Greetings from the Hundred Acre Woods, friends!

And no, we don’t mean the United Kingdom pavilion in Epcot — though how cute are the Winnie the Pooh and Rabbit Flower and Garden topiaries!? (Psst – you can go on a Virtual Tour of the Flower and Garden Festival with us here!)

What we DO mean is the Crystal Palace! If you’re unfamiliar, the Crystal Palace is a character dining restaurant in Magic Kingdom where you can dine with Winnie the Pooh and his friends during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s a classic character dining experience, and one that Winnie the Pooh fans will love! But is the high price of the meal ($55/ adult at lunch or dinner) worth it? Read on to find out — plus what you can expect on the buffet!

Atmosphere: 

Crystal Palace sits at the corner of Main Street, U.S.A and Adventureland, in a Victorian-style building.

You’ll check-in at a podium outside, and when called, a Cast Member will escort you to your table inside. Once inside, you’ll notice the gang is celebrating Friendship Day! (Spoiler alert, they are ALWAYS celebrating Friendship Day.)

Around the central planter, you’ll find topiaries of Pooh and Eeyore…

…plus Piglet and Tigger, too!

We love the high ceilings and all of the windows — it really makes for a bright and inviting atmosphere. (Plus the natural light is GREAT for your character pics.) The decor around the restaurant is simple, yet keeping in the Main Street, U.S.A. theme. You’ll notice hanging flower pots, ornate lights, and detail on the ceiling.

The buffet area is centrally located with two of everything — hot lines, dessert stations, and cold bars — so it’s more easily accessible and to keep lines down. We appreciate this so you can get your food and back to the characters faster! And speaking of the characters…

Characters:

As we said earlier, this meal features your pals from the Hundred Acre Wood.

You’ll find the silliest old bear…

…the sweetest little pig…

…the bounciest, T I double G ERRRR…

…and the saddest (but cutest) donkey.

As with any character meal, no one is guaranteed to appear. But this is the typical line up at Crystal Palace — and it’s a good one! Especially since you can’t meet Piglet or Eeyore during regular days, and Pooh and Tigger’s line in Fantasyland gets quite long!

Eats:

So you’ve seen where you’ll be dining and who you can hug, but now let’s check out the eats! On our visit, there were lots of choices!

But first things first, drinks. Included with the cost are soft drinks, coffee, tea, and juice.

Alcohol can be purchased for an additional cost — and remember, one alcoholic drink is included for those of age on the dining plan.

Alright — food time! First up, the Kid’s Buffet. (And don’t forget big kids (read: adults) can help themselves as well. Kids aren’t the only ones who love corn dog nuggets, am I right?!)

On the Kid’s Buffet, you’ll find family-friendly eats (and colorful plastic plates which we love!) such as chicken nuggets…

…corn and peas…

…macaroni and cheese (and this is REALLY good and creamy mac. Highly recommend.)…

…and of course, the aforementioned corn dog nuggets.

Next up: the cold bar! We spotted a few varieties of bread to start your meal. (Butter is available.)

Inspired by Rabbit, there’s also a yummy salad bar. How cute are the little terracotta-looking planters for all the items?

Choose from fresh Romaine lettuce or mixed greens, and then get to topping!Choices include Parmesan cheese…

…onions and green peppers…

…cheddar cheese and cucumbers…

…peas…

…olives…

…tomatoes…

…hard-boiled eggs…

…and, of course, carrots.

Salad dressings available were Caesar, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Red Zinfandel Vinaigrette, Buttermilk Ranch, and Sesame Ginger, as well as croutons. We realize salads aren’t the most exciting option, but we loved the fresh ingredients and the ability to make a custom side dish. All that theme park food is heavy, so it’s nice having a great, light option.

We also spotted condiments on the cold bar including Honey Mustard, Barbecue Sauce, and Ketchup, which can be used for your corn dog nugs (or anything else).

There were a few freshly made salads on the salad bar as well.

Dig into a Florida strawberry and citrus salad (we LOVED this one)…

…Greek-style tomato salad…

…an edamame salad…

…and house-made pickles with onions.

The last item on the cold bar was a real highlight — peeln’ eat shrimp! Remember this is all-you-care-to-enjoy, so if you enjoy shrimpies, go nuts!

Accompanying the shrimp, you’ll find lemon wedges and cocktail sauce.

We hope you aren’t full yet — we haven’t even gotten to the hot stuff!

First up, a few vegetable varieties starting with mashed potatoes.

Plant-based eaters (and anyone else!) can enjoy the broccoli and cauliflower, made with garlic oil, as well as the sauteed green beans with onion.

The Green Beans had a good snap to them, plus we loved the natural sweetness from the caramelized onions.

Rounding out these initial veggie sides was the fire-roasted corn spoonbread, which basically tastes like cornbread (aka delicious).

The next section of the buffet was a mix of sides and proteins, starting with steamed rice, with vegetables and herbs.

