Anniversary trip made special by Disney

Let's take a walk through time and visit July 2013, my 20th Wedding Anniversary week at Walt Disney World. I booked the Yacht Club resort Club Level for an extra special trip, after all, this was 20 years! So like I usually plan our Club Level stays I requested  a water view room or view of the Boardwalk area which is just perfect.
  My family arrived to find our room not yet ready but we were happy to be in the most magical place celebrating a momentous occasion in our life and marriage. We are headed down to Stormalong Bay pool to put up our feet, grab a bite to eat for lunch and wait for that text to say our room was ready.
My husband, myself and our two teenage boys love the pool and the surrounding area because let's face it, with teenagers the more stimulated they are the better, and this resort more than fits that bill!
  

Since I love storytelling I'm going to get right to the best part. We went up to our floor to grab a few drinks, some snacks set out for club guests and ask about our room. The Cast Member we spoke with was amazing, he wished us Happy Anniversary upon arrival, gave us our pin and now was giving us the news that we were upgraded to a larger room and they were just finishing up cleaning and putting some flowers in the room. Wow I thought, a nice bouquet of flowers was so thoughtful and the larger a room is a dream come true when traveling with teenage boys. That incredible Concierge Cast Member told us to come back in about an hour and the room would be all set.



 Some more time enjoying the Florida sun, the lizards racing in and out of the wonderfully landscaped resort property made us feel even more relaxed, vacation time is on!
 So we returned to the concierge desk and were given our room number,our new favorite resort cast member told us we were staying in his favorite room and to enjoy our magical Anniversary trip.
 We all went together excited to see our room and I was excited to see my beautiful floral arrangement, Disney is known for the most amazing floral displays at all the resorts.
 We found our room and realized it had two doors with the same room number, which one should we go in, was there a mistake here? 
 We entered and I was overwhelmed to say the least. This room had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room and a gorgeous view of Epcot and the Boardwalk as well as the water view boat 
launch. We finally had our own room was all I could think of, and the boys had theirs.
 Disney had outdone themselves, we stay Club Level for the impeccable service always, but this was more than we had ever dreamed of.
  Our vacation was not only Pixie Dusted and magical, but so was our story to tell our family and friends. I felt like a Princess in my own tower with a view and the view was a Dream come true!
 Just when you least expect it, someone or something makes all your Fairytale wishes come true and on this day in 2013 our's did!
 Our heartfelt thanks to the Yacht Club Concierge Team and to our favorite resort Destination !

Guest Author Sunday

             Guest Author Sunday Meranda
                       

Disney Gals are pleased to welcome back Guest Author Meranda! We're so happy to have you as one of the Gals!

If you are visiting Disney for a honeymoon, anniversary, or just a special “couples only” trip, you’ll definitely want to leave behind the hustle and bustle of the parks for one evening and book yourselves a romantic Fireworks cruise. If you’re vacationing with more people than just the two of you, that’s okay too because this is an activity the whole family will enjoy!

We hosted a Wishes Fireworks Cruise to celebrate with some of our friends and family one evening before our Disney Wedding. We had a specific time that we all had to meet at the marina behind Disney’s Contemporary Resort.  Life jackets were provided for the little kids, and once we arrived on board snacks and drinks were provided.  A friend of ours even brought champagne to share.  Our captain for the evening was “Dave”.  He sailed us around the Seven Seas Lagoon, played a little Disney trivia with us, and gave us some background information on how the Wilderness Lodge was built.  I won’t give the whole story away, but the front of the lodge is supposed to resemble a very famous bear. Can you guess who?   We also got to catch a glimpse of the Wedding Pavilion from the water.  It looked like there may have been a ceremony going on because we could see candlelight in the windows. This was a special sighting because we would be getting married there in two days!      

As the sun had gone down, our captain parked our boat in front of the Magic Kingdom train station.  We had a great view and the music was piped in. One of the little kids in our group even pointed out that he saw Tinkerbelle fly by.         
                                                                         

I will let the photos speak for themselves.

The following year we booked an Illuminations cruise to celebrate our one year anniversary. This time we met our boat at the marina behind Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.  The captain took us for a cruise along Bay Lake and gave us some background information on the Epcot Resorts that we had gone by. Before too long we were anchoring our boat underneath the bridge at the International Gateway.  Snacks and beverages were served on this cruise as well.  We ate our snacks and watched the show. Seeing the show from on the water made it sound even louder and more explosive. It was a good show though.

If you want to book a fireworks cruise there are several options you have.                                                             
Do you want to watch Wishes or Illuminations?

*If you choose Wishes, you can choose from a 21’ Tracker Pontoon boat that will accommodate 8 guests for $292.88 or a 25’ Tracker Pontoon that will accommodate 10 guests and pipe in the Wishes music on the boat for $346.13.

*If you choose to take the Illuminations cruise, you may have up to 10 guests on board and the cost is  $325.

Snacks and beverages are provided on each cruise but you can also order private dining from several Disney resorts at an additional cost.

Other options for fireworks cruises including renting the Grand One Yacht which holds 18 guests, or the Breathless ( a 1930’s mahogany boat) that hold only 6 guest.

To book your own fireworks cruise you can call (407)-WDW-PLAY.

*Prices at time of publication.