I LOVE Winnie The Pooh, But Here’s Why I’ll NEVER Pay to Eat With Him in Disney World Again

Ever since I was a kid, the Winnie The Pooh characters have been some of my favorites.

Me and my mom on a Disney World trip circa 2003

Okay, so it doesn’t look like it, but I PROMISE I did love them! I was just a little scared of actually meeting them (kinda like I still am now, but I’m getting there!). I found out I’d be in Disney World on New Year’s Day this year, and wanted to do something special to celebrate. I’ve only been to Crystal Palace once before, and it went…well, just as well as you can expect from the above photo, so I figured it was time to reclaim the past and have a NEW experience with some of my favorite characters as an adult! However, I learned quickly that while I love the characters, this table service meal isn’t one I recommend.

Crystal Palace is a table service restaurant located in Magic Kingdom. It’s buffet style and has something for everyone, that’s for sure, but the main pull of the restaurant is that you can meet Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore!

Breakfast is often the most popular meal here as you still get to meet the characters but it’s slightly cheaper. Instead of paying the $62 per adult/$42 per child you pay for lunch and dinner, you pay $52 per adult/$33 per child for breakfast. I was driving down to Disney World during the day, and I knew I’d arrive later at night, so I grabbed myself a dinner reservation.

I will say that it took about twenty minutes for me to be seated even though I was on time for my reservation, but that was okay! The night was beautiful albeit crowded (but hey, I knew to expect that with it being the first day of a new year), and before I knew it, my name was called.

When I began my meal, both sides of the buffet were open, and it was the same on both sides. I’ve mentioned many times before that I’m a VERY picky eater, so I knew I’d likely gravitate more towards the plain options…but what I didn’t expect was to really ONLY grab the “kids” items. Unfortunately, a lot of the adult buffet items (with the exception of mashed potatoes) really weren’t up my alley. For example. I’ve got a shellfish allergy so I stay away from seafood as a whole, so the shrimp was a no-go for me. The Roasted Carved Beef looked good, but I knew the texture would be a major no for my sensitive tastebuds.

I also noticed that since it was close to the end of the evening, the food didn’t seem to be very warm, even though it was under heating lamps, and some of it was missing. I thought about grabbing the fried chicken in particular, but when I realized the rest of my food wasn’t really kept warm, I decided against it. In fact, within about twenty minutes of being seated, the other half of the buffet was closed and I started to notice lots of offerings weren’t being replenished.

Was anything outright bad? No, not necessarily, but my chicken fingers, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and salad didn’t totally impress me, especially for that price tag. Now, I really would love to come back here for breakfast one day since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day AND I’m more open to eating a larger variety of breakfast foods. Bonus points if I can get a reservation that ISN’T right at the end of the meal time!

Breakfast at The Crystal Palace (someday I’ll get to do it!!)

My favorite part of any meal is dessert, and while these looked adorable, I found them to be meh as well. The ice cream in particular was EXTREMELY icy, making it a very strange texture, and I felt the flavor was even affected as well. The brownie/cookie pieces on top were either very cold or mildly stale, and while the other desserts were decent, I feel the flavor profiles were vastly different from each other and relatively complex. That’s fantastic for those looking for some elevated desserts, but wasn’t as great for me.

Now, at Crystal Palace, your table will be visited by each character, usually in relatively quick succession of each other as they start on your section. My first visitor was none other than Piglet, who I got to tell was the only Hundred Acre Woods character I had actually had the courage to hug nearly 20 years prior!

Next up was Tigger, who was SO energetic! He was so much fun, and I was laughing the whole time.

Third was Pooh himself, who even spun me around in a circle! I told him that my Mom said hello, since he’s her favorite.

Eeyore was a little behind the others, and when I had walked in, I saw him taking pictures with guests near the center of the restaurant. Not wanting to miss him, I decided to go up and take a photo with him, but he DID end up coming to tables as well!

I had to tell Eeyore that he was my favorite (because he is! I used to have a collection of like thirty Eeyores growing up) and he decided he wanted us to take a matching photo!

I had a great time, that’s for sure, and I’m so glad I did it, but do I think I’d ever do lunch or dinner again? Most definitely not. Again, I’d love to try breakfast if I can ever snag that reservation, but otherwise, I’ll settle for waving to Pooh and his friends through the windows, or I’ll get in line to meet them in Fantasyland!