Ok so my blogging sucks. I can't keep up with this blog because quite honestly there isn't much to write about the wedding. I read all kinds of blogs filled with wedding details, etc and I wanted so badly to write everyday about my wedding planning experience, but I just can't get into it. Don't get me wrong, I am super excited about the wedding in that all-I-think-about-every-second-of-the-day way, but I just don't have enough to blog about! Part of the reason I think is because I want things to be a surprise for those of you coming to Disney. I don't want you to know all the little things we are doing and special "pixie dust" we are sprinkling for our guests. Sorry, you'll have to wait 10 more weeks!
So, I'm kind of changing this blog into not so much the wedding, but more about our lives. Don't panic... I'm not writing about the stupid stuff like that we got to cuddle and watch the Steeler game and life is great kind of thing, but more domestic and exciting life stuff, and of course, there will be Disney stuff. I also will totally do a follow up to the wedding, but until then this blog's a changin'....
So everyone always jokes that showers, both wedding and baby, are about getting things you don't need that you wouldn't buy for yourself. Our shower situation was a sticky one... we needed absolutely nothing! but wanted certain things that were our own. Currently, our house has 3 of many things, like dishes, pots and pans, etc. But the new stuff is our stuff that we will take with us to our new home (stayed tuned in coming months for decisions on that... after the wedding...) and it was stuff that we picked out together.
Most of the things we registered for were things we knew we would need for cooking or a new bathroom set or picture frames, things of that sort. However, the best gift we could have ever received was something we never even knew we wanted.
A TOASTER OVEN.
Never in my life have I had one, nor has Kevin but apparently we were missing out. A friend of mine, Michelle, first told me about this little treasure and how wonderful it would make our lives. So we picked a cute little white one from Target that was reasonably priced and added it to the registry. Truth be told, I was hoping we got the rice cooker (that we never got but are totally buying with gift cards!) and hey if we got the toaster oven, great. Thank goodness we got it!
I swear that baby gets used at least once a day and the amount of food Kevin can now make has trippled. I no longer have to worry that he's living on peanut butter and jelly if I don't come home for dinner! Best. shower.gift.ever!!!!
So, if you don't have one, I highly suggest you invest the $30 to get one... it can change your life!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Discount Time!!
I clearly am not a good blogger. Maybe its because I don't want to share all of the magical things we have planned or maybe I am lazy!? Most likely a combination of both. At any rate, I've been waiting for this post! Disney finally released their discounted rates for 2011!
I checked out Animal Kingdom Lodge, since of course that's where we'll be staying and it is only $210/night! That is a STEAL! I believe they are taking reservations with these discounts until November. I checked all 3 resorts and it looks like the Animal Kingdom is the only one which is cheaper with these outside discounts. The wedding discount is still better for both POP Century and Coronado Springs.
The only catch is that you have to book them seperately, not through the wedding number. You can book online or by calling Disney Reservations. With Disney if you are booking a room-only package you pay one night up front and the rest when you check in. If you are booking a package, payment is due up front!
Also, please let me know if you book outside of the room block (which I totally encourage since these rates are great!) with your reservation number so we can still get credit for the room! :) Happy Booking.... only 5 more months!
I checked out Animal Kingdom Lodge, since of course that's where we'll be staying and it is only $210/night! That is a STEAL! I believe they are taking reservations with these discounts until November. I checked all 3 resorts and it looks like the Animal Kingdom is the only one which is cheaper with these outside discounts. The wedding discount is still better for both POP Century and Coronado Springs.
The only catch is that you have to book them seperately, not through the wedding number. You can book online or by calling Disney Reservations. With Disney if you are booking a room-only package you pay one night up front and the rest when you check in. If you are booking a package, payment is due up front!
Also, please let me know if you book outside of the room block (which I totally encourage since these rates are great!) with your reservation number so we can still get credit for the room! :) Happy Booking.... only 5 more months!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Home is where the stuff is....
So, we finally started our registry. Apparently Kevin is extremely picky about EVERYTHING. I never would have guessed, but after it took us 25 minutes to pick out silverware I knew we were in for a long process. To be fair, we really have only registered for a handful of things so far.... towels, dishes and silverware, but it's a start. Currently our registry is open at Macy's but we will be registering at Target as well.
In the words of Kevin, why could we possibly need more stuff!? Haha it's so true we have an overabundance of everything, but we would like our own stuff... things that we picked out not just that were left for us. With that being said look for our amazing garage sale during the first weekend of August! It's gonna be HUGE!
Along with our huge garage sale is some huge house news: we're moving. It's true, we're finally selling the house! This was a big decision for us, since this house is awesome and in a great neighborhood in a great location with lots of "family" and friends around. But the reality is, it's too big and it's too expensive! My mom never meant for us to keep the house and although it has been really great living here this past year, we don't want all the upkeep. We like to travel, to spend our weekends in Disney and right now this just doesn't allow it. All of our money is going into the house and that's just not what we want. We instead are looking into buying a townhouse/condo where the outside is taken care of for us and we will have the money to travel like we want.
Of course I will miss this house, but times change and people move and I feel it's our time to start "our" life in a place that is... ours.
We're hoping to have the house on the market by August and (hoping it sells FAST) be in our new place by fall. 2010 is officially the year of change! I love it!
In the words of Kevin, why could we possibly need more stuff!? Haha it's so true we have an overabundance of everything, but we would like our own stuff... things that we picked out not just that were left for us. With that being said look for our amazing garage sale during the first weekend of August! It's gonna be HUGE!
Along with our huge garage sale is some huge house news: we're moving. It's true, we're finally selling the house! This was a big decision for us, since this house is awesome and in a great neighborhood in a great location with lots of "family" and friends around. But the reality is, it's too big and it's too expensive! My mom never meant for us to keep the house and although it has been really great living here this past year, we don't want all the upkeep. We like to travel, to spend our weekends in Disney and right now this just doesn't allow it. All of our money is going into the house and that's just not what we want. We instead are looking into buying a townhouse/condo where the outside is taken care of for us and we will have the money to travel like we want.
Of course I will miss this house, but times change and people move and I feel it's our time to start "our" life in a place that is... ours.
We're hoping to have the house on the market by August and (hoping it sells FAST) be in our new place by fall. 2010 is officially the year of change! I love it!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Life changes so quickly these days!!
Well hello again to the few people who actually read this blog!! I feel like I often don't have too much to write about and the things that I am working on for the wedding I want to be a surprise, so, no new details on the wedding details probably until after our planning session! Only 3 more weeks until Disney! Woo hoo time is really flying!
Speaking of time flying, can you believe there are only 6 months left until the wedding?! It seems like only yesterday I was saying "how am I going to wait a whole year!" And now we only have to wait half a year... woo hoo!
Of course, this exciting time in our lives is shared by many exciting times in our friends' lives as well. This seems to be the cluster of years where everyone decides to finally settle down with their girlfriend/boyfriends and make the ultimate committment. The last two weeks seem to be full of this for our friends and we are so excited to be sharing in their fun as well. We found out Friday night that two of our good friends, Bryan and Alina got engaged!!! We are so excited for them and wish them well on their engagement journey!
We also had the privledge to attend another good friend's wedding last weekend. Jenny and DJ finally tied the knot up here in Pittsburgh and true to their style had a Disney-themed wedding! LOVE it! It was absolutely awesome with all of the little Disney touches (some of which Jenny is graciously letting me borrow!) One way cool thing they had was a Cinderella Castle ice sculpture where the moat was a self-serve beer bar. Now seriously, what could be cooler than that?! By far the most original idea I have ever heard of! These two are awesome and totally meant for each other -- and we are totally blessed to have them as friends! Congrats guys!!!
After the ceremony
The morning after...
Speaking of time flying, can you believe there are only 6 months left until the wedding?! It seems like only yesterday I was saying "how am I going to wait a whole year!" And now we only have to wait half a year... woo hoo!
Of course, this exciting time in our lives is shared by many exciting times in our friends' lives as well. This seems to be the cluster of years where everyone decides to finally settle down with their girlfriend/boyfriends and make the ultimate committment. The last two weeks seem to be full of this for our friends and we are so excited to be sharing in their fun as well. We found out Friday night that two of our good friends, Bryan and Alina got engaged!!! We are so excited for them and wish them well on their engagement journey!
