Trip Report The Fairytale & Dream Come True-May 2013 DFTW/Honeymoon TR

The Fairytale & Dream Come True-May 2013 DFTW & Honeymoon Report​

Welcome to the very best trip report EVER!!!!! I can’t believe I’m sitting here writing this when I’ve been married for over two months now…yep that’s right! I went down to the happiest place on earth and got married!! Oh aaaannd I went on my very first cruise! (Apologies to my cruise ladies…that was supposed to be my first cruise, but I made a cruise a first for me and my husband!) So thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy! Here we go!!!!!!

WHEN: May 18-May 28, 2013

WHERE: May 18-23: The Boardwalk Inn, May 23-26: Disney Dream, May 26-28: Art of Animation: Little Mermaid room

WHO: There were a lot of characters that made appearances during this trip! Myself, my now husband Mike (who hasn’t been to the world since he was 12 and he is now 26), Mom (who you know from my many previous trip reports), Dad (his first trip EVER and first time to FL), Memere & Pepere (my grandparents whom are lovers of Disney & resided in FL for a few winters), Aunt (tagged along to help the grandparents), Mom-in-law & Dad-in-law (Mike’s parents), Brother & his gf (Mike’s brother and his gf tagged along for the journey too! It was her first time to WDW and they had a blast!)

Now everyone pretty much came in on the 18th and left on the 22nd (except us). The other characters will make appearances in a few places but I’ll only post a picture of us for now.

Mike and I right after we got engaged in Seabrook, NH on the Beach on August 12, 2012.

A little background on Mike and I and this decision before I begin…Mike and I have been together for almost 5 years now. We met in college through a mutual friend and the rest is history I knew there was something about him from the moment I laid eyes on him, and fortunately he felt the same about me. I did warn him about my Disney addiction way in the beginning & said if we get married it will be in Disney World. I guess he didn’t mind because well he let my dream come true! We were originally planning on getting married in March 2014, but since we were both already out of school and had full time jobs…we figured why not sooner! So about 7 months before the big day in October…we decided to get married in Disney World in May! We were so excited to get planning and thought it was so far away! But my, did the time come very fast! Thank you for tuning in and I hope you enjoy it!

Note: I did not take notes on this trip at all I was having too much fun to stop and write so this is going all from my pictures and memory!

During the wedding days of the trip, we used these awesome Times Guides that @HollyBelle made for us!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!! Everyone loved them!!!

We bought some new suitcases & luggage tags for this trip

Our pre-trip package from the awesome Tammy at Kingdom Konsultants!!

 

[fractal]

Amazing and Beautiful!

Great job by Jason for capturing those images. I felt like I was invited to the wedding!

Congrats again!

 

[AJ's B]

I love your report and can't wait for more. You are a gorgeous couple!! The pictures are phenomenal! I wish they had Disney weddings when I got married in 75. I honeymooned there at the Contemporary North wing which is where BLT now stands. Hopefully you too will be making Disney memories for years to come. It's such a part of our lives as we have travelled there so many times with our daughters and son-in-law. We now bring our 6 year old grandson with us and enjoy every second of seeing Disney through his eyes.

 

[ejsanta13]

Southeast!

Loving all the MA WDWMagicers. Merrimack Valley here!!

 

[mousefreak]

Congratulations!!! I've always loved reading your reports, and now getting to read about your wedding and honeymoon at Disney is extra special.

 

[mcstensrud]

Love Love Love Your Wedding Photos!
So happy for you
Congrats

 

[pumpkin7]

You're pictures are amazing. You both looked lovely. Really enjoying your Disneymoon Report! More please!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Amazing and Beautiful!

Great job by Jason for capturing those images. I felt like I was invited to the wedding!

Congrats again!

Thank you so much again! Glad you felt like you were at the wedding! That's where I was trying to go with it! Jason really did take gorgeous pictures!

I love your report and can't wait for more. You are a gorgeous couple!! The pictures are phenomenal! I wish they had Disney weddings when I got married in 75. I honeymooned there at the Contemporary North wing which is where BLT now stands. Hopefully you too will be making Disney memories for years to come. It's such a part of our lives as we have travelled there so many times with our daughters and son-in-law. We now bring our 6 year old grandson with us and enjoy every second of seeing Disney through his eyes.

Thank you so very much!!!!!!!! I've stayed at the Contemporary North wing before, crazy to remember what used to be there where BLT now is. Since you didn't have a wedding maybe you can have a vow renewal in 2015!

