A Disney Geek-tastic Trip to the World Updated 3/27!
- Thread starter Missyrose
- Start date
mousehappync
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2013
- Messages
- 420
I had somehow missed a lot of your updates to this report-- what a treat to get to catch up! Franklin really outdid himself with the ride photos-- those are some of his best pics ever (which are pretty much the best of any pics I've ever seen!) We were also so sad PP was closed on our last trip-- it's my fave. I love all the zoom shots, especially on the Jungle Cruise!
DisneyFreak06
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Messages
- 4,773
WOW! As usual, incredible shots!
I once sat near Pirates to watch the fireworks from there. It was very different! On my next trip, I will watch them from Main Street again as it's been a while since I've done that.
I once sat near Pirates to watch the fireworks from there. It was very different! On my next trip, I will watch them from Main Street again as it's been a while since I've done that.
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
- Messages
- 8,010
Beautiful photos of BOG! That restaurant is one of the most perfect things Disney World has ever created. It is so immersive! For all of who grew up loving Beauty & the Beast, what could be better than actually getting to dine in Beast's Castle?? I wanted to sit in the West Wing too when we went, but I think Paxton would have been too scared from the darkness and the lightning flashes.
The nighttime photos are fantastic. The one of the Mad Tea Party is amazing!
The fireworks over BOG is a pretty awesome vantage point. We traditionally watch Wishes from Main Street, but I wouldn't mind seeing them over Beast's Castle one day! Looks so pretty!
The nighttime photos are fantastic. The one of the Mad Tea Party is amazing!
The fireworks over BOG is a pretty awesome vantage point. We traditionally watch Wishes from Main Street, but I wouldn't mind seeing them over Beast's Castle one day! Looks so pretty!
happenin2you
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2009
- Messages
- 473
I am so excited to try Be Our Guest when we go in May! The shrimp and scallops looks amazing and I will probably have to try that lemon cupcake.
And, as usual, the photos are spectacular. The colors are so vibrant!
And, as usual, the photos are spectacular. The colors are so vibrant!
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 9,965
Great pics!
Thank you!
I sat outside Gaston's on the fountain's ledge for Wishes in October and loved the views. The only problem was all the falling ash since the big fireworks were so close!
I had somehow missed a lot of your updates to this report-- what a treat to get to catch up! Franklin really outdid himself with the ride photos-- those are some of his best pics ever (which are pretty much the best of any pics I've ever seen!) We were also so sad PP was closed on our last trip-- it's my fave. I love all the zoom shots, especially on the Jungle Cruise!
I'm glad you caught up, this was a really fun trip! I know people think it's weird that as two adults, PP is one of our must-dos. But it such a beautifully classic Disney attraction. I can't wait to ride it again in May!
WOW! As usual, incredible shots!
I once sat near Pirates to watch the fireworks from there. It was very different! On my next trip, I will watch them from Main Street again as it's been a while since I've done that.
Ooooo, I've never sat on the left-hand side of the park for Wishes. That will be going on my to-do list, thanks for the idea!
I am so in love with BOG. It's is such a magical place, they got all the details right. The nice thing about sitting in the West Wing is that it's so much quieter than the ballroom. It's not too, too dark. Paxton may do okay and the lightning is super quick.
We've gotten more creative with our Wishes viewing spots on recent trips, but nothing beats the Main Street view! I love it so much.
Thanks Barry!
You really need to stop in at BOG, maybe for lunch, so you can see the restaurant. It's worth it.The lemon cupcake was so good (we've yet to have a bad dessert there!). I can't wait to hear what you think of the restaurant after you go in May!
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 9,965
Welcome back! We last left off with a day of Magic Kingdom fun. It was a bright and early new day. And more importantly it was Franklins birthday! We had BIG plans for the day: The Keys to the Kingdom Tour, dinner at Bluezoo and an evening at Jellyrolls.
We were so excited to do KTTK, as any good Disney geeks would be. Our tour time was before park opening, so we got to stroll into a nice, quiet, empty park. Our first task was to check in.