We also had the privledge to attend another good friend's wedding last weekend. Jenny and DJ finally tied the knot up here in Pittsburgh and true to their style had a Disney-themed wedding! LOVE it! It was absolutely awesome with all of the little Disney touches (some of which Jenny is graciously letting me borrow!) One way cool thing they had was a Cinderella Castle ice sculpture where the moat was a self-serve beer bar. Now seriously, what could be cooler than that?! By far the most original idea I have ever heard of! These two are awesome and totally meant for each other -- and we are totally blessed to have them as friends! Congrats guys!!!
After the ceremony
The morning after...Tuesday, June 8, 2010
It's a Small World After All
So... today was the day we officially received our wedding planner! For those of you who don't know exactly how Disney weddings work, we have had a coordinator up until now to answer any basic questions we may have. Once we sign our letter of agreement and pay our deposit, we get assigned a personal wedding planner who will help us plan everything and be there up until the lights come on at the reception and we retreat back to our hotel as a married couple.
I have to admit, I was nervous. Growing up around weddings and being naturally obsessed I know how important a wedding planner can be. If you get someone pushy or someone you don't click with, then planning can turn from a dream into a nightmare very quickly.
Nerves = GONE! We got a call today from Diane, who sounds like SUCH a sweetheart! We were chatting about the wedding when she goes "15236 is that Bethel?" Woah, no one from Florida knows where Bethel Park is.... She then proceeds to tell me she grew up in Mt. Lebo and when she finally moved to Florida a few years ago, she was living in Bethel Park. WHAT A SMALL WORLD!! So needless to say, I feel much more comfortable that we already have common ground! Looks like everything is falling into place... now if the next 7 months will just hurry up and fly by!!!
I have to admit, I was nervous. Growing up around weddings and being naturally obsessed I know how important a wedding planner can be. If you get someone pushy or someone you don't click with, then planning can turn from a dream into a nightmare very quickly.
Nerves = GONE! We got a call today from Diane, who sounds like SUCH a sweetheart! We were chatting about the wedding when she goes "15236 is that Bethel?" Woah, no one from Florida knows where Bethel Park is.... She then proceeds to tell me she grew up in Mt. Lebo and when she finally moved to Florida a few years ago, she was living in Bethel Park. WHAT A SMALL WORLD!! So needless to say, I feel much more comfortable that we already have common ground! Looks like everything is falling into place... now if the next 7 months will just hurry up and fly by!!!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
What makes you excited??
Ok so since there's not too much going on in our wedding world at the moment, I haven't had too much to blog about. June is proving to be a VERY busy month! This weekend we were celebrating the bachelor/bachelorette parties of two of our dear friends who are getting married in two weeks! They are having a loosly-based Disney wedding here in Pittsburgh. I will be sure to share pictures! Tomorrow we have the "Jean Sitar Invitational" -- the Westmoreland County Chamber's annual golf outing that is honoring my mom this year. It should be a great time and what a great honor for my mom's memory!
So, many of you have been asking when you should be receiving things from Disney and the answer is ANY DAY NOW! We officially signed the contract last week (Woo Hoo!!!!) so they said they would send them right out!
So back to the theme of today's post. What makes you excited? For Kevin it's golf or any sports really. For me, no surprise here, it's Disney. We have successfully planned a trip every 6 months or so up until August 2011! And the months leading up to the trip are spent planning our time and our dining plans. No, we're not crazy with the planning and like to leave a lot of "open" time for whatever comes up, but our trip in July will be a busy one because of all the wedding stuff going on. So we basically just lay out special things we want to do and what days to do them on so they go well with our dining reservations. Sometimes looking at everything online makes us long to be there, so what a better thing than to be there virtually.
No, I don't mean using one of those google earth programs to look at the places on stills and just miss it more. I also am not talking about the Walt Disney Wolrd Explorer CD-ROM I have where you can virtually ride the rides AND pick out hidden mickeys. Yes, this is how I spent my middle school nights since I've never been a big fan of sleeping at night. I am talking about this wonderful radio station I found! It's called Sorcerer Radio http://srsounds.com/joom_15/ . It gives you all the songs that are played around the WDW Parks and it really makes you feel like you're there.
Although we listen to this as a way to get excited to go back to our favorite place, it may be fun to listen to if you've never been there as well. It gives you a sense of the magic and it is not the usual "cheesy" music. Yes, sometimes there will be a Disney movie song on, but usually it is songs from the parades, attractions and different countries around the world! It's definitely worth checking out! I am newly addicted to it and fear that it will leave me longing for Disney more than I already do. Le sigh. Only 41 more days until we're there and only 214 days until we're all there celebrating together!!!
So, many of you have been asking when you should be receiving things from Disney and the answer is ANY DAY NOW! We officially signed the contract last week (Woo Hoo!!!!) so they said they would send them right out!
So back to the theme of today's post. What makes you excited? For Kevin it's golf or any sports really. For me, no surprise here, it's Disney. We have successfully planned a trip every 6 months or so up until August 2011! And the months leading up to the trip are spent planning our time and our dining plans. No, we're not crazy with the planning and like to leave a lot of "open" time for whatever comes up, but our trip in July will be a busy one because of all the wedding stuff going on. So we basically just lay out special things we want to do and what days to do them on so they go well with our dining reservations. Sometimes looking at everything online makes us long to be there, so what a better thing than to be there virtually.
No, I don't mean using one of those google earth programs to look at the places on stills and just miss it more. I also am not talking about the Walt Disney Wolrd Explorer CD-ROM I have where you can virtually ride the rides AND pick out hidden mickeys. Yes, this is how I spent my middle school nights since I've never been a big fan of sleeping at night. I am talking about this wonderful radio station I found! It's called Sorcerer Radio http://srsounds.com/joom_15/ . It gives you all the songs that are played around the WDW Parks and it really makes you feel like you're there.
Although we listen to this as a way to get excited to go back to our favorite place, it may be fun to listen to if you've never been there as well. It gives you a sense of the magic and it is not the usual "cheesy" music. Yes, sometimes there will be a Disney movie song on, but usually it is songs from the parades, attractions and different countries around the world! It's definitely worth checking out! I am newly addicted to it and fear that it will leave me longing for Disney more than I already do. Le sigh. Only 41 more days until we're there and only 214 days until we're all there celebrating together!!!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
A Magical Place to Stay
Well, since I've had the WORST case of insomnia for the past two weeks, I figure I can put my being awake at all hours to good use. I have been in contact with Disney working on our room block. I seriously think this has been the most stressful part of the wedding. In working through this, however, I was able to get actual prices and block some rooms. All of the information about how to book should be arriving to your mailbox in the next two weeks.
So, I guess you're wondering about the prices now, huh? Well, here ya go!
POP Century (value resort) -- $74/night
Coronado Springs (moderate resort) -- $131/night
Animal Kingdom Lodge (value resort) -- $264/night
Now honestly, I don't think these are necessarily the best prices out there. It may be more beneficial to you to book a Magic Your Way package if you are interested in getting park tickets or the dining plan. However, we are getting married during marathon weekend, so rooms will fill quickly, especially at POP Century. There are no cancellation fees so my best suggestion would be to reserve your room as soon as you get the information and you can always change it. In order to book they require a deposit of one night and the remainder due at check in. If you do decide to book a package or a special Disney promotion outside of the wedding block, please just let me know so I can let Disney know that you are a wedding guest, just staying outside of our block. We are required to have so many nights for the wedding so it is important that we let them know.
If anyone needs any help booking your reservations please let me know. I will also post about good deals on packages, hotels and airfare as they unfold.
So, I guess you're wondering about the prices now, huh? Well, here ya go!
POP Century (value resort) -- $74/night
Coronado Springs (moderate resort) -- $131/night
Animal Kingdom Lodge (value resort) -- $264/night
Now honestly, I don't think these are necessarily the best prices out there. It may be more beneficial to you to book a Magic Your Way package if you are interested in getting park tickets or the dining plan. However, we are getting married during marathon weekend, so rooms will fill quickly, especially at POP Century. There are no cancellation fees so my best suggestion would be to reserve your room as soon as you get the information and you can always change it. In order to book they require a deposit of one night and the remainder due at check in. If you do decide to book a package or a special Disney promotion outside of the wedding block, please just let me know so I can let Disney know that you are a wedding guest, just staying outside of our block. We are required to have so many nights for the wedding so it is important that we let them know.
