Hi all. Sorry for the lateness of this trip report. We had some requests for it, however, so we thought we'd post it anyway. We hope you enjoy it even a fraction as much as we enjoyed the trip!

The first few days are written by Larry, with remarks by Robin in bold print. A few days into the report, we reverse the procedure with Robin writing the bulk of the report and Larry commenting.

Robin Goble and Larry Wilmot’s Disneyworld and Disneyland Wedding Tour.

Prologue

Once upon a time, there were two Trip Report Writers called Robin and Larry, and they lived on separate continents. They fell in love and, after a long and both happy and painful time for them and others, they decided to get married and they chose the only sensible place for trip report writers to tie the nuptial knot, they decided to get married at Disney. This is the story of the wedding, so that you dear readers can know how magical it can be.


Cast of Characters

Robin Goble – Bride.
Larry Wilmot – Groom.
Bill Goble – Bride’s Father.
Paula Hanna - Bride’s Sister and Bridesmaid.
Wes Hanna - Brother in Law (Paula’s husband)
Clive Hamilton - Best Man. (Dashing English Military Sort.)
Karen Hamilton - Friend and Clive’s Better Half.
Michael Arroyo - Nephew.
Sue Holland - Friend and Trip Report Writer, of much fame.
Floyd Rayford - Sue’s SB.
Tom Burroughs - Friend and Wedding Guest.
Leanne Burroughs - Friend and Wedding Guest.

Planning

As you know, Trip Planning is for wimps. But even I (Larry that is, Robin is going to be kind enough to join in later.) know that when you have a wedding there is a wee bit of planning necessary. Fortunately for me Robin disagrees about the planning is for wimps theory and she is quite good at the old planning department, and I have to confess that she pretty much did most (OK All) of the planning. All I had to do was to get on an airplane and get myself to Orlando for the Wedding. Though life is very rarely as simple as that, and this little magical fairytale was no exception.

You see for those of you who don’t actually know who Larry and Robin are a little word of explanation is in order. Larry lives in Scotland and Robin lives in Texas. Getting married is only part of this story, Robin decided to come and live in Scotland with Larry. This means getting a resident’s visa for Britain. So we thought, no problem, after the wedding, we will pop into the British Consulates Office in Orlando, or Miami and pick one up. Sadly not. There is no British Consulate in Orlando, or anywhere in Florida for that matter. No, if you happen to live in Texas then you have to go to Dallas? Nope too easy, you have to go to the British Consulate in LA.

So we thought, well if we have to go to LA, let’s stay at Disneyland, whilst we are there. So this is the rather unique, Two Trip Report Writer, Two Disney Resorts Trip Report. Wow do you boys and girls get a bargain or what. This is not just any Trip Report; it’s a Marks and Spencer, four times as creamy Trip Report. (Joke for the British TR Readers).

Robin here—I’ll try to keep my comments in bold so you can tell who’s talking/writing at the time. Don’t worry; I won’t be so rash as to bore you with all the planning details for this trip. First of all, I don’t think you have the stamina to wade through them all and, secondly I know I don’t have the stamina to write them all down! Suffice it to say that this trip was the mother of all planning! What with having to make travel/accommodation arrangements for myself, my family, Larry, and Karen and Clive; planning a wedding; planning a reception at home for family and friends that weren’t invited to WDW; planning a honeymoon; planning a trip to Los Angeles; and planning a WDW/Disneyland vacation; there wasn’t a day that went by from the time we set the date to the day the trip started and beyond that I didn’t do some kind of planning for the trip/wedding.

Don’t let anyone try to tell you that planning a small, intimate wedding at WDW is easy. Sure, Disney goes out of it’s way to make things easier for you and they do a great job of stepping you through the process but, at the end of the day, there’s still a hundreds decisions to make, a thousand things you haven’t even thought of, and a million things that need to be done RIGHT NOW. After all, it is a wedding and there will be times when you’re stressed out and questioning why you’re even thinking about going through all this trouble. Having said that, however, I wouldn’t have done it anywhere else or had it any differently (except wishing that my mom could have been there). The wedding was beautiful, magical, a fairy tale…all those adjectives that they use in their brochures. And it was definitely worth any and all hassles.

Day One. Friday 22nd September.

Day one was one of some significant flying for everyone, but particularly me (Larry). Originally the plan was for me to fly to Lubbock, where Robin lives, famous for Prairie Dog Town, The windmill museum, Texas Tech Red and Black sporty teams and well that’s pretty much it. (Oh Buddy Holly came from there, but there’s other things too so we’ll mention that last for a change.) Then we were to go to Orlando the next day. However, there was an exam Michael had to take, and I won’t bore you with details of that, (There’s plenty of time for me to bore you later, believe me.) anyway the thing is, because of the exam, we had to change flights so that I flew, Inverness, to Gatwick, Gatwick to Dallas, Dallas to Lubbock, Lubbock to Dallas, Dallas to Orlando that day. Or how to get your bottom 4000 miles in a day by actually flying 7000 of them.

Actually the flying wasn’t as bad as you might think, the first flight from Inverness to Gatwick, was quite nice because I met a lady that I used to work with a couple of years ago, in the lounge. And we passed the time waiting for the flight to board, chatting and me eating breakfast of a Cheese and Ham Croissant, rather soggy due to it being warmed in a microwave, and a much better cup of coffee. On the plane, she was sat about five rows behind me, and during the flight she came up to me and gave me a nice tea towel, our first official wedding present, I thought that was awfully sweet of her, after we landed we walked through the “International Connections” corridor till we got to the pre area to the lounge or should I say shopping mall, where we went our separate ways, she was going to Hamburg to meet her husband, I had to check in with AA and then I had to go to gate 63, where my AA flight was already almost ready to board. (Which was good, because I wasn’t an AA Platinum Member then, so I couldn’t swank around in the posh lounge, like I can now. (He says in a swanky and not remotely modest way at all.))

The 10 hour flight was pretty un-eventful, I was sat with a pretty quiet guy, who despite the fact that I sat with him for 10 hours, I have very little recollection of, except that he was reading a book about Teddy Roosevelt. I asked him if he was the president that had set up the National Parks with Mr Muir the Scottish Guy, but he just kind of grunted at me, so I shut the something up for the rest of the flight. I think I watched X Men the Final Bit, but other than that I have little recollection. I’m pretty sure that the meal choice was Chicken or Beef. I’m pretty sure that all six transatlantic flights that I’ve made this year from Gatwick to Dallas were Chicken or Beef. And if I was you I wouldn’t bet against me that the next six won’t be Chicken or Beef either.

When I got there, I shot off the plane like a lightning bolt and dashed to immigration and customs, bowling all those rich types from Business and First Class out of the way like pesky skittles. I got into a very short queue at Immigration. Obviously being completely paranoid, I was convinced that they would find some reason not to let me into the country so I avoided saying that I was getting married. After all, knowing Officialdom like I do, there might be some kind of form I had to have completed at the American Embassy in London, a USWED 343 or something, so I said, which was true, “I’m going to Walt Disney World with my girlfriend.” This seemed to suffice, and I was in. I scooted past the luggage carrousel of slow progress. And was the first person to go through the customs bit, carrying only one small and I mean small, thanks to the luggage regulations at the time, bag. The customs lady, said, “Have you forgotten your luggage” and I said, “No, I’m travelling light, I have clothes at my girlfriends house” and that seemed to do the trick and I was in the Good Ol’ USA again.

The next flight was pretty short, and uneventful, I think I got a Hot Dog and rang Robin so she would know that I had made it in time to go to Lubbock for my flight back to Dallas later on. The plan was for me to skip the Lubbock trip, if I was late and wait for the family to arrive in Dallas to catch the Orlando flight, but if I got there in time, I’d go to Lubbock, to freshen up and get 1000 frequent flyer miles, after all they were already paid for.

I arrived in Lubbock to be met with Robin, rather pleased to see her groom arrive. (“Rather pleased” is probably the understatement of the year. While I knew that, if something went horribly wrong, we’d still have time to get Larry to Orlando by the wedding on Monday, it was still cutting things a little tight for me. When my older sister married her husband (who is from Mexico—are we an international family or what?), we were panicked when he arrived a mere two weeks before their wedding. Wimps. Try getting your groom in the country two HOURS before your plane leaves!) We drove to her house, and I had a sandwich and got freshened up. Then it was time to go to the airport again, this time with her Dad (Bill), Paula and Wes, and her nephew Michael. I picked up some luggage for the trip, and it went in her brother in law’s pick up truck. It was nice to see her Mom before the wedding; she couldn’t come to Walt Disney World due to her fracturing her leg badly a little while before.

We all got checked in, and went off to Dallas. Robin and I are Gold Card Members of American AAdvantage – (see comments above, re promotion to Platinum) so we got the nice extra leg room seats by the exit doors, and the other folks were near by.

At Dallas some people got some snacks, and Michael got a seventeen course Chinese Meal to eat on the plane. The flight was smooth, and I, unusually for me, slept for most of it, with my head on Robin. Just before landing, I swapped out seats with Michael and sat with Robin’s Dad, and we chatted together whilst we landed. I think we were arranging the dowry; I have to give him seven sheep and four goats. Bargain.

We arrived at Orlando, and I enjoyed the train ride to get the luggage, though I was surprised how tatty it all was, with foam ripped out of seats and just generally more grotty than Dallas or Gatwick. Then we picked up a great big mini van, and off to Orlando we went. I was in a bit of a daze, so don’t remember much of the ride. We were staying at the Pop Century for the pre wedding part of the trip, but more of that tomorrow. Sleep well readers, I know I did.

(Upon checking in at the Pop Century, my first course of action was to get Michael to bed, since most twelve year-olds I know don’t function very well on small amounts of sleep. Paula, Wes and Dad were in one room and Larry, Michael and I were in the other with Michael as acting chaperone.

It was 2:00am so we said good night to Paula, Wes and Dad and then I put Michael and Larry to bed. I think Michael actually beat Larry to sleep as he seemed to fall asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Larry didn’t take much longer as he had not only been up for well over 24 hours, but had been on airplanes or at airports for 24 hours as well.

I, however, as hostess and chief obsessive/compulsive wedding planner, had other things to do.

The main priority was to assemble the welcome bags for the wedding guests. I had bought bright green canvas tote bags to fill with some essentials and treats, along with an itinerary for the weekend, for all the guests. So, to the gentle hum of some deep breathing/light snoring from the men in my life, I spent the better part of an hour and a half filling bags with items such as aspirin, sun-block, insect repellent, lip balm, band-aids, sewing kits, cookies, chocolates, chips, crackers, rain ponchos, bath gel, candles, and anything else I could think of that folks might need at WDW.

With the completed welcome bags lined up in a row along the wall, I crawled into bed with Michael around 3:30 and set the alarm on my cell phone to wake me up in an hour so I could get the gift bags delivered before everyone was supposed to meet for breakfast in the food court the next morning.)

Wedding TR – Two.

Saturday 23rd September 2006.

Good Morning, welcome to Larry and Robin’s Wedding Trip Report day two, not that there was a lot of separation between day one and day two for Robin. Robin not only is a superhero, but also has the strength of ten men, admittedly ten small puny-armed men with little strength, but ten nevertheless. The poor wee lassie had only been asleep for one hour when she got up and started her trip around the whole Walt Disney World resort, carrying lime green goody bags, to Old Key West and the Pop Century. She must have looked like Kermit’s Personal Assistant during a pretty busy Muppet Convention. She did however, put so much effort into her gift bags, I was really impressed, not actually impressed enough to go with her, after all it was four thirty in the morning, but hey I’m the groom in a couple of days and I need my beauty sleep.

When she came back, I was amazed and impressed at her efforts. Well done Robin, super host.

