Rapunzel’s Royal Palace, the brand new rotational dining restaurant aboard the Disney Magic located on deck 3 aft, is inspired by the 2010 Disney Animation hit Tangled with some influence from the recent series airing on the Disney Channel. Rapunzel’s restaurant takes over for the short lived Carioca’s which replaced Parrot Cay during the Disney Magic’s 2013 re-imagination. Our review of Rapunzel’s Royal Palace will cover the food, the theming, and the dinner show featuring some familiar faces from the Snuggly Ducking.
As you traverse deck 3, you cannot help but notice some new concept art near the aft stairs featuring art from the development of Tangled. I am pretty sure these images can be found in The Art of Tangled.
As you move towards the entrance you are greeted with the entrance sign and themed carpet.
The exterior doors reveal a red carpet lined hallway along the port portholes transporting guests to the Castle Hall in the Kingdom of Corona.
The walkway walls feature an royal invitation to Rapunzel’s birthday celebration from King Frederic and Queen Arianna.
The walkway also features some of the wanted posters from the film as well as the Tangled restrooms at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
Once through the hallway, guest enter the foyer.
If you have a keen eye, you may see one of the three Pascals hanging around the restaurant. More on this in a bit.
Fast forwarding a bit, as you leave, Atilla’s dessert cart was available for photos after dinner.
Getting hungry yet? Well, we still have to talk about venue. The ceilings are adorned with the floating lanterns that actually flicker like the candle in a real floating lantern. It is a really great look as you will see in the video at the end, they are random so the effect looks fantastic.
The carpet features a floral pattern, I am not sure on this, but it could very well be the vines of the Golden Flower that is the source of Rapunzel’s powers.
The space above the portholes on the perimeter of the restaurant have these wonderful painting reminiscent of the murals Rapunzel painted all over the tower.
In the back of the venue opposite entrance is the stage used to anchor the performances throughout the evening.
For those Hidden Mickey hunters in the audience, there are three Pascals placed around the restaurant. If you know where to look you can see them all from most seats, but it was still a fun search.
We are so close to looking at the food, I promise. We are just arriving at our table noted by these really nice laser cut table numbers.
The chairs have a Golden Flower pattern in purple with a Golden Flower medallion at the pinnacle of the chair back.
The tableware is fantastic as well. The plates are emblazoned with floral design and the napkin holder is a laser cut Golden Flower.
The table numbers and the napkin ring were leading up to the highlight of the table setting, the Golden Flower tray topped with a gorgeous laser cut bread basket.
When the light hits just right, the bread bow creates these really cool silhouettes on the table.
Can you tell I really love the laser cut tableware? For those curious, it is made by SteelForme Design. I don’t know about you, but I’d buy a set to put on my kitchen table. DCL already sells the butter knifes from Animator’s Palate and previously sold the red stateroom pillows and Frette linen sets, so why not sell these amazing Golden Flower laser cut trays and bread bowls?
We made it! No food yet, but we made it to the point in this post were we get to take a look at the menu. Wait, the menu has been online since the first day Rapunzel’s opened, but we’ve now added pictures of the actual menu instead of just screenshots from the DCL Navigator app. Additionally, we now have the menu with specialty cocktails, beer and wine.
There are even souvenir cups available for the non-alcoholic drinks as well as an add on Pascal light up. Sorry for the terrible photo, they did not bring them by our table so I had to seriously crop this photo from when the server presented them to a nearby table. There is a mug, the white one is a lantern which lights up and then there is a toweres-que looking goblet. We couldn’t pass up on the $3 Pascal light-up, the photo is below with the desserts and is also featured in the video.
The dinner menu cover features the Golden Flower design and a view of Rapunzel and Flynn in the boat with the floating lanterns launching from the Kingdom of Corona.
The dessert menu gave away the name of the menu… Rapunzel’s Royal Table Lantern Night. I suspect the Magic will adopt a hybrid rotational schedule that has been pioneered on the Wonder at some point in the future on longer sailings. If you are wondering what I am talking about well, over on the Wonder during longer voyages, there are multiple Tiana’s Place menus. You get the standard Mardi Gras menu along with a variant of Prince and Princess while Triton’s maintains the same menu resulting in guests not getting the Prince and Princess menu on the same in night in all venues or something like that. I’m sure if I wrote it down, it would make more sense, but for now I’ve said too much. Besides, I could be reading too much into the menu name.
