Character Meal | Love Dwells Here

Jennifer March 21, 2019 Disney

1900 Park Fare Dinner Review | Grand Floridian

Even though we’ve been to Disney World many times, we still haven’t done it all, and really, we’ve not even come close! Every time that we go, we try to incorporate new activities and restaurants, and the character dinner at 1900 Park Fare was one of our new experiences for this trip. We love doing character meals because it means that we don’t have to use park time to meet characters AND we get to check out different restaurants and resorts.

1900 Park Fare is located inside the beautiful Grand Floridian Resort, Walt Disney World’s Victorian-themed, flagship resort. While we often stop and wander around the hotel when we’re resort hopping on the monorail, this was the kids’ first time at a Grand Floridian restaurant (Jake and I went to Narcoosee’s and the Grand Floridian Café on our adults-only anniversary trip!).

We checked in a few minutes early for our reservation and were told that our party of 12 would be split into 2 tables, one for 8 and one for 4, as the maximum that their tables seat is 8. We were slightly annoyed as this was not disclosed when we made the reservation (and I have seen that disclosure at other restaurants), but since the hostess said there was nothing that they could do, we went along with it.

However, after being seated, we noted numerous tables (empty ones at that!) that could have been pulled together to accommodate a party of 12. After speaking with a manager, we found out that while they CAN seat large parties at one “table,” they don’t like doing it and it is really up to the personing assigning tables if they want to go to the extra effort for guest satisfaction. Now, for our party that consisted of four teens/tweens, it was not a huge deal to be split 8/4, but with a different configuration or younger children, it would have been incredibly inconvenient.

Once we got everyone situated, our server came around and took our drink orders and said everyone could head up to the buffet to get food and to make sure to check both sides because they had different offerings. I sent the kids up to get their food but told them to hustle so they didn’t miss any characters.

Prince Charming was the first character to come to our table. He chatted with the boys at their table first (Lexie was still at the buffet…) and then invited them to stand for a picture. The hardest part of having the tables split was that the characters didn’t realize that we had 4 kids at one table and 2 kids at the other. Or that the familial grouping of kids was actually 5/1 and we sometimes wanted pictures in that configuration, so we had to be very on top of things to get the kids in the picture.

The sweethearts with Prince Charming. I think the boys appreciated that this dinner wasn’t just a princess meal and featured a male character as well. And the girls love everything princess-related so it was right up their alley!

My niece, Hannah, wanted nothing to do with being in a picture with the rest of the kids and Prince Charming, however, she was content to smile for a quick picture from the safety of mom’s lap.

After Cinderella entered the room, she and Prince Charming danced around and quickly posed for pictures as a twosome, though not with any guests. It was fun to watch the interaction between the two of them since they do not typically meet together in the parks.

Cinderella was the next to come to our table and Ellie was in LOVE! Cinderella was so sweet to her and twirled her around a bit before posing for the pictures.

Cinderella and Lexie– a lot of the little girls that we saw were dressed up in their big princess dresses and while I feel like that would be uncomfortable for a long time, this t-shirt and tutu combo from the Disney Store was perfect, especially for the tween crowd as they grow out of the more common princess dresses!

Since Lexie got her picture alone with Cinderella, Ellie had to have one, too, and Cinderella was happy to oblige!

1900 Park Fare is known for their strawberry soup and it is served at both the breakfast and the dinner character buffets. It’s a chilled soup, tastes of strawberries and cream, and it is completely delicious!

After filling up about a dozen of the taster cups, Lexie finally filled a bowl with the strawberry deliciousness– it was her absolute favorite part about our dinner at 1900 Park Fare!

Anastasia, one of Cinderella’s stepsisters was the next to arrive and she was a riot!! Since the kids’ table had our three boys, she wanted to know which one was the richest or would have the best inheritance because that’s the one that she wanted to marry!!

Christopher and Benjamin quickly answered that Nick was the “richest” and Anastasia declared that they would be married! Clearly, Nick was not too sure about that proposition!

Drizella, Cinderella’s other stepsister was our last character of the night, and she played the role perfectly. She was loud, obnoxious, and made faces the entire time! Our crew got a kick out of the stepsisters and they were definitely the highlight of the evening! For some reason, Lady Tremaine, Cinderella’s stepmother was not meeting that evening though she does usually round out the group.

