What is the Best Disney Princess Character Meal?

June 26, 2015, 8:45 AM · What's the best way to meet a Disney princess at the Walt Disney World Resort? You could wait in line at one of the resort's several meet-and-greet locations, but many families choose to multi-task by booking a character meal, instead.

Lunch with Snow White
Photo by Russell Meyer

At a character meal you take care of two tasks at once — having a restful sit-down meal while also meeting a parade of characters that come to greet you at your table. With so many families wanting to meet the princesses, Disney has created several character meals featuring them, including Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora and other.

But which is the best princess character meal? Ultimately, the answer to that question is personal — which is your family's favorite princess character meal, based on atmosphere, intimacy, price, convenience, and, of course, the princesses involved.

When many Disney guests think of princess character meals, they think of Cinderella's Royal Table, held in the iconic castle in the center of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. But that hard-to-book table is just one of several princess-themed character meals at the resort. Many other Disney fans swear by the meal at Epcot's Akershus, in the Norway pavilion. And if you're willing to make the trip over to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort hotel, you'll find a couple of princess-themed character meals over there: Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Faire, and Disney's most expensive character meal, the My Disney Girl’s Perfectly Princess Tea Party.

It's time for the Vote of the Week.


What's your favorite (or, to be fair, least favorite) princess dining experience at Walt Disney World?

A Few of Our Character Dining Reviews:

Replies (7)

June 26, 2015 at 2:40 PM · Ate at Goofy's kitchen on my last Disneyland trip. The food was good and several characters visited our table including Snow White.
June 26, 2015 at 3:30 PM · When is there going to be another SoCal/Orlando theme park showdown? I think there should be a new one to accomodate the new rides
June 26, 2015 at 9:34 PM · Here's an even better question, why do we only care about princesses? Don't get me wrong, as a boy I always dreamed of eating a meal with Ariel, Belle or Aurora, but I always dreamed of them actually eating with me, if you know what I'm getting at. (Which, Disney, please don't actually do that. There's already enough crazy conspiracy theories circling around you. Don't add fuel to the flame. And to avoid confusion, when I say conspiracy theories, I don't mean like how people complain how Disney's lazy. They're not really conspiracy theories and are at least credible. I'm talking about the really out there, completely rediculous ones like Walt's head being frozen and waiting to be placed on a robot's body.) But what about other characters, such as Mickey or Stitch? Sure, they can't talk to the guests like the princesses can, but it's not like the kids are gonna care.

Also, Blake writes that there should be a SoCal vs Orlando debate. That sounds like a good idea. But 2 things.

1. Since you said SoCal and not Anaheim, I assume you're not just talking about the Disney parks. If so, we should probably expand Florida a bit to include Busch Gardens and Legoland to balance things out. Otherwise, SoCal has an unfair advantage. Not only does it have Disney, Universal and SeaWorld, it has Magic Mountain, Knott's and Legoland.

2. I feel like we get more than enough debates involving Disney and Universal. Why not switch things up a bit? I propose we have a debate that pits the iron park fans against each other! Now, true, I haven't been to any of those parks, (except BGT) but that could lead to a much more interesting debate. Six Flags and Cedar Fair both have at least a dozen locations across the continent, compare that to Disney or Universal which each have only two. Because of that, each park has it's own group of fans from many different regions and backgrounds. Plus, those fans don't really get to come here on the Blog Flume as often because most of these articles revolve around Disney and Universal.

June 27, 2015 at 7:25 PM · You would think Akershus should have Anna and Elsa, but they don't. You have to just get the Fastpass at Magic Kingdom or you'll be out of luck. Akershus has excellent food and the mid meal parade was fun for kids and a great photo op. Cinderella's Royal Table has the best presentation of the four top princesses. 1900 only has Cinderella. The rest is the evil stepmother, her two step sisters and the Prince. The buffet food was atrocious. I don't recommend 1900. Epcot has various opportunities to meet the princesses. I saw Snow White at Germany pavilion.
June 28, 2015 at 10:18 AM · I'm planning my first trip with kids. I'll be going with my stepkids in January -- an 8 year old girl, 6 year old boy, and 4 year old boy. I'd like to do a couple of character buffets. Does anyone know what happens if (or even if you're allowed to) you book an 11 AM reservation at a buffet that switches from breakfast to lunch around then? Which meal do they charge you for? What do you eat? Stale breakfast food? Fresh lunch food?
June 28, 2015 at 1:25 PM · I would think a reservation for a particular meal time is honored despite the switch over. You will still be charged for breakfast during the switch over if it was a breakfast reservation. If you made a lunch reservation and you still see breakfast items, go for it. They aren't stale.
June 30, 2015 at 7:39 PM · Nothing at Disney is ever stale - honestly, the buffets are run amazingly well. One of our family favorites is The Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom - You get to meet Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore. This character buffet doesn't have princesses, but it has amazing food!

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