A long time favorite character meal at 1900 Park Fare has returned at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa with a revamped look and some friendly new faces.
We recently visited and reviewed the breakfast here, and we just had to go back to try out dinner as well.
Here’s how it went.
The basics
1900 Park Fare
Wish upon a star with favorite Disney characters.
Location type: Character Dining – Buffet
Characters available: Aladdin in his Prince Ali look, Cinderella, Mirabel and Tiana in her new look for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Type of food: American
Meals Served: Breakfast & dinner
Seating Available: Indoor
- On the Disney Dining Plan? Yes, 1 table service credit
- Pros: Easily accessible from several resorts and Magic Kingdom via the monorail, unique characters that appeal to a lot of people
- Cons: Reservations can be tricky to snag, the restaurant is louder than other buffets during peak meal times (making it difficult to hear)
- Tip: If you arrive by monorail, it may not be obvious where this restaurant is located. When you exit the monorail, go down to the first floor, and you’ll find the restaurant entrance there.
How difficult was it to get a reservation?
Character meals are always popular dining reservations and this one is no exception, especially since it only recently reopened and has a new set of character greetings.
Reservations for all the restaurants at Disney World currently open up exactly 60 days in advance — and you should book dining as soon as you can (which is what we did).
However, we were able to find several reservations for our dates still available in the weeks leading up to our visit. In addition, we decided on Sunday afternoon during our trip that we wanted to try to dine here that evening and were able to find a few time slots available for only a few hours out.
Other ways to score a 1900 Park Fare reservation
Set dining alerts
If you don’t get a reservation at 1900 Park Fare or want to try to book one last minute, try setting up a dining alert.
Reservation finding services are built to constantly check for openings at restaurants that you choose. Depending on the service, you can receive an email and/or text alert or a push notification when something becomes available.
Keep checking
You can also keep checking yourself to see if anything opens up. We’ve had a lot of luck with this method. Trust us when we say reservations become available all the time — even the day of!
Join the waitlist
Many Disney World restaurants, including 1900 Park Fare, also have a waitlist option that you can either join in the My Disney Experience app or in person.
If you don’t have luck snagging a reservation, this might be your next best bet. But, keep in mind, it’s not always a guarantee.
Checking in
For our 5:45 p.m. reservation, we arrived at The Grand Floridian a little before 5:00 p.m. using a Lyft ride from our resort. We were not able to check in yet, so we walked around the lobby and explored the resort a bit while we waited.
Like with many Table Service restaurants across Disney World, you are able to check in for dining reservations 20 minutes prior using the My Disney Experience app.
For our 5:45 p.m. dinner reservation on June 9, 2024, we checked in around 5:30 p.m. and headed toward the entrance of the restaurant at that time. We received the notification our table was ready shortly after checking in and then were quickly seated.
What’s included at 1900 Park Fare Dinner
Let’s take a look at what’s included with a 1900 Park Fare dinner…
1900 Park Fare all-you-can-eat dinner buffet includes:
- Starters
- Sides
- Entrées
- Desserts
- Kid’s offerings
- Beverages (all alcoholic drinks cost extra)
You meet Disney characters that are “wishmakers.” They all sign autographs AND we were given a cute little autograph card, too!
Character interactions
One of our favorite parts about this meal is the eclectic mix of characters you get to meet.
In addition to them coming to each table, there is also a special wish ceremony led by all of the characters. All characters will sign autographs in addition to the autograph card.
Here’s who you get to meet:
Princess Tiana
Mirabel
Aladdin
Cinderella
Navigating a character meal buffet can be tricky, especially balancing getting food without missing the characters. This is even harder with young children who need help.
At 1900 Park Fare, being mindful of when you get up to go to the buffet helps ensure you don’t miss a character stopping by your table. The characters visit tables one by one in a specific order or path. By watching how they move through the restaurant, you can make an educated guess as to when they’ll reach your table.
Our experience during this visit was best case scenario (for us). Mirabel stopped by our table just a minute or two after we were seated and the remaining 3 characters were close behind her. During that time, our server greeted us, took our drink order and brought them out to us.
Because we could see that all the characters were close to visiting us, we decided to just wait at our table and meet all of them before getting up to get food. This allowed us to enjoy our meal without interruptions or being worried about missing anything while we were up.
This likely won’t be your experience and and you might miss a character while away from your table. If this happens, just let your server know and they will make sure that whoever you missed swings back around to you.
1900 Park Fare food and drinks
This dinner is served buffet style so as soon as you’ve made your drink selections known to your server, you’re welcome to help yourself to the buffet offerings.
Soft drinks, tea, and water are included with the price of the meal. In addition, there is a selection of specialty cocktails, zero-proof cocktails, and non-alcoholic specialty drinks available for purchase.
At the buffet, you’ll find a wide variety of savory options including a carving station with prime rib, Tiana’s Gumbo, peel-n-eat shrimp, salmon, chicken, plant-based entrees, salads, bread, and lots of side options.
There are also several small desserts to choose from at either end of the buffet.
And no visit to 1900 Park Fare is complete without trying the famous Grand Floridian Strawberry Soup. This “soup” is similar in flavor to a yogurt-based strawberry smoothie. It is tart and fresh and just barely creamy.
Our review of dinner at 1900 Park Fare
Overall, we loved our dinner experience at 1900 Park Fare.
The food here stands out as some of the best buffet offerings across Disney property. The selection is impressive, and everything we tried was well-executed and delicious. The buffet stations were consistently replenished, ensuring the food remained fresh, and the buffet area never felt overcrowded.
While the food was excellent, the true highlight of the meal was interacting with the characters. Sometimes, engaging with characters can be challenging, but that wasn’t the case here at all. Each character took the lead in natural, interactive conversations with us. They were incredibly delightful, and it genuinely felt like they were fully immersed in their worlds.
The only issues we had were the price and how loud it is in the restaurant when it’s at full capacity.
At $66/adult and $41/child, this is not an inexpensive experience. If you’re on the Disney Dining Plan, this is a fantastic value of a credit though.
If you’re sensitive to sound, you might consider an off-peak meal time when the restaurant won’t be at full capacity.
Is 1900 Park Fare worth it for dinner?
If you enjoy character interactions and want to meet the unique characters featured in this meal, we highly recommend dinner—it’s worth it. We found the dinner experience to offer better value than breakfast, especially if you’re choosing between the two.
However, if you’re not interested in meeting characters, we suggest skipping this and trying another excellent restaurant at the Grand Floridian, like Narcoossee’s.
In addition, this meal is easy to recommend for people on the Disney Dining Plan who are drawn to the characters who meet here.
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Have you been to 1900 Park Fare since it reopened? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments!