Hi friends! I think it’s time for some #midweekmagic around here!
It’s been about a month, but I’m so excited to share the details of the incredibly magical Walt Disney World vacation that Bryan and I took at the beginning of December!
If you’re following along on Instagram, you’ll know that we got engaged during our first night at Walt Disney World! Read on for the details!
During this trip, we stayed at a Disney Springs Resort Hotel within short walking distance of the pedestrian bridge of Disney Springs. Since we got in around 6:00 PM, we decided not to hit the parks that night and go check out the Christmas Tree Trail and have a nice dinner at Wine Bar George.
I didn’t really notice that anything was up as we were walking over, although Bryan did ask me if I was going to change my outfit before we left the hotel. Since we were just grabbing dinner, I threw on a pair of ears and decided to go with what I was wearing already.
The first thing on our list was the Christmas Tree Trail at Disney Springs. If you haven’t heard of this, it is a special display that pops up around Christmastime with over 25 Christmas trees dressed up as different Disney movie themes.
We walked through the main entrance and this place was packed. With kids running all over, families taking photos in front of trees, and people drinking and milling about all over the place, it was tight to say the least. As we walked through, I managed to snag a single photo of an Alice in Wonderland tree that was very cute, but I kept us moving as Bryan pointed out several different trees and suggested we take a photo.
It was crowded and I wasn’t feeling particularly photo-inspired, so I declined on more than one occasion until we got to the cutest Star Wars tree and there was a woman already taking a photo of her family there. Bryan decided to ask her to take ours, and we posed for a few normal photos and then this happened…
I think the look on my face says it all. I was stunned and overwhelmed and so crazy excited all at the same time. Obviously, I said yes!
Kudos to the woman taking our photo who had absolutely zero idea that this was about to happen! She got so many amazing photos of the actual moment, and I’m so grateful that he asked her to take our picture! As we finally walked away from the tree, dozens of strangers came up to us to say congratulations, which was so exciting and special.
We made it through the rest of the tree trail, called our families to excitedly scream the news through Facetime, and then made our way to Wine Bar George to celebrate with an amazing glass of champagne and a lovely bottle of sauvignon blanc, but the surprises didn’t end there!
Bryan knew that I had this trip planned down to the minute to maximize our three days in the parks, but he had a special surprise up his sleeve. Instead of heading to Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours the next morning, we were headed to Epcot for a private photoshoot around the world with Disney Fine Art Photography! For this kind of itinerary switch-up, I didn’t mind one bit!
We woke up early the next morning and got ready in the outfits that we sprinted to buy after dinner the night before, and then headed to Disney’s Beach Club Resort for breakfast and to the back entrance of Epcot. If you don’t know about this entrance, it is a must on a busy day at the parks. It puts you close to the entrance of England in World Showcase and is very close to Disney’s Boardwalk.
We were the first ones through the gates of Epcot for the day (which was honestly so cool) and we met our photographer who was immediately ready and excited to begin. He asked us what countries we wanted to shoot in and we decided on Canada and Italy. It was so much fun being whisked around the World Showcase with no one else in the parks but us!
We spent about an hour with our photographer taking photos in all different places throughout the two countries. I was so happy that Bryan thought to book this special detail for our trip so we’d have some formal photos to share when we got home!
Once we wrapped up, we promptly headed back to Canada and had our own selfie shoot with the poinsettias, which leads me to one of our favorite photos from the trip and one that we shared with family and friends when we told them the news.
After all the excitement of the previous night and the photography session that morning, we were ready to change into our matching Incredibles shirts and kick off our full parks day with Mission: SPACE before heading to our FastPasses at Hollywood Studios.
This Disney vacation was an absolute dream and my heart is so full. Bryan has made Walt Disney World even more magical to me (and us!) and I’m so excited to go back year after year and relive all of these memories.
More to come including a full recap of our trip, including all the info on where we FastPassed, where we dined, and how we managed to avoid a three-hour wait at Flight of Passage!
I’m also so looking forward to sharing some behind the scenes of our wedding as we spend the next year planning!
the curated adventure 