WDW Honeymoon Recap- 3/29/13

Friday March 29th, we set out on a mission to cross things off of our honeymoon trip "to do" list.  We really wanted to eat at Be Our Guest for lunch.  I was also dying to go over to the Wedding Pavilion to take a few photos.  We wore our "Bride" and "Groom" shirts from our wedding week, I grabbed my custom headband and we were off!

We knew we'd need to know if there were any weddings or rehearsals going on at the Wedding Pavilion.  If there aren't any, Disney allows guests on the private island to look inside the pavilion.  Before anything else, we headed over to the the Grand Floridian so we could check the schedule for the day.

We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then hopped on the resort monorail.  I was pretty excited to go back to visit where we had our wedding festivities!  The Grand Floridian was a sight for sore eyes.  It was how we started our wedding day since we took photos there before the ceremony.   I stopped to reminisce at the staircase with Cinderella's coach where I had my pre-ceremony Bridal Portraits done.

While we were walking around the Grand Floridian lobby, we stumbled across the Easter Egg display.  It was incredible!  I couldn't believe it was all made with candy!

Eliot and I both took a ton of photos.

Then, we headed over to the Wedding Pavilion.  We passed where Cinderella's Coach picked me up to take me to my wedding.  On the walk over, we passed the construction of the new DVC location between the Grand Floridian and Wedding Pavilion.  We arrived at our destination and got the Wedding Pavilion's schedule.  We decided that we would go back that afternoon or evening.

Next up: crossing of getting lunch at Be Our Guest!  By the time we got to the restaurant, it was about a 30-40 minute wait for lunch.  Not too bad!

While we were in line, I took some photos with the gargoyles.  One of the cast members also gave us a lunch menu so we could decide what we wanted.  (This also helped everyone order faster when they finally reached that point.)

We finally got inside and were given our "enchanted rose" so the waiters knew what table we sat down at.  We ordered our steak sandwiches, drinks and dessert and then went to hunt down a table.  We had been told the West Wing was the best room to sit in. It was fun and interactive, but also hard to see your food because it was so dark in there!

While we waited for our food to arrive, we looked around at the Prince's (Beast's) Portrait and the Enchanted Rose.  The Enchanted Rose was beautiful and the petals actually drop!  We also enjoyed watching the Prince's Portrait when lightning strikes!

A few minutes later, our lunch was served.  We enjoyed our steak sandwiches with french fries.  Our desserts were delicious!  Eliot got the lemon raspberry cupcake and I tried the strawberry.  We loved the awesome souvenir goblets we splurged on. We hadn't bought any drinks on the trip- except for Eliot's slurpie at Downtown Disney.  We decided we would have spent at least that much on regular drinks anyways. It was more fun to get the awesome New Fantasyland goblets to take home.  They light up too!

After we finished lunch, we went to explore the rest of the restaurant.  The Ballroom was really beautiful!  It's just like you're walking through the movie!  The ceiling and chandeliers are breathtaking.  There's even snow "falling" through the windows at the end of the Ballroom.  We also went into the Rose Gallery to take a few photos.  It's a lot more quiet in there.  The walls are lined with paintings and tapestries of Beauty and the Beast. There's also a giant Music Box in the center of the Rose Gallery.

It was definitely worth the 30-40 minute wait to have this experience.  Before we left, Eliot and I stopped to take a picture with the Beauty and the Beast mosaic.

On the way out, we took a few more photos of the beautiful waterfall and stream.  I also snapped a few close ups of one of the gargoyles!

We decided to go back to Pop Century to prepare for our Wedding Pavilion photo shoot! On our way out, we stopped at Cinderella Castle for another photo.  I really wanted a few photos with my custom ear headband!

We also stopped at the Train Station.  Cheers!

We got back to Pop Century and took a break.  Eliot napped and I worked on project ear hat until both of the hats were completed!

Back to the Wedding Pavilion we go!  We took a few photos over on the pathway while the last rehearsal of the day finished up in the Pavilion.  

On our wedding day, we didn't have time to take pictures with the pavilion in the background so I wanted to get a few for our album.  We also took some fun shots with our wedding rings and handprints in the sand.

