Ring & Rain & Roses, Memory Maker Poses, Disney, Disney, Then We Came Home! COMPLETE!

[AAshleySEG]

Awww you look fantastic as Snow White-bound! Love the pic of you on the boat heading back to GF!

I read your tour post! Such fun and so interesting! And that is all I will say!

Your anniversary dress is gorgeous! You look fabulous in it!!

I loved how my Snow White look came together! I was very proud of it! I really like that boat pic too! I think it is cool that you can see the Grand in the background of it!

Glad you liked the KttK post, Part Two will be up very soon!

Thank you thank you! I still love that dress, like I said before, we are going to wear the exact same thing when we go in two weeks that way, fingers crossed, I may actually ask someone to take a photo of us in those outfits...LOL. It would be nice to see what we looked like as a couple wearing our formal wear for once...haha!

 

[MarbleBob]

Great updates, and looking forward to reading more about the tour

 

[disney meema]

Love your anniversary pictures in MK all of them are fantastic! Love how you met at V&A for dinner really special : )

 

[waitomo]

Write! Write! I can't wait to hear about Queen Victoria's room! Thank you again for the fun posts!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Great updates, and looking forward to reading more about the tour

Thanks!, There should be another one on here today hopefully!!

Love your anniversary pictures in MK all of them are fantastic! Love how you met at V&A for dinner really special : )

Thank you! I was definitely happy with how those photos turned out! It worked out really nice for us to meet each other at V&A!

Write! Write! I can't wait to hear about Queen Victoria's room! Thank you again for the fun posts!

I am glad you are enjoying it! Hopefully I should have some more up today!

 

[AAshleySEG]

WARNING!
Make Sure You Want to Read Backstage Info Before Reading! If you are going on the tour yourself, you may want to wait! Just remember, you were warned before you read it!!​

This post will be the same as the last Keys to the Kingdom post, please make sure you want to read, just to make sure that no one sees any spoilers that they wish not see! Thanks!

We were now making our way through the remainder of Adventureland, as we passed the Enchanted Tiki Room Christi let us know that it was the very first attraction featuring animatronic figures! Another fact that I thought was pretty cool, and that I had never known was that when Walt Disney World opened, you had to have tickets to ride the attractions, they were lettered A-E, they ranged with things on A being something like the Main Street Vehicles, to E being something like It's A Small World or the Haunted Mansion! As we moved on, we got to have a seat in the shaded Tortuga Tavern to listen and rest for a bit! She talked about Oswald and How Walt came up with Mickey..(Mortimer) mouse but how his wife changed his mind about the name! We learned some history about Pirates of the Caribbean and how originally in the fire scene the pirates were supposed to be chasing the ladies, but on the last group they made the lady chase the pirate, well everyone loved it so much now all the ladies are chasing the pirates! When they were building the attraction in order for it to be opened the Fire Marshall had to ok it! Well, they did such a good job on the flame effects, he thought they were real!!

Pirates of the Caribbean was not an original attraction at the Magic Kingdom, so when they built it they had some things to work around! For example, you know the drop? It was put in because the Walt Disney World Railroad was already in place when Pirates was built, so since they couldn't move it, they just went under it! When you go through that dark tunnel on the railroad, it is called Pirate's tunnel, because you are actually inside Pirates of the Caribbean while you are going through it!

After our long talk in Tortuga Tavern we got up and were treated to our very first backstage experience! We crossed the railroad across the street from Pecos Bill and beside Splash Mountain and started walking down the small street where the parade start is. We got to see the yellow show line on the ground, we really got to see where people were able to see us, or we could see them...and then as soon as we crossed that line it was like we disappeared! We passed the 8:30 tour as we were walking inside and Christi told us to loudly say Hi to them as we passed by! Once we got backstage she told us about the trash system at Magic Kingdom and how it used pressurized air to move the garbage from location to location. She showed us the impressive "Go Away Green" color that buildings are painted so they go unnoticed! There were some boats from Pirates and Splash Mountain that we were able to see outside of their natural habitat. As well as a hippo-bottomless!

