1900 Park Fare - My Recent Experience

[CrabbyPatty]

Oh, man ..... this makes me very nervous. Already started another thread about 1900 Park Fare and now to read that more people disliked the food and character interaction. I may be heading back to the drawing board for more character meal ideas.

 

[catne]

What a bummer, OP...so sorry you had such a negative experience there. Amazing the difference a day makes...we were there Sunday 5/25 and had good food & a great time with all the characters.

One suggestion I'd make is to stay closer to the podium & don't wait more than 20 minutes before checking back at the podium...just in case something like a crashed computer happens or any number of other situations that can come up. Perhaps while you were out in the lobby they called your name? I know everywhere we went last week they had names written down on a sort of check-list, like they'd look it up on the computer & make some sort of notie on the hand-written list when we checked in. So they could have been calling for you "manually" if the computer/pager system was not working. But they probably won't wander the lobby looking for people.

 

[jayhjay]

Unfortunately I will chime in that this was our least favorite TS meal during our trip. I was really looking forward to great character interaction and we had almost none. I won't rehash all the details, but if you want to read my dining report (in my signature below) you can hear more.

FWIW, I would definitely recommend the Tusker House character breakfast that a PP already mentioned. Good food, good characters (my review is also in my dining report). JJ

 

[ktlm]

We are going in November and our plan is to eat here before we go to MVMCP that evening.
My oh My what should we do???????

Based on our experience 3 weeks ago, I would be a little worried about trying to eat there "before" anything. Our ADR was at 6:15. We got there at 5:45 (didn't take us as long to travel there from the resort as we thought it might). We didn't get a table until about 7:00p.m. By the time we waited for all the characters and ate, we didn't get out of there until sometime between 8:45 and 9. It was the only time all week we had to wait that long for a table or took that long at a meal. We thought the food was okay- not as good as the Crystal Palace, but better than Chef Mickeys which we thought was pretty bad (except for the salads and desserts which were great). A couple of the characters seemed rushed, but on the whole they were pretty good. Prince Charming and Drizella were great with DD. I would try it again if DD wanted to eat there. Actually, I'm not sure I would book a TS dinner anywhere before going to MVMCP. I would book a big TS lunch and then do a quick counter service for dinner. They start letting people with tickets into MVMCP at 4:00 p.m. We got there a little after that and then just grabbed counter service at MK last year.

 

[lisaj68]

It seems that a lot of the complaints on this thread were from dinner (judging by the characters people are posting about...)

Does anyone know if breakfast is as disappointing as dinner?

I wonder if we should try somewhere else or just deal.....

 

[DCDisney]

We have eaten at 1900 a number of times for dinner. They run notoriously late with ADRs so we go at opening (4:30). Even at 4:30 though the food is overcooked and dry ;P since the rehab a few years ago when they changed the food it just hasn't been as good. There is always something edible but many things in our case aren't. The characters are great which is why we continue to go there. Breakfast has totally different characters which don't appeal to us. Yes, we would still go despite the iffy tasting food because it is so much cleaner and less chaotic than Chef Mickey's and the characters are great. We like wandering in the GF too. I wouldn't go there much later than 5 though if I had plans to do something that night AND I would get there nice and early for the ADR too.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

For those who have been here. If I have a 6:45 p.m. reservation, do you think we'll be on the beach in time to see the Electrical Water Parade (or whatever it's called) go by at 9:15?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We went in March. Had a 5:10 ADR. Fairly early but waited 30 minutes to be seated.

Got seated, ate, were almost all done and no characters had been to our table yet. This was about 45 minutes into it. DH told the manager and she was VERY helpful. After another 45 minutes we finally saw the characters.

The food wasn't very good. There were about 5 good things on the buffet. The potatoes, chicken, desserts.

With that said...I am debating on going again. For DD's birthday meal but now I'm not so sure now that I rethink it. We like to see Spectro and Wishes on arrival day and dinner would be on arrival day which would be DD's birthday. If I miss Spectro and Wishes on arrival day I might have a bird! I'm thinking of going for CRT lunch instead. Very late lunch!

 

[StitchFan1973]

FWIW, our family of 4 ate dinner at 1900 on 5/22. We had really good character interaction and we all found something on the buffet we liked. My favorites were the prime rib (a little salty, but it suited my taste) and the mashed potatoes. The desserts were pretty good, although I think I prefer Chef Mickey's dessert selection. We arrived about 20 minutes before our 6:10ADR, but we were seated by about 6:40. Overall, we had a good experience, but I think we prefer Chef Mickeys. The main reason we chose to eat at 1900, was because I really wanted to try a custom cake from the GF bakery, and it didn't disappoint.

