Dinner reservation: 1900 Park Fare vs Coral Reef

[HoneyBee1991]

We are using DDP this December & need to fill our last table service reservation.

Coral reef looks like a cool place to eat atmosphere wise and has some adult beverages I'd love to try. But nothing on the main entree menu looks like something I'd love to order. We would need to park hop from MK to Epcot on this day.

1900 park fare has awesome characters and a menu that is better for our tastes. But we are already doing a lot of character meals. The timing and day of this reservation is ideal.

We have never eat at either restaurant. What are your thoughts and opinions? What have your experiences been like at them?

 

[WDWTrojan]

We are using DDP this December & need to fill our last table service reservation.

Coral reef looks like a cool place to eat atmosphere wise and has some adult beverages I'd love to try. But nothing on the main entree menu looks like something I'd love to order. We would need to park hop from MK to Epcot on this day.

1900 park fare has awesome characters and a menu that is better for our tastes. But we are already doing a lot of character meals. The timing and day of this reservation is ideal.

We have never eat at either restaurant. What are your thoughts and opinions? What have your experiences been like at them?

If you're doing a lot of character meals then try something different, though the journey to Epcot just for dinner might be a lot of work. Coral Reef is certainly a unique dining experience.

Having said that, I'd also say that 1900 is the best, food-wise, of any character dinner in that area. Crystal Palace is middling at best and Chef Mickey's is atrociously bad - like worst food I've ever had at a restaurant bad.

 

[DisAl]

The two have totally different atmosphere and menus. You have the aquarium view at Corral Reef and the atmosphere of the Grand Floridian at 1900 Park Fare.
We have done both, and of the two I think we enjoyed1900 Park Fare better. There was lots of variety and the food was excellent at our last visit this past June. If you don't see something on the menu at Corral Reef that your tongue would slap your brains out to get at it if you accidentally got some on your forehead I would recommend trying 1900 Park Fare. Go for the meal; the characters are incidental. However, the interaction with the characters at Park Fare is some of the best you will get because they will talk with you. The stepsisters were hilarious and really played their characters well. And finally, the server we had at Park Fare (Bob from Rochester NY) was the best we had for the whole trip.

 

[Minnie Mum]

Let's make it 3 for 3. I'd take Park Fare over Coral Reef any day of the week and twice on Sunday. But then you'd have to pay me BIG bucks to induce me to suffer through another meal at Coral Reef. In 40 years of visiting WDW and eating at almost every TS restaurant on site, that meal still ranks as the worst by a large margin.

 

[slappy magoo]

Neither one is must-do as far as the actual food goes, but 1900PF is better by far. My wife and I have dined at Coral Reef twice, once on our very first trip, and once on a spur of the moment on a day where it was hot as blazes , kids were so miserable that even trying to get them back to the hotel for a rest would have been a mess, so we ducked in to CR, it wasn't busy, they were entranced by the aquariums...to that end, a good call. But none of us liked our meals.

Park Fare, your odds are better that you'll find SOMETHING you'll enjoy, and if you don't like what you got, get something else. We enjoy it for brunch more, and my wife didn't like it for dinner at all, but I did, and my oldest did (youngest was too young last time we were there for dinner to have an opinion). And even though you have other character meals lined up, those characters at PF can often be more...unique in their interaction with the guests than the usual costumed characters and princesses.

Go with Park Fare, with the possible exception of you were planning to be at Epcot that day anyway, and PF is not as convenient to get to (which I believe you wrote it would be convenient for that day), and there is absolutely no other restaurant in World Showcase that floats your boat.

 

[brifraz]

I will add to the (seemingly) unanimous voting for 1900 Park Fare. Certainly the best character interaction we have ever experienced. We went for the first time when our daughter was 4 years old and dressed as Cinderella - the step sisters freaked out and got 'mad' with her...for 6 months all we heard about was how she had to dress as one of the stepsisters to make them happier. So, my wife made her a Drizella costume for the next visit - which made her delighted and Anastasia jealous...so, the next visit she was in an Anastasia costume. She's 14 now and we still visit 1900 Park Fare on most trips. The food is pretty much the highest quality of any of the character buffets.

Coral Reef is nice and certainly relaxing, but the food just isn't all that great. It doesn't tend to be on our list of 'maybes' on most trips.

 

[danyoung56]

Just to throw a wrench into the works, Coral Reef is one of my favorites in WDW. The view and atmosphere are totally unique. And the mahi mahi is very tasty. You can even get a steak that isn't bad at all. I've never had a bad meal there, and I've been going at least once a year for the past 20 years or so.

Never been to 1900PF, though.

 

[HoneyBee1991]

Thanks everyone! We did decide 1900 park fare

 

[YankeeMouse]

Run from Coral Reef! There's a reason there are always open reservations there. That has been our one really bad experience in many years and hundreds of visits. Could have been an off night but....don't think so. Unfriendly front staff, snarky service staff, overwhelmed albeit nice manager. The plan to relax while watching nature float by ruined by the staff. Oh, yeah, the top crust of my expensive salmon slid off the top. NO BUENO!

 

[EngineerMom]

Glad I read these. When Epcot very first opened we went to Coral Reef when I was a kid and our memory was a decent meal ( of course back then Disney’ Food wasn’t the best). We took our kids a few years back and thought it was one of the worst meals we ever had at Disney, including food and sevice. My Dad has nice memories and has said let’s eat there. I wanted to see if we just had a bad experience or if others had the same. Thanks for saving us from another bad overpriced meal!

 

[JIMINYCR]

Thanks everyone! We did decide 1900 park fare

A wise choice. You wont be disappointed.

 

[mlayton144]

Easy choice ... NOT coral reef