Reach Out And Find Your Happily Ever After! Our Engagement Trip! updated 1/14 - New TR Link!

TheLittleKatie · Jan 9, 2020

The story comes alive
A new adventure there in your eyes
It's just beginning
Feel your heart beat faster
Reach out and find your
Happily Ever After!

Hello hello!
:wave:

My name is Katie and this is my fifth trip report!
“A warm welcome back to those of you who made it.”

This one’s a real rollercoaster, if you will.
To quote Dickens, this trip was definitely the BEST of times, and the WORST of times.
For reasons that will come to light soon enough.
(The title of this report might give you a hint though..)
:teeth:

First we need to meet the cast, as we travelled with our two best friends this year!

The usual suspects: Me and Jamie!

OK, the suspense that I tried to create for “the best of times” lasted approximately 3 seconds, but I can’t possibly keep it a secret any longer.

JAMIE AND I GOT ENGAGED!!!

IT HAPPENED AT DISNEY and it was the most perfect thing ever and I’m so so happy :goodvibes

There were many tears.
I can’t wait to tell you the whole story!
(We're getting married in September 2020!)

And honestly, looking back over “the worst of times” on this trip, it was awful in the moment, but now we can kinda laugh about it.
I won’t keep that a secret either as I don’t want you thinking it was some sort of tragedy.
It was just some pretty nasty food poisoning within the group, which ruined Jamie’s initial plans to propose :laughing:

ANYWAY.
I am now delighted to introduce two of the best people I know.
Our friends Rob and Fran!

Rob has been one of Jamie’s best friends for years and years so I’ve known him a long time, he’s a great guy.
The three of us used to hang out together at Jamie’s old flat a few years ago, and during that time Rob got himself a new girlfriend!
I remember him saying to me, “you would love Fran, you guys have to meet! She LOVES Disney!”

So we met for the first time in the summer of 2017, and by April 2018 Fran and I were taking a girls-only trip to Disneyland Paris as annual pass holders :rotfl:

Fran had never been to a Disney park before our first trip to Paris!
We had the most hilarious time, and that was just the beginning of our adventure!

Fran is the easiest person in the world to get along with, and is super enthusiastic about everything!
She’s just a great person to be around.
The four of us spend so much time together, and we had the best time planning and going on this trip!

We also have a group chat called Come In Star Command where each of our 'nicknames' are set as Toy Story characters!

Me – Woody
Fran – Buzz
Rob – Forky
Jamie – Little Bo Peep

So obviously we were all very excited to see the new Toy Story Land for the very first time!

SO, trip details!
We spent 10 days at Walt Disney World, from February 4th – 14th 2019.
And we all stayed at Disney’s Beach Club!
:cool1:

We were also on the dining plan!
And we visited during Epcot’s Festival of the Arts!

To start this report off I’m going to do a couple of photo-only posts of our girls trips to Disneyland Paris.
You’re welcome to skip over these if you’re not interested, I just think they’re fun.
Also knowing that Fran and I were losing our minds about going to Florida together during these trips just builds it up nicely for me :goodvibes

Then we’ll get right into it!

DISNEY!

Previous trip report links:
Put On Your Sunday Clothes, There’s Disney World Out There! – Wilderness Lodge 2018
It’s The Magic That Can Happen When It’s Autumn! – Animal Kingdom Lodge 2016
Everything You Do, CELEBRATE YOU! – Polynesian 2015
Oh It’s A Jolly Holiday With Katie! – Beach Club / Grand Floridian 2014

TheLittleKatie · Jan 9, 2020

TheLittleKatie · Jan 9, 2020

Katie and Fran at Disneyland Paris – April 2018
Part 1

Click for next post!

StarWarsMomofGirls! · Jan 9, 2020

I have followed you over here! Can't wait to hear all about this trip and Disneyland Paris!

TheLittleKatie said:
JAMIE AND I GOT ENGAGED!!!

Congratulations!

TheLittleKatie said:
IT HAPPENED AT DISNEY and it was the most perfect thing ever and I’m so so happy
There were many tears.
I can’t wait to tell you the whole story!
(We're getting married in September 2020

Amazing!

TheLittleKatie said:
It was just some pretty nasty food poisoning within the group, which ruined Jamie’s initial plans to propose

Oh no! it will be a good story to tell over the years. (I guess)

TheLittleKatie · Jan 9, 2020

Katie and Fran at Disneyland Paris – April 2018
Part 2

Click for Disneyland Paris - October 2018!

Click for Walt Disney World - February 2019!

VAtink · Jan 9, 2020

TheLittleKatie said:
JAMIE AND I GOT ENGAGED!!!

IT HAPPENED AT DISNEY and it was the most perfect thing ever and I’m so so happy
There were many tears.
I can’t wait to tell you the whole story!

Congratulations!!!! I cannot wait to read all about it!

(Also excited to read a new TR!)

pkondz · Jan 9, 2020

Not first... but first page.
Back later to read!

TheLittleKatie · Jan 9, 2020

Katie and Fran at Disneyland Paris – October 2018

Click for Walt Disney World - February 2019!

TheLittleKatie · Jan 9, 2020

Day 0
Sunday 3rd February 2019
Pre-Trip Shenanigans

Good lord where do I start with this report!
I guess I’d like to go back a bit further, and just briefly mention something amusing and relevant to this trip.
Jamie, Rob, Fran and I all have annual passes to our local cinema so we go there together all the time, around once a week, give or take.
Back in early January, I got home from work and asked Jamie what he was doing that evening.
He said he was going to the cinema…WITH ROB.
Oh, I’m not even invited? How rude.

Oh well, my mum had asked if I wanted to do something, so we decided to go shopping at our local mall.
Little did I know, that instead of the cinema, Jamie was actually heading to that exact same mall, at that exact same time, with Rob, and Fran, to pick out my engagement ring!!!
I told Jamie I was going shopping, and panic immediately ensued in their secret group chat :rotfl:

Jamie ended up having to text my mum, something not-so-subtle, like “I’m going to [shopping centre] tonight to buy something for Katie, would it be possible for you guys to avoid going there too?!” :laughing:

So my mum ended up convincing me that she needed some stuff from Ikea, so we just went there instead :scratchin

~

We were flying out to Florida on Monday 4th February, and the whole week before was a whirlwind!

I had to mark student assignments (on top of my normal day job) through the previous week and weekend so I didn’t have a lot of free time, but I was still feeling very magical.
Disney was the light at the end of the tunnel!

I did some clothes shopping during my lunch breaks.
Fran and I bought a bunch of the same stuff, both on purpose and by accident :laughing:

We’d experienced some really heavy snow around this time.
It snowed so badly that just 5 days before we were due to fly, our airport closed and cancelled all flights :headache:

So that was fun and stressful.
(Spoiler, it reopened and everything was fine.)

I packed mostly on Thursday evening before our Monday travel day.
I worked on Friday, then on Friday night I had a hen party to attend!
(aka a bachelorette party!)
This was for Danielle who is an old friend from school.
It involved two nights away in a huge fantastic house in the middle of nowhere.
I was a bit nervous about getting home through the snow and to the airport hotel on Sunday, but thankfully everything was fine and I had a brilliant time!

We arrived at the house on Friday evening and had some food.
The bride-to-be played a Mr and Mrs game, and the groom had answered all of the questions on video wearing a pink mankini :rotfl:

We stayed up really late making wedding dresses out of toilet paper and silly things like that :laughing:

On Saturday we got up early for breakfast, then we had a live drawing class, which none of us were expecting :lmao:

(You might have spotted the naked man in the photo above!)
Then we chilled for a while, went out for a walk and went in the hot tub outside.
That evening two chefs came out to the house and cooked us a gourmet 3-course meal! It was so good.
We played more games, including Articulate and Hide and Seek :laughing:

and we stayed up really late chatting.

I shared a room with my friend Emma from school and we stayed up laughing until like 3am on both nights :lovestruc

It was really nice to spend lots of time with her because we were really close when we were at school.

Then on the Sunday morning we had breakfast and packed up!
Emma’s boyfriend drove out to pick up Emma, me and Natalie and they took us back to their house (which is halfway to our town), then Jamie came and picked up Natalie and I from there and took us back to our town!

Jamie and I got home at around 3pm.
We went to the store to get some US currency and some last minute toiletries, then we went home and finished packing!
Jamie had been very productive while I was away this weekend, I was very impressed.
He had hosted a board game night for his friends (including Rob!), and he didn’t even drink so that he could get up and clean the house the next morning, so it was nice and tidy for my return.
What an angel :lovestruc

(This is not always the case with board game nights :sad2:

so credit where it's due!)