The kids menu is cute with the Golden Flower on one side and the menu on the reverse.At first, it appears to be a Tangled themed kids menu, but upon further review, it is actually designed to fold up so each kid has their own personal floating lantern! It is such a great idea as well as souvenir. Although, I am not 100% sure Isabelle’s made it home.
Well, look at that! I told you and told you we’d eventually get to the food at Rapunzel’s Royal Table. The bread course served in those amazing laser cut bread bowls includes Pretzel Bread as well as some random rolls that just went to waste. The bread is served with a side of whole-grain mustard dip. We felt the ratio of mustard to mayo was way off, in this case, it needed to be flipped, the mustard flavor was appetizing, but understated. It wasn’t terrible; I still put in on my pretzel. While on the subject of ratios, I might as well say the ratio of pretzels to dinner rolls needs to be addressed or ask the table what they prefer considering the pretzels were the hot item.
Isabelle continuing to try soups ordered the Potato Cream Soup with carrots, leeks, celery, and knockwurst. The soup’s primary flavor was the knockwurst and Isabelle not being a beef or pork eater, passed it off to me to finish. I thought the soup had a nice balance of flavor between the knockwurst and the potato cream side of things plus there were a few decent sized chunks of knockworst in the serving.
When in Rapunzel’s, one must order the appetizer with the coolest name – also Hook Hands let me know it was in my best interest to order it since it was his idea to have it on the menu in the first place. The selection of charcuterie was decent and the accompanying German mustard dip was enjoyable.
Emily ordered the Ahi Tuna Tartar served on a bed of diced cucumbers, mangos with wasabi and a side of sweet chili-mayonnaise.
Moving along the the entrees, the birthday girl really enjoyed the the caramelized sea scallops in the Tangled Pasta. I took a chance with my shellfish allergy by carefully taking a bite of the pasta and was really impressed by the flavor of the pesto on the angel hair pasta. One of my regular complaints with DCL’s food is the lack of flavor, but this was flavorful!
I was at a crossroads and it opted for the Oktoberfest Lemon and Thyme Roasted chicken over the Sea Bass. Again, I was impressed the chicken was flavorful and the red win chicken jus added to my overall enjoyment. I did however, regret not getting the sea bass. While the the chicken had an enjoyable flavor, it was pretty dried out which to be honest doesn’t surprise me based on the number of dishes that are prepared each night.
Emily ordered the Pan-seared Sea Bass Filet with white asparagus, leeks, spinach, broccoli, peas, tangled kohlrabi and carrots served with a Champange-truffle vinaigrette. She was unimpressed as it lacked flavor and wished that she went with the chili ramen vegetarian option. It was, however, cooked well and was flaky and not overdone.
Moving along to desserts. There were a few items that sounded great. First up, the Creme Brûlée Cheesecake – it is like the best of both worlds. You get your cheesecake and you get to eat Creme Brûlée. This is likely my go to pick for future dinners, Emily made a great choice ordering this dessert.
Isabelle keyed in on the Birthday Cupcake Sunday which was a big hit at the table. The birthday cake ice cream had swirls of frosting, actual delicious frosting. The cupcake reminded me of a Funfetti cake.
After browsing the dessert menu back when the menu was first revealed, I was dead set on ordering Rapunzel’s Fry Pan Sweet Bread.
Fry bread dusted with powdered sugar… Sound familiar? To me that read, Rapunzel is trying to replicate the success of the Buttermilk Beignets over at Tiana’s Place on the Wonder. Just like the Magic and Wonder, these desserts are like sisters at the core. The Pan Fry Sweet Bread is essentially the same except the sauce is hazelnut instead of chocolate espresso and it is serve a la mode. Side by side, I’d pick the beignets, but this is a solid dessert – I may consider ordering it again just without the ice cream. Oh, who am I kidding, I’ll order the cheesecake and save the beignet splurge for the Wonder.
