Sleeping Beauty Pavilion Renovations

Over the last few months the Disneyland Hotel has been undergoing a lot of construction.  It didn't affect the Rose Court Garden but the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion was completely transformed as well as the area surrounding it!  

Here is a photo of the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion and the hotel from 2010.

Here are a few photos of the Pavilion during construction.  I must admit it did make me a little nervous when it was completely covered.

Recently the Pavilion was unveiled with it's new look that matches the renovated area surrounding it.  

The changes don't bother me and I'm kind of excited by how the whole hotel is looking overall.  They also recently started doing work on the Neverland Pool which is near the Pavilion.

I am a little sad with The Neverland Pool undergoing major construction because I loved that pool.  But, with the changes that they've already made to the rest of the hotel I have hopes that it will look just as great and be just as fun when it is finished! Take a look at these other newly renovated spots around the Pavilion!

Trader Sam's across from Pavilion opened a couple months ago!

 

  

Tangaroa Terrace near the Pavilion is also now open!

The new Monorail slides next to the Pavilion

Festival of Brides/Sleeping Beauty Pavilion Pics

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day!  Jared and I went to the Festival of Brides at the Disneyland Hotel.  I had never been to any bridal festivals before so I wasn't sure what to expect.  We were able to to get free tickets to it since we are having a Disney wedding and pre-registered for the event.  We got there early to grab an iced mocha (our favorite!) and muffin from the coffee shop at the hotel and then headed towards the festival.

The ballroom where the festival took place looked great!  They had a big replica of Sleeping Beauty's castle on the stage.

In the ballroom there were several booths for different vendors such as companies that do invitations, flowers, decorating, catering, and some that featured honeymoon destinations.  Since we are having a wedding with Disney a lot of these tables weren't very useful for us.  Flowers, decorations, food...Disney's got us covered.  We did make a couple stops however at  the booths of companies that did photography, tuxedo rentals, and wedding registries.
Disney Weddings had an area of their own as well that we looked at.  The Cinderella Carriage was there which I'll never get tired of seeing as well as a table that had Cinderella's glass slipper.

They had a table display with flowers and place settings.

Lucky for us our Disney floral designer, Kelly, was there and she told us to go check out the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion that she had decorated earlier that morning.  We were excited to find out our reception spot was open so we headed over after we found out so we could take a look. I was especially happy because I'd be able to take pictures of it to show my family.
Before I show the pictures I took inside the Pavilion I thought I would share a picture of what the outside looks like.  Right now the outside of the building is undergoing a great deal of construction as it gets fixed up to match the rest of Disneyland Hotel renovations.  There is a new restaurant being built at the hotel that is going to be Polynesian themed and when we met with our coordinator last week she told us that the outside of the Pavilion will match it.  The only change made to the inside of the Pavilion however will be that the windows will no longer be arched and be rectangular instead.
Here's what it looks like outside:

Lots of construction right?  Well I have to tell you I was curious about the inside and I must say it still looks amazing!  The room already has the rectangle windows and I think it still looks great.

The tables and flowers looked beautiful!

They had snacks in the ballroom and while I was taking picture of the dessert tray, I ran into another Disney bride named Hope that recognized me from The Disney Wedding Blog (My posts from this blog have been featured on the site).  Meeting Hope was probably the highlight of my day!  I also remembered her as soon as I saw her because her engagement and wedding pictures were also on the Disney Wedding Blog. She had a gorgeous wedding at the Disneyland Resort that was Sleeping Beauty themed.  We talked a bit about the festival and the pavilion.  It was really neat to meet her!
After the stop at the Pavilion, Jared and I took a break and later on I went back to the ballroom to see Mickey and Minnie come out on the stage.

After that we left the festival. I wish they had more booths that would apply more to Disney weddings and that the photography company that we were interested  in (Beverly Hills Photography) had been there but overall we were pretty happy.  We didn't expect to be able to see the Pavilion again and take pictures there so we were very pleased!  And to Hope- it was wonderful to meet you! I thought of like a dozen Disneyland wedding questions after I left the festival so if you ever want to shoot me an email, please do! (nerissa@sodisney.com)

Location Decision

After looking at a few locations at Disneyland and Disney World, all that was left for us to do was to make the big decision! It took us a couple weeks to go over our options and finally make our choice.  We knew we wanted one of the locations at the Disneyland Resort but we were stuck on whether we preferred Parkview Terrace or the Rose Court Garden.

There were things we both liked and disliked about each place.  For example, we loved the view from Parkview Terrace but didn't like how all the hotel balconies are facing it.  We loved how private the Rose Court Garden felt but were nervous about the ongoing construction around it for the Disneyland Hotel renovations.  We went back to both of the locations a few times.  We tried standing in the spots where we'd be for the ceremony and tried sitting in the area our guests would sit.  We showed pictures of the locations to our families.  

In the end, we finally decided on....

The Rose Court Garden!

There was just so much we loved about it.  The rose bushes and the gazebo are so pretty on their own that we would not really have to do much to dress it up.  We love spending time at the Disneyland Hotel area and we've walked near the location while weddings have been taking place and it really is a wonderful spot.  

For the reception location we were torn between the Wisteria Room and the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion.  But once we picked the Rose Court Garden for the ceremony location, we decided we would use the Pavilion for our reception since it was closer to it.  

We are really excited for the wedding!  After deciding on our locations we contacted Cynthia, the Disneyland Wedding specialist we had met with, and let her know our decision and the date.  After checking on the schedule she got back to us and let us know it was available and that we would be receiving our contract in the mail!  The first big decision for our wedding was complete!