We visited the area where the parade floats are lined up and stored for maximum efficiency. There were some from every parade you can imagine! Boo To You, Christmastime, Electrical, the Grand Marshall Car, and more! We saw the Candy Corn Cones that go down the street in the Boo To You now, but have had many lives as other things! She said they are big on reusing things. Originally those were traffic cones in the Stars and Motor Cars parade, then they were re-painted to use for the Monsters University Pep Rally, and now they are living once again as Candy Corn! Once we finished looking at the parade floats we walked over to the backside of Splash Mountain, there is a gigantic reservoir which holds all of the water for the attraction when it needs to be emptied for whatever reason. Splash Mountain holds 2 million gallons of water!!

We started making our way back to the Frontierland entrance to backstage that we came through, but then stopped to sit down for another rest where the parade performers get ready. Christi took that time to answer any questions that anyone in the group may have had before we moved on!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

WARNING!
Make Sure You Want to Read Backstage Info Before Reading! If you are going on the tour yourself, you may want to wait! Just remember, you were warned before you read it!!​

This is going to be the final installment of the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which means, you guessed it, make sure you want to read. If you have not read any of these and are waiting on the Anniversary Dinner in the Queen Victoria Room! I hope to have that up today, but if not today definitely tomorrow! Thanks for sticking with me!

As we started our journey through the remainder of the Frontierland transition to Liberty Square, Christi let us know that each building in the area had an address which is actually the year the building was from. Country Bear Jamboree was such a technological marvel when it opened that it was one of the hottest tickets! The wooden bridge where Frontierland meets Liberty Square is affectionately known as the Little Mississippi! This is sort of a pretty gross fact, however, have you even noticed the pebble trail running through Liberty Square? Where it is in fact a sewage trail which ran through the streets during that time in history. In fact, there are no actual bathrooms in Liberty Square because in that time there would not have been plumbing! In one of the windows in Liberty Square there are two lanterns because they wanted it to be historically accurate with the 1 if by land, 2 if by sea.

The next stop on our tour was lunch! We were taken inside of Columbia Harbour House and upstairs to a private roped-off area. Our seats had name tags with our food placed in front of them! We were seated across from another couple whose 30th Anniversary was today, it was nice because they were from Charleston. Funnily enough, they were also at Afternoon Tea yesterday when we were there! Our lunches were huge and very filling, I only ate half of the sandwich because I didn't want to be too full for dinner tonight since we were having so many courses!!

After lunch we went to our next attraction experience! The Haunted Mansion! Before we rode she gave us some history and fun facts about it. There is always much debate about the stretching room, a lot of people still think the one at Disney World is an elevator...but it is not. They one at Disneyland is an elevator, they just had to replicate it here at Walt Disney World, but in fact it is the ceiling that stretches upward in this version. Madam Leota was in fact a real person name Leota Toombs if you can believe it. She was an imagineer that worked for Disney, her face is the actually face of Madam Leota although the voice is Eleanor Audley, you may recognize her as the voice of Maleficent and Lady Tremaine. So next time you go into the Haunted Mansion close your eyes and picture Lady Tremaine or Maleficent in the room where you see Madam Leota! The imagineeers couldn't decide on whether they wanted Haunted Mansion to be sort of a Haunted House or a Friendly ghost ride, so they split it in half. The first half of Haunted Mansion is just like, like a Haunted House, and the second half, everything gets a little more friendly and silly. I am sure everyone knows by now that the ghosts in the ballroom are an effect called Peppers Ghosts. We spotted a Hidden Donald in a chair in front of the long hallway with the floating Candelabra. There is also a Hidden Mickey in the place settings in the ballroom!

When we finished riding the Haunted Mansion we made our way back across the park to the Restrooms near the First Aid Station for one last break before we went down into the World Famous Utilidors! As we were walking backstage something interesting was going on...but for me it was one of those things I will try to forget!! The Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Street Party was coming offstage...that is not a Disney experience I wish on anyone...Let's just say I saw some things I did not, nor would I like to see again and leave it at that.

