Princess Plans // 2.25 ~ 3.5 {2019}

[DaddysPrincess]

Hello Friends!!​

And welcome to my plans it's officially less than 10 days til I have to make my ADRs. My crazy brain is overwhelmed and I have random notebooks filled with "potential plans" and notes about all the places I wanna eat and all the things I wanna try to do. It's time to put everything in one place so I can get a little organization. Figured having fellow DISers to comment their "tips/tricks/advice" would be helpful, as well.

Right now I am focusing mainly of food and where we want to be for the end-of-day shows. Once I book the ADRs, I'll have a better idea of which park(s) we'll be visiting on that day. As of now, we have 8 days booked, so that's 2 days for each park. We do have a park hopper, as well, and I imagine we'll probably average like 3 days at MK and AK; 1 day at DHS and Epcot. But we're gonna be all over the place
*be ready for lots of changes/tweaks to the plans*

The "Musts" (regarding food)​

~see HEA in front of the castle while eating an ice cream/snack
~see HEA from Ohanas/poly beach
~eat a Crystal Palace, Boma, BoG
~watch Illuminations from La Hacienda/Spice Rd Table (both would be lovely)
~get the RoL package and eat at Tusker

So there it is. I'll update as I plan. Any comments are

​

 

[DaddysPrincess]

A little background:
I just turned 30 on Aug 4th. My bday present was this trip spoiled, ik. It's just the bf and me going; we'll be in Tampa on the 23rd & 24th for a wedding so he figured "why not go to Disney, too" lol
He actually got me obsessed with Disney. I had never been and I figured I never would. I grew up really poor so we just didn't do stuff like that. Last Feb, we spontaneously went and I fell in love.
So here we are.
This time it'll actually be planned, we get to stay at Disney, we're getting the dining package and all that jazz!

Bf just put on Bolt to watch, so I'll have to update more tomorrow

{Edited for typos}

 

[Newsies]

Hi! I'm following along!

You have some great plans so far. La Hacienda has the most wonderful view of Illuminations!

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Hi! I'm following along!

You have some great plans so far. La Hacienda has the most wonderful view of Illuminations!

ty!!! I've only ever seen illuminations once and it wasn't a good view at all. So I'm very excited to be able to plan where I'll be to see them this time!!! Yay!
Thanks again for the follow

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Hello! I just saw your report. Sounds like you'll have a fun trip. Looking forward to reading all about your plans.

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Hello! I just saw your report. Sounds like you'll have a fun trip. Looking forward to reading all about your plans.

Hey!!! Thanks for joining

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Day 1 ~ Arrival {2.25}
We'll be staying at the Tradewinds resort on St Pete Beach the night before; the room is expensive so I'm thinking we're gonna chill there til checkout at least. We may even decide to stay at the beach after checkout, just to make sure we get our money's worth lol
Ofc they do not offer complimentary bfast and, depending on how pricey their restaurants are, we might eat our bfast elsewhere.
Orlando is about 2 hours away and I'm assuming we'll have a big, cheap lunch before actually hitting Disney property. That way, we can hopefully survive off a snack or QS meal; therefore, saving a TS credit for another day.
When we officially arrive I really don't want to feel rushed or like we have to be somewhere.. ik bf will appreciate that, too
I definitely wanna check out the guitar pool and explore the resorts, maybe grab a snack or a drink.
Before it gets too late, I'd like to get into MK. I think watching HEA on that first night will be a perfectly magical way to start this trip!
Ideally, I'd absolutely love to grab a spot at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor to watch HEA but I'm also probably not gonna want to sit there for an hour. Same with Casey's Corner. If the lines are crazy long at the places on Main St, we'll head over to Sleepy Hollow (gotta try that nutella waffle omg -- sidenote: thinking of paying OOP for this since I don't think it's snack credit eligible & is a bad QS value). I don't mind standing for the fireworks, either, as long as I can get a decent view I'm happy

After that, idek what! I'm sure we're gonna be too excited to just go sleep. Maybe we'll hit up Disney Springs. Or who knows.. maybe we'll want to sleep so Day 2 will come faster lol

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Joining in as well, since our plans overlap so much! 2/25-3/5 were my original dates, before SW released their flight schedules and the returns on 3/5 all stunk. I called hubby and said we just had to add another day, shucks.