If anyone needs any help booking your reservations please let me know. I will also post about good deals on packages, hotels and airfare as they unfold.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Kevin is the BEST!
Look... two posts in two days! You should be impressed!
This post is going to be about how wonderful Kevin is! It's no secret that I have all these crazy ideas and Kevin brings me back to reality or picks up the pieces when I start something and am too ADD to finish right away. It's also no secret that Kevin is the level-headed, smart with money and never wants to go over the top kind of person. He is extremely predictible and reliable and always does things by the book. I love him for it but there are a lot of times where his sheltered upbringing comes through and my outside of the box upbringing bash heads. It's not very often he gets excited about something without me prompting it!
Which brings me to how amazing Kevin was today. First he completed the kitchen today by re-painting everything. It looks wonderful and the best part is I never had to even ask him to do any of it! He had it started before I even woke up and we worked on it all night! I'm so excited... our first home project completed!
THEN, we started talking about our planning session trip for July. We needed to make some decisions on our menu tasting and we wanted to go over a few cake options. Well, we were also going over our schedule and I happened to mention that we are going to be spending so much time in the Magic Kingdom area that I wish we could afford to stay there but I know how expensive those places could be. Well, Kevin started to bring up that although we are booked to stay at POP Century, one of our wedding resorts, we really wanted this to be a low-key trip where we spend a lot of time at the resort, swimming and enjoying Florida. We know that July is an ultra-crowded month so we aren't going to kill ourselves to wait in line for rides we've been on a million times. That being said, we also know that the value resorts are most crowded in the summer and neither Kevin nor I are big on sharing our relaxing wedding planning trip with a million kids at the pool. Although we really wanted to try out POP Century so we could tell our guests about it, we started tossing around upgrading to a moderate resort, possibly the one we stayed in at Christmas. Well, with the promotions going on, we could get a really good deal at either a moderate or Old Key West which is a deluxe villa resort and since we have annual passes, we only need to worry about booking the hotel. I was semi-excited about possibly staying at OKW and figured I'd call Disney tomorrow and switch our reservation.
Imagine my surprise when, as we're going over wedding details, Kevin wants to know the prices of every resort on Disney property in July. So we went through them and I thought he was going to talk about what a great deal we got when he suddonly goes "let's do it, let's stay at the POLYNESIAN!!!" OMG. My whole life I have wanted to stay there and never in a million years thought we could afford it, let alone while we are planning our wedding!! But Kevin said it's affordable and he wants this trip to be very special. And since Monday we have our engagement photos at the Poly then Ohanas for dinner and then Tuesday we have our planning session and menu tasting, it makes sense to be in the area. If we were staying at POP Century, after our planning session we wouldn't have enough time to get back to the hotel before our menu tasting, but there is too much downtime to do anything else, so we would have to just walk around and waste time. Now we can at least go back to the room and drop off all of our stuff before heading back over to the Grand Floridian!
I just can't believe Kevin thinks this is a good idea -- this is so out of character for him! Maybe living with me for 3 years is finally rubbing off on him! I LOVE IT!
Only two months until we're back in Disney!! Now if only our contract would get here....
This post is going to be about how wonderful Kevin is! It's no secret that I have all these crazy ideas and Kevin brings me back to reality or picks up the pieces when I start something and am too ADD to finish right away. It's also no secret that Kevin is the level-headed, smart with money and never wants to go over the top kind of person. He is extremely predictible and reliable and always does things by the book. I love him for it but there are a lot of times where his sheltered upbringing comes through and my outside of the box upbringing bash heads. It's not very often he gets excited about something without me prompting it!
Which brings me to how amazing Kevin was today. First he completed the kitchen today by re-painting everything. It looks wonderful and the best part is I never had to even ask him to do any of it! He had it started before I even woke up and we worked on it all night! I'm so excited... our first home project completed!
THEN, we started talking about our planning session trip for July. We needed to make some decisions on our menu tasting and we wanted to go over a few cake options. Well, we were also going over our schedule and I happened to mention that we are going to be spending so much time in the Magic Kingdom area that I wish we could afford to stay there but I know how expensive those places could be. Well, Kevin started to bring up that although we are booked to stay at POP Century, one of our wedding resorts, we really wanted this to be a low-key trip where we spend a lot of time at the resort, swimming and enjoying Florida. We know that July is an ultra-crowded month so we aren't going to kill ourselves to wait in line for rides we've been on a million times. That being said, we also know that the value resorts are most crowded in the summer and neither Kevin nor I are big on sharing our relaxing wedding planning trip with a million kids at the pool. Although we really wanted to try out POP Century so we could tell our guests about it, we started tossing around upgrading to a moderate resort, possibly the one we stayed in at Christmas. Well, with the promotions going on, we could get a really good deal at either a moderate or Old Key West which is a deluxe villa resort and since we have annual passes, we only need to worry about booking the hotel. I was semi-excited about possibly staying at OKW and figured I'd call Disney tomorrow and switch our reservation.
Imagine my surprise when, as we're going over wedding details, Kevin wants to know the prices of every resort on Disney property in July. So we went through them and I thought he was going to talk about what a great deal we got when he suddonly goes "let's do it, let's stay at the POLYNESIAN!!!" OMG. My whole life I have wanted to stay there and never in a million years thought we could afford it, let alone while we are planning our wedding!! But Kevin said it's affordable and he wants this trip to be very special. And since Monday we have our engagement photos at the Poly then Ohanas for dinner and then Tuesday we have our planning session and menu tasting, it makes sense to be in the area. If we were staying at POP Century, after our planning session we wouldn't have enough time to get back to the hotel before our menu tasting, but there is too much downtime to do anything else, so we would have to just walk around and waste time. Now we can at least go back to the room and drop off all of our stuff before heading back over to the Grand Floridian!
I just can't believe Kevin thinks this is a good idea -- this is so out of character for him! Maybe living with me for 3 years is finally rubbing off on him! I LOVE IT!
Only two months until we're back in Disney!! Now if only our contract would get here....
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Quiet Time
Well for the few followers I have, since I have been terrible about posting, HELLO!
I believe my "quiet time" in the wedding planning process is quickly drawing to an end. Sure I have been doing small wedding details like tying bows on the bubble wands and other mundane tasks that closer to the wedding I will be way too stressed out to enjoy or want to do! I figured I am trying to get as much of that little stuff done so I can worry about all the other litte stuff I decide to add last minute! :) Poor Kevin's been a pretty good sport about it all, looking at the bows and program mock-ups I have created. He is going to really miss Michelle when she leaves since I turn to her with all wedding craft questions since Kevin has stated he wants to be involved in the music, the food and what gifts the groomsmen get and doesn't really care about the other decisions.
This week we officially started blocking rooms at our Disney resorts and are working through our contract to lock it all in. After it's 100% finalized I can kick into high gear, really starting to design the wedding, the programs, invitations and all the other fun I have planned! We are also getting very excited for our planning session in July. I'll keep you updated as things unfold with the weddings and the lives of the soon-to-be Taylors.
In the meantime, before things start to get wedding crazy, we are working to finish our kitchen renovation, the first full project we have taken on in the house. Ugh, what a lot of work, but it looks sooo nice!!!
I believe my "quiet time" in the wedding planning process is quickly drawing to an end. Sure I have been doing small wedding details like tying bows on the bubble wands and other mundane tasks that closer to the wedding I will be way too stressed out to enjoy or want to do! I figured I am trying to get as much of that little stuff done so I can worry about all the other litte stuff I decide to add last minute! :) Poor Kevin's been a pretty good sport about it all, looking at the bows and program mock-ups I have created. He is going to really miss Michelle when she leaves since I turn to her with all wedding craft questions since Kevin has stated he wants to be involved in the music, the food and what gifts the groomsmen get and doesn't really care about the other decisions.
