OK. We all know that one of my major qualms with many Disney restaurants is inconsistency of experience. Some days, it’s great. Some days, it’s awful. You just don’t know what you’re going to get.
My visit to 1900 Park Fare was on one of those not-so-great days.
Now let me fully admit — here up front — that I know many folks who love 1900 Park Fare, swear by the food quality, and find the atmosphere charming. They have a great time at this restaurant, so understand that my review is just one of many.
Hopefully some readers (HINT HINT ;-)) will add their two cents to the comments section below so you can base your decision to go on a number of experiences.
Atmosphere
1900 Park Fare is located in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort (read: swanky), but it’s not a hoity toity spot. As a character meal and buffet, feel free to wear your shorts and t-shirt.
You can get to the Grand Floridian by car (park valet — the walk from self-parking can be long), monorail (take the resort line), or boat from the Magic Kingdom or the Polynesian Resort. The restaurant is located near the front entrance of the lobby, right under the monorail line and opposite the check-in desks. I highly recommend an Advance Dining Reservation for this one, as it does book up quickly.
When you arrive, check in at the small podium. There will be a line in the small hallway past the podium — guests are offered the chance to have their photo taken before their meal (and paid for later) against the pretty fairytale backdrop. On our visit there were no characters in the photos.
Here’s a tip — if you’d rather not have your photo taken, ask to please be led directly to your table if/when it’s ready. You don’t have to wait in that line if you’d rather go photo-less.
Photo Background
Photo Package
When you’re called for your table, you’ll be lead through a set of double doors into the dining room to your table. Unfortunately, on our visit we were called over 40 minutes late for our Advance Dining Reservation. 40 minutes late! I know that, in Disney World, an ADR only means that you’ll be seated at the next available table for your party size and isn’t a real reservation, but come on! A 40-minute wait with an ADR means that the restaurant planned poorly. End of story. We were not pleased; especially because we had and upcoming appointment that was rapidly approaching.
Eventually we were seated and we proceeded to wait for 15 minutes for a server to approach. This would have been frustrating at any restaurant, but when you’re at a buffet and you know you’ll be serving yourself anyway, it’s especially so.
While we were sitting there, we were able to assess the dining room. It’s very loud. And large. Cavernous in fact. And for some reason the lighting gives everything a sickly beige tone. The lack of windows and natural light adds to the weird atmosphere of the room. Very cafeteria-like, but not in a good way.
Dining room
Main Dining Room
Maybe if you get seated in the strange little “additional room” at the back, which has a doorway, but does not serve as an entrance for the restaurant, things are different since you have a little natural light. But it still looks pretty nondescript in here to me.
Second dining area
Table Setting
The Victorian carousel theme of the restaurant is played out on the walls and in the decor of the room. I absolutely loved the massive pipe organ on the wall and the odd carousel animals scattered throughout the restaurant. They’re quite beautiful!
Organ
Detail on Organ
Whimsical Decor
Carousel decor
carousel horse
Characters
Another plus for this restaurant are the characters. While other Disney World character restaurants have sets of characters grouped together that make sense — 100 Acre Wood characters, the Fab Five, etc — 1900 Park Fare is a hodge-podge. It reminds me of Disneyland in that way, which is a good thing! Both boys and girls will enjoy the group of Disney friends here!
You can run into just about anyone at 1900 Park Fare, though Mary Poppins, Pooh Bear, Tigger, Alice and the Mad Hatter, and various members of Cinderella’s extended family are the most likely to join you (Note that Cinderella, Lady Tremaine, Prince Charming, and the wicked Stepsisters show up only for dinner most of the time).
On the day we were there, we saw Pooh Bear, Alice and the Mad Hatter, Tigger, and Mary Poppins. But, actually, the only one we really interacted with was Pooh Bear. In fact, even though it took us 15 minutes to see a server — service that stayed true to form for the rest of the breakfast — and were at the restaurant for at least 45 minutes, Pooh Bear was the only character that actually came to our table. As such, I had to take pictures of the other characters in a fly-by-night fashion and with other people’s kids.