While the 1900 Park Fare dinner does not include a PhotoPass picture with a character (like at Cinderella’s Royal Table), you can get one with Cinderella’s glass slipper which of course, Lexie and Ellie wanted to take advantage of!

Overall we had an enjoyable experience though I don’t think it will become a must-do for our family. While the service (following the table issue) was adequate, it was not anything special or memorable. The food was good for a Disney buffet, in fact, it was one of the better Disney buffets that we’ve been to, but again, it was nothing hugely special or memorable so I’m guessing that’s why I forgot to take pictures of everything but the soup. It was a great opportunity for our family to meet characters that we haven’t met before and we really enjoyed the interaction with the stepsisters. If we return for another dinner, it will be more for the character interaction and strawberry soup than for the rest of the buffet.

Things to Remember for a 1900 Park Fare Dinner

The usual characters are Cinderella, Prince Charming, Anastasia, Drizella, and Lady Tremaine, though that’s always subject to change and a replacement is not always available.
Reservations fill up quickly so make sure to book 180 days out (or 180+10 if you’re staying at a Disney resort). If you can’t get a reservation, keep trying because people change and cancel their plans all the time!
Parties bigger than 8 may be split up and it’s at the discretion of the person assigning tables.
The more you interact with the characters, the more fun the experience will be. They love to play along but that means you have to participate and fuel the banter (especially if you have little kids).
Try the strawberry soup!!

Have you been to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast or dinner?? What’s your favorite character meal at Disney World??

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Jennifer March 15, 2019 Disney

Bon Voyage Breakfast Review | Boardwalk

The Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno in Walt Disney World’s Boardwalk Resort is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, dining reservation to book. Since its debut over a year ago, it has been wildly popular and it is difficult to get a reservation even at 180+ days, especially for a larger family, but it is TOTALLY worth it if you can snag a reservation!

Six months before our trip, I was up at 6am every morning trying to secure a coveted reservation for our larger group of 12 or for our immediate family of 7 and had absolutely no luck. However, the night before, as I was checking the My Disney Experience app just in case, an opening popped up for 7 at the perfect time. And since it was before the rest of the family would be in town, I didn’t feel bad booking it for just our family! We didn’t tell the kids because it’s fun surprising them with something new every once in a while.

We drove over to the Boardwalk resort area and dropped our car off with the valet, a free perk if you have the Tables in Wonderland card (the card is only available to WDW Annual Passholders, DVC owners, and Florida residents). The kids were excited to check out the Boardwalk since we’ve never been in all of our trips to WDW.

Since the Bon Voyage breakfast is a character meal, it’s a set price of $40 for adults and $24 for kids 3-9– kiddos under 3 are free! Each meal comes with pastries, a fruit cup (it was a berry/melon mix when we were there!), your choice of entree and a non-alcoholic beverage so not a bad deal at all.

The pastries come in a cute, little frying pan (à la Tangled) and the pastries have fun Disney touches like the sun from Tangled and a shell with a pearl from The Little Mermaid. The kids quickly divided up our treats and snacked on them while they perused the menu.

The chocolate croissant twists were definitely our favorite and our server was happy to bring out more for us to enjoy (and even packaged up the leftovers since we weren’t able to finish all of them). We loved the fruit cups as well and our server mentioned we could have more fruit if we were interested though the kids were ready for their entrees and characters at that point.

Flynn Rider was the first character to stop by our table and he was PHENOMENAL! He talked with the kids at length, watched Ellie dance and told her that she should show Punzie her moves, told jokes, and spent wayyyy more time with our family than I would have ever expected.

And he taught the boys how to smolder- although they’re nowhere near as good at it as Flynn Rider! They spent the rest of the day working on their own versions of “the smolder”.

Our food came out right as Flynn Rider was leaving and Ben was so excited to see the giant trident in his breakfast. Our server let me take a quick picture before she had to remove it and take it back to the kitchen.

King Triton’s Shipwreck al Forno- calzone with scrambled eggs, bell peppers, soppressata, bacon, sausage, blend of cheeses, and Sunday gravy.