They give you a headset, your pin, a water bottle and have you place your lunch order. We then headed back out into Town Square to take in the parks early-morning sights.
Soon, it was time for our tour to meet our guide. Her name was Katie.
Now heres where Im going to give you a spoiler alert, Im going to pass along some of the fun facts we learned on the tour. If you plan to take the tour and dont want to know any of this, I wont blame you if you stop reading now.
The first thing Katie explained to us is that Magic Kingdom is set up like a theater. You buy your tickets, the train station acts as the curtain. You buy your popcorn (cart by the entrance) and see posters (in the train station tunnel) and the red carpet (sidewalk) leads you to the feature presentation (the castle)!
We then moved onto Main Street, where Katie said the movie metaphor continues. The windows on the buildings serve as the opening credits for the park.
Katie guided us to the alleyway on Main Street, where she explained some of the most basic Disney premises.
Magic Kingdom is a stage, when CMs are visible to guests, theyre on stage. Once they walk through those doors, theyre backstage.
The most important things to keep in mind when on stage are the four keys: Safety, courtesy, show and efficiency.
There are 62,000 CMs employed at the Walt Disney World Resort, making it the single largest localized employer in the country.
Right around that time, the park opened to day guests and we had a fun angle from which to watch the running of the bulls.
There goes the family of the day
Quiet, right?
Here they come!
With the hordes dispersed, we moved on with our tour. Katie explained how Disney can keep the American flags flying atop the buildings on Main Street without bringing them down every night.
Theyre missing a star, making them non-regulation American flags. So they dont have to be brought down from their poles.
The property Walt Disney World sits on is 25,000 acres in total and only about a third of that property has been developed thus far. About a third is protected wild land that cannot be developed, leaving another third ready for development. Disney World could conceivably DOUBLE in size!
Quick tour break to gawk at the ginormous tour group. Yikes!
Before we move on, Katie told us that there are many stories about the positioning of the partners statue. She said the story she believes is that Walt is telling Mickey to go sit with Roy, because its Roys park now.
We then took a left into Adventureland.
It was time for a private Jungle Cruise.
We werent allowed to take pictures on the ride, but some of the fun facts we learned included:
The other half of the crashed plane resides in the Great Movie Ride. Dont forget to look for the hidden Mickey on the plane!
Theres also a hidden Minnie in the drawings on the pilar leading into the temple.
We next moved backstage using an exit next to Splash Mountain. It was time to visit the parade storage! This was really cool. We saw the current Main Street Electrical Parade floats and even a few of the Spectromagic float frames that were still there, just in bad shape. They were also gearing up for a Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade. We happened to see either Chip or Dale, but he was missing his head!
Next, was a trip to Pirates of the Caribbean. Two facts to note: There are 65 animatronics on Pirates but there are only 35 different faces.
And contrary to urban legend, Johnny Depp has never appeared in person as Captain Jack Sparrow in ANY of the parks.
We left Adventureland and headed for Liberty Square. Did you know there are no bathrooms in Liberty Square? But what about the bathrooms in Columbia Harbor House, you ask? Theyre physically located in Fantasyland. But why would there be an entire land without bathrooms? Because there were no bathrooms during that time period and the strip of lighter-colored cement in the sidewalk is meant to show the sewage that used to be dumped in the streets.
We were so excited to do KTTK, as any good Disney geeks would be. Our tour time was before park opening, so we got to stroll into a nice, quiet, empty park. Our first task was to check in.
They give you a headset, your pin, a water bottle and have you place your lunch order. We then headed back out into Town Square to take in the parks early-morning sights.
Soon, it was time for our tour to meet our guide. Her name was Katie.
Now heres where Im going to give you a spoiler alert, Im going to pass along some of the fun facts we learned on the tour. If you plan to take the tour and dont want to know any of this, I wont blame you if you stop reading now.
The first thing Katie explained to us is that Magic Kingdom is set up like a theater. You buy your tickets, the train station acts as the curtain. You buy your popcorn (cart by the entrance) and see posters (in the train station tunnel) and the red carpet (sidewalk) leads you to the feature presentation (the castle)!