Next up, bourbon-glazed rotisserie chicken. This was moist and full of flavor, making it one of our favorite proteins of the meal!

Honey-glazed carrots were available…

…as was jambalaya! This was served with shrimp and andouille sausage — and perfect for someone wanting a bit of spice in their meal.

We were surprised to see these cute little parmesan pierogi’s on the line — and happy they turned out to be quite tasty. The younger ones in our party enjoyed them as well.

The last section of the buffet started with cauliflower rice with roasted vegetables. You may not believe us when we say this is a must-try — it’s a plant-based choice but it’s so creamy and delicious! (How is it so creamy without butter?!)

There’s also a plant-based garden patch cottage pie.

Lastly, a smoked bacon and pea pasta dish…

…and barbecue Verlasso salmon, topped with a roasted corn salsa. This was perfectly cooked — and we loved the salsa. It’s clear to see Crystal Palace has truly elevated their menu past classic theme park fare when you look at dishes like this!

Just before the Carving Station, we found two styles of fried chicken wings — buffalo and sticky sesame ginger. We really enjoyed both, and thought they were a great addition to the buffet. The buffalo weren’t overwhelmingly hot — we’d say closer to medium heat.

You can also pour up a few soup choices if you’d like.

When we were there New England clam chowder and broccoli cheddar soup (made with local beer) were on the menu.

At the carving station, a chef will slice you up your choice of roasted beef strip loin (with horseradish cream) or peach barbecue-glazed pork…or both!

Accompanying the pork, you’ll find a firecracker peach chutney, which we found to be delightful with a nice sweet and spicy contrast.

Whew — that is a lot of choices! But we’re not done yet! Time for the most important part of any meal…DESSERT! There are tons of sweets to choose from, starting with a bunch of mini desserts.

Tickle your sweet tooth with red velvet cupcakes…

…Rabbit’s garden chocolate pudding (which is as tasty as it is cute)…

…no sugar added coconut panna cotta (this is also plant-based)…

…blueberry mousse dome cakes…

…orange chocolate cheesecake bites (another of our favorites thanks to the refreshing burst of orange)…

…and s’mores tarts!

In addition to the individual bb desserts, you can also head to the center of the buffet area where you’ll find a few more dessert options.

Snag a toffee crunch brownie…

…a scoop of birthday cake bread pudding…

…or a freshly baked cookie!

Pro tip: the freshly baked cookies make a great ice cream sandwich. Did we say ice cream? You bet we did!

You can top your ice cream with a variety of sprinkles…

…or Crystal Palace waffle toppers!

Even with all of these tasty desserts available, sometimes (most of the time) there’s still nothing better than a bowl of ice cream. 🙂

Nosh or Not:

Consider heading to the Crystal Palace for dinner if:

• You’re on the Disney Dining Plan. This is a very good “bang for your buck” one credit meal. At $55 (without even factoring in alcohol), this is pricey out of pocket, but you’ll certainly be able to get your money’s worth on the dining plan.
• You love Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Meeting them at a meal means you’re saving yourself time in an outdoor line — plus as we mentioned, you can’t typically find Eeyore or Piglet in the parks on a regular day.
• You want to enjoy a leisurely meal inside. We usually recommend allotting an hour to an hour and a half for a character meal, to ensure you have enough time to meet everyone. This provides a nice, long air-conditioned break during your day. Plus, the food has certainly improved and elevated over the years, meaning you’ll find options for everyone in your family in one place.

Skip the Crystal Palace for dinner if:

• You’re paying out of pocket. $55 per adult + $36 for kids (ages 3-9) adds up quick. If you are longing to meet Pooh and his friends, and are paying out of pocket, we usually recommend Character Breakfasts. That’ll run you $42 for adults and $27 for kids — not a huge difference, but every penny counts!
• You don’t care about Winnie the Pooh. While the food is good, it’s not the best food ever. If you don’t care about these characters, it’s probably best to save your dollars or dining plan credits, and use them elsewhere.
• You don’t have time for a long meal. Like we said, character dining usually takes at least an hour — if not more. If you’re on a tight schedule and trying to go go go through the park, you may want to skip a long meal at a character buffet.

Overall:

Overall, we had a very pleasant meal at the Crystal Palace! The food was quite good — with some dishes standing out as delightful! We really enjoyed the carving station, wings, roasted veggies with cauliflower rice, and everything off the Kid’s Buffet to name a few. Plus, soft-serve ice cream. While the food may not be enough to warrant the high price tag, the food plus the characters plus the air conditioning are a pretty great combo. If you’re a Winnie the Pooh fan, we highly recommend a meal at the Crystal Palace. After all — is there much better than a hug from Eeyore while also eating as many corn dog nuggets are you can?

Learn more about Character Dining in Disney World with this DFB Video!

And if you love this video, there’s plenty more for you to enjoy over on our DFB YouTube Channel!

By the way, have you subscribed yet? If you hit the button below, you can subscribe to the channel and never miss a single episode!

Have you been to the Crystal Palace? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!