(Actually, the hardest part about delivering the gift bags wasn’t getting up after just an hour’s sleep; it was finding my way around Old Key West at 5:00 in the morning. I had never been to Old Key West before and, since it was quite dark and rather foggy like a good old Florida swamp, I had a dickens of a time finding the guest parking and the lobby.)
After getting up we went down to breakfast at the Pop food court, where we met up with Clive (best man) and Karen for breakfast. (Michael was having a sensible lie in.) I was pretty impressed with C and K. (Maybe I should call them Calvin Kline for the rest of the TR!!!) Anyway, if I’m being honest, and frankly I usually am in my Trip Reports, much to my own personal detriment, I expected Clive to be on the grumpy side this trip. I didn’t see him as much of a Disney Guy, it’s possibly the 10 years of him teasing me about going all the time, or maybe because, well he can be a weeny bit grumpy at times, just slightly you know. But oh no, Clive is Mr Disney. That’s MR Disney to You. He and Karen were pretty much raring to go. One of the things you might not know about the Brits at Disney is that because we are five hours ahead, when we get there, we get up really early, because at seven in the morning our bodies think that its, lunch time, so we ain’t ones to be sat around waiting for our American friends to get up and stroll lazily down to breakfast we want to go and get our money’s worth and GO DISNEY.

Anyway, we had a great breakfast with CK and I explained the fastpass system to them, and went and picked up a couple of lanyards for Clive and I to put our passes in, I have no problem looking like a dork at Disney with my lanyard around my neck the whole trip and it seemed like Clive didn’t either. You may be pleased to know that I didn’t actually have it around my neck during the wedding service!! (I don’t know about you, but I was definitely pleased he took it off for the ceremony!)
We also went through the finer points of the Disney Dining Plan, that’s because, Robin the mega trip planner booked almost everyone on the DDP. (Isn’t that the German Democratic Party???) How it works, (and I’m sure Robin would put me right if I am wrong) is this:

You get three vouchers (well electronic vouchers on your room key actually) each day; one for a Sit down meal, a counter service meal, and a snack, Now each meal is separated into………………

OK I’m bored explaining this. You get to eat your way pretty much across the world, with lots and lots of food, and if you eat it all you are going to get pretty big, so be careful. The good news was that for us it was part of a special promotion, and it was FREE…….. Yes FREE, when did you last hear that, it’s FREE and at Disney…I blame global warming they must have lost their little Disney minds.

Anyway the gist is we had a nice breakfast, Paula Wes, Robin’s Dad and Michael came to join with us for breakfast and CK got to meet the Goble Clan. (And lived to tell the tale.)

After breakfast, we all went to Epcot, Michael’s favourite park and pretty much mine too. The plan was to take CK and show them the great stuff in future world so they would know how mighty cool WDW is. As many of you regular readers know I have regarded myself as the king of the fastpass scam. There used to be several and now there are only really two. I like to brag that I was pretty good at them and I promise you it’s true, but I was pretty much regarded by Disney as the fastpass scam king too. (Mainly because I used to boast about them in my Trip Reports.) Twice I was contacted by Disney to advise them on how I cheated the system, and once I was treated to a trip behind Splash Mountain, to look at the fastpass system in operation, by a senior fastpass Cast Member. Sorry to keep on boasting about it, but it’s one of those pride before a fall things.

I wanted to impress my bride to be, by my great fastpass scamming techniques, so Robin and I went up to Mission Space and I was going to use the best technique to get 8 “free” fastpasses. Normally this works best with an accomplice, and I later in the week trained up Karen to be my Fastpass Scamming Gal, a role she took to like a Duck to water. Anyway, I go up to the machine, start to take out the “free” fastpasses, and the cast member instantly spots that I’m up to no good, comes up and demands to look at my fastpasses, tells me that she can tell that I’ve cheated to get them, (which you can by looking at them closely) and confiscates them, so I have to use our tickets to get some real ones, (which then means we can’t get any more for ages.) So I walk away with my tail between my legs rather embarrassed and hot flushed of face. Robin was very kind.

Obviously I was relieved at her understanding. I’m pretty sure she only agreed to marry me because I promised her that I would teach her my Fastpass scamming techniques. There I was down on my knee, (In a Mall in Dallas actually, proposing to her- Yup a Mall, I’m a keeper!!) saying……

“Robin, my sweetheart, I may not be able to keep you in the lap of luxury that you are accustomed to, I may not be able to give you a Cadillac to ride in, I may not be able to provide you with big diamond rings, I may not even be able to take you to eat at the finest restaurants, but I can promise you Fastpasses for Haunted Mansion, whenever you need them”

”Oh Larry, YES YES YES” (Hey, I know what the important things in life are. And, in Larry’s defense, he did actually provide me with a big diamond ring when he proposed. However, the “mall” bit of the proposal is a slight exaggeration in that we were actually OUTSIDE of the mall when he proposed.)

But I digress. Having embarrassingly failed, I was on a mission to prove my manliness so we instantly went to Test Track and “stole” eight of them there. The CM not being quite so observant as her colleague over at Mission Space. Sorry I wish I could give up doing this, but until Disney introduces a 12 point recovery plan, I’m just addicted. (Please don’t ask how you can get free ones if you don’t know, I promised Disney that I wouldn’t tell anyone how to do it in my TRs anymore.) One thing I did notice however, is that at the new Everest ride they were really on top of things there, and I wasn’t able to pinch any at all the whole trip, everywhere else though I pretty much got them at will.

We met up and went over to the Land for our first look at Soaring, we didn’t have too much of a wait and it was nice to see how the building looked compared with California, and it was a lot bigger than the queue at California Adventure, I liked the queuing area, some nice glass work and lots of interesting stuff on the walls to look at. The ride is pretty much the same, and by pretty much the same I mean pretty impressive. It was great during the ride to look over at CK and see how much they were enjoying themselves. It was also great to go and have my first rides with my new family. They are all great fun. It was the first time I had really had a chance to spend some time properly with Wes, and I think we became good friends by the end of the trip. Paula and Bill I already knew a little better. It was good to be part of the gang. The ride did have an a little optical glitch in it, and it did detract a little in the suspension of disbelief department. But you gotta admit it’s a great ride. And I know that Robin would dump me for Patrick Warburton, the Pre Show Guy. – HULLO. (No, baby, of course I wouldn’t dump you for Patrick…Is he gone yet? Has he quit reading? Good, then yep, I’d trade in a minute…just kidding, dear.)

Then we went and rode Mission Space together, using the legal fastpasses, (drat) this was CK’s first time in Epcot, and they really enjoyed the ride, It was great fun to be on the ride again, it’s such a fantastic piece of engineering, and when you think about it, there is nothing in the world that can compete with this as a piece of technology that mere mortals get to play with, basically a centrifuge. It’s cool and fun and I enjoyed showing people which buttons make the speakers squeak when you press them, and yes I did all my jobs at the right time, I think I’m Astronaut material. And if I had half a million quid or so I would without a shadow of a doubt give it to Richard Branson, the boss of Virgin so I could go on his plastic bath tub ride into space in a couple of years time. I bet you didn’t know he’s planning on sending them up from Lossimouth near Elgin, either did you???

After the ride Bill, Robin’s Dad, noticed that he has left his mobile phone in the storage bin in his capsule, and tried for ages to get it back, and the CM’s were very helpful but no joy and ringing it up didn’t do much good. Whilst Robin and Bill were with the CM’s, CK and I went over to see Space Goofy and Space Mickey, both of them seemed to find that fun, and by then Clive was in big time Disney Mode, he even went and bought a hat. Go Clive Go. So we took a few photos of Clive and Karen, with Goofy and the Big Cheese, which was fun.

Then we went and finished off the big three, by going and riding Test Track, also a pretty impressive ride. It’s looking a bit scruffy these days though and there were bits of it not working, like the cones at the start. But hey you can’t moan when you get to see “Smug Bill” in the pre show. Yes a Number 7. Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride. And I think doing Soarin’, Space, and Test Track is one decent start to a Disney Vacation.

Well it was getting a little warm, and so one of us regulars suggested that we take CK to Ice Station Cool, and so we meandered over there under the Electric Umbrella walk way where they sell those funny stiff balloons. Past the fountain, which was just in regular mode rather than in show mode, and then WHAM, one of the biggest disappointments of the trip. “Where is the Ice Station part of Ice Station Cool?” I hear myself saying, “Someone has stolen it!!!!!!” Someone in the vast empire of Disney or Coke, has stolen the best bit of Ice Station Cool, the bit where you go exploring in the ice tunnel, seeing the frozen yeti, or what ever was there, having ice drip onto your neck. All gone just a boring door into the Coke area. Apparently it wasn’t handicap accessible. Actually it was pretty slippy in there, and Kids probably ran around, falling and skinning their knees, so maybe they got rid of it for health and safety reasons, anyway whatever the reason, it’s a big loss in my book. (I may be completely making this up but I think we asked a Cast Member why the icy part was closed and they told us that they were making it more accessible. My mom went through the entrance several times when she was using an ECV and it was rather tight manuevering.)

What is still there though is the fun of tricking people into drinking Beverly, “Hmmmm, Beverly is my favourite, you must try it Karen”. Only to see the distorted face of Karen 20 seconds later. Ha, big laugh….. Works every time!!!

Robin had written an itinerary for the first few days of the trip, and at 11am we had arranged to be at the Tip board in case any of our Floridian chums wanted to meet up with us at that time, so we went over there about five minutes before, the team all decided to join with us at a later time in the trip, but Robin and I had a good time, chatting to a cast member named “Bob” for about twenty minutes, about matters Disney.

After this we met up with the Goble’s and CK, and went into World Showcase. First stop was Mexico. We rode the Rivers of Time, and Robin knows that tune and all the words, so we had a wonderful accompaniment throughout the boat ride. (Actually I don’t know ALL the words, but I’m not above making up the ones I don’t know. Did Larry mention my lovely singing voice? No? Hmmm.) Apparently they have changed it recently and have Disneyfied the market seller’s area, which is a shame because I always thought that was the best bit. Though I have to admit that the life size mannequins on the roundabout’s pretty spooky in an oogie kind of way which is pretty impressive also. And hey fake fireworks, that’s not too bad either.

We spent some time looking at the goods on sale, I quite fancy a pottery sun on the outside of my house, but I don’t expect I will ever get around to buying myself one, but you never know, stranger things have happened.

Then it was lunch time, and we started to diversify and spread out a little, people were going at rather different speeds in the party, and Robin and I were beginning to feel like elastic bands, stretched around World Showcase. However, Wes came to the rescue with a couple of walkie talkies, and we split, up to get food choices. Clive and I went to China, and I got double fried beef. We all took the food and met up in Germany were we got some tables and ate our grub. I popped over to the Steiff shop and bought Robin a little Steiff teddy bear key ring. (Which rather proves I’m not shaping up to be much of a decent bridegroom, because if I was I would have stumped up for a decent sized one rather than one you need a microscope to see?)

(While Larry looked after Karen, Clive and Dad, I took Michael, Paula and Wes over to Japan to take a look at the menu of their counter service restaurant. Michael and I got food there and Paula and Wes decided that Bratwurst and a giant pretzel the size of my head would push their buttons, so we took our food with us to Germany where we met up with the others.)

Clive and Karen decided to go and have some free time and explore WDW together. The rest of us went back the way we had come and went to Norway, and some folks went to explore the stave church. And we all went and rode on Maelstrom, and had a very fun troll like time, not forgetting to find hidden Mickey’s in the big mural. I also noticed that the polar bears are looking great, they had gotten a little tatty, and one of the seams had gone on the bigger standing up bear, and he used to look like someone had slit his throat, which is a bit discombobulating at Disney.

After this we started to head out and we popped into Guest services, to see if Bill’s phone had been handed in but no Joy. Robin rang the number again on her mobile, and it was answered, and it was in Mission Space, so Robin, set off with Michael to pick it up, I thought that they needed some Aunt/Nephew time’s so I let them go together. Well it was either that or I was too tired to go back, either way, I got all cosy on a bench and went to sleep for 10 minutes.

