Royal RIP

[OTownGuy]

U just KNEW this was comming...

http://www.allearsnet.com/din/restnews.htm#crt

[TheDisneyInquisitor]

Am I missing something? What is so bad here?

-Michael

[Flaming Cabin]

Enter the Castle as a Princess, and after all the souvenir photos and the check, leave like a Pauper, what a transformation.

[TheDisneyInquisitor]

What I got from that article was this
1) They are offering photo merchandice now (this merchandice is optional and only adds to the experience. They do this at Chef Mickey's too)
2) Dinner is going to a fixed price set menu (please don't tell me you go there for the food)
3) They will offer lithographs and photo merchandice at dinner (also adding to the experience)
4) The fairy godmother will host dinner (nothing bad here)

Am I missing something?

-Michael

[sleepyjeff]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[erick13]

Once I see what the menu is then I'll make a decision on if I think it's worth it. It may not be that bad.

[DiRTyBuNNy]

Well...I booked anyways...my fiance wants to have the Cindy breakfast on our honeymoon and I'm not going to argue...

[tloolgb]

Hmm well the Fairy Godmother hosting dinner? Did I miss it or is Cinderella not there anymore for Dinner? Well that's like back in the day going to it when it was King Stefans, that makes no sense. Cinderrella's Table...so have Cinderella. If I missed it where it says Cinderella is there...fine ignore /\.

Fixed price fixed menu? Yuk. I'm not a fan of that kind of dining. I like to tell them what I am eating, makes me feel better about getting charged so much.

Oh well the castle doesn't seem like it'd be a fun place to eat anymore anyways.

[1stStarIC2nite]

Fan-freakin'-tastic. Disney really killed it with this one. CRT used to be the few places my family enjoyed having a wonderful dinner full of variety (that tasted awesome!) and you were not bombarded with CMs asking to take you picture before, during, or after the meal. Now, all that is gone. The fixed-price idea isn't so bad, but they have significantly cut back on the variety and all around splendor that the restaurant used to have. Guess we aren't going back there again

[DiRTyBuNNy]

btw, they also charge your card the full price of the meal at booking...for tax and gratuity it was almost $77 for two adults paid 5 months before we even leave for WDW...oh well..it's what she wanted...

[MickeyMania]

Originally Posted by 1stStarIC2nite

they have significantly cut back on the variety and all around splendor that the restaurant used to have.

How so?

[seenoevil]

Well, at least I had two good trips to the castle before this. Maybe I can squeeze one more in before the change.

[MickeyMania]

Well, since I'm looking at Feburary now, things will have changed by then, but I'm still planning to go. Is $40 really twice as much as one fancy WDW dinner, though? I mean, two table service credits? Looking at the other fancy restaurants around WDW, that's pretty outrageous and I'd probably just pay with cash and save my credits for another restaurant experience, like lunch at the Living Seas or something.

If you wanted to go before this for a ~$35 Prime Rib and a soft drink, though, you were looking at approx $40 anyway, so this changes nothing for me. If they throw in desert (highly unlikely), one could actually save money.

[JiminyCricketFan]

I know that CRT is the HOTTEST ticket at WDW. I know that supply and demand means that prices go up.

I do have a concern. What about families who do not own 20% of Microsoft? Some families have daughters who would love to go to CRT but only by ordering a cheaper meal is the only way they could afford it. Now with the fixed price, (and a very HIGH fixed price I might add) those families are excluded. I know that Disney makes a mint on these Character Breakfasts. I just feel bad that working class families have to max out Mastercharge to do it. I know that a fixed price prevents families from ordering the low cost meal to get the experience, but I guess that is my point.

One story... Walt Disney was once he was being presented a film project which showed families. At one point in the film, the narrator said, "... and when your child gets his first bike, the look of excitement fills his face..." At this point, Walt blew up. He said, "Stop, you cannot say that... Some children's families cannot afford to get a bike for their children. We don't want to make any children feel bad. You have to change it to IF they get their first bike." From that little story, it displays Walt's compassion for children of more humble means. Walt himself grew up poor. I think that he would be particularly disappointed at the "Fixed" price for Cinderella's Royal Table.

[MickeyMania]

Even Walt had Club 33 as well as the ticket system which meant that in many cases the whole family couldn't ride together without expense. Looking at your profile, you probably remember as I do the old routine where one of the parents would have to wait outside with a child while the other parent rode because there wasn't enough tickets for all of you.

There's only so much room at CRT so not everybody is going to be able to try it out, I guess. To most kids, a visit to WDW is special without CRT, and there's plenty of special restaurants offered beyond the castle. I know I'm going to make a stab for CRT when I get my dates finally hammered out, but I'm not expecting to be able to get it. Even if I don't, going to WDW is something I've wanted to do for decades so I'm not going to dwell on missing any eating establishment.