Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

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Find out why this is the Number One Restaurant in Epcot with the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review!

If you’re a frequent Walt Disney World visitor, there is a restaurant that you prefer to dine at over and over again. Whether it be because of the food, the atmosphere or the character experiences, something draws you to reserve your seats 180 days in advance. For my family, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is that restaurant. Akershus is located in the Norway Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase. They offer breakfast, lunch and dinner – all of which has a variety of your favorite princesses to meet and greet.

 

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

The Menu and Our Experience

The breakfast includes your typical American dishes like eggs, warm meats, and pastries; as well as Norwegian breakfast items. The lunch and dinner has dishes that channel its Norwegian roots and provides an intensity of flavor that I find are unmatched.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

During our last visit to the Mouse House in May, we decided to have lunch at Akershus for my daughter’s 5th birthday celebration. My mom and I both ordered the oven roasted chicken breast on a bed of sauteed garden vegetables, fingerling potatoes, and a red pepper puree. I had never tasted red pepper puree, and I was quite worried that my palate would disagree with it. After my mom took a bite and confirmed it’s deliciousity (that’s not a word, but it sounds much more appropriate than deliciousness), I cut off a fork full of perfectly cooked chicken breast and dipped it into the red pepper puree. The resulting reaction was like realizing that I have a purpose in life, and for that moment, that purpose was to eat every last bite of my oven roasted chicken breast. Minus the bones, of course. I also thoroughly enjoyed the fingerling potatoes, although I wasn’t a fan of the garden veggies. No fault of Disney’s, as I’m a picky eater that turns her nose up at all things green.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

In addition to the oven roasted chicken breast, guests can order between pan-seared salmon, traditional Kjøttkake, stuffed pasta, braised pork shank and several other authentic Norwegian offerings. As you can see, Akershus offers a nice variety of entrees that you don’t normally find at other table service restaurants.

The kid’s menu, unfortunately, does not offer as many choices. Kids can choose between cheese pizza, meatballs, and elbow macaroni. My daughter decided upon the pizza, like she normally does. She goes crazy over Disney pizza.

Update

Disney has now added the “kid check meals” to this menu. Akershus includes the following items for children:

  • Grilled Chicken Breast
  • Junior Beef
  • Salmon

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

Just Desserts

For dessert, we were given this platter of Norwegian goodies. My taste buds drooled over the sweet and savory chocolate mousse, while my daughter scarfed down the traditional ice cream topped with strawberry sauce. Unfortunately, none of us cared for the apple cake with cardamom whipped cream.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

Like I mentioned earlier in this article, we were there to celebrate my daughter’s 5th year of being a part of our lives. We had a FANTASTIC waitress named Anna who not only delivered a cupcake with a lit candle, but a birthday card signed by all the princesses and herself (in Norwegian). Anna also sang Happy Birthday in Norwegian. How cool is that?! Anna went above and beyond all expectations, and she deserves every good thing that comes into her life. I’m so glad that I managed to catch that moment on video!

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

The Character Experience

When you first enter the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, you are guided to a line where you meet Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast (my favorite). The photo is available through PhotoPass/Memory Maker.

One of the princesses that makes their way to your table is the beautiful Princess Aurora from the classic Disney film Sleeping Beauty.

Next, Ariel flipped her fins (well, she traded those in for human legs) over to our table, where she filled the atmosphere with her bubbly personality. She probably spent the most time with my daughter compared to the other princesses.

Cinderella also graced us with her kind presence. This would be the first of three separate times we saw Cinderella during our stay!

Last, but not least, we met the princess that started it all – Snow White.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: A Disney World Dining Review

While these are the usual princesses who are scheduled to appear at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, other characters may show up, like Mulan, Jasmine, and Mary Poppins!

A Few Tips

  • Akershus is one table service credit on the Disney Dining Plans.
  • Reservations are highly recommended.
  • Admission to Epcot is required.
  • Some of the dining experience is offered on a buffet, while the “main entree” will be family style-at your table.

Join the Disney Express Lane Facebook Group to discuss this and many other Disney related topics.

Thank you Amber from Beautifully Bella Faith for giving us some awesome tips! 


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Mandi is a wife, Mom of 3, writer, creator of WaltExpress.com, and self-proclaimed Disney nerd. She loves to travel to Disney Destinations and blog about her magical experiences so she can share all the tips, tricks and tidbits she picks up during her travel. She and her family visit Disney World several times a year and she is always in the know when something new is happening and she shares it here first! Mandi also works as an online consultant by empowering women to be all they can be in all aspects of their life. You can find her at www.AmandaMiddleton.me

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