This week we officially started blocking rooms at our Disney resorts and are working through our contract to lock it all in. After it's 100% finalized I can kick into high gear, really starting to design the wedding, the programs, invitations and all the other fun I have planned! We are also getting very excited for our planning session in July. I'll keep you updated as things unfold with the weddings and the lives of the soon-to-be Taylors.
In the meantime, before things start to get wedding crazy, we are working to finish our kitchen renovation, the first full project we have taken on in the house. Ugh, what a lot of work, but it looks sooo nice!!!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Disney Dining.... Part Two
Ok, so here it is like three weeks later and I am finally going to update this blog! Life just got crazy for awhile there and there were many days I didn’t even turn on my home computer because I was so busy on the computer at work.
So, without further ado, here are the resort reviews. We have eaten at many more resorts and find that they are much more enjoyable than our in-park experiences.
I will start with my first resort experience, 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian. It was for a dinner buffet with Cinderella and her entourage. Amy made the reservation for the first time my mom and Blaine were visiting us in Orlando (they came three times that year!). My review is that it wasn’t bad! The food was fresh and there was variety and the drinks were very good! I think the only thing I didn’t enjoy were the characters. I felt very strange hanging out with face characters. I enjoy fur characters, but there was something strange with the princesses. My mom and Blaine enjoyed it though!
During my mom and Blaine’s second trip to visit, we went out for a nice dinner at Narcoossee’s, which is also located in the Grand Floridian. By luck we got a seat in front of the window that has a perfect view of Cinderella’s Castle. I knew you could see the castle from the restaurant, so I made the reservations around the time Wishes (fireworks) would be going off. They pump the music into the restaurant so you get the total feel. It was amazing. The food was good and the atmosphere can’t be beat! It is small and you get a lot of attention, unlike other Disney dining places we have been to that were packed! We liked it so much I think we are going to do it again during our July trip!
In sticking with the Grand Floridian theme, the next place is the Grand Floridian Café. AMAZING. Amy and I went there on a lunch date during one of my solo trips last year. It was really good and I would definitely go back! The crab cake with mango chutney is the best thing I have ever tasted! Now’s the part you can get excited because even if you aren’t planning to visit the Café on your trip, we are serving those crab cakes as an appetizer! You can’t miss out on my most favorite thing Disney serves!
During our Christmas trip we made reservations in the only other GF restaurant we haven’t tried (besides Victoria and Albert’s which we could never afford!) which is Citricos. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. The food was ok, but I was not impressed with the atmosphere. We tried to make it our really nice meal and it didn’t end up feeling that way. Our service was great but we were seated against the railing to the kitchen area and were able to see all of the cooking going on. When I eat at a nice restaurant, I don’t want to watch the chefs grill my steak; I just want it to appear looking nice on a plate. This is not a restaurant we will be trying again for awhile at least! Sorry to disappoint you!
Continuing on the “very ok” road was Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This restaurant has been talked up by every person I’ve talked to who has ever gone there. I will put a disclaimer in front of it and say that I did not eat nearly as much as I would have liked because I was afraid my stomach would hurt and we were far from our resort with no car, only Disney transportation. Kevin liked it but said he didn’t feel a need to return for a second meal. The food is ok, but it didn’t seem as “unusual/African” as I expected. Maybe when we stay there for our wedding we can try it again, since our room will be nice and close!
Jumping from bad to good is our favorite restaurant, Kona Café! Located in the Polynesian, we love this place! The first time we ate there was on our trip to Key West. We stopped and met Amy for breakfast before heading down to visit the other Amy and Eddie (it was cheaper to fly into Orlando and who could pass up any chance to get on Disney property!) The food was great for breakfast and we had Tonga Toast, which is a big thing of French toast with cinnamon-sugar on the outside and bananas baked inside and a link of sausage on the side. For our Christmas trip we met Amy and Jeff there for Christmas Eve dinner before the fireworks. I had prime rib and Kevin had seafood and we both agree it was the best meal we had all week! Definitely a place we will go to again!
Wrapping up our resort eating tour is Cape May Café. This is a cute little breakfast buffet at the Beach Club that makes you feel like you’re at Cape May. Growing up with many, many trips to OCNJ, we always stopped for a day at Cape May, so it felt very comfortable to me. Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy are there in their beach gear to greet you and visit you throughout your meal. The food was great and we liked it. We probably would have had a more enjoyable time if we hadn’t celebrated our engagement at Jellyroll’s the night before with Amy and Jeff. This was one reservation I begged Kevin not to go to, but he just can’t pass up a breakfast buffet. It’s his favorite meal!
*Note Рthe picture of me and Kevin with Donald Duck on our Save the Date is taken at Cape May Caf̩!
So there you have it, our dining reviews. I will update more after our July trip, but as you can see, unless you are going for atmosphere or eating at Epcot, we are just not too impressed with park food and will continue on our resort-hopping food frenzy!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Disney Dining... Part One
Ok, as promised here is your Disney Dining Post! Actually, I'm going to split this up into three different posts because I thought yesterday's was a little long and kind of all over the place and there is a lot of information to go in here. So, today I will tell you a little about the Disney Dining Plan and why we love it so much and then I will review the restaurants we've eaten in that are in the parks. Tomorrow I will review the resort restaurants and there are many more of them than ones we've tried in the parks! And lastly I will go over some of the not-so-ordinary quick service meals that are available, especially if you are deciding not to do the dining plan.
So on with it...
First off, we just discovered the dining plan and how amazing it is on our Christmas trip. It is not something new and those of you who have been to Disney a bunch of times already know about it and how to use it. For those of you who have not used it or don't have any idea how it works, then listen up! If you book a Magic Your Way Package (room and tickets for each night of your stay at Disney), you can add the Disney Dining Plan. There are different tiers of the dining plan, but we just use the standard one and it works great!
For about $40/person per day of your trip, you get one quickservice meal, one table service meal and one snack. Trust me, that is all the food you will need in a day! When we used this over Christmas, I think we brough home about 4 mickey rice krispy treats that counted as "Snacks" because we had to get rid of them before we left!
Ok, getting into the basics. Some of you are probably like "what in the world is a quickservice/table service?" I like to refer to quick service as "kennywood food." Standard burger, hot dog, chicken nuggets and fries and pizza. Although, there are other options that I will go over in the third blog of disney dining. Table service are basically sit-down resteraunts, located across Disney property and there is honestly some restaurant that every single person would love! They are so diverse and all of them wonderful. In this category, however, you have to be careful because a handful of table service restaurants are "signature dining" experiences. For these restaurants, you will need to use 2 table service points. The other cool thing about the dining plan is that you can use as many points as you want on any day, you just will have to borrow from other days. So, if you want to do a signature dining, you will just not be able to do a table service another night. If you're coming for the wedding, this works out perfectly because you could do a signature dining and just use the points that you would have used from the wedding night, since we will be feeding you! This is definately what we are doing!
One big thing is that reservations for restaurants can be made 180 days in advance, so if you have your heart set on dining in Cinderella's Castle, those reservations need to be made at the 180 day mark! We're not quite there yet, but I'm just putting it on your radar! Even though we are getting married in value season where the crowds will be small, it is marathon weekend, so there will be a little more activity than normal so you are going to want to make reservations in advance. They can be made by calling 407-wdw-dine or online. Of course you can always call me and I will help too!
Now that you understand how dining works, or at least have the basics, here are some reviews and suggestions!
We'll start with the Magic Kingdom. The only restaurant that we have eaten in there is the Plaza. It overlooks the castle and is a diner-style setting that serves mostly burgers. We ate there when we lived down there and liked that it overlooked the Castle and Main Street while the parade was going on. In all honesty, not worth it. The food was a half-step up at best from quick service and the atmosphere is not that great. We both agree that we would never eat there again. Sorry to start off on such a negative note! We are hoping for much better MK dining when we are there in July!
Epcot
San Angel Inn (Mexico) -- We have eaten here on every trip we've taken! We love this restaurant. It has a really cool "outside" feel, even though it is in a building. It is extremely romantic and the food is great and the margaritas are amazing! They serve chips and dip as you are waiting for your meal and it is overall a great experience and one we will continue to enjoy on every trip. It's also the kind of restaurant you don't really need a reservation for. In fact, we have never had a reservation to eat there, especially for lunch. And since they serve chips and dip, you can get away with splitting two appitizers as your lunch! Overall, one of our favorites!
