Be My Guest

The menu!

Ever since I was a little girl I've always wanted to step inside the world of Beauty and the Beast.  It's been a dream of mine since I was six and now, at the ripe age of twenty-seven, I have lived my dream. 

The Be Our Guest restaurant opened at Disney World's Magic Kingdom on November 17th.  Chris and I went within the first week of it opening and I could not have been more excited!  The woman who took us to our seats was laughing at how giddy and in awe of everything I was.  Yep, I am that adult who acts like a five year old child at Disney.  And I am not ashamed.

When you walk up to the restaurant doors you see a beautiful stained glass window that depicts the first part of the Beast's story.  The double doors open as you approach them and you walk into a huge entry way (no pictures, sorry!).  My mouth dropped open at this point, everything was beautiful!  As you step into the dinning room you realize that you've actually stepped inside the Beast's grand ballroom.  There are no words to describe just how gorgeous it is.  It looks exactly like I always dreamed it would.

There was a cute little sign for the restaurant on  an
archway that was connected to the bridge that led
you up to the front doors of the restaurant!

Since we ate when it was dark out I had to go back and get some
of these photos.  This was the front door that led you into the entry way.

The stained glass window!  If you've watched the movie as many
times as I have, you'll know what part these pictures are from!

This was inside the entry way on the left hand side.
It was beautiful!  If you can't tell, I was really really excited!

The West Wing was off to the right side of the ballroom and there was also a room where the Beast waited for you to finish dinner so he could greet and take a picture with you.  On the far side of the ballroom was a wall of windows that framed the mountains in the distance.  On the ceiling were not one, but three chandeliers as well as the painting of angels from the movie.  There was also a second floor to the ballroom that was probably all for show but very visually appealing.

I don't think I paid much attention to Chris at dinner.  I was
too busy taking everything in!

Chris and I swear that we will go back and eat at this restaurant again.  The food was delicious!  We both had strip steak with assorted vegetables and fries.  We also got a bottle of wine (the only restaurant at the Magic Kingdom that serves alcohol) and also decided we had just enough room left in our stomach's to eat a dessert.  Since I have a food allergy, I am never sure if I can have dessert at a restaurant and usually steer clear of it.  But, Chris and I decided to ask about it anyway and we found out that I can have the dessert at this particular restaurant (score!).  We ordered a strawberry cupcake and devoured it in less than two minutes.  I'm pretty sure we were a little drunk off the wine and on a food high when we left.  

Delicious, delicious food and wine!

This is the only picture I took of the castle.  I know, I know.  Shame on me!
But at least it has the fireworks behind it. Do I get bonus points for that?!

Vacation on a Budget: Walt Disney World

When Chris and I were on our honeymoon we had an idea for the blog.  We've been to Disney World (and Land) at least once or twice a year since 2009.  Wouldn't it be fun if we did a mini series on the best times to go, what to do while you're there, and where to stay?

A lot of people think a trip to Disney World is an expensive luxury, and sometimes it can be.  But if you know the right times to go, when to look for deals, and where to stay you could end up saving hundreds of dollars!  And who doesn't like saving that kind of money?

So, stay tuned for future posts from Chris and I.  We can't wait to share all that we know with you!

At Hollywood studios with my family!

    

Honeymoon Keepsake

When Chris and I were on our honeymoon in St. Thomas, I had suggested we bring back some sand with us for a little craft project I had in mind.  We filled up one gallon sized ziploc bag and two small sandwich size bags as well.  I wasn't sure how much I would need and decided I'd rather have too much than not enough.  I ended up having way to much but that's okay.  My project ended up working out better than expected and that's all that matters!

Here is what I did:  

I shopped around for a glass jar in my house (I have tons!) to put the sand in.

The cotton balls were moved to a new (smaller) jar

Then, I got on the computer and cropped, re-sized, and did some fun effects on a few of my favorite photos from our honeymoon.

My favorite is the bottom right photo that is a smaller version of the sunset photo up top.  It is supposed to look like a postage stamp that says, "Greetings from St. Thomas!" on the top and the bottom says, "US Virgin Islands."  

After that, I poured the sand in the jar and began to arrange the photos and seashells the way I wanted.

Finally, I had this finished product!

