Crystal Palace serves an AYCTE buffet-style character meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) with Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Five of our group (all but Jake & Becca) had breakfast here at 8:15 on a morning when Magic Kingdom officially opened at 9:00 and Early Entry was at 8:30 for Disney Resort guests. Crystal Palace started serving breakfast at 8:00 a.m. that day. The cost of this meal was $52.00 per person (plus tax) for the adults, but I was given a 10% for paying with my Disney Chase VISA card.
Now on to our review.
We were seated shortly after checking in and our server greeted us and took our (included) beverage orders. I requested both coffee and orange juice. Then we were told we could go to the buffet to get our food. However, before we left the table Eeyore arrived to visit with us…
Then it was on to the buffet, where I started with the famous Churro Mickey Waffles…
These are super popular and now I know why. They are very tasty! This is the star of their breakfast buffet. Our server told us that Crystal Palace is the only location on Disney property to serve churro waffles. This is mostly true, however, having dined at the Dolphin resort’s Rosa Mexicano earlier in this trip, I knew that they had churro waffles on their breakfast menu. We had their buffet breakfast though and the waffles on the buffet were just regular Mickey waffles. So technically Crystal Palace is the only Disney-owned restaurant to serve churro waffles and also they are the only buffet restaurant on property to have them. Our server also suggested that we top our churro waffles with a scoop of ice cream and some maple syrup, for a churro sundae. It was too early in the morning for that much sugar though, lol. I was actually surprised that their ice cream dispenser was even turned on during breakfast. Do with that information what you will.
Also in this station were Sticky Pecan Rolls and Blackberry Coffee Cake, as well as Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Special K, and milk but I didn’t get a good photo of these.
I was able to take a few other photos of areas of the buffet though before it got too crowded. Here are some bagels, cream cheese, slices of bread (both white and wheat) for toasting and glazed donut holes…
A variety of mini breakfast pastries…
Smoked salmon, Cream Cheese, Capers, Tomatoes, and Red Onions…
Also shown above are Strawberry Yogurt, Honey Yogurt and Breakfast Granola.
Next are Strawberries, Mixed Fruit Salad and Cottage Cheese (not pictured)…
A few photos from the Hot section of the buffet, starting with Chicken (strips) and regular Mickey waffles…
These pans held two different kinds of Egg Frittatas. The one on the right had Denver frittatas with diced ham, green peppers, onions, and cheddar cheese. The one on the left was a vegetarian-friendly Mediterranean frittata with spinach, tomatoes, and feta cheese.
The last photo I was able to get from this section was of the Pancakes (both blueberry and plain) and Biscuits (there was also gravy for the biscuits but I didn’t get a photo)…
Some things I missed taking photos of from here were the Roast Beef Hash, Keralan Tofu Curry (marinated tofu with coconut curry), Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole, Shrimp & Grits, Bacon and Scrambled Eggs.
One other thing that I remember is the French toast that was served in the Kids section of the buffet…
Here is a photo of my plate…
My favorites were the Churro Mickey Waffle, the Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole, and the French toast, which was surprisingly good for being mass-produced for a buffet. The only disappointment was the Denver Frittata. I think mine had been sitting under the warmer light for too long.
As for the others, Andrew chimed in that his favorites were the Pot Roast Hash and the Churro Waffles. Allison was a fan of their Shrimp & Grits and the Biscuits & Gravy but said the Tofu Curry was not good. It was also mentioned that the Scrambled Eggs here were better than the ones we had at Akershus.
And that just leaves the rest of the characters. Piglet visited our table…
As well as one of my personal favorite Disney characters, Tigger…
And then before leaving the restaurant we visited with our host, Winnie the Pooh…
Overall we had a good dining experience here. This is the only character meal which features the Winnie the Pooh characters so it was nice to be able to introduce Lucy to a nice variety of characters. We had seen the Fab 5 at Chef Mickey’s and some princesses at Akershus so this added 4 more characters to her autograph book. While we don’t plan to repeat this character meal on our upcoming trip (we have 3 new ones planned), I would probably return sometime in the future for breakfast, because… CHURRO WAFFLES!
Taste of Disney 