Rapunzel’s Royal Table Dinner Show/Experience
Rapunzel’s Royal Table isn’t just a castle hall venue themed to Tangled. It is the stage for an immersive dining experience. As you arrive, at the entrance you can already hear the band playing in the restaurant. The live entrainment is more than just a musical trio. Some of the Snuggly Ducking Thugs include Hook Hands, Vladimir, and Attila splitting time between visiting guests tableside to brining the cast together for various segments of the dinner show.
Below is a video from our dinner. I’ll leave it up to you if you want to watch it or not. I didn’t watch any of the videos posted from the first two sailings because I wanted to see it live first. If you decide not to watch, please watch another of our videos twice. While you are there, please be sure to like and subscribe so one day, we too can call ourselves YouTubers.
During the evening Rapunzel stopped by our table and chatted with Isabelle.
Overall, it was unanimous – we loved the restaurant and the dinner experience. After letting the experience sink in, I’m backing away from my micro review from our day 2 trip report. Although, my feeling from that night are still valid, I feel confident the show will be fined tuned sooner than later. If the star align you may even get to dine at Rapunzel’s Royal Table on the same night Tangled The Musical is performed in the Walt Disney Theater and O’Gill is transformed into the Snuggly Ducking. Combined, this makes for a really awesome Tangled experience. We felt the show and the character integration is fantastic aside and a great enhancement to the Disney Magic, and as much as I originally loved Carioca’s, I do not miss it for one second. We cannot wait to return.
Thanks for the great review, very exciting to see all the details!
For the new rotation style on the Wonder, here’s how I understand it (haven’t done it myself yet though):
Nights 1/2/3 – rotate with the following menus at each:
Triton’s – regular
Animators – regular w/ Mickey finale
Tiana’s – slightly modified version of Prince and Princess
Night 4 – the only night with a shipwide menu; normally Pirates, Frozen if in Alaska
Nights 5/6/7 – rotate with the following menus at each:
Triton’s – Captains Gala
Animators – reduced version of Til We Meet Again, w animation magic
Tiana’s – Mardi Gras
That way everyone is getting all of the menus on a rotation. Which I actually like much better than how the Fantasy has it, where you get reduced menus depending on which night/rotation you end up with the animation/drawing.
I’ve done it a few times and I still can’t seem to wrap my head around it. This is the best explanation I’ve read to date. THANK YOU!
Thanks for the review. Rapunzel is my daughter’s favorite princess. She was so excited when I told her about the new restaurant. We can’t wait to experience it this summer on our Mediterranean cruise.
Great review, Thank You. Looking forward to Disney’s first Bermuda cruise in October.
Thank you, Scott. Fun and informative. Another shining example why you are deserving of the “Blogger of the Year” recognition.
In addition to the ‘Lantern’ Menu, there will apparently be a ‘Thug’ menu on 7 nt cruises. A concierge guest in our summer Magic cruise listed our 7 nt rotation, and ‘Thug’ is listed for Rapunzel’s for the first 3 nights, and ‘Lantern’ for the last 3 nts. The 7 nt Magic rotation schedule looks to be like Anonymous posted for the Wonder, with day 4 being the same in all 3 restaurants.
Hello Scott. First off: excellent review. I’ve been making purchases with my Disney card just to earn the points for one of these.
Rapunzel’s was awesome! We went on the 15th and we all loooved it
It was one of the est experiences of my life. The dinner was really and I was highly impressed with their leather menu cover.
Do you know if they do the Pirate menu in Rapunzel’s or is it strictly Thug and Lantern menus?
If you are in Rapunzel’s on Pirate night, you will get the Pirate menu if that is what is being served elsewhere.
We’re sailing on the Magic in March, doing a 5nt cruise – our first Disney cruise. How can we make sure to get in this great restuarant/show? (Thanks for such a great blog! I’ve been following it very closely for my planning guide!)
Heather, the show will be part of your dinner rotation during the sailing. Just check your dinning rotation once onboard to make sure it doesn’t conflict with a Palo reservation if you booked that experience.