My Love Story

"I look at you, and I'm home"

-Dory (Finding Nemo)

Lately most of my posts have been reviews or tips on your Disney trip and I love Disney and this entry will also be Disney heavy but with a more personal aspect. This is my love story. 
I chose that quote from Dory for a very specific reason, it is probably the shortest most basic love quote, very basic and not full of fairy tale luster that I am usually drawn to but it really sums up not just love but my love.
I mentioned in my what Disney means to me entry that I didn't have a very good or stable childhood and that pattern followed me most of my life. From 15- very, very recently I was moving a minimum of once a year and couch surfing with family and friends after my mother decided I wasn't wanted anymore. Due to everything, I like many people had trust issues and issues with commitment because well, everybody leaves, don't they?
I remember when I first saw him, it sounds cheesy and fake but it's true. I was entering my second college lecture, I sat near the back but not too far back and off to the side. I scanned the lecture hall to see all my new classmates a room full of possibilities. Who should catch my eye but a long haired hippie boy with his long board leaning against his seat and a paisley shirt with the first few buttons open on his tan, toned skin. He reminded me of someone from a movie.

  The first time we spoke alone I was sitting in the hall outside of that same lecture hall I was late and far more scared of going in and having people stop and look at me than missing a class so I was sitting waiting for it to end. Jamie came out and asked what I was doing and I explained he offered to go in with me so it was less awkward but I was worried about finding a seat and my anxiety won so I declined.
At this point in my life I was coming off of a messy break up, dealing with on going family problems, thrust into the world of financial difficulty and was dealing with an unidentifiable health problem. It wasn't a great time for me.    When Jamie first told me he liked me my instinct was to not trust him, we had been drinking it was college , I was sure it was just a line and I told him that. He assured me his feelings were genuine but I was terrified of being hurt again.
For weeks I not only turned him down but I told him I would never date him. I was determined to make it on my own. Jamie was respectful never crossing boundaries but persistent. No matter how hard I pushed him away he stood there waiting for me to come back.
Slowly I began to trust him, I began to test if he'd really be there when I needed him and he was. In all honesty the first year if not two of our relationship was a roller coaster. I had trust issues and problems with anxiety, he had a long stemmed fear of commitment as well.
As with all loves we began to bend, through honest communication, a really under appreciated asset in relationships we learned to balance each other, to grow in ourselves while together and to heal together. We fell in love.
Fast forward 5 years after we met, 4 of a solid relationship. We were now probably one of the healthiest relationships ever despite ourselves.
All of my dreams were coming true, I had gained a new family, an anchor in my life. Things had settled down and I was finally happy and healthy and somewhere good with someone good.
If that wasn't enough my life long dream to go to Disney World was coming true and I was going to experience it with my best friend and my partner. When we got to Disney World the only people even close to my excitement level were the children everywhere, I think I spoke to more kids than adults on the buses because lets be real, they get it. When I saw the castle I cried. Jamie and I spent the next couple hours just taking it all in and exploring. In the early evening we met up with my best friend and rode some rides, until it was time to get a spot for Celebrate The Magic.
We got a spot near the bridge to Frontierland. They tried to get me to move to a more central location but I was scared of missing even a second of the show so we stayed put. Celebrate the Magic is an amazing show I was teary eyed the entire time. Then Wishes started.
I was sitting on the fence post that lines one of the gardens, Jamie leaned in and whispered about life moments that are worth repeating and how this was one of them, and then he got down on one knee.
It was both magical and terrifying , my wildest dream and a terror. I froze, and then I lunged into an awkward kiss. We stood there, me semi blacked out but standing for a few moments. They moved me out of the crowd and I whispered to Jamie that I had basically blacked out with all the people there and I wasn't fully aware still. By this point we had made our way to the wishing well and away from crowds and I was starting to come too.
I thought about leaving this part out but I thought it was such a testament to his love, patience and understanding that it would be doing him and the story a disservice to leave it out.
Shelley suggested we take some pictures, and Jamie realized this was an opportunity. He knew I had panicked and not gotten the full experience in crowd so he took a moment to do it again still by the castle but away from the crowd. The memories of both rounds are kind of jumbled together but I cant think of anything better than being proposed to by the Disney castle (twice!) because my love is so loving and understanding when it comes to things like my anxiety and he wanted me to have,experience and remember the entire thing. He even planned for my best friend to be there, be the que and to take photos! It was such an extremely magical and over whelming night.
Earlier that day I had wished, in that very wishing well and I told Jamie I didn't know what to wish for because I had always just wished to go to Disney and here we were, so I wished for magic and that night I got everything I wished for and more.

"To face the future with anther, who means more than any other, is to be loved"

-The Rescuers 

Be Our Guest!