We finished up packing, then my mum drove us to the train station where we got the 8:11pm train to the airport!
Jamie and I played some ‘Brick and Balls’ on the train, and we arrived at the airport at 9:30pm!
We headed straight to the Radisson Blu hotel to check in.
We went to our room (room 755), dropped our bags, then speed-walked back down to the Little M bar to get pizza before they stopped serving at 10pm!

I got the Italian and Jamie got the Diablo!

Then we headed back to the room and tagged up our luggage!

Here’s our room!
For some reason we had a little pull-out bed set up :confused3

Totally normal for a 2-adult reservation :laughing:

View:

Jamie called the airline because we had managed to upgrade our outbound flights to premium using our miles, but we were still in economy for our return flights.
We figured that as the return flight drew closer the airline would rather get rid of their spare premium seats than have them sitting empty.
And we were correct!
We paid £50 each and used some miles to upgrade, it was a sweet deal!

Also, in case you were starting to think that we had left our friends behind Home Alone style…

Jamie and I always fly with Virgin Atlantic, and we have built up a healthy amount of air miles that we always use for upgrades.
Rob and Fran have done the same, but unfortunately they’ve done it with British Airways.
Therefore, we decided it would be fine to just fly out to Florida separately with our preferred airlines so that we could all get some lovely upgrades, plus more miles for next time!
So we'd be meeting them at the Beach Club tomorrow night!

Anyway, I took a shower under this snazzy showerhead.

Then we watched the Super Bowl for a bit.
It was being held in Atlanta, which was our first destination tomorrow because we had connecting flights.

Time to get some sleep!

Goodnight!

Click for next post!

StarWarsMomofGirls! · Jan 9, 2020

TheLittleKatie said:
Jamie ended up having to text my mum, something not-so-subtle, like “I’m going to [shopping centre] tonight to buy something for Katie, would it be possible for you guys to avoid going there too?!”
So my mum ended up convincing me that she needed some stuff from Ikea, so we just went there instead

Man you really made it it hard on Jamie! Ha.

Your Hen Party actually sounds like a lot of fun. Glad the weather worked with you!

DLo · Jan 9, 2020

Popping over from your last TR. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures- the good and the bad. Congratulations on your engagement!!!!

Pesky · Jan 9, 2020

Awwwww, congratulations!

I've really enjoyed your TRs and am so happy to see you guys engaged! Many happy wishes to you both!

disvisitorkim · Jan 9, 2020

Congrats on your engagement!! I’m so happy for you guys! Your “almost busting” the engagement ring story is so funny, I have a similar one when my fiancée was asking my parents for my hand in marriage and also when he was planning the proposal! Congrats again!!

Your girls trip looks like so much fun!! And I’m so excited to read on this trip report!

lvcourtneyy · Jan 9, 2020

Joining in.

Congrats to you both!

HeadintheClouds · Jan 10, 2020

Joining in! Congrats on your engagement!

HomeSweetDisney · Jan 10, 2020

GIRL. GIRL. OMG CONGRATULATIONS!!!

It's been like...a million years since I talked to you?
John and I also got engaged this past April and are getting married June 1st, 2020 IN DISNEYWORLD!! :love:

Yay for both of us being engaged! I can't wait to read about how it all happened! Since I am assuming he did it in WDW?
EDIT: I read too quickly through your intro b/c I was so excited about seeing you got engaged that I didn't even notice you totally said that he did it in WDW. That's what I get for jumping the gun! :rolleyes1

That sneaky Hy-mee, I am so excited to read all about this!

MyGoofy26 · Jan 10, 2020

Congratulations! I'm so terrible at commenting and taking part in the community around here, but had to jump out for this. I love your reports, so happy to see you back and posting. You two are so adorable and fun. I'm so happy for you.

I totally approve of a September wedding. Our 5 year anniversary is on September 19th this year!

the2ndstar2theright · Jan 10, 2020

Joining in for all the fun! A huge congratulations on your engagement!!!

You & Fran look like you had the best time in DLP. Can't wait to read all about your time in WDW!

alohamom · Jan 10, 2020

Congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding!
Following...

pixiemama91 · Jan 10, 2020

Congratulations on your engagement!!! How exciting

Disney Paris is soooo adorable, I really need to get these someday.

We just love the Beach Club. We are staying there on our upcoming trip this summer for the first time since 2012 so we are super excited.

Can't wait to follow along and read all about your trip.

Reach Out And Find Your Happily Ever After! Our Engagement Trip! *updated 1/14* - New TR Link!

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Reach Out And Find Your Happily Ever After! Our Engagement Trip! updated 1/14 - New TR Link!