Every year that we’ve attended the MNSSHP we drive down the morning of the party…attend the party…then head home the next morning.
Benefit of having a friend who happens to own a house at Disney? Extended stay!
We were able to drive down Thursday which was the night prior to the party and didn’t head home until Sunday morning! We had plenty of time to get legit sleep! Usually I come home EXHAUSTED from the girl’s trip but it was so nice to be well rested!!!
We had a blast Friday night at the party and then Gabe and Rachel headed back home Saturday morning so that left myself, Katie, Tiffany and Lindsay to finish out the weekend!
We hit up Disney Springs to do some kid-free shopping and to just walk around and hang out!
First time having Blaze Pizza and we WILL be back! It’s kinda like a Subway but for pizza…you choose everything you want on your pizza and they cook it!
I couldn’t wait to dig in 😉
So random TMI kinda thing but my teeth have just enough spacing between them where I have to literally floss after EVERY meal. I’ve discussed it with my dentist and I guess as you age your teeth shift and can spread out some. He said it’s normal and that it’s a positive thing that it’s forcing me to floss so often.
I don’t agree there dude. It’s SO annoying having to floss all the time and I’m always mindful of what I order when eating out b/c I don’t want to deal with the headache that comes if I can’t get the little pieces of food out!
Katie happened to have these with her and they were AWESOME! I need to get more as it’s so much easier to get the job done than having to carry a package of floss around!
Perfect place for a day with the girls!
Disney has really, really upped their merchandise game over the years. I remember when I first started getting really into Disney it was SO HARD to find CUTE stuff and now it’s everywhere I look!
Tiki Room mother-daughter dresses? I wannnnnnttttt
I heard recently that Disney finally came out with ADULT sized ears! I was PUMPED because this head can’t ever wear ears. They hurt so bad and just don’t look cute on me b/c they are stretched out so far to fit over my head!
I sought out the adult sized ones and was SO bummed that they STILL were too small for me 🙁
We were walking around the Marketplace area and saw all these little girls dressed up as princesses and cast members taking photos. Of course I went up and asked what was going on and it’s a princess parade! They do it each day (weather permitting) at 2:15. Which makes sense why I didn’t know about it since that’s smack dab in the middle of nap time so we’re never at Disney Springs at that time!
SO good to know as Britt would LOVE this while dressed up from BBB!
We headed back to the house to hang out a bit and relax before getting ready for dinner. When we planned the trip we knew we had more downtime this year so we wanted to do a character meal. I’ve always LOVED 1900 Park Fare for dinner and was able to snag us a reservation!
Tiffany started not feeling too well and opted to stay back at the house to rest so Katie, Lindsay and I headed over to the Grand Floridian for dinner! It was SO BEAUTIFUL!!!
Apparently we’d parked at the wrong building and entered in the wrong entrance but sometimes mistakes are really blessings as I’d never been to this area of the resort before and LOVED seeing all the details and the walk over to our dinner location was so gorgeous!
When I packed for the trip I knew Cinderella blue HAD to happen for dinner 😉 Zach did not like me packing this dress to wear without him with me haha. Apparently it’s a favorite of his! I cannot recommend it enough…it’s a GREAT travel dress as it folds so nicely and doesn’t wrinkle up and is so flattering!
Here’s a link..there are tons of colors!
When we checked in for our dinner we ended up waiting over 45 minutes to be seated. Thankfully we’re all adults and weren’t starving and didn’t have any kids to entertain during our wait. We didn’t mind sitting and catching up…but still. 45 min past your reservation time? Nope.
Here’s the thing y’all. Disney PRIDES themselves on customer service. I have always been a person who shies away from complaining about things but over the years I’ve learned to SPEAK UP.
You don’t have to be rude. You don’t have to be ugly. I never put down Disney. I love Disney and the times where I have needed to speak up and say something I’ve ALWAYS done it while complimenting Disney.
When we got checked in I just casually mentioned to the server that it was disappointing to have to have waited that long. They jumped ON IT.
We got to know Adam, the manager there that evening, very well as he tried everything he could to help us out. First they offered us fast passes (but we were leaving the next day). Then they offered us free alcohol (but we don’t drink). So finally he ended up hooking us up with a beautiful dessert tray. I assumed that was the extent of it, which was kind but at the same time it’s a buffet. There are TONS of desserts!
Then he came over and said they’d be compensating one of our meals AND still allowing me to use my Tables in Wonderland card for the remaining two meals. Y’all that’s a BIG savings!
And all I did? Nicely let them know that the wait was very long. I didn’t even complain or amp it up or anything. Just told them that it was both Katie’s and Lindsay’s first times to have this experience and I was disappointed at how it started out that night with that long of a wait.
If you don’t say anything, nothing will be done. People aren’t going to volunteer to fix a problem if you don’t say anything about it. LOTS of families had the super long wait we did. I wonder how many spoke up. How many were kind if they did. And what, if anything, was done to help them out. We were the ONLY table that Adam kept coming back to. He checked in on us throughout the meal. He went ABOVE and BEYOND in taking care of us and making sure we had a great time!
