Subtitle should be - The Great, The Good, and the UGLY!
For the first full day of our stay, we were up and at the bus stop early. I wanted to arrive ahead of time for our ADR, so that we could get to the park around opening time and beat the majority of the crowds!
But little did I know, if it’s not early Extra Magic Hours for the park you will be traveling to, buses don’t tend to show up! We waited about 45 minutes for a bus…can you believe it?! Thank goodness I had wanted to be early!
Isn't this the most picture perfect resort that ever was?? After getting to Magic Kingdom and hopping on the monorail to the Grand Floridian, we checked in only a few moments before a massive rush of people came in. Perfect Timing! There is a photo you can take before walking into the restaurant…keep in mind it’s about $30! We didn’t realize this, got our very adorable picture taken, but didn’t buy it because, well, it wasn’t THAT cute!
Right when we sat down, our waitress came and offered us drinks, noted my “allergy” and went to get a chef. So far so good! Almost immediately he arrived, accompanied by his “shadow,” a new chef that wanted to see how the allergy requests worked…I was his first experience! The chef asked if he could take me around the buffet and show me what all I could have, so we made our way with Jeremy in tow – he wanted to take it all in, as well.
Instead of a simple, “You can eat this, but not that,” the chef wanted to tell me exactly why I wouldn’t be able to eat it. I will spare you the details and just give a quick rundown. Potatoes (which were safe) and meats were first. Fruits were next, which thankfully were safe, and then came the omelette station. Here’s where it gets confusing.
He let me know that they would be able to make me an omelette with an egg alternative, and include roasted veggies in it – sounds good, right? Well, I let him know I might try it out, and we continued on.
Up next were a wide variety of bagels. I could have the plain or onion. Two more sections to go – pastries (which I couldn’t eat but looked beautiful) and pancakes/waffles. While I couldn’t have these, he promised to make me gluten free/vegan Mickey waffles! I was excited – these would actually be my first Mickey waffles ever!
I was free to roam after this, and went to the omelette station to make my request. The cook didn’t seem to understand though, and pulled out the Egg Beaters. At this moment, I noticed the two chefs still looking over at me. I caught their eye, they walked over to me, and pretty much questioned my sanity regarding the eggs. They had to explain to me and the confused omelette cook that I couldn’t have anything from the omelette station and they would be making mine themselves. Oops…
Jeremy had been gathering his food the entire time, and when I got back to my seat he was discussing my tardiness with the Mad Hatter! I put down my very small and pathetic looking plate of food, and explained to the Hatter that while, YES I love cakes and pastries, I would have to get something special from the kitchen, which would take a few moments longer.
Jeremy got the Famed Strawberry soup. He thought it was the best Strawberry soup he ever tasted! Keep in mind, this was his first experience. Even so, he would have gotten seconds had it not been for his other items. There was also a mound of Mickey waffles and a nice looking omelette next to the soup, but he was talking and eating with the Hatter, and I failed to get a picture of this.
This is my sad plate…it includes the potatoes, which were great and a bit spicy, but I was more in the mood for waffles. As you can tell, I also had some fruit, and there was a dallop of Orange Marmalade that I thought might be nice with the waffles.
And out they came! They were so cute! Throughout the trip, there would be many more of these waffles, and I developed a system when eating them…I usually bit or pulled off one ear at a time! Does anyone else do this? ANYWAY, they were delicious. I was skeptical with the mention of both vegan and gluten free, but really they were divine. Crisp on the outside - warm, dense, and almost doughy in the middle.
At this point I was very full, and Jeremy was more than done with his food. As we sat waiting on the omelette, which honestly I wasn’t that interested in, we looked around at all the characters and wanted to get on to the Magic Kingdom to see even more! I couldn’t just leave when they were making such an effort for me though, so we waited. And waited.
Now, I’m going to warn you. BEWARE of the picture you are about to see! Really, it doesn’t even do this concoction justice. It was horrible, and the chef himself thought so as he brought out…..
THIS! It was just as slimy, gooey, and gelatinous as it appears. He apologized and said he had followed the directions exactly, but it kept turning out this way. He showed me the box; it was Ener-G egg replacers. But…I just couldn’t even touch them, much less take a bite! After sticking my fork in, noting that it formed a goo when I pulled it out, we got the check and headed to the park!
Overall, this was a great experience. I have always loved 1900 Park Fare because of the Alice in Wonderland characters. Even though Alice herself never made it to our table, I was happy to talk to the OTHER hatter in my life!
Out of pocket, the total was $44.71 before tip. We’ll be back for the experience, but we had much better breakfasts later on in the week.
Enjoying your report. Just 5 more days until we can make our ADR and still looking for two more places.
Blech, I would have taken one look and made a beeline for the door, no way I could have tried it either. 
