A Detailed Review Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Disney’s Epcot
Epcot has the most dining experiences at any of the four theme parks on Walt Disney World property. Choosing which restaurant is best for your family can be tough. Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is an easy choice. It’s located in the Norway pavilion, giving you great access to the Frozen ride and the meet and greet with Anna and Elsa. Akershus Royal Banquet Hall serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. So dining here can fit into any part of your schedule, plus it’s a character dining experience, featuring many of your favourite Disney princesses. Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is a buffet restaurant for breakfast and a prix fix for lunch and dinner.
Akershs Royal Banquet Hall is found at the Norway Pavilion, so the food offered here is of Norwegian influence. Breakfast will have many of your favourites: eggs, breakfast meats, breakfast potatoes, and waffles. Lunch and Dinner you’ll have the choice between 7 different entrees: salmon, pork tenderloin, stuffed pasta, potato dumpling, meatballs, chicken or try a few delicacies with the Viking Mixed Grill. Kid’s can try some Norwegian dishes: salmon, beef medallions or chicken breast. If they’re less adventurous there’s some standard children’s favourites: Macaroni & Cheese, Pizza or Meatballs.
Akershus is a great choice for those dining on the dining plan. The cost for this meal is high, so you’re getting great value for your dining plan investment. It only requires 1 table service meal credit and would cost close to $60 for the meal.
When dining here you get to meet 5 Disney princesses: Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Princess Aurora and Ariel. Getting five big characters off your list and leaving more time for riding attractions and watching street performances.
Take advantage of their early seating times and get into Epcot before it even opens. The restaurant opens at 8am. Do this and you’ll be in Norway when the park opens, which means you’ll be in line to meet Anna and Elsa before the crowds. Just be sure to grab transportation from your Disney resort early so you can make your reservation time.
We dined here on our last vacation. Starting out our day at Epcot with a delicious buffet breakfast was fantastic. I’m glad we chose the buffet breakfast over the lunch and the dinner meal because our day was so full with attractions and the Festival of the Arts that spending an hour dining during the day would have cut into all the other things we did. The location was great. We got our meet and greet with Anna and Elsa out of the way by 9:30, only having to wait 20 minutes. The only problem with coming here so early in the day is the rest of World Showcase doesn’t open until 11am, so you have to make your way back to Future World.
The kids loved meeting all the princesses. It gives them something to look at during the meal and meant we didn’t have to meet many of them during the remainder of our vacation. One of our favourite parts of dining here was when the princesses ask all the children to join them on a parade around the restaurant. Lincoln was chosen by Snow White to accompany her around the restaurant. He was in his glory.
I would say this restaurant is a must do for a family or someone who loves meeting characters. If you’re on a adult only trip, or on a trip with teens there are many other restaurants in Epcot to choose from. This is a popular choice for dining so make sure to make reservation ahead of time. If you wind up with a time you’re not crazy about, use the tricks from this previous post on finding last minute reservations by following this link.
Hours:
Breakfast: 8:05am-11:10am
Lunch: 11:55am-3:30pm
Supper: 4:55pm-8:35pm
Dining Plan: 1 Table Service Meal Credit
Park Admission Required.