When Will the Rest of the Grand Floridian’s Restaurants Reopen?

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa has some of the most popular and highest-rated restaurants at Walt Disney World. It is also the resort’s flagship hotel, and often the most expensive to stay at, offering high-end amenities in terms of recreation, spa services, gift shops, and dining, at least when all of the restaurants are open. While staffing shortages remain the biggest culprit in why some locations at the Walt Disney World Resort remain closed, it is worth noting that nearly half of the Grand Floridian restaurants have yet to reopen.

As of this writing, Victoria & Albert’s, 1900 Park Fare, and the Garden View Tea Room are currently closed at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, while the Grand Floridian Cafe, Narcoosee’s, and Citricos have reopened, along with the resort’s quick-service location, Gasparilla Island Grill.

The three table service restaurants that are currently open are more than many other Walt Disney World Resorts have to offer, and when factoring in the resort’s close proximity to the Magic Kingdom and area hotels around Seven Seas Lagoon like Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, there is no shortage of restaurants for Guests staying onsite. Still, there is an argument to be had for the thought that a resort that costs upwards of $600-700/night should have all of its restaurants open.

When will all of the Grand Floridian’s restaurants be open again? Here are some speculations…

1900 Park Fare or the Garden View Tea Room will likely be the first to reopen at this Disney resort. When they will reopen remains unclear, though. In terms of staffing, the Garden View Tea Room requires minimal staff compared to the resort’s other restaurants. If it is only open for a couple of hours a day for afternoon tea, or even if it initially reopened only on weekends or select days, the staffing does not require as many Cast Members as the resort’s other restaurants.

Disney’s Perfectly Princess Tea at the Garden View Tea Room may take longer to come back (assuming it does return, a recent look at Walt Disney World‘s website indicated that the page with information on this event seems to be redirecting to the homepage). This Grand Floridian restaurant experience included characters, and therefore character attendants, so it seems logical that we would see regular afternoon tea return first.

1900 Park Fare, while requiring lots of staff as a character dining location, could theoretically reopen without characters like Cape May Cafe did at Disney’s Beach Club Resort. Hopefully this is not the case, but if staffing is the issue, it is certainly possible for the buffet to reopen and have the characters return later.

Victoria & Albert’s is a trickier one. As a AAA Five Diamond restaurant, there are multiple facets to staffing Victoria & Albert’s, and if the numbers are not there yet it is possible this restaurant will take longer to return. In addition to highly experienced waitstaff, Victoria & Albert’s requires sommeliers and multiple chefs, and these positions are more challenging to fill during a staffing shortage as there are simply less people with the qualifications to begin with.

In the latest earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed that staffing shortages are the major culprit in why certain locations around Walt Disney World are still closed, and that the shortages are the reason for Disney essentially controlling capacity with the Disney Park Pass Reservation System.

With resorts, however, controlling capacity is more difficult. Even if fewer rooms are booked at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, these restaurants are a draw for Guests visiting from other resorts and even for locals looking for restaurants to go out to eat. And, with the heavier crowd levels, we have seen throughout Walt Disney World so far in 2022, it seems to reason that crowds are going to seem heavier while some dining locations, shops, and hows are still closed.

Another possibility is that most of the Walt Disney World dining locations that are currently closed will remain that way until the Disney Dining Plan eventually returns. For now, especially during busy weeks at Walt Disney World, most dining reservations have Guests traveling to Disney Springs, so it is possible that additional Disney resort restaurants aren’t in the plans quite yet.

We will keep you updated as more restaurants continue to reopen around Walt Disney World, and we hope to be back with more news from Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa soon.