Graduated for the Food! May/June 2018 Dining Report: Updated 7/24 Crystal Palace

[rentayenta]

Joining and congratulations earning your Master's. I have mine too; isn't it wonderful!!

 

[Raeven]

Following along!

 

[kastoney]

Congratulations on getting your Masters. Disney is of course the best place to celebrate.

Glad to hear you all enjoyed Homecoming. Its become one of our favorites too. Those thigh high biscuits are amongst my most favorite ever!

 

[HolRae]

Can’t wait to read more.

 

[stace1214]

Joining in! I can't wait to try Homecomin'! So was it a huge let-down going from Mods and Deluxe to Pop? We usually stay at moderates, but think we might try POP next year so that we can still afford all the extra's we want to do.

 

[pigletgirl]

Congratulations!!! Loved the first update. Homecomin' is good!! We're going to try the brunch on our next trip in December.

 

[Texans_loyal]

Congrats on your masters! Have a feeling it's skipper's canteen, looking forward to reading your report.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Nice report so far. The chicken biscuits look heavenly.

Congratulations on your Masters. Disney is a great way to celebrate.

 

[buteraa]

Following along!

 

[MickeyReeds]

Following along as well! I'm also a teacher, so I have extra time to read dining and trip reports during the summer!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Following along...

 

[SweetSerenity]

Congratulations on the degree!

Homecomin' is the ADR I am most looking forward to trying in November. There are so many options I'm excited about, though, that I don't know what to pick! Great start!

 

[hjeick]

Can't wait to ready more!! Following along...

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Joining in, love dining reports!

Glad to have you here!

Also joining in! Looking forward to your next review!

Yay! Thanks for reading along!

Great review.

Thank you!

Joining the foodie love party!

We will definitely party it up! Welcome!

Following!! Glad you liked Homecomin. We are trying it for the first time on our next trip.

Hi! We LOVED Homecomin! So good! We will definitely be back! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did!

Reading along!

Woohoo! Glad you're here!

Following along!

Welcome!

Can't wait for more!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Joining in, that chicken looked amazing

Hello! It was soooooo good! I have had cravings for it since we got home!

Joining in. We enjoyed our dinner at Homecomin' so much we went back for lunch a few days later.

Welcome! We probably should have done the same thing! My hubby wants to eat there more that once on our next trip!

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Joining and congratulations earning your Master's. I have mine too; isn't it wonderful!!

Welcome and thank you!!! Yes it is wonderful, but I think it's more wonderful to have it DONE!

Following along!

Yay! Happy to have you here!

Congratulations on getting your Masters. Disney is of course the best place to celebrate.

Glad to hear you all enjoyed Homecoming. Its become one of our favorites too. Those thigh high biscuits are amongst my most favorite ever!

Thank you and I totally agree! It is definitely at the top of our new favorites list!

Can’t wait to read more.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Joining in! I can't wait to try Homecomin'! So was it a huge let-down going from Mods and Deluxe to Pop? We usually stay at moderates, but think we might try POP next year so that we can still afford all the extra's we want to do.

Well, I had stayed at Pop previously, so I kind of knew what I was getting into. So I wouldn't say it was a let-down because I knew what I was getting into. It is definitely an adjustment, especially since the last two trips were Deluxe. But it wasn't bad and I am glad to have saved the money. When comparing it to a moderate its not much of an adjustment, maybe just a bit smaller room.

Congratulations!!! Loved the first update. Homecomin' is good!! We're going to try the brunch on our next trip in December.

Thank you! Oh! I didn't know that they had a brunch! That would be so good!!!! Hope you enjoy it!!

Congrats on your masters! Have a feeling it's skipper's canteen, looking forward to reading your report.

Thank you! We actually didn't try skipper's canteen on this trip, even though I wanted too.

Nice report so far. The chicken biscuits look heavenly.

Congratulations on your Masters. Disney is a great way to celebrate.

They were pretty darn close to heavenly, that's for sure! Thank you!

Following along!

Yay!

Following along as well! I'm also a teacher, so I have extra time to read dining and trip reports during the summer!

Welcome! What do you teach? I love catching up on dining and trip reports in the summer, too!