We then moved onto Main Street, where Katie said the movie metaphor continues. The windows on the buildings serve as the opening credits for the park.
Katie guided us to the alleyway on Main Street, where she explained some of the most basic Disney premises.
Magic Kingdom is a stage, when CMs are visible to guests, theyre on stage. Once they walk through those doors, theyre backstage.
The most important things to keep in mind when on stage are the four keys: Safety, courtesy, show and efficiency.
There are 62,000 CMs employed at the Walt Disney World Resort, making it the single largest localized employer in the country.
Right around that time, the park opened to day guests and we had a fun angle from which to watch the running of the bulls.
There goes the family of the day
Quiet, right?
Here they come!
With the hordes dispersed, we moved on with our tour. Katie explained how Disney can keep the American flags flying atop the buildings on Main Street without bringing them down every night.
Theyre missing a star, making them non-regulation American flags. So they dont have to be brought down from their poles.
The property Walt Disney World sits on is 25,000 acres in total and only about a third of that property has been developed thus far. About a third is protected wild land that cannot be developed, leaving another third ready for development. Disney World could conceivably DOUBLE in size!
Quick tour break to gawk at the ginormous tour group. Yikes!
Before we move on, Katie told us that there are many stories about the positioning of the partners statue. She said the story she believes is that Walt is telling Mickey to go sit with Roy, because its Roys park now.
We then took a left into Adventureland.
It was time for a private Jungle Cruise.
We werent allowed to take pictures on the ride, but some of the fun facts we learned included:
The other half of the crashed plane resides in the Great Movie Ride. Dont forget to look for the hidden Mickey on the plane!
Theres also a hidden Minnie in the drawings on the pilar leading into the temple.
We next moved backstage using an exit next to Splash Mountain. It was time to visit the parade storage! This was really cool. We saw the current Main Street Electrical Parade floats and even a few of the Spectromagic float frames that were still there, just in bad shape. They were also gearing up for a Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade. We happened to see either Chip or Dale, but he was missing his head!
Next, was a trip to Pirates of the Caribbean. Two facts to note: There are 65 animatronics on Pirates but there are only 35 different faces.
And contrary to urban legend, Johnny Depp has never appeared in person as Captain Jack Sparrow in ANY of the parks.
We left Adventureland and headed for Liberty Square. Did you know there are no bathrooms in Liberty Square? But what about the bathrooms in Columbia Harbor House, you ask? Theyre physically located in Fantasyland. But why would there be an entire land without bathrooms? Because there were no bathrooms during that time period and the strip of lighter-colored cement in the sidewalk is meant to show the sewage that used to be dumped in the streets.
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 9,965
Safely ensconced in bathroom-less Liberty Square, it was time to eat, move past that huge scrim and into Columbia Harbor House!
Franklin had the fried shrimp and I had the chicken fingers.
And we ended up sitting with our tour guide. We got to know her a bit better. It turns out, she was in marching band at LSU with two of our very best friends! Such a small world!
Next on the tour schedule was Haunted Mansion. We were taken through the side entrance.
See the ghost host?
His picture also appears in the stretching room.
The mansion is based on a real house -- Harry Packers mansion in Pennsylvania.
Constance, the Bride, had five weddings. With each one, the cake got bigger and she added another strand of pearls.
Theres also a hidden Mickey to the right of the opera singer in the graveyard, but Franklin and I have yet to be able to see it (no matter how hard we try!)
We stopped for one last look at the castle before heading underground Katie told us the castle suite was the first call center in Disney World. It was converted to a guest suite in 2006. And when Disney did the Year of a Million Dreams promotion, there were plenty of people who turned down the prize of winning a night in the castle suite. Some didnt want to move their stuff from their resort for one night. Others didnt want to separate from their extended family. But I think we can all agree all those people were crazy! Who turns down a night in Cinderellas Castle?
