Fun Find: 2022 Grand Floridian Easter Egg Display

Happy Friday friends!  I can't believe Easter is this weekend.  Even though it falls late this year, Eliot and I have been so busy that it still kind of crept up on me!  So today, I though I'd share a short video that will put us in an Easter mood.

One of my favorite Disney Easter traditions is the display of chocolate Easter eggs each year at the Grand Floridian Resort.  Eliot and I were lucky enough to see them in person while on our honeymoon and I've made sure to check them out each year since then!  Earlier this week, I found this video on Youtube of this year's editions.  These edible works of art astound me each and every year.  I love seeing the themes and the techniques used to create these masterpieces!

This year they had some really cool ones!  I think my favorites are the Cinderella Carriage, Cinderella Castle and Spaceship Earth with Figment on top!  I also really like the Up House, Frozen, and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads with the Pizza Planet Aliens.

Every time I see these, I'm Inspired to make my own at home version of these eggs- that's not edible.  I love the little scenes inside the eggs.  And I'm also a big fan of the painted designs.  I'd love to have something similar at home to display.  But if I'm putting that much time into making them, I want to make sure that they'll last!  I would definitely be using paint and crafting supplies to ensure that they last years!  

I hope you enjoyed this video!  Which is your favorite Grand Floridian Easter egg?  °o°

Our 4th Wedding Anniversary

Today is Eliot's and my 4th wedding anniversary!  It's hard to believe that four years have passed since we had our Disney Wedding.  It was a dream come true and sometimes, it still feels like it was a dream!

Thankfully, we splurged on photos and videos so we'll always have reminders of our special day!  I was going through a few of them the other day, and I created this short slideshow video for my Instagram account.  I thought I'd share it here too!  (Note: It's made to be viewed on Instagram so the photos are not a very high quality!)

We don't have any big plans for today.  Honestly, we've been so busy with ears that I've barely seen Eliot this month!  But, it'll totally be worth it when we're at Walt Disney World and on our cruise in a few more days!!!  (10 days until our cruise!)  We've already decided that we'll celebrate more then!  And what better place to celebrate then where our Happily Ever After first started?

ChEars to four magical yEars!!!  °o°

Easter at Walt Disney World

Happy Easter Everyone!  Today I'm remembering the most memorable Easter I've ever had.  Eliot and I were fortunate enough to celebrate Easter 2013 at Walt Disney World during our Honeymoon.  Seeing the Easter Parade in person on Easter Sunday was one of the big things I had on my Disney Bucket List.  What I didn't count on, was all of the other fun Easter things there were to do at Disney World!

In 2013, Epcot had an Easter Egg Hunt as part of Limited Time Magic.  In order to participate, you had to purchase a map and stickers.  Then you walked around the World Showcase looking for eggs!  Eliot and I didn't do the hunt, but we did find one of the eggs in Germany.  Looking back now, I really wish that we'd done it!  It sounded like fun!  In fact, Disney did the egg hunt in 2014 and again this year.  I'm assuming it has been popular enough to continue!  Maybe we'll do it someday!

Walt Disney World also had meet and greet opportunities with Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny at the United Kingdom in Epcot and on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom.  Eliot and I came across them at the Magic Kingdom and of course I had to get in line.  I was SO excited to get my pictures taken with them!  It was a dream come true!  If you're there for Easter, this is a must do!

While we were walking around the Grand Floridian Resort lobby, we stumbled across the Grand Floridian Resort Easter Egg Display.  Eliot and I didn't even know Disney did this.  The display of chocolate eggs was absolutely incredible!  I couldn't believe the entire display was made with chocolate and candy!

We also didn't expect any Easter magic at Pop Century.  However, Easter morning when we were on our way to the parks, Minnie Mouse surprised us by posing for pictures at the front of the Pop Century Resort Lobby!  She was in her spring dress and there was a little sign you could hold that said Happy Easter.  I had to get a picture!

  
Finally, the highlight of celebrating Easter at Walt Disney World is the Easter Parade at the Magic Kingdom.  I used to love watching the Easter Parade on television when I was a kid.  My brother Jeremy and I would sing the song for days after Easter.  I wish that Disney still televised the parade.  Instead of doing an entire Easter Parade, there was only a short pre-parade before the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade.

However, I was still incredibly excited to see it.  Eliot and I were lucky enough to see the Easter pre-parade twice during our trip.  The parade on Easter Sunday was a little bit different and it was definitely worth fighting the crowds.  There were pastel colored confetti petals that shot off during the parade and they swirled all around as the floats passed by.  (In fact, someone may have gotten a little teary eyed during the parade...)

In addition to the confetti petals, the Azelea Trail Maids also joined the parade on Easter Sunday.  The Azelea Trail Maids are a group of high school girls who are selected yearly to be ambassadors for the city of Mobile, Alabama.  I was so excited they were there!  (Insert tears of joy...)  They were the most memorable part of the Easter parade from my childhood.  I've always loved and wanted one of their pretty dresses since I was just a little girl!  I can still hear the music now:

"In your Easter bonnet, With all the frills upon it, You'll be the grandest lady, In the Easter Parade.  I'll be all in clover, And when they look you over, I'll be the proudest fella, In the Easter Parade.  On the Avenue, Fifth Avenue, The photographers will snap us, And you'll find that you're, In the rotogravure.  Oh, I could write a sonnet, About your Easter bonnet, And of the girl I'm taking, To the Easter Parade."  

Easter Parade-by Irving Berlin

The pre-parade also included other well known Disney rabbits: Thumper, Miss Bunny, Rabbit and the White Rabbit.  There were also dancing butterflies, hippos, ostriches, flowers and chickens!  The parade ended with Clara Cluck in the barn float waving from the windows.  It was an Easter spectacular!

This was definitely an amazing experience and I'm so thankful for these wonderful memories from our honeymoon!  Happy Easter!!!  °o°

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°