I did breakfast at CRT a few years ago on my birthday and it was a lot of fun and the food was pretty good. However, we did it during free dining and just used 2 TS credits for it and paid OOP for another meal during the trip that was far less expensive. I don't know if it's worth full price...I know the girls would love it, but there are definitely other ways to see the princesses! All in all, I would do it again though! But again, I wouldn't pay full price for it.
That's the problem, I think. I would rather do it at a free dining time, and we so rarely get that. We've seen the princesses at other places, but I think eating in the castle is something we just ought to do at some point.
Hi Memom,
Lucky you getting a snow day today
These are my opinions about the dinner shows. We have only done 2 of the 3 - the luau and Hoop-dee-doo. We did the luau years ago when we were without DD. The show was OK, but at the time, the food was awful Now, the quality of the food may have improved since then, maybe someone who has seen it more recently can chime in. We did the Hoop-dee-doo in 2010. DD loved it It is fun, loud, and really kept her attention since she could get up and dance without it being frowned upon. The dinner was actually pretty decent - fried chicken, ribs, corn on the cob etc. Plus DH liked it because the price included beer with dinner. I thought it was a good value. We haven't done the Mickey BBQ yet.
The castle: We only do breakfast because I think it is pretty hard to mess up breakfast food, and it is OK. The reason that I love it so much is purely from an emotional point of view. We have done it 3 times and I have cried during the little show 3 times. DH asked me the first year why in the world I was crying? I told him that for many years when we went to Disney just as a couple that I dreamed of taking my little girl there one day. Through all of my fertility issues and the adoption process, I really didn't know if it would become a reality. It hits me everytime that I am there with DD that my dream really did come true.
Again, just my opinion. Hope it helps.
It was nice to have a snow day. I would rather it have been on a Wednesday of a full week, though, and not added to an already three day weekend. I was off M and T for the funeral, so I had a very short week! Can't control the weather, though. We get six free snow days, so I will be happy if we get to take the other five.
The girls are good breakfast eaters, so we would definitely do breakfast for the castle meal. There are several of our DIS friends who really love the luau and go often.
I am so glad your dream came true. I know you treasure every day with your daughter.
We did the luau in summer 2010 when we had DxDP. The show storyline was a little hokey, but the dancing (especially the fire dancer) was really good. We enjoyed the food, and the wine/beer included. My DH and DD8 LOVED the ribs! Since DD10 doesn't like much, the server brought her a couple uncrustable PBJs. It was nice under the cover of the roofs, so the heat wasn't a problem really.
We have only eaten breakfast in the castle, again in July 2010. We really enjoyed the food - like the PP said, it's hard to mess up breakfast. But I did think the food we had was good, fresh fruit, etc. The little show was cute, the girls liked making a wish and we got our fill of princesses too. I'm in no hurry to go back, but it was nice to do - it's quite a pretty dining room, with the windows and architecture...
Hope this helps - I know it's hard b/c of the cost of some of these. I have heard a couple of very positive reviews of Hoop dee Doo and of Mickey's BBQ.
I know the girls would love the castle breakfast. We could most likely eat our money in fruit!
Paying $60 a plate for the adults to eat stings, though!
I want to do them all, eventually. We want to be true Disney experts when people ask about things. It's better to have done it than to just say what we have heard.
I really want snow but not while I'm in school. It didn't bother me in high school because I was only driving a mile but now I have to go on the highway and up a really pretty steep hill(and back down on the way home) and I don't think my little Ford Taurus would make it in the ice and snow. But I don't think it'll take much snow for them to cancel classes because my school has a huge amount of commuters.
It's okay, I'm not very good at keeping up with reports(including my own ) during the school year. Although I did pretty well this fall because I brought my laptop to school and went on the DIS in between classes
Kazin's turning 3 in a week I can't believe it! I also realized recently that we leave for Disney the weekend after Caleb's birthday so I'm hoping if we do anything for his birthday we do it the weekend before or during the week.
Trent said our neighborhood was icy, but the main roads were fine. He said the tractor-trailer wreck (going the opposite way he was going) was really a mess.
With two birthday parties and school to keep you busy, your wait is going to fly by!