Then it was time for the annual ride on Spaceship Earth, which I rather enjoyed, I always like the commentary from Jeremy Iron’s who sounds a little bit pompous, but that’s us Brits for you.

It was time to head over to Italy for dinner/tea/evening meal or what ever you call it in your part of the world. There was a small problemette, however, in that Robin had booked it for 12 people, assuming that the whole tribe would be there, but with our Floridian Chums and CK doing their own things. We were a whole lot less, and it didn’t help that Robin Michael and I arrived there quite a bit before the others. So 12 initially became 3 and it’s probably fair to say that the head waiter was slightly less than amused. It was getting a bit too embarrassing for me, so I went and hid in the toilets, to let Bill, Wes and Paula get there to bolster up the numbers so that I could look the Italians in the eye.

However, we had a lovely meal, getting lots of different menu choices and sharing between ourselves. The service in Italy is excellent, with you taking less than one sip before they are wrestling your soda off you to go and fill it up. You almost have to sit with one hand on your glass and eat with the other one just to keep the eager waiters from your table.

That was the end of the Epcot part of the day, Robin and I decided to have some time on our own, so we walked along the walkway to MGM Studios and the rest of the Goble clan went by Friendship. Obviously the walkers beat them by a good 10 minutes. (Actually when it goes the other way from MGM to Epcot, it helps to explain where the phrase, “slow boat to China” comes from.) So we went and met Clive and Karen, at the tip board. They had picked up some fastpasses they hadn’t used so Michael went and rode some stuff whist the adults sat and enjoyed some chit chat and caught up on our days. CK told us about the night before when they had received some Disney magic when they asked a bus driver how they should get to their hotel, and he said, “Oh I can take you there” and he went out of his way to give them a private trip. That’s the sort of stuff that makes Disney stand out from the crowd.

After Michael came back we all went over to Fantasmic, well us and 10,247 other people. Bill was using a buggy, so we went and accompanied him at the back of the auditorium in one of the disability bays and had a great view. The show was as great as usual, but there was a problem when the dragon’s fire didn’t work, so the petrol on the surface didn’t light, and so we didn’t see the burning lake, but we did get a great gasoline smell for several minutes. I think CK who had never seen the show before had had a great time, and I know they had enjoyed their day as had we all.

Well, that’s about it for day two. Have fun. Cheers Larry.

Wedding TR – Three

Sunday, 24th September, 2006

Hello all. Robin here. I thought I’d be nice and take up writing duties for a day in order to give Larry a little break and to avoid all those pesky medical bills when he gets Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from doing so much typing. (Read: “I need to help get this trip report done otherwise it’ll be our tenth anniversary and it still won’t be finished! (OUCH!!!! )

The only problem with me writing up a day or so is the fact that, since we had agreed in advance that Larry would write the trip report this time and I’d just make the random comment here and there, Larry took all the notes during our trip. Trust me when I say that a near-sighted arthritic doctor writing prescriptions during an earthquake would win penmanship awards before Larry would.

So, when I get to sections that, to the best of my knowledge and interpretive skills, say things like, “we twist the pickle hip hop,” or “snorkel bees on pie,” I’ll do my darnedest to make something up that kind of fits. Anyway, here goes.

We were up at the crack of dawn again this morning because Larry and I needed to go and check in at the Grand Floridian (where we’ll be spending our honeymoon) before everyone else got up, so we’d be back in time to meet up for breakfast. We actually had one overlapping night at the Grand Floridian and the Pop Century. The plan was, since its bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding etc, for me to spend the night at the Grand Floridian tonight while Larry stays at the Pop Century for his last night. That way, we wouldn’t have to find time to move all of our luggage to a new hotel on the day of the wedding and our larger room would be available for me and Paula to get ready in.

We needed to go ahead and check in because our park tickets were connected to our Grand Floridian reservation. When we booked the room at the Pop Century, we bought one-day park hoppers for Larry and me (I already had a park ticket for Michael), knowing we’d need them for Friday. Also, you had to buy some form of theme park admission in order to get the free dining plan. The tickets for the rest of our trip were on our Grand Floridian reservation.

Anyway, Larry and I were up early and drove over to the GF by 6:00. Never before have I been in the GF when there wasn’t another soul in the lobby, but at this early hour, Larry and I were the only ones there.

I think we annoyed the valet parking CM when we told him we were just checking in and it probably wouldn’t be worth his time to park the van for us. He agreed to let us leave it under the porch while we went inside.


Larry tried his best with his natural English charm on the CM that checked us in to get us a little upgrade magic on our room, but neither Larry not I got the impression that it worked very well. Perhaps his charm works better on women than men.

Charm and up-grade aside, we got checked in (our room wasn’t ready yet—shocker—and they say the Grand Flo has good service), (Swines. I mean 6.02am and they don’t even have our room ready yet, no wonder they got rid of Eisner, the place is going to the dogs.) got our park passes/room keys, and scooted back to the Pop Century to meet up with everyone for breakfast at the food court. Larry’s notes say “French toast,” so I’m assuming that’s what he had for breakfast. I can honestly say I probably got breakfast and I probably ate it, but I have absolutely no idea what it could have been. I think Larry’s cavalier planning-is-for-wimps attitude toward trip report writing and note taking are rubbing off on me and I humbly apologize to those readers who are used to getting a play-by-play account of what was eaten, what it cost, where it was eaten, and by whom.

I think that Robin has missed the point on trip report writing. I have a motto: (What’s a motto? Nothing what’s the motto with you?) “If you can’t read it make it up.” After all, very few of the readers were actually there with us, and so they don’t know.

Since we weren’t really having a rehearsal for the wedding, thus we weren’t really having a rehearsal dinner either (though I suppose the meal tonight at MGM was sort of the equivalent), I brought down the gifts that we had picked out for our attendants, Paula and Clive, this morning. Clive said that he wouldn’t open his until he had performed his duties at the wedding and given his speech at the reception (silly English honour system), so he took the present back to their room, but Paula opened hers. We had picked out some pearl earrings for Paula to wear with her bridesmaid dress.

After breakfast, we headed to the bus stop where we had a short wait for a bus to the Animal Kingdom (AK). On the bus, we had a lively discussion with Clive about tipping—the Brits not generally being accustomed to having to tip service providers. Since Clive has a tendency to be rather, um, what’s a good word for it….”thrifty,” Larry jokingly told him that it was a long-standing American custom for the Best Man to pay the preacher for the wedding ceremony. (Actually, the Best Man does usually pay/tip the officiant, but the groom gives him an envelope with the fee inside for him to present to the officiant after the ceremony.) The look of shock and horror on Clive’s face was enough to send the rest of us into gales of laughter until he finally realized we were kidding him.

Robin makes a good point here about the British character. For example, I think the excuse that we gave valet parking at the Grand Flo is a great excuse not to pay for valet parking. I must write it down in my “Book of thriftiness.” One of the things that I know Robin has discovered is that I’m a little bit, well how can I put this…a little bit challenged in the opening wallet department. So there are a few things that I find rather difficult. I have to pretend to be an American when it comes to putting out the tips to the waiters in restaurants, otherwise, I’d just leave a dollar at the side of the plate. Anything to do with Parking just brings out the worst in me, I would rather walk in 7 miles from the edge of the city rather than pay for parking, and as for Valet, oh I just don’t even want to think about it… In my defence, I do come from Yorkshire, and they say a Yorkshire man is a Scotsman with the generosity ironed out.


Once we got to the AK, we split up. Larry, Clive, and Karen took everyone’s passes to get Fast Passes (FP) for Expedition Everest, while Paula, Wes, Michael, Dad, and I went to rent a scooter for Dad. We were to meet up in front of Kilimanjaro Safari (KS) in Africa when our chores were complete.

Dad wound up not only renting an ECV, but also buying a hat to keep the sun off his head. I was anxious to get moving because I knew the others would be waiting for us.

Touring with a group is always a bit stressful and takes a great deal of flexibility and patience; not two of my better qualities. (Great singing voice, sure, but not so much in the easy-going and take-things-as-they-come categories.) People move at different rates and have different priorities as to what they want to see and do, so plans have to be constantly changed and things usually take at least twice as long as you think they will.

I was torn between wanting to spend time with my family (seeing as how I’d be leaving them to move to Scotland in two weeks’ time), and wanting Karen and Clive to feel welcome and to get the most Disney bang for their buck since their time at WDW was limited, and wanting everyone to have a good time and bond together. Oh yes, and wanting to get married too! Let’s not forget that important event. (Anyone who says that planning a wedding, even a small one, isn’t stressful is either lying or has a much better Prosaic prescription than me!)

So, all things being considered, I think I was doing quite good to only have a couple of small meltdowns during the week. Luckily, everyone was very understanding and Karen certainly earned her keep and got to use her brilliant social work skills on more than one occasion.

Anyway, knowing that the others would have been waiting on us, I herded everyone in the direction of Africa. However, when we got to KS, no one else was in sight.

Taking Paula with me as look out, I used the time (and some of Larry’s FP scam knowledge) to get us FP’s to the Safari, since Larry, Clive and Karen had our tickets.

When Larry, Karen and Clive showed up, the reason for their delay was soon explained. They had gotten the FP’s for Everest but, as the ride was a walk-on that early, couldn’t resist the temptation to take a quick ride. All, that is, except for Larry. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have a keeper in him because he knew that I’d want to ride it with him for the first time, so he looked around in the gift shop while Karen and Clive went on the ride, so he could ride it first with me. If that’s not love, boys and girls, then at least it’s a good helping of common sense!

There is absolutely no way I would have done that ride without Robin with me for the first trip on it. I just wouldn’t. I would have rather cut off my little finger with a rusty penknife. It’s a Small World, sure, but not Everest.

So, reunited at last, we headed off to Asia and the adventures awaiting us there.

We all rode Everest together and we all loved the ride and thought the theming was great. Just a few days ago, Larry and I saw part of a documentary on TV about Mount Everest and the area surrounding it. When we first turned on the TV, Larry and I, unaware of what the documentary was about, said in unison, “It’s Expedition Everest.” That’s how good Disney did in the theming.

OK my views on Everest: this is one good ride, I’ve said before in evaluations of attractions in previous TR’s that themeing is everything for me. I’m getting old enough where some Roller Coasters are too much for me. I can cope with the odd inversion and loop the loop, provided it’s a smooth track. Everest doesn’t invert you at all, but it’s pretty smooth, and pretty fast, and it has wonderful visual effects, from some fantastic forced perspective on the mountain and mountain village scenery, to some great projected visual and sound effects. I like to think of it as what would happen if Big Thunder Mountain started taking steroids and working out. A great ride: 10 out of 10.

We immediately got new FP’s for another go on Everest and then headed back to Africa for our Safari. On the way, we stopped at Kali River Rapids (KRR), which was temporarily down, to get FP’s to ride it later. Karen was schooled in Larry’s method of nicking Fast Passes and she quickly became his chief FP assistant.

Back in Africa, we used our FP’s for KS but, since Dad was on an ECV, were diverted to the disabled access line which, due to having only one loading platform and the length of time it takes to park ECV’s/wheelchairs and load folks with mobility issues and their families, took forever. I know a lot of people grumble about special queues for the disabled but I guarantee that they don’t get on rides any faster, in fact, I’d bet that they have to wait longer than most.

Anyway, it was finally our turn and we were rather squashed into two rows with a couple more families. We were so packed together that there was no chance of any of us being bounced out of the truck. In fact, there was no chance of any of us being able to move our arms! We were all glad that Little Red was safe, but we were more pleased to actually be able to draw breath after we got off the ride.

Lunchtime was upon us so, being in Africa, we went to Tusker House where, with some creative use of our dining plan options, we were able to get everyone fed. Larry’s notes say either “nice crepes” or “nice Agnes,” but, since I don’t recall crepes or anyone by the name of Agnes, I’ll have to let that one go. Maybe it’s nice grapes? Oh hang on, could it be nice drapes? No I would have written nice curtains.