If you’re the owner of these kids and want me to take the pictures down, just let me know.
Mary Poppins
Alice in Wonderland
Mad Hatter
Winnie the Pooh
Tigger
Eats
When our order for drinks was finally taken and we were given the go-ahead to tackle the buffet, we headed over to the low-ceilinged, less-than-attractive buffet area. You see the Grand Floridian is pushing 40 30 (whoops!), and I would believe this buffet area was around from the beginning. 😉
Buffet Area
That said, I do kind of dig the “quilted” wall tiles, and the Alice themeing on the dish identification placards is very cool.
Themeing detail
Decor on Buffet
The buffet is comparable to other Disney breakfast buffets. Fruit, breads, muffins, pastries, breakfast meats and eggs, Mickey waffles, cereals, french toast, breakfast pizza, veggies, yogurt and granola, biscuits and gravy, and hand-carved meats.
watermelon
Fruit and Pastries
Cream Cheese Danish, Croissants, Blueberry Muffin, Raisin Bran Muffin and Grapes
Bagels
Plain Bagels, Onion Bagels, Plain Cream Cheese, Boursin Herb, Salmon Spread
baked goods
White Bread, Raisin Bread, Multi-Grain Bread, Grape Jelly, Strawberry Jam, Orange Marmalade
Yogurt and Mix-Ins
Veggies and Lox
Cereal
Breakfast Pizza, Oven Roasted Potatoes, Bacon, Sausage, Mickey Waffles
Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Bacon
Biscuits and Gravy
Grits, Oatmeal, Raisins, Brown Sugar
Maple French Toast and Pancakes
Mickey Waffles and French Toast
Baked Ham Carving Station
There are a few interesting additions to the 1900 Park Fare buffet line, however. Some of which are exclusive to this restaurant only!
We liked the option to have bananas foster syrup on our Mickey waffles…
Maple Syrup, Bananas Foster Syrup
banana syrup
…and the Lobster Benedict was certainly decadent for a Disney character breakfast!
Bacon, Lobster Benedict, Oven Roasted Potatoes
I’m always pleased to see a made-to-order omelet station, but the endless line and extremely attentive chef meant that by the time I got my omelet, my husband had already let one plate of food get cold while waiting for me and had gone up to get another one. Once again — poor planning on the restaurant’s part.
Omelet Chef
omelet making
Omelet
1900 Park Fare’s Strawberry Soup is a thing of legends, but our meal had already gone so far south by the time I tried it, I was not in a mood to enjoy it. The taste is extremely creamy, but I couldn’t help thinking I was eating something that held melted before its time. Perhaps if our overall experience had been better, if the atmosphere of the restaurant was pleasant versus feeling like a low-grade cafeteria, I would have indulged and enjoyed.
Strawberry Soup and Strawberries
Strawberry Soup in Bowl
And, of course, who could resist soft-serve ice cream for breakfast, complete with plenty of toppings?
Ice Cream Dispenser
Ice Cream Toppings
Now, just to compound our dining woes on this ill-fated morning, there was no butter to be found on the buffet — at least not that I could find. Even by the breads, where there was jelly, boursin, salmon spread, cream cheese… no butter. I finally asked a buffet cast member, who said I would have to ask my server for butter.
Sigh. I hadn’t seen my server in…what?…decades?
We finally got some butter — after our meal was already cold for the second time — and used a couple of cursory swipes on a now-chilly Mickey waffle just to show we’d used it.
Food plate
We paid the bill and we bolted for freedom. And for my next appointment; for which I was now very late. Luckily, it involved drinking margaritas. Exactly what I needed after breakfast at 1900 Park Fare.
Overall
I think my opinion of this place is pretty clear, but let it suffice to say that we did not have a good time. Our food was mediocre, when it wasn’t cold due to the length of time we had to wait for butter, drinks, and my omelet to be made. I can’t really comment on character interaction because only one character came to our table in the 45 minutes we were there.
