We’ve been waiting for this moment for a LONG time — years, in fact.
But, it’s finally happening! 1900 Park Fare has officially reopened at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa after being closed since 2020. We’ve already experienced the new breakfast, but now it’s time to check out the changes at dinner — come with us!
Background
We’re heading back to 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian for a reopening review of dinner! The restaurant reopened on April 10th for the first time following Disney’s pandemic-related closures.
When we walked up to the restaurant, we were immediately greeted at the doors and were ushered over to the host desk to check in.
It could be a few minutes before your table is ready (especially over the next few months — maybe years?) due to the hyped anticipation of this popular restaurant’s epic reopening, Disney World has outfitted the waiting hallway with a few comfy chairs to lounge in during your wait.
However, if you’re really feeling curious, we encourage you to spend this time taking a closer look at the framed prints that line the walls and you might see a few new and older designs of the decorations found within the dining room.
In the past, you could meet characters like Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, and Prince Charming during what Disney called “Supercalifragilistic Breakfast,” but now you can dine with characters like Aladdin (in his Prince Ali look), Cinderella, Mirabel, and Tiana (in her NEW outfit for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure). Together, this fun cast of characters will celebrate the power of a wish.
1900 Park Fare is a buffet and there are a ton of NEW food offerings as part of the reopening menu — but first, let’s check out any decor changes!
Atmosphere
Disney shared that there would be new touches as part of the reimagining, including Grand Floridian-esque details around the restaurant, like this new mural!
In another dining room, you’ll find a smaller and quieter section to dine in.
Once it was time to be seated we were walked over to our table and then acquainted with our waiter for the evening. While we were seated at a table that shared a side backed up to booth-style seating…
… there are other tables and chairs throughout the dining room that are standalone for smaller…
… and larger groups to dine together.
If you walk back to the further side of the restaurant, there’s another section of the dining area that has a bit more of a cozy vibe and not so open-concept.
Inside you’ll be greeted by beautiful Victorian-inspired wallpaper decorating the walls and fanciful framed portraits of some of the most iconic wish-making Disney characters from several animated films.
Once we were seated at the table we were asked to fill out our Wishmakers Dining Experience wish card and think good and long about the wish we would like to make during our meal. After a few moments, we wrote down the perfect wishes and waited for our chance to meet with the visiting characters coming around to our table.
Just a side note here that your wish is meant to go with you! While you’ll take care in writing down a wish you want to be fulfilled on one side, if you flip the card over, you’ll find each of the characters that will be by to visit you on the backside of the card.
Let’s see some of the NEW characters you can meet here!
Characters
When we stopped by 1900 Park Fare for dinner, we spotted quite the cast of characters! We said hi to Aladdin in his Prince Ali look…
…Cinderella…
…Mirabel…
… and Tiana!
We can’t stress enough how impressed we were with the interactions and the amount of time the characters spent at our table before moving on to interact with other diners. Not only did they stop to talk to us for a good amount of time to finish a full (albeit shorter) conversation, but we also got the sense that these characters knew they were feeling some big places in people’s hearts if the characters you could meet here before. This truly made a lasting impact on us and set the tone for the evening and made us more open to the new wish maker friends you can meet with here now. Once we were done visiting together, they politely asked us if we wanted to take a few photos together and even gave us time for group and individual photos if we wanted them (which we thought was super cool)!
We’re going to pause here for a moment to tell you about the frequency of characters you should anticipate here. It might feel the characters visit the tables less frequently here and that could be true, but we didn’t think that affected our ability to meet with them, hold conversation, and take a here photos before they moved on to greet the next table. At 1900 Park Fare, the characters felt like they were taking intentional time out to visit with each of the tables and there was a good (probably about 25 to 30 minutes) between their next round of visits. This is a great way to knock out a meal and some meet and greets at the same time!
Shortly after the characters make their rounds, you’ll hear an overhead announcement from Jiminy Cricket asking you to prepare for the next Wish Ceremony.
In this ceremony, the wish maker characters will post themselves around the dining room and join you in wishing to make your wish come true as you’re instructed to raise your wish card high above your head, wave it around, and recite the wishing phrases to make your wish come true!
Don’t forget to take your wish with you though, as some dreams take a little longer to fulfill.
Food & Drinks
Since this is a buffet, there’s quite a bit of food to choose from — and we’re certainly not complaining! We kicked things off with a sampling of Tiana’s Gumbo (which is probably what we were MOST excited to try first)!
OH.MY.GOSH! This stuff is the “bees-knees”! Tiana (with a little help from the Grand Floridian chefs) knocked this one outta the park for our tastebuds. It was just the right consistency, complimented with andouille sausage, chewy meats, and savory veggies. If you spread this over the cooked jasmine rice you won’t even have to “hit it with a couple of shots of tabasco sauce” because it’s just perfect!
Then it was time to try out a whole plate of foods which included Prime Rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, glazed carrots, mac and cheese, peel-and-eat shrimp, and more! (Yes there are more gummy bears, and you’d be right to bet money that’s the first thing we grabbed from the buffet — priorities).
We couldn’t have been more pleased with the Prime Rib! It was juicy and tender and could have been easily cut through with a fork and just packed with savory flavor. There was even a nearby station of sauces where you could mix and match your flavors to your own liking. We took a particular interest in covering it in the salty Au Jus or mixing the house barbeque sauce and horseradish sauce to create a creamy sauce.
The mashed potatoes were so buttery, creamy, and just the right amount of salty to be one of our favorites from everything we tried.
The green beans weren’t totally anything to write home about but were well-cooked and enjoyable…
… while the glazed carrots were sweet and savory at the same time!
The peel-and-eat shrimp quickly became one of the leading stars on the buffet and were just the right amount of chewy, juicy, and briny to stand out!
We also had a piece of Foccacia bread that was soft and pillowy but herby on the outer crust where you would anticipate it.
Oh man, we’re stuffed after that! So, the next natural thing to do was try out the desserts. Are you ready?
Of the plate of desserts we picked up we really enjoyed the Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake and the Grand Floridian Financier the most. While the others felt pretty straightforward for sweet treats, these just had extra elements to us that made them have a presence that really fit in with the theming of the experience and restaurant as a whole.
The cheesecake was noticeably cheesecake but you could easily detect both the lemon and blueberry flavor against the graham cracker crust on the bottom which was a delicious spin on a “classic” cheesecake treat…
… and the Grand Floridian Financier was like having a cupcake made of s’mores with the toasted marshmallow topping and the chocolate Grand Floridian medallion on top of the spongy cake.
We really had a hard time finding fault with anything we tasted during this meal, although we did say we opted to pass over certain things at dinner more than we felt like we did at the breakfast buffet options.
Should You Go?
You should book a reservation at 1900 Park Fare if you’re really looking for a top-notch experience of what Disney World has to offer in one meal.
After visiting for both breakfast and dinner, we found ourselves truly digging to find any faults with this one. While we miss the former characters who met here for this dinner deeply, it was exciting to meet with new faces and in versions of these familiars you simply can’t find anywhere else at Disney World right now. When we started comparing the quality of the experience, service, cost, entertainment, and peace of mind knowing there’s truly something for everyone at this meal, we found it was really hard to justify passing up.
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Will you be booking a table at 1900 Park Fare? Tell us in the comments!
Im am heading to Disney mid may staying at GF. Trying to get reservations for 2900 Park Fare, but am unable to for breakfast. Do they accept early morning walk ups?