After lunch it was time for our FP’s at Everest. As we walked there, we laughed that we’d spent all morning at the Animal Kingdom and had only walked up and down between Asia and Africa.

Everyone but Dad went for the ride on Everest. Karen and Clive got the first seat this time around but magnanimously gave it up to me and Larry as an early wedding present. Afterwards, Michael took Dad’s extra FP and rode by himself while the rest of us looked around the gift shop.

As Kali River Rapids was still down, we decided it was time to move on so we headed to Dinoland. The long day, the heat, and the many miles trekked from Africa and Asia and back were starting to take their toll on the group however, so we stopped to rest and regroup at the entrance to Dinoland. Larry ran off to get Fast Passes for Primeval Whirl while we waited.

Dad was hot and Paula was footsore so they decided to go back to the hotel to rest until this evening, when we were supposed to meet up with Sue and Floyd and Tom and Leanne for dinner at MGM. Dad gave up his SCV to Paula so she could rest on the way out of the park but, unbeknownst to us, Clive had sneaked off and came back pushing a wheelchair for her so she and Dad could both ride out in style.

Actually Clive is a proper English Gentle Man. He was brought up properly and spent most of his life being an officer and a gentleman in the RAF, and sometimes I might be a little bit inclined to tease him about that, but I tease because I love, and actually I pretty much admire this trait. (Please Karen when you read this, delete it, I don’t want Clive knowing how much I admire him.)

Wes claimed wheelchair pushing duties and Michael wanted to go swimming back at the Pop Century, so they all headed out of the park leaving Larry, Karen, Clive and me to continue on.

We went to Primeval Hurl (which wasn’t using Fast Passes, by the way, and didn’t have hardly any wait) and rode once on either side. Our first ride, which was on the left-hand side, was the best ride I’ve ever had on Primeval Hurl. We must have hit that first corner after they release the car to spin just right because we spun completely out of control for the rest of the ride. The second ride was okay, but not nearly as spin-tastic as the first.

Once we could walk in a straight line again, Larry naughtily told Karen that, in order to let our equilibriums settle a bit, we’d go on a tamer ride—Countdown to Extinction! “It’s a simple little ride,” he lied, “where you walk through a room with some fossil exhibits and then get on a vehicle and look at some prehistoric plants.” We kept chatting to Karen and Clive as we passed through the queue, during the pre-show, and on to the vehicle, so they wouldn’t catch on to the real nature of the ride, smiling to ourselves as we calmly set off into the Jurassic period. Somewhere between the first meteor crash and the time the You’re-My-Lunch-O-Saurus tried to have us for tea, I think they figured out that they had been purposely misled! They liked the ride, however, so we immediately rode it again.

Did I do that? I find it hard to believe.

Afterwards, we decided to see if our room at the Grand Floridian was ready yet (okay, we really just wanted to show off the resort to Karen and Clive), so we left the park and caught a bus to the Contemporary, so we could kill two birds with one stone by taking Karen and Clive on a loop of the monorail, and stop off at the Grand Floridian.

A quick stop at the front desk revealed that our room was indeed ready. We were in Big Pine Key (I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t actually give you a Big Pine Key, just a standard plastic hotel swipe card!!). I had stayed in the building once before on a trip with Paula and Wes and loved the location. We were on the third floor, overlooking the swimming pool. They had given us a room with a King-sized bed and a nice sitting area with sofa, coffee table, and small table and chairs. There was a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket, a red rose, and a card from Aladdin and Jasmine wishing us a magical Honeymoon. We also had a fax from our stand-in wedding coordinator giving us her contact information in case we had any last minute questions. I had been primarily working with Juliana Acosta, but knew that she would be off the day of my wedding and that we’d have someone else assigned to us for that day.

Karen and Clive were suitable impressed with the Grand Floridian. In fact, Karen declared that, next time they came to WDW, this was the resort where she was going to stay, much to Clive’s dismay. We could actually see him doing the mental arithmetic as to how much two weeks at the Grand Flo was going to cost him.

We went back to the lobby to pick up the monorail and had a nice chat with a cast member while we were waiting. He was telling us that the blood of the Love Bugs (which were very plentiful on the bright monorail platform, since they’re attracted to white) is actually slightly corrosive so you have to scrub the dead ones off the grill of your car every day or they’ll pit the paint and chrome.

We had a short monorail ride to the Magic Kingdom where we caught a bus back to the Pop Century. On the bus I took care of some wedding business by calling everyone (hair stylist, officiant, videographer, dress steamer, wedding license service, marriage coordinator, etc.) to let them know what room I’d be in at the Grand Floridian for the wedding tomorrow. Tomorrow? Yikes.

We got back to the Pop at 5:00. Our dinner reservations at the 50’s Prime Time Café were for 6:15ish and we all needed to freshen up, so we had to scoot. Paula, Wes and Dad were all in bed taking a nap, so we roused them up. Michael was in the pool so I went to fetch him. We all managed to get ready and meet up in the lobby by 5:45.

We managed to squish all 8 of us into our 7-seat mini-van, though we only accomplished this by me sitting in the space between the two captain’s chairs in the second row of seats. Oh well, while it wasn’t quite legal, once again we were wedged in so tightly that there wasn’t much chance of anyone falling out.

Larry drove and though he did good at staying on the right side of the road, he still managed to almost kill us all. He remembered that you could turn right on a red light but kind of forgot the teensy point about stopping to make sure no one was coming before you turned thus he turned right into the path of an oncoming Disney bus. It scared the bus driver so badly that he forgot his happy thoughts and laid on the horn (and no, we didn’t have a “honk, we just got married” bumper sticker)! All’s well that ends well however, and we made it to MGM in one piece.

We took a tram from the parking lot to the front gate thus ensuring that Karen and Clive got to ride on every form of WDW transport during their stay. (Larry—I Don’t think they went on the steam train.) (Robin—I would argue that the steam train is an attraction and not a form of transportation as such.)

Tom and Leanne and Sue and Floyd were already waiting in the bar at 50’s PTC. After introductions all around several people got drinks and we were called to our table soon afterwards.

We were actually seated at two tables, but they shared the same back booth and were right next to each other. We did have two separate servers, however (and I hate to be whiny but the other table’s was better). Paula, Wes, Karen, Clive, Dad and Michael sat at one table while Larry and I joined our newest guests, Sue, Floyd, Tom and Leanne, at the other. Tom and Leanne had brought a wedding present for us (thank you very much) and we opened that while we waited on our food.

Larry and I got appetizers with the dining plan, so we shared some onion rings and, I think, some fried cheese with everyone. I think that Robin was a bit disappointed with the Fried Cheese, because if it was proper Texan Fried Cheese, it would have been on a stick. Robin threatens to take me to the South Plains County Fair, where they fry everything including cheese, snickers and marshmallow peeps, and stick them on big sticks!!!

Larry had the pot roast and I’m sure that I had some entrée but I can’t remember what it was. Honestly, at this point, they could have brought me an old shoe with cheese on it and I don’t think I would have noticed. I was just so nervous about meeting Larry’s friends/the impending wedding the next day/everyone getting along and having a good time that I don’t remember much of the meal at all. I do remember Larry trying to hide his carrots under his napkin and having to be fed by the server and I was fed a bite of whatever was on my plate as well.

Larry had a chocolate shake with his meal as his dessert choice. I got the S’Mores (which are huge) and passed them around to everyone. See, I’m much better at remembering the important things like dessert.

After dinner we said our “see you tomorrow’s” to Tom, Leanne, Sue and Floyd. The rest of us, in our quest to not only get Karen and Clive on every form of Disney transport known to man but also to show them every night time show, were headed to the Magic Kingdom for the 9:00 showing of Wishes and then do the Extra Magic Hours. The plan was to park the van at the Grand Floridian and then take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom.

Can I say, how nice it was to meet with some of my friends from Florida, who were kind enough to come to the wedding, it’s been a couple of years since I saw them last, as I hadn’t been out to WDW, and it was a pleasure to spend a couple of days with them at such a wonderful time for me.

Once at the Magic Kingdom, we picked up our wristbands for the Extra Magic Hour and Dad got his scooter. Wishes was just about to start so we all found spots at the entrance of Main Street and watched the fireworks.

Afterwards, we all did our best impression of salmon and swam upstream against the crowds of exiting people. We made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean (PoTC) to see the new Jack Sparrow update. Since its announcement, Paula was very much against the update and we were all anxious to see the changes. I thought they did an excellent job on the Jack audio animatronics and that the Davy Jones projection onto the mist was a great effect.

After all that swashbuckling, we decided to ride Splash Mountain. Paula and Wes didn’t want to get wet so they, along with Dad who wasn’t riding this evening, went over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (BTMRR) (one of Wes’ favorite rides). After Splash, where I got decidedly drippy, we met up with the others at Big Thunder Mountain. We were just about to get in line when my Mom called on Dad’s cell phone. I stayed behind with Dad to talk to Mom while everyone else went on the ride.

We decided it was time to leave the Wild West for some science fiction and made our way to Tomorrowland and Alien Encounter. Just like all the walks from Africa to Asia this morning, I think the death march from BTMRR to Alien Encounter just about finished half the party off.

Oh gosh you are not joking. People were well and truly cream crackered by this point. I was surprised at how well they were bearing up under the strain, and for the Brits in particular as it was like 5am our time, so well done everyone.

At the new Alien Encounter, Stitch = the monster, and Skippy = Skippy. Other than that, I didn’t see much difference from the original version.

Everyone was pretty well tired after that and we started to head back to Main Street but Michael was making puppy dog eyes at Space Mountain. Seeing as how it was his last night at WDW and his only chance to ride, I decided that I’d be the good Aunt and stay behind with him and let everyone else take the car back to the Pop Century. Larry said that he’d stay with me and Karen and Clive were up for another ride so Paula, Wes and Dad left and the rest of us had a nice ride on Space Mountain.

It was 11:58 when we got off the ride and, seeing as how Extra Magic Hour was over at midnight, we decided that was all for the night.

On our way out of the park, Wes called and said that they had to wait a long time for a monorail and that they had just gotten back to the car. Did we want them to wait for us at the Grand Floridian so we didn’t have to take a bus back to the Pop Century? Of course our answer was “yes,” so we hurried out of the park and took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian to meet up with them.

Wes drove us all back to the Pop Century where we dropped off Karen, Clive, Paula and Dad, went over the times and places for people to meet up tomorrow, and picked up my and Michael’s luggage and headed BACK to the Grand Floridian where Michael and I were to spend the night. That way, Larry got a room to himself for a night and I didn’t have to worry about Michael being ready on time for the wedding tomorrow, plus I had some company.

So much for the bride and groom not seeing each other before the wedding because it was 2:00am when I kissed my groom good night at the Grand Floridian and sent him back to the Pop Century with Wes. Bell Services drove me and Michael around to our room and, after a bit of unpacking and settling in, I went to bed around 3:00.


Wedding TR – Four

Monday, 25th September, 2006

I woke up at 7:00, too excited/nervous to stay in bed any longer. Michael was still asleep so I walked down to Gasparilla’s Grill to get some refillable mugs for us to use for the rest of the trip and to get some breakfast for Michael and anyone else who wasn’t actually getting married today and might could possibly think about eating food. I wasn’t sure what Michael would be in the mood for this morning so I just got one of everything! I think I got some eggs, bacon, toast, biscuits, gravy, hash browns, fruit, pancakes, and a muffin, plus two mugs one with diet coke for me and one with hot chocolate for Michael!

Back at the room, I woke Michael up and he had some breakfast. I knew he wouldn’t want to hang around while we got dressed, etc., so he put his swimming suit on and went down to check out the pool. Meanwhile, I got a shower, dried my hair, and got dressed in my lingerie and a robe.

