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As a general rule, villains are more fun than the good guys at Disney Parks. Think about all those YouTube videos with Gaston (which if you haven’t seen….google them NOW!). This is especially true when it comes to character interaction during Disney Dining experiences at Walt Disney World and was a key reason we decided to try 1900 Park Fare and are happy to share this 1900 Park Fare dinner review with you!

We had a quick trip planned for October this year to visit Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party for the first time. We hadn’t actually booked any dining before showing up to the parks and decided to see what was available. A reservation was available at 1900 Park Fare for dinner, and we decided to give it a shot. While some consider this a Princess meal since Cinderella and Prince Charming are the main attraction, we were actually most looking forward to meeting Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella.

Years ago, we had a wonderful experience with Lady Tremaine when we met her outside of Cinderella’s Castle in Fantasyland. She had scheduled an engagement between my son and Drizella before I could say anything, thanks to his green glasses which she assured us was Drizella’s favorite color. We were excited to get to meet her again!

Meeting Lady Tremaine outside Cinderella’s Caste made us want to book dinner with her at 1900 Park Fare!

Location

Getting There

1900 Park Fare is located in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. It is one of the Monorail Hotels and pretty easy to get to.

We were staying in the Royal Guest Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Hotel which provided an amazing princess experience. You can find out more about the stay and if it’s the right place for you here : The Royal Guest Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside.  There is not direct transportation from one Disney resort to another, so you have to find a path that usually involves a trip to one of the parks. For Grand Floridian, this means we took a bus to Magic Kingdom. Instead of the monorail, we took a boat over to Grand Floridian. It has a dedicated boat and we enjoyed the trip through Seven Seas Lagoon. You have several options for arriving at Grand Floridian for your dinner:

• Take a bus to Magic Kingdom and then take:
  • Monorail to 1900 Park Fare
  • Boat to 1900 Park Fare
• Take  Minnie Van through Lyft if you are staying a resort offering the service
• Drive to Grand Floridian and show your reservation to the gate. They will let you park for free. There is usually a time limit, so you can’t use this for your whole day visit to Magic Kingdom.

Grand Floridian

When we arrived, they were a little behind in seating so we took the opportunity to wander around the Grand Floridian. This is one resort on our bucket list, and is definitely worth at our if you have time.

We enjoyed the grand lobby outside 1900 Park Fare.

If you have ever considered staying at Grand Floridian, but thought it was out of your price range, try renting DVC points! If you aren’t sure how, we have a complete guide to renting DVC points to take all of the mystery out of it.  We rented for our trip to Polynesian and saved so much compared to a regular room! We highly recommend David’s Vacation club rentals. The process was super easy and saved a lot! You can check out exactly what it would be like to stay here in Grand Floridian Villas room review.

The Food

The 1900 Park Fare dinner is buffet style, and we found it to be one of the more delicious of the character meals! Like all other buffets, they will have a section for kids with corn dog nuggets, hot dogs, and macaroni and cheese. The adult section contains a variety of salads, a meat carving station, and several varieties of different dishes. There is also a dessert buffet when you’ve stuffed yourself on the rest of the food! Both kids and adults can visit any section of the buffet. My kids actually visited the adult buffet more than the kids for the delicious roast turkey!

The 1900 Park Fare Character Dinner Experience

Character Visits

1900 Park Fare is a little different than other character dining experiences. Upon entering the dining room, you are taken to your table and set up with your drinks. Your server will explain how the buffet works, and you can get up to self-serve some yummy food.  You meet the characters in two difference ways:

• Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella visit each table as you dine. We have also heard that Gus Gus and Jaq make appearances every once in a while, but they weren’t present for our meal.
• Cinderella and Prince Charming pose for pictures at the back of the restaurant after you have finished your meal

All the characters will sign autograph books. If you forget yours, there is a small gift shop right next door to the restaurant. You have to snap your own photos with the characters visiting your table, but get an official PhotoPass/Memory Maker photo with Cinderella and Prince Charming.

You can also stock up on Cinderella-inspired gifts before you go!

The Villains

Having met all three villains at Magic Kingdom before, we had high hopes and were not disappointed. Lady Tremaine was our first character, and we asked her where Lucifer was. She asked my kids if they had a cat and spent the next few minutes explaining how a dog was in NO WAY as good as a cat. She left the table telling us we were not good parents unless we bought that little girl a cat ASAP!

Drizella and my daughter had a pout-off. Both made as snarky faces as they could muster and posed together.

Anastasia was by far our favorite. We watched her steal someone’s bubble wand and prance around the dining room. She also stole a magic wand from another and pretended to make all kinds of mischief. She made funny faces with our kids and complemented our daughter on her choice of pink shoes, which was her favorite color as well.

If you want to sport some Villain attire, check out some awesome options at TeePublic!

Cinderella and Prince Charming

After finishing dinner, we headed to the back of the restaurant for a staged photo with Cinderella and Prince Charming. Lining up, you can see the interaction with other guests. We always try to have a question prepared for each character. For Cinderella, my kids wanted to know all about Gus Gus. We found out that tonight, he wasn’t able to join us, because he was stuck in a cookie jar and Jaq was trying to help get him out.

This is the only experience where you can get both Cinderella and Prince Charming together. You used to be able to find them at Cinderella’s Royal Table, but that is completely princesses now. For comparison to that experience, you can check out Battle of the Princesses : Cinderella’s Royal Table Vs Princess Storybook at Akershus Royal Banquet.

Summary

Should you book 1900 Park Fare for one of your Character Dining Experiences? My answer is a resounding “YES!” There are a few things that make this a very special meal:

• Interaction with an entire Character Cast – All other meals either have a few characters from  various movies or just the Fab Five. While they are all fun, you get the full Cinderella experience at 1900 Park Fare. Most of the fun was watching Lady Tremaine chastise Anastasia for her childish behavior!
• Interaction with the Villains – Usually hard to find in the parks, you get to interact with Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella. The villains really do have more fun as they prank guests and cause all kinds of mischief.
• Atmosphere – The Grand Floridian is a must-visit even if you aren’t staying on property. It is truly grand in all of its Victorian elegance. I didn’t visit for a long time as I thought it was just a “fancy” hotel. One visit and I saw how truly special it is!