I'd still like to put some twine around the top and make a little tag with my cricut that says where we went, the date, and what the occasion was.  That'll probably happen later this week.

So, what do you think?  Isn't this such a cute way to make a keepsake from all your vacations?  I have to say, I'm in love.

The Happiest Place on Earth

In August, Chris took Sam and I to Disney World in Florida.  I was so excited because I had always loved the look of The Grand Floridian Resort and Spa and we were actually going to stay there!  For those of you that have never been, this resort is a beautiful Victorian style resort that sits right on the water and is across from the Magic Kingdom park.  The monorail comes right to the resort (which makes it easy to get to both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom), as well as a boat!

We had originally planned to stay at the Polynesian Resort (which is located right behind The Grand Floridian), but Chris said there was a computer glitch and they overbooked so they had to move us to a different resort.  For Sam and I, it was worth being overbooked as soon as we arrived because we had our own personal guide (Denny) who was so friendly and extremely informative and helpful!  He took us to our room which was in a completely different building and because we were club level we received free drinks (wine, beer, soda, water, etc) and food (breakfast, snacks, and desserts) on a daily basis.  Sam and I were literally in heaven.

Don't you agree that it is beautiful?

 The first day we took the time to walk around the resort to see what they had to offer.  They had two different pools, a ton of shops inside the resort, a few restaurants, and a nice beach that looked out on the wedding pavilion and the Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts.  That night, we braved the thunderstorm and ran to make our reservation at an Italian restaurant at Downtown Disney.  We were soaked and got a lot of weird looks as we were led to our table, but dinner was delicious and we were all pleasantly buzzed from the great wine as we made our way back out into the rain.

The second day the three of us knew we'd be out really late (extra magic hours for The Magic Kingdom park!) so we tried sleeping in.  I was so excited to get going that I woke up early (9:30) and got everyone else to get up and start their day as well!  I love The Magic Kingdom, maybe its because it reminds me of all the times I went there as a kid and how excited I became whenever I saw one of the many beloved characters.  But I was so excited to go and ride all of my favorite rides.

Two of the rides I always have to go on are Peter Pan's Flight and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Chris convinced us that we should wait to do both until later that night, because the lines are so minimal during extra magic hours.  I kept noticing that Sam and Chris would fall behind and talk amongst themselves, but I just figured they were getting along really well and didn't want to interrupt them.

We arrived!

On the People Mover....I was more excited than Sam!

In line for It's A Small World.  I HATE this ride!

 Chris was trying his best to annoy Sam while waiting to get on Splash Mountain.

Second day of rain....this time we were smart and brought ponchos! 

We waited until midnight and walked over to Pirates, but found out they were closed due to technical difficulties.  Sam and I took off and went shopping while Chris waited for us outside on one of the benches.  We had decided to go back over to the ride around 1:00 a.m. and luckily it was up and running again!  I made a beeline for the line, but Chris took my arm and pulled me aside.  I could not understand what was going on but figured maybe he was letting a big group go by us.  Instead, he put his arms around my neck and began talking about our three year anniversary coming up (in April!).  He said that when Belle met her prince, she didn't realize it until chapter three and he wanted to write many more chapters together.  Then, he pulled out my gorgeous ring and asked me to marry him!  I, of course, said yes!

Chris chose the Pirates ride because it was the first one we had ever gone on as a couple and also our favorite ride at the Disney park.  Once on the ride, we got stuck for forty-five minutes and only got around the corner from the loading dock.  We had to come back a few nights later to actually ride it, but on our engagement night we were able to snap a few pictures!
 

We are so happy and so excited for the next adventure in our lives!

My beautiful ring!  There will be better pictures once I get it back from being sized!

The rest of the trip was a blast!  Of course, nothing could top getting engaged, but we still had a great time!  We spent the rest of the time at Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and even Universal!  Here are a few more picture highlights from our trip!

All aboard the Hogwarts Express!

Walking into Hogsmeade!

We ate at The Three Broomsticks

We may not have gone on the ride inside Hogwarts, but we had fun looking at it from the outside!

Sam-I-Am loves Green Eggs and Ham!

We went to Africa!

The tree of life at Animal Kingdom

That fan was the best (and worst) thing Chris has ever bought.  He liked spraying us with it when Sam and I weren't expecting it.