Is Cinderella's Round Table worth it for a family on a budget?

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

We are a family on a budget. We will be at the Magic Kingdom on my daughter's 8th birthday, which is also our 12th wedding anniversary. My husband really wants to go to CRT for a special birthday/anniversary meal. We've never eaten there before, and my son has asked to go in the castle. While it does sound like a special, unique experience, my kids would only really like the breakfast foods, and it doesn't seem worth it to me to pay around $180 for breakfast or $250 for lunch that my kids won't even like that much. That is a lot of money for us. I would rather skip it, but my husband says we should put it on our credit card because it's for a special occasion, and who knows when we'll be in Disney World again so this is our chance to enjoy ourselves.

So for those of you who have gone, is this an experience not to be missed? No one in our family is interested in Cinderella, but we do love the castle as a symbol of Disney World. And would you recommend the breakfast or lunch? Thanks.

 

[PalmettoPath]

The "is it worth it" questions are notoriously hard to answer because they are super subjective. Is it worth it for us? Yes, we go every few years. We love it because we find it pretty magical to get to go upstairs inside the castle and so on. Meeting the princesses is a bonus and my daughter and nieces and nephews still love it in their teens and twenties. Personally I also find the food there to be pretty good. Never had a bad meal and we've done breakfast, lunch and dinner over the years. So for us, it is worth it for those reasons. It's a magical Disney experience. But if you really don't care for Disney princesses at all, for example, there are other things you may want to spend your money on.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

It sounds like your family will really love it. The ambiance of the castle can't be beat! If you don't think the kids would like the food at lunch and that might nag at you considering the expense I'd recommend breakfast. My kids loved it and they give you a pastry plate on top of your entrees which has a little something for everyone.

 

[kstruchen]

Based on what you described, I agree with your husband and think you should splurge for your 2 special events. Being in the castle is pretty special. The first time we went, we had breakfast. Not blown away by it. The last time we went for lunch and it was my niece's birthday.... much better! The food was really great. We're going in July and hoping to get dinner reservations this time (even though it's the same food as lunch). So obviously, I'm a fan of the experience! I could not care less about the princesses, though, fwiw.

 

[Her Dotness]

We enjoy the breakfast. Sure, it costs a bunch, but you're paying for a terrific experience and actually pretty good food, compared with what it was several years ago.

Get in early, and you get more attention from the Princesses.

Servers give each kid a magic wand or sword for a little ceremony, and everyone gets a Magic Wishing Star to make a wish on at another point. I'm a 4-year-old trapped in a retiree's body and have wishing stars scattered on our bedroom tv stand and nightstands. A nice little bit of Disney to give happy dreams and a cheery start to your day.

The best part for people who love the Castle? You get to eat IN THE CASTLE. It really is a huge thrill.

Life is short, and beautiful memories last. Your husband is right. Go for it.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Thanks, all!

 

[Welderman72]

If your kids like princesses, and the castle. I say GO! You may only go once, and you wont forget it

 

[Anna131517]

By “put it on the credit card” do you mean you don’t have enough cash to cover it? If that’s the case then no, it’s not worth it. Don’t go into debt for vacation. Ever. On the other hand, it is an iconic experience. It’s not as great right now without all the princesses but if you have the cash to pay for it and it makes the kids happy then why not? If you’re looking for a sit down dinner in MK on a budget also consider The Plaza. Five of us ate there for $90. I was shocked.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

Is it worth it for the special once in a life time experience? Yes. We did it for my daughter's 4th birthday. Would I ever do it again? No. My family are not picky eaters and we did Dinner, but honestly the food wasn't that good. My meal was almost inedible, but this was many years ago. I'm glad we did it, but if my daughter convinced me to do it again, I would do breakfast. It was special memories, and they really treated the children wonderful. Not sure if they are still doing it, but my daughter got a wand she still has, and my son got a small sword.