We made it into the Utilidor system right after that, it was just what you would expect it to be, a corridor where people can move around and find things if they need them. We got to see lots of photos in cases while we were down there, the park being built, new projects, the different styles that the castle has taken on over the years, early photos from the Disney Brothers Studios. My favorite photos were of the Cinderella Castle Suite, along with the key cards, glass slipper, embroidered towels, etc. Further on we got to see a sort of memorial to attractions that were no longer here, such as, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, 20000 Leagues, the Swan Boats, Snow White's Scary Adventure's, Alien which is now Stitch's Great Escape and more. Next up they showed us a video of how the Castmembers are able to get their costumes whenever they need them. That is a pretty cool process! To see the how circle of costume life at Disney World! Another REALLY cool thing I liked was the Pin Trading window for the Castmembers, where they get there cast pins to trade, and then once they get pins no one else wants they come down and trade them for better ones that people do want! One of the last things she showed us before we went back upstairs was the machine that used to pump the freshly baked cookie smell into the park! It was now time for us to leave the Utilidor and head back up to Main Street where we started! We all thanked Christi very much and then it was time for us to get going!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

I walked up to Jeremy as he was waiting, looking out the window, and according to him and this is a direct quote "Wow, Jaw-Drop-Floor, Googly Eyes, everything that Roger Rabbit would do when he sees Jessica Rabbit", he said he felt. He had been waiting there for about 40 minutes, his haircut only took 20 so he was just standing there waiting around for that long. I felt silly, because I too had been ready early and just waited around for 5:00 to come.

Pretty much right at 5:00 the Hostess came out to get us to take us into the restaurant. Tonight we were to be seated in the Queen Victoria Room. I had not known but Jeremy had pre-ordered our wine and the Hildon Still water to be at the table when we arrived. That was very thoughtful and something I didn't know that you could do there. Our servers for the evening were Beth & Mike whom we had the previous time we were in QVR, it was definitely nice to see them again. Beth presented our menus to us for the night. I took a photo of it when we got home for you guys to see!

There is a video on youtube from a guy called Sam's Disney Diary, he did a video on the Queen Victoria Room. Our menu was a little different than theirs, but some of the courses were the same. For our Amuse Bouche we had the Main Lobster "Jar" with Siberian Osertra Caviar, and they had the Alaskan King Crab "Jar", the dishes do look identical though for reference. Our second course was the Jumbo Lump Crab with Cucumber Gelee, and theirs was the Octopus A La Plancha with Black Garlic Aioli. Our third, fourth, and fifth courses were the same, with the exception that we didn't get the sausage from the fifth considering it was not in season at our visit. For our sixth course we had the Marcho Farms Veal with Peas, Carrots and Morels and they had the Colorado Bison. We both had the same seventh course which was the Australian Kobe-Style Beef, The cheese were the same for us as well. Where they had a peach panna cotta for dessert we had a mango one. The chocolate dessert was also the same. It is a good reference video for the type of experience or foods you will have there if you ever decide to go! So If you want to see it, I recommend watching! Youtube Video from Sam's Disney Diary!

Our dinner was so delicious, I mean it has never been anything other than that! We were seated at one of the tables next to the fireplace! This photo is from the Disney Food Blog, we were seated at the table on the left in the photo!

After our cheese course came out Viviana brought out a plate with a dome on top to me and said that the chef wanted to send out something special. When they opened the dome it was a beautiful Anniversary present from Jeremy!! I did not have my camera but I did happen to have my phone to capture a photo! Sorry for the bad quality, cell phone cameras just don't do it any justice!

I couldn't believe it! It was such a surprise that I had no idea he was planning! 7th Anniversary is copper so I had gotten him an engraved copper wallet insert card that he could keep with him all the time, but as I write this out now, I can remember how surprised I was to get this, and in this way!

The whole staff was fantastic on this night, well they always are though! It just cements in my mind why we love this place so much! We can't wait to go back again! I think when the Friandises tray came to us I ate the Pate de Fruit right away but had a selection of the rest put in a box to bring home. The Pate De Fruit are my absolute favorite and I always have to eat them while we are there!! Beth and Mike know that as well, so they gave me a few extra of them in the box! We also went home with a loaf of fresh baked fruit bread to take with us as well as the third rose of the trip for me!! I was starting to get a rose collection!