Loving all the MA WDWMagicers. Merrimack Valley here!!

WOOHOOOO!!!!

Congratulations!!! I've always loved reading your reports, and now getting to read about your wedding and honeymoon at Disney is extra special.

Thank you so much! And thank you so much for reading all of my reports! Didn't realize I've had this many followers for all my reports! Glad I could share it with all of you!

Love Love Love Your Wedding Photos!
So happy for you
Congrats

Thank you so much!!!!!!!

You're pictures are amazing. You both looked lovely. Really enjoying your Disneymoon Report! More please!!

Thank you!!!!!! More posted tonight!!!!

 

[38053WDW]

Danny, our awesome wedding coordinator for our wedding, came up to grab the sand ceremony box and Jason went with him to take some pictures of Mike.

Before I even realized, it was my turn to go down into the lobby. Mike and the rest of my family were already at Sea Breeze Point waiting for me.

Jason headed down to SBP to take some pictures while I stayed in the lobby for a bit with my dad and Danny, I was just so excited for all this to get started!

Mike looking off into the distance waiting to turn around.

Our beautiful cake. (before the mickeys started melting)

“I See the Light” from Tangled was what I walked down the aisle too. Couldn’t have been more perfect.

Our wedding officiant was Rev. Tim Herring. We were originally booked with Rev. Jack Day, but he had to cancel 4 days before due to his wife needing emergency surgery. He got Rev. Tim to take over for him. The one thing that I realized halfway through the ceremony which I tried not to think about was I had pieced together a ceremony from what Rev. Jack gave us and tweaked a few of the words to match us as a couple. I was told Rev. Tim had everything and would perform that ceremony. Unfortunately, he did not and did something that I did not recognize. I didn’t say anything at all and didn’t make a big deal about it, because in the end that didn’t matter. What mattered was I married the love of my life at the place where dreams come true and nothing was going to ruin that.

During the ceremony I remember looking at Mike, laughing a few times because here we are just staring at each other LOL. And you know something…I didn’t even cry at my own wedding, by I cried at my friend’s the other month! Weird. I think I was just way too happy to cry!

Exchanging our rings. His says “Faithful and True” Mine says “Devoted to You” They are lyrics from a song called “From La To Rome” by Chester See who is a youtube artist
This is the song we really wanted as our first dance but it would have been impossible to get sheet music for this song from him. So we danced to it at our at home reception instead.

Was that a candy castle on top of the cake? My wife would love that cake ! Pictures are excellent !

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Was that a candy castle on top of the cake? My wife would love that cake ! Pictures are excellent !

It was actually a white chocolate castle on top Which is still sitting in my freezer and still yummy!

And thank you! Thanks for reading and following along!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Welcome to the next installment!

Wednesday May 22nd-Bridal Portrait Day!

Mike and I were up bright and early before the 4 o clock hour so I could get my hair done! Since I loved Priscila so much from the day before that I called to have her come again this morning since she was available! So she came back again and did my hair, basically the same just a little bit different.

After Priscila was finished, Mom came up to help me with my dress. While getting dressed we got a call from Mike Strictland our photographer from Disney Event Photography, that he was on his way. We were downstairs waiting in the lobby at 5:40. Less than 5 minutes later Mike and his assitants Jennifer and Jonathan pulled up and met us in the lobby. They were very surprised that we were already ready. I guess a lot of brides are usually running late. But this was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss for sure!!!!

So we were on our way 15 minutes early! Woohoo!!!! In the car ride over we got along really well with all three of them and had some great coversation about life and Disney and what we were about to do. Before we knew it we were heading down a road behind the Magic Kingdom…ya it was pretty awesome. Supposedly we were supposed to enter behind Splash Mountain, but they were doing some work over there and had it blocked, so Mike told us the only way in was right up Main Street. Mike and I looked at each other and we’re like really? In a car? And sure enough we entered from where the parade enters on the side of the barber shop and right up Main Street we went….um pinch me now. Ya this was turning out to be the coolest experience ever! I rode in a regular car up Main Street! We parked over in Liberty Square and while Mike set up his equipment I just took everything all in. There were construction vehicles everywhere, not too many but enough that you could see people painting, repairing, all to make it show ready for the day’s guests. I LOVED it. It didn’t ruin any magic at all for me, I actually thought it made it that much more special to see what people do day in and day out so others can enjoy the park. I appreciate them keeping it in tip top shape!

