Today we are dining like royals at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in EPCOT. I loved dining here as a kid because I could see every princess in one place. I have wanted to go back as an adult to experience it at this stage of life and see how the food holds up. My biggest question today is, is this the best princess dining experience at Disney World? By the end of this review, we will have the answer.
This restaurant is themed to a medieval castle with soaring archways and cathedral ceilings. Guests dining here will be able to meet Belle, Ariel, Tiana, Snow White, and Aurora.
The cuisine here is Norwegian-inspired for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Food is served family-style, and today we are eating breakfast. Breakfast comes with pastries, scrambled eggs, potato casserole, and Norwegian waffles. This meal costs $53 per adult plus tax and gratuity and $34 per child plus tax and gratuity. The pricing does change for lunch and dinner to $63 per adult and $41 per child.
Princess Storybook Dining “Normal” Platter
This breakfast comes with A LOT of food, and some items are out of this world. Let’s dig into what is brought out to each table. First, they bring out breakfast pastries, accompaniments, and fresh fruit. The accompaniments made this plate look like a breakfast charcuterie board which was a win for Ryno. There was salami, a sweet honey ham, a salmon cream cheese dip, and a berry compote.
Craig mentioned that he enjoyed the chocolate pastry and croissant on the platter. Ryno pointed out there were crackers on a plate for the salmon dip. There were two pastries they didn’t love, which were the apple strudel and the cinnamon roll. The apple strudel was reminiscent of a Mcdonald’s apple pie, and the cinnamon roll was basic. The fresh fruit was great. There was a wonderful mix of blueberries, strawberries, melons, and grapes.
The main platter came with potato casserole, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and Norweigan waffles. Craig commented that he loved how eggs are cooked in Europe and was excited to see if these lived up to his expectations. He did enjoy them, and it took him down memory lane. Ryno’s favorite part of the meal was potato casserole. He said he would’ve ordered more if he didn’t get full by trying everything. They both had a few critiques when it came to the waffles. What Craig did to level them up was that he put the berry compote on them. Ryno said it seemed like they had put syrup on them before sending the platter out, making the texture slightly off.
Princess Storybook Dining Dairy-Free Platter
Before I jump into the food I got, I want to say there is a plant-based platter, but I decided to order an allergy-friendly platter rather than a fully plant-based one. My plates did have some items that come with the plant-based platter, and I’ll be sure to point those out.
The first plate had a blueberry muffin, a plant-based Applecake, salami, and sweet ham. Out of these, the best item was the plant-based Applecake. After my first bite, I looked at Ryno and said, “This is poppin’. You need to try it,” after he tried it, he loved it. He loved it so much that he asked our server Kim for another one.
Don’t worry, we let Craig try some, too, and he enjoyed it. I ate some of the sweet ham and thought it was delicious. I am not a fan of salami, so I skipped out on that. The blueberry muffin was fine; it wasn’t show-stopping, but I think we have to normalize that food can’t always be that way.
The main platter came with home fry potatoes, eggs without butter, dairy-free waffles, bacon, and sausage. Those home fry potatoes were gone in a blink of an eye. They were so good especially paired with the eggs. Even though the eggs were made without any dairy, they were still similar in texture to the ones on Ryno and Craig’s plates.
I actually thought the Norwegian waffles were great. The best part is that they were heart-shaped and had powdered sugar all over them. I didn’t get a chance to try the bacon or the sausage, but Ryno said that the bacon was perfectly crispy, and I’ll take his word on that. Overall, I loved the food I got.
Overall Thoughts
I am in the minority here; I love it and would definitely return. This might be because I love princess dining, and breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I knew I would return here to celebrate my birthday or if my family was in town. Now, I think this meal could be priced about 10 to 15 dollars cheaper than it is. In my opinion, if this were $40 per adult, I would say that this place is perfect. It’s hard to compare this to Cinderella’s Royal Table because there is nothing better than eating in the castle, but I would still pick Akershus over that.
The other character dining option in EPCOT is Garden Grill in The Land pavilion. I haven’t had breakfast there in a few years, so I can’t give it a fair comparison, but it is one of my favorite dining locations. The final deciding factor is whether your travel party prefers starting the day with princesses or Chip ‘n’ Dale, Mickey, and Pluto. At the end of the day, I left here smiling ear to ear, and that’s a win in my book. I recommend this restaurant if you want a princess dining experience in the parks.
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