All the details plus a review of Akershus Royal Banquet Hall:
When you think of Norway, you might not think of Disney princesses such as Belle, Snow White, and Aurora. Yet, believe it or not, Epcot’s Norway pavilion is home to one of the best princess character meals in Disney World!
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall was one of the last Disney restaurants to reopen after the 2020 closures, and we only actually saw it come back into action in 2023. Since it had been quite a long time since I was there, I decided to treat myself to meal at Akershus.
So how was it? Is this a character meal that’s just worth it for the princesses and not the food, or can you get a good meal here too? Let’s take a look at my lunch at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall!
The atmosphere
Upon arrival, you’ll be led to your table by a host. This is one change from Akershus pre-2020, as you used to have a character photo with Belle before being seated. Now Belle is still there, but she’s one of the princesses who walks around to the tables instead of greeting you at the entrance.
This restaurant is pretty large, and I think it’s very well-themed in terms of feeling like a Norwegian fortress or castle. I feel comfortable saying this as I was in Norway last summer and actually visited the real Akershus. There’s lots of dark wood, high ceilings, and stained glass windows.
There is one “main” room that is quite large, but then also a big side room. Part of the kitchen is open to view, and I happened to be seated at a table right near there (in particular I could see all of the desserts going out!).
My server was absolutely lovely. Many of the World Showcase locations are again being staffed by people from the country they are representing, and it just adds so much to the experience. Everyone I saw working at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall that day was from Norway.
When I mentioned I had visited their beautiful country, they were so excited to hear that and wanted to talk all about it. I loved getting to have these conversations and hear the pride the had in their country. I shared some of what I did on my trip and they shared some of their favorite parts of Norway should I ever go back to visit. To me this is the sort of thing that makes Epcot truly special.
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Menu
Here’s a look at the lunch/dinner menu when I dined:
- Lefse (Norweigan flatbread) and cinnamon butter
- Mixed green salad with Lingonberry Vinaigrette
- Chicken and dumpling soup
- KjØttkake (Norwegian Meatballs) with lingonberry sauce
- Mashed potatoes
- Salmon
- Green beans
- Mac and cheese
- Red Cabbage
- Corn dog nuggets
- Rice Cream with Strawberry Sauce
- Chocolate mousse cake
The food
The meal at Akershus is served family style, so they bring larger portions of everything to the table to share between all of your party. Since I was by myself it meant I had quite a lot of food!
And there was plenty of it too. For the first course they brought a Norwegian bread with a cinnamon butter, as well as a salad. Both of these were delicious. I really enjoyed the salad, and that’s often something I’ll pass by when you’re getting a full meal with so many options. The lingonberry dressing was delicious!
In addition to the salad, we also got a chicken and dumpling soup. The photo doesn’t make it look the most appetizing, but it was actually quite tasty. It was a really nice addition to the meal.
As I mentioned, the food at Akershus is served family style. That means they would normally bring you out several plates to share. Because I was a solo diner they brought everything on one big plate, but let me know I could request more of anything that I wanted. So just keep in mind that typically, if you’re a family of 4 you’d be getting one plate in the middle with 4 pieces of salmon, another plate with 8-10 meatballs and a large serving of mashed potatoes, etc.
In my opinion, this was a good combination of Norwegian cuisine and items that would be acceptable to American palates. So if you were hesitant to eat here because you’re worried the food would be too exotic, I don’t think you’d have too much of a problem.
The main proteins were salmon and meatballs. The salmon was actually quite tasty, and I’m glad they included it. We definitely saw a lot of salmon and seafood when we were in Norway! The meatballs themselves were good, but the real highlight was the lingonberry sauce they came with. That, combined with the mashed potatoes, was delicious. I didn’t end up asking for more of anything because I was so stuffed, but if I did it would probably be that.
You also have a variety of side dishes, though I wouldn’t say any of them were real standouts. I did like the green beans – they were actually somewhat crispy, and not soggy. The mac and cheese was decent but nothing special. My server did rave about the cabbage, but I’m just not really a cabbage fan. If you are, you may enjoy that! And then some corn dog nuggets which I didn’t really touch because there were so many other tasty items on my plate.