By 8:40 we were done with dinner, and so full that we decided to just go back to the room to rest, originally we were going to go swimming but I couldn't imagine swimming after eating all that food! We were also so full that we decided to cancel our breakfast reservation tomorrow for 1900 Park Fare. We knew that we wouldn't want to eat that much in the morning! Tomorrow would be our last day at the park, but there was still a lot of fun to be had!!


Budget:

Original Budget:
Breakfast $20
Ivy Trellis Haircut $60
Queen Victoria Room $800

Actual Spending:
Breakfast $Cash
Ivy Trellis Haircut $54
Queen Victoria Room $700

Subtotal:$754.00

Total Spent:
$2069.15

Budget Status:
$125.85 UNDER BUDGET!!

 

[npierce25]

your trip report is rapidly becoming one of my favorites! you guys are the cutest couple ever!

 

[AAshleySEG]

your trip report is rapidly becoming one of my favorites! you guys are the cutest couple ever!

Wow! That is so kind of you!! Thank you so much!! I am glad you are enjoying it!! Thanks again for reading along!

 

[DisDance]

I am loving your report! It's so fun to read, you guys are so perfect for each other

 

[AAshleySEG]

I am loving your report! It's so fun to read, you guys are so perfect for each other

I am so glad you are enjoying the TR! That's so nice of you to say about us, it is nice to have someone who shares my love of Disney, even the dining and Disneybounding! Sometimes Jeremy seems more excited than I do to get to go to WDW!

 

[AAshleySEG]

First thing this morning we woke up and had to get everything packed and ready to go, since sadly it was our last day and we were leaving late morning/early afternoon! Just because it is our last day doesn't mean we don't have anything planned though! Once we we all dressed and ready, myself as Vanellope Von Schweetz, and Jeremy as Wreck-It Ralph, we took all of our luggage out to the car before we made the short walk to hope on the monorail to get over to the Magic Kingdom! We made it over there right as the morning show was starting before rope drop which was a great coincidence for us, since we hadn't planned on being there for it! Once we got inside, our first stop was to drop off our postcards in the mailbox!

Since we canceled our breakfast reservations this morning we wanted to grab something that would be quick, and as much as I hate to admit it, we went into the Main Street Bakery/Starbucks. I can no longer hold onto the past, so I will have to do as Walt Disney himself said, and Keep Moving Forward, even if I am still upset that they changed MSB. I think we both got Ham, Egg & Cheese sandwiches on ciabatta? Jeremy also got and Orange Juice and I got a Vanilla Latte. Since there is no seating in there anymore, we walked our way over to the Tomorrowland Terrace and grabbed a seat in the shade overlooking Cinderella Castle!

We were the only ones over in that area, I guess most people have more important things to do at that time in the morning like getting in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Anna & Elsa! Jeremy was definitely enjoying his breakfast, as we sat over here listening to the calm of where we were and enjoying our view!

I was still tired from yesterday for some reason, even if I did get a good night's sleep! Which is why I did decide to go ahead and get me some coffee!

I was still so giddy about my ring that morning, I kept watching how it sparkled and caught the light, we had such a great Anniversary day yesterday! It was nice to have a piece of it to wear around with me to remind me of it!

Once we finished breakfast we were going to star heading over towards Seven Dwarfs Mine Train since we had a fastpass for it at 9:20. We headed right out of the terrace and then cut back across the bridge where there was a Photopass Photographer! We asked if she would take a photo of us, and she said, hey weren't you dressed as Snow White yesterday! She remembered that, which I thought was pretty cool! She took quite a few photos, and sadly to say none of them turned out well at all, she even did a Magic shot, which came out not so magical in the end, what I would call a Photopass Fail. Can anyone guess what was supposed to be happening in this photo??

So after we finished with the photos we kept walking over toward Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! This would be our first time we had ever ridden it!! We were very excited! We held out our Magic Bands, they turned green and we started walking into the Fastpass line. We were actually the only ones in it?? Oh well, I took that time to take a photo of Jeremy!

I also wanted to have a nice little photo of the Seven Dwarfs Cottage!! The Imagineers did a fantastic job on this one! It looks so great walking by it!

So what did we think of it??? You will have to wait and see!!

EDIT!! 7/14/14 I emailed Photopass and they corrected the balloon photos! Thanks ladies for letting me know I could do that!!

