After hopping on the monorail from the MK to the GF we stepped off and went downstairs to 1900 Park Fare. We had a 6:50pm ADR and we were informed at the front desk they were probably running about 20-30mins behind. She blamed it on the holiday season. We were given a buzzer and left to absorb the atmosphere of the GF lobby. Quite a nice place I must say, and it was made even better by the Christmas decorations. The Ginger Bread house is really something, and we enjoyed the live music being played for the guests.
Some info about the gingerbread house
We were eventually called fifteen minutes late at 7:05pm. They offer a family photo before being seated, which we refused. We were then taken to our table, which was a fairly good table. The restaurant appears to be split into three sections. There is the section as you enter, which is of a reasonable size (not too big, not too small) and although there are a lot of tables I wouldn't say it's packed. The next room has the buffet as well as the middle section of tables. I think this room is louder and more crowded. On the far side was what looked like a narrow room that looked like it was pretty packed. Perhaps that one is only used during peak periods. Luckily we got put in the room as you enter.
Our server was Margaret, I think she was from New York. She was a really excellent server. The amazing thing is, we never really saw her. As if by magic, we'd return from the buffet to have all our old plates cleared away, and she kept our drinks filled the whole night. She was a really, really good server and ensured that we didn't have any plates stacking up through the night.
Drinks are included as part of the buffet. They had a very wide selection of stuff. DM had a Pomegranate Lemonade, DD had sparkling water, DS had coke and I had fresh orange juice.
Of course the theming of this dinner is "Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner" so there are plenty of characters. The characters going around were Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella. For whatever reason, Drizella never made it to our room. She always seemed to be in the main room. For us it wasn't such a big deal since we're all adults and just wanted to see a couple of characters, but perhaps other people who visit this restaurant would like to meet her.
As for the characters, Cinderella was alright, but a little bit boring. I think perhaps she was trying a bit too hard to act like royalty. She probably wasn't the best character of the evening. Prince Charming in my opinion was a pretty good character. The Cast Member playing Lady Tremaine was probably a bit young, but she did an excellent job of portraying the character and walked around with the same "I don't want to be here" expression the whole night, which was pretty funny! Anastasia was by far the best character. She got all the kids and took them around the restaurant in a line, singing and dancing. At the end she got them all to scream at the top of their voices! But by far, her best performance occurred when a child started crying at a table not too far for us. The child had been crying for a little while when Anastasia came in and let out an ear-piercing scream!
The child immediately stopped crying and started looking at Anastasia, who was staring back. Definitely a highlight of the night. I worship her ability to control small children lol
As for the buffet, there was an extensive selection and they kept things topped up fairly well. There was a wide variety of salads, soups, entrees, accompaniments and desserts to choose from. I had some of the caesar salad, which was very good. I also recommend trying the chilled strawberry soup. Either as a soup OR a dessert, it was really good!
For the entrees they had prime rib being carved, various pastas, rice, Italian sausages, an Asian beef dish, paella, chicken and much more. They also had a Kids section with a few child friendly items. I thought that the quality of the food was very good.
Here is a picture of one of my plates...
The dessert selection was also very good. They had key lime tarts, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, carrot cake, fruit tarts, bread pudding, Edys soft serve ice-cream and more. Unfortunately one of the soft serve machines had broken but the other one was working. What I liked about the desserts were that they were all miniature, which allowed us to try a large variety of them and go back for the ones we liked.
Midway through dessert Margaret brought out a birthday muffin for DS, who had just turned 17. We were too full to eat the whole muffin but we had some of it and it was very nice! I wonder if they're still doing this sort of thing now that the "What will you Celebrate" theme is over. I hope they are, as I think it really adds to the Disney experience without very much cost to Disney.
So all in all we enjoyed this buffet. There was a variety of food, service was excellent and the characters were a bit of fun. Just one minor complaint, there seemed to be a couple of spills on the ground around the buffet which I didn't notice getting cleaned up. There was one in particular near the dessert buffet which was quite a large spill. It wasn't cleaned up and I saw quite a few people walk straight through it. Be careful!
I would definitely recommend this to people as a good character dining experience, plus you get the bonus of having dined at the premier resort hotel at WDW. I haven't been to Cinderella's Royal Table, but I reckon that this place must give it a good run for its money. Personally I wouldn't mind returning, but I think that this is the sort of place you only really have to do once in a lifetime
Cost:
4 credits used, 36 remaining
Bill Total - $170.36 (avg $42.59ea)
Running Total - $539.69
NEXT UP: Lunch at Japan's Yakitori House!