REVIEW: Revamped Family-Style Lunch & Dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, ‘Possibly the Best Character Meal at Walt Disney World’

Justin Giglio

Collage of food items at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall lunch

REVIEW: Revamped Family-Style Lunch & Dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, ‘Possibly the Best Character Meal at Walt Disney World’

After stopping by in the morning for breakfast, we came back to Akershus Royal Banquet Hall to try out the lunch service with Princess Storybook Dining.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

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Akershus is named after a real medieval castle in Oslo, Norway.

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After checking in with a Cast Member at the first umbrella near the restaurant’s entrance, guests wait in this roped-off queue waiting to be called.

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The tableware resembles stone, to go along with the Norwegian medieval castle theming found throughout the restaurant.

Princess Storybook Dining

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Of course, with Princess Storybook Dining, our table was visited by several Disney princesses like Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.”

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Princess Aurora from “Sleeping Beauty.”

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Snow White.

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And Princess Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”

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At breakfast, we met Princess Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog,” but Mulan replaced her for lunch. We don’t know if this is a consistent change.

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The princesses spend a good amount of time at each table, especially if you’re dining early and not all of the tables are filled yet. They can have long waits at their other meet-and-greet locations, so this is a pretty good spot to meet them.

Akershus Lunch Menu & Pricing

Pricing for lunch at Akershus is $63 per adult (ages 10 and up), plus tax and gratuity, and $41 per child (ages 3-9), plus tax and gratuity. Dinner is the same menu and pricing.

Like breakfast, lunch is served family-style and is “all you care to enjoy”. The menu includes:

  • Field Greens Salad with Lingonberry Vinaigrette
  • Lefse with Cardamom-Cinnamon Butter
  • Traditional KjØttkake: Norwegian Meatballs
  • Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
  • Grilled Salmon with Herbed Butter
  • Green Beans
  • Red Cabbage
  • Macaroni & Cheese
  • Kylling og Melboller: Norwegian Chicken and Dumplings
  • Corn Dog Nuggets
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Soft drinks are included.

Field Greens Salad with Lingonberry Vinaigrette

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There’s a perfect amount of vinaigrette, making this a refreshing salad. Everything is fresh and delicious. It’s a nice start to the meal.

Lefse with Cardamom-Cinnamon Butter

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Lefse is a kind of Norwegian flatbread. Traditionally, you would unroll the lefse, butter it, and then roll it back up. But you can just dip it in the cardamom-cinnamon butter as well.

When unrolled, the lefse is a bit longer than the plate, and the butter isn’t very easy to spread, but we managed. The cardamom flavor of the butter is strong with cinnamon on the backend.

Lunch Platter

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The green beans are cooked well — rare for Walt Disney World. They’re not too hard or too soft. They’re a bit oily but good. The red cabbage is sweet.

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The traditional kjØttkake (Norwegian meatballs) come stacked on top of the mashed potatoes and gravy, with lingonberry jam on top. It’s the same jam from breakfast and adds a great sweetness to the seasoned meat. The meatballs are hefty in a good way. We loved them. And a bite with the meat, jam, potatoes, and gravy is excellent.

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The macaroni and cheese is standard but delicious. It’s creamy and rich with soft pasta. Kids will especially love it.

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The corn dog nuggets aren’t as good as those at Casey’s Corner in Magic Kingdom, but they’re fine. They’re salty and well-cooked but a bit doughy.

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The salmon is prepared well. It’s flaky and not dry at all. The herbed butter rounds it out nicely for a delicious addition to the platter. It’s one of the better salmons we’ve had at a family-style or buffet meal. It’s also good to have a lighter protein as well as meatballs and corn dogs.

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The kylling og melboller (Norwegian chicken and dumplings) reminds us of Cracker Barrel. The dumplings are like gnocchi but are too dry and grainy. The gravy doesn’t help. Still, it’s not a bad dish.

The Royal Chef’s Dessert Plate

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The dessert plate includes rice cream with strawberry sauce (a Norway Pavilion favorite available in a slightly different form at Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe) and chocolate mousse cake with blackberry cream (topped with a white chocolate Norway flag).

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The cake looks dense but it’s actually very light. It has a rich chocolate flavor. The blackberry cream was so subtle, we didn’t taste it, but this is still a good chocolate dessert.

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The rice cream is one of the most underrated items at EPCOT. It’s served slightly cold. It’s milky and creamy with sweetness from the strawberry, which tastes natural instead of artificial.

Cocktails

Guests hoping to enjoy an alcoholic beverage have several cocktails to choose from.

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  • Northern Light’s Cocktail — $19.50
    • Helix7 Vodka, Bols Blue Curaçao Liqueur, Blueberry, Desert Pear, and Sprite® with a souvenir Glow Cube
  • Blue Viking — $16.50
    • This blend of Helix7 Vodka, Don Q Cristal Rum, El Jimador Blanco Tequila, Askur Gin, and Bols Blue Curaçao Liqueur will tame even the mightiest of Norse God thirst
  • The Bifröst — $16.50
    • This blend of LINIE Aquavit Liqueur and Orange Cream with a splash of Grenadine will bring you along the journey between Midgard and Asgard
  • The Stavanger — $16.50
    • A refreshing frozen blend of Helix7 Vodka, LINIE Aquavit Liqueur, and Raspberry
  • The Oslo — $16.50
    • A creation from the capital city, this frozen favorite combines Helix7 Vodka, LINIE Aquavit Liqueur, Bols Crème de Banana Liqueur, and Strawberries
  • Linie Aquavit Glacier Shot — $12.00
    • Tradisjonell Norsk Spirit produced from potatoes and flavored with caraway, aniseed, and orange peel then matured in Oloroso Sherry casks that give the Norwegian Aquavit a golden color and soft notes of vanilla (Product of Norway 41.5% ABV)

Akershus Lunch Overall

We loved this meal. It’s one of, if not the best, character meals when it comes to food quality. You get to meet five Disney Princesses, which is a great deal, although some of the lighting was harsh. The interior is beautiful. The Norwegian Cast Members are always kind and service was phenomenal. We would say the value is better for lunch and dinner than breakfast because there are more courses. But we would come back for any meal at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

Akershus Breakfast & Lunch Video Review

Watch our video review for more thoughts about breakfast and lunch at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

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