Put our service to the test 
Tie your napkin 'round your neck cherie, 
And we'll provide the rest 

-Be Our Guest

I decided to review Be Our Guest first not because it was the best but because this is the parks most popular restaurant, to get a dinner seat you usually have to book the full 180 days in advance, sure some people will wait and still manage to get in but it's a real gamble. I woke up at 6am, 180 days in advance and made all my ADRs my best friend woke up at 8 the same day or day after and could not get in for dinner, she either did lunch or and early dinner I don't remember but for me dinner has to be after 5pm . 

Our ADR (Advanced Dining Reservation) was for 7:35pm one thing we did that isn't in direct relation to dining but I cannot recommend enough is we planned to do enchanted tales with Belle just before our dinner and I highly recommend doing the same if your a Beauty and The Beast fan regardless of if you have children or not. Before my trip most sites were very vague on Enchanted Tales With Belle so the whole thing was a really big surprise to me so I wont go into detail I don't want to ruin it but I will say this is a great way to meet Belle and adults don't feel awkward jump into the magic.

Even the exterior to this restaurant is breath taking. Its a really an impressive optical illusion, it looks like you are at the gates at the bottom of a mountain with the castle at the top of the mountain in the distance and when you enter through the doors in the bottom of this mount it genuinely feels as though you've entered the castle you were just admiring.

When you enter the foyer you have been transported through space and time into a real life fairy tale you can see a head of you the grand ballroom you grew up envisioning right out of the film. I really cannot adequately describe how perfect the decor is. To add to the splendor we went at Christmas so there was a beautiful tree topped with Angelica from an Enchanted Christmas. The back wall of the ballroom is walled with floor to ceiling windows that allow you to look out into the enchanted forest I don't know what the weather is usually like in the forest but while we were there is was snowing. We were guided to our seats in the ballroom.
There are three dinning rooms you can choose from when making an ADR at Be Our Guest, The West Wing, The Ballroom and The Castle Gallery. When looking online I had a hard time choosing between The West Wing and The Ballroom and thought The Gallery was really lacking and I would not want to sit there. We ended up choosing the ballroom and I am glad we did it is glorious. That said after exploring the whole place the other two rooms are also lovely. Next time I am able to go I will choose the West Wing it's quieter and apart from the tables closest to the enchanted rose much more private, also you still get to walk through and see the ballroom without being right in the hustle and bustle. The Gallery in my opinion does have more of a lunch feel to it, however it is much, much nicer in person than the pictures online suggest. The photos online make it appear very plain and while it is less embellished than the other two rooms it does have its own charm to it and the painting on the walls tell you more about the relationship between Belle and the Beast. All of the rooms are good choices so if you don't get your first choice don't be upset it will still be just as enchanting I assure you.
Be Our Guest is worth visiting if only for the decor, that said the food is lackluster. We started with bread and vegan butter with onion soup I am told that sometimes they will have vegan cheese but they did not when we went still this was the best part of the meal, which is kind of sad. For the main we both had the only vegan option which was ratatouille, we both hated it. To make matters worse, and this is our fault really, we were confused about what the Disney dining plan covered so we had to pay for our soups which we wouldn't have ordered had we known. Although I am glad we got the soup because that was basically my meal. From others I have heard mixed reviews on the ratatouille so I am not sure if we just aren't ratatouille people or if it really was that bad, but in my personal opinion despite looking beautiful it was not appetizing at all. I have heard you can get pasta with pasta sauce ( just regular tomato but in Australia& New Zealand tomato sauce means ketchup and I don't want anyone being confused and thinking they will get ketchup noodles). In future visits I'd request the pasta or stick to the soup. Dessert the only option is sorbert unfortunately.

 It's strange here in Canada it's easier to find vegan desserts than vegan meals but in the States it seems easier to find meals than desserts. When I visited the famous Erin Mckenna's in Disney Springs a local woman was talking about what a big deal she makes to come to the springs to visit the bakery because its so hard to find baked goods and here my fiance switched his desserts before anything else because they're easy to get and as he always said "better than the regular versions" and "vegans make up for their lack of meat by nailing baked goods!" . So the lack of desserts was sad especially not being able to have the grey stuff which would be so so so easy to veganize! In fact I am (eventually) going to do any entry on how to make the grey stuff at home and vegan, your welcome.
After dinner you receive a slip so you can meet the Beast on your way out, despite there not being a line when we left this part did feel a bit more rushed than other meet and greets we had throughout the trip.
Be Our Guest is probably one of the best Disney restaurants for experience and ambiance but in all honesty when it comes to the actual food this was the worst dining we experienced during our trip.
So I do recommend going, but order something cheap so you don't end up feeling cheated, soup or pasta if your vegan is my recommendation, if your brave and like when vegetables really taste like vegetables then maybe try to ratatouille.
I hope I haven't come off as too harsh I do still 100% recommend making time for this experience just use caution in your orders.

'Til you shout "Enough, I'm done!"

Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest 

Tonight you'll prop your feet up, 

But for now, let's eat up