Coral Reef -- This is the restaurant probably most showcased on every show you've ever watched that went to Disney World. Most notably in Full House, this is where Jesse and Joey do their underwater radio broadcast and Danny attempts to propose to Vicki. I have been here three times. On my very first trip to Disney World in 6th grade, on a trip my mom and I took while I was in college for a few days and this is where Kevin and I shared our Christmas dinner this past year. Another winner. The atmosphere is amazing with the floor-to-ceiling aquarium and the food is just as great. Of course we had seafood and it was wonderful. A definate recommendation.
Hollywood Studios
50's Prime Time Cafe -- Amy and I went here on one of my solo trips and it is ok. The portions are large and the food is good and the decor is amazing. The only thing I didn't like was that the "atmosphere" is supposed to represent life in the 50's and you get yelled at by your "mother/waitress" for not eating your green beans, have to stand up and be embarassed and get told you aren't allowed to order dessert. That's just not the kind of thing I prefer to pay for. Now, my experience was great (i.e. neither one of us got yelled at!) but we did witness another table getting scolded! If that's your thing or you think it's funny, the food is worth it, very homestyle!
Hollywood and Vine -- This was another one of our favorites from our Christmas trip. It's a buffet located right next to 50's Prime Time Cafe. The food is great and we really enjoyed ourselves. They serve a little bit of everything, so it was nice to eat some fresh fruit and salad in addition to our prime rib! All of the food was fresh and hot and they were constantly swapping food out so it never sat around long, which is a common problem with buffets. This is one we will be returning to in the future for sure!
That wraps up our parks restaurant tour. As you can see, we don't eat in the parks all that much. The resort restaurants are much better and most of them are more fun! Tomorrow I will review the eight resort restaurants that we've tried!
So on with it...
First off, we just discovered the dining plan and how amazing it is on our Christmas trip. It is not something new and those of you who have been to Disney a bunch of times already know about it and how to use it. For those of you who have not used it or don't have any idea how it works, then listen up! If you book a Magic Your Way Package (room and tickets for each night of your stay at Disney), you can add the Disney Dining Plan. There are different tiers of the dining plan, but we just use the standard one and it works great!
For about $40/person per day of your trip, you get one quickservice meal, one table service meal and one snack. Trust me, that is all the food you will need in a day! When we used this over Christmas, I think we brough home about 4 mickey rice krispy treats that counted as "Snacks" because we had to get rid of them before we left!
Ok, getting into the basics. Some of you are probably like "what in the world is a quickservice/table service?" I like to refer to quick service as "kennywood food." Standard burger, hot dog, chicken nuggets and fries and pizza. Although, there are other options that I will go over in the third blog of disney dining. Table service are basically sit-down resteraunts, located across Disney property and there is honestly some restaurant that every single person would love! They are so diverse and all of them wonderful. In this category, however, you have to be careful because a handful of table service restaurants are "signature dining" experiences. For these restaurants, you will need to use 2 table service points. The other cool thing about the dining plan is that you can use as many points as you want on any day, you just will have to borrow from other days. So, if you want to do a signature dining, you will just not be able to do a table service another night. If you're coming for the wedding, this works out perfectly because you could do a signature dining and just use the points that you would have used from the wedding night, since we will be feeding you! This is definately what we are doing!
One big thing is that reservations for restaurants can be made 180 days in advance, so if you have your heart set on dining in Cinderella's Castle, those reservations need to be made at the 180 day mark! We're not quite there yet, but I'm just putting it on your radar! Even though we are getting married in value season where the crowds will be small, it is marathon weekend, so there will be a little more activity than normal so you are going to want to make reservations in advance. They can be made by calling 407-wdw-dine or online. Of course you can always call me and I will help too!
Now that you understand how dining works, or at least have the basics, here are some reviews and suggestions!
We'll start with the Magic Kingdom. The only restaurant that we have eaten in there is the Plaza. It overlooks the castle and is a diner-style setting that serves mostly burgers. We ate there when we lived down there and liked that it overlooked the Castle and Main Street while the parade was going on. In all honesty, not worth it. The food was a half-step up at best from quick service and the atmosphere is not that great. We both agree that we would never eat there again. Sorry to start off on such a negative note! We are hoping for much better MK dining when we are there in July!
Epcot
San Angel Inn (Mexico) -- We have eaten here on every trip we've taken! We love this restaurant. It has a really cool "outside" feel, even though it is in a building. It is extremely romantic and the food is great and the margaritas are amazing! They serve chips and dip as you are waiting for your meal and it is overall a great experience and one we will continue to enjoy on every trip. It's also the kind of restaurant you don't really need a reservation for. In fact, we have never had a reservation to eat there, especially for lunch. And since they serve chips and dip, you can get away with splitting two appitizers as your lunch! Overall, one of our favorites!
Coral Reef -- This is the restaurant probably most showcased on every show you've ever watched that went to Disney World. Most notably in Full House, this is where Jesse and Joey do their underwater radio broadcast and Danny attempts to propose to Vicki. I have been here three times. On my very first trip to Disney World in 6th grade, on a trip my mom and I took while I was in college for a few days and this is where Kevin and I shared our Christmas dinner this past year. Another winner. The atmosphere is amazing with the floor-to-ceiling aquarium and the food is just as great. Of course we had seafood and it was wonderful. A definate recommendation.
Hollywood Studios
50's Prime Time Cafe -- Amy and I went here on one of my solo trips and it is ok. The portions are large and the food is good and the decor is amazing. The only thing I didn't like was that the "atmosphere" is supposed to represent life in the 50's and you get yelled at by your "mother/waitress" for not eating your green beans, have to stand up and be embarassed and get told you aren't allowed to order dessert. That's just not the kind of thing I prefer to pay for. Now, my experience was great (i.e. neither one of us got yelled at!) but we did witness another table getting scolded! If that's your thing or you think it's funny, the food is worth it, very homestyle!
Hollywood and Vine -- This was another one of our favorites from our Christmas trip. It's a buffet located right next to 50's Prime Time Cafe. The food is great and we really enjoyed ourselves. They serve a little bit of everything, so it was nice to eat some fresh fruit and salad in addition to our prime rib! All of the food was fresh and hot and they were constantly swapping food out so it never sat around long, which is a common problem with buffets. This is one we will be returning to in the future for sure!
That wraps up our parks restaurant tour. As you can see, we don't eat in the parks all that much. The resort restaurants are much better and most of them are more fun! Tomorrow I will review the eight resort restaurants that we've tried!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Orlando in July
I'm not going to lie... I hate Orlando in July! (No, I did not intend for that to rhyme!) So then, why you ask, are we planning our Orlando vacation in July?! Simple. We are not able to do a planning session until 6 months before the wedding because that is when they are able to lock in our prices. If we go in August, the prices change to the 2011 prices and there will most likely be an increase. We would like to lock in the 2010 prices we are comfortable with!
So, as much as I would rather wait until September, we are going in July. I booked us a room at POP Century resort, which is one of our wedding resorts. We have never stayed in a value resort before and truthfully, I'm a little nervous. I was going to just say the heck with it and spend the extra $200 and stay in a moderate, but then saw that it was only $150 more than that to stay in a deluxe. I had to hurry up and book the value before I ended up spending more on our planning trip report than our whole honeymoon will cost and before Kevin killed me! All in all, I'm glad we are staying at POP. I've swam there before and I think it has a fun vibe to it. I have heard nothing but great things about the resort and the only reason I was nervous is because it is SO BIG! We loved staying at Port Orleans French Quarter because it was small and quaint. If we were flying down and using Disney transportation, I would have INSISTED we stay in at least a moderate because the busses get extremely crowded in prime season. Since we are driving and will have our car there, I don't care about Disney's transportation and just figure we will drive most of the time anyway!
I figured by staying at POP that I can give our guests an honest recommendation of how I felt the hotel was. We stayed at Coronado Springs for our first trip on property together and absolutely loved it. We almost blocked rooms at French Quarter instead because of the size, but we wanted to give our guests a resort that had sit-down dining and Coronado also has two outdoor bars! We will be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and although we haven't stayed there yet, we have been there for dinner and it is amazing! All this resort talk makes me want to go to Disney right now!
