5 Reasons We LOVE 1900 Park Fare for Disney Character Dining
Character dining at Walt Disney World Resort is one of the best ways to see lots of characters and capture memorable photos of your kids with their favorites. From character dining inside WDW theme parks, like Tusker House at Animal Kingdom, to dinner experiences that are located at WDW resort hotels, there are lots of options for the best character dining at Walt Disney World.
1900 Park Fare, located at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, is one of the WDW character dining experiences you can do without theme park tickets, making it a great option for days when your family doesn’t want to spend time at a Disney theme park, but would like to have a uniquely Disney experience.
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A beloved dining spot for Disney-loving families, 1900 Park Fare reopened in April 2024 with a new “Wishmakers” theme and the opportunity to meet characters like Aladdin, Cinderella, Tiana in her new Bayou Adventure outfit, and Encanto’s Mirabel.
From delicious food to a touching wish-making ceremony at the close of the meal, 1900 Park Fare is a great character dining option for families at WDW.
5 Reasons We LOVE 1900 Park Fare for Disney Character Dining
- It’s open daily for breakfast (8 a.m. to 12 p.m.) and dinner (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
- Tiana, Cinderella, Mirabel, and Aladdin appear, greet guests, and pose for photos
- Delicious buffet-style food
- Unique atmosphere that feels distinctly Disney
- Located at the Grand Floridian and easy to access using the Walt Disney World monorail system
Important Information About 1900 Park Fare
- When is the best time to go to 1900 Park Fare? The best time to visit this Disney character dining restaurant depends on how you’ve planned your day at WDW. Visiting for breakfast puts you close to the monorail and gives you a fast way to hop over to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT earlier in the day. Having dinner at 1900 Park Fare is a great treat after a long day in Disney theme parks—a perfect time to rest your feet and enjoy some air conditioning. And, because you’re at Grand Floridian, you can stick around after dinner to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the resort.
- Can you walk to Magic Kingdom from 1900 Park Fare? While you can take the monorail to Magic Kingdom from Grand Floridian, there’s also a nice walking path from the hotel to the theme park. A stroll to Magic Kingdom from 1900 Park Fare should take 10-15 minutes.
Cost
- 1900 Park Fare breakfast costs $54 per adult and $34 per child. Tax and gratuity are extra.
- Dinner costs $66 per adult and $41 per child. Tax and gratuity are extra.
1900 Park Fare Characters
There are four characters to meet during the “Wishmakers Enchanted Dining” experience at 1900 Park Fare. Cinderella and Mirabel visit each table in their traditional outfits, while Aladdin is dressed in his most royal and princely attire. Tiana isn’t in her traditional princess gown and instead wears a pantsuit perfect for adventures.
The experience is unique to 1900 Park Fare and is a great way to meet these four iconic characters.
Each character visits every table in the restaurant separately, chatting with the people in your party and posing for any photos you’d like to take. While the experience moves quickly and efficiently, there’s an ample amount of time with each character and each is very chatty: During our visit, Mirabel told us about her sisters, Isabella and Luisa, and Aladdin described how his friend Genie handmade his royal attire just for him.
Parenting pro-tip: Have one parent sit facing the doorway characters come out of (to the right of the dining room’s exit doors) so they can keep an eye out for the characters. That way you can let your kids know who is on the way and get them ready.
What to Expect
When we arrived at 1900 Park Fare, we checked in at the host area and gave them my cell phone number so they could let me know when our table was ready. In just a few minutes, we’d received a text that our table was ready and met our host, who walked us to our table in the main dining room.
Our host recommended placing a drink order with our server before hitting the 1900 Park Fare buffet, so we stayed seated until we’d been visited by our server and had placed our drink orders. Next, we visited the buffet a few times, grabbing yummy food like prime rib and desserts like warm chocolate cake.
Parenting pro-tip: There are two kids’ sections at either end of the buffet and each one offers something different than the other. Pasta with sauce and turkey meatballs awaited little diners on one side, and chicken nuggets, pizza, and other kid-friendly foods waited on the other side.
Mirabel was the first to visit our table, followed by Aladdin, Tiana, and Cinderella. Each character spent several minutes chatting with my family of four and posed for a few different photos for us. There’s no need to ask characters to sign autographs during this character dining experience, as you’re given an autograph card with everyone’s signatures on it.
The autograph card also doubles as a “wish card.” During the meal, our family thought up a wish and wrote it on the card, and at the end of the meal (SPOILER ALERT), there’s a magical moment where Jiminy Cricket’s voice plays and guides guests through a wishing ceremony.
(SPOILER ALERT) The wishing ceremony is a sweet touch: If you’re a Disney fan, prepare to tear up a bit when reciting Jiminy’s wishing poem and holding your wish card high in the air.
Food at 1900 Park Fare
Our dinnertime, buffet-style meal at 1900 Park Fare was delicious, filled with prime rib, buttery mashed potatoes, white cheddar macaroni and cheese (pair this with the prime rib and you’ll be in heaven!), peel-and-eat shrimp, and more.
For young kids, there was a full buffet section with kid-friendly favorites like chicken tenders and pizza. Vegetarians and vegans will also be pleased with the plant-based options on the menu, like Impossible sausage.
A true hit of the meal was Tiana’s gumbo, as was the Grand Floridian strawberry soup, a creamy dessert that stayed on the menu from the old version of 1900 Park Fare. The meal was incredibly filling, as the buffet is all you care to enjoy, and there was something that appealed to the taste buds of everyone in my family.
Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare is also buffet-style and includes items like cinnamon pull-apart bread, eggs benedict, scrambled eggs, and, of course, Mickey-shaped waffles.
Tips
- Check-in for your meal at 1900 Park Fare, which is located in the lower lobby area of the Grand Floridian near the lower-level gift shop and the Grand Floridian Café.
- Make sure your phone number is provided to be texted when your table is ready.
- Turn on your notifications for the MyDisneyExperience app to be notified that your table is ready.
- Strollers need to be parked outside just before entering the restaurant.
- Make sure your kids are comfortable and ready to interact with the characters.
- If they’ve never interacted with characters before try to walk them around first so they can see the other interactions taking place.