Zach says that the dinner meal at 1900 Park Fare is his favorite! The food y’all is SO GOOD.
The Strawberry Soup is their signature item and I love it! They have these cute recipe cards to take home and I think it’d be so fun to make the soup and have a Mary Poppins themed meal before seeing the new movie!
Fancy desserts thanks to Adam!
The wait was a great chance for us all to catch up on life. Lindsay and Katie have known each other FOREVER and Lindsay is KILLLLLLING IT as a legit #girlboss with her photography business (Captured by Colson!) so we don’t get to see her as often as we’d like. I’m SO thankful it worked out for her to come on this trip!
Lindsay is one of those people who just draws others in and is so great at making you feel comfortable and welcomed and she just has such a warmth about her. She was the perfect person to really bring the whole group together in a great way. We had a mix of old friends and new friends and we all blended so well and I think a lot of that was thanks to Lindsay and how she just is so great at making everyone feel loved!
Katie and I have had THE most EPIC year together and I’m so excited that she’s becoming quite the Disney fan herself (thanks to our awesome Epcot day in the spring!) We have learned that we travel SUPER well together and I see a lot of trips in our future! We always have fun no matter what the occasion!
The character meet and greet at dinner time is Cinderella, Prince Charming, Anastasia, Drizella, and Lady Tremaine.
It is FABULOUS y’all. SO FUN. I actually ate there for the first time with just Zach on my 30th birthday trip and we cracked UP listening to the characters interact with kids because they kinda make fun of the kids the whole time. It’s epic.
I will also say that each time I’ve been to 1900 Park Fare I’ve met the same Prince and Cinderella. You gotta have a lot of respect for what they do. Seeing that many people DAILY for that many years is no joke!!!
Side note but did you know that the prince from Cinderella is Prince Charming…the one from Snow White is just “The Prince.” Aurora’s is Prince Phillip. Those early princes are hard to keep track of (another one people struggle with knowing is The Beast…his name is Adam).
We loved meeting Prince Charming but Adam stole our hearts that night 😉
This little girl was with her Daddy and it was so cute! They waited and waited to meet the characters!
The Prince and Cinderella are great and all but the step family is where it’s AT. Oh my goodness I can’t remember ever laughing so hard.
Lady Tremaine was on my CASE the WHOLE night. Even after she’d left our table she’s yell out things to me. She did not like me wearing my Cinderella blue dress. And she attempted to give me lessons on how to “smile pretty” which is apparently something I’m incapable of doing haha.
She even called over Cinderella to try to show me what a “pretty smile” looks like. Cinderella is apparently well trained 😉
I love the little girl copying the smile too 😉
Trying…and failing…
I’m just a huge disappointment!
She didn’t ease up on Katie or Lindsay either. Seriously y’all it is SUCH a fun character experience!!!
This is my favorite hahaha
We brought along our ornaments from Rachel and Gabe for the characters to sign!
Whew Cinderella was a sweet welcoming after the beating we’d ensued!
I had snapped some pics of the little girl beside us and asked her dad for his number to text them to him. It was so cute because I texted them and then I got texts back from him with pics that had me in them that he’d taken! Gotta love the fellow Disney fans who look out for the magical moments for each other!
I know I was Anastasia for the party but I have always loved me some Drizella. So FUN.
Lindsay has it DOWN!
Trying to be a cool step sister…still failing 😉
Back at home Zach had Steven (Tiffany’s husband) and their kids over to hang out and have a feast and watch football!!! They had a BLAST!
And last but not least our girl Anastasia!!!
Lindsay missed her calling as a step sister 😉
Posing is just not my strong suit!
Selfie had to happen!
Another thing I love about Park Fare is they don’t have the whole wait in line to meet a character thing. I really can’t stand that new trend Disney has of having you wait in line for a character at a meal. The purpose of the meal is to AVOID LINES!
They do, however, have a glass slipper photo spot and there was no line (I mean it was also like 10 pm by this point haha) so why not? Who would pass up a princess moment?
We missed everyone else but had SUCH a fun night! I hate that the rest of the crew missed out on it!
Lindsay cracks me up haha!
It was SO NICE just sleeping in and taking our time heading back home. We stopped by Five Below to hit up some deals and it did NOT disappoint! I wish we had one at home!!! Such cute stuff at great prices!
On the way home we stopped at O’Charley’s for Brunch. Katie and I stopped there on the way home from Taylor Swift and fell in LOVE with their french toast. It’s amazinggggggg.
We were back home early afternoon which was nice to be able to get back settled in for the week ahead! As always it was SUCH a fun trip! I loved the car ride just talking and getting to know each other better. The downtime at the house just hanging out and chatting. PLUS the super fun party and character meal? I mean what more could you want in a girl’s trip weekend?!?!
So glad it all worked out the way it did and can’t wait to see what next year will bring!!!
If you’re planning to visit the Disney World or Orlando area check out our rental house. It’s 3 miles from the parks and is 2900 square feet of living space with 6 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. We offer a large discount for blog readers too!
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