Surprising things about the new 1900 Park Fare at Disney's Grand Floridian

                                                  Photo from Disney

 

1900 Park Fare has been a favorite ever since we had our first taste of that famous Strawberry soup!

1900 Park Fare has hosted its "fair" share of characters over the years.  In the past, we have dined with Mary Poppins, Wendy and Peter Pan, Alice and the Mad Hatter, Snow White and Dopey, Winnie The Pooh and friends, and Cinderella, Prince Charming, and her Stepsisters. Wow, that's quite a crew! 

We were excited to see the new update to the restaurant and see the new characters.

When my sister and I travel together, we generally do not make advanced dinning reservations,  but we did for this restaurant since it was so new.

The first thing we noticed about the new restaurant set up was that the main, and only entrance is near the front of the resort, near the sundry shop. The main entrance use to be near the back of the lobby and around the corner. I guess the new entrance makes the restaurant more noticeable to guests. You may not have even known 1900 Park Fare was even there, had the entrance stayed in the back like it was.

There is a cute little check-in area where we waited for only a few minutes before we were seated.

As we entered the dinning room, I immediately noticed how much smaller it felt from the original layout of the restaurant. 

The classic, Big Bertha organ is still here and is the star of the show!

Our server came over to greet us and take our drink order, and then we walked up to check out the amazing buffet!

I really like how this buffet was laid out. Most buffets have the same items on both sides but this one had different food all the way around. 

Of course I had to start with the Strawberry Soup.

I got the typical salad, and then went for the hot entrees. 

There is a carving station here with the friendliest "carver".  We had a complete conversation while I waited for him to slice me a piece of meat ( I think he was doing ham and prime rib). We talked about where I was from and some other things. The funny thing was, a little while later when I went up to his station again ( to get a slice of the other meat he was carving), he started up that exact conversation with me again, asking the same questions all over!  I walked back to our table and told my sister and we had a good laugh. I guess those are his typical lines he says. 

Another thing I wanted to try here was Tiana's Gumbo! 

Tiana would be making an appearance here, so I wanted to be able to tell her I tried her famous Gumbo!  

When I did see Tiana, I didn't mention the Gumbo. It was not very good. Now I am not a Gumbo connoisseur, I actually haven't had Gumbo that many times in my life, but I knew I did not enjoy this. However, our friend Karen ( who hails from Louisiana) would be a Gumbo Connoisseur. Her and her family ate here the day after us and when we met up at the Magic Kingdom later that day she expressed her feelings on the Gumbo. I think her exact words may have been "Why didn't they consult someone from Louisiana when making this Gumbo?"

There is a child size buffet with the typical chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pasta, etc.  One thing I found to be rather unique here is that they had a Gummi Bear station.

We tried a few items on the dessert bar.  My sister and I usually take one plate of dessert and then we each take a bite. I usually find that buffet desserts aren't usually that great. 

Overall the food here was okay, typical buffet food. 

But I'm going to guess that the food is not why people come here.

It's the characters.

We were first greeted by Mirabel. I have to say, she was a little "stand -offish"  at first.  Maybe it was because we were two adults without children.

The rest of the characters were just fabulous.  We never expect characters to spend that much time with us ( since we do not have children with us), but Cinderella, Tiana, and Aladdin did not care. They enjoyed talking with us! 

When we were seated at our table, we were given a card to "Make a Wish" on. The Characters would later have a "Wishing Ceremony". 

It didn't take too much time for the characters to rotate through. We were able to visit with all of them before we were finished with our meal. 

This was a nice experience for us, but I wouldn't say there was really anything on the buffet that made us want to go back for seconds or make another reservation here anytime soon. It is in fact a very pretty restaurant  and a great way to spend an evening if you didn't have a park ticket. We didn't rush ourselves, but we were headed back to Magic Kingdom after our time here.

As far as we know, the characters that are at 1900 Park Fare for dinner, are the same ones that are there for breakfast. 

Most Disney Table Service restaurants offer discounts for Disney Annual Passholders and Disney Visa Card members.  We were surprised when our server told us that 1900 Park Fare was not offering any discounts at this time.  The reasoning was because it was such a "new" restaurant.  

 (As I was typing this post, I looked up the pricing and discount options and it is now showing that Annual Passholder discounts are back at 1900 Park Fare!) 

To see a menu and pricing options for 1900 Parke Fare click HERE.

Some beverages are included with the meal but here are a list of specialty beverages that are extra.

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                          Till next time ~ M and L