We headed over the bridge to the private island and Disney's Wedding Pavilion!  The space is absolutely beautiful.  I got shivers when entering it.  We're SO lucky to have gotten married here!!!  We took a few photos of the architectural design details.  I love the hearts on the end of the pews and the hidden Mickeys in the air vents.  (My inner designer got the best of me yet again!)

We set our hats up at the altar and took a few photos with them.  I had brought one of our invitations and a small Cinderella slipper as photo props.  (I also wanted photos of the hats for Happily Ever Hatter.)

It was a nice to be back at the place where "Happily Ever After" started!  It was a great experience during our honeymoon trip.  We even got to talk to another Disney bride and groom while we were there.  They were so excited about our custom t-shirts that they insisted taking pictures of us.  (It was a little bit awkward, but flattering!)

We finished up with our hat photos and took a quick "selfie" together before heading out. Goodbye until next time Wedding Pavilion!

Back at the Grand Floridian, we passed by the windows where I had the rest of my bridal portraits taken.  I took a quick picture of it, but it was getting dark out at that point.

We went back to Pop Century to drop off Eliot's nice camera and our hats.  While we were there, we caught some of the fireworks from IllumiNations from our hotel room.  

We grabbed our sweatshirts and headed back over to the Magic Kingdom.  In the Pop elevator, our little mascot friend decided he was hungry and wanted a sandwich! (Eliot leaned up against the wall and this was the result.)  It was pretty funny.

Then we went back to the Magic Kingdom to see Wishes!  (And I channeled my inner Katy Perry and made a creative status for Facebook.)

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight.  
I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish, I wish tonight.  
We'll make a wish, and do as dreamers do, and all our wishes, will come true.

We wanted to have a good view for Celebrate the Magic- the nighttime spectacular that replaced the The Magic, the Memories and You.  So when Wishes was over, we pushed ahead through the crowds leaving to grab a good spot near the Partners Statue.  We took a PhotoPass picture on the way over.

We got a place to sit right at the statue.  I was pretty pumped.  Eliot got his camera ready to record the show and we made sure our stow away was secure in his bag.

The show was beautiful.  The castle was transformed into a paper canvas as Walt Disney appears sketching Mickey Mouse in his iconic Steamboat Willie appearance.  It shows scenes from many Disney films.  My favorite part was the Tangled lanterns being released!  And I got major chills at the end when Walt Disney says "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse".

After Celebrate the Magic, Eliot, Eeyore and I made our way over to Dumbo.  Eeyore was so cute in the bag that I had to take a picture of him.

I love the Dumbo ride at night.  The lights and fountains are beautiful.  My favorite part is when they light up like a rainbow.

We decided to go on it since there wasn't a line.  Eliot and Eeyore rode together and I had the pink elephant behind them!

After, we went to browse through the new Big Top Circus store.  We took a photo with our little stow away.

Of course, I had to stop to admire the treats.  Yum!

At that point, we were completely exhausted to we decided we better go back to the hotel to get some sleep.  Before we the left the Magic Kingdom, we took one more photo with Cinderella Castle at lit up!

And that's the end of Honeymoon Day 7!  °o°

WDW Frozen Experiences

Do you like Frozen?  

I absolutely love it!  In fact, it might just be my new favorite Disney movie!  

There were so many fun things we did and saw this trip that involved Frozen.  I wanted to do a separate post about our Frozen experiences while at Walt Disney World.  I have a ton of photos and I didn't want to overload my recap posts with Frozen pictures! But I also didn't want to hold out on you guys either!  So if you like Frozen, you'll love this post!

The first thing that we saw Frozen in was "Celebrate the Magic" at the Magic Kingdom. Celebrate the Magic is a projection show that is shown with Cinderella Castle as the projection "screen".  It is set to music and it's amazing!

Here's the full effect of the show with the entire Cinderella Castle projection:

Frozen segment in Celebrate the Magic Castle Show featuring "Let It Go" (Video Credit: Attractions Magazine)

If you'd like to see a video with a closer view of the projections, check out this video by The Dis.  And here are all of my pictures from the show!

It starts with the castle lit up as if it were Arendelle.

Elsa appears in a spotlight singing "Let it Go". 

Then there are swirls of snowflakes all over the castle.  This was so coo!