And the atmosphere of the restaurant is exceedingly loud (I know character meals are loud, but I have a feeling that this type of explosive noise had a lot to do with the cavernous room and the acoustics therein) and has that weird dim lighting that makes food look just plain unappetizing. (Thus the flash pictures above — the non-flash pics, no matter how much I edited them, still looked gross.)
It just wasn’t our day, I guess. As I said, I know that many of you love this restaurant. I hope you’ll mention your good experiences in the comments section below.
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My husband and I had breakfast there when we were on our honeymoon, way back in 1999. Seems like they haven’t improved things since then. I was very disappointed with the character interaction, or should I say lack thereof. I am a very big Alice fan, and I couldn’t wait to get my picture taken with her. But when she approached our table, she just glanced at us and kept walking by. I was so upset that I filled out a comment card stating that the characters should interact with all the guests, not just the kids. Apparantly, they didn’t take my comment seriously!
Wow, such different experiences. I have thought about going to 1900 Park Fare on previous trips, mainly to see Mary Poppins, but the mixed reviews on other Disney review sites have put me off. AJ, your review and other people’s comments have covered very similar experiences.
As I only get to WDW every couple of years I really want all of my dining experiences to be good ones. This is why I end up going to Crystal Palace for breakfast every visit. I love the way it’s set out and I love the way the characters are brought round to every table.
I’ll also add that during my last trip in December I did have a really bad experience at one of the evening dining events. No one seemed interested in my complaint on the night but when I followed that up with a written complaint to Disney Guest Services they really went out of their way to help. I think that all we can do as ‘Disney fans’ is keep telling them what makes us happy and unhappy so they can (hopefully) make positive changes.
we went there in the fall of 07 for dinner but it was not a buffet but a sit down dinner, i think it had something to do with cinderellas castle being closed.. as far as i remember the food was great as was the atmosphere and the service.
As with so many character meals, consistency is the issue. We have been for dinner 5 times over the past 5 years and never had a negative experience. The vast majority of that postiive vibe is due to the excellent character experiences. The positive nature of which has caused our 7yr old daughter to dress up as a wicked stepsister the past two years for Halloween! We have always had quality (if only buffet quality) food and generally over an hour dinner see every character at least once if not twice along with having two of the interactive activities (dancing with characters). Yes it is loud, but everything else was quality enough to make that not a problem for us.
We have yet to go to breakfast, because based on our reading, the experience is not so quality. Thanks for the review and I hope you try again (at dinner) and have a better experience!
We dined at 1900 in December ’10 and it was FABULOUS!! Our favorite character meal by far!! It was my MIL 1st time at Disney and she still talks about how great our meal was here. The stepsisters and Lady Tremaine were AWESOME!! We saw all of the characters twice (except Prince Charming who we only saw once) and all were very friendly and interacted well with all the guests from what we could tell. Anastasia even told my daughter (who is a red head and was dresses as Cinderella) that she always knew that dress would look better on a red head…LOL The food was also very good (especially for a buffet) that night. The hand carved roast beef with horseradish sauce was delish as was the famous strawberry soup. We had no complaints whatsoever about our meal and hope to go back next time we make it down the WDW!!
It is sad when adults goes to a character buffet, that the characters bypass them because they have no kids. There is a reason why an adult party would go to a character buffet…because they are a big kids at heart. People who don’t like character buffets would not even go to such places. It isn’t like you couldn’t get into any other restuarants, and your only choice was a character buffet.
So sorry to hear of a bad experience! 1900 Park Fare is my family’s favorite dinner buffet; we’ve never tried the breakfast. My daughter, 6, adores Cinderella, and we have made this a stop on every Disney trip. The food has always, in my opinion, been one of the best as far as quality. We’ve never had significant waits (with reservations) and have always seen all characters.
During our next trip in August, this will be the first time skipping this experience (I was late with reservations, oops, and we decided to try almost all new to us restaurants).
