Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Norway, EPCOT, Walt Disney World

The Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is situated in the Norway area of EPCOT, and offers character fine dining with the Disney Princesses. Eating here is an "interesting" experience. For a start, when you stand outside waiting, and you observe the crowds, you actually dread going in. You think that this has to be the most craziest place to eat ever. There are a bazillion families with girls 5 and under all wanting to meet Cinderella and Aurora. But somehow they line moves pretty fast. They seem to let people in the restaurant in waves. There will be 50 people outside, then suddenly everyone's tables are ready and there is no line. Once inside you have to line up to have your first character meet and greet. I guess they must rotate which princess it is, but on our visit it was Belle. There is a PhotoPass photographer who takes your picture - but they do NOT take your PhotoPass card, nor do they give you a new one. There is a reason for this. The PhotoPass picture is printed in-restaurant and given to you at your table for "free" (bearing in mind it is $30+ to eat here). But the cool thing is that they give you one large print of the photo, plus a few smaller ones, then actually then give you a PhotoPass code with it. This PhotoPass code you can then enter on the website along with all other ones from your trip and order, print and share them as you any others. So it's actually pretty cool. The food is interesting. It is very good food, but the style is interesting. Starters / appetizers are buffet style. Then once you have had that, your main meal is table service, with a full menu. Desert is then family style, where by they bring a selection to your table "buffet style" for you ad your party to share. I have to say we muct have been very lucky the day we were there as we managed to get to see all the princesses within about 20mins of being seated. We must have caught the rotation at just the right time. Princesses that frequent the dining room are Jasmine, Aurora, Cinderella and Ariel. Overall I liked the Akershus and would probably consider it again.