Winnie the Pooh Character Dining at Crystal Palace Review
Explore the Winnie the Pooh character dining at Crystal Palace with this comprehensive review, filled with photos, what you’ll get on the buffet, and general tips for making your visit a great one.
This Magic Kingdom character dining experience is one of our favorites, and I am so excited that even more guests will be able to meet Pooh Bear, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore while tucking into a delicious buffet.
After closing for a few years due to the pandemic, this fun-for-all-ages buffet experience is welcoming guests again to the Hundred Acre Wood inside Magic Kingdom’s Crystal Palace.
It’s a perfect first introduction to character dining for little ones, and the food is delicious.
Read through this Crystal Palace restaurant review to help you plan what will be your best Walt Disney World dining experience!
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Updated 7/2022 | Written 2/2017
The Crystal Palace Reservation Process
Making your Crystal Palace reservations is as easy as logging into your Walt Disney World website account or hopping onto the My Disney app.
1) Search for “The Crystal Palace” under Dining, and select the dates during which you’ll be visiting.
NOTE: Dining reservations are only available 60 days prior to your dining date.
2) You can then choose a specific time you'd like to make a reservation or, if you're more flexible, you can search for any available time during your preferred meal.
Crystal Palace usually serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, though the offerings may be altered during times of the year when special events and after hours parties are held.
Typically, though, all three meals will have the character dining!
3) Once you find a time that you want, click on it, and you'll be prompted to enter the names and ages of the people dining with you.
Kids 3-11 eat at a reduced price, while kids under 3 eat for free.
4) Finally, you'll need to enter a credit card to hold your reservation.
Your card isn't automatically charged, and you can pay for the meal with any card (or cash) once your meal is complete.
The card is held in case you decide to be a no-show; in that case, your card will be charged $10 per person.
You can cancel at no charge more than 24 hours in advance.
NOTE: While you can try to get a walk-up table the day you’re in the park without reservations, you might have a significant wait time.
I strongly suggest reservations for the Crystal Palace character dining since this experience is one that is high on many families’ must do list.
Walt Disney World Character Dining Reviews at Crystal Palace
We've been to breakfast with Pooh and friends multiple times, and I have been happy with the pacing and time of the character meets and the quality of food.
Is the Crystal Palace Character Dining good for kids?
Overall, I’d say that this experience will be best received by toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary aged kids just because they’re typically the audience for Winnie the Pooh books and media.
It’s my go-to recommendation for character dining when you’re visiting Disney World with toddlers, thanks to the characters’ gentle natures and overall sweet feel of the experience.
However, being at Disney World brings out the kid in us all, so I’ve enjoyed these meets and greets as much as my children have!
Who will I see at the Winnie the Pooh Character Dining?
There are 4 characters at every meal: Pooh Bear, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger.
As far as I know, this is the only place in the entire Walt Disney World property where you can meet Piglet and Eeyore, so this is a must-do if you love either.
You can meet Pooh Bear and Tigger elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, but the experience here is far more relaxed AND air conditioned!
What are the characters like?
If this will be your little one's first experience with meeting fur characters, be prepared: all of the characters (including Piglet) are tall.
For a preschooler used to seeing Pooh and friends on the television, this might come as an intimidating surprise.
Luckily, the characters walk around waving at guests even when they're not actively greeting, so your little one will have a chance to observe before fully committing to a meet and greet.
Will the characters interact with me?
The characters are also fantastic at interacting as much or as little as you are comfortable.
If your child wants a hug, they'll give them a big one, but if your child would rather just wave shyly from the table, they will be happy to blow kisses from a distance.
Currently, Walt Disney World is still using distancing precautions in their meet and greets, so most of the interactions will be away from the table.
I imagine that these precautions will be loosen in the future, so you and your kids can get a close-up group picture with your favorite character.
Your Seating Location Sets the Pace
There are two main areas: one to the right of the main entrance and one to the left of the main entrance.
In between these 2 sections is the central buffet area.
The characters loop around each of these sections, so each family is sure to get some 1-on-1 attention during their meal.
During our first visit, my mom, daughter, and I sat in the room to the right of the main entrance.
We were about halfway through the meeting cycle at our table, so we had plenty of time to prepare our cameras before the characters stopped by our table.
In our the subsequent visits, we’ve been placed next to the windows to the left of the main entrance.
This was near the end of their meeting cycle, so I expected them to rush through us before their break, but they managed to stick around as long as we liked.
Seating Tip:
Ask for a seat as far away from the center as possible; the buffet is in the middle of the restaurant, so you aren't as crowded if you're sitting on on the very far right or very far left.
Plus, people don't seem to crowd the characters as much when you're that far back--there's really no reason to go that far into the restaurant if you're not sitting there.
Is the Food Good at Crystal Palace?
With a wide array of options on the buffet, I’m happy to report that the food here is delicious!
Lunch and dinner buffets at Crystal Palace are $61 per adult and $40 per child ages 3-9. Kids under 3 eat free at all meals.
This offering is not bad for Disney prices at an all-you-can-eat buffet. For comparison, the lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table is $84 per adult and $49 per child.
As an aside, the pricing for Crystal Palace has gone up about $20 per person since it reopened in 2022. Thankfully, the quality of the food has stayed high, but the price increase reflects to price hikes that we’ve seen everywhere around Walt Disney World.
On the buffet, you’ll find a wide selection of foods. Right now, it looks as if the same menu will be served at both lunch and dinner when the Crystal Palace reopens.
You’ll be able to choose from prime rib, mashed potatoes, ravioli, roasted vegetables, dessert, and more.
NOTE: The menus for lunch and dinner were different a few years back with dinner being much more expensive. Since Crystal Palace reopened in 2022, the lunch and dinner offerings are the same and both are the same price.
It's likely that everyone in your party will find something to eat among the offerings.
Even my mom, who is notoriously choosy about what she eats, loved the selection so much that she asked to come back on future trips.
What to Know about Winnie the Pooh Character Dining
Make your meal stretch.
If you want to make your meal stretch as far as possible, but you're interested in sampling lunch, too, make the last reservation for lunch (usually around 3:00 pm).
This will allow you to pay for one huge meal mid-afternoon and supplement later that night with a less expensive snack.
Don't leave before you've seen all of the characters!
There is sometimes a lull in the character meet and greets depending on their scheduled breaks, but they will all make the rounds.
A full round of each dining area takes upwards of 30 minutes.
If you haven't seen one of the characters, just ask one of the servers.
They can relay that to the missing characters' handlers, and you will usually be the first in line when the characters come back from break.
Take part in the Friendship Day Parade.
This adorable march happens about every 30 minutes or so and all of the children in the restaurant are invited to participate.
Pooh leads the kids around and around the tables while music plays and everyone else claps along.
If your child is one of the first in line, Winnie the Pooh might even hold his or her hand.
My daughter got to help led the parade the first time we went, and that's all she could talk about for days afterwards.
Final Thoughts on Crystal Palace Character Dining
Clearly, we’ve enjoyed our time at the Winnie the Pooh character dining breakfast since we signed up for multiple return trips to Crystal Palace!
By everyday, non-park standards, it's a pretty expensive meal, but, by Disney standards, the meal options at Crystal Palace are much less expensive that similar character dining experiences.
I would recommend it to anyone who had already planned on doing a Hundred Acre Woods meet and greet, but wants a more relaxed environment than what the general park offers. And, you’ll get some yummy food as an added bonus.
Have you done any character dining at Walt Disney World?