I had breakfast there with my mom and yeah…it was awkward. I didn’t like that it was such a random assortment of characters. Pooh and Alice and Mary Poppins? It makes no sense! And that room is HUGE and LOUD. The atmosphere is terrible 🙁 And to make everything extra special, Alice was acting “extra special” as well. She’d yell something that sounded like “TEA!” every time a picture was taken. UNcomfortable. We could hear her wherever she was and by the end of breakfast my mom and I were in hysterics shouting “TEA!” at each other. Creepy.
I made ADR’s to eat breakfast there with my parents when they came to visit me in December. I was a cast member, and it was their first time at Disney World. We were seated near the back, after a 20 minute wait because we were 2 minutes late for our reservation. My parents had to go to the airport, so it was rushed.
However, I made damn sure that every character stopped at our table (I’m 22), by exclaiming “TIGGER!…Look, it’s Winnie the Pooh! I work on your ride!….MARY POPPINS!…ALICE!….MAD HATTER!” I hugged every single one of them. I was acting like a 6 year old, and Alice was really put-off and incredibly disappointing. One of my favorite pictures from the trip is my parents and me with Tigger-as the Mad Hatter was telling us to smile bigger.
I don’t how I missed the ice cream bar! But I did get the recipe for the strawberry soup, and my parents found food they enjoyed, so all was well.
I agree with others that say character meals can be hit-or-miss, even at my beloved Crystal Palace. We had a fun experience at 1900 Park Fare in March, for breakfast. The characters paid plenty of attention to us (two adults) as well as to the other tables. The food was good, or as good as the buffets tend to be, and the chefs at the station friendly and chatty.
That said, we did our best to guarantee a good experience. We deliberately chose to attend a late seating for 1900 Park Fare, after the crowds were gone, but not so late that they were closing up shop. Of course, this doesn’t guarantee anything…. But we did get a quiet, relaxed breakfast with plenty of food and little wait. I will say, though, that we still had poor service from our waitress even though the restaurant wasn’t busy.
We went out of our way to engage with the characters in their roles. Pooh and Tigger were easy, as we’re used to them from CP. The face characters here can be a bit of a challenge, especially if they play their movie roles to the hilt (which I do love). Mary Poppins and Alice seemed to be competing for who would earn their “veddy proper” label, although in different ways. Mary inspired me to act like an adult, and to treat her like the prickly governess she can be, while Alice did her “petulant child” routine – though she has nothing on me. And we engaged in wordplay with the Mad Hatter.
As for the food…well, it’s good for Disney breakfast buffet standards IMO. The strawberry soup and Lobster Benedict give the buffet a bit more of an identity than other places. The former is really sweet, but is worth trying once. I’m underwhelmed by the latter in execution, at least in my last experience. And is it just me, or has Disney’s biscuits and gravy gone downhill over the past couple of years?
Then again, I’m not primarily going to a character breakfast for the food. I’d like to say that I am, I think Disney should give me higher quality for such meals, but that’s not why I’m there. I’m there for a little character interaction and a filling, fairly good-tasting meal. 1900 Park Fare delivered for me, this last time, and was a notch or two better than most I’ve had.
I just wish character meals were more consistent in nature. And that you’d had a better experience, AJ, as I would have loved to get your take on the restaurant when things go right.
I think photos of somebody else’s kids should be taken down if they didn’t give express permission to post them. Ditto for the people in the photos that give a good idea of the buffet situation. Don’t you have the option to blur faces on your computer?
I really enjoyed this post because it gave me a better idea of the dining room than the more positive pictures and reviews out there.
I definitely had the same type of experience that you had AJ…I will more than likely not be going back to 1900 Park Fare unless major changes happen.
This was a meal I was looking forward to when I set it up. We went for dinner and I was excited to get to interact with Cindy’s Stepmother and the Stepsisters.
We too had to wait a long time for a table with ADRs (though we were on Free Dining, so I attributed the wait to that.)
I too agree with you about the sickly beige color. It wasn’t until you mentioned it that the light bulb clicked on and I thought….oh! That’s what it was.
