1900 Park Fare or Crystal Palace Dinner Buffet?

[harrington_67]

Our family will be traveling to Disney this summer. We are debating between 1900 Park Fare or Crystal Palace for Dinner. If you had one choice for Dinner, which choice would you make and why? Thanks for taking the time to post

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

1900 Park Fare for the character at dinner...step sisters are a HOOT.
Crystal palace for the food.

 

[let'sgo]

1900 Park Fare!! We had SOOOO much fun there. Make sure that you talk with the step sisters.

 

[Mom loves Disney]

Crystal Palace for the food. If you just want character interaction then 1900 Park Fare, but last week the food was not as good as it was before. We were in general disappointed in the food everywhere except LeCellier and Beaches and Cream. I hope you have better luck!!

 

[goofypete]

I vote for the Crystal Palace

 

[mom2val]

We had dinner at both 2 weeks ago. I'd vote for Crystal Palace. The food was much better. Who doesn't love Pooh? Also you don't have to leave the park.

Park Fair was just okay. We went in 2005 and loved it. This time Cinderella and the Prince flew by our table. I barely had time to snap 1 picture. The Step Mom and Sisters as everyone has said are great.

 

[wvdislover]

We did both on our last trip, and enjoyed the food at both. It was our first trip to 1900 Park Fare...as PP said, the step-sisters were a hoot! We've always enjoyed going to Crystal Palace, and the family didn't want to skip it this year. However, when we got there, the place was packed! I had made my ADR's at 90 days out (it's back to 180 now), at 7am in the morning, so I'd get the time I wanted. I had it scheduled so we could eat, watch Spectromagic, and then see Wishes. It took us over an hour past our ADR time to get seated (not a good thing with a hungry, tired autistic child!). I wouldn't mind so much if they were just running behind, but instead, they were seating people who walked up with no ADR's! We're talking about several families who did this, not just a few. As I was standing there trying to find out how long it would take us to get seated, several people were able to walk up and "put there name on the list." If you're THAT busy, turn people away, just like the other restaurants do!!! Needless to say, Spectromagic started while we were still eating, and autistic DD started getting really anxious about us seeing the parade, as she knows it's one of my favorite things to do, and I had to leave without eating the dessert I had just gotten, so she'd calm down. We couldn't even stay for Wishes, b/c DD had gotten too stressed out over dinner and the parade, and needed to go back to the resort to "chill out." I will have to think twice before scheduling CP for and ADR next time. I was quite disappointed in the customer service we received. The staff was apologetic, yet they continued to seat people who had no ADR's...very frustrating!

 

[mickey2minnie1]

We enjoyed the whole package at 1900 Park Fare. It was great all the way around. We still talk about it!

 

[perkinsrose]

Stepmother is nasty! Truly stays in character! We have some great pictures of the stepsisters but stepmom really spooked DD who was under 7 at the time!

We LOVE Crystal Palace. Soo sad in refurb this trip. Normally, we can't miss Pooh & friends and lunch there every trip. We were even going to do breakfast AND lunch this time until we realized they were closed!

Floridian dinner is great though for those that need a Cinderella fix and don't want to use up 2 dining credits on Cinderella's RoyalTable and/or can't get ADRs there...

 

[djblu883]

Our family with 4 year old included perferred 1900 Park Fare for both the food and character interaction. Pooh is fun but the Step Sisters can't be beat. BTW we had breakfast there too and the Mad Hatter was awesome!!!

 

[MinnieForMe]

We actually liked the food better at 1900 Fare. All around it was a great experience. We dressed up and had pictures taken outside the Floridian (don't know if the photopass photographers still do this).

I told my 10 year old son to kiss Cinderellas hand and she swooned over him. When it came time for a waltz, she came over and picked him. He was mortified but we got some great pictures and he really was a good sport about it.

Either way, you won't be disappointed.

 

[MickeyNicki]

If I had to choose I would say CP but I dont like how salty the food has become and the noise level is insane. We will never set foot back in 1900 PF even though Cinderella and group are a blast, the food is just gross.

 

[Chelley00]

We went to Crystal Palace and 1900 both in November. I was disappointed in Park Fare. The stepsisters didn't make a fuss or anything over anyone in our section. It was truely boring. The food was good, but we liked the food better at Crystal Palace.

Just be prepared if you go to Park Fare for the stepsisters, you may not get "fun" ones.

