Is eating at Cinderella’s Royal Table Restaurant worth it? Here’s our review of eating in Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World.
Like many people, I’ve always wondered what it was like inside the castle at Magic Kingdom. And naturally, when we had the opportunity to eat at Cinderella’s Royal Table, I jumped at the chance.
As a family of 6, we didn’t take the cost lightly. And as a Celiac, I didn’t want to spend too much money on sub-par food.
But I have to say…I was very impressed by our meal at Cinderella’s Royal Table and it was absolutely worth it.
Here’s our experience eating off the allergy friendly menu, the princesses meet and greets, the overall atmosphere as well as our recommendation for when to go.
Cinderella’s Royal Table Princesses
The main attraction for many people eating at Cinderella’s Royal Table is the Disney princesses.
As you enter into the restaurant, Cinderella is there waiting to meet you and your children. She takes the time to talk to the guests and poses for pictures with them.
When the cast member calls your name, you’ll go up the stairs (or elevator if needed) and enter into the upper portion of the castle.
You’ll start to see several princesses circulating throughout the room. Every princess visits each table regardless of whether there are children there or not, which was pretty cool.
Our kids were able to meet Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Jasmine, Ariel and Merida from Brave. These meet and greets were super fun and even my son (who doesn’t normally like meeting princesses) enjoyed the character interactions.
It was nice to meet so many princesses in such a short amount of time versus waiting in lines to meet each one.
Keep in mind that the characters for these princess interactions do change from time to time. In the past, other princesses have made appearances at Cinderella’s Royal Table including Snow White, Rapunzel, Tiana, and Belle.
Restaurant Atmosphere
The atmosphere is very well done. The inside of the castle is lovely and the seating is comfortable. It’s easy to see why it’s one of the most popular restaurants at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
The iconic Cinderella castle is just as beautiful inside as you would imagine. There’s stained-glass windows, stone archways, a winding staircase, and emblems of royalty hanging in the main dining hall.
The waiters and waitresses do an excellent job of making you feel at ease and treating you like royalty.
My kids really enjoyed eating here. I felt like we could relax and comfortably talk and eat as family without too much noise around us.
Cinderella’s Royal Table Food Review
We went for an early dinner and the food was excellent. Cinderella’s Royal Table has a prix fixe menu, which means that there is a set price for each adult and a slightly smaller price for each child.
The dinner menu options are limited for everyone, so being gluten free didn’t really limit our options very much.
Cinderella’s Royal Table is always adjusting the menu, so you may see different options when you visit. They have done a lot in the past year or so to make the food more appealing to young kids or those who might be a more picky eater.
If you’d like to check out the current Cinderella’s Royal Table menu, you can find it here. Be sure to scroll down to the allergy section if needed.
For my appetizer, I had the Castle Salad.
It had lettuce, fruit, blue cheese and a vinaigrette.
It was a delicious way to start the meal.
I chose the Grilled Filet Mignon for the main course. It was served with potatoes and seasonal vegetables, which were asparagus and tomatoes. It was very VERY good!
The best part of the meal was dessert. We had the Jaq and Gus Cheesecake. The presentation of this was SO CUTE! We couldn’t get over how funny it was!
It tasted wonderful as well. The vanilla cheesecake paired with fresh fruit was excellent.
Was it Worth the Cost?
Character dining at Walt Disney World is always priced at a premium. That said, Cinderella’s Royal Table is the most expensive character dining experience on property.
I felt like our meal experience was incredible. It was expensive, but for our family of 6, it was a bucket list item. It’s definitely not something we will do on every Disney trip.
We were able to score a free Disney dining plan deal when we booked our vacation. This allowed us to use dining credits to pay for our meal. Granted, since this was a signature dining experience, it took 2 sit down credits per person, but I felt like this was the right opportunity for us to try Cinderella’s Royal Table.
For us, the biggest cost was the fact that you are paying to be in the theme park and the restaurant experience takes a big chunk of time.
I believe it was over 2 hours from the time we entered the restaurant to when we finally left. It took quite a while to wait for our table, meet princesses, and enjoy our meal.
For that reason alone, I wouldn’t go to Cinderella’s Royal Table if I only had one day at Magic Kingdom during peak season. However, this was just our experience on the day we visited. I’ve read that many people find it takes 1.5 hours to eat here.
I recommend doing lunch or dinner over breakfast. The breakfast menu is rather unimpressive and you would definitely lose all of your morning time low crowd advantages by having a long breakfast.
It’s true….Breakfast is cheaper, but not by much. If you are going to splurge on this experience, the best time to go is dinner. You’ll pay slightly higher prices, but the food is so much better and it’s simply the best place to relax after a long day in the park.
Doing a dinner reservation is also advantageous because Cinderella’s Royal Table gives each guest a fun magic wand or sword at the end of the visit. As a mom of 4, I was certainly glad we didn’t have to carry multiple magic wands and swords around with us all day.
I hope our Cinderella’s Royal Table review has been helpful for you as you plan your Walt Disney World Vacation. Remember that eating in Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle is very popular, so reservations go quickly.
Honestly, it’s one of the hardest dining reservations to get. Make sure to prioritize getting an advance dining reservation as soon as your reservation window opens.
More Walt Disney World Vacation Tips
Need more Disney Parks planning advice?
You can find all the Best Tips for Your First Time to Disney World here.
Learn all about the Disney Dining Plan here and decide if it’s worth it for you and your family.
Don’t miss our Top 5 Must-Have Items for Disney World. You won’t want to forget any of these!
Grab a Free Printable Disney Packing List here. It’s the perfect checklist to prep for your trip.
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