We too had a mediocre reception from the characters…we only got to see a few of them…having to wait an exceptionally long time for Cinderella (and Prince Charming never made it to our table in the 45 min – hour that we were there. Plus if we would have waited for him, it would have taken at least another 15-30 minutes before he would have gotten around to us.) We were the first stop though when the characters came back from their break.
The food I thought was mediocre at best at dinner. Nothing stood out. It was all just ok. I however liked the Strawberry Soup. I think it’s because I make Strawberry Soup at home with the strawberry juice that is left over from strawberry shortcake and whipped cream. While it’s not exactly the same, it has a similar taste…so that I did enjoy.
I too was certainly not impressed with this restaurant and with the money that it costs for dinner…well I will not be going back here again. It is too expensive for mediocre food and not getting to meet all the characters you paid to meet.
WHAT A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!
We live in Orlando and frequent the Disney parks and resorts often. My 4 year old princess was invited to birthday party which featured an afternoon of little girls being pampered and getting dressed like little princesses. That was wonderful.
Then we headed to 1900 Park Fare-Dinner Buffet for our 7pm seating which had been arranged 6 months prior. By 8:05pm we were still not at our table, I was visibly upset and my daughter was crying! The staff at the restaurant was rude and unapologetic, simply stating that they were preparing our table. We did have 13 people in our party but that meant we spent about $600!!! I feel they had 6 months to plan for our arrival. We brought in revenue equal to 4 families but were treated like we were at a downtown mission waiting for a free meal!
If we had been escorted into a magical room and been given exemplary service with exceptional food all would be forgotten but… The room looks like a banquet hall at a motor lodge with Dated & Dingy Decor. The food was acceptable but not outstanding. The service was poor to say the least.
The only saving grace was the character interaction. That night featured Cinderella and the cast was spot on. That being said… We will never go back to 1900 Park Fare!!!
btw they renovated it soo it doesnt really look like that anymore….service is better too!
going on jan 2. to see pooh!
I have to say we were very pleased and had a great experience here! We went in 2010 and the food was terrific. My three boys had an absolute BLAST with Mad Hatter and all the characters. I was shocked over the bad reviews. Guess it goes to show that everyone has different tastes.
We just came back from our yearly WDW vacation and best one yet. I CANNOT believe all the negative comments. They have a wonderful buffet and if you wanted to eat with your husband you should have got into line sooner or got something else. It’s not Disney’s poor planning with made to order omelet. I had all of our dinner reservations made as soon as the resort reservation was made 5 months ahead of time. We NEVER had to wait to be seated. Don’t wait till the last minute or until you get there, it might not happen. The characters all stopped by our table sometimes twice and interacted with all of us at all character meals we had during the week(5). Of course it’s going to be loud, it’s a character meal, duh.
It would do us all a great favor if all of you who had a bad time to not go back, we would not have to listen to you all piss and moan when something does not go your way!!!! I can’t believe how many people act like children when they don’t get their way. They make it miserable for everyone around them, and they look stupid. Btw get on the Dining plan!!!!
Thank you so much for your reviews, all! Experiences are clearly very different — which is what often happens at Disney restaurants.
We didn’t have a good experience either. The food was ok, but nothing special. We were seated just inside the double doors you enter through. Never did see the organ, much less hear it play. Didn’t see our waitress very often, so we had to wait a lot, but we did get to see all the characters that were there. We went to the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast expecting to see Mary Poppins, but she was no where to be seen. My five year old son was almost in tears because she wasn’t there and he also thought we might get to see Bert, but no. You would think since it was called the “Supercalifragilistic Breakfast” you would get to see Mary. That’s the only reason we went. Thankfully, we got to see here another day at the Magic Kingdom.