Both Ben and Jacob ordered this and thought it was delicious. It was way too much food for Ben but since he’s technically a Disney adult and we had to pay the adult price for him, I let him order it knowing that someone else would probably finish up what he couldn’t (cue teenage boys to the rescue!). Jacob loved it and said it made for a good brunch entree (we had a 1030am reservation) since it was a combination of breakfast and lunch foods and the bite I had was tasty.

Rapunzel was the next character to come around and like Flynn Rider, she was wonderful! She spent a ton of time chatting with the kids, listened to all of their jokes and even told a few of her own.

When Ellie mentioned that Flynn Rider said she should show Rapunzel her dance moves, she was so sweet and danced with Ellie right by our table. They went through all of the ballet positions and then twirled around for a minute. We were really impressed with how long she was at our table and the level of interaction was amazing!

Tower of Pancakes: fluffy buttermilk pancakes, bacon (or sausage), and strawberry compote (on the side)

Nick and Lexie both ordered the pancakes with bacon and strawberries on the side and while the portion looks small, it was deceptively large. The four pancakes are THICK and hearty and so neither kid was able to completely finish their meals. Like Ben, Lexie is a Disney adult so I let her pick from the adult menu but they both would have been fine ordering off of the children’s menu.

Prince Eric came to our table next and while it was fun to meet him, he wasn’t nearly as interactive with the kids as Flynn Rider or Rapunzel. He pretty much posed for a picture and then was on his way to the next table. I do appreciate that this character meal (and only this one!) offers the opportunity to meet the male counterparts to Disney princesses making it appeal to more than just little girls.

The Royale Breakfast: oak-grilled steak, cheesy-egg torte and fonduta, crispy onions and roasted potatoes.

Christopher and I both ordered this and thought that it was divine. The steak (though it looks really rare in this picture) was cooked perfectly and was melt in your mouth delicious. Christopher didn’t like the consistency of the egg torte but I thought it was good- I have heard that you can sub scrambled eggs if you aren’t interested in the torte.

Ariel was the last character to come to our table and she was a lot of fun! She listened to Ellie’s stories about dancing with Rapunzel and chatted with Nick about being a mermaid versus having legs. While the characters don’t meet in their pairs, they do dance around the restaurant together a bit but they will not pose for pictures as a couple.

We were at breakfast for so long that Flynn Rider made it back to our table! He was full of surprises and covertly showed us Rapunzel’s crown that he was holding “for safekeeping”.

We had a fantastic time at the Bon Voyage Adventure breakfast and I’m so glad that I was able to snag us those last-minute reservations. While it probably won’t be a must-do meal for us on every trip since character meals really add up with 6 Disney adults, I’d love to do it again sometime, maybe with just the girls! The food was fantastic and no one left hungry; in fact, we completely skipped lunch and waited to eat again until dinner because our breakfast was so filling. When you figure that one meal covered breakfast and lunch that day, it was totally worth the price!

I know people have lamented that it is the same price as some of the character meal buffets that are all you care to enjoy but I found the food to be much better quality and flavor than we’ve had at some buffets and really, no one left hungry. The server offered us more pastries and fruit so you could definitely fill up on that if you were still hungry. I also appreciate that your food is brought to the table and you don’t have to navigate a buffet with little kids, nor do you risk missing characters because people are up at the buffet. Every time we do a character buffet I spend just as much time calling kids back to the table for pictures as I do getting my food at the buffet, so it’s definitely not a leisurely meal. So long story short, I loved that everything came to the table and we could just enjoy being there!

After breakfast, we walked around the Boardwalk area to stretch our legs and decided that we’ll definitely need to plan a time to come back (just not in the summer when it’s hot!) and explore more. Ellie really wants to rent the surrey bikes since she’s small enough to sit in the front basket and the big kids want to come back for a treat from Ample Hills Creamery. We had samples of a few flavors but were so stuffed from breakfast that we didn’t order anything so it’s definitely on the Disney Bucket List! All in all, it was a great morning spent at the Boardwalk and trying out the Bon Voyage breakfast with a few of our fave characters.

