Dinner at 1900 Park Fare: A Disney Dining Review

Rikki By Rikki5 min read
Restaurant entrance

Recently, 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort reopened after a very lengthy closure that started with COVID. The restaurant saw some refurbishment work in that time frame and officially reopened earlier this year.

The restaurant offers a buffet and is a character meal. However, it saw a change of characters and theme when it reopened. Previously, it offered British characters, like Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins for breakfast and for dinner it offered up a meal with Cinderella, the Prince and her Evil Step-mother and Step-sisters.

Now, the theme of the restaurant is all about wishes and features Aladdin, Tiana, Mirabel, and Cinderella. Many were upset about the change, as the previous version was a fan-favorite, especially because it offered many characters that Guests just don’t see very often.

So, what did we think? Keep reading for our full review.

The Food at 1900 Park Fare

Strawberry Soup

Like I mentioned before, 1900 Park Fare is a buffet and it’s a pretty well-known buffet. Not because of the characters, but because this restaurant is famous for its Strawberry Soup. What’s Strawberry Soup like? Well it’s chilled and it’s kind of like if you’ve ever mixed strawberry juice (you know what happens when you put sugar on strawberries and it creates this delicious sweet extra juice?) mixed with whipped cream. (Wait….you’re telling me you don’t do this? Cause half the time I ONLY eat strawberries for this….) The soup is simply delightful and a great option, especially on those hot Florida days.

The overall menu for 1900 Park Fare has changed a little. There are the staples that you would expect to see…carrots, mashed potatoes, green beans, salads of all kinds, a carving station, peel and eat shrimp, kids options like pizza and chicken nuggets, and more. But then there are also some options with some options based on the characters that meet here too. Like for Tiana, there’s a gumbo and for Aladdin there’s a curry-roasted chicken.

The menu options are all pretty good. We very much enjoyed all the options we tried and we tried a good portion of them. They all had nice flavor and weren’t bland. For example, the gumbo definitely had some spice to it.

For dessert, there’s traditional options like cupcakes, a warm chocolate cake, a toasted coconut cake and a lemon-blueberry cheesecake.

The Characters of 1900 Park Fare

1900 Park Fare

As mentioned previously, the characters at this meal are Aladdin, Tiana, Cinderella, and Mirabel. There is one thing I will say about meeting the characters here. Despite the fact that they are face characters and can talk to Guests, I found that they really rushed through the experience. It felt like every single character was basically in “hurry up” mode. They talked with you, but honestly, it felt like something was missing.

1900 Park Fare

We brought our toddler daughter with us and I was hoping we could get some decent pictures with her and the characters….you know, have them have some conversations with her. Even though she’s non-verbal, she still could understand. And she can interact.

The only character who gave her any time of day was Cinderella. She tried to get our daughter enamored in her dress and all the designs on it. Overall, Cinderella did great connecting with her.

With all the rest of the characters, it felt were like, ok….let’s get this picture and move on. And I hate saying that, but character-wise for us, which let’s be honest, is what you’re paying for here for the most part, it wasn’t a great experience.

A Warning

1900 Park Fare

Now, I think I’ve figured out the reason behind this rushing of the characters. You see, at almost every other character meal I’ve been to, each section is seated and the the characters rotate according to the size and shape of the restaurant. This means that the characters really do have the time to spend with Guests. But here, there seemed to be a time-table that needed to be adhered to.

How could I tell things are different here? Well, we were coming from The Villages where my parents live. So, it takes a while to get to Disney from there. This means we were a little late on our reservation. (Like 15 minutes…nothing huge.) In the past, due to having a reservation, if I’ve been late, I’ve still been seated pretty easily. No big deal, right?

Here, when we got to the restaurant, the doors of the restaurant were closed and the Cast Member outside was like, let me see if I can fit you in. They were able to find a table, but it seemed like it wasn’t an easy thing to do and it was for like an hour and a half later. (Keep in mind, it was like 4:30 p.m. when we got there, so still relatively early.) This makes me think that the restaurant actually has “set” times for dining here. And these times are not advertised.

And as we were finishing our meal, nearly the entire restaurant was empty. Only our section of the restaurant had Guests in it still finishing their meals. Again, almost as though they were waiting to seat the next wave of Guests.

It kind of reminded me of dining on Disney Cruise Line. And if that’s the case, I wish Disney would be a little more forthcoming with that info, so that Guests knew what to expect.

I could be 100% wrong on this, but it certainly felt different than any other meal, and especially any other character meal I’ve had at a Disney Resort.

Final Thoughts

1900 Park Fare

Overall, I’m kind of torn on 1900 Park Fare. I’m trying to be fair, but it’s an EXPENSIVE meal. Like I said, because you are paying for the characters. And, if you aren’t getting great character experiences, I’m not sure I find the price worth it. And our experience wasn’t super great in that regard.

We did find that the food was delicious though. So, if you ARE going there for the food, you will definitely enjoy!

But the character interactions, or lack there of, left me with a somewhat sour taste in my mouth. I think, for me, it will be a while before I return.

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Want more dining reviews? Make sure to follow along with us here at A Disney World After All.

But now I want to know what you think? Have you dined at 1900 Park Fare for dinner recently? Did I just have a bad character experience? What were your thoughts? You can share with me in the comments or on social! Find me on FacebookXYouTubeInstagram, Threads, and TikTok.

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