We went for breakfast in October 2011 and it was fantastic. The food was average, but we really did enjoy the lobster eggs bennedict, the ham and the omelet station was really, really good. My kids loved the bowl of gummie bears and Mary Poopins was very fun making comments about their “spoonful of sugar”. We had an average wait, like we did for most ADRs on the trip (5 – 10 minutes). The character interactions were good dispute the crowed resturant. Alice, the Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins were on point with their portrayal of the characters. This made my 10 year old’s trip. Even the baby had fun. Pooh and Tigger were sweet and there were lots of hugs for everyone. We liked it so much, it is one of our few repeats on our next trip (only 2 resturants are being repeated in our next 12 day trip, so that has to say something). Hoping for a repeat of last time!
can anyone tell me if you can simply drive to and from the grand floridian for a meal without actually having park admission that day? I’d like to try the dinner at 1900 park fare, but not necessarily on a day that I’m entering the park, and I am NOT staying onside at WDW so I dont think I can even use the monorail resort line. Any advice is much appreciated. Even if I were to be doing Magic Kingdon that day, can I get ont he monorail to GF for dinner and then go back into the mk for fireworks?
Christina — Yes, you can drive to GF to dine there without going to the park. You can also use the monorail line if you have a park ticket (but they don’t check for those sorts of things).
We’ve been to 1900 Park Faire 4 times in 2 trips…we are fans. YES, you do have to wait sometimes. As this is seems to be a popular alternative to meeting Cinderella at the Castle, and nearly the ONLY place you can meet the Mad Hatter, we went in knowing the whole experience would probably take a while. The Character interactions can be fantastic. We have no kids, and our table was about 10 adults last time, and we got amazing pictures and video. If a Character misses your table, you can always grab someone in the staff and request them to come back by. We have had amazingly memorable interactions with all of them, and though the food is kind of hit or miss, I kind of expect that with any buffet, even at Disney. The breakfast did seem a bit more difficult to pinpoint characters/wait staff than dinner, but 1900 is still one of our favorite Character interaction points. Much better than when we went to Cape May Café recently, where every one of the Characters seemed to ignore our all adult table.
I was extremely disappointed in the 1900 Park Fare Cinderella meal. I’m sure it very much depends on the night, but the character interaction was just awful the night we were there. Cinderella didn’t even speak to our daughter while posing for a picture, the stepsisters were not conversational, and the waitresses almost seemed bothered to have to wait on us. We posed for a picture, but it was $30+ to purchase the package (as opposed to getting a free framed picture with belle at Akershus, delivered by our waiter saying that Belle wanted our little princess to have it to remember this night). Luckily Prince Charming was amazing; he honestly saved the night. The food was quite good. But, compared to our experience at Akershus Storybook meal in Epcot, I would not at all recommend 1900 Park Fare. If you’re deciding between the two, it’s not even a contest in my opinion.
This is the best dinner by far for a little girl who loves cinderella. We have eaten at the castle but only saw sleeping beauty snow white and ariel. Prince charming danced with cinderella and then danced with my daughter. It made her entire week. My 2 sons even loved the meal it was the best food with a wide variety. The step sisters even interacted with my 13 and 21 year olds. I will book this restaurant every time we come.
My family of four went to the character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare in December 2011. We had a wonderful time! Our server was attentive and the character’s were very interactive. We saw Pooh, Tigger, Alice & the Mad Hatter along with Mary Poppins. We were celebrating a birthday that day and our server even came to our table with a candle-lit cupcake and we all sang Happy Birthday. Most of the food was a very decent buffet usual but we really enjoyed the unexpected lobster benedict and the tropical fruit juice that was served. It was so memorable, in fact, that we have a family of 10 coming with us December 2013! I sure hope our great experience wasn’t a fluke.
Thanks for the review. I’m investigating dining options for a possible honeymoon at WDW and thought this might be a good idea to meet that particular batch of characters, but I’m getting a more… realistic… perspective reading your review and the comments.
Incidentally, the connecting link between Mary Poppins and Bert, Alice and the Mad Hatter, and Pooh and Tigger is that they’re all stories from England. I assume that they’re trying to go for a kind of English flair to it, despite the food being American (thank God… the UK does not exactly have beloved cuisine).
This review makes me sad as we just had the most wonderful experience there a week ago. The food was good–not outstanding, but for breakfast buffet, good. But the character interaction made the day for us. My son was hugged and loved on by Winnie the Pooh and Tigger (both of whom came around twice while we were there and gave the same amount of attention both times), Mary Poppins, Alice and the Mad Hatter. The restaurant was very busy, and our server only showed up intermittently (my only complaint) but the characters were amazing. My 4 year old was in heaven! I could not have asked for a better character meal for my son’s first time at Disney World!