Next was the pièce de résistance, a trip down to the utilidors that run under the Magic Kingdom. The utilidors are the tunnels CMs use to move around the Magic Kingdom when they dont want to be seen on stage. We were so excited to get to see it. Id imagined all of these criscrossing tunnels. I never realized that is was one big circle. Theres no crossing the park, the CMs have to go around the park to get from Point A to Point B. There are training rooms, break rooms and even a pin room where CMs go to fill their trading lanyards.
It was cool to be in Disneys secret lair. Though it definitely looks more like the hallways of a hospital (with WAY better art) than tunnels under MK. We came back on stage near where we started our tour and, after 5 ½ hours, the tour was over. I cant recommend this tour enough. It was so fun and so informative, exactly the kind of thing any real Disney lover would love. It is a lot of walking, though, so be warned. You walk for most of the tour (with the exception of lunch and the rides), so wear comfortable shoes and clothing. And for all you photographers out there, there are some pretty big restrictions on when you can shoot photos on the tour (hence how few photos Franklin took).
With the afternoon free, it was time to figure out what to do.
All that walking gives you quite an appetite, time for a snack. Our favorite MK snacks, to be exact. I got Caseys corndog nuggets.
Franklin got a birthday Dole Whip.
It was warm, warmer than it had been all week. So we decided to head back to the resort for some pool time.
Our feet ached, so we hopped on the monorail back to the Contemporary, where we had parked our car.
We got back to Boardwalk and convinced ourselves that wed lay down just for a minute. Several hours later we woke up and realized wed slept right through our pool time. Well leave off for now, but stay tuned because we have one heck of a night in the Epcot resort area coming up.
Franklin had the fried shrimp and I had the chicken fingers.
And we ended up sitting with our tour guide. We got to know her a bit better. It turns out, she was in marching band at LSU with two of our very best friends! Such a small world!
Next on the tour schedule was Haunted Mansion. We were taken through the side entrance.
See the ghost host?
His picture also appears in the stretching room.
The mansion is based on a real house -- Harry Packers mansion in Pennsylvania.
Constance, the Bride, had five weddings. With each one, the cake got bigger and she added another strand of pearls.
Theres also a hidden Mickey to the right of the opera singer in the graveyard, but Franklin and I have yet to be able to see it (no matter how hard we try!)
We stopped for one last look at the castle before heading underground Katie told us the castle suite was the first call center in Disney World. It was converted to a guest suite in 2006. And when Disney did the Year of a Million Dreams promotion, there were plenty of people who turned down the prize of winning a night in the castle suite. Some didnt want to move their stuff from their resort for one night. Others didnt want to separate from their extended family. But I think we can all agree all those people were crazy! Who turns down a night in Cinderellas Castle?
Next was the pièce de résistance, a trip down to the utilidors that run under the Magic Kingdom. The utilidors are the tunnels CMs use to move around the Magic Kingdom when they dont want to be seen on stage. We were so excited to get to see it. Id imagined all of these criscrossing tunnels. I never realized that is was one big circle. Theres no crossing the park, the CMs have to go around the park to get from Point A to Point B. There are training rooms, break rooms and even a pin room where CMs go to fill their trading lanyards.
It was cool to be in Disneys secret lair. Though it definitely looks more like the hallways of a hospital (with WAY better art) than tunnels under MK. We came back on stage near where we started our tour and, after 5 ½ hours, the tour was over. I cant recommend this tour enough. It was so fun and so informative, exactly the kind of thing any real Disney lover would love. It is a lot of walking, though, so be warned. You walk for most of the tour (with the exception of lunch and the rides), so wear comfortable shoes and clothing. And for all you photographers out there, there are some pretty big restrictions on when you can shoot photos on the tour (hence how few photos Franklin took).
With the afternoon free, it was time to figure out what to do.
All that walking gives you quite an appetite, time for a snack. Our favorite MK snacks, to be exact. I got Caseys corndog nuggets.
Franklin got a birthday Dole Whip.
It was warm, warmer than it had been all week. So we decided to head back to the resort for some pool time.
