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°

Wedding Trip Recap- September 26, 2012

They say that all good things must come to an end, and sadly, our wedding trip was no exception.  Eliot and I woke up Wednesday morning with heavy hearts that our trip would soon be over.  I wasted no time jumping up to go look out our window hoping that seeing the animals would put a smile on my face.  Alas, the savannah matched my mood and I was greeted with a hazy morning and no animals.

We had decided the night before to end our trip with Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, the two places were we'd made many memories over the past week.  We got ready in our Mr. and Mrs. Cady shirts that we'd saved for our last day and we headed over to Epcot.  We took a bunch of photos with Spaceship Earth before we made our way into the park.

We walked around the park one last time and I took a few photos of the Terrace des Fleurs, where we had our IllumiNations Dessert Party for our wedding.  We went into Mouse Gears one last time to grab a few of the wedding items that we'd waited to buy and we left with a Minnie and Mickey wedding picture frame and a snow globe to remember our wedding when we got home.

After that, we said good bye to Epcot and went back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to do our final luggage packing and to checkout.  We'd asked the front desk if we could have a later checkout since we were leaving Disney so late in the day.  They had agreed to let us checkout at 1:00, so we still had a little bit of time to relax before we had to leave.

After we'd packed and double checked everything, I went outside to sit on the porch for a while.  I was struggling to come to terms with returning to the "real world" after the amazing two weeks that we'd had at Disney with our friends and family.

Eventually, it was nearing the time to checkout, so we took a few last minute photos of us with the savannah in the background and then we said goodbye to the beautiful view and all of the animals.  We checked our luggage into storage, checked out of the hotel, and made our way over to the Magic Kingdom for our last Disney hours.

On the bus ride over, I made sure to take pictures of the gate entrance to the Magic Kingdom as well as the sign for the Wedding Pavilion.  Once we arrived outside the Magic Kingdom, we looked back across the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Wedding Pavilion where we had so many magical memories this trip.

Inside the Magic Kingdom, we caught part of the castle show "Dream Along With Mickey." It was hard to believe that just two days before we were standing right over there taking our Bridal Portraits.

We made our way over to the Haunted Mansion and then Pirates of the Caribbean.  We always start our trip with these, and I've made it a point to try to always end our trip with these as our last two rides as well.  We went on the Haunted Mansion before heading over to Pirates.  However, when we arrived at Pirates, the Cast Members were sending guests away. The ride was temporarily closed for some reason, so Eliot and I waited outside for 20-30 minutes hoping that they might re-open it.  I took a few photos of the empty entrance while we waited.

Ironically, the same exact thing happened the last time we went to Pirates for our last ride.

Finally, we couldn't justify sitting there anymore so we left Pirates and made our way back over towards the castle.  We took a few photos there with our t-shirts and got one last good look at Cinderella Castle.

Then we made our way down Main Street through the Emporium.  It was getting close to 3:00 so the "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade would be starting soon.  We decided that we'd stay long enough to watch the parade.

Eliot and I hadn't actually stood to watch the parade at all this trip and we'd only seen parts of it in past trips.  It was fun to actually watch the entire thing.  I always love seeing the designs of the floats.  The music really expressed how I'd been feeling the entire trip.

"Celebrate A Dream Come True, and you might just find a wish for you.
When you close your eyes, then you realize, any dream is possible!"

It was overwhelming and I ended up tearing up at the end.  We'd wanted this trip and our Disney Wedding for so long I felt as if I was in someone else's dream coming true.  But we did wish on a star- on a lot of stars.  And it had come true.  (To this day, I still have moments when I think that I was simply dreaming the whole thing.)

Finally, we said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom, to Cinderella Castle and to the magical place where dreams come true.  I left the land where you enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy in tears, but they were happy ones.  We had to get back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge so we could get our Magical Express to the airport and catch our flight home, but there was time for one more photo.

I pulled it together so we could take a few last photos in front of the Train Station.  It was appropriate that this was the last place we took photos since it was also the first place we took pictures on the most incredible trip to Disney that I've ever had.  So we took it all in: we had come to Disney as a couple planning to make a commitment to each other, and we were leaving as husband and wife.  We'd had the Disney Wedding that we thought we could only dream of.  And we'd made many magical memories with all of our family and friends.