The only thing we've done is eat in the castle. We did it in 2006 before they raised the prices and we did it for lunch so it wasn't so bad. We also did it in 2002. We had our Thanksgiving diner there with our whole crew a total of 15 family members. At the time I felt is was worth it but haven't been back since the increases. My son Brent and his wife Hannah did it in 2007 using 2 TS credit. I think it's worth it to do it once. Of course you could just wait and eat in the Beast's castle.
We are looking very forward to a meal in Beast's Castle, as well!
Isn't it fun to think about all the new things we can do soon!
I haven't done any of the shows so I can't comment on our personal experiences with them but I have been contemplating doing one of them on our next trip and can share my thoughts on the subject.
Our personal preference would likely be the backyard BBQ because it sounds the most appealing to our family. It's not really a "show" like the other two and I don't think the kids would be into the Whoop De Doo (oops, I mean the Hoop de Doo ) at all. The luau would be okay I think if they were a bit older (mine are 8 and nearly 7 right now) but since we plan on going to Hawaii within the next two years, I think we'll save that experience for that trip.
We HAVE however dined at Cinderella's castle and though it was expensive...IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!
We did breakfast in the castle in the spring of 2009 when DD was 6 and DS was 5 and though it was mostly about our little princess, everyone had a good time. The food was good (again, hard to screw up breakfast) and the setting is just beautiful!
Although we have stood in line to meet characters in the past, the "ceremony" involved with meeting Cinderella in the foyer and then being paged to go up and dine was pretty magical. I admit I was crying over the special moment of my daughter greeting her favourite princess.
The other princesses were awesome as they came around to greet us and we loved the wishing stars, the wand and the sword (for our prince) and our picture of DD with Cinderella is my daughter's treasured souvenir.
In the end, I think you just have to decide if FOR YOU the experience is worthy of the price tag. We went, vowing it would be a one time experience (which it has been so far) but DD has requested another meal in the castle many times since that experience...which I think says it all!
I think all the princesses in your party would enjoy the experience and just think of all the photos you could get of the inside of that castle to share on your TR...just saying!!
Bellas is really into the Princesses right now, so I think this would be the time to go. We won't be on the Dining Plan, though, we we'll just suck it up and pay the price, I guess. Maybe we can split the cost, to make it more bearable. I guess we'll see how good my income tax return is going to be.
I think it will be a one time deal for us, as well.
Abby had a snow day today (even though no snow anywhere in site) but is enjoying the day with her daddy. I'm glad to hear you got the day off. I've been wanting to pop in to tell you some fantastic news of mind. We are going Presidents to week and had a Royal Garden Room booked to check in opening night. Disney called saying they were delayed an upgraded us to my dream resort, the POLY.
I know so many of your Dis friends are veterans and am hoping for a little advice on what I should request. We are garden view and I'm hoping for connecting rooms with our friends and a balcony so was thinking Tahiti from my Dis research?
I'm going to try to go by POFQ for you to snag you some beads
We get out for icy roads, as you know. I think they don't want the high school drivers out on all of our winding roads, and there are so many hills and curves around here that it is just dangerous. I stayed in the house all day. The boys came in saying it was cold out there!
Congratulations on your upgrade!
I'll let the Poly experts voice their opinions on where you want to be.
We may end up needing the beads. Jill said if Bella can't narrow it to one Princess, maybe we can just have an activity or representation of all ten of them and have an
All-Princess Pahty!
I am behind on your TR so I'm not sure if you will be on the dining plan next trip.
We have done breakfast and dinner. We enjoyed both. The food isn't great, but it isn't bad either. You will have plenty too eat. I liked dinner a bit better especially if you are on the dining plan. You aren't paying anything extra. My one recommendation for dinner is to book the first seating. When you are the first ones there they introduce all of the princesses and tell their story before they come out. Caitlin loved trying to guess who was coming next. If have a different time the princess will already be roaming around and you don't get the cute intros.
I was a didn't love the main dishes at breakfast but there were plenty of sides like fruit and pastries to eat. If I remember correctly you guys like the 8am early entry so that could be a plus to breakfast.
