Renewal of 15th Wedding Vows @ Club 33, Disneyland

When my husband and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary in April, I had secretly planned an outing at Club 33, a club style restaurant offering fine dining, that Walter Disney himself had initially created and helped to design. Sadly, Walt Disney passed away prior to the opening of the dining establishment.

I knew it was very difficult, if not impossible, to get into Club 33, and knew that my husband had always wanted to dine there. I managed to find someone kind enough to make reservations for us, for our family of 4 for our trip to Disneyland that would take place 7 mos. after our Anniversary.

In my husband's Anniversary card was an email (fake) stating that he would be dining at the Blue Bayou restaurant for a (fake) "Play like a pirate, eat like a pirate" promotion that was supposedly taking place in Disneyland due to the Pirates of the Caribbean movie release, etc. I told him that I would like to renew my Wedding vows to him at the time (not fake, that was real, LOL.) He believed that he would be dining at the Blue Bayou on the Sunday that we would be there, and had always wanted to dine at the Blue Bayou, as well, so he was very pleased. It was so difficult for me to keep the secret from him all those months.

When the day finally arrived, we were standing in front of the big green door with the discreet '33' just beside the door. We were standing nearby, because the Blue Bayou is right next door, and he thought we would soon be going into the Blue Bayou . He looked at the doorway as he saw some people walking into Club 33, and asked me, "Do you wish that were us?" He knows how much I had always wanted to dine there. I said, "Maybe that can be us." I started poking around at the door, nervous as all get-out because I didn't know which buzzer to push (they have another one located lower, for people in wheel chairs.) He thought I was crazy, I think... The whole time, he kept asking me what I was doing, LOL.

I pressed the buzzer at the side of the door, told them our last name, and said 'Party of 4.' I then told him that we had reservations there (one can only be invited by a member of Club 33 to dine there, or actually be a member to dine there, but it costs a lot of money to be a member, and one would have to be on a wait list for many years prior to becoming a member.) Boy, was my husband ever surprised! We entered through the door, and got to go up in the glass lift that Walter Disney had specially built.

Upon arrival at the second floor, we were seated, and had the best dining experience ever. The buffet, the meal, the dessert bar, and even the coffee were so incredibly delicious. Mickey and Pluto arrived and took time to greet our children and they also hammed it up with us as well.

When it was time to renew our wedding vows, I couldn't speak; tears welled up in my eyes, and I started to try to read them, but choked right up and just couldn't go on. I thrust the vows into his hand, and my husband read them. The vows stated...

Disneyland is The Happiest Place on Earth. What could be more fitting than restating my Wedding Vows to you here? I chose to restate my wedding vows to you at Club 33 in Disneyland, which is truly, a once in a lifetime opportunity – Just as you have been for me. My one soul mate is none other than yourself. God was watching us communicate - it was in his plans for us. You have made me the happiest woman in the world by being my husband for the past 15 years. You have helped to bless us with 2 beautiful, precious children, and there is nothing in this world that I want or long for. You make ‘us’ complete. I love you so much, and want to say this to you once again...

I, Jory,
Take you, D.,
To be my husband,
To have and to hold,
From this day forward,
For better, for worse,
For richer, for poorer,
In sickness and in health,
To love and to cherish,
As long as we both shall live.

This Valentine's Day, we are going to create a shadow box of memories of our special trip where we renewed our Wedding Vows at Club 33 in Disneyland. This will be our best Valentine's Day ever! (Happy Valentine's Day, D.! )

Very lovely and beautiful story! I was crying when reading your speech!!

Lovely story indeed. It's so happy to hear that you guys are still loving each other so much after 15 years of marriage and blessed with 2 children. Brings tears to my eyes.

Originally Posted by molala

Very lovely and beautiful story! I was crying when reading your speech!!

Originally Posted by JiNuWiNe

Lovely story indeed. It's so happy to hear that you guys are still loving each other so much after 15 years of marriage and blessed with 2 children. Brings tears to my eyes.

Thank you, molala and JiNuWiNe, so much for your nice comments. I very much appreciate your input.

congratulations!

**say this .. club 33 don't happen to be here in toronto, would it??**

Originally Posted by gerbil

congratulations!

**say this .. club 33 don't happen to be here in toronto, would it??**

Sadly, no...Sorry!

This is one of my favorite links that describes the Club in detail.
http://www.disneylandclub33.com/

We are complete Disneyland fans - I guess I love the fact that Walt Disney believed so much in his dreams - one little mouse - and made something out of it. Our family has been lucky to use our air miles to take 2 trips to Disneyland, [and prior to that, my husband took me to Disneyland 2 times, once when we were dating, and once when we were first married.] I choked up with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes upon entering the gates at Disneyland in Nov. 2006, as it had been around 1993 that we had last been there, and it was so nice to be able to take our then 5-year old and 10-year old as a family, for the first time. Our kids loved it so much! Disneyland holds such a special place in our hearts, and so we had really wanted to be able to dine at Club 33 as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Renewing our Wedding Vows there was perfect - the next evening, my husband and I strolled on the walkway with our kids, just underneath the window where we had sat when we had dined at Club 33, he looked up, and said, "I guess that will always be 'our' window."
I guess it will. I hated to leave Disneyland, when we left... I kept looking back, and tried to take a 'photo' of it in my mind, to keep forever.

Thanks for your comments!

this is a beautiful story. sounds like a lot of love and thought went into your Club 33 surprise.

Originally Posted by sammy

this is a beautiful story. sounds like a lot of love and thought went into your Club 33 surprise.

Thank you Sammy, for your nice reply post.

I really enjoyed planning the surprise. I could have just told him about lunch, but I thought that a (fake) email stating the details of the (fake) promotion would be even more believable. Later, he said he had not had one clue that anything was being planned. He honestly thought lunch would take place at the Blue Bayou.

As luck would have it, the Pirates of the Caribbean movie had just been released, and we knew that the release (red carpet) had recently taken place at Disneyland, so the fake 'Play like a pirate, Eat like a pirate' promotion that I told him about worked out really well. I told him that for the cost of lunch, which was around the same price as admission into the gates, we would receive brunch and a Disneyland Parkhopper Day Pass. (This was true.) I was to pick up the Club 33 Disneyland tickets on the morning of the day we were to have brunch, at the booth just prior to the Park entrance gates. Thankfully I was able to get my husband to 'take the kids' while I asked for the tickets at the window, and then I had to hide the tickets (I quickly flashed the front of the tickets to him, but they each said 'Club 33' on the back of them, and as we entered the gates, I made sure to try to hide that from him as well.) I was hoping that the ticket taker at the gates wouldn't say anything about going to Club 33, and thankfully, she didn't.

At one point back at home, my husband told me he would just wear nice shorts and a new T-shirt that day... Club 33 has a dress code, and they can turn you away if the dress code isn't followed, so I had to think quickly, and told him, "Oh, they have a dress code now at the Blue Bayou." I told him that it was because Disney World and Disneyland are 'in competition' with each other, and since Disney World has no dress code for their fancy restaurant, that Disneyland wants to 'one up' them, so they recently implemented a dress code. This was a complete fabrication, but at least I knew if he was dressed up, we wouldn't be turned away at the door, due to a real dress code at Club 33.

The most difficult thing was not saying anything about it for several months prior. I thought I'd go crazy at times, not being able to talk about where we would really be dining with him, but the look on his face when he realized we would actually be able to dine at Club 33 was just SO worth it.