Next, the coolest thing EVER happened. Jen came over and asked me “So do you want to turn on the castle?!” Um Yes Please. Through an app no less. She called a few numbers, tapped a few buttons and told me to touch some button on her phone…I actually think it was the number 1. And Voila! I just turned the castle lights on!!!!! I was so excited I just couldn’t contain it. Before I bombard you with all the beautiful pictures from this shoot, I want to say we opted out of that mote picture where the bride and groom stand at the bottom and look like ants next to the castle. 1. It was waaaaay too swampy down there due to the rain we had the day before. 2. I don’t really care for that picture all too much, personally. I was told that the other couple that was there that morning ended up doing the mote shot. But we are very very happy with what came out of Mike’s camera and hope you enjoy! All the credit goes to Mike Strictland and his crew of Disney Event Photography!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I would have told you which one was my favorite, but honestly I have too many! Our session ended at 7:30 am right on the dot. In total we got 80 pictures. I didn’t post them all just because more or less they were the same with just different poses. When we were leaving I heard over an intercom system in the park that people were to move out of Liberty Square, Main Street, and a few other places so the park can be show ready. It was pretty cool to just see everyone start to pack up and leave. We walked back to Mike’s car parked in front of the Liberty Belle and got in. I couldn’t believe our session came to a close and we were leaving a completely empty Magic Kingdom. There really isn’t anything more peaceful than MK right before it opens. We went out behind Splash Mountain and Frontierland. Before we knew it, we were back at the Boardwalk lobby saying our goodbyes. We had a great time and I am so happy with our pictures and everything. It was overall a great experience and totally worth all the money we paid for it definitely.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

We went back up to the room and got ready for the day. We headed down because we were meeting everyone for chocolate and cake for breakfast!!!!! It was really nice since it was pretty much everyone’s last day there to get together and eat the cake from the day before with our awesome chocolate castle (which both are in the freezer right now still edible!)

Dad is standing up, Mike and his parents are towards the back, Memere and Pepere are up close.

After spending some time with everyone, we said our goodbyes. Mom, Dad, Memere, Pepere, and Aunt were going to finish cleaning up since they had to check out at 11. DME was picking them up at around 2.

We decided to head over to the Studios!

A Magical Day Indeed.

One of my favorite pictures I took this trip

We first stopped at Mickey’s of Hollywood so we could return the Mickey and Minnie bride and groom stuffed animal we bought at the beginning of the trip after we got a free one yesterday. We checked the wait board and saw Star Tours had a short 10 minute wait so we headed there!

I kinda miss the old pre-show…

I believe we went to the Ice Planet? I can’t remember for the life of me…one of these days I will watch all the movies! We headed towards Muppets next!

Another mirror shot!

When we got off we were really hungry. There really wasn’t anywhere we wanted to eat at the Studios, so we hopped on a boat and over to EPCOT! Have I told you how much I love the boats and how I can just go between two parks as I please?

Our destination: The Katsura Grill up in Japan

OMG. I would eat here again in a hearbeat! We got the Teriakyi Beef and Sweet and Sour Chicken with White Rice and Veggies. Holy Smokes they were both sooooooo goood. I wish I would have discovered this earlier!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

We just sat for a few minutes after we finished eating and enjoyed our view.

We kept on our way to hit up Maelstrom. Mike was excited!

We watched a little bit of the history of Norway and continued on our way to visit the Three Caballeros!

Let’s just say I don’t think Mike will ever go on that ride again. He thought it was awful hahaha, which to be completely honest, I don’t like it either. He actually remembered what it used to look like before which was awesome and he said he remembered he didn’t like it then either. LOL.

We walked back towards International Gateway to get back to the room and relax before heading to the Grand Floridian for our dinner at Victoria and Albert’s!

We got back at the right time too…we sat on a bench for not even 5 minutes and it started to drizzle…

We spotted Mike’s parents sitting on the chairs in front of the lobby outside so we joined them for a little while to watch the rain. They mentioned they saw my parents, and rest of my family leave right before they left for the DME.

