Crystal Palace At Magic Kingdom

Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom is hugely popular, and for good reason. Today, we’re reviewing our most recent visit in January 2024!

We talk a lot about saving money at Disney World on the blog, so while we don’t recommend doing many character meals because of the cost, it’s fun to do at least once! Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom is the only character meal on Disney property where you can meet Winnie the Pooh and his friends from Hundred Acre Wood. This is also the best place to meet Piglet, as he rarely appears elsewhere!

Crystal Palace is located in Magic Kingdom Park at the end of Main Street, U.S.A., between Casey’s Corner and the entrance to Adventure Land. The decor is inspired by a Victorian greenhouse. It’s light and bright, with windows and greenery throughout. When you first walk in, there’s a large atrium with a breathtaking glass ceiling. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a seat by the window with a view of the castle.

From a food standpoint, you don’t go to character meals for fantastic food. You go for the experiences and to meet the characters. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the food, which is served buffet-style and features American classics like roasted pork, shrimp, various sides, and a fantastic salad bar!

The Disney website states, “Please plan to stay in The Crystal Palace for 90 minutes in order to engage with all available Characters“, so plan to be there for a while. As you dine, the characters make their way around the restaurant, stopping for photos and autographs. If you don’t have an autograph book, don’t worry! You receive a cute autograph card to take with you.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit, but there were a few issues. So, let’s dive into our experience at Crystal Palace and discuss the pros and cons!

Crystal Palace At Magic Kingdom

We visited for lunch, which is the same food that’s served at dinner. Breakfast is hugely popular as it’s the only place on Disney property where you’ll find the churro Mickey waffles. Because of its popularity, I highly recommend making your dining reservation as soon as possible.

Crystal Palace Pricing

Breakfast – $52 per adult and $33 per child (3-9), plus tax and gratuity.
Lunch – $62 per adult and $42 per child (3-9), plus tax and gratuity.
Dinner – $62 per adult and $42 per child (3-9), plus tax and gratuity.

Hours at Crystal Palace

Breakfast – 8:00 AM to 10:45 AM
Lunch – 11:00 AM to 2:55 PM
Dinner – 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Pro tip. If you make your reservation during the crossover between breakfast and lunch, many guests have reported being able to enjoy dishes off both menus.

Crystal Palace Menus

Pro tip. Menu options and pricing often change at Disney World, so we encourage you to check the menu links above before making your reservations.

Let’s start with the good—the food at Crystal Palace.

As I said, you don’t go to a character meal expecting the best food. You’re there for the character experience, but the food here was a pleasant surprise. There are two buffets, both serving the same things.

There was a fantastic selection of savory dishes and plenty of protein. Crystal Palace is a carnivore’s dream, with a carving station serving prime rib and roasted pork, shrimp creole, roasted chicken, sausages, and more.
Side dishes included broccoli, green beans with bacon and onions, roasted carrots, mashed potatoes, rice, and roasted potatoes. The soup was red curry lentil the day we were there, and it was delicious!
The salad bar was excellent, but not your standard lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. In addition to the standard salad bar fare, you’ll find peel-and-eat shrimp, charcuterie, fresh blue cheese crumbles, and dressings. They also have fresh fruit salad, pasta salad, and a Mediterranean couscous salad.
My family was very excited about the bread, which included a variety of rolls, crackers, and butter. If you love pretzel rolls, you can enjoy as many as you want here, and this isn’t something you typically see offered at a bread station.

The children’s buffet was simple but did the job. You can choose from chicken strips, macaroni and cheese miniature beef quesadillas, and cheese pizza bread.
Most of the desserts are the small, premade desserts you see at so many Disney World buffets. They can be fun, but they’re not great. I’m not a dessert person, so that didn’t affect me one way or the other. The kids will enjoy them, and that’s all that matters. There’s also a soft-serve ice cream station and cookies!
Typical beverages like soft drinks, juice, coffee, tea, and milk are included with your meal. Crystal Palace is one of the few restaurants at Magic Kingdom where you can purchase alcohol. You can choose from a small selection of beer or cider, wine, and specialty cocktails.

The service.

Our server was incredibly friendly and helpful. She did an excellent job of refilling everything and clearing our plates as quickly as we emptied them. If I have exceptional service, I’m willing to overlook mishaps and have nothing but good things to say about ours. They also do a great job of keeping the buffet filled. We never waited for anything and saw them refilling the bars constantly.

Now, let’s get into the cons.

The entire experience feels chaotic. The tables in Crystal Palace are very close together, so it was hard to get out of our chairs sometimes, especially when a character was nearby. People are not supposed to get out of their chairs to meet the characters, but they do, making an already cramped and chaotic situation even more so.
They only make one loop, so you may not meet some of the characters. If you happen to be at the buffet when they pass your table, you could miss them. If I’m paying upwards of $200 for a meal, my kids should be able to meet every character—and there are other locations where they do.
It’s very cramped. As I said above, there was very little space between the tables, so it felt cramped. If there’s a character nearby, you will have adults on all sides of you with their children trying to meet the characters. At one point, I felt like our table was surrounded by adults, hovering right over us while we ate. Again, they aren’t supposed to do this, but they do.

Final Thoughts

We enjoyed our experience at Crystal Palace and even overlooked the chaos, which is to be expected with excited kids everywhere, including yours. However, the tables are just too close together. Simply spacing them out would improve the experience overall.
We loved the food, but we all agreed that a buffet is too much food before walking around the park all day. We prefer larger meals towards the end of the day.
They need to work on the character rotation to ensure that all children are guaranteed to interact with each character at least once.
Crystal Palace is the prettiest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom! The decor is stunning, and I love a light, bright atmosphere. It’s beautiful!
Lastly, this is the only place on Disney property where you can meet all the characters from Hundred Acre Wood, something to keep in mind when choosing a character meal location.

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