Our feet ached, so we hopped on the monorail back to the Contemporary, where we had parked our car.
We got back to Boardwalk and convinced ourselves that wed lay down just for a minute. Several hours later we woke up and realized wed slept right through our pool time. Well leave off for now, but stay tuned because we have one heck of a night in the Epcot resort area coming up.
Tiggerrn2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2005
- Messages
- 2,471
Loved the update!! That tour is amazing. I have done it twice now and wouldn't hesitate to go again. Although, I think the next time I will try for the BIG tour of all the parks. You remembered so many little items. We didn't get to do the Jungle Cruise this time because it was down for refurb.
Enjoyed these last two updates. As always Franklin did a great job capturing the dark interior of BOG and love your photo with The Beast. I also like the fireworks over Beast's Castle.
Thanks for the info on the KTTW tour - I'm saving that for my next solo trip.
Just for fun, here's a pic of DH and DD with The Beast:
Who's The Beast?
Thanks for the info on the KTTW tour - I'm saving that for my next solo trip.
Just for fun, here's a pic of DH and DD with The Beast:
Who's The Beast?
luvpoohandcompany
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2009
- Messages
- 4,788
Wow Missy I would love to do that tour someday. Sounds brilliant -even love the reasoning behind the lack of toilets (so glad I wasn't born in those days )
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
- Messages
- 8,010
We LOVED the Keys to the Kingdom tour when we did it a few years ago!! Even knowing a lot of the information they gave us, there is still something so cool about seeing the backstage areas and hearing the little tidbits of information that went into planning every detail of the parks.
For the hidden Mickey in HM, you pretty much have to turn around and look around the side of the doom buggy as you start to make the last turn out of the graveyard. Maybe you will get to spot it next time!! It's a hard one, for sure.
For the hidden Mickey in HM, you pretty much have to turn around and look around the side of the doom buggy as you start to make the last turn out of the graveyard. Maybe you will get to spot it next time!! It's a hard one, for sure.
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 9,965
I want to try the four-park tour. That is soooooo at the top of my Disney to-do list. My memory isn't quite that good, I was surreptitiously taking some notes in my phone and then emailed them to myself. I didn't want to let my TR readers down!
The tour would be perfect for a solo trip. Great photo with the Beast!
Wow Missy I would love to do that tour someday. Sounds brilliant -even love the reasoning behind the lack of toilets (so glad I wasn't born in those days )
The tour was so much fun, I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the tip on the HM Hidden Mickey, I'll try and see if I can see it next time I ride.
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 9,965
This is a totally off-topic post. I know there are plenty of people who are probably sick of hearing about our wedding. But I promise, this is it for the wedding posts! We got the rest of our wedding photos and I wanted to share the ways we found to incorporate Disney into our big day. Disney is a big part of our lives, but we didnt want our wedding to look like a cartoon. So we worked with our planners to make the Disney details subtle and elegant. I was really excited with the way everything came together and Im really excited to share all of this with you today!
Lets start with the rehearsal dinner, Franklins sister made these gorgeous centerpieces for all the tables. Theyre Mickey head topiaries made out of ribbons (in our wedding colors of charcoal and aubergine). They were absolutely adorable!
Lets start the wedding day in our getting-ready suite. I got a Cinderella-themed hanger for my gown.
Then there were my shoes! My planner had come across these shoes and sent me the link. Christian Louboutin had made a shoe called Madame Mouse. And in the words of my best friend and matron of honor Kristin: You mean to tell me that Christian Louboutin made a Minnie Mouse shoe the year youre getting married? How could you NOT get them? It really was one of the easiest decisions of the entire planning process.
I also had a pair of Toms custom painted for later in the evening.
They had Once Upon a Time with our engagement date painted on one side.
And it said Happily Ever After with our wedding date on the other side.
The amazing thing was the Toms were an off-white color, so all the background color is all hand-painted.
Our photographer got a cute Hidden Mickey picture of our rings on my Kindle cover that has one of Franklins Cinderellas Castle pictures on it.