So, in true Meagan fashion, what started out as a simple, lets go to Disney for a few days, we will share meals and have our planning session turned into an all out Disney extravaganza! This is the first time Kevin and I have ever been to Disney where we are not meeting up with anyone, so we are looking forward to the relaxation part of the trip, although we will miss seeing Amy and Jeff! However, since I discovered that they now offer the Disney Dining Plan (the best thing in the world!) to annual pass holders (yes, we will officially have annual passes starting in July!), I have been rushing to make dining reservations at all of the restaurants we've been dying to try!! One really cute thing about Kevin is that he gets really excited (like me!) when we start talking about our Disney trips! Most of the time he is so go-with-the-flow and when we start talking about Disney, he gets so into it and puts in his thoughts. So we have three days of restaurants booked, I just need to figure out two more. Kevin put his vote in immediately for a breakfast with the characters buffet (I told you he's adorable!) since we would have enjoyed Cape May Cafe more if we hadn't celebrated our engagement with Amy and Jeff the night before at Jellyrolls...
For Kevin, I booked us at Chef Mickey's for breakfast in the Contemporary, which is somewhere that we are never able to get reservations for! I also booked us dinner at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom for the night we arrive and Ohana in the Polynesian one night. These are all places we have been trying to get into forever! We are still debating over where to have our "really nice" dinner. Our choices are California Grill on top of the Contemporary, Narcoossee's in the Grand Floridian or Jiko in Animal Kingdom Lodge. We have never been to Cali Grill or Jikos so we are not sure what to expect. I went to Jikos in the bar area once because we found out Dave Matthews had dining reservations there (and he totally sat down at our table and talked to me, Amy and Tonya and it was amazing) but all we had were drinks and a flatbread. After not being extremely impressed with Citricos on our Christmas trip, we are nervous about trying something new. Kevin votes for Narccoossee's. My mom and Blaine took us there for my early birthday dinner in 2008 and it was really good. Although I'm not sure if I remember how good the food was or how my mom made sure we had the perfect seat right in front of the castle during fireworks and tapped on the glass when someone outside stood in front of our table! :) Unfortunately the restaurant we've been dying to try in Epcot's Canada, Le Cellier, is booked solid for dinner the entire week we are there! They have lunch times available, but that is a heavy meal for lunch and we really wanted to enjoy it right before Illuminations. Oh well, something we will save for the wedding week I guess.
In addition to eating, we have other things jam-packed through the week. I will be doing a hair and makeup trial since we will not be back before the wedding (according to Kevin...) We will also be having our engagement picutres taken while we are down there. We are having them done at the Polynesian/Grand Floridian resorts by our photographer (www.mistymiotto.com). I am so excited that we get to meet her and work with her before the wedding so that on our wedding day it will be like seeing a friend, instead of a complete stranger watching our every move. I guess I need to get on the ball and call her and get a contract started for the engagement sesssion.... add it to the list of things to do!
And for the main reason for the trip (or at least how I rationalized it was so important we go down!) the planning session. One of the days we are down there, we are working with our sales coordinator now to get the date finalized, we will be meeting with our wedding planner. During this meeting we will discuss everything we want at the wedding. We will design all of the floral, table settings, music and the cake! We get to taste test a bunch of cake samples (Kevin's super excited for this!) and pick out exactly what we want. Disney can make anything we wish come true, so this should be a really fun day! We also get to do a menu tasting at the Grand Floridian for what we want to serve for our guests.
I keep wavering between a buffet and sit down. Normally a sit down would be a no-brainer, but with the amazing food Disney has to offer, a buffet can showcase a range of food and offer our guests many choices. As you can see, eating is a big part of our trip down there. I think Kevin ate prime rib for about 5 out of 9 meals during our Christmas trip! Thank goodness for the Disney Dining plan!! But because we know that not everyone coming down will be making lavish dining plans that week, this would be a really great way to show them some of our favorites. One really cool thing about Disney is that you can take things you like (i.e. Canadian Cheese Soup from Epcot) and have them at your wedding! Now I dont think the cheese soup will make it onto our menu, although I HIGHLY recommend having it during your trip, but there are bunches of things we have enjoyed throughout our dining expereinces that we would love for everyone to try!
Coming Soon.... Disney Dining reviews and some tips for using the Dining Plan!
So, as much as I would rather wait until September, we are going in July. I booked us a room at POP Century resort, which is one of our wedding resorts. We have never stayed in a value resort before and truthfully, I'm a little nervous. I was going to just say the heck with it and spend the extra $200 and stay in a moderate, but then saw that it was only $150 more than that to stay in a deluxe. I had to hurry up and book the value before I ended up spending more on our planning trip report than our whole honeymoon will cost and before Kevin killed me! All in all, I'm glad we are staying at POP. I've swam there before and I think it has a fun vibe to it. I have heard nothing but great things about the resort and the only reason I was nervous is because it is SO BIG! We loved staying at Port Orleans French Quarter because it was small and quaint. If we were flying down and using Disney transportation, I would have INSISTED we stay in at least a moderate because the busses get extremely crowded in prime season. Since we are driving and will have our car there, I don't care about Disney's transportation and just figure we will drive most of the time anyway!
I figured by staying at POP that I can give our guests an honest recommendation of how I felt the hotel was. We stayed at Coronado Springs for our first trip on property together and absolutely loved it. We almost blocked rooms at French Quarter instead because of the size, but we wanted to give our guests a resort that had sit-down dining and Coronado also has two outdoor bars! We will be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and although we haven't stayed there yet, we have been there for dinner and it is amazing! All this resort talk makes me want to go to Disney right now!
So, in true Meagan fashion, what started out as a simple, lets go to Disney for a few days, we will share meals and have our planning session turned into an all out Disney extravaganza! This is the first time Kevin and I have ever been to Disney where we are not meeting up with anyone, so we are looking forward to the relaxation part of the trip, although we will miss seeing Amy and Jeff! However, since I discovered that they now offer the Disney Dining Plan (the best thing in the world!) to annual pass holders (yes, we will officially have annual passes starting in July!), I have been rushing to make dining reservations at all of the restaurants we've been dying to try!! One really cute thing about Kevin is that he gets really excited (like me!) when we start talking about our Disney trips! Most of the time he is so go-with-the-flow and when we start talking about Disney, he gets so into it and puts in his thoughts. So we have three days of restaurants booked, I just need to figure out two more. Kevin put his vote in immediately for a breakfast with the characters buffet (I told you he's adorable!) since we would have enjoyed Cape May Cafe more if we hadn't celebrated our engagement with Amy and Jeff the night before at Jellyrolls...
For Kevin, I booked us at Chef Mickey's for breakfast in the Contemporary, which is somewhere that we are never able to get reservations for! I also booked us dinner at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom for the night we arrive and Ohana in the Polynesian one night. These are all places we have been trying to get into forever! We are still debating over where to have our "really nice" dinner. Our choices are California Grill on top of the Contemporary, Narcoossee's in the Grand Floridian or Jiko in Animal Kingdom Lodge. We have never been to Cali Grill or Jikos so we are not sure what to expect. I went to Jikos in the bar area once because we found out Dave Matthews had dining reservations there (and he totally sat down at our table and talked to me, Amy and Tonya and it was amazing) but all we had were drinks and a flatbread. After not being extremely impressed with Citricos on our Christmas trip, we are nervous about trying something new. Kevin votes for Narccoossee's. My mom and Blaine took us there for my early birthday dinner in 2008 and it was really good. Although I'm not sure if I remember how good the food was or how my mom made sure we had the perfect seat right in front of the castle during fireworks and tapped on the glass when someone outside stood in front of our table! :) Unfortunately the restaurant we've been dying to try in Epcot's Canada, Le Cellier, is booked solid for dinner the entire week we are there! They have lunch times available, but that is a heavy meal for lunch and we really wanted to enjoy it right before Illuminations. Oh well, something we will save for the wedding week I guess.
