REVIEW: Is This Disney World Character Meal REALLY Worth $70 a Person?!

One of the best ways to add a little magic to your Disney World trip is with a character meal!

These restaurants combine character meets with dining, and they often have fun, themed spreads to match their vibes. One such spot is Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in EPCOT, and we stopped by recently for lunch to do a full review!

Background

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is a character dining restaurant located in the Norway Pavilion in EPCOT. It serves Norwegian-inspired fare family-style, and you’ll meet some of the Disney princesses while you dine.

Here’s what you need to know about dining at this restaurant.

Atmosphere

When you arrive at the restaurant, you check in at the host’s stand out front. As you’re led inside, you’ll begin to notice the regal, storybook theme.

There are a variety of table sizes in here, with plenty of room in between for the characters to roam. They stop at each table throughout your meal. During our visit, we saw five princesses. There was Belle…

…Aurora…

…Snow White…

…Tiana…

…and Merida! Each was in her corresponding princess gown.

But enough about that, what are we eating?!

Food & Drinks

The family style meal here is $69 per adult, and $46 per child, pre-tax. To start your meal, they bring out the bread and cheese plate. It has lefse with cinnamon butter, a selection of cheeses, classic Nordic shrimp salad, and some rolls.

We started off with the lefse — because, of course — and found it to be absolutely delicious. It has the texture of a tortilla with that soft chew, and it was simply delightful with the sweet richness of the cinnamon butter.

One of the cheeses on the cheese plate is this caramel cheese, and according to our server, it’s quite the traditional treat in Norway. It was both sweet and sharp rolled into one, and it went incredibly well with the bread.

The shrimp salad was creamy and bursting with flavor, particularly dill. The shrimp had a nice bite to them, and the chopped bits of cucumber were crunchy. It was very fresh overall, and a surprising hit for us.

Alongside the bread and cheese, our server brought the Princess Garden Greens with ligonberry vinaigrette. Our salad was topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes.

The vinaigrette had poppy seeds and dill as some of its more prominent flavors, and it paired well with the crisp lettuce. There were a lot of textures mixing together here, and it’s one of the more interesting salads we’ve had at family style restaurants in Disney World.

Okay, appetizers were a hit…but what about the mains?!

For the main portion of the meal, there are Norwegian meatballs with lingonberry jam, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, seared salmon (which our reporter opted out of), chicken, macaroni and cheese, and seasonal vegetables. (Our seasonal veggies were asparagus and squash!)

The meatballs with ligonberry jam were sweet, tart, soft, and oh-so-yummy. They do a great blend of sweet and savory here.

We found the mashed potatoes to be smooth and creamy but not overly seasoned. Since the meatballs were served on top, that was alright. They’ve also got a gravy that adds to the creamy factor.

The chicken was surprisingly juicy and well-spiced. It was tender and not dry in the slightest. It was quite delicious, but not really anything more standout than other well-cooked chicken dishes.

Of course, we love a good mac & cheese, and this one was a liiiiittle bit too overcooked for our tastes. The sauce was creamy and cheesy, but that soft pasta threw things off a bit.

As for the veggies, the squash was fresh and lightly crunchy, pairing well with the chicken. The asparagus was our least favorite part of the meal, because it was overcooked and underseasoned, but come on, we know the meat was there to shine!

Finally, it was time for dessert! They bring out this stunning tray with three treats to try — a rice pudding, an Ariel-themed cake pop, and a Belle-themed dome.

The Ariel cake pop is decorated to look like a mermaid tail with lots of sprinkles and luster dust. It’s white chocolate on the outside and dark chocolate cake on the inside. This is a serious crowd-pleaser, as it’s simple and straightforward, great for chocolate lovers.

The Belle dome is made with a spiced Norwegian cookie as the base, which reminded us of a gingersnap or gingerbread. The top is a mousse with a light vanilla flavor that was very airy. This was probably our least favorite of the desserts, but simply because the other two had stronger flavors.

And finally, we had the rice pudding with strawberry sauce. The rice pudding isn’t sweet in the slightest, but the strawberry adds just a hint of sugar to the dish. The mouth feel is like whipped cream mixed with a tiny bit of rice with very thin but delicious strawberry sauce.

So how did Akershus stack up?

Magic or Tragic?

This Disney World restaurant is a must-visit if…

You have a Disney Princess fan. The only two restaurants where you can dine with the princesses in Disney World are here and at Cinderella’s Royal Table. This spot is much more accessible and affordable, and we tend to enjoy the meal here a bit better.
You want to try Norwegian fare. Outside of this spot, the only other place to get Norwegian eats is at the Kringla Bakeri og Kafe across the sidewalk. It has a menu mostly centered on pastries, so this is the place to go for heartier eats.
You want a nice break in your EPCOT day, while still “accomplishing” something. If you want the chance to sit down and relax, but you still want to feel like you’re getting things done, a character meal is a great option.

You should skip this Disney World spot if…

You have picky eaters. If you’ve got a group of people with pickier tastes, we’d sooner recommend Garden Grill in The Land Pavilion for a character meal.
You don’t care about meeting Princesses. If you’re averse to meeting characters or really don’t care about the Princesses, there are meals in EPCOT that rank higher than this one on our list.
You’re on a tight budget. This certainly isn’t the cheapest sit-down meal in this park. Only dine here if you’ve got the room in your budget for nearly $70 a person.

In the meantime, we’ll be on the lookout for more restaurant updates from Disney World and beyond. Make sure you stay tuned to AllEars for the latest Disney news and more!