 

[MidnightParade]

Aww, sorry you got traumatized by the parade! I find it a little fascinating but I think now going as a guest to the parks and already being as shy as I am about the characters that it would be best for me to avoid the same experience as I would never be able to do characters pics again after seeing "inside" backstage.

Wow!! What an anniversary gift from Jeremy! So pretty and just so awesomely done! Definitely a keeper!

Dinner sounds like it was wonderful! And your even more under budget now! Wow!

 

[MidnightParade]

And your posting as I comment!!

Love your Disneybounding!! Such fun!

If you email photopass and tell them you are missing the magic in the magic shots they can go in and add it! I'm sure it will be super cute once added!!

So far what a lovely last morning!!

 

[disney meema]

Wow love your incredible anniversary ring, just beautiful. Great job Jeremy : ) such a special day and anniversary trip. I'll be celebrating our 35th anniversary this year and I also feel so lucky to have a husband who has always made me feel special and beautiful inside and out. It's a rare thing to find that in another person and you surely have that, treasure it.
Looking forward to how you liked 7dmt and how your last day played out... Yep disney will add the balloon in your magic shot just let them know, it's a balloon if I guessed right?
I wish I could read your keys to the kingdom report but my iPad mini won't let me highlight it to read lol must get on my laptop or desk computer to read your experience

 

[MarbleBob]

Incredible updates! I loved reading about the Keys to the Kindgom tour. Some really neat information in there. And then, the V&A dinner. Awesome! And the ring looks cool. I think a few of us men on here need to take a few cues from Jeremy!!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Aww, sorry you got traumatized by the parade! I find it a little fascinating but I think now going as a guest to the parks and already being as shy as I am about the characters that it would be best for me to avoid the same experience as I would never be able to do characters pics again after seeing "inside" backstage.

Wow!! What an anniversary gift from Jeremy! So pretty and just so awesomely done! Definitely a keeper!

Dinner sounds like it was wonderful! And your even more under budget now! Wow!

Yeah, I had to seriously shield my eyes for most of the parade coming offstage, but it was still a fun experience to do the KttK Tour!

He did a great job on selecting a gift! I was so surprised, and still am when I notice it on my hand!

Being under budget is AWESOME! I was so happy that it was working out that way!!

And your posting as I comment!!

Love your Disneybounding!! Such fun!

If you email photopass and tell them you are missing the magic in the magic shots they can go in and add it! I'm sure it will be super cute once added!!

So far what a lovely last morning!!

LOL, It was pretty funny that we were posting at the same time! Great minds think alike eh?

Our last two outfits were definitely not as easy to identify, but once you know who they are, I felt like it was easier to get it?

Thank you for letting me know about emailing Photopass!! I just did so fingers crossed I will have a "Magic" Photo very soon!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Wow love your incredible anniversary ring, just beautiful. Great job Jeremy : ) such a special day and anniversary trip. I'll be celebrating our 35th anniversary this year and I also feel so lucky to have a husband who has always made me feel special and beautiful inside and out. It's a rare thing to find that in another person and you surely have that, treasure it.
Looking forward to how you liked 7dmt and how your last day played out... Yep disney will add the balloon in your magic shot just let them know, it's a balloon if I guessed right?
I wish I could read your keys to the kingdom report but my iPad mini won't let me highlight it to read lol must get on my laptop or desk computer to read your experience

Thank you! He did a great job! I am so proud of him that he picked out something like that for me!! Oh, 35th, that's great!! Congratulations!!

I should be posting the update about 7DMT tomorrow sometime, so you won't have too long to wait! Thanks to you and Midnight, I did in fact email Photopass to see if they could fix it for me!

I fixed the posts where you can read the parts on the Keys To The Kingdom Tour if you want now!! Hope you enjoy them, no highlighting necessary!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Incredible updates! I loved reading about the Keys to the Kindgom tour. Some really neat information in there. And then, the V&A dinner. Awesome! And the ring looks cool. I think a few of us men on here need to take a few cues from Jeremy!!!

Thanks!! We had such a great time on the KttK Tour!! We had so much fun we are trying to figure out which tour we want to try and do next!

LOL, I think you guys being on Disboards is pretty good!! There are a bunch of husbands/spouses that don't even make it that far