It was time for the memory making of this trip to come to an end.  But with that, came a new adventure as husband and wife, a whole new set of dreams and possibilities for us.  Let the Memories Begin.  °o°

Wedding Trip Recap- September 25, 2012

Tuesday morning, we gathered our luggage together so we could move over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  We had to check out of Pop by 11:00 am and we couldn't get into our room at AKL until after 3:00, so we decided to check our luggage into holding until we had to make the switch between hotels.

As excited as I was to move over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I was sad to leave Pop Century and all of the fun memories that we had made over the last few days behind.  It also meant our last night at Disney, boo!  But I was sure that it would be a fun adventure.  We were even staying in a room with a savannah view- for FREE!  

If you have a Wedding Room Block and use 25 room nights, you get a free night anywhere on property.  So of course, we wanted to use our free night at one of the Deluxe Resorts! Eliot and I debated going to the Grand Floridian, but since we'd been there so much for our wedding, we decided that it would be fun to try something else.  After finding out that we could in fact get one of the savannah view rooms for free, we were sold!

We got ready and packed up our belongings, and made our way to the hotel lobby.  We'd decided to go to Blizzard Beach again while we were in limbo between hotels.

After spending a few hours at Blizzard Beach, we went back to Pop Century to get our luggage and made our way over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  I was completely overwhelmed when we walked into the main lobby.  The design details were amazing.  We checked in to the hotel and made our way to our room.  We could even see part of the savannah along the way.  I was so excited to see our view!

Our room was amazing.  I love how the moderate and deluxe resorts have the theme continued so well in the hotel rooms.  The decor in our room was amazing.  Of course we were happy to see a familiar face made in towels on our bed.

The detail of the hotel rooms was incredible.  One of my favorite parts was that the curtains had the characters from the Lion King designed into them.  With a quick glance, they just look like white sheers, but when you take a closer look, the characters are in the pattern. Mousekeeping also left a guide in each room so you can figure out which animals you're looking at!

But the real treat at the Animal Kingdom Lodge is obviously the view of the savannah and the animals.  I was not disappointed when we opened our curtains and immediately saw giraffes and zebras right below us.  It was breathtaking!  Eliot and I spent quite a while sitting on our porch and watching the animals roaming around.

Eventually, I dragged myself away from the view so I could take a shower and get ready for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  I guess I didn't make it too far though, while Eliot was showering and getting ready I apparently passed out on the bed.  He got a cute photo of me curled up with my Halloween Duffy.

After a little rest, we got moving so we could go to the Magic Kingdom.  Eliot and I had decided to go to MNSSHP a second time since we didn't get to take pictures with any of the characters that we'd wanted to.  They dress up for Halloween and you can get your picture with some characters that you usually can't take them with.  The last time we'd gone, we got our pictures with all seven dwarves and it was awesome!  We'd gotten quite a few Disney Gift Cards for our wedding so we used one of those to pay for our tickets.

We got to the park in time to watch the first "Boo To You" parade so we watched it from the top of the Train Station.  After that, we made our way to the character locations.  We bolted over to meet Mickey and Minnie as soon as the parade was over since we figured that we could beat everyone to it.  We were right; the line wasn't as long since everyone else was so busy watching the parade.

We got big hugs when it was our turn with Mickey and Minnie.  (Eliot was so excited he knocked his hat off center and didn't even realize it until we got our photos back.)  They noticed our Bride and Groom Ear Hats and were pointing at them.  We told them that we just got married at Disney the other day and they were all excited.  I thanked them for coming to our reception as we took a photo with all of us.  After, they took photos with each of us individually.

Then they had us both come back together so we could do a special photo.  Mickey and Minnie kneeled down in front of us and had the two of us kiss behind them.  It was so much fun.  The picture came out great and it's one of my favorites from our PhotoPass.  It's like the magic from our wedding just kept coming back to us.

