Yesterday we were lucky enough to snag a dinner reservation for Akershus Banquet Hall, the Princess dining experience at the Norway pavilion in Epcot. In my 26 years of Disney experience, this is one of the few restaurants I can honestly say I had never experienced, so it was exciting to try something new, especially something that involves dining with princesses.
Prior to trying Akershus, the Disney Princess dining experience we chose to go with was always Cinderella’s Royal Table. For years I heard how people said CRT was so much better and Akershus wasn’t that good. This may just be my experience, but I can say that after dining at both of them we will probably be choosing Akershus for any future Princess dining. Here are the things I liked about Akershus compared to Cinderella’s Royal Table:
Like Cinderella’s Royal Table, before you sit down and begin enjoying your dining experience, you meet a princess and take a picture. At Cinderella’s Royal Table that Princess is obviously Cinderella, but at Akershus, the Princess you take a picture with is Belle, which was super exciting for us. Amelia’s favorite princess is Belle, so she was insanely excited to see her.
The rest of the princesses we met inside were Aurora, Snow White, Ariel, and Cinderella. My experiences with the characters at CRT and Akershus were very different. At Cinderella’s Royal Table, the character experiences felt very rushed. While eating at the castle is definitely a great experience, I care more about the character experiences than what building I am eating in. The cast members and characters at Akershus went above and beyond. 
while all the princesses at the restaurant were amazing, Ariel went above and beyond. Grayson was kind of crabby and tired and she managed to get him to giggle and played peek-a-boo with them. They both LOVED her!
I personally also LOVED the food. The food was bursting with flavor and definitely left us satisfied. I ordered the Norwegian meatballs which came with mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. I ordered the same thing in children’s portions for the kids and they finished their plates. My mom had the pork which she also loved.
The dessert is served family style and was a plate of a chocolate mousse cake, apple caramel cake, and a rice pudding. Me and my mom are torn down the middle about which was better, but I can tell you I will probably have dreams about the apple caramel cake, while she made sure to not leave a crumb of the chocolate dessert. While we personally didn’t care for the rice pudding, my kids loved it more than the other desserts and finished it.
Overall, if you are torn between Cinderella’s Royal Table and Akershus, I would personally pick Akershus every time. I can’t wait to go back and bring my husband with next time!
Marvelous Mrs. Morin 