We headed up to the room and this is what we saw out our window…

We went down to the bus stop for the MK right after 4…mind you it was still downpouring like crazy and here we were dressed to the nines taking a bus…we actually got quite a few stares. So we thought we were at the bus stop in plenty of time to catch a bus…right??? Well lets just say about 5 Animal Kingdom buses, 3 EPCOT buses and 2 Studios buses (due to the downpour, storm no boats were running so they had buses) and 3 DTD ones came by with no MK. We waited there until 5 minutes past 5…so basically we were out there for an hour waiting for a stupid bus. We knew we would never make it since the bus probably stopped at the Swan and Dolphin too. We walked back up the path (and of course this is when we FINALLY saw a MK bus pull up but it didn’t matter now) and called for a taxi. It was so much better than taking a bus and we pulled up right to the Grand Floridian lobby. Luckily, we had a good driver who talked to us about dinner and about the rain, etc. Surprisingly it was only $18 to go from the Boardwalk to the Grand. Not bad we thought. And we made it there at 5:15!

I couldn’t believe I was actually eating here, we were very excited but really nervous at the same time because we had NO idea what to expect.

We were greeted with an open door and welcoming smile.The hostess congratulated us and welcomed us to Victoria & Albert’s. PINCH ME.

We were led into the Queen Victoria room, which I thought was really cool since I didn’t request this at all! They sat us and I was told I could take as many pictures as I wanted (was it that easy to tell I wanted to take pictures?)

What happened next was a disaster. I went to put my camera on top of my bag…which is on top of a foot rest…seriously? I get a chair just for my purse? This is AMAZING. Well, I ended up knocking over my glass of water and made a mess. I was so embarrassed! The hostess came back over and moved us to another table. I was so embarrassed and kept apologizing but she just smiled and said not to worry it happens. Mike and I could also not stop laughing….hmm so much for being fancy huh? Ya we felt a little out of place I’m not going to lie.

Next our waiter Dan, and assistant waiter Shaun (the BEST WAITER EVER! Shoutout to Shaun from V&A’s from the Raposa’s! If we EVER went back I would totally request to have him.) They were explaining things to us…and honestly I don’t think we had a single clue what they were talking about (too much fancy talk). I think they realized that this was our first time here and kinda toned it down a bit. They handed us a beautiful personalized menu and started explaining…

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Since this was a once in a lifetime experience, we both got the wine pairings since otherwise we had no idea what to get. (Oh and the prices for some of the extra food and wine was OUTRAGEOUS. Fancy food was totally new to us.) I have no idea what the wine was that we had with each course, but my word they don’t call it wine pairings for nothing, you could actually tell that it complemented each dish nicely. Throughout the whole meal Shaun and Dan were coming back and forth and chatted to us asking about ourselves and we asked about them. We were impressed with all they knew and absolutely loved them. So now for the best part!!! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. Hands down the BEST food I have EVER had in my life. I just can’t stop talking about it and I wish I could be there right now…I just wish it wasn’t such an expensive meal…..I will go course by course and tell you right from the menu what we had. Sometimes we really had no idea what we were eating, but EVERYTHING was sooo good so I’ll let the pictures show you…..

Course 1: Amuse-Bouche-we both had this there was no other option. What tiny spoons!

Course 2: Roasted Duck with Mango Vinaigrette and Lavosh-we both had this

Course 3: Alaskan Halibut with Yellow Tomato Bouillon and Almonds-we both had this

Course 4:
Myself: Veal Tenderloin and Cheek with Petite Celery

Mike: Braised Oxtail and Cherry Ravioli with Roasted Red Peppers

Course 5:
Myself: Onion Ash Crusted Niman Ranch Lamb with Sauce Soubise and Ramps

Mike: Mangalitsa Pork with Roasted Beets and Toasted Caraway Vinaigrette

Course 6:
Myself: White Chocolate Gelato with Tableside Shavings

Mike: Cheese Plate…the real names are waaaay too long

Right after Course 6 Shaun brought out the coffee….um by now I’ve had a little bit too much wine to drink and I was SUPER fascinated with this coffeemaker…I was rambling on and on how I’m an engineer and I love how things like this work...haha. But seriously…this was THE coolest coffee maker I’ve EVER seen and it was the best Coffee I’ve EVER had.

Course 7:
Myself: Caramelized Banana Gateau

Mike: Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee

More Coffee!!!

I swear this is the coolest thing ever.

Cute little cup

At the end of the dinner, they gave me a rose and gave us a little baggie with some pumpkin orange something bread and our personalized menus!

A picture of us at our table

We paid the bill, said our thank yous and good byes to Shaun and Dan, and the hostess on the way out took our pictures, don’t mind us we’re a little wine happy right now! Shaun even asked us if he needed to call us a cab to bring us back…we said nope we’re taking the monorail to EPCOT!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

The band was striking up in the lobby

Monorail red was taking us to the TTC!