The phone rang and it was Carol Allen, here to steam my wedding gown and veil, calling from the lobby. She hadn’t gotten the message that I left for her yesterday, so she didn’t know what room I was in. I gave her the room number and in just a matter of minutes she was knocking at the door with my gown, veil, and crinoline in tow (I had shipped them to her about two weeks earlier so I didn’t have to worry about them being lost in my luggage or damaged by the airline on the trip down.).

Sorry about all you male trip report readers but I have to be a girl here for a minute and talk about how pretty my dress was! It was an Oleg Cassini strapless satin A-line gown with a tightly-fitted, embroidered and beaded bodice. The embroidery and beading was repeated around the train of the gown which was satin with an organza overlay inset into the apron back. I liked the simplicity of the gown and thought it looked very elegant. The tiara matched the beading on the gown with crystals and beads and the veil was edged in satin and had a scattering of Swarovski crystals along the edges. Okay. Sorry. I’ll stop for now. Please come back, guys.

Carol had just gotten started when the phone rang again. It was my Mom this time, checking in to see how I was doing. While I was talking to Mom, Wes dropped Paula off with her wedding clothes and then went back to the Pop Century. He was getting to play chauffeur today and would be coming back around 12:30 with Dad. I talked to Larry for a little while on the phone as well to make sure he was up and doing okay.

Lisa Pena arrived right on time at 11:00 to do our hair and make up. Lisa was delightful—very chatty and friendly and able to put everyone at ease (Well, as “at ease” as a bride can be three hours before her wedding. Everything was starting to seem very surreal to me. How could all these people be here working for my wedding?) She started with my hair first. Michael showed back up from swimming and, after he had a bit of second breakfast, I sent him into the bathroom to get showered and dressed.

Carol Allen had finished up and gone when Lisa finished my hair. Lisa did a great job, fixing it just like I had described. She put a final shellacking of hairspray on so it would withstand the Florida heat and humidity (honestly, I think bullets would have pinged off my head!) and started on Paula’s hair and then moved on to her make-up. When Lisa was finished, Paula was very pleased with the results, I think.

Wes and Dad showed up, dressed and looking handsome. Poor Wes got to be the jack-of-all-trades today as I passed my camera to him so he could take some informal pictures during the day. He was also in charge of carrying Paula’s small sewing kit in case of any last minute popped buttons or loose threads. I gave him the room key as well, since my dress was surprisingly devoid of any pockets. Luckily, he had plenty.

Lisa was working on Paula’s make-up and I was getting a little bit antsy about the time, since I still had to have my make-up done, get dressed, and we needed to be in the lobby by 1:45. I finished prodding Michael to get dressed and then wisely spent my time pacing. I noticed the time at 1:00 and thought to myself that the limo should be picking up Larry and all the other guests at the Pop Century right about now to bring them to the Wedding Pavilion.

Lisa got my make-up done, I got in my dress, and then she helped fasten on my veil. I made a quick check: something old…my pearl necklace that I’ve had for years; something new…my dress, veil, and shoes; something borrowed…a small Cinderella charm that I borrowed from Paula and wore on the clasp of my pearls; something blue…(and this was my favorite thing!) our wedding date and Larry’s and my initials done in pave’ blue Swarovski crystals on the soles of my shoes.

My shoes were gorgeous white satin Stuart Weitzman sling backs with a cluster of Swarovski crystals on the toe—to die for—which I got in Dallas. They (Stuart Weitzman) have a program called “Something Blue” in which they’ll make, out of blue Swarovski crystals, your initials inside a heart on one shoe and your wedding date inside a heart on the other. Larry was worried that they were going to put an “L” for Larry on one foot and an “R” for Robin on the other and people would just think I couldn’t tell my Left foot from my Right foot. He was much relieved when I explained that L + R would be on the same shoe. Oops. My apologies. I seem to have gone into girl mode again.

Anyway, I was dressed and ready to go, as was everyone else, and so we left the room (with Paula in charge of not letting my train drag on the ground!) to go to the lobby.

It’s amazing wearing a wedding dress and walking through the hotel and grounds at Disney. People stop, smile, wave, watch, wish you good luck, call out their congratulations. I lost count of the number of well-wishers that spoke to us as we passed. Even the cast members working at check-in called out “congratulations” as we walked by. I’m not much on being the center of attraction, but you couldn’t help but enjoy the tide of attention and warmth that was directed at us. It really was magical.

Our limousine driver was waiting outside for us. He had everyone get into the limo before me so I’d have less scooting and rearranging to do. I think limousines are great and all, but they are definitely not conducive to graceful entrances and exits, especially when you’re swathed from head to toe in satin, organza and tulle!

It was a (very) short, and cold, drive from the Grand Floridian to the Wedding Pavilion. I guess the limo driver always cranks the air conditioning up because of the combination of the Florida heat and humidity, and the bride’s and groom’s nerves.

Stan, the videographer, was waiting for us as we pulled up at the Wedding Pavilion and he immediately began filming. Also there was Karen, our stand-in wedding coordinator. I’ll refer to her as “K” to save confusing her with our friend, Karen.

She ushered us into the Bride’s Vestibule, a lovely little waiting room right as you enter the Pavilion. Once there K passed out bouquets to me and Paula and pinned boutonnières on my Dad and Michael. Our bouquets were gorgeous and they weighed about a ton! I felt sorry for Paula having to hold onto them both during the ring exchange part of the ceremony.

We were also introduced to our photographers. I had the regular Disney photographer that was part of the wedding package and a second photographer (a gift from my co-workers) that photographed the wedding in black and white for a more photojournalistic look. The regular photographer was a young man (his name escapes me—Stephen,maybe?) and the photojournalist photographer was a woman (Amy, I think) and they were both great. It turns out that they had just gotten engaged to one another and had just started planning their (obviously Disney) wedding. In fact, Lisa Pena said that Amy had already booked her to do Amy’s hair and make-up even though they weren’t getting married for over a year. They worked very well together professionally and I hope their married life goes as smoothly.

Jack Day, our preacher, arrived and introductions were made all around. He had the marriage license for Paula to witness so after he got her signature and said a few words to me, he took his leave.

I gave my engagement ring to Paula to keep for me until after the wedding. Michael and Wes were shown to their seats and then…it was time. I could hear the music we’d picked for Larry and Clive to enter the Pavilion begin and then it was time for Paula to enter. K and her assistant closed the doors to the chapel to get me into position with Dad. K straightened my train and handed me my bouquet. The bells of the Wedding Pavilion began to chime, the doors were thrown open, and Dad and I walked down the aisle to Con te Partiro (I’ve always disliked the traditional “Here comes the bride” wedding march).

There was Larry at the end of what seemed like a very long wait.

Larry had been waiting too. Time for me dear readers to interject and to tell you about my morning. Obviously being a man, I didn’t have a team of staff to pamper me and do my hair, and steam my suit, nope. Had to do it all myself.


I woke up an hour later than Robin at about 8am, I had originally planned to go and visit a park in the morning, I tentatively thought that I would go to Magic Kingdom and get my hair cut at Dapper Dan’s. However that struck me a bit too dangerous. Supposing the Barbers was shut due to illness or something; I couldn’t turn up at my own wedding with shaggy hair. So I went and got it cut before I set off on the trip here in Scotland. Then another thought got to me, supposing I went to the MK and I was on a bus on the way back and it broke down? Would Robin forgive me turning up late for the wedding? (Errr that would be a big time NO I suspect – even if it was Disney Transportation’s fault, so I rather figured I’d hang around the Pop Century spend a bit of time with Clive and Karen, and just chill out. Actually I’m pretty good at chilling out when I want to. Probably why I prefer a bath to a shower, there’s nothing like falling asleep in the bath, whilst chilling out. Anyway, after all the flying and the work of bringing the Hamilton and Goble clans into a well tuned Disney Tourist Machine, I was ready for a bit of a relaxing morning.

So after getting up, and taking my time throwing on some tourist clothes, I went down to the food court and used up a DDP voucher or so, getting me breakfast. Robin clearly can remember what she had for breakfast, I’m suspecting that I had pancakes or something, but then again, it might have been hash browns. Pretty sure I used my re-fillable mug.

I had a nice breakfast with Karen and Clive. Clive seemed to be a bit nervous about his speech, but I’m sure he will be fine. After breakfast I went back to the room, and had a long soaky bath. Then I got out and did my hair, and got dressed. I think I moved my suitcases to Wes’s room, and said Hi to the male part of the Goble Clan. Then I went to see Karen and scrounged some make up, so that I could attempt (unsuccessfully) to hide a nasty spot on my top lip. Boy did I get miffed about that spot, well not a spot actually, I cut off the top of a bit of a bump that lives on my lip, shaving a few days before.

There was a bit of time left so I went for a coffee at the food court with Clive, whilst Karen got herself ready for the nuptials. I was a bit peckish so I had a nice ham and chicken sandwich. Then it was a final trip back to the room, and then time to go and meet my Floridian chums, Clive and Karen, and we got into the limo. This was the first trip I’ve done in a limo and it was a lovely way to get to the church on time but I think basically I’m a little big for a limo, so perhaps when Robin and I make our fortune I’ll skip the limo and go straight to the Lear Jet.

When we got to the Wedding Pavilion, Clive and I were shown into the Groom’s waiting room, which was nice. It was good to be able to be alone with my thoughts for a few minutes. Clive was taken off to do a few Groomsman’s duties. After a few minutes then people came in and started to get me ready for the service. The videographer came and put a microphone on my suit and my flower arrived for my buttonhole. Father Jack came and said “hello” and the photographer came and got the rings from Clive to photograph.

Then it was time for me to go down the aisle to my music. Not long after Paula came down the aisle. Then my beautiful bride came, and there was a little gasp in my mouth……….

The Wedding Pavilion is a gorgeous building—all light and airy. It was too much to take in at that moment (though I was glad we got to hang around a little afterwards for pictures and to better look at the building).

The ceremony went quickly and smoothly and before you could say “happily ever after,” we were husband and wife. We got to step back into the Bride’s Vestibule for a couple of minutes, just Larry and me (which was nice—it’s kind of a cruel tradition not to see each other before the wedding because we’d both been through so much that special day that we wanted to share with each other), while K and her assistant got everyone else ready to shower us with rose petals outside.

There was lots of picture taking afterwards, first with all of the guests and then they dismissed them to go back to the Commander’s Terrace at the Grand Floridian for the reception while they took some more pictures of Larry and me, both inside the Pavilion and outside as well.

Amy was kind enough to bustle my dress for me and then we were back into the limousine for our trip to the cake cutting.

The second we set foot out of the limo the well-wishes from cast and guests began again. The dear little old man in knickers that greets you as you enter the Grand Floridian was there to welcome us and be one of the first to congratulate us on our marriage. (That’s Knickerbockers for any Brits reading, Disney doesn’t employ a guy to wear panties and stand outside the lobbies.) The lobby was set a-buzz by us walking through, hand in hand, in our wedding attire.

Out on the Commander’s Terrace, the day was absolutely gorgeous. Bright sun, blue skies, and just a hint of a breeze. The champagne and apple cider was poured and then Clive manfully performed his duties as Best Man by giving a rousing toast full of wedding advice for us and embarrassment for Larry! The toast was so full of “slight exaggerations” about Larry’s professional and personal accomplishments that the violinist actually asked Larry later on in the reception if Larry would like to play a tune on the violin because Clive had built him up so much as an accomplished musician and then later engaged Larry in conversation about what kind of violin Larry owned (none!) and the pros and cons between the different makes! (I have a clarinet though--can’t play that much either!!) Muttering under his breath that Clive was a dead man, Larry managed to avoid showing his skill on the violin and steered clear of the violinist (who was a very nice man and quite talented) the rest of the afternoon.

After the toast, the cake was served and lots and lots of pictures and video were taken. Larry and I had our first dance to “You’ll Be in My Heart” and we opened several cards that friends and co-workers had sent from Scotland and a present from Sue and Floyd (thank you very much).