Don't know about the dinner shows, I would like to try Hoop de Doo one day though.
I defintely would like to see the opening ceremony, so maybe we should make a decision quickly and book, before that time gets filled. Early entrance is always good, too, for pictures.
Hi Memom! Yay for Disney planning!!
We've never eaten in the castle, but with two boys, does that really surprise you? I had an ADR & we almost did it one year but since we were really just doing it for me, I cancelled it. Hopefully I'll have some granddaughters to take there someday! If you are going to go, do it while the girls are still under 10.
We are doing HDDR this year. I wish we'd done it before Alex was 10 but I don't think they would have enjoyed it as much as they will this year. I saw it on my very first trip with my family when I was nine and Tim & I saw it just after we were married so I'm excited to share it with the boys. I can't wait to see what they think of it. I sprung for category 1 so hopefully we'll get some good interaction.
It does feel good to have some planning going on.
It will be interesting to see what all the Beast Castle meal will include. Maybe your guys will appreciate it more.
It's great that you can share a fond memory with your boys.
What month are you doing it? I'll look forward to your review and pictures.
CRT... ate there for lunch, food was not great, atmosphere/princesses were nice, we had free dining so the cost didn't matter, I wouldn't pay for it OOP though, if we did it again it would be for breakfast only w/ FD but still not in a hurry to get back.
Backyard BBQ... it's dinner only, food also not very good, atmosphere was VERY fun but it's outdoors and I wouldn't go in the summer for that reason (but I hate the heat), character interaction is priceless, again we went there w/ free dining, would do it again on free dining just for the characters. Did I mention that dancing with the characters was priceless?
HDDR... We really did not like the show at all, it was cheesy and corny and that's how it is supposed to be but it just wasn't funny to us, food was MUCH better than CRT or the BBQ though, it was actually good, would NEVER pay OOP to go there, actually wouldn't even go back on free dining.
Never been to the Luau. I've heard it's not a great thing to do with little ones though b/c it's long and boring to them. I've also heard the food is pretty bad. But that's all hearsay. I can't tell you anything from personal experience.
If I had to choose one it would be the BBQ. If you don't mind food that's just meh, and the heat doesn't bother you, then the BBQ will absolutely be the most fun for the girls. These are just my brutally honest opinions though. Good luck deciding.
Honest opinions is what we need. I don't know that any of the meals are worth the cost, but we will suck it up and pay for the experience to do them all once, I am sure. We are doing the Dining Plan in October, but I think Jill may want to do Akershus instead of the castle. I don't know. We'll have to talk.
I am sorry I am absolutely no help here. I went to the Luau I think on my first trip ever so no help there since it has been forever ago. All I remember is that I did not like the food but I was a picky eater ( still am sort of ) so no surprise there.
Have never done HDDR or Mickey's BBQ and despite having a
never did pull the trigger to eat in the castle.
I am looking forward to what others think since HDDR may be on the radar. Not real soon but hopefully sooner than later.
Maybe you can take a granddaughter....... or two or three or four...... to the castle breakfast.
Caren, I think the candle holders were a beautiful gesture to honor Joan. I am sure everyone will really appreciate them.
I think your trip report title is lovely, and might it be okay because it is a quote from the Pledge? I am excited to see your 2600 pictures (or whatever number you share...). I tend to take about 20 pictures of the same thing sometimes.
I think with Tiana you'll have so many more fun options. Regardless, you and Jill always throw great looking parties!
We ate in the castle. I think that it is worth it to eat in it once. It makes most sense if you are on the dining plan with the girls. Their cheap price helps offset your higher price, but I think the 2012 prices might change that...
Joan definitely brightened all our lives, so the lamps are a good representation of her. I suppose that sounds 'corny' to some, but it seemed like a good thing to me.
Rumor has it that Jill will have the time to start the report today. She shipped her family off to Kentucky to retrieve Ben (the dog), who has been with John's parents since before the trip. Since it's a long weekend, they are going to stay until Monday. Jill is going to get rid of some toys and clothes, do some housecleaning, start the report, and enjoy some alone time.
