Disneyland and a Fairytale wedding 4/16-4/20

[norcaldisneyprinces]

ME-28, life long disney fan.
DD, 7, 6 trips in the last two years.
Grandma, as big a fan as I am, had APS with us last year als0

Multiple other family members who will be down for the wedding also. we are going to try to get ALL of us together for at least one park day.

The When:
We will be leaving around 4am from the Napa Valley area on april 16 and HOPEFULLY arriving before noon at theAnahiem plaza inn. the wedding is on the 18th and we will return home the evening of the 20th.

So although we got back months ago, life got in the way, and posting this just did not happen. Photobucket is not cooperating all that much while i am at work, so i will be doing a words only post on our trip and my cousins amazing wedding and adding pictures as soon as photobucket and I are on the same terms.

DAY 1 : Arrival, first park time:
We arrived as planned at around 11:30 on april 16th, at the Anahiem plaza. We have had the good luck of having the same room the last 4 times we have stayed there and have always been nothing but pleased with it. My 8 year old DD calls it her OTHER home. Since we all have annual passes we immediately made our way to the parks. Neither my mother or DD had seen California Adventure since the construction walls came down so that was our first stop. We made it over to radiator springs and everyone was thoroughly impressed. We were surprised that the crowds were not bad at all. We got both maters and luigis done in about 40 minutes and decided to go check out the line for RSR. we saw that single rider was short and bit the bullet and did it that way. Luckily the ride gods were smiling down and DD and my mom got put in the same car. We did RSR twice in about 30 minutes utilizing single rider. we then left radiator springs and continued along, we also got in screaming, soaring, and TOT before getting the call that other family members had arrived and were waiting in disneyland! We headed over to meet my Aunt R(mother of the bride) and Aunt M (maid of honor). We moseyed around with them a bit and rode most of the fantasyland rides. DD was able to convince Uncle J (father of the bride) to ride the Matterhorn with her and that made her day. we stayed in the parks until around 8, grabbing hotdogs at refreshment corner for dinner( the mac and cheese hot dog! my goodness!) At that time we called it a day( at this point I had been up well over 24 hours as I had worked the night before we left and i was running on caffeine and fumes!)


we are here! ( DD and my mom)

first ride of the trip!

 

[norcaldisneyprinces]

DAY TWO: some park time, Manis at the Grand, Rehearsal, Rehearsal dinner:
This second day was mainly dedicated to wedding happenings as DD was in the wedding party. She was quite disappointed that this meant cutting into park time, but when she saw that she was going to get her nails done that helped ease the disappointment a bit. We left the room quite early and headed to California adventure, since we had to be at the Grand Californian around noon we figured we would just spend some time in this park since we could use the GC entrance later. We got a few rides in ( spent most of our time in CarsLand). We headed over to the spa at the Grand Californian and got our manicures done. There was 8 of us in total and they got us done in a little over two hours. I can not report on pricing as my aunt paid for everybody as a thank you for traveling for the wedding. But it was quite a pampering experience and well enjoyed by everybody. DD got a little bored about halfway through and started getting a little whiney about missing valuable park time. It was really too late to do much more park time after this and I was so afraid that DD would chip her nail polish before the wedding the next day that I suggested we go rest before we had to get ready for the rehearsal and dinner later that day. This was pretty unpopular but I knew it would be necessary. We rested at the hotel, showered got all prettied up and headed over to the Disneyland Hotel Rose Garden for the rehearsal. It was getting a little windy and we were hoping that everything died down by the next day as the whole wedding AND pre reception were outdoors. While we were waiting for the rehearsal to start more family began showing up and I am sure we made quite a sight greeting each other in the walkways. This was my first glimpse at a Disney wedding and the people that put it together were INCREDIBLE. Everything was going off without a hitch, even in the rehearsal! The dinner after was at Bucco De Beppi and the food was amazing. A great time was had by all. Everyone had to be up ridiculously early the next day so we went back to the hotel, Ironed clothes, and everyone went to sleep.


The Bride to be and DD

We took over the ENTIRE nail area


DD just LOVES tower of terror






rehearsal

 

[norcaldisneyprinces]

DAY 3- Wedding day- Getting ready

We were up early early today because I had to be showered dressed make up done hair done and ready to go by 730 to get my mom and DD over to the disneyland hotel for their hair and make up appointments. Luckily we had done a run through the night before and knew exactly where to park and where the "prep' room was( first floor adventure tower!) The wind was blowing harder than ever and it was making everyone very nervous. How are we going to do an outdoor wedding in the wind? The room they had us set up in was very nice, and they had snacks and drinks for everyone while getting ready, an area for hair and make up and a folding privacy screen set up to change behind. As it got closer and closer to wedding time the wind was not letting up. The people who do the disney weddings are FANTASTIC. I can not say enough on how well they handled every little situation that came up. Before the ceremony even started they had the pre-reception moved from outdoors to in so that it would not be affected by the wind. After everyone was ready the wedding party was shuffled outside to do some pictures. The photographer was amazing and worked everyone into the pictures. He was especially great with the two flower girls, getting them to give genuine smiles and really enjoy the moment( they were after all PRINCESSES at Disney!). Around this time the wind stopped as suddenly as it had started. It was like someone had flipped a switch. While this was all going on I was working on setting up skype on my phone so that my dad and my grandmother(who had not been able to come due to health reasons) could watch the ceremony. Around this time Cinderellas carriage showed up! complete with horse, Footmen and. . . THE GLASS SLIPPER. The little girls were beside themselves( as were most of the adult girls to be honest!) This was by far one of the most magical things I had ever seen. They got the bride and her dad set up in the carriage, got everyone else ready to go and my mom and I went and took our seats. The weather was beautiful. the wind had completely stopped, the sun was shining, the skies were blue, and it was wedding time!