At CRT, you are more paying for the experience, and right now you don't even get that without the other princesses. I would make sure that at least all the princesses are there first.

The food for us was pretty awful, but this was back in 2017.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

By “put it on the credit card” do you mean you don’t have enough cash to cover it? If that’s the case then no, it’s not worth it. Don’t go into debt for vacation. Ever. On the other hand, it is an iconic experience. It’s not as great right now without all the princesses but if you have the cash to pay for it and it makes the kids happy then why not? If you’re looking for a sit down dinner in MK on a budget also consider The Plaza. Five of us ate there for $90. I was shocked.

I'm in the minority here, and it is all because of the "credit card". It depends on what your husband means by, "Put it on your credit card." If the idea is to basically finance the dinner, then I would vote no. Unless you have the cash to pay off the card that month, or get a card with special financing, are you ready for that $200 breakfast to reach 300+ by the time you are paying it off with interest?

I get being on a tight budget, but maybe try to use a Target red card, or BJ's card from a friend, and buy Disney gift cards as a discount. You can do it over time (depending on when your vacation is) and find a way to budget for the trip without paying interest. The benefit to CRT is that the tip is included, so it is a more fixed cost to budget for than other restaurants.

Is it worth it for the special once in a life time experience? Yes. We did it for my daughter's 4th birthday. Would I ever do it again? No. My family are not picky eaters and we did Dinner, but honestly the food wasn't that good. My meal was almost inedible, but this was many years ago. I'm glad we did it, but if my daughter convinced me to do it again, I would do breakfast. It was special memories, and they really treated the children wonderful. Not sure if they are still doing it, but my daughter got a wand she still has, and my son got a small sword.

At CRT, you are more paying for the experience, and right now you don't even get that without the other princesses. So if this is something you are financing with a 10+% interest rate on your credit card, I would make sure that at least all the princesses are there first.

By put it on the credit card, I mean charge it now (trip is in August) and pay it off when my husband gets his Christmas bonus. We will have to charge some of the food anyway because we recently had some unexpected bills, but I'd rather not put so much extra on the credit card.

And are you sure that tips are included? I was assuming we'd be tipping on top of the advertised price.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

By put it on the credit card, I mean charge it now (trip is in August) and pay it off when my husband gets his Christmas bonus. We will have to charge some of the food anyway because we recently had some unexpected bills, but I'd rather not put so much extra on the credit card.

And are you sure that tips are included? I was assuming we'd be tipping on top of the advertised price.

Hopefully someone that has been more recent can 100% answer that. Back when I did it Tip was included in the price; however, that was pre-covid. I'm not sure if the rules have changed since.

Edit:
See message below for clarification on what I meant by tip included in price. Sorry, memory was fussy.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

By put it on the credit card, I mean charge it now (trip is in August) and pay it off when my husband gets his Christmas bonus. We will have to charge some of the food anyway because we recently had some unexpected bills, but I'd rather not put so much extra on the credit card.

And are you sure that tips are included? I was assuming we'd be tipping on top of the advertised price.

I believe how it works, is the price you see on the website is the base price. However, when you pre-pay, tax and tip are included in the pre-payment charge. However, they don't tell you on the website what the tax rate is. It used to be though that you had to pay at time of reservation.

Do you have a Disney Visa card? I believe that card allows you to put the trip on the card for 0% no financing at 6 months.

 

[paul127]

We are a family on a budget. We will be at the Magic Kingdom on my daughter's 8th birthday, which is also our 12th wedding anniversary. My husband really wants to go to CRT for a special birthday/anniversary meal. We've never eaten there before, and my son has asked to go in the castle. While it does sound like a special, unique experience, my kids would only really like the breakfast foods, and it doesn't seem worth it to me to pay around $180 for breakfast or $250 for lunch that my kids won't even like that much. That is a lot of money for us. I would rather skip it, but my husband says we should put it on our credit card because it's for a special occasion, and who knows when we'll be in Disney World again so this is our chance to enjoy ourselves.