 

[Mom loves Disney]

We were very disappointed in our last meal there in Dec.. We enjoyed it for several years, but this last trip did it for me!!! The characters did come around, but the food was very bad. We have not tried the breakfast so I can't comment on that.

 

[Mary T in PA]

hmmmm.... I do have an ADR for our upcoming trip (the evening we arrive) as we are staying at GF. It's been several years since we ate there, in fact the mice were with Cinderella, not the stepsisters, so that tells you how long it's been.

this really is some food for thought.. to cancel or not to cancel....

Mary

 

[mi*vida*loca]

hmmmm.... I do have an ADR for our upcoming trip (the evening we arrive) as we are staying at GF. It's been several years since we ate there, in fact the mice were with Cinderella, not the stepsisters, so that tells you how long it's been.

this really is some food for thought.. to cancel or not to cancel....

Mary

I say go and try it for yourself! The characters are fun and the look on DD's face when she saw the prince and Cinderella were just priceless.

 

[maccalovah]

We ate breakfast here about this time last year...It was my first time back in several years, and I'd always remembered it being quite good for a buffet. This was definitely NOT the case for us...I am very easy to please, foodwise...I'm not a foodie or anything, and am quite happy at a Golden Corral or the likes, but I simply did not like this food. I think part of it was also that I felt like it was way too overpriced for the quality of everything. If you were doing free dining or something like that, I think it would be more tolerable.
The characters did come around to us, and spend awhile sitting with us, actually...So if you're looking purely for a great character experience, I don't think you'd be as disappointed....

Sarah

 

[ktlm]

hmmmm.... I do have an ADR for our upcoming trip (the evening we arrive) as we are staying at GF. It's been several years since we ate there, in fact the mice were with Cinderella, not the stepsisters, so that tells you how long it's been.

this really is some food for thought.. to cancel or not to cancel....

Mary

If you are staying at the GF, I wouldn't cancel, especially if it is your arrival night and you don't plan to go to a park that night anyway. Try it, you might like it. The characters are cute, and they stop and do a little bit in the center of the restaurant where Prince Charming and Cinderella dance. If I was staying at the GF, we would definitely book it again. As for making a special trip over again, I would do it if DD requested it.

 

[Tommys Mommy]

Wow! I am in the minority here, but we really enjoyed the food at 1900 PF. Granted, this was back in June 2008, but we were a party of 4 kids & 7 adults. Everyone thought the food was very good and we all went back for second helpings. I mostly ate food that was "non-American" meaning the Italian & Asian selections, but I remember it being very tasty - not dried out, not salty, just yummy!

Hopefully, the people who are questioning their ADRs will have a great experience like we did! Good Luck!

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Last time we went was in June 07. Really liked it. Now I am worried we have 2 ressies for this summer.

 

[tami82]

I think for everyone who doesnt like the food here you will find someone who does so i wouldnt worry much about it. There has to be a few things on this buffet that the average person would eat.
I have been to so so buffets before but there is always something on the buffet that makes up for it. I do admit when we went away in December to a resort near where we live, the buffet wasnt great the first night we were there (much much better the 2nd night) and wasnt too happy with the dinner (and im by no means a picky person with food) but i was extremely happy with the desserts and made that most of my meal which is something i dont normally do but hey i was on vacation.

 

[disney111]

I remember when I was younger my family would go to 1900 Park Fare JUST for the food. It was definitely our favorite buffet (This was back when they had Pooh characters for dinner, I think.) I think the characters are more fun now, but ever since they turned it into a Cinderella dinner the food hasn't been as good. I don't think it's bad now but it definitely used to be better..

 

[disneylover74]

Someone said earlier that they didn'tlike where they were seated. Is there a good place to sit in there and can you request this when you go to check in? We are going the night before our DD 4th birthday and she doesn't know that she is going to meet Cinderella and Prince Charming. I want to make sure she gets a good look at everyone. Any suggestions? TIA

 

[TigMaya]

Someone said earlier that they didn'tlike where they were seated. Is there a good place to sit in there and can you request this when you go to check in? We are going the night before our DD 4th birthday and she doesn't know that she is going to meet Cinderella and Prince Charming. I want to make sure she gets a good look at everyone. Any suggestions? TIA

I would try to request the main room. We were there May 14th and were seated in the very back of a side room. We had never been there before and didn't know anything about seating when we got there. We could not see a thing from our table and felt completely cut off from anything fun going on in the main room. We felt like the food wasn't as horrible as I had read before hand, but our character interaction for us was horrible. We had four character meals and this was by far our least favorite.

One good thing about our table was that we were able to exit at a door right next to our table. At the time that was a huge plus because we just wanted to get out of there!!