 

[disneymath]

OP ... we love CP and plan to go back on our upcoming trip this August. (It will be our third time for dinner.) We're also thinking about 1900 Park Fare, but a few of the comment here now have me second guessing ...

Stepmother is nasty! Truly stays in character! We have some great pictures of the stepsisters but stepmom really spooked DD who was under 7 at the time!

Can you be a bit more specific about what the Stepmom did that spooked your DD. The last thing we would want is for one of the boys (who will be 3 years old and 16 months old) to get spooked.

We went to Crystal Palace and 1900 both in November. I was disappointed in Park Fare. The stepsisters didn't make a fuss or anything over anyone in our section. It was truely boring. The food was good, but we liked the food better at Crystal Palace.

Just be prepared if you go to Park Fare for the stepsisters, you may not get "fun" ones.

By "fun" did you mean "interactive" or "nice"? Because, not interactive would be a bummer, but not nice would not be good.

 

[kdaisy20]

We have not been to CP but 1900PF we went to for both breakfast and dinner about a year ago. Breakfast was great but with dinner we were disappointed with and will probably not go back for awhile. We are looking at going next winter and thinking about trying CP.

The entertainment was excellent for both though.

 

[momtwoboys]

Crystal Palace gets out vote! Right there in the park, and the food is delicious!!!!! Husband always requests this one, and even though my boys are now 9, 11 they enjoy it there too! We tried 1900 Park faire and the food was not very good at all

 

[Mrs D]

We did both CP for lunch and 1900 for dinner just a few weeks ago.
While I thought the food at CP was very good and the character interaction from Pooh & friends was good it couldn't hold a candle to 1900! The food was good but the character interaction was out of this world!

DD2.5 wore her Cinderella dress and received many compliments and lots of commentary (from the Tremaine Ladies) but what really put it over the top for us was how involved they got with DS4! I had read on the boards of a boy giving the step sisters plastic rings, so I picked up a few at the party store. DS gave a ring to all ladies at the dinner. Cinderella loved it and gave him a kiss. Lady Tremaine (who was actually very nice, only behaved a bit snooty) accepted it but wished for something bigger. The sisters went over the top about the rings!

When the time for the waltz came, Cinderella walked directly to DS and asked for the first dance! The whole evening was magical!

We asked to be seated in the center (thanks SAH95 for this good advice). We were seated near the buffet and ended up being the 2nd table all characters stopped at! They often said Hello again on their way back in for their break. We were finishing up dessert when they went through their second round and said Hello again and if my kids interacted with them, they stopped to spend time with them.

And OT- the Glass Slipper dessert was worth pre-ordering and the $15!
Here are just a few of the 30 pics we took!

 

[iteach7th]

Crystal Palace has always been my favorite restaurant and I would book it on our last night at WDW as the final place to eat - something to look forward to all week long. We have eaten there multiple times and each experience was wonderful !!!

This past trip (Oct 2009), CP was not as good as it has been in the past. We had to wait for our table even though we had ADR's. The meat was on the dry side and other normally favorite dishes just weren't as good as I remembered. For some reason, we missed being visited by several characters and had to ask the waiter several times to get them to visit for pictures and autographs. It was like they just went around our table when they made their normal stops. The waiter was hard to find for refills and extra napkins. The entire experience was not as good as it has been in the past and I am one of the most easiest persons to please. Sadly, we decided at the end that it would be off the list for a few years because there were other restaurants we enjoyed much more.

1900 Park Fare, on the other hand, was wonderful. We did have to wait for our table a little but in the Grand Floridian - you are inside and can enjoy the live music and excitement of the lobby. We couldn't see who it was but "someone" arrived. Couldn't actually see who the person was in the middle of all their security and limos but it got the attention of every CM on duty.

The food was great. The stepsisters targeted my 13 year old son as a prospective "prince", asked him to dance etc.... They also "hated" my daughter and nieces Cinderella outfits - said it was a waste of money. I had made autograph books with the characters pictures on each page. Drucilla (sp??) LOVED her page - she was so excited. She made the girls turn their books to "her" page and position the book over the Cinderella on their outfits when she took her picture with them. The food was excellent - much better than when we visited several years ago.

 

[avamadison]

1900PF all the way. We are not CP fans here.

 

[HNT2419]

Crystal Palace. The food there is really good, and you don't have to leave the park to get there.