We made our way down Main Street and got a few photos at the castle before heading over to where Halloween Duffy was taking photos with guests.  We just missed him so we had to wait for his next session.  In the meantime, we went on the Haunted Mansion and took our photos outside of it once again.  

Then we stood in line to wait for Duffy.  We were second in line and we had to wait for the second "Boo To You" parade to pass before they'd bring Duffy back out.  We could see the parade pretty well from the landing of the Liberty Belle so it made the time go by faster.  It was well worth the wait though!  I brought my mini Halloween Duffy to meet Big Duffy and it was so cute.  We got photos with all of us together.

Then once more, we took a few individual photos.  Of course I had to make sure mini Duffy was in my picture too!

After that, the only other characters that we really wanted to get pictures with were the Winnie the Pooh characters.  We'd just missed them when we went to MNSSHP in 2010 and Eliot really wanted a picture with Eeyore.  So we made our way over to Fantasyland to their new Meet and Greet area outside of the Winnie the Pooh ride.  We had to wait a while for them to come back out as well, but again, it was worth it.  We got a really cute group photo with them.

After that, we walked around the park enjoyed the Halloween decor.  We took a few more photos in front of the castle before making our way down the Jack o'Lantern decorated Main Street.  

I love the decorations, special lighting and the Halloween themed music that they play at MNSSHP.  It definitely puts you in the Halloween spirit!  

Once we passed under the "See You Real Soon" Jack o'Lanterns we decided to take a few more photos in front of the Train Station before exiting the park.  It's lit up for the Halloween Party as well.

We got a few photos of me with my mini Halloween Duffy and then we called it a night.  

When we got back to the hotel we hung our eat hats up and passed out.  We wanted to get up early to make the most of our last few hours the next day before flying back home.   °o°

Wedding Trip Recap- September 19, 2012

Wednesday we got up early to start our Wedding Party in the Park Day.  We all got ready and my wonderful maid of honor french braided my hair so it would stay out of my face all day.  The the entire wedding party met up outside of the Everything Pop store and we made our way to the Magic Kingdom via bus.  We must have looked like quite the bunch in our matching t-shirts.  But it was also a lot easier to find each other in large crowds!  

Eliot and I wanted to make sure that we got pictures with our wedding party in front of Cinderella Castle.  We were booked to have a Bridal Portrait session with the two of us, but only the bride and groom are allowed to participate in the sessions.  To make the pictures look a little more cohesive, we decided to get everyone custom designed t-shirts.  The girls had bright pink, the guys had lime green and our parents and my grandparents had teal shirts.  All of them had the same design with Tinkerbell on the front, with each of our roles in the wedding on the back along with a castle.

Once everyone got through the main gates, we gathered outside of the City Hall to make sure we had everyone and to pick a time to meet.  We decided to meet up at noon to take pictures in front of the castle.  Then we made our way down Main Street.  We were stopped about halfway down because the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party was making it's way down the street.  We decided to swing over to the sidewalk outside of the Emporium.  Part of our group ended up on the other side of the street, so we got some fun pictures of a few of us dancing along with the music, and the adults watching the parade.  

After the parade went by, we zipped over to the closest PhotoPass photographer on Main Street to take some photos.  We got some cute pictures of Eliot and me in our Bride and Groom t-shirts.

Next, we took a few family photos.  We wanted to get pictures of each family and of the back of our shirts.  We figured this was the best time to do it.  (And the PhotoPass photographers loved our shirts, congratulated us and were all super nice about us taking a million pictures.)

After we were satisfied with our photo shoot, we made our way over to Fantasyland to go on some of the rides.  We got some funny pictures of the girls trying to pull out the sword from the stone.  (Katie was really getting into it!)  We also went as a large group on It's a Small World and had our own boat.  (My family was on another one that was wheelchair accessible for Nana and Papa's chairs.)  Eliot and BJ sat in the back because they were singing and dancing the entire ride.  (The. Entire. Ride.)