Following along...

Hey! Glad you're here!

Congratulations on the degree!

Homecomin' is the ADR I am most looking forward to trying in November. There are so many options I'm excited about, though, that I don't know what to pick! Great start!

Thank you! Oh! I hope you love it as much as we did in November. I felt the same way and wish we had gone back during our trip to try more!

Can't wait to ready more!! Following along...

Yay! Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[kansasdisneygal]

On the last update, we were headed to Magic Kingdom for our dinner reservations, which were at 6:20. I had made a 5:30 Big Thunder Mountain FP, so we went and rode that first. Then we headed toward The Crystal Palace for dinner. I had always been curious about The Crystal Palace because the building that the restaurant is in looks so pretty! However, I went in knowing that it was a buffet, which I am not a huge fan of buffets in general.

Once we checked in, we had to wait for maybe 15 minutes. We definitely had some interesting people watching while we waited. The restaurant was obviously running behind with reservations and we watched several irate families practically yelling at the hostesses. I felt so bad for them! I would never get so angry over a reservation. I almost felt guilty when the text came that our table was ready and these larger groups were still waiting. Oh well! Perks of being just two people!

It took quite a while for our waitress to come over and take our drink orders. I believe I got an ice tea and Doug got a lemonade. I know Doug switched to ice tea later in the meal because he didn’t like the lemonade. After giving our drink orders, we waited for just a couple minutes because Eeyore was close.



Then we headed to the buffet. I was not overly impressed with the buffet. I though it was very small and had limited options. My first plate and Doug’s first plate were pretty similar.



So, starting at the top and going clockwise. The carrots were good, I know that I got more of those on my second trip. The beef was tough and had limited flavor. The tortellini pasta was just kind of meh. I did enjoy the chicken, except for the fact that the skin all came off in my first bite. The corn casserole was really not good at all.



For my second plate, I tried some of the cold items. Starting at the top again, The pasta salad I remember had very little flavor. It needed more zing to it, it was just very one note. I enjoyed the fruit. The shrimp were peel-and-eat and I enjoyed those with the cocktail sauce. I got more of these on my next trip up. The Caesar salad was your basic Caesar salad – nothing special about it, but good.

While we were eating, the rest of the characters came around to visit us. We didn’t get too much interaction, I supposed because we were two adults in a room full of kids. So, that was also disappointing.







I forgot to take pictures of our dessert plates. I think I enjoyed the soft serve ice cream the most though. Ice cream is my weakness.

Overall, this was a super disappointing meal. I know I had read reviews and knew not to expect much, but it was just really really bad. I am glad that we got it out of the way on the first night we were there, because we did enjoy the rest of our meals during the trip.

Without tip, our meal cost $100.11, which was very painful to pay for such a mediocre meal. We both agreed that this is a "never again" restaurant.

After we left the Crystal Palace, we went and found a spot for the fireworks. This was Doug’s first time seeing the new Happily Ever After show and he was very impressed! I still miss Wishes, but I do really enjoy Happily Ever After. Then we headed back to Pop because we were exhausted from a long day of travelling!

Up next, we head to Hollywood Studios and enjoy a favorite nearby meal!

 

[KSR0330]

Late to the party but joining in now! We tried Homcomin' for the first time during our last trip. Everyone really enjoyed it. We all got he same chicken sandwich that Doug got. Now I wonder how awesome the mile high chicken thighs are. We'll have to go back and try them. We got the hush-puppies as our app. Oh...my. Definitely the star of the show!
Sorry you didn't love Crystal Palace. We started going to WDW late, when our boys were older teens, so we've never done a character meal! I was actually thinking about CP for our next trip, but now that I see the buffet offerings, I'm also not too impressed!
Can't wait to see where you're off to next!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Bummer on CP, we love the breakfast buffet, very good.

 

[dolewhipandpixiedust]

Breakfast at Crystal Palace is amazing! I don’t ever really hear good things about dinner though. Excited for the rest!

 

[dmaz]

Another vote for the Crystal Palace Breakfast. We've done the lunch/dinner and were very disappointed as well. Your pictures are making us add Homecomin' to our next trip.