Elsa continues to sing and there are flashbacks to her and Anna when they were kids.  

We get a quick glimpse of Olaf with the girls and Anna giggling.

The scene changes back to Elsa singing with a bunch of trees covered in snow swirling around the base of Cinderella Castle.

Elsa begins her transformation into her blue ice dress.

We see more swirling snowflakes before Elsa's magic appears to transform Cinderella into a shimmering purple, pink and blue ice palace.  The colors were incredible.

Elsa comes out fully transformed and snowflakes begin to appear all over the castle.

It was beautiful so I took as many pictures as I could!

The snowflakes swirled away.

Then Elsa walked across the front of the castle.

The Celebrate the Magic Frozen segment ended with "the cold never bothered me anyway" and Elsa shutting the castle door just like in the movie!  Then the snow magically disappeared and the next segment of the show started!

It was so good!  I'm so happy that we got this front row view last minute!  We didn't mean to but it really worked out!  I also didn't think that they'd still have this portion since I'd heard that it was an addition for the holidays!  I hope they keep it!  It's beautiful!!!

The next Frozen adventure we had was at Hollywood Studios when we went to the Animation Building.  I always love seeing the drawings in the Magic of Disney Animation. One of my first Disney memories was watching the animators drawing in a room filled with Disney toys and figures.  I was mesmerized by it.  I think that's the moment when I knew that I wanted to so something creative with my life.

We walked through the section of the Animation Building with paintings and sketches of cities, towns, jungles, and the castles.  Afterwards, we headed to the other side.  I wanted to watch the animators for a few minutes.  When we arrived, we noticed the room next to the animators had a ton of Frozen displays.  

There was an awesome board with Elsa in her coronation dress on the far wall.  We also could see one of Kristoff on the same wall.  On the side tables, there were some Olaf sketches!  There was also a pin board with all sorts of drawings on the side wall.  But it was so hard to see them from the angle we were at.  It was even harder to get pictures due to the reflections from the lights and glass!

At this point, I really started to get my hopes up.  The last time Eliot and I were at Disney, we saw the artwork from Wreck it Ralph in the Production Gallery. The trip prior to that, we got to see artwork from Tangled.  The drawings in the room below us were awesome, but I was really hoping to see more art from Frozen up close!

I was not disappointed when we entered into the Production Gallery and "bam!" there was a picture of Anna, Kristoff and Olaf right in front of me!  Woo-hoo!!!

There were three display cases.  The one closest to the entrance had concept art of the trolls, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf!

The case to the left of the first was filled with artwork of the different backgrounds and the scenery in Frozen.  You could see the mountains, snow, Arendelle, the village, and the ice castle that Elsa creates.

Finally, the last case next to the entrance to the show had concept artwork of Anna and Elsa! (Ok, so there were also a few pictures of Hans... but I'm still mad at him!  Ha!)

I was so excited to see all of the artwork!  I waited until everyone cleared the room for the show and then I dove into taking as many pictures as I possibly could!  And because I love you guys, I'm going to share them with you!

Here are close-ups of the case with Kristoff, Sven and Olaf!

I love the drawing of Olaf with all of the sand snowmen in summer!

Oaken's store was actually full at one point!

Here are sketches of the trolls and their home.

Arendelle and the surrounding mountains are covered in snow.

Here you can see a few drawings of Elsa's ice palace.

Here's the real fun!  I love character development!  Here are the many faces of Elsa. And how awesome are her shoes?!?!  I want a pair!

Anna's character development.  They even did a study of how her traveling cloak moved.

More pictures of Elsa as well as a few of Anna and Elsa when they're just kids.

Concept art of Elsa in her room with her powers taking over the room.

Last, but not least, Hans.  (Wait, last and probably least: least liked.  Anyways...) Here's Hans during his duet with Anna.

Finally, before we left the Production Gallery, Eliot and I took pictures with the poster of Anna, Kristoff and Olaf!  We love Olaf and couldn't pass up the chance!

The artwork was incredible!  I'm so glad that we got to see it while we were there!  But our biggest Frozen experience was still yet to come!

Photo Source: Pinterest (Original Pin here.)