Getting ready!






metting "reggy"


the slipper


ready to go

 

[norcaldisneyprinces]

The wedding!

The ever present wedding coordinator came around, makingsure everyone was seated and ready to go. The music started playing. Everything could not have been more perfect if they had tried.The whole wedding went off without a hitch. The wedding party came through, the flower girls made it down the aisle perfectly( and stood still through the whole ceremony thanks to a bribe of ANY treat they wanted at the park the next day). I do not have many pictures of the actual ceremony because I was skyping my dad and grandma and that took both hands to keep the phone stable. It was beautiful, I'm pretty sure everyone got a little teary eyed. This was my cousins dream come true and the most beautiful wedding I had ever seen. At the end of the ceremony the newlyweds walked down the aisle to cinderellas waiting carriage and were whisked away. The bridal party was sent to wait to take pictures while the coulple was driven all around the grounds of the hotel. The guest were sent up to the second floor area of the main lobby of the disneyland hotel(above goofys kitchen) for the pre-reception.

 

[norcaldisneyprinces]

After the pre reception we were ushered into the main reception room. Each table was labeled as a place they had been. We found our table and settled in. Soon the wedding party was introduced. The little flower girls LOVED hearing their names announced by the DJ's! The newlyweds came in and it was really time for the party to start! I am sort of spotty on pictures for this as well as I was skyping with my dad and grandma on and off throughout the reception. Something I wanted to make sure I talked about was how unrushed the whole thing felt. Especially after finding out everything was timed down to the MINUTE on the itinerary that the coordinator had. The food was fantastic! They had chosen sliders and onion rings and FUN foods. The music was a mix of stuff that had everyone from the smallest kids to my cousins 80 year old aunt out dancing! We only had one sad moment and that was when DD did not catch the bouquet. The poor thing cried and cried, and only let up a little when we told her if she got it it meant she had to marry a BOY! Our cousin caught it and her boyfriend managed to look only a little shell shocked! as the reception started to die down, DD became disappointed once again, because she had been promised a swim in the DL hotel pool . . . and the slides were closed! So we decided to go change and head to the parks!we mainly stayed in disneyland and called it an early night as it was a LONG day for us!

 

[norcaldisneyprinces]

This was the day that the whole family. . . all 13 of us hit the parks together! we met the first part of our group and moseyed over to fantasyland where we hit all of the rides there including the matterhorn. We then made our way over to Pirates and collected the rest of our group and DDs favorite our cousin J. J is 21 and DD just idolizes him. She got to ride in the front of the boat with him and his GROWN UP buddies and she couldnt have been happier. We took up a whole boat! after pirates we headed over to the mexican restaurant by thunder mountain for lunch. we enjoyed everyones company and it was so nice just relaxing now that the BIG part of the trip was over. Everyone parted ways at this point, some were going home some continuing their vacations elsewhere and some staying in the park. We decided to ride the mark twain. It was a nice relaxing trip along the rivers of America. Even DD enjoyed it. At this point we decided to split off from the group and go swim in the COOLEST POOL EVER. My mom napped in my aunts hotel room and DD and I hit the pools. She loved the monorail slides and would have stayed there all afternoon if I let her. After about two hours we went and collected my mom and dried off, i sent the two of them off to the parks and I returned our wet suits to our hotel and collected sweatshirts. This was our last FULL day at the park and we were staying til closing. Our main reason for this? Good seating for fantasmic. While DD and my mom rode rides, I waited out the first showing to get a spot for the second. I had asked one of the Cast Members near by if I could bring my moms wheelchair down to the front. She has back problems and on long trips we bring the chair along, mainly for evenings after she has been walking all day. They told me that was fine, so I made my move got my spot front and center directly across from tom sawyer island and hunkered down to wait. about 20 mins into my wait I was informed that I had to lay the chair down, or move it to the back. I knew If i got her onto the ground, I would never get her back up again, so I moved the chair to the back and continued waiting in the front. Even though we didnt get to watch together, everyone was happy. DD got her front row seat, Mom was near a pole with a speaker and being hard of hearing actually got ot hear most of the show, and did not have to sit on the floor. after the show we happily moseyed down main street and out for our last night at the hotel



with her favorite

 

[DisneytheKid]

Great pics

 

[kathy884]

Thanks for sharing. OMG -- Cinderella's coach, the horse, the glass slipper - never saw anything like that for a real wedding -- unbelievable -- too cool.