As much as I would like to do one theme, we may end up doing all the Princesses and just choosing one game, activity, food, etc. for each. I started looking on Family Fun, and it would be really hard to choose just one thing from each, but Bella keeps bouncing back and forth between Princesses. The last one I heard was Cenarella.
Who knows what we'll end up doing? I think she will be very happy with whatever the end result is.
I think I am leaning toward CRT, just because it is a 'classic'. We will do the others, though, as time goes on. We want to experience everything WDW has to offer.
We have done the Castle, lunch twice and HDDR this past summer. The kids liked HDDR, the ac was nice, the food was okay, I am glad we did it before the kids were expensive, and with my parents who had never done it.
I second doing the castle though while you have princesses. I sadly think we probably are done with the castle since my girls are moving past their princess love. I think their little speal/show made me tear up both times, and we had great interaction both times. I will never forget Snow White kissing Luke there... it is forever etched in my memories. There is no gratuity with the castle and the pictures are included, which I thought is nice. I love the later lunch time to get you out the heat in the summer months too! I also thought the service in the castle is top notch and just to be up there is something that I loved. I without a doubt would go to the castle with your sweet princesses before doing any of the dinner shows.
I think we all loved the picture of Luke's kiss-print.
I'm going to chime in with my opinions. Totally interesting to me to read everyone's perspectives.
We absolutely LOVE HDDR. Will be doing it for the 3rd time this summer. It is corny but the food is pretty good (we thought), the jokes are plentiful, and some good audience interaction. I can just see Trent up there in that final show now!
We did the BBQ last summer and won't do it again. It was really loud and crowded. The food was plentiful but just OK. With the exception of the ice cream freezers filled with Mickey bars...I think my fil and I ate half a dozen that night! The character interaction could be good if you have pretty "aggressive" kids. Ellie would try to get to a character and other kids would come up and just get in front of her. She just doesn't put herself out there so she ended up just standing there and then sitting on the benches with me. She tried multiple times to go up there and get in the action but that's just not who she is. It was just really hard between the crowd and the kids. Ben could have cared less about any of it-except all you can eat hamburgers...
We did the castle 2 years ago for breakfast. It was good, we all enjoyed it, but not worth the price IMO. We all agreed that we liked our meals at Akershus more with more princesses. However, with those two little girls, it really is something to do once. I mean, it's the castle!
I, too, want to be cremated and I want half of me to be sprinkled at Disney (at the far end of the Poly beach) and the other half in the ocean at the Outer Banks. Hopefully if the kids sprinkle me at night, the Disney police won't catch them.
I agree that I think it would be more fun to do HDDR when Trent can be with us.
All you can eat burgers? I think Trent and Jarvis would both be up for that deal!
Brooklynn has done Akershus, but Bella has not. I think Jill mentioned doing that with her friends in October. It's feeling more and more like we should do CRT this summer. The girls are really at perfect ages for it.
Hello MeMom! I know I don't post often but have kept along with your posts and was so sorry to hear of Aunt Joan passing.
I wanted to offer my opinion about your dinner options. I have been going to HDDR since I was 5 years old and celebrated 3 birthdays there, including my 25th this year. I laughed just as much this time around as I did 20 years ago! And I love the food and the fact you can get more of anything you want. The kids at the table next to us were around the same age as Bella and Brooklyn and were laughing along with the rest of us. I love the jokes everytime. My bf was skeptical of going but now says he is a HDDR fan for life.
I have been to the luau once and was not impressed with the food, nor were my parents. I was younger at the time but remember not liking the food.
Eating at the castle is an awesome experience but I would totally suggest going for breakfast. It was fun to do dinner there and watch the fairy godmother show but the food was not to much of our liking. It was too fancy for us and a bit heavy to sit in our stomachs. Give me the fried chicken and strawberry shortcake at HDDR anytime!
Thanks for allowing me to join in! Have a great weekend!
Glad you felt free to join in.
The girls really like breakfast food, so we would certainly go to CRT in the morning.
I know all of our grown-ups will love the food at HDDR when we get to it. Sounds delicious!!!
Now, the quality of the food may have improved since then, maybe someone who has seen it more recently can chime in. We did the Hoop-dee-doo in 2010. DD loved it 