Too soon it was time for the reception to be over. K presented us with our Walt Disney Fairy Tale Wedding his and her watches, which are lovely. I knew that we were supposed to receive the watches but they were a surprise to Larry. The limousine took Tom, Leanne, Karen, Clive, Sue and Floyd back to the Pop Century. K boxed up the rest of our wedding cake for us to take to our room.

We had Dad and Michael’s luggage and a change of clothes in our room, so we all went there to gather their things. The limo was to come back to the Grand Floridian after dropping our guests off at the Pop Century and was going to take Dad and Michael to the airport (Michael had to get back to school as he had semester tests this week).

Back in our room, Larry took the refillable mugs to fetch some diet coke for me while Dad and Michael changed into more comfortable clothes for their flight home. We gathered up their luggage and I walked back to the lobby with them to make sure the limo was there and to say good-bye (yes, and to get some more wear out of my wedding dress—I liked hearing all the congratulations as I walked by!).

The limo was there waiting for us and I said good-bye to Dad and Michael and waved them off and then said good-bye to Paula and Wes as they took the van and drove back to the Pop Century. The plan was for everyone to rest for a bit this afternoon and then they would meet up with Karen and Clive and drive over to pick up Larry and me so we could go to our dinner at the Yachtsman Steak House together.

Back at the room, Larry still hadn’t returned from filling up our mugs, so I straightened up the room a bit and waited for him. And waited…and waited…and waited. I was beginning to think that we were going to get a record for the quickest desertion after a wedding. I thought about going and looking for him but decided that would be too pathetic—a bride wandering the grounds in her wedding dress asking guests if they had seen a groom! I was beginning to have visions of the ghost bride in the Haunted Mansion when the door finally opened and in walked Larry. He sheepishly admitted that he had both gotten lost and forgotten our room number and wandered the buildings looking for some familiar landmark. When that failed, he had to go to check-in and, without any ID, convince them that he was Larry Wilmot so they’d give him his room number. To this day I’m still not sure how he convinced the cast members to give him the room number. Perhaps he loudly quoted his old trip reports ad nauseum until they relented and gave him the information just so he’d go away! (Nope I used my considerable charm. Plus looking like a lost groom, I think they took pity on me.)

Anyway, despite having taken an oath as a trip report writer to accurately report all events of a Disney trip, I’m not going to report on anything that might or might not have gone on for the next couple of hours until it was time to get ready for our reservation at the Yachtsman’s Steakhouse at 6:00.

Paula, Wes, Karen and Clive showed up in the lobby of the Grand Floridian around 5:30 and we drove over to the Yacht Club where Tom, Leanne, Sue and Floyd were waiting on us. We checked in at the podium and were quickly shown to our table. I had made arrangements in advance with Paul Ernandez, the manager of the Yachtsman. We had decided on a menu with three starters served family style, salad, a choice of entrees from several steaks (a fillet, a prime rib and a NY strip, I think), chicken, fish and pasta, and dessert. Paul had done a lovely job of printing up some personalized menus with our names and the date on them which detailed the choices.

With some advice from the server, Clive picked out a red and a white wine for the wine drinkers in the group. It wasn’t long before they brought out the starters: pan-seared scallops, an heirloom tomato salad, and shrimp cocktail. The salad course was a Caesar salad. As I mentioned above, the entrees were everyone’s individual choice and the dessert was a Jack Daniel’s chocolate mousse pie. I believe everyone was sufficiently stuffed once the meal was over and I can’t say enough about how good everything was and how nice and accommodating the staff was.

Larry settled the check while the rest of us sat and talked for a bit after dinner then, around 8:00, we all left the restaurant and walked down to the Yacht Club Marina to pick up our boat for our Illuminations Cruise.

Our boat and captains (we had two captains this evening because one young lady was in training) were ready and, after a short wait and a little bit of paperwork, we all boarded the boat and set sail. The boat was stocked with canned soft drinks and chips (Crisps) (something they do on all the fireworks cruises now, I believe) though everyone was still a bit full from dinner. We cruised around Crescent Lake passed the Boardwalk, Swan, and Dolphin then turned around at MGM and came back the same way. We passed by the Yacht and Beach Clubs and went into Epcot and stopped under the bridge between France and the UK where it was almost time for the fireworks to begin.

I’ve always loved Illuminations and I love this way of watching the show. We all enjoyed the fireworks but I think the best part for Larry was afterwards when we got to go onto World Showcase Lagoon for a few minutes to turn the boat around. He loves being someplace where he’s not really supposed to be, especially after hours, and you get a nice view of all the countries with the lights on the buildings.

The boat took us back to the Yacht Club where we went into the lobby and said our good-byes to Tom and Leanne and to Sue and Floyd and thanked them for coming to our wedding. Then Paula, Wes, Karen, Clive, Larry and I drove back to the Pop Century, where Larry and I dropped everyone off before heading back to the Grand Floridian for the night..

This was a fantastic day, I’m not the greatest person for remembering details, but this is one day I shall never forget. I would like to thank everyone who came to the Wedding, but most of all I want to thank Robin for taking me as her husband. I love her very much.

Wedding TR – Five

Tuesday, 26th September, 2006

Larry and I were up fairly early this morning and Larry set off our married life as a good husband by going and getting me some diet coke (and some coffee for him) in our refillable mugs. Of course, he might be setting a precedent here that he’ll live to regret! I was pleased to see that he found his way back to our room without any mishaps, long detours, or trail of breadcrumbs.

Larry here- Yup it was up with the lark, but hey, we were at Disney now, and we don’t have any weddings to organise, nope we are on our honeymoon, and we need to go and do some big time Disney…….. wooo hoo.

We drove over to the Pop Century to have breakfast with Wes, Paula, Karen and Clive. Karen and Clive were leaving today (they had flown into Sanford airport and had a town car reserved to drive them back there right after noon) and we wanted to spend the morning with them before they headed back to Scotland.

We had breakfast at the food court and were there in time to hear them do The Twist with Chubby “Bloody” Checker (as Larry likes to call him) at 8:10. It was nice to see several of the cast members come out into the seating area to do the Twist—you’d think they’d have grown extremely weary of that by now, but they seemed quite enthusiastic.

Karen and Clive wanted to do a bit of shopping before they left WDW so we all decided to go to Downtown Disney (DTD) with them, just in case they thought they’d get a moment’s rest from us! They did actually try to get us to go on to a park without them because they felt bad about us missing out on any theme park time but we assured them that we’d rather spend the time with them. Plus, we knew they’d have more time to shop if we all took the car rather than waiting on a bus.

We spent the bulk of the morning there at DTD. We spent a good deal of time at the World of Disney and Once Upon a Toy. We looked at the Disney home store and the Christmas shop as well. At the Christmas shop, Larry and I decided to buy a Christmas ornament (our first). We thought it would be a nice tradition to pick up an ornament every time we travelled somewhere.

Unfortunately I decided three months later to kill our Christmas ornament. It was a suitcase with labels from all the Epcot countries. Anyway it was pretty close to the bottom of our Christmas tree, and I decided that the cat might knock it off, as we had a very new kitten at the time, one we got from Karen and Clive’s daughter and son in law. So I moved it to nearer the top of the tree, and of course I didn’t put it on, so whilst we were out, it fell off and broke. But to make amends we bought a nice glass ornament in Rome, when we went to spend New Year’s Eve there, and then we went to Washington and got a Congressman’s invite to the Whitehouse, so we bought a nice Christmas Ornament from there too. (Though Robin made me get a Republican Year, and not a Democratic one. I’ve told her that you have to be a Socialist to be a proper Disney fan, but she just doesn’t believe me. ……. This has got nothing to do with Disney does it, the problem is that Robin does such good TR’s and covers all the bases, I kinda need to add some other stuff, just so you get to read me.

We met up with Karen and Clive at Ghardelli, where we had some coffee and diet coke. Paula and Wes showed up before long and we drove back to the Pop Century. Karen and Clive quickly packed their purchases in their luggage and we went back to the food court so Karen and Clive could use up their remaining Disney Dining Plan points on something to take back on the plane with them. Clive was very creative in using up the rest of their points (I think he might have sweet-talked the Cast Member working at the register) and came away with quite a spread for them to take on the plane. I’m not quite sure why but Clive and I wound up having a race around the food court to gather forks or napkins or condiments or some such nonsense--me insisting that I was much younger and more fit than Clive, thus I should help him out by waiting on him. Of course, being much younger and more fit, I beat him by a very comfortable margin and might have gloated just a tiny bit.

It was soon time for them to leave for the airport so we said our good-byes and thanked them profusely for all their help and support this trip and for coming such a long way to be there for us. I was thrilled that they enjoyed WDW so much this trip and that everyone seemed to have a good time and to get along so well together.

Hey there Clive and Karen, if you are reading this, can I just say, thank you so much, not only for being my Best Man and my big chums, but for flying all that way, and for being jolly good eggs. I really appreciate it. Big Time.

As sad as we were to lose Karen and Clive’s company, the day was young, the weather was fine and the Magic Kingdom (MK) was calling. We stopped at the Pop Century gift shop long enough for Paula to buy some socks and tennis shoes and then drove to the Grand Floridian where we left the car and hopped on the monorail to the MK.

On the way to the MK, we decided that we were hungry so the first stop was in Liberty Square at the Columbia Harbor House, stopping along the way only long enough to get Fast Passes for Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh first. While we pondered our Dining Plan choices, Larry might have gotten a tiny bit snippy with the Cast Member (CM) taking our order because they didn’t have any diabetic choices for dessert. To make matters worse, I think the CM might have suggested that Larry could substitute a carrot salad for the dessert choice. Now, if you know Larry and his views on carrots, you’d know that you would be far more successful suggesting that he shave his head with a cheese grater while chewing on tin foil than eat carrot salad.

Anyway, once we got our food, Larry began to regret his actions and he worried that he might have upset the delicate balance of his “Disney Karma.” So, in order to restore balance to the universe, he resolved that he would hug the very next CM that he saw; a vow which he fulfilled by hugging a male CM working at the Haunted Mansion (HM), our first stop after lunch. Larry mumbled something about “sharing the joy” as he embraced the poor soul working at the HM. Honestly, I think that the Cast Member who got the hug was much more disturbed by the whole situation than the one Larry was snarky with; however, this seemed to satisfy Larry that he wouldn’t have bad karma following him around for the rest of the trip.

So, following the rather awkward hugging incident, we rode the Haunted Mansion. Once off the ride, Paula pointed out the ring embedded in the pavement to Larry as he had never been able to find it before.

After the HM we rode Peter Pan, It’s a Small World, watched Mickey’s Philharmagic, and bounced along with Tigger on Winnie the Pooh. None of us had seen the new Winnie the Pooh play area, so we walked around on the spongy foam floor for a while, enjoying its springiness.

As we made our way to Tomorrowland, I walked ahead and got Fast Passes for all of us for Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. While we were waiting on our Fast Pass times, we rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (always a favorite).

I have always said that Tomorrowland is probably my favourite bit of WDW, I probably like Epcot the best of all the parks, but Tomorrowland just makes me feel so Disney, I love the sounds, I love the neon lights, I love the little jokes about Tom Morrow giving the people from Saturn a Ring. I love Space Mountain, I love pinching Space Mountain Fastpasses and going past that long line of people in the tunnel. I love the Carousel of Progress and the optimism of a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. I can’t leave that wonderful evocative attraction without feeling hopeful full of the joys of spring, it sooths a troubled soul. But most of all I LOVE the TTA. The TTA is just 100 per cent Disney for me, the vision of the real Epcot model, the pioneering of a transport system that could have solved so many urban problems. And best of all, one of the few places, you can get a decent snog with your bride of 24 hours.