~eat a Crystal Palace, Boma, BoG

I'm curious, why Crystal Palace? Maybe it's just because I'm envious that you get to plan without taking 5 year olds into account, but I know I wouldn't be doing CP if it weren't for the girls. Tusker, maybe, because the food's supposed to actually be good, but everything I'm seeing is that CP is mediocre at best, food-wise.

I definitely wanna check out the guitar pool and explore the resorts,

So, you guys are staying at All Star Music, then?

Ideally, I'd absolutely love to grab a spot at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor to watch HEA but I'm also probably not gonna want to sit there for an hour. Same with Casey's Corner.

Our plan is to find our spot in the Plaza Garden west side, leave hubby with the strollers, and then bring our sundaes back there to eat. There's nothing better than ice cream and fireworks!

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Joining in as well, since our plans overlap so much! 2/25-3/5 were my original dates, before SW released their flight schedules and the returns on 3/5 all stunk. I called hubby and said we just had to add another day, shucks.

yaaaay! & ty for the follow

I'm curious, why Crystal Palace? Maybe it's just because I'm envious that you get to plan without taking 5 year olds into account, but I know I wouldn't be doing CP if it weren't for the girls. Tusker, maybe, because the food's supposed to actually be good, but everything I'm seeing is that CP is mediocre at best, food-wise.

if it were totally up to me, I'd probably not go to CP. It's not the greatest TS credit, esp since there's no specialty drinks or alcohol. But my bf really wants to go bc of the atmosphere & he ate there once so it's probably kinda nostalgic for him. I may be able to convince him to do Cape May or Garden Grill tho. They at least have mimosas/bloody marys haha
But it really does look beautiful in there... we may pay OOP for CP and save the TS credit. And I have absolutely no interest in lunch/dinner there so bfast it is!

So, you guys are staying at All Star Music, then?

yup! It's perfect for my musician bf & it's also the cheapest! Score!

Our plan is to find our spot in the Plaza Garden west side, leave hubby with the strollers, and then bring our sundaes back there to eat. There's nothing better than ice cream and fireworks!

nice! What if we could meet up for it?! Probably would never work out haha but that would be cool

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

They at least have mimosas/bloody marys

You're in luck, CP has beer, wine, and mimosas as of earlier this year! We're planning for a 10:30 reservation so that we can enjoy the breakfast options and try a bit from lunch. We are generally using our TS as a lunch so we can have a midday break, but CP's breakfast looks way better than lunch/dinner, so we'll just do the latest breakfast we can.

What if we could meet up for it?!

We're not doing a park on arrival day, as I think, after the travel day, the girls will appreciate time by the pool. If you decide to switch HEA in the park to the next night, we could totally meet up

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Day 2 ~ Animal Kingdom {2.26}
I freakin loooove animals. AK is almost my fave park, it may even be tied with MK in my book. I worked as a vet tech for years so the veterinary portion of the park is so cool to me!
Now, if we don't manage to get into MK and see HEA the night before, this day will change to a MK day.. But as for now, if things go as planned...
I'm thinking bfast at Creature Comforts if we don't grab it at our resort. I wanna split the colossal Mickey cinnamon roll!! We are also hoping to get the Tusker RoL package so ig we could do that for lunch but idk, I think I'd rather save that for dinner. What are your experiences, guys? Is it best for dinner? Or do you feel rushed to get to RoL?
For lunch I'd rather hit up Flame Tree or Satu' li. I'm thinking we should probably save Flame Tree for the day we don't eat at Tusker. That sounds like waaay too much eating lol
Ig Satul' li is proper food so if we chose to have Tusker for lunch, this could work for dinner. Plus, I want to be in Pandora at night to see how beautiful it is

**I'm probably gonna edit this one a few times**

 

[DaddysPrincess]

You're in luck, CP has beer, wine, and mimosas as of earlier this year! We're planning for a 10:30 reservation so that we can enjoy the breakfast options and try a bit from lunch. We are generally using our TS as a lunch so we can have a midday break, but CP's breakfast looks way better than lunch dinner, so wel we'll just do the latest breakfast we can.

yaaaas this makes me happy!! And I 100% agree, their non-bfast food looks totally boring and bland.