We loved our experience at 1900 Park Fare. We visited DisneyWorld during Thansgiving week 2013 and this was one of the highlights of our visit. Attentive staff, lots of character interactions, even with me the Mom, awesome food. We lingered with multiple trips to the buffet for fruits and breakfast treats after we finished our meal so we could interact with more characters. While we lingered, our waitress made sure we had beverages to accompany our breakfast ‘desserts’ and never rushed us.
A great experience and on the top of our list for our 2014 Halloween trip this year.
my family && i have been to 1900 numerous times for the character breakfast && we have NEVER had a bad experience. we have always been seated promptly, had excellent service, && wonderful food. we even have a large party (usually 10-14 of us!) && still never any problems. we love it && consider it a “must-do” whenever we are on a Disney vacation.
I am taking my daughter to 1900 in March, she is a lover of Pooh, and am hopeful that things have improved since some of the less than glorious reviews. Anybody been lately?
Hi AJ,
I have been reading your articles about various places and have been thoroughly enjoying them. However I am indeed heart-broken you did not have a good experience at 1900 PF. Although I can see why. Here’s my two cents.
I have noticed that there are some restaurants (usually character meals which you have mentioned have a consistency problem) get bad reviews like this and I have a theory as to why. My family ALWAYS makes sure not to book meals at busy times. Our strategy usually consists of aiming to eat as soon as the restaurant opens, especially if you are going for breakfast. When a place first opens, the food is the freshest, the staff is the most energetic, and in the case of going sans-children, there is a better chance of seeing all of the characters, because many families with children don’t make reservations that early.
I think this is probably why there is a consistency problem; people go at different times. It’s not just the bad days. To anyone reading this, please don’t be scared to go to this restaurant, just be mindful of when you are going. How long will the food have been sitting? How long have the cast members been on their feet? And how crowded is it going to be?
I do realize that it is Disney’s job to be consistant, but the reality is, sometimes you have to do what you can. And this is a great place to meet Alice, the Mad hatter, and the white rabbit. When we went. Alice gave me a pouch of tea from her pocket, and it’s experiences like that which I hope you all don’t miss out on.
@Nancy If she is a pooh fan, to be honest, Crystal Palace May be a better fit. My comment is from my trip a year ago November. And unfortunatly I don’t know if that counts as recent.
The mix of characters isn’t actually all that random – Alice, Pooh and Mary Poppins are all British characters. Makes sense to me to group them together. Peter Pan would fit in too.
I remember eating here for breakfast in 2002 and enjoyed it as a 17 year old. I currently have ADR for Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary and an ADR at the Crystal Palace during a Very Merry Christmas party day. I thought about switching to here instead as I want to see the life size ginger bread house, but am just not sure it’s worth switching out my dinner at Chef Mickey’s not knowing the characters we’ll see. We have a Be Our Guest ADR for lunch and I’ve contemplated park hopping on this day, our last, to Epcot for the Garden Grill. Just am not sure it’s worth the travel as we will have already had our Epcot day and want to catch the fire works at MK park. So torn. Which would you pick? I’ve never eaten at the Garden Grill or Chef Mickey’s, but did want my son to get the chance to see Mickey.
I am sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy your meal. I went for my first meal at 1900 Park Faire this past December and our experience was miles ahead, so hopefully they’ve upped their game! We had a larger table (6 people) and the two stepsisters and Lady Tremaine all visited our table (though we did wait around an extra 20 minutes after we were done eating to make sure we saw Drizella). The food for dinner was great, I really enjoyed everything on my plate and ate way too much. We are planning to go back for the Supercalifradgilistic Breakfast in August this year so I’m curious to see if our breakfast experiences will be similar. We could have visited on a good day, or they could have made some changes since your visit, I’m hoping for the latter 🙂