Beautiful sunset taking place as we were heading over

Monorail Orange to EPCOT!

OOOOOOOOHHH AAAAAHHHHH

When we got there I texted @enchanted_belle that we were there and going to meet her to watch Illuminations! So off we went towards Mexico!

We met Courtney and her boyfriend just in time to watch Illuminations!!!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

After Illuminations we hung around chatting waiting for the crowd to pass. We took numerous amounts of pictures because we just couldn’t get it right! Hahaha but here are two of the best ones!

We said our goodbyes and headed back towards International Gateway and our home at the Boardwalk.

There was a magician doing some tricks on the Boardwalk so we stopped to watch him for a few minutes

When we arrived at our room we had a little present!!! A letter from the Disney Cruise Line telling us about our cruise tomorrow!!!!!! We were so excited for this! Our luggage was getting picked up at 8 and our bus was coming for us at 1130!!!!!!!!

We went to visit Mike’s parents to drop off some last minute stuff for them to take on their car ride back with them and said our goodbyes since they were leaving tomorrow, their vacation wasn’t over though they were stopping at a few places on the drive back home!

We hit the sack for our last night at the Boardwalk, but we were excited to begin our cruise the next day!!!!

The next installment of this report will most likely be Tuesday night, so stay tuned for the awesomest honeymoon EVER!!!!!!

 

[tiaragirl]

Ughhh this is amazing and I'm up way too late but I haven't had wireless because I've been at the house and now I'm at the cottage.. my life is so complicated *EXTRA BIG SIGH* and I just realized I didn't email you back again but I'm glad you got your $$ and that you posted this while I'm still in the country.

UM GORGEOUS BRIDE MUCH? Your pictures are stunning and it looks like it was the most amazing of days. I still love the jacket-over-the-head picture Beauties, both of you, and the biggest congrats and the most amount of love and luck in your life together.

But I know you'll be fine, because you have purple nails and a big heart.

Can I just say that I muchly approve of your "See The Light" choice, and I believe that it would be my dancing song with "Go The Distance" being my aisle song? I've thought this through. I've also informed Andrew. He just nods at me and reminds me that I'm going to China. However, he did mention that he got an email from Air Canada with a sweet deal on flights to Beijing "or I could just save it and we could go to DIsney when you get back". Promising.

You looked lovely at Vic and Al's - food looks/sounds weird but you can tell it would be the yummiest! I'm so with you on the fancy food thing, and I wouild have spilled a glass of water too.. don't stress.

Okay, cruise please. You have 4 days.

XOXO

 

[diddy_mouse]

Not gonna lie...instant tears from those wedding pics. So beautiful!

Big congrats (again) to you both and I wish you many many happy years together! Oh and I could totally hear that music playing as you walked down the aisle. Solo violin is awesome. I went all classical on my wedding day and had a trio play a Bach piece (one of my favorites) while I walked down. But I think if I were to choose a Disney song it would have been "Whole New World"

I definitely have to hang out around the Boardwalk again. All your pictures make it look so fabulous and inviting. *makes note for February trip*

 

[sweetpee_1993]

No idea WHY I'm just NOW reading this but I'm glad in a way because I didn't have to wait for the good parts...the wedding stuff...V&As...etc. Absolutely loved it all! You're both adorable and your day was so beautiful. Sometimes I'm sorta wistful for the big wedding I never had but then I'm okay in the feeling that it just wouldn't be me to do it that way. You totally rocked every little detail, tho. Go on with your bad*ss bridal self! Woot!

V&As totally reminds me of Remy. Isn't the special plushy stool just for your purse to sit on the most brilliant thing ever??? I'm no fan of wine normally but I'm interested enough in how it's "paired" that I'd like to try a special dining experience again just to give my inner wine-o another shot. LOL!

Can't wait to see what you thought of your cruise! And REALLY can't wait to SEE you ON the cruise next month!

 

[stevehousse]

Great wedding and trip to V n As! I have to say I am a little jealous! Me and my fiancé have wanted to get married in Disney for a whole now, and everything you did looks perfect! Also, I totally understand if you do not want to reveal, but I have wanted to eat at V n As forever and was wondering how much your meal ended up costing you? It looked all so yummy an would love to take my girl there someday!

Can't wait to read more!