the atmosphere. They designed them to cram as many people into as small a space as possible. I didn’t get the same feeling from Tusker House which seemed a little more open. At times getting from my table to the buffet and back was an adventure and somewhat difficult. Because they cram so many people in so small a space it can get really loud inside. Keep that in mind if your kids are volume sensitive. It’s no where near as loud as Kouzzina but it’s still loud.

Entertainment: If you like Pooh and his friends you’ll like the entertainment here. I’m not a big fan of Pooh. The only one I really wanted to see was Eyeore. The ones that were out and about when I was there were: Winnie the Pooh, Eyeore, Tigger, and Piglet. Every so often they do a little show where all the kids follow the characters around while music plays. It can’t be easy to be a character here. Each character needs a handler because things are so cramped they can’t get around without them.

Service: The service is decent. At a buffet you don’t expect much and they lived up to that. However there is one big failure where service is concerned. My wife and I had an ADR. When you have an ADR you know you are not going to get seated right away but you know after a few minutes you’ll get seated. It took the Crystal Palace thirty minutes to seat us. Thirty minutes to seat a party of two. That’s insane.

Cost: The Crystal Palace is very expensive for a buffet, even a character buffet. You will take a serious blow to your wallet while eating here. We went here during lunch which made the cost even more of a shock.

Overall I won’t be going back to the Crystal Palace. It’s too expensive, too crowded, the food doesn’t match the cost and the overall interaction with the characters was better at the Garden Grill.

Coming Soon to CMDTA!

My WDW trip is fast approaching. All the plans are set. I have my resort, ADRs, airfare, tickets, and a spouse who is mostly willing to go with me.

So what’s on the hit list? Here are the reviews / posts that will be coming:

The Brown Derby: Worth the Money?

Tusker House Review

Tusker House or Yak and Yeti?

California Grill: One Hit Wonder?

The Crystal Palace: Is it Good or Pooh?

San Angel Inn: Second Thoughts

Garden Grill Review

Le Cellier: Is It Over Hyped?

Chef Mickey’s: Back After 25 Years

Hoop Dee Doo: Still the Best?

Kouzzina Review

Is La Nouba Worth $200

CMDTA on the Loose!

Mexico’s Tequila Bar

Down Town Disney Review

There will be more too. I’m sure to have plenty of stories to add on top of these. I’ll have a load of new pictures and videos too. You’ll have to stay tuned to see what happens.

Disney Releases Travel Advisory

Around noon on September 28^th, 2009, Disney released an official warning to anyone planning on traveling to Disney World from February 26^th to March 4^th, 2010. Disney has been informed that The Cousin Mickey Doesn’t Talk About will be raiding the parks between those dates.

Any guests who are brave enough to visit the parks on those dates can expect increased shenanigans, food shortages at random restaurants, and general mayhem.

In the warning the following dining locations were listed as potential danger zones:

Brown Derby – DHS

Tusker House – AK

Kazunia – Board Walk Resort

The Crystal Palace – Magic Kingdom

San Angel Inn – Epcot

Garden Grill – Epcot

Canada – Epcot

Chef Mickey’s – Contemporary Resort

Hoop Dee Doo Review – Fort Wilderness

California Grill – Contemporary Resort

In addition specific parks were mentioned for specific dates. On the 26^th – DHS. On the 27^th – AK. On the 28^th – MK. On the 1^st – EP. On the 2^nd – EP. On the 3^rd – MK. However, it appears that on the 4^th all parks could be affected equally.

Check back often for more details on this serious travel event.

Upcoming Restaurant Reviews

I really don’t fit in when it comes to planning a Disney vacation. Most people book a vacation, and then figure out where they are going to be, then plan the dining. I plan where I’m going to eat before the vacation is even booked. It’s fun. Try it sometime.

Here are some of the locations I’ll be hitting up on my next trip. I’ve somewhat ignored other reviews and feedback so don’t complain that some of the places have a bad rap.

1 – Mexico – Repeat visit – You’ll get to see if the San Angel Inn maintains, gets better, or gets worse.

2 – Garden Grill – First Visit in nearly 20 years. I’ve eaten here before but I remember next to nothing about it. I hope Chip and Dale pick on my wife. She doesn’t understand the whole character thing.

3 – Momma Melrose’s – I like Italian. I’ve worked at three different Italian restaurants and I’ve never eaten here. This should be interesting.

4 – Brown Derby – I think they only reason we are going to the Derby is for the salad and the grapefruit cake.

5 – Crystal Palace – I ate there once over ten years ago. It wasn’t impressive. Let’s see if that changed. Maybe I can tip Pooh and the gang to annoy my wife.

6 – Tusker House – All I can say is, it has to be better than Yak and Yeti.

7 – Tapan Edo (or whatever it’s called) – My wife watches that food network show about this so we might as well go here.

8 – Le Cellier – The last time I ate here you could walk in whenever you wanted. If we get in here you will get a review.

9 – The Norway Breakfast – If Scopa can do it, so can I!

10 – California Grill – Return visit – Can the Grill possibly match its last performance and keep in the top spot in WDW?

11 – Hoop Dee Doo – Return visit – Will the Hoop Dee Doo stand up against multiple visits or is it a one hit wonder?

12 – Kazunna – My wife loves Iron Chef so I don’t have much of a say in this one. At least she’s my favorite Iron Chef.

There you have it. These are subject to change but they shouldn’t change a whole lot. You might see some additions too if we end up on the dining plan. Right now we are not using the dining plan.

Also please keep in mind – it could be years before I get a chance to do these. It all depends on what kind of promo Disney runs.

How to get Banned for Life and Possibly Arrested in Disney World

All of us have had that little voice go off in our heads. The voice that tries to get you to do so something you shouldn’t. Almost everyone is able to control that voice. What if you didn’t? What if you listened to that voice? There are many things that kids and adults alike would try if they let the voice rule. Here are just a few:

1 – Dress like a pirate, pretend to be an audioanimatronic, hide in Pirates, and moon the boats as they go by. Results: This one would get you kicked out faster then you can blink. You’d probably get banned from the parks. I don’t think you’d get arrested but I could be wrong.

2 – Dine with the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. Lou Mongello would take a life to be able to do this. I always thought it would be funny to sit in one of the chairs with my feet on the table while eating a big sandwich. Results: Absolutely kicked out, maybe banned, maybe arrested.

3 – Kiss a face character. You’d have to have some gall to attempt this one. I feel bad for the face characters to begin with. They have to work so much harder than the normal characters. Normal characters can make faces, stick their tongue out, and maybe mutter softly if someone annoys them. Face characters have no such luxury. Most guys (and probably some women) have thought about this briefly. Results: Kicked out, most likely banned, arrested, and possibly a restraining order. However, if you are attractive, none of the above, you might end up with a phone number (I do not condone attempting this even if you are good looking).

4 – Go swimming in the Rivers of America. What could be better on a hot day? It’s very tempting. Results: Kicked out, maybe banned, and possible serious illness. Why is the last one in there? Do you know how nasty that water probably is? My wife has a term for it. It’s called chucky water.

5 – Hide out and try to stay in the parks after closing. Who hasn’t thought about this ever since Mike Scopa wrote his factious article about falling asleep and waking up after the park has closed, tons of people have tried to figure out how to pull it off. Results: Removed from the parks. My guess is that’s it.

6 – Steal a costume and run around the parks. Ok this would be fun on a cool day. You could really mess with people in a fun way. I wouldn’t be mean or anything but I’d have some fun. Results: Kicked Out, Banned for Life, most likely arrested.

7 – Take a nap on the bed in the Swiss Family Tree House. Other than all of the people staring at you this would be great. What a perfect place to take a nap, great view, breezy, pleasant surroundings. Results: Maybe kicked out unless the cast member was nice.

8 – Sneak into the castle and ride down the zip line. How fun would that be? I guess it’s a mix up considering I don’t know where it ends. Results: Kicked out, banned for life, and chance of serious injury or death. The person who plays Tinker Bell has to weigh under 100 pounds to do the zip line. I’m guessing when you are over 200 the results could be bad.

9 – Start a food fight at one of the buffets. There’s nothing like a good old food fight. Imagine a few hundred people at the Crystal Palace going nuts. Results: If no one knows who started it – nothing. If you get caught you’ll get kicked out but I don’t think you’d get banned for life.

10 – Ride the Tower of Terror, skip the line for every ride, and claim it’s for a medical condition. Then throw a massive, profanity filled, fit when confronted. Results: Banned for Life. I know this because someone tried it.