Three SWELL Character Meals

[Goes4FastPass]

Our visit to WDW last week included character meals dinners that we thoroughly enjoyed.

1900 Park Fare

I don’t understand people who don’t like this place. 2 minutes after our arrival we were photographed in the lobby (just our family to character) and seated. Food was very good and adults and kids had many choices. Character interaction with Cinderella, Prince Charming was good but we had the most fun with Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizilla. Great faces, poses and photos.

Cinderella’s Royal Table

Posed with Cinderella in the lobby Food was what we expected. Our steak eaters enjoyed the beef tenderloin.

Our 6 year old boy feigned disinterest in princesses until they made a fuss over him. Jasmine put him in his best Aladdin pose then posed with him. Ariel called the Christmas lights he was wearing, “gizmos and gadgets a-plenty”. Aurora and Snow White each made their own impression. Our all boy came away with photos with each of them. 2 year old little sister had fun but her brother had more fun than he would admit.

The Garden Grill

A tradition for our family. We were seated seconds after our arrival. The food was swell. I mean really folks., Were you expecting Le Gran Fu Fu?? Great salad followed by beef, fish and turkey and yes, a disappointing dessert.

2 YO girl and 6 YO boy cavorted over and over with Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. Lots of time over repeated stop bys from each with jokes, dances and poses while 2YO squealed her delight.

OK, I’m sure there are grander meals elsewhere at Walt Disney World. But I work in an office building overstreet connected to dozens of restaurants offering food from tacos to truffles but none of them have Mickey… or Pluto… or Jasmine… or Lady Tremaine…

[Dopey's Girl]

I love 1900 Park and Garden Grill! Such fun meals, plus strawberry soup @ 1900 Park. YUM!

Cinderella's Royal Table was fun, but we had really lousy character interaction, so the experience could have been better.

I'm with you, I can get good food anyplace, but Mickey and Cinderella aren't all over!

[Janmac]

Absolutely. Lady Tremaine is our favorite all time character. She is so much fun.

On our last trip, the photographer at 1900 Park Fare posed the nine of us the best of any of the photographers that took our pictures.

Jan

[peemagg]

I agree with 1900 Park Fare! We have been there twice and have enjoyed it thoroughly!

The best was the look on my 5 year old nephews face after Drizilla gave him a big smackeroo on his forehead. We have pictures of him after and he is in la-la land, with a big lipstick kiss! His first kiss!

[Scar]

Hmmm... might have to give 1900 another shot. Went there once about 6 years ago or so and the food was very sub par. I'm not a good judge of characters but the kids seemed to like them.

[TheVBs]

Thanks for the reviews! We've never tried the first or third and they're on our list to do. Really looking forward to the next trip!

[Crow]

i dont really do character meals...since im only a kid mentally, but i have done a few over the yrs..Garden Grill i thought was decent. ive done that twice. characters still interacted a little.
Might try for CRT since im planning a trip for GF and i for Feb, and she might like the castle.

[Matthew V]

Love 1900 Park Fare and also had a great experience twice at the Royal Table for breakfast. I would have to add Hollywood and Vine as one of my favorite character breakfasts. Food was very good, and the character interaction and live performance were great for the kids. My daughter loved meeting OSO and had lots of fun participating during the performance.

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Definitely second 1900 Park Fare. It was our first time there. I thought the buffet there was one of the best ones we had, and the character interaction was a lot better and seemed at least to be less chaotic. My one complaint about the character meals is that you just put a bite in your mouth and here comes another character, so get out all the books pose the photos and its hard to get pictures that don't have other guests in the background.

We did Garden Grill as well, as part of a CP package. I don't see a return visit. The food was good, not spectacular, but good. Other than "farmer" Mickey I was disappointed with character costuming. Since they are supposed to be the focus, I thought Chip and Dale would be in some kind of special costume, like Mickey, but nope, just plain. Seeing as you can get these characters pretty easily at several of the parks, it just didn't seem all that special. They did spend more time I think than other character meals, with the kids, but again, I don't really see a need for a return visit.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

These all sound fabulous, thanks for the report.

We did the 1900 breakfast and it was the best character interaction we've ever had....

[Tigerinvestigator]

My family will not go to WDW without a meal at Garden Grill. We like the food, the unique atmosphere of the revolving floor and view of the Living with the Land boat ride, and the best character interaction at WDW.

[roses]

We recently tried the Tusker House in AK - I was very impressed with the whole atmosphere, characters, and food - it's on our must list now.

I did love Cinderella's Royal Table - the princesses were great - my DD loved them. She barely ate because she was so excited!

[DisneyDawgette]

1900 Park Fair is one of the meals on the maybe list for Christmas this year! Your post my have just cast my vote in favor of this one!