The food was quite good, but I had to save room for dessert! Dessert is also family style, and you could ask for more of anything you liked. There were two dessert options – a chocolate mousse cake and a rice cream with strawberry sauce.
I love chocolate so I gravitated towards the cake, though I think it could have used a sauce of its own. It was one of those very rich chocolate cakes that’s hard to eat too much of. A few bites was great though!
I will admit that I was hesitant about the rice cream because of the consistency. It doesn’t look the most appealing. I’m willing to try most things though, and my server definitely talked up this one as well. She (and another server nearby) told me about how special this dessert is at Christmas time in Norway and shared some of their good memories about it growing up. I had to try it after that.
And you know what? I thought it was great! It really is basically just rice, cream, and sugar, but combined with the strawberry sauce it was actually a highlight of the meal for me. Plus, it felt a lot lighter than the chocolate cake, which was what I needed after that huge meal!
The drinks
Since Akershus charges one price for lunch, basic non-alcoholic drinks are included. That means you can get things like soft drinks, iced tea, coffee, and tea for the price you’ve paid for lunch. They do also have a menu with cocktails, beer, and wine which you can pay additional for.
I figured I’d treat myself to a drink, and asked the server if there were any authentic Norwegian beers on the menu. I’d tried a bunch when I was in Norway, but they had one which was new to me. It was the “Aass Pilsner Draft Beer (Pronounced Ouse).” And yes, I hope it’s obvious why they have to include the pronunciation on the menu!
This was pretty good, if nothing special. It’s a pilsner so you pretty much know what you’re getting. That being said, it had more flavor than some pilsners I’ve tried. It’s also a lighter choice which I again appreciated with the more heavy meal.
When dessert came around I was asked if I wanted coffee, and I requested hot tea. This was included, and they had a variety of different twinings teas that you could select. I went with a black Christmas tea, since this was in December!
The characters
I will be the first to admit that it still confuses me a little that Disney put a princess character meal in Norway… and to be honest, I’m surprised that when it reopened they didn’t at least add Anna and Elsa. It felt like that would at least be a logical addition, and they could easily do a meet and greet in the beginning similar to what Belle used to do.
However at least as of right now they have not done that, and you have a random assortment of princesses who are apparently “visiting” Norway. Sure, why not.
Like pretty much all character meals Disney will sometimes change or alter the characters there depending on availability, but it seems the standard rotation includes:
- Belle
- Snow White
- Aurora
- Tiana
- Ariel
So you have 5 of the major princesses here, which automatically makes it a great experience for princess lovers (children and adults alike!). I visited in December and while they were in their traditional dresses, they each had some really cute Christmas accessories added.
They rotate around the room and visit each table with the opportunity to talk a little and take photos. And every half an hour or so they do a little “processional” where music plays and they walk around the room and stop to twirl and pose a little in a few spots too (I guess so you can take photos).
As a solo adult traveler I can feel a little awkward sometimes doing character meet and greets by myself – particularly when they are “face characters.” I will admit that sometimes I felt a little brushed off by characters. They will usually talk or interact with some sort of pre-planned line, but don’t really engage in much conversation. But there are also some really great ones who honestly make me feel just as special as the 5 year olds.
Belle and Tiana are my favorite princesses, and I had some great interactions with them. When I meet Belle I always like to tell her that I’m a librarian and a booklover. This Belle was very excited to hear that and started asking me questions about my favorite kinds of books. She told me we should start a book club together and it was super cute.
It’s always a lovely surprise when my best character interaction is with someone who isn’t my absolute favorite character but is just so great that they make my day. In this case Ariel was absolutely wonderful. She was very chatty and fun, and made me laugh a lot. When we took some photos together she said we needed to take a selfie because I was her new BFF!
Speaking of photos, there is not a photopass photographer or anything like that with the characters. Being solo I kind of diverted to selfies, but one of the princesses insisted on grabbing an attendant to take some photos and that was really nice too.
All in all, I really enjoyed my meal at Akershus! I didn’t think it would be bad, but I didn’t expect to enjoy the food as much as I did. The character interactions were great too, and sometimes with the face characters I can get a little awkward. I would definitely come back here with anyone who wants to do a princess meal.
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