Monday, April 13, 2015

1900 Park Fare Dinner - Disney's Grand Floridian Resort

On Saturday, we had dinner at 1900 Park Fare at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort.  Just a couple of days before we dined there, I was able to get advance dining reservations for 4:30 when they open. 


1900 Park Fare features breakfast and dinner buffets, and character dining.  


The restaurant has a carousel theme that kids will enjoy, but I did not like the fact that there wasn't any natural light in the main dining room.  


After about a 10 minute wait, Chef Brad came out to take me on a tour of the buffet, which offers different dishes on both sides.  There were so many gluten free options for me to choose from.  I was told that all the dressings were safe at the salad bar, and I could get a Caesar salad from the back without croutons.  


For soups, I tried both of the gluten free options.  I enjoyed the potato and corn soup, but the Floridian strawberry soup might have been my favorite dish at 1900 Park Fare.  This cold soup reminds me of strawberry mousse, one of my favorite desserts.  Thankfully, it is also available at breakfast, because I have advance dining reservations for next week.  You can view the recipe on The Disney Food Blog.  


I know some of you worry about getting glutened from buffets at Disney World.  Here are some of the ways I avoid cross contamination:
  • Don't be shy about asking chefs for food from the back if you are concerned about cross contamination
  • I make advance dining reservations at restaurants with buffets when they first open, and get a little bit of all the food I would like to try as soon as my tour with the chef ends
  • I knock all food off of serving spoons and take food from the back of the dish


I really liked all the food I put on my first plate at 1900 Park Fare.  Both meats at the carving station, the roasted beef and pork loin roast, were gluten free.  With a side of their apple chutney, I thought the pork was delicious.  The beef was very good as well, but it was cooked a little more than I like.  I also enjoyed the mashed potatoes, jasmine rice, peel-n-eat shrimp, and the spice-crusted salmon with mango salsa and crispy plantains.  The crispy plantains are made in a dedicated fryer, so no worries about cross contamination.   


The only thing I did not enjoy at 1900 Park Fare was the edamame salad.  My favorite dish from my second plate of food was the bratwurst.  It was served with sauerkraut, which I avoided, but I liked the bratwurst so much, I went back for seconds.  I also loved the cheesy potato casserole and tomato-mozzarella salad.  I couldn't pass up the tater tots, which are made in a dedicated fryer.  There were other gluten free dishes on the buffet that I did not try, and Chef Brad offered to bring me gluten free bread from the back, which I passed on.  


My only food disappointment was that 1900 Park Fare did not have any house made gluten free desserts, but I did enjoy my OMG...It's Gluten Free Brownie with vanilla ice cream, and raspberry and mango sauces.  My gluten-eating daughters love these brownies so much, they both asked to taste my dessert, even though they had their own chocolate treat from the buffet.  One of them even said to me, "Mommy, you are not missing out on anything. Yours is better."  Chef Brad told me they also have gluten free cookies available.


At Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner, Cinderella, her fairy godmother, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella visited our table.  My husband and I loved the character interaction, but my twins, who are very shy and about to turn 10, were not happy at all that they had to take pictures with them.  


The villains from Cinderella did an amazing job interacting with our daughters, who wanted to have nothing to do with them, and they even managed to get my girls to smile.  


Overall, my whole family enjoyed the food at 1900 Park Fare.  There were plenty of gluten free options for dinner, and I thought the price was reasonable for an all-you-care-to-eat character meal at Disney.  Adult meals were $41.99 and children ages 3-9 were $19.99, but prices can vary depending on the time of year and day of the week.  We were able to use our Tables in Wonderland card to save 20% off our meal, but be aware that 1900 Park Fare has blackout dates for the discount at peak times of the year.

You can read more about 1900 Park Fare, view their menus and make advance dining reservations on Disney's website here.

What are your favorite gluten free dishes at 1900 Park Fare?  


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