Larry’s notes say to be sure and mention that Paula was a meemo and refused to go on Carrousel of Progress (one of Larry’s all-time favorite rides). Paula had done CoP once with me several trips ago and adamantly insisted that was enough to last her a lifetime.

So, with no Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow in our immediate future (don’t worry—I was a good wife and went on it with Larry later in the trip), we went to Frontierland where we rode Splash Mountain and then Big Thunder Mountain with no wait. As we were passing through Frontierland we walked on the wooden walkway that runs alongside the river (a very nice walk/shortcut and never as crowded as the street). Paula and I were recounting the time we actually saw a baby alligator in the river when Larry looked down and happened to see a tiny baby turtle walking across the wooden pathway. He was very small—about 2 inches in diameter—and we were worried that he’d get kicked or stepped on so Larry gently picked him up and placed him in the dirt under some shrubs. We watched him for a few minutes as he seemed quite content to be off the pathway and in the shade. We decided that Lucky would be a good name for a turtle that was fortunate enough to live in the Magic Kingdom and who was rescued from the hazards of the walkway.

Next, we headed back to Tomorrowland (with Larry trying to talk Paula into Carrousel of Progress every step of the way) where Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain were both walk-ons. I should probably also mention that I believe that I beat Larry at Buzz Lightyear every time we rode it this trip—just because I want to accurately report all the details of the trip, of course. Not because I’m bragging. I would never do that. Honest. I’m surprised that she isn’t telling you that she always beats me at thumb war too, as well as arm wrestling.

Next, we took a ride on the Jungle Cruise (where we had a very mediocre Skipper) and then went to Pirates of the Caribbean.

We had an advanced dining reservation (ADR) at Tony’s Town Square at 6:50, so we made our way to Main Street and checked in at the restaurant. We were seated fairly quickly and discovered that they had decorated our table with streamers and confetti for our honeymoon. Our server, Craig, also made a fuss over us and had everyone in the restaurant twirl their napkins and shout “That’s Amore!” while Larry and I kissed.

Craig was a great server—very helpful with food suggestions and options on the dining plan—and he even brought Larry lots of pens to write his trip report notes with. In fact, we all thought the food and service at Tony’s was excellent. Most of the nicer restaurants and some of the character meals at WDW count as two sit-down options on the Disney Dining Plan; however, this was one of the restaurants that we thought was a bargain at just one sit-down meal option.

For our appetizers, Larry and I got the spinach and artichoke dip (really good!) and the fried calamari. For my entrée, I was having trouble deciding between the chicken Florentine and the grilled salmon. Craig recommended the chicken Florentine and it was wonderful. Larry had the spaghetti and meatballs—after all, it is Tony’s speciality. Though I’m pretty surprised that Disney allowed Tony Soprano to open a restaurant on Main Street, we all know it’s just a front…..

For dessert, I had the pistachio crème brulee and Larry had the tiramisu. Paula and Wes had equally as good choices and we all shared bites of appetizers, entrees and desserts. All in all, it was definitely a Bella Notte.

After dinner, we were all seriously stuffed and decided it was time to head out of the Magic Kingdom. Larry and I were supposed to meet up with Lynn McKitrick at the Tambu Lounge in the Polynesian sometime today between 4:30 and 10:00. Lynn is the owner of Say I Do Weddings, a company where you can get your Florida marriage license by mail. Since we arrived in Orlando on the weekend, and had our wedding on a Monday, we knew we wouldn’t have time to go a courthouse beforehand to get our marriage license. I contacted Lynn and she did all the legwork for us; both getting the license from the courthouse and delivering it to our wedding coordinator before our wedding date.

Generally, after the wedding, the preacher sends the marriage license off to the courthouse and the license is processed and mailed to the bride and groom a few weeks afterwards. In our case however, we needed the marriage license right away because we had to have it to get my Visa so I could legally enter the UK a week later as Larry’s wife.

So, after our wedding, Lynn picked the signed license up from our preacher and took it to the courthouse for processing herself. She got the official marriage license for us and we had arranged to meet her at the Polynesian (where she also works) to pick up the official copy.

As we exited the Magic Kingdom, we noticed that the boat to the Grand Floridian was just pulling into the dock. A boat ride on such a nice evening sounded like a good idea, so we all boarded the boat to drop Paula and Wes off at the Grand Floridian so they could take the car and go back to the Pop Century.

On the way to the Grand Floridian, we got to stop on the lake to allow the Electrical Water Parade to pass by. It was like having your own, private Electrical Water Parade Cruise.

The Electrical Water Parade (or is it Pageant?) Is something that, big winds excepting, been held every night since the place opened, and yet it’s pretty unknown, you hardly ever hear it mentioned in trip reports, and I think it’s a shame, next time I’m there, I’m going to go and get myself a hammock staked out on the beach at the Grand Flo or the Polly and go and watch it in some comfort. I can do American Patriotism, not a problem. I know they threw tea at us, and they owe us billions of pounds in back taxes, but American’s are actually quite nice. So I can listen to their nice stirring music, hail to the brave and land of the chief and all that….

Paula and Wes got off at the Grand Floridian to go back to the Pop Century for the evening and Larry and I decided to stay on the boat for the ride to the Polynesian. On the way, we got to once again stop and see the Electrical Water Parade from the boat.

At the Polynesian, we enjoyed the walk from the boat dock to the Great Ceremonial House (always lovely at night) and we went upstairs and asked for Lynn at the Tambu Lounge. She handed over our marriage certificate and we thanked her for her above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty help.

Larry’s notes say that I stole a lei but I’m fairly sure that I was offered one, along with a friendly “Aloha!” I’ve stayed at the Polynesian several times and absolutely love it there. Hopefully, we’ll be able to come back soon and stay here together.

We took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian where we tried to get to bed fairly early as we had our Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot early (and I mean really early) the next day.

Yup time for bed for me too…………

But before I go……… I would like to tell you a bed time story, once upon a time, there was this little mouse and he was called Mickey, he had a wonderful mouse lady friend called Minnie, she liked to wear very yellow chunky shoes, and spotty dresses, but this didn’t seem to put Mickey..zzzz……. err……… off at all………..zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wedding TR – Six

Wednesday, 27th September, 2006

Ugh! Who in their right mind would get up at 4:00 in the morning while on vacation to get their hair fixed so they could put on their wedding clothes and go into the Magic Kingdom before it was even light just to have their pictures taken in front of the castle with no other people around? Are you kidding? Larry and I, of course.

The Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot is available only two couples who get married at Walt Disney World. WDW allows one couple per day to go into the Magic Kingdom along with a Disney photographer in the wee hours of the morning, usually around 6:00, before the park opens. The photographer takes pictures of the couple in front of the castle, inside the castle, on a balcony on the outside of the castle, and one other location. The other location is usually King Arthur’s Carousel; however, some couples have had their picture taken in front of another location such as the Haunted Mansion.

Actually, we were lucky that we got the late photo shoot time. During the busy months they actually do two photo shoots each morning, one at 5:00 and one at 6:00. Also, our photographer had called earlier in the week and rescheduled our start time to 6:30 so we actually got an even later start than usual.

That being said, 4:00am at Disney is just as painful as 4:00am any other place and so it was with no great amusement that I got out of bed so I could get a shower before Lisa Pena was due to arrive at 4:30. Lisa was unmercifully on time and as soon as she arrived Larry hastily threw on a Grand Floridian robe and scurried off to hide in the bathroom while Lisa got to work on my hair.

Oh my gosh, I was really looking forward to the photo shoot, inside the Magic Kingdom, not only because it is such a wonderful thing to be able to do, you can’t get married in the parks, well not without being a squillionaire and renting a whole park to yourselves, so this is the next best thing. But also because you get to go in the park when it is closed, and I mean really closed. Hanging around afterwards is one of my favourite things to do at Disney, but getting in there when all the night shift are doing their thing, is really, really cool, and I was really looking forward to it. But boy, getting up at 4am was pretty painful and having a make up lady come to do Robin, who seriously wanted me out of the way, wasn’t much fun either. So pretty much I hid in the toilet for the best part of an hour.

Lisa is just as cheerful at 4:30 in the morning as she is at noon and she soon had my hair and makeup looking great again. Both Larry and I managed to get ready and dressed on time and we were soon prepared to step back out in all our wedding finery. We had a small bet before we left the room as to how many people would congratulate us on our wedding this morning. Larry was sure that we’d be showered with well-wishes like we were on Monday so he opted for 20. I, however, was doubtful that there would even be very many people awake this time of morning, so I went with a much more conservative guess of 3.

I picked up my bouquet, which still looked great even two days later. Larry’s boutonnière, however, was not so fresh so we took one of the fresher roses out of my bouquet for his lapel and replaced the rose with the one out of his boutonniere.

We stepped out into the darkness of the early morning and walked to the lobby where our photographer, Mike, was waiting for us. As we entered the lobby, one of the Cast Members working at check-in was the first to congratulate us. That’s one.

Looking good for me so far!!

Mike’s van was waiting for us outside and he talked to us about his job as we drove to the Magic Kingdom. We got to drive into the park through a back secured entrance and Mike pointed out the extremely thick concrete barriers that can be raised to prevent unwanted entry by a vehicle.

Actually we are sworn to secrecy about the security information that we learnt from being in the park behind scenes. We have promised to tell no one, so I can’t actually tell you anything, but I can give you some hints: think Goofy and a Water pistol full of acid.

We entered the park by Splash Mountain and got to drive through Frontierland and Liberty Square and onto Main Street by the castle hub. We had already been warned about the crane which was situated around the castle in order to take down the current decorations. We had been assured by Disney that they would digitally remove the crane from any shots in which it appeared or we had been given the option to re-schedule the photo shoot anytime up to a year after our wedding. We had heard from other couples that had stages or cranes around the castle for their photo shoots and all said that Disney did a great job of shooting pictures so the scaffolding/rigging/staging didn’t show and that they had removed all traces from pictures in which it did appear. That, combined with the fact that it would be a pain to drag wedding clothes back to WDW at a later date, plus it wouldn’t seem as authentic as having the pictures taken during the week of the wedding, convinced us that we would go ahead and do the photo shoot even with the crane.

Our poor photographer had a bit of a hard time keeping us focused on the pictures as it was very interesting for both Larry and me to be in the Magic Kingdom at this hour. The park was considerably less “deserted” than I thought it would be. There was maintenance vehicles all up and down Main Street and workers were bustling everywhere. All the sidewalks and pavement had been hosed off and were still a bit wet in spots. Closer to the castle, a group of performers were rehearsing the new show for the castle stage. It was funny seeing all the gang—Mickey, Donald, Cinderella, etc.—without costumes and in their workout clothes as they worked on choreography.

Mickey was a little woman in a grey sweatshirt. (Do you think that I can sue Disney for not providing me with counselling, to cope with the shock of finding out that Mickey is not REAL? I think $50 million is a reasonable sum. Though I’m more than willing to settle for a free two week per annum time share in the Grand Floridian, with no maintenance fees, a limo at my disposal 24/7, a lifetime park pass, and a golden fastpass, (though I’ll probably still scam fastpasses just for the sport.)

I had worn tennis shoes to walk around the park in so as not to get my wedding shoes dirty and had brought my wedding shoes to change into for the pictures. Mike advised me to leave the wedding shoes in the car since my shoes wouldn’t show in the pictures anyway, so it was a bit surreal to be traipsing around WDW in the dark, a woman in tights onstage whom they kept referring to as “Mickey Mouse,” gardeners replacing flowers and shrubs, garden hoses and extension cords spilling out all over the sidewalks, with me in my wedding gown and tennis shoes while me, Larry and Mike all held up the train of my dress above my knees so it wouldn’t get dirty or wet.

Mike took some pictures of Larry and I both together and separate in front of the castle (with the castle lit up and changing colors in the dark) then suggested we move around behind the castle for some shots and then come back later when the sun was rising to get some pictures of the castle when it was a bit lighter.

He drove us around the hub and into Fantasyland where we went to the Carousel for some pictures of us on the horses.

This was rather fun, I had to kinda, in a suit, stand on the sticky out bit of a stirrup four feet off the ground, on one leg, and then try to look natural in the photographs, still sulking because I had a spot on my lip. (With no Karen around to put make up on for me.)

Next, we moved to the castle, through a gate and up some stairs that took us to a balcony on the back of the castle. From there, we went inside the castle for some pictures in front of the mosaics and then on further inside.

After the interior shots, we drove back around to the front of the castle where the show rehearsal seemed to be just breaking up. As we were getting in place in front of the castle again, a group of dancers who were walking up Main Street called out their congratulations and said my dress was beautiful. That’s two.

Two in an hour, not looking quite so great for my prediction now.

We finished up just as it was starting to get light. Mike drove us back out of the Magic Kingdom and back to the Grand Floridian where he dropped us off. As we made our way back to our room, we were just about to go into the Pine Key building when a grounds keeper said “Congratulations” to us. Cha-Ching. Three. My guess exactly.

Sometimes, all the forces in the universe come together in such a way that you just can’t help being a bit smug in your rightness. Larry wanted to walk really slowly from the entrance of the building to our room, hoping against hope that we’d run into someone else who would congratulate us but it was to no avail. I was victorious in the congratulations game.

Hey you don’t get the impression that Robin is gloating do you??? No me either!
Back in our room we quickly changed clothes because we had a reservation for breakfast at the Crystal Palace and were supposed to meet Paula and Wes in the lobby shortly. Once we were back in more appropriate theme park attire, we walked to the lobby, stopping to admire a wedding party that was gathering out back of the main building.

Inside the lobby, there was a group of florists working on freshening up the floral arrangements. Larry talked to one of the Cast Members working on the flowers and managed to come away with a spare rose for me—how sweet.

Paula and Wes soon arrived and we took the monorail to the MK and once again headed down Main Street to the Crystal Palace where we swanked to Paula and Wes about having been here mere hours earlier when the park was closed.

Paula’s a big fan of all the Pooh characters, so we all enjoyed breakfast at the Crystal Palace. Larry even went so far as to jealously make threatening gestures at Tigger when he and I were having our pictures made with him. I had once shown Larry a picture of me and Tigger taken at Disneyland in California with Tigger practically crushing me in a big bear hug (tiger hug?). Larry had always teased me about having a flirtation with Tigger—a fear that only escalated after the recent accusations of Tigger’s many molestations.

After breakfast, since it was Wes and Paula’s last day at WDW, we asked Paula what park she wanted to go to. She chose MGM so we took the boat from the MK to the Grand Floridian, picked up the van, and drove to MGM.

Paula and Wes had to leave around 3:00 this afternoon in order to make their flight back home. The plan was for them to take the rental car back for us and Larry and I would just make use of Disney’s Magical Express transportation for our return flight on Saturday. Since I had rented the van for all of us to use this week, I wanted to give Paula and Wes some money to fill the van up with gas before they returned it.

As we pulled into the parking lot at MGM, I gave Paula a twenty-dollar bill for the gas. Paula wanted to be sure she didn’t accidentally spend the money so she folded the bill a couple of times and barely stuck it in the slot of the CD player—kind of like tucking it above your head in the sun visor just to keep it safe till they got to the airport.

We all watched, frozen, as the CD player kicked into life, whirred for a moment, and then sucked the twenty bucks inside. The looks on our faces must have been priceless as we sat, blinking like a bunch of cows, staring at the CD player for a moment. “I suppose hitting the ‘eject’ button isn’t going to help?” someone asked, as we finally just started laughing.

They were right. We tried ejecting the “CD.” We tried putting a real CD in and then ejecting it. We tried fishing it out with a bent paper clip, hair comb, gum wrapper, whatever; all to no avail. Larry muttered something about how now we American’s know what it’s like paying British gas prices. In the end, I just gave Paula another twenty and we shrugged it off. Live and learn.

So, with a new life lesson under our belt, we grabbed a ride on a tram and headed into MGM. First up was the Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster in the stand-by line. Larry tried to scam us some Fast Passes but decided that they were the most well-guarded Fast Passes in history. I think he even compared the CM to a Bengal Tiger. Luckily, the stand-by queue wasn’t very long (it’s not the size of the line that motivates Larry to get Fast Passes through ill-gotten gains, it’s just the fact that he can) so Paula, Larry and I (Wes isn’t a fan of the ride) were on our way in just a few minutes. Larry graciously offered to ride by himself (he queued for the first car) so Paula and I could ride together.

I must admit, I’m rather fond of queuing for the front of this line. If you ask nicely, they will let you stand behind row one, and it usually means that you miss two or three goes before it gets to be your turn, but it’s worth the wait. The launch is probably the best bit of the RnRC and, you can’t beat the anticipation of sitting at the front, and watching the lighted sign count down, then the scrreeech as you set off. (Added on a sound track of course.) The acceleration is fantastic, just remember not to put too much hair Gel on your bonce before you go on the ride, or you might look like Tintin for the rest of the day.

Next, we rode Tower of Terror twice in a row with no wait with Larry floating his bottle of water on the way down. Wes sat this one out as well and said he was going to walk down Sunset Boulevard to the Villains’ Shop to look around.

After the second ride, Larry said he was going to go and find Wes and keep him company while Paula and I opted to ride Tower of Terror one more time. This time, once we had almost reached the top of the shaft, the doors opened showing us part of the window and we dropped a few feet and abruptly stopped. The doors closed, the car rumbled a bit, and we dropped a few more feet and then….nothing. As we all sat in the dark waiting for another drop there were a few nervous titters and then…silence. And waiting. I remember thinking, “If this drops again, I think it’s going to be for real.”

There was a whimper or two from a few of the younger kids on the car and immediately all of us adults started reassuring them. “It’s okay. It’s just a glitch. They’ll have the lights on soon enough.” etc. Sure enough, after a few minutes of total darkness, the lights in the shaft came on and an announcement was made that they were having some technical issues, for us to please keep our seats and we’d be moving soon. I was pretty jazzed about being stuck on the ride and I knew that Larry would be jealous about missing out on the whole experience.

All the passengers discussed amongst ourselves whether they’d just drop us with the lights on or lower us down slowly. I was betting on the lowering us slowly option since I’m sure Disney would figure everyone would be pretty unnerved by the whole experience and they wouldn’t want to upset anyone with any sudden drops.

Soon, we were slowly lowered down the shaft with the doors open and the lights on. It was neat to see all the various effects and decorations in the light and there were several things I had never noticed before in the dark.

When we reached the bottom, we were not at the usual unloading place right outside of the gift shop. We were met by a very nice bellhop (I suppose they can be out of character when the circumstances warrant it) who apologized for the malfunction and said everyone who wanted could ride again with no wait (and on a different car, of course!).

Only two people opted out, so the CM lead the rest of us through some maintenance hallways (this, as you may recognize, is a maintenance service hallway), up an elevator (“Let’s hope this one works,” someone said), and back into the “real” basement where we got to move ahead of everyone else and be put on a new elevator.

As an aside, have I mentioned that I got an email from the guy who dubbed Rod Serling’s voice on Tower of Terror? No? Well how lax of me. He had read a comment in one of my trip reports about some food at Conversation Station in the Animal Kingdom which was labelled “Primate Maintenance Biscuits.” Thus the comment, “This, as you may recognize, is a Primate Maintenance Biscuit.” He said that when Disney was auditioning voice actors for the part, they had Rod’s widow come in and listen to the finalists and she picked him. Cool, huh?

Anyway, our new ride went off without a hitch and the entire car applauded when we landed safely at the bottom.

Since we’d been a bit longer than we’d planned, we figured the guys would be looking for us by now so we hurried down Sunset Boulevard towards the Villains shop. We shouldn’t have worried because when we got to the end of the street, we found Larry cast as the leading man in the middle of a Streetmosphere skit. We watched the end of the performance which was greeted with tumultuous applause and a barrage of cards from agents and Hollywood scouts. Or maybe it was timid applause and garbage from aging girl scouts. I forget which.

Larry told us his tale of being cast in the show and we told the guys about being stuck on the Tower of Terror. As expected they were sufficiently jealous that they missed out on our unauthorized Disney experience.

Yup being cast in the Streetmosphere show, stood in the middle of the boulevard having people laugh at you rather than with you was way better than getting to see the insides of the Tower of Terror, good deal Larry, you did well. Not!

We decided to do the Great Movie Ride where we had a gangster who should definitely not quit his day job to pursue an acting career full-time. Afterwards we went through a walk-through exhibit about the Chronicles of Narnia and then took a turn on the Backlot Tour.

It was getting close to time for Paula and Wes to leave in order to catch their flight back home so we went to Pizza Planet to get something for a late lunch before they took off. They had been able to use almost all of their Disney Dining Plan credits except for a couple of sit-down meals and a few snacks. They gave their room keys to us in case we could use any of the leftover options today (unused options expire at midnight on the day you check-out).

After we finished eating, we walked out of the park and back to the car. Wes drove us back to the Grand Floridian where we said our good-byes before they headed off to the airport.

Hey Wes and Paula, thanks for coming to the Wedding, and thanks for helping us have a really great time, it was good to get some time to get to know you all.

After they left, it seemed eerily quiet. We had had so many guests to worry about all week long and, after the wedding, the numbers had been steadily decreasing day by day until finally here we were; just Larry and me. I think Empty Nest Syndrome must feel something like this after all your kids have gone off to college and you and your husband are left rattling around in your big, quiet house.

After waving them off into the distance and standing in the quiet for a few seconds we did what any other self-respecting couple left alone for the first time would do: went back to the room for a 15 minute power nap and then legged it off to the Animal Kingdom where they were having Late Entry for the evening. We were, after all, at Disney and there were parks to visit and rides to ride!

We hopped a bus to the Animal Kingdom and headed straight for Expedition Everest. As we waited in the queue, we noticed a CM measuring youngsters to make sure they were tall enough to ride. If the child was tall enough, the CM stamped their hand with a stamp that said “Yeti.” I asked if I could get my hand stamped as well and the CM good-naturedly obliged.

When we reached the loading platform, I showed the CM my hand stamp and remarked that I had been measured and was tall enough to ride (at 5’ 9”, there was little doubt of that). He laughed and said that, if it had been him doing the stamping, he would have stamped “Yeti” on my forehead instead of just on the back of my hand.

After our expedition was complete we went to Dinoland and took a ride on the spinney side of Primeval Hurl. After our spintastic ride with Karen and Clive, I’ve become quite fond of this ride.

Once we were off Primeval Whirl and had regained our equilibrium, we noticed that there was practically no wait for the Triceratops Spin. I had never ridden this ride (though I’ve done my share of Dumbo as a child) and it’s not normally one that I’d go on, but with no queue for a ride that is so painfully slow loading, it was a chance not to be passed up. My nephew, Michael, phoned while we were just about to get on the ride but the deafeningly loud music made it impossible to talk to him so I said I’d call him back in just a few minutes. After the short, but enjoyable ride (during which Larry controlled the height) I called Michael back and he was very jealous that we were at Animal Kingdom while he was at home taking semester tests for school.

Countdown to Extinction was our next stop where we decided to snog (A quaint UK term for “kiss.” Honestly, all the guidebooks I read said that they spoke English over there, but I think they lied.) during the picture to see if they’d still put it on display. They did and I was tempted to buy it but, when we considered that between the two photographers and one videographer on our wedding day and the Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot just this morning we probably had roughly a million pictures of us kissing this trip, we decided to let it pass.

We decided that we both wanted another ride on Expedition Everest so we walked back to Asia and queued up. There was a bit of a wait but by the time we had one go on the ride the queue had shrunk about 90% so we got right back in the queue and walked on again. Both of these rides were cool in that the lighting was so different than what you usually see on the ride during broad daylight. The first time through was right at dