Disney’s Contemporary Resort Atrium Level Anniversary Celebration

On January 17, we celebrated 13 years, I mean ‘ears’, of marriage. I used to say we made it by the skin of our teeth, because our fairy tale is messy, but it’s through our tangled up love story that we’ve discovered the deepest love for ourselves and each other.

We’ve been very open about the broken road we’ve traveled, in fact, you can read all about it on my personal blog, charitycraig.com. I’m not sure why we were compelled to talk about all our darkness, maybe because there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re the only one who’s fairy tale looks more like a chapter from the Evil Queen’s diary. 

Now, here we are four years after the explosion, pursuing the life we’ve always longed to live. 

For our anniversary, we kept our tradition of staying one night in the most expensive hotel we could afford. This year we got to spend the night at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Atrium club level.

This was our first time ever staying in a deluxe resort, and the irony is that the Contemporary was probably our least favorite hotel. I used to ask Matt, every time we whisked through the lobby on the monorail, “If people are gonna stay at a deluxe resort, why would they pick the Contemporary?” 

I’d like to publicly apologize to the the Contemporary Resort, and every single person who’s ever stayed there. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.

From the second we rolled through the security gate, we were greeted by name, and as soon as we stepped foot in the lobby, we were swept up to the top floor where Robert stood waiting for us. I’m still convinced we were the only reason he decided to come in to work that day. We sipped on Monorail cocktails while he checked us in, and tears sprung up in my eyes when he lead us to the balcony over looking the Magic Kingdom.

Robert captured the moment for us. 

For the next 24 hours we explored the resort, ate food from a tiny buffet, and drank free champagne. Sitting high above Space Mountain, I promised Matt I will never be able to go back to normal life again.

Well, as it turns out, I was forced to leave the premises — something about private property and allowing other guests to stay. 

But, guys, it was so worth it! Everything! Weathering the year in hell, believing in love, facing our inner darkness, and pursing the life we’ve always longed to live, and paying to spend one night in paradise.

So, no matter where you are on your journey, keep believing in love, in yourself, and in the fact that the best is yet to come! 

Just for the occasion I HAD to get these adorable Frozen t-shirts from Once Upon a Mickey Tee. I mean, food is our love language. Our kids did tell us, though, that we should’ve switched the shirts, because it was Hans who sang, “We finish each others” and Anna who said, “sandwiches”. So, I stand corrected. 🙂

We still have our original Happily Ever After button, and now we have the updated version to remind us of our real world fairy tale.

Fairy Tale Champagne (or is that sparkling wine??) was delivered to our door, compliments of the Contemporary. 

We were on the Bay Lake side of the resort. At first we were disappointed that we we wouldn’t be falling asleep with the view of the castle, but when we woke up…

all our disappointments disappeared.


xo,

Matt & Charity

1 Comment

  • 7 years ago

    Congrats on 13 “ears”!!! How exciting! I for sure wouldn’t want to leave either! 🙂

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