In addition to eating, we have other things jam-packed through the week. I will be doing a hair and makeup trial since we will not be back before the wedding (according to Kevin...) We will also be having our engagement picutres taken while we are down there. We are having them done at the Polynesian/Grand Floridian resorts by our photographer (www.mistymiotto.com). I am so excited that we get to meet her and work with her before the wedding so that on our wedding day it will be like seeing a friend, instead of a complete stranger watching our every move. I guess I need to get on the ball and call her and get a contract started for the engagement sesssion.... add it to the list of things to do!
And for the main reason for the trip (or at least how I rationalized it was so important we go down!) the planning session. One of the days we are down there, we are working with our sales coordinator now to get the date finalized, we will be meeting with our wedding planner. During this meeting we will discuss everything we want at the wedding. We will design all of the floral, table settings, music and the cake! We get to taste test a bunch of cake samples (Kevin's super excited for this!) and pick out exactly what we want. Disney can make anything we wish come true, so this should be a really fun day! We also get to do a menu tasting at the Grand Floridian for what we want to serve for our guests.
I keep wavering between a buffet and sit down. Normally a sit down would be a no-brainer, but with the amazing food Disney has to offer, a buffet can showcase a range of food and offer our guests many choices. As you can see, eating is a big part of our trip down there. I think Kevin ate prime rib for about 5 out of 9 meals during our Christmas trip! Thank goodness for the Disney Dining plan!! But because we know that not everyone coming down will be making lavish dining plans that week, this would be a really great way to show them some of our favorites. One really cool thing about Disney is that you can take things you like (i.e. Canadian Cheese Soup from Epcot) and have them at your wedding! Now I dont think the cheese soup will make it onto our menu, although I HIGHLY recommend having it during your trip, but there are bunches of things we have enjoyed throughout our dining expereinces that we would love for everyone to try!
Coming Soon.... Disney Dining reviews and some tips for using the Dining Plan!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
I'm a bad blogging bride!
I admit it, I'm a bad blogging bride! Honestly, right now there isn't too much to share, and the things that I am doing are in such early phases that they aren't ready to be shown to the world (or the three people that read this!) I guess this "planning blog" is going to morph into a little planning and some other life things. In addition to not too much to share, I've been busy with school work and trying to get this house all together! We are taking on a roommate, my friend Michelle, which means that I HAVE to have one of the extra bedrooms cleaned out by this weekend as she will be moving in April 1st! We are really excited to have Michelle come live with us for awhile. She is from Indiana (the state) and was living in a lonely apartment on the North Shore and is staying here until at least August, when she will move back home with her fiance and get married! We are going to have so much fun wedding planning while she is here! Hopefully that will mean more updates too!
So, as I promised, I am updating the Save the Dates. I blew the magnet up and besides it being a little pixel-y and the fact that apparently my scanner needs cleaned asap, it doesn't look too bad. I also have one part of the newsletter that went out with it.
So, as I promised, I am updating the Save the Dates. I blew the magnet up and besides it being a little pixel-y and the fact that apparently my scanner needs cleaned asap, it doesn't look too bad. I also have one part of the newsletter that went out with it.
I am going to try to be a better blogger now that school will be coming to a close next month. Maybe tomorrow I will update on our planning session trip we have planned! Stay tuned....
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Save the Dates
Our Save The Dates went out today.... finally. I cannot tell you the anguish that I went through to get these suckers out! I know, I know Disney sends out formal STDs, so why send my own?
Well the answer is simple... Disney waits until 7-8 months out to send them. I wanted to let my guests know as soon as possible (especially the ones we haven't gotten to see since the engagement) so they can begin thinking about their plans. My original plan was to have these puppies mailed the second week of February. Well, I'm about two weeks behind!
The sad part is I designed them and had them printed in January right after we got home from Disney! I just kept dragging my feet making the newsletter. Then one day, I had a brilliant idea.... make the newsletter at work while I'm bored! SUCCESS!
So, if you've beenwaiting, you should be receiving your Save the Date any day now. And if you don't get one, too bad... hahaha... no just kidding! I really only sent them to out-of-town guests and guests that we don't see on a weekly basis! So no fears if you don't receive one from me.... you will get your formal one from Disney!
I will post them on here in a few days after everyone has received theirs so if you weren't on the list, you won't miss out!
Well the answer is simple... Disney waits until 7-8 months out to send them. I wanted to let my guests know as soon as possible (especially the ones we haven't gotten to see since the engagement) so they can begin thinking about their plans. My original plan was to have these puppies mailed the second week of February. Well, I'm about two weeks behind!
The sad part is I designed them and had them printed in January right after we got home from Disney! I just kept dragging my feet making the newsletter. Then one day, I had a brilliant idea.... make the newsletter at work while I'm bored! SUCCESS!
So, if you've been
I will post them on here in a few days after everyone has received theirs so if you weren't on the list, you won't miss out!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Why Disney World??
This is the typical question I get as soon as I tell people that we are getting married in Walt Disney World. For us, getting married in WDW was a no-brainer. In fact, we didn't even consider having it anywhere else at any point in time, despite some negative feedback and resistance to a destination wedding. Let's go back in time....
Picture it.... Orlando 2007.... Labor Day Weekend. My Pontiac Grand Am filled to the brim with clothes, our TV, some necessities and the cat. We raced down 95 to make Orlando, Florida our new home. Immediately I convinced Kevin that we NEEDED to go to Disney ASAP. So the second day we were there, we got up and headed off to the Magic Kingdom. I hadn't been to Disney in quite a few years at the point and Kevin had never ever been to Disney World! I couldn't wait to show him the parks!
As luck would have it, he LOVED it! I couldn't believe it! Kevin jumped on the Disney bandwagon without any whining from me or begging to go to the parks. Our first day there was super hot, but there were absolutely no lines and it was as if we had the park to ourselves! This was the beginning of our Disney Magical Fairytale.
Picture it.... Orlando 2007.... Labor Day Weekend. My Pontiac Grand Am filled to the brim with clothes, our TV, some necessities and the cat. We raced down 95 to make Orlando, Florida our new home. Immediately I convinced Kevin that we NEEDED to go to Disney ASAP. So the second day we were there, we got up and headed off to the Magic Kingdom. I hadn't been to Disney in quite a few years at the point and Kevin had never ever been to Disney World! I couldn't wait to show him the parks!
Note: This picture was taken right after Splash Mountain!!
With us being new to Florida and all, we didn't know anyone! So instead of friends, we basically just went to Disney. Most of the time we didn't have any money to actually get into the park, so we would walk around Downtown Disney and shop or just people watch. Sometimes we would hang out on the patio of the Grand Floridian or the balcony of The Contemporary and watch Wishes (fireworks). It was romantic and a lot of fun.
Once I started working for Disney, we started really enjoying the parks. We met our first friends -- Jeff and Amy Dick. By chance, I met Amy at Disney training and found out we are pretty much the exact same person, Our friendship grew when Kevin and Jeff became instant friends and we became neighbors! Amy and Jeff adore Disney as much as we do, so naturally our dates became Disney-centered. They showed us parts of Disney we didn't even know existed!!
When we moved back, Kevin promised that we could visit Disney a lot because it is "our place." It's where we went when we were bored, stressed, sad, happy or homesick. It covered all basis of sports, shows and eating. It was why we were in Florida... plain and simple. And when he promised we could visit, boy did he deliver. Since we moved back, we have visited NINE times in a year and a half! That boy is good to me!
So, if there is any place that feels "right" to have a wedding, it is "our place." We feel it's special and we have so many special memories there. We can't wait to show all of our friends and family the magic that Disney holds and we hope this trip will create special memories in all of our guest's lives as well!
So, that's why we're getting married at Disney and hoping that our fairytale beginning will lead to a long life of happiness, magic and love.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Rodents and Ducks are expensive
Long before our Disney wedding was official, Kevin and I debated over which characters to have at the wedding. We had planning on having a character "couple" and couldn't decide. Once we got engaged, we ruled out Mickey and Minnie. Truth be told, I am not that much of a Mickey and Minnie Mouse fan. I think they are cute, but I really only like Mickey because he is the symbol of Disney. I enjoy seeing Mickey around, but in the 20 or so times we've been to Disney, I have never once met Mickey Mouse. I know... strange.
