Our second day of our Disney trip was another non-park day. It was a bit odd having our non-park days at the start of the trip but I knew the weekend after Thanksgiving would still be prettttttty crowded so we did our fun non-park stuff first (which worked out well since Tess didn’t feel very good!).
Britt was obsessed with her BBB hairstyle and Zach gets MEGA points for putting back together that princess style for her! He said he watched what the stylist was doing so he could recreate it. I mean what man even would think that way, right? I know I def wasn’t thinking that!
When we booked this trip we knew we wanted to do breakfast at 1900 Park Fare because we wanted Britt to get to meet one of her absolute favorites: Mary Poppins! Yes, you can meet Mary both in Epcot and MK but Zach and I LOVE character meals for meeting characters. It’s such a great way to do it without dealing with lines or feeling like you’re “wasting” park time. Britt LOVES to do character meetings (and doesn’t mind one bit about the lines) so she and I usually meet characters when the guys are riding the fast stuff at the parks…but that means Daddy misses her precious reactions so it’s another reason we favor character meals for the must-see character experiences!
Our Dapper Boy!
Mr Richard is a Grand Floridian legend!
We’re back…only about 12 hours later 😉
Tess was MUCH happier that morning than the prior evening. She was interested in the food and the environment! The good nights sleep and the meds def made a difference for her.
This time we were seated in the main dining room which I really liked! The atmosphere was prettier and it was super easy to get to the buffet which is a plus when you’re in a rush to grab food between characters 🙂
Tess LOVED all the animals and kept talking about all of them 🙂
Our service at both of the dinner experiences we’ve at at Park Fare has been less stellar than typical Disney experiences. I’m not sure why? Maybe we’ve just been unlucky both times! However our breakfast server was FANTASTIC. Zach swore he had a crush on me but whatever works because he was great! He brought out the cupcakes for Britt’s bday well before the characters came around. It was funny because our sweets loving kids turned down the cupcakes…it was just too early!
Tess got Alice in Wonderland for her birthday and has enjoyed watching it! When I picked out outfits for the kids I wanted Britt and Kye to resemble Mary Poppins and Bert but I wanted Tess to look the part for an Alice and Mad Hatter tea party 🙂
Speaking of their outfits:
Kye’s entire outfit was from The Children’s Place
Britt’s dress was from Ali Express (it ran pretty true to size. I ordered a 5 and Britt is a 5t)
Tess’s dress was also Ali Express (it ran small…I ordered the 3t which is a size from her normal size and had her wear it as a tunic as it was very short)
I plan to write a post at some point about Ali Express but it is all from China so be prepared for SLOW shipping times! The quality is hit or miss which is why I included DIRECT links to the exact dresses I purchased…both were fabulous quality. Especially Britt’s! It’s lined and everything and just BEAUTIFUL!
My dress is Old Navy, of course 🙂
Mary was PHENOMINAL. Just as Cinderella was amazing the night prior, Mary was just spot-on and so, so awesome. Britt was so proud to show off her dress (we had brought her Mary hat as well but the princess hair won out for her haha) and tell her all about her Mary Poppins birthday party!
Of course she adored Bert 😉
And it’s just my favorite thing when people get down on kid’s levels, ya know? It’s something I ALWAYS do and I appreciate when others do it as well. I know it made the moment more special for Tess to see her so up close. I try super hard to step back and just capture the moments of my children meeting characters. I love that they are having a special moment and I try to let them have it without interfering. I also take some time myself to meet my favs as well 😉
Zach cannot stand Winnie The Pooh. He has a weird thing against Winnie The Pooh and Thomas. I feel like it’s an anti-british accent thing or something subconscious he doesn’t even realize? But our kids haven’t ever seen Winnie. I wasn’t sure how Tess would do (and was thankful Mary and Alice were first) as a big huge fuzzy bear you’ve never seen before is quite frightening! She was cool with me touching him but didn’t want to herself. I tried singing the Winnie the Pooh song and basically just made a fool of myself b/c I can’t remember how it goes at all?
Probably THE best moment of the morning was something I didn’t myself see but just thinking about it cracks me up.
I saw someone in a Disney group share an idea they did for character autographs. They had characters sign wooden letters then hung them in their daughter’s princess room. Britt is getting a new room and wants a princess theme so I thought it’d be a great idea to copy. I bought wooden letters (you may see them in some of the pics) and brought them along. It was a tad bit of a pain but they did turn out great and Britt LOVED it. She was super super picky about who was allowed the privilege to sign them haha. I guess Winnie went to grab a letter to sign and Britt straight grabbed it out of his hand. Access denied hahaha
Kye LOVES being able to get whatever he wants from a buffet. And it was great sitting so close as we just let the kids do their thing. The gummy bears were a fav 😉
A lot of people talk about character meals being “too crazy” and I haven’t ever felt that way (I did on this trip, but not this meal! I will discuss at that point). Usually the characters are well spaced and you can still relax and enjoy the food and the company without feeling rushed! Tigger came by and I had to explain to the kids who he was. They LOVED him. It brought back great memories of MY childhood. I have an Aunt who LOVED Tigger! He was awesome and taught the big kids how to bounce like he does 😉
They have recently changed the Park Fare meal experience (and I read this morning actually that they’ve changed the dinner again as well) and Mad Hatter doesn’t walk around to tables but instead is stationary and after you are done eating you wait in line to meet him. I heard they now have this for Cinderella and Prince Charming.
I’m not sure my feelings on this?
I didn’t mind waiting for Mad Hatter because the wait was short and it was inside and we didn’t have anywhere to be. But a BIG advantage of the character dining (and what makes us justify the cost) is that there is NO line. Making everyone wait in line kinda defeats the purpose?
While Daddy. G-mama and Tess waited for Mad Hatter, I popped out into the garden with the big kids to get a quick pick with another Mary Poppins 😉
Even though we did have to wait in line…he did not rush at ALL and it was great having photo pass photographers there to capture all the moments so I could just enjoy it!
Mad Hatter was super hilarious and talked about Britt’s birthday and how since it wasn’t her REAL birthday that day then it was really her Un-Birthday and how he shared the same Un-Birthday as she did and as did Kye. I think it was too confusing for Britt but Kye ate it up 😉 He also told Kye that he needs to invest in a larger hat!
It’s HILARIOUS to me how Zach randomly decided to make silly faces like the Mad Hatter and of course it’s the pic when Mad Hatter was smiling normally haha
One of my favorite pics from the trip!
I had some people ask about Zach’s lack of theme in his attire haha. He’s usually so great about it that it is odd to see him not dressed to the max with the rest of us! In the planning he missed one of the meals we had planned and didn’t have a nice shirt and had packed the FSU one to wear to Disney Springs for the day since they played that night against UF 😉
Tess opted out of a meeting with him! My big kids are ALL about the pics with characters as they each work hard in-between our trips on their Disney books where we have pics of them with characters they meet alongside the signatures of the characters!
Even though we ate at the same restaurant two meals in a row they were completely different experiences! We all enjoyed the food, environments and characters at both! Plus getting that hefty annual pass holder discount didn’t hurt either 😉
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