A few minutes before noon, we made our way back over towards the castle to take our wedding party photos.  Eliot and I changed into our other outfits: a green polo shirt for him and a white cotton dress with a hot pink ribbon belt for me.  We also had a really cute felt boutonniere for him to wear and I had a felt bouquet with our wedding colors to hold for the photos.  I'd found the bouquet on Etsy from Miss Jennifer Rae and I knew that it would be perfect for our rehearsal and the photos in the park!  They definitely added the perfect touch!  

The PhotoPass photographer was great and allowed us to take multiple shots.  She became our own personal photographer for a few minutes while we took photos with our entire group and then some with just our wedding party.  I'm so glad that we got the custom t-shirts!  The photos came out great!  (Minus the stupid crane in the background working on the New Fantasyland attractions!)

After we were done with the group photos, my family headed back to the hotel to get some rest before our rehearsal in the afternoon.  Mom also had to be in the room when Carolyn Allen's Bridals came to steam my wedding dress.  We decided to take photos of smaller groups of us.

Katie, BJ, Katie, Eliot and I made sure to take a few photos as the self proclaimed Fab Five. (We were the Fab 4 and then BJ met Katie and four officially became five!)  We had been talking about going to Disney together for years so this really was the place "where dreams come true."  We also got some great photos with our other best friends Nico and Anthony. We had also all dreamed of going to Disney together.  It was a great photo op!

Somewhere in the middle of our mini photo sessions, the fire truck came along and the driver asked Eliot and I to come sit on it to take some photos.  So the next thing I know, we had our own private photo session with the fire truck!  I was pretty much in shock.  Then he asked our wedding party and our friends to join us.  It was definitely something special that I've never experienced before!  Disney always adds that extra touch of magic!  

My Dad is a volunteer fire fighter and I was sad that he didn't get to be in the pictures, but the experience was still really special.  (The funny part was that all of the other park guests wanted to get on the fire truck after we got off and the driver wouldn't let them.  He said it was only for the bride and groom.  I guess it really was pretty special!  Thank you nice fire truck driver!)

After we were done with our mini photo sessions, I changed back into my t-shirt and shorts, and we had one more photo shoot with my bridesmaids.  We also got the backs of our shirts.  I love my girls!

The sky had been getting darker and darker the entire time we were taking photos.  We decided to go over to Casey's after the photos and we barely made it before it started to pour.  Sara decided to go dancing in the rain and got completely soaked.  (Although, it had been pretty hot out so I'm sure it was a great way to cool off!)  We all went into Casey's and got something to eat while we waited out the storm.

Rain in Florida usually doesn't last too long and by the time we were finished with our food it had stopped.  After the rain, we hung out around the park for a bit longer and went on the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean a few times.  

Then we made our way back to the front of the park and over towards the monorail to get over to the Grand Floridian and the Wedding Pavilion for our rehearsal.  We lucked out and had a monorail section all to ourselves.  Of course it was another great photo op!  When we got to the Grand Floridian, we were still pretty early so we decided to take some pictures there.

We met up with my family and the rest of our group outside of Franck's Bridal Studio for our Wedding Rehearsal.  We also got to meet Ron, our notary wedding specialist, who was officiating our ceremony.   Christy our Disney Wedding Planner helped us all line up on the stairs of the Wedding Pavilion.  She also showed everyone where they would be standing in line and where the podium was for Katie and Ryan to read their portions of the ceremony.

After a half and hour or so of rehearsing and running through the program, we said goodbye to Christy and Ron and we stayed to take a few more photos with our families.

Katie made sure that we got a few pictures with me and my outfit.  I worked really hard to make my rehearsal outfit unique.  I had hand embroidered beads onto the hot pink ribbon belt so they looked like pearl Mickey heads.  I designed the custom Minnie Mouse shoes that I wore.  Our wedding planner Christy absolutely loved my shoes.  I also had Disney Bride earrings that I custom ordered from Hokey Donut on Etsy.  I was flattered by all of the compliments I got on the details of my outfit.