The inscription on Franklins ring reads: Love to infinity and beyond.
I had hoodies made for myself and all my bridesmaids. Theirs had a Minnie head and said Bridesmaid. Mine had a bridal Minnie head and read Mrs. Khamvongsa and had the wedding date on it.
For Franklins cufflinks, we had custom ones made. They were one of his photos of Spaceship Earth.
For our wedding party photos, I had custom Minnie ears made for my bridesmaids. Their bows matched their dresses and my bow matched my dress and had a cute little veil!
One of my favorite Disney details of the entire wedding was the escort card display. Up is Franklin and my favorite Disney movie and our planners came up with this way to display the escort cards.
The escort cards sat in the grass in front of the house.
There were two places for light designs (and Hidden Mickeys!). The first was on the back wall of the ceremony where the terrace would take place.
The second was on the dance floor.
Lets start with the rehearsal dinner, Franklins sister made these gorgeous centerpieces for all the tables. Theyre Mickey head topiaries made out of ribbons (in our wedding colors of charcoal and aubergine). They were absolutely adorable!
Lets start the wedding day in our getting-ready suite. I got a Cinderella-themed hanger for my gown.
Then there were my shoes! My planner had come across these shoes and sent me the link. Christian Louboutin had made a shoe called Madame Mouse. And in the words of my best friend and matron of honor Kristin: You mean to tell me that Christian Louboutin made a Minnie Mouse shoe the year youre getting married? How could you NOT get them? It really was one of the easiest decisions of the entire planning process.
I also had a pair of Toms custom painted for later in the evening.
They had Once Upon a Time with our engagement date painted on one side.
And it said Happily Ever After with our wedding date on the other side.
The amazing thing was the Toms were an off-white color, so all the background color is all hand-painted.
Our photographer got a cute Hidden Mickey picture of our rings on my Kindle cover that has one of Franklins Cinderellas Castle pictures on it.
The inscription on Franklins ring reads: Love to infinity and beyond.
I had hoodies made for myself and all my bridesmaids. Theirs had a Minnie head and said Bridesmaid. Mine had a bridal Minnie head and read Mrs. Khamvongsa and had the wedding date on it.
For Franklins cufflinks, we had custom ones made. They were one of his photos of Spaceship Earth.
For our wedding party photos, I had custom Minnie ears made for my bridesmaids. Their bows matched their dresses and my bow matched my dress and had a cute little veil!
One of my favorite Disney details of the entire wedding was the escort card display. Up is Franklin and my favorite Disney movie and our planners came up with this way to display the escort cards.
The escort cards sat in the grass in front of the house.
There were two places for light designs (and Hidden Mickeys!). The first was on the back wall of the ceremony where the terrace would take place.
The second was on the dance floor.
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 9,965
On the terrace, there was an HVAC unit that was, well, a little ugly. So our planners came up with the idea of creating a screen to cover the unit and included one of my favorite Disney quotes of all-time.
We had a string quartet for the ceremony. The wedding party walked down the aisle to Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty. My dad and I walked down the aisle to When you Wish Upon a Star. And our recessional song was Kiss the Girl.
The first page of our program also had a Disney quote:
Like a bolt out of the blue,
Fate steps in and see you through.
When you wish upon a star,
Your dreams come true.
In the cocktail hour room, there was a giant video screen. Throughout the night, it scrolled through photos of us, as well as some of Franklins favorite photos (most of which were taken at Disney!)
Even the flip-flops we had for all the women had a cute Disney tie-in.
Now you cant see it in the cake pictures but there is a cute Disney story behind it. We got to know our cake artist, Maggie Austin pretty well during our planning process. You see, she takes all her own pictures of her cakes for her portfolio. She had recently gotten a new camera (a model Franklin used to have) but didnt really know how to best use it. So we went to her studio a few times so he could give her some pointers on the camera and the editing software. In the course of those visits, we all got to chatting. It turned out that Maggie was going on a Disney trip with her sisters family and their parents. But none of them really knew what they were doing when it came to planning. So I volunteered to help them with the planning and created a whole itinerary for them. They had a blast!