We don't really have a character we both love together. In fact, although everytime we are there (and next time I am insisting on it) we never see any characters. The only time we've ever seen a character together was on our first trip together in September 2007. We were coming off of Aladdin's magic carpets and there, with no one around them, was Briar Bear and Briar Fox. We got our picture, vowing to frame it with all of our Disney character pictures, but as it turns out, it is the one and only! (And also our very first picture together at Disney World!)
So being that there were no characters special to our relationship, we narrowed it down to Chip and Dale, who are my absolute favorite, or Donald and Daisy Duck. After looking at so many wedding pictures at Disney we were really leaning toward the ducks.
We don't really have a character we both love together. In fact, although everytime we are there (and next time I am insisting on it) we never see any characters. The only time we've ever seen a character together was on our first trip together in September 2007. We were coming off of Aladdin's magic carpets and there, with no one around them, was Briar Bear and Briar Fox. We got our picture, vowing to frame it with all of our Disney character pictures, but as it turns out, it is the one and only! (And also our very first picture together at Disney World!)
So being that there were no characters special to our relationship, we narrowed it down to Chip and Dale, who are my absolute favorite, or Donald and Daisy Duck. After looking at so many wedding pictures at Disney we were really leaning toward the ducks.
I mean seriously, how cute are they! So, it was all settled, Donald and Daisy it was.... until....
We were going over our wedding budget (which I might add I am doing a really good job of keeping under budget, although it is extremely hard!) Well, to invite these adorable ducks for a half-hour to our reception (during which no alcohol can be served while they are there) is $1200. Yes, TWELEVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!
That is too much, even for me who can usually rationalize everything! So after really thinking it over, we have decided that we can do so much more with $1200 than spend a half-hour with Donald and Daisy, or any character really. So the ducks got cut.
I appologize if you were really hoping to get some quality time in with the ducks at our reception. You're going to have to go to the parks and wait in the ridiculously long lines to get your picture with them unless Dinsey drops their prices drastically (not going to happen!) or we hit the lottery!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Engaged!
Well... it's official... we're ENGAGED!
Oh I have waited so long to say those words! After a rough year of ups and downs, moving and losing my mom, I thought there was nothing in 2009 that could make me happy. WRONG!
We decided back in September to spend a week in Disney World for Christmas since I knew this wouldn't be an easy Christmas and it would be nice to get away. On top of that, our good friends were moving from the Orlando area back to Iowa and we wanted to spend some time with them before they left, so what could be better than a Disney trip? And what is better than a Disney trip but a Disney trip with a proposal involved!
I'm not going to lie and say I didn't see it coming. Truth be told, I totally knew it was going to be in Disney over Christmas, I just didn't know when or how! He did a great job of throwing me off too! The first few days I was on the edge of my seat just waiting for him to ask my and dying to see the ring. I was convinced he was going to do it Christmas Eve on the beach of the Poly during fireworks. The boy just couldn't sit still. But no luck.
Finally on December 26 he took me to the Magic Kingdom (my favorite place!) and we were just walking around enjoying the day. It was too crowded to ride anything so we were just strolling along, people watching. He led me down to the rose garden, where we were all alone. I waited and then he just walked right out of the garden. I was puzzled but just figured it would be later in the day. After lunch I wasn't feeling well so he suggested we go back to the hotel and relax. I was so confused as I was SURE he was going to do it this day since he pestered me about what day we were spending at Magic Kingdom. As we were walking around the side of the castle, we noticed the show was going on, Dream Along With Mickey.
Kevin suggested we wait for it to end before exiting the park, so we were just standing on the side bridge looking at the castle and chatting. We were talking about the different parts of the castle we had never noticed before like the wishing well and just talking about the people we saw, when I noticed we were oddly alone on the bridge. Kevin looked at me and said "We're at a really great place, but something's missing, there's nothing to seal the deal." (gets on one knee) "Meagan, love of my life, will you marry me?"
OF COURSE!!!! Now for those of you Sex and the City fans out there like me, you will recognize that this proposal was loosely based off of the proposal Mr. Big gave Carrie at the end of the movie. Kevin thinks that makes him sound ridiculous, but I think it's cute. Before we had cable, we used to pop that DVD in to fall asleep at night. I think we both know every word to the entire movie.
But anyway, We're Engaged! We knew that without a doubt there were two things that were non-negotiable for our wedding:
1. It had to be in Disney World
2. We wanted each person to have the same magical Disney experience that we always have, so we needed to make it fun, personal and economical!
Since we were already in Disney World, what better time than a nice reception site tour and meeting with Disney Fairytale Weddings!? We went in with an open mind and came out with a time and location!
Although the way DFTW works is that you "tentatively" ask for a date and they let you know exactly 12 months before the day if your day and time is available. So for us, we need to wait one more week to know if our wedding is able to be January 7, 2011 at 5 p.m. in the Disney Wedding Pavilion with reception immediately following at the Grand Floridian Resort! Crossing my fingers!
This blog will be filled with planning, DIY ideas and all kind of information for guests about the events surrounding the wedding! Only one year and three days to go!!!!
::UPDATE:: We got our date!! We can confirm all space and times in May, but our wedding coordinator, Kristi, told us not to worry. It is highly unlikely that something should change!
Oh I have waited so long to say those words! After a rough year of ups and downs, moving and losing my mom, I thought there was nothing in 2009 that could make me happy. WRONG!
We decided back in September to spend a week in Disney World for Christmas since I knew this wouldn't be an easy Christmas and it would be nice to get away. On top of that, our good friends were moving from the Orlando area back to Iowa and we wanted to spend some time with them before they left, so what could be better than a Disney trip? And what is better than a Disney trip but a Disney trip with a proposal involved!
I'm not going to lie and say I didn't see it coming. Truth be told, I totally knew it was going to be in Disney over Christmas, I just didn't know when or how! He did a great job of throwing me off too! The first few days I was on the edge of my seat just waiting for him to ask my and dying to see the ring. I was convinced he was going to do it Christmas Eve on the beach of the Poly during fireworks. The boy just couldn't sit still. But no luck.
Finally on December 26 he took me to the Magic Kingdom (my favorite place!) and we were just walking around enjoying the day. It was too crowded to ride anything so we were just strolling along, people watching. He led me down to the rose garden, where we were all alone. I waited and then he just walked right out of the garden. I was puzzled but just figured it would be later in the day. After lunch I wasn't feeling well so he suggested we go back to the hotel and relax. I was so confused as I was SURE he was going to do it this day since he pestered me about what day we were spending at Magic Kingdom. As we were walking around the side of the castle, we noticed the show was going on, Dream Along With Mickey.
Kevin suggested we wait for it to end before exiting the park, so we were just standing on the side bridge looking at the castle and chatting. We were talking about the different parts of the castle we had never noticed before like the wishing well and just talking about the people we saw, when I noticed we were oddly alone on the bridge. Kevin looked at me and said "We're at a really great place, but something's missing, there's nothing to seal the deal." (gets on one knee) "Meagan, love of my life, will you marry me?"
OF COURSE!!!! Now for those of you Sex and the City fans out there like me, you will recognize that this proposal was loosely based off of the proposal Mr. Big gave Carrie at the end of the movie. Kevin thinks that makes him sound ridiculous, but I think it's cute. Before we had cable, we used to pop that DVD in to fall asleep at night. I think we both know every word to the entire movie.
But anyway, We're Engaged! We knew that without a doubt there were two things that were non-negotiable for our wedding:
1. It had to be in Disney World
2. We wanted each person to have the same magical Disney experience that we always have, so we needed to make it fun, personal and economical!
Since we were already in Disney World, what better time than a nice reception site tour and meeting with Disney Fairytale Weddings!? We went in with an open mind and came out with a time and location!
Although the way DFTW works is that you "tentatively" ask for a date and they let you know exactly 12 months before the day if your day and time is available. So for us, we need to wait one more week to know if our wedding is able to be January 7, 2011 at 5 p.m. in the Disney Wedding Pavilion with reception immediately following at the Grand Floridian Resort! Crossing my fingers!
This blog will be filled with planning, DIY ideas and all kind of information for guests about the events surrounding the wedding! Only one year and three days to go!!!!
::UPDATE:: We got our date!! We can confirm all space and times in May, but our wedding coordinator, Kristi, told us not to worry. It is highly unlikely that something should change!
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