Have you tried the Bon Voyage breakfast?? What’s your favorite WDW character meal??

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Jennifer December 12, 2018 Disney

Disney’s Wonderland Tea Party Review

As a special treat, since this was our first big WDW trip with the extended family, we booked the Wonderland Tea Party at 1900 Park Fare for all of the girls. The tea party, which takes place weekdays at 2pm at the Grand Floridian, was a huge hit and they didn’t want their fun to end. We left all of the boys at Disney Springs to shop and play pool at Splitsville while all the girls (Grandma, Auntie Janne, Lexie, Ellie, Hannah, and I) drove to the Grand Floridian.

We brought Ellie’s Belle dress for her to change into in the car and while she was excited to wear a princess dress, none of the other little girls were dressed up so it’s definitely not a requirement.

As soon as we were out of the car, Ellie wanted her picture taken with the fancy carriage that sits out front.

We arrived at check-in at around 13opm (they request that you’re there 15-30 minutes early to get checked in). The tea party is for kids 4-12 (all of the ones in attendance that day were girls, though it’s not a requirement) and they do have to be potty-trained since it’s a drop-off event. We signed the girls in, signed the waivers/consent forms allowing them to participate, made a quick stop at the bathroom, and then sent them in for some tea party fun!

The girls each got to decorate a teacup and a saucer with paint markers. I think they really appreciated it being parent free so they could decorate however they wanted!

Alice made her way around the table and signed each girl’s teapot as a fun keepsake.

And then she posed for pictures with each girl! There is a PhotoPass photographer at the event so even though parents are not allowed to stay and watch, they do get several hundred pictures and can see how much fun everyone had at the tea party. The PhotoPass photographer on this particular day did a phenomenal job at getting pictures of each and every child in a variety of poses- I don’t know if it’s the same photographer every time so your experience may vary.

The Mad Hatter was also in attendance and the girls thought he was hilarious– such a goofy guy!

They all sat down at the table to have their tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

And had fun decorating cupcakes– with their fingers, which is totally not something I would let them do at home, but completely added to the magic of the experience at the tea party!

Such a silly looking group of people!! The PhotoPass photographer took some posed pictures as well as the more candid shots giving us a great assortment at the end of the event.

While the girls enjoyed their tea, my mom, sister and I made our way upstairs to Minzer’s Lounge for an adult “tea party”. We each ordered The Grand Cocktail: Ketel One Citroen Vodka, Pomegranate Liqueur, Cranberry Juice, and Club Soda, and enjoyed the peace, quiet, and adult conversation while taking in the relaxing Grand Floridian environment.

After an hour, it was time to pick the girls up and they were full of stories about their fun time! In addition to their cup, saucer, and teapot, each girl got a small bouquet of flowers (they were so excited that the flowers were REAL!).

Ellie wanted to pose for pictures with her bouquet and the grand staircase at the Grand Floridian made the perfect backdrop!

Since she had the room, she also wanted to make sure that I took pictures of her twirling around in her Belle dress.

We moved down to the lobby of the Grand Floridian (and it is an absolutely breathtaking lobby!) so that the girls could dance to the beautiful piano music.

Princess dresses are made for twirling. I think she would twirl all day, every day if I let her!

The pianist played “Tale as Old as Time” just for Ellie and he looked so happy while she twirled to his music. I love the little ways that Disney Cast Members go out of their way to make your experience more magical and memorable.

Ellie and the pianist. He was so sweet with her and I’m sure that this experience is something that she’ll always remember- I know I will!

The girls all had a great time and would wholeheartedly recommend the tea party to others. It was such a fun activity to do on an off-day from the parks since we were still immersed in the Disney magic and got to explore the beautiful Grand Floridian Resort while we were there.

Things to Remember for the Wonderland Tea Party

It’s offered Monday-Friday from 2-3pm at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort.
Kids must be between 4-12 years old, and fully potty-trained to attend.
It is a drop-off event so parents will have about an hour to do something else during the event.
It’s $49 per person though discounts are available for Annual Passholders and DVC Members. When we went, the DVC discount was 40% off– that discount has since expired and it’s now 20% off.
The tea party was well-worth even the non-discounted price!!

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