Akershus Princess Dining: Who It's Worth It For

Published June 25, 2026 · Updated September 15, 2026

The short answer: Akershus is worth it for one specific reason — princesses at your table without the meet-and-greet line — so match it to your people and book the breakfast for the single-credit value. If your kid is princess-crazy, make this your royalty stop and skip the pricier castle meal. If they’re not, walk on by.

Here’s the honest call on Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: if you’ve got a princess-obsessed kid, this is the most efficient royalty meal at Disney World — better value and far less chaos than the castle. If you don’t, it’s a one-and-done you can skip without losing sleep. The food is fine, occasionally lovely, but nobody’s booking Akershus for the food. You’re buying the experience: several princesses coming to your table, in the Norway pavilion, inside a room built to look like a medieval Norwegian fortress. Decide based on who’s at your table, not the menu.

What you’re actually buying

Akershus is EPCOT’s table-service spot in the Norway pavilion, and it runs character meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The princess lineup rotates — guests have reported seeing the likes of Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, and Tiana — so don’t promise your kid a specific face. The big structural win over a standalone meet-and-greet: instead of standing in a long, hot line for one character, the princesses circulate through the dining room and stop at your table while you eat. For a little one who melts down in queues, that’s the whole ballgame.

Food comes family-style — all-you-care-to-enjoy platters brought to the table, traditional Norwegian-leaning fare with safer kid options mixed in. Breakfast typically runs pastries, eggs, and Norwegian waffles. Lunch and dinner lean into Norwegian meatballs, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and similar. Standouts people actually rave about: the Norwegian waffles, the potato casserole, lefse with cardamom-cinnamon butter, the meatballs, and a chocolate roulade with lingonberry cream. It’s solid. It’s not the reason you’re here.

The smartest booking: breakfast, not dinner

This is the move most families miss. Book the breakfast. On the Disney Dining Plan, Akershus breakfast is a single Table Service credit, while lunch and dinner climb to two credits — same princesses, double the spend. Breakfast is also the cheaper price tier out of pocket. You’re paying a premium at dinner for a darker room and the same character interactions you’d get over waffles. Unless your day genuinely can’t fit a morning EPCOT meal, breakfast is the value play, full stop.

If princesses are the entire goal of your trip, here’s the bigger strategy: treat Akershus breakfast as your primary princess stop and skip the castle meal (Cinderella’s Royal Table) entirely. Cinderella’s Royal Table is prix-fixe per person and commands a steep premium for the inside-the-castle setting. Akershus delivers a table full of princesses for one credit and far less cost — then you’ve freed up budget and credits for, say, a Garden Grill dinner or a Chef Mickey’s buffet later in the trip.

Family-style is a feature — use it

With little kids, family-style beats a buffet every single time, and Akershus is built this way. You’re not balancing a plate and chasing a runner through a buffet line; the platters come to you. Picky eater? There’s always a known protein, a side, or bread on the table, and — this is the underused part — you can ask for seconds at no extra charge. Tell your server you’d like more of the shared plates and they’ll bring extra portions without padding the check. For a hungry table, that locked, all-you-care-to-enjoy number is genuinely better math than à la carte spots where two entrées and a shared app quietly outrun the flat price.

Two small tablecraft upgrades that punch above their effort: the cardamom-cinnamon butter on the lefse is a highlight, so don’t skip it, and if you want a tart counterpoint to the sweeter bakery items, ask whether extra lingonberry can come alongside — that bright, tart hit cuts through heavier chocolate-forward desserts and keeps the meal from feeling like a sugar brick.

Book it the moment your window opens

Akershus is a popular princess meal in a finite room, which means it books up. Advance Dining Reservations open 60 days before your arrival at 6:00 AM Eastern in My Disney Experience — set an alarm and be ready at the top of that window, because the prime breakfast slots are the first to vanish. Don’t confuse this with the 7:00 AM Lightning Lane window; ADRs are the earlier, separate clock, and treating them as the same thing is how people miss the table.

One booking detail that trips families up: set your party size to the exact number of guests when you reserve. The system won’t let you tack on extra people later, and a popular slot won’t have wiggle room. Book accurately the first time.

When to actually skip it

Be honest about your party. Akershus is a clear yes for princess-age kids and the adults who want the photos. It’s a soft maybe-to-no for parties of adults with no princess agenda — plenty of Disney adults call it a one-and-done, where the novelty carries one visit and there’s no reason to rebook. The food alone won’t pull you back, and EPCOT is wall-to-wall with stronger eating: the quick-service Norwegian bakery next door (Kringla Bakeri) for waffles and lefse without the sit-down commitment, or any number of World Showcase counters if you just want a good meal. If nobody at your table lights up at the idea of a princess stopping by, spend the credit elsewhere.

Couldn’t get the reservation? Don’t give up

Akershus releases cancellations constantly as plans shift, and a table you couldn’t find at 60 days out often reappears days — even hours — before your trip. This is exactly where SupaPark’s dining Drop Watch earns its keep: it monitors for cancellations on hard-to-get reservations like this one and pings you the instant a slot frees up, so you can jump into My Disney Experience and grab it yourself before it’s gone again. You don’t refresh the app fifty times a day; the alert finds you. Pair that with SupaPark’s free crowd forecasts to pick a lower-key EPCOT morning, and a “sold out” princess breakfast turns into a very gettable one.

The one thing to remember

Akershus is worth it for one specific reason — princesses at your table without the meet-and-greet line — so match it to your people and book the breakfast for the single-credit value. If your kid is princess-crazy, make this your royalty stop and skip the pricier castle meal. If they’re not, walk on by. And if the reservation’s gone, let Drop Watch do the refreshing while you go enjoy the park.

Go deeper — the full guides: The Insider’s Guide to EPCOT’s Regal Eagle Smokehouse: What to Eat, Skip, and Share · The Insider’s Menu and Booking Guide to California Grill · The Insider Guide to Vegetarian Dining in EPCOT’s World Showcase

SupaPark tracks live wait times and crowd forecasts, and pings you the second a hard-to-get reservation opens or a ride goes walk-on — free to start at supapark.com.

Keep planning: Akershus Royal Banquet Hall · live dining reservation drops · is Lightning Lane worth it