Disney World has several character meals, but only two featuring princesses. Having recently dined at both, we’re here to compare experiences at Akershus vs Cinderella’s Royal Table. Use this guide to choose the best Disney World princess meal for your upcoming vacation.
Akershus vs Cinderella’s Royal Table Locations
Location Winner: Tie. Both restaurants are easy to incorporate into a park day.
Cinderella’s Royal Table is inside the iconic Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom.
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is in Epcot’s World Showcase in the Norway Pavilion.
Akershus vs Cinderella’s Royal Table Atmosphere
Atmosphere Winner: Cinderella’s Royal Table
Both Akershus Royal Banquet Hall and Cinderella’s Royal Table transport you to a far off land with castle-like dining rooms.
Akershus’ gorgeously imperfect and rugged exterior makes it easy to imagine you are entering a castle. Stone archways, rustic wooden ceiling beams, and golden chandeliers provide a castle-like feel in a regular building.
Cinderella’s Royal Table is inside Cinderella Castle so it has a clear advantage when compared to Akershus. Enter the stone lobby and wait on one of the large wooden benches until it’s time to meet Cinderella.
Then take a spiral staircase, complete with stained glass windows, up to the restaurant. Admire the small, but gorgeous dining room with more stained glass windows overlooking Magic Kingdom.
Akershus vs Cinderella’s Royal Table Food Options
Best Food: Cinderella’s Royal Table. Individual entrees and an elevated American menu means more guests will enjoy a meal here.
Cinderella’s Royal Table has a mix of simple and elevated plated breakfast items. For example, choose a traditional breakfast plate or something more interesting like shrimp and grits or caramel-apple french toast.
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall’s family style breakfast menu features pastries, fruit, scrambled eggs, and bacon, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Dinner and lunch at Akershus is Norwegian inspired. Items like Norwegian meatballs and Norwegian chicken and dumplings are good, but might be a hard sell with picky eaters.
Family style platters contain a little bit of everything, including mac and cheese or corn dogs, but some minor substitutions are usually possible to get your family a meal you’ll enjoy.
At Cinderella’s Table everyone gets to order their own appetizer, entree, and dessert. Although the appetizers are lackluster, the entrees and desserts are delicious.
Most recently we had the grilled tenderloin of beef which was so tender a butter knife cut it. And when my daughter asked to substitute the potato pave the server had several wonderful options available.
Akershus vs Cinderella’s Royal Table Characters
Best Characters: Tie, unless your Disney Princess fan wants to meet a certain princess. If so, choose the character mix most suited to your preferences.
Please note: These are the princesses usually at each location, but characters are always subject to change.
We had lovely interactions with all the princesses at both Cinderella’s Royal Table and Akershus so there’s no clear winner in regard to character experience.
Cinderella’s Royal Table Characters
Meet Cinderella in the lobby of Cinderella’s Royal Table before heading upstairs to dine and meet the rest of the princesses. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, and Jasmine usually rotate through the dining room during your meal.
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Characters
Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Snow White, and Tiana come to tables and visit guests during an Akershus meal.
Which Disney World Princess Meal Is A Better Value: Akershus vs Cinderella’s Royal Table?
Best Value: Akershus
Cinderella’s Royal Table is more expensive than Akershus, and requires full payment when reservations are made. However, at Akershus you still need to budget for your meal, tax, and gratuity while everything is included in the final Cinderella’s Royal Table pricing.
Breakfast:
- Cinderella’s Royal Table Breakfast: $65 per adult (ages 10 years and up), $39 per child (age 3-9 years)
- Akershus Breakfast: $53 per adult (ages 10 years and up), $34 per child (age 3-9 years)
Lunch or Dinner:
- Cinderella’s Royal Table Lunch or Dinner: $79 per adult (ages 10 years and up), $47 per child (age 3-9 years). Our out the door cost was $193.12 for two adults.
- Akershus Lunch or Dinner: $63 per adult (ages 10 years and up), $41 per child (age 3-9 years)
Which Is The Better Princess Meal: Akershus or Cinderella’s Royal Table?
The good news is both Akershus and Cinderella’s Royal Table are wonderful Disney World princess meal options!
However, I think Cinderella’s Royal Table is slightly better than Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Eating inside Cinderella Castle, having a plated meal, and meeting harder to find princesses like Jasmine make Cinderella’s Royal Table a great experience.
Can’t score CRT reservations or want to see an Akershus exclusive princess? Akershus is still a wonderful character meal with tasty Norwegian-inspired food. As a bonus Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is less expensive and reservations are much easier to find.