Then we all went back to Pop Century to get ready for our rehearsal dinner.  We had decided to do the dinner off property.  Eliot's a pretty picky eater and when we had gone down for our Wedding Planning Session in April we had gone to a Golden Corral.  They have a huge buffet with tons of options and Eliot loved it.  So if he liked it, I figured that everyone would find something that they would like.  The only problem was trying to figure out how to get everyone there.  It was a few miles off Disney property and we were very limited with cars.  We had our wedding party, family, and a few friends.  After a few discussions, my mother and I came to the conclusion that we could rent a charter bus.

So, we all met up outside of Pop Century and there it was, a chartered Disney Cruise Line bus with our names on it!  Wow!  When we booked the bus with Mears, I just expected some sort of random bus.  I was pretty excited that it was an actual Disney Cruise bus.  (At the time, Eliot and I had planned on going on a Disney Cruise for our honeymoon so it seemed like fate.)

We enjoyed dinner and afterwards Eliot and I gave out our wedding party and family gifts. Eliot gave all of his groomsmen engraved Swiss Army knives.  I had gotten the girls Mickey Mouse paint splatter handbags.  They loved them.  I thought that they were perfect; they had our wedding colors in them and they were fun and bright.  Perfect for using at Walt Disney World.  Eliot and I had decided to get our parents and my grandparents custom embroidered handkerchiefs from Everything Bling on Etsy.  They were really cute and had our wedding date and Mickey Mouse heads on them in our wedding colors.  (I really wish now that I'd taken a picture of all of them before handing them out.)

After dinner, we all hopped back on the bus to go to Pop.  Eliot and I took a few minutes to gather ourselves in our hotel room before he was leaving to spend the night with BJ and Katie in their hotel room.  (That's another whole story… those boys.  What are we going to do with them?)  Eliot and I had an emotional goodbye and goodnight outside of our room. And then he was off to hang out with the guys for his last evening as a bachelor.

The guys had decided that they were going to take Eliot out after they had a special activity planned.  Apparently, the guys had gone to the Everything Pop store to see if they had a few boxes they could use to "ship some stuff home."  In reality, they cut out eye holes so they could do an old pastime that they called "Box Wars."  I missed out on this, but I guess the idea is that two people wear the boxes and they run at each other and knock each other over.  I don't know.  But Eliot had fun so I guess that's all that matters?

After the Box Wars were over, the guys headed over to the Boardwalk to hang out and have a few drinks.  BJ had gotten Eliot a groom t-shirt and had painted the boutonniere on it into Mickey ears.  They also had him wear a Mickey Groom Ear Hat that they bought him.

Meanwhile, the girls and I were finishing up the rest of our last minute projects.  I had sworn that I was going to make the girls jewelry, but of course I ran out of time with everything else I was putting together.  Lucky for me, I had rockstars for bridesmaids and they dove right in designing and making jewelry.  I ran in between Katie's room (jewelry central station) and my parents room (source of a color printer).  I still had to print out a few things like the tags for the bubbles and the soap favors.  In between, I'd occasionally check in on my Nana.  She was working on doing some last minute alterations on Sara's dress while guarding my freshly steamed wedding dress with her life.  (Fairy Godmother to the rescue!)

I ran back and forth and somewhere in the middle of it, I had a breakdown when my laptop started to act funny.  (In my defense, it was an older model MacBook Pro from college and all of my classmates' computers had slowly been biting the dust.  I thought mine's time had come at the absolute worst time  possible...)  After a few minutes of tears and a few hugs from my Mom, I took a few deep breaths and went back to my laptop.  After re-starting it, I was back in business.  The tags were printed and I said goodnight to my parents.

Then the girls helped me tie the tags on the bubbles and soaps while I cut the ribbons.  We all somehow managed to get our nails done.  (Thank you Katie and Katie, master nail painters!)  The evening went by in a complete blur, but with the help of my friends, we did it.  Everything was done and good to go!

Around 12:45, Elissa and I made our way back to Eliot's and my room to get ready for bed. (She had asked if she could stay over with me instead of sharing a bed with Sara and I thought it would be nice to have a little company.)  I took a shower since I couldn't wash my hair in the morning and headed to bed.  At this point, I was going to get about 5-6 hours of sleep and then we'd be up early for wedding day!  It was time for this Disney Bride to get her Sleeping Beauty on!  °o°