We're not doing a park on arrival day, as I think, after the travel day, the girls will appreciate time by the pool. If you decide to switch HEA in the park to the next night, we could totally meet up

!!!! Wouldn't it be cool to meet a fellow DISer?! Ik our schedules will be very different since you have little ones and we don't but hey, maybe we can work something out! Like lunch or go ride rides together! I'm always down for making new friends, esp on vacation. In fact, that's why we're gonna be in FL in the first place. The couple who invited us to their wedding are friends that we met on a cruise last June!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

What are your experiences, guys? Is it best for dinner? Or do you feel rushed to get to RoL?

They require that your reservation be at least 3 hours before your schedule RoL showing, so the latest dinner you can get is 4 or 4:15. No rush to get to RoL, but a weird dinner time. If you want to book later than that, it can't be on the RoL package.

Like lunch or go ride rides together!

Uh oh, be careful what you're offering! We've got a few MK rides where our rider math is off because we only have two adults to three kids under 7. You may just get recruited to be our extra adults for Barnstormer and 7DMT.

 

[DaddysPrincess]

They require that your reservation be at least 3 hours before your schedule RoL showing, so the latest dinner you can get is 4 or 4:15. No rush to get to RoL, but a weird dinner time. If you want to book later than that, it can't be on the RoL package.

jeez, yeah that's quite early. I feel like we'd probably consider that as lunch anyway lol

Uh oh, be careful what you're offering! We've got a few MK rides where our rider math is off because we only have two adults to three kids under 7. You may just get recruited to be our extra adults for Barnstormer and 7DMT.

hey I may actually be down for that! Idek what ride that is lol but I'm trying to ride everything!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Idek what ride that is lol but I'm trying to ride everything!

They are both roller coasters in Magic Kingdom. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is super popular, Barnstormer is much less so. Both only allow two people to sit next to each other and, since our girls are all under 7 years old, they must be accompanied by an adult at all times on all rides. On Seven Dwarfs, the CMs will often let a parent sit behind two children and call that "accompanying" them, so we may be ok unless we get a super strict CM. On Barnstormer, the rule is always one adult and one kid per row. Unless we happen to bump into someone with an extra adult, we'll end up having to ride swap three times to get each of the girls a chance to ride.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Day 1 ~ Arrival {2.25}
We'll be staying at the Tradewinds resort on St Pete Beach the night before; the room is expensive so I'm thinking we're gonna chill there til checkout at least. We may even decide to stay at the beach after checkout, just to make sure we get our money's worth lol
Ofc they do not offer complimentary bfast and, depending on how pricey their restaurants are, we might eat our bfast elsewhere.
Orlando is about 2 hours away and I'm assuming we'll have a big, cheap lunch before actually hitting Disney property. That way, we can hopefully survive off a snack or QS meal; therefore, saving a TS credit for another day.

We love St. Pete Beach and had family there for several years. The beaches are so nice in that area. If you're looking for places to eat or hang out, we can recommend:

1) Caddy's on the Beach - great beach bar; good drinks and food; right on the beach; live music sometimes; decent prices

2) Crabby Bill's - fun restaurant near the Tradewinds, gorgeous stretch of beach; yummy food

3) Ka'tiki - beach bar near Caddy's, good drinks/great prices - usual bar food - they used to do a decent breakfast, but it no longer looks like that's the case

4) The Blue Parrot - fantastic breakfast!!!!! they have other food, too, but we think it's the best breakfast on the island

Unfortunately, it looks like our favorite nicer restaurants are no longer there or have changed names/owners, so I don't want to recommend w/o having tried more recently.

If you have time and want to explore the area a little, John's Pass on nearby Madeira Beach can be a fun outing. Lots of restaurants, bars, shops, etc. on a boardwalk. Also, the Don Cesar is worth a peek. They have an ice cream parlor and different dining or bar options if you want to spend a little time there.