As most of you know, I worked really hard on making myself a custom Elsa ear hat before we left for our trip!  (For those of you who don't know, I will be opening an Etsy shop for them very soon!)  My big goal this trip was to get a picture with Anna and Elsa while wearing my ear hat!

I also teased that I had another project that I was desperately trying to finish before we left. That didn't end up working out.  And although I brought my glue gun and supplies to Florida, I still never finished the last one!  (I'm hoping to finish it later this week!)  In the meantime, here's a behind the scenes look at Anna! 

Eliot and I knew that meeting Elsa and Anna was going to be quite an adventure.  What we didn't realize was how long we were going to wait to meet them!  We were hoping to get there right at 11:00 am when the character spot opened.  When we arrived at the Norway Pavilion Friday morning, it was apparent that everyone else had the exact same idea we did.  By the time we got over to Anna and Elsa, the line was already backed up to a 1:00 pm greeting time.  We finally decided to stay after realized that we'd probably be waiting that long no matter when we got there.

While we waited in line, we realized that Anna was the only one greeting guests.  I started to question staying in line.  We were told that Elsa would be there by 1:00 or maybe even 2:00. The cast members didn't seem to have an exact time.  We were in the 1:00 window, and I was debating letting people cut us if Elsa wasn't going to be there.  I really wanted a picture with her and my Elsa ear hat!  

Thankfully, as we got closer to the doors, someone spotted Elsa!  The sign outside the door was changed to both "Elsa and Anna" and I was thrilled that we were going to see both of them!  It was so going to be worth the 2+ hours standing in line!

Eliot and I got to enter the room while the family in front of us met Anna and Elsa. The little boy and girl had the cutest Olaf t-shirts on and the girls loved them.  The kids were so cute!  Anna and Elsa really took the time to interact with them too.

Before I knew it, it was our turn!  I started to walk over to them and Anna spotted my ear hat and proclaimed, "aww... wow!"  I then told her that I didn't have the time to finish the design for her hat and that I was really sorry!

She said, "no, it's ok.  It's just that I'm really impressed."  She then showed my hat to Elsa.  "Elsa look!"

Elsa loved it.  She asked me how long it took me to make it.  I told her it took a few hours. She showed me her snowflake cape and said that she made it herself, except for this one snowflake towards the front.  Anna made that one for her.

Anna replied "Yeah, it took me about 2 hours to make it too."  Then she looked back at my hat, "If I made your hat, it'd probably take me 2 months!"  I had to laugh.

I told Elsa that she's been visiting us a lot this winter in Maine.  She replied "I don't think I did that.  Although, I also don't remember freezing my entire kingdom either!"

We posed for a few photos together.  Then Eliot joined us and Elsa asked me, "shall we show our ice powers?"  So she and I posed using our magical ice powers.  (Yup, I totally tried to copy what she was doing.)

The girls were very nice and made everyone feel special.  Everyone had a good amount of time with them, especially after waiting so long in line to meet them.  The girls fit their personalities well and their outfits were amazing too.  Elsa draped her cape around a few times and the snowflakes sparkling on her cape were beautiful.

It was definitely worth the 2 hour wait!  My only regret is not having my Anna hat done so I could get pictures with both hats.  (Maybe next time!)  I was also pretty pumped at how many people asking me where they could buy my Elsa ear hat!  They thought Disney made it!  Yippee!!  I was so proud to tell them that I made it myself.  I also had a ton of cast members compliment it, which I consider the ultimate compliment!

Frozen is definitely the hot ticket at the parks right now.  There are rumors swirling around about Disney turning Maelstrom into a Frozen ride.  Disney has recently confirmed that they're going to eventually bring Frozen to Broadway.  There's even rumors of a movie sequel!  One thing is for sure, you can't find Frozen items anywhere in the parks!  I found one pin that I bought, and the only other Frozen merchandise I saw were a few books and a light up snowflake wand in the Emporium at the Magic Kingdom. It appears that they had a Frozen inspired display, but everything sells out as soon as it's put out according to cast members and guests alike.  

Photo Source: Disney

Hopefully with the movie's popularity, there will be many more Frozen experiences to come to the parks for guests to enjoy!  In the meantime, I hope that you enjoyed our Frozen experience at Walt Disney World!  °o°