So for those of you who have gone, is this an experience not to be missed? No one in our family is interested in Cinderella, but we do love the castle as a symbol of Disney World. And would you recommend the breakfast or lunch? Thanks.

My kids are all in their 20s now, and they still remember some of those early character breakfasts and those times at Disney! Its a personal choice but it will be a memory they have for a long time.

 

[Feberin]

I think tip was included for us but we're a party of 7 so that might affect it. It was $440 for dinner for 4 adults and 3 kids. We haven't been yet so I can't say if it was worth it. I had to pay when I booked it if that matters.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

Tip was included both times we dined at CRT (August 2021/April 2022).

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

There is so much to experience at Disney, I’d say to skip this. You will be IN the Magic Kingdom! How wonderful is that? You and your family will be making tons of memories and most of them will happen when you aren’t even trying. So to stretch the budget for this meal doesn’t seem necessary at all in my opinion.

For what it’s worth, DD is 11. We made several trips when she was between 5-8, and ate many (many) meals in the castle. For our March trip, I asked what she’d like to do, and she said eat in the castle because she didn’t remember ever eating there before. Ugh! But that just shows that there is so much that they are already experiencing on the trip that it’s not the same as when you are dreaming and planning and sitting at home.

 

[Her Dotness]

Yes, it's an 18% auto-gratuity plus tax in the fixed price. You needn't tip anything extra at CRT unless you feel you were given terrific service and choose to add a bit.

I'm gonna argue that you should decide what'll make YOU all happiest. Doesn't matter how anyone else thinks you should pay for it. As I view it, "budget" means to economize however suits your finances and your dreams. If that means paying interest on your trip charges, SO WHAT? Do what is manageable for you to make incredible memories and have a fabulous celebration.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

Edit. Moderated myself because I went off topic and it wasn't really applicable to the discussion.

 

[gharter]

Is it worth it - up until you add the "on a budget". It's fun, but not that great is money really matters.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

I would say not a chance it is worth it If you have to wait 6months to pay it off. You just said you got hit with unexpected bills which have already made the food budget push you into debt. Clearly this is not a good time to splurge on a trip in the first place. However if you are choosing to splurge on the trip anyway then it is critical not to dig an even deeper hole. What if new “unexpected” bills occur? Illnesses, injuries, broken items to be repaired at home, war raising gas and food etc, or all of them and more hitting you in the next six months. If you don’t go to CRT and other extravagant meals then the worst you can say is “we had a great trip at Disney world” on the flip side if you are careless on this trip you could end up with mountains of debt that crush you for the next 5 years, piling up and have long term significant consequences to everyone in your family-possibly piling up so that you need to work longer hours etc and the kids have less family time as a result. There is no comparison between the risks vs benefits here. None at all.

My advice is to focus on eating cheap, bring snacks and choose sit downs where you can split. If people aren’t real hungry when you sit, there are a lot of great restaurant experiences without prefixe prices you can focus on, share and enjoy it on the ultra cheap. Ideally stay somewhere you can cook in the room offsiteas much as possible but regardless the goal should obviously be to budget tightly not bury your family for a marginally improved experience. The trip itself is the splurge, approaching it with the mindset to go all out since “we are on vacation,” when already in a hole is extremely dangerous imo.


A final push: keep this in perspective. You will walk up a windy staircase, sit at a table, some ladies in make believe outfits will walk by and wave at you and you will eat mediocre food and get a plastic wand while looking out a distant window at the same views you had before you got to your table.

Then make a list of all the things you don’t need to pay significantly more for-parades, splitting desert at an occasional nice restaurant, seeing ladies in make believe outfits waving at you, rides, shows, etc etc. the core of the trip will be unaffected if you are careful with your budget, putting your families financial stability in jeopardy for those marginal improvements is pure insanity.