Have you ever been to St. Pete Beach? If it's your first time, you're in for a treat. If you've been before, then most likely none of what I've listed will be new to you.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Day 2 ~ Animal Kingdom {2.26}
I freakin loooove animals. AK is almost my fave park, it may even be tied with MK in my book. I worked as a vet tech for years so the veterinary portion of the park is so cool to me!
Now, if we don't manage to get into MK and see HEA the night before, this day will change to a MK day.. But as for now, if things go as planned...
I'm thinking bfast at Creature Comforts if we don't grab it at our resort. I wanna split the colossal Mickey cinnamon roll!! We are also hoping to get the Tusker RoL package so ig we could do that for lunch but idk, I think I'd rather save that for dinner. What are your experiences, guys? Is it best for dinner? Or do you feel rushed to get to RoL?
For lunch I'd rather hit up Flame Tree or Satu' li. I'm thinking we should probably save Flame Tree for the day we don't eat at Tusker. That sounds like waaay too much eating lol
Ig Satul' li is proper food so if we chose to have Tusker for lunch, this could work for dinner. Plus, I want to be in Pandora at night to see how beautiful it is

**I'm probably gonna edit this one a few times**

We like doing a late breakfast at Tusker House so we can have the best of both worlds - breakfast and lunch! Lots of people seem to know this trick, though, so the perfect time can be difficult to reserve sometimes.

I think I would save Flame Tree for a non-Tusker House day. They are both a lot of food.

I haven't been to Satu'li yet, but I have heard very good things about the build your own bowl meals there. It sounds like that would be a proper, healthy meal and potentially lighter fare than Flame Tree.

 

[DaddysPrincess]

On Barnstormer, the rule is always one adult and one kid per row. Unless we happen to bump into someone with an extra adult, we'll end up having to ride swap three times to get each of the girls a chance to ride.

yeah that's a lot of waiting in line. I'm gonna say we probably could join you guys for it + some other rides if it works out. I'm not gonna 100% guarantee it but since our schedule is pretty flexible, it's likely Aaaaaaaah February needs to get here now!!!

Have you ever been to St. Pete Beach? If it's your first time, you're in for a treat. If you've been before, then most likely none of what I've listed will be new to you.

no this is our first time!!! It really does look so nice there, I can't wait! Idk what our budget will be like (the room is over $200/night) since we're probably gonna try to save it all for Disney but I'm sure we'll find a place to eat the night before the wedding... and possibly bfast. Thanks for your recommendations now I'm gonna go look at their websites lol idk why but I love looking at the potential food we may eat

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Day 3 ~ Epcot {2.27}
The main thing I'm looking forward to in Epcot is THE FOOD! Last time we went we didn't have extra money to spend so we barely ventured into World Showcase. We were literally done with Epcot by noon, left and ate somewhere off the parks, and returned to watch Illuminations. That was a horrible idea lol we spent more money on gas and stupid tolls than we would have getting a meal. Lesson learned. tbh staying off property is probably just as much as a value resort just because of the dang tolls and gas and parking! we were super last minute tho so the only room they had available was like $600/night haha **sidenote: don't trust the groupon reviews for the Pink Flamingo hotel (i think thats what it was called).. it wasn't the worse but.... yeah**
ANYWAY
For breakfast I definitely want to check out Les Halles. Ice never had a macaroon and they just look so fancy. I'm secretly hoping to maybe just get the box of all the pretty colored ones but i won't count on it. I kind of want a mimosa here lol so i may end up using a QS credit rather than a snack. We shall see I'm also considering going to Garden Grill one morning but I'm not sure which one yet. if dinner the night before was light/not too late (like if we went to Satu 'li) i think Garden Grill would be a good choice. For lunch I'm thinking Refreshment Port. I really wanna try those fries with the Le Cellier bacon cheese soup on them. If i'm not feeling those, tho, i know theres about a million places to grab something so i'm not too worried about that meal. For dinner I want to either be at La Hacienda or Spice Road. I'm thinking La Hacienda on this particular day because it's a weekday and La Hac is way more popular than Spice. I think it'll be easy to get a good table at Spice Road even on the weekend. They both have good views of Illuminations so i'm hoping to snag that perfectly timed reservation.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

If i'm not feeling those, tho, i know theres about a million places to grab something so i'm not too worried about that meal.

Disney hasn't announced next year's flower and garden dates, yet, but it usually starts right around this time. If so, then, in addition to the regular food, there will be lots of booths throughout the WS with small portion savory and sweet options that count as a snack credit. It's a GREAT use of snack credits and a few snacks can easily replace a meal.