When our planners brought Franklin and I into the reception room, they wanted to show us where Maggie had marked where we should cut the cake. It was a silver shimmering Mickey head. And they gave us a message from Maggie. She said shes never done that before and would never do that again. It was just for us!
We also played Be Our Guest as we cut the cake!
The planners had picked ghost chairs in the room to represent the glass slipper.
And the table decor included white pumpkins as another subtle nod to Cinderella.
Nothing Disney to note here, just a funny picture of the terrifying moment when they lifted me up on the chair during the Hora.
And since photos are such a big part of why Franklin loves Disney, I figure Id show you his favorite photo of the night. Wed slipped out with our photographers to take some evening photos outside our venue and Franklin wanted a few photos of him with a camera in his hand (it was the first time all day that hed picked up a camera).
Our photobooth also had Disney hats, Mickey and Minnie ears and Disney-themed signs.
Thats it! What do you guys think? We didnt want the wedding to feel overpowered by the Disney-ness, so we aimed to have most of the touches be so subtle that some people wouldnt even realize there was a Disney connection. And I think it all turned out just perfectly!
We had a string quartet for the ceremony. The wedding party walked down the aisle to Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty. My dad and I walked down the aisle to When you Wish Upon a Star. And our recessional song was Kiss the Girl.
The first page of our program also had a Disney quote:
Like a bolt out of the blue,
Fate steps in and see you through.
When you wish upon a star,
Your dreams come true.
In the cocktail hour room, there was a giant video screen. Throughout the night, it scrolled through photos of us, as well as some of Franklins favorite photos (most of which were taken at Disney!)
Even the flip-flops we had for all the women had a cute Disney tie-in.
Now you cant see it in the cake pictures but there is a cute Disney story behind it. We got to know our cake artist, Maggie Austin pretty well during our planning process. You see, she takes all her own pictures of her cakes for her portfolio. She had recently gotten a new camera (a model Franklin used to have) but didnt really know how to best use it. So we went to her studio a few times so he could give her some pointers on the camera and the editing software. In the course of those visits, we all got to chatting. It turned out that Maggie was going on a Disney trip with her sisters family and their parents. But none of them really knew what they were doing when it came to planning. So I volunteered to help them with the planning and created a whole itinerary for them. They had a blast!
When our planners brought Franklin and I into the reception room, they wanted to show us where Maggie had marked where we should cut the cake. It was a silver shimmering Mickey head. And they gave us a message from Maggie. She said shes never done that before and would never do that again. It was just for us!
We also played Be Our Guest as we cut the cake!
The planners had picked ghost chairs in the room to represent the glass slipper.
And the table decor included white pumpkins as another subtle nod to Cinderella.
Nothing Disney to note here, just a funny picture of the terrifying moment when they lifted me up on the chair during the Hora.
And since photos are such a big part of why Franklin loves Disney, I figure Id show you his favorite photo of the night. Wed slipped out with our photographers to take some evening photos outside our venue and Franklin wanted a few photos of him with a camera in his hand (it was the first time all day that hed picked up a camera).
Our photobooth also had Disney hats, Mickey and Minnie ears and Disney-themed signs.
Thats it! What do you guys think? We didnt want the wedding to feel overpowered by the Disney-ness, so we aimed to have most of the touches be so subtle that some people wouldnt even realize there was a Disney connection. And I think it all turned out just perfectly!
-
See the Disneyland 70th Highlights With planDisney Panelists
-
New Monsters, Inc. Land Concept Art Now at Disney's Hollywood Studios
-
Plaza de la Familia, Halloween Dining, & Fall Festivities Return to Disneyland in 2025
-
FIRST LOOK: Mickey & Minnie's Halloween Time Costumes Revealed for Disneyland
-
Dates & Ticket Prices Revealed for 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash at Disneyland Resort
-
Disney Summer Series: Best Disney World Attractions in the Height of Heat
-
Does EPCOT's World Showcase Need More Rides?
Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!
Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE
