Crystal Palace is a character buffet at Magic Kingdom where you'll get to meet Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. Overall a great meal let down by the service at the end. I didn't care for Crystal Palace during our 2022 trip, but because Pooh & the gang are my other half's favourite characters, I decided to sacrifice my taste buds so she can enjoy her favourite pals. Weirdly enough, as I didn't care for Crystal Palace at all last trip, I loved Hollywood & Vine. This trip, it flipped! I didn't particularly care for Hollywood & Vine, but actually enjoyed Crystal Palace. Here's our Crystal Palace dinner review.
✅ Food selection was very expansive and the overall quality was good
✅ The characters were all equally great
👎 Tables are quite rammed together and it can be tough navigating through, especially if there are characters in the way
❌ Service was okay but he explained gratuity to us in a very condescending way. I hope it wasn't because we're British
We were checked in quickly and taken to our table. For what is almost like a canteen-style restaurant, it has a very nice atmosphere. The Pooh decor in places is well done.
Our server introduced himself and took our drinks order, and as no characters were in our area we went straight for the food. Here's a selection of the food that was available.
There's also a carving area where they were serving prime rib and pork loin. I'm not usually a fan of prime rib as it's too fatty for my taste, but it was actually very tasty, and the pork loin was a highlight for me.
Every now and then the characters grab their flags and parade around the restaurant. Don't forget to clap along!
I said previously I thought I wasn't going to enjoy this much, because I didn't last time. However, I had a hard time not enjoying all the food items I picked up. Other than the prime rib cut not being to my taste, everything else was actually quite delicious. I found myself quite shocked as I was expecting the opposite.
The characters all came over at once it seemed! We met Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. They were all great.
They even have some Pooh-inspired desserts, while these were nothing amazing, they were well-themed and very cute.
As I'm not much of a dessert person I tend to stick to the cheap buffet swirl ice and some fruit, which I did enjoy overall. I did have a cheeky cookie as well and it was fresh and soft, so no complaints there!
The meal overall was great until our server brought the check over. Now, tipping is a hot topic and I understand there is a British stereotype when it comes to tipping, but I happen to always tip the minimum as long as the service received is "did their job". I also tip much more for incredible service. However, this was the only time this happened during the trip and it really stood out to me, and I found it incredibly rude. I hope it wasn't because we were British, but I've never been explained gratuity in such a condescending way as I did at Crystal Palace that night. There's an argument to be made he was just explaining how gratuity works and didn't mean to do it condescendingly, but he asked us when we sat down if we've been before and I said yes we've been before and have been coming to Walt Disney World for many, many years. There's no way he would have assumed we were first-timers and we had no idea about the culture. I'm not a person who gets offended easily whatsoever, but this was genuinely a real damper on the end of a good meal.
Crystal Palace lunch and dinner costs $59 for adults and $38 for kids. This is the only place you can get a character meal with Pooh & the gang, so if Pooh & Co are your favourite characters, this will be worth every penny for you. In terms of food, I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the last trip and while this wouldn't be somewhere I'd rush back to if the other half didn't love Pooh, it was still an enjoyable meal (sans server) and I wouldn't have to be dragged back.
Food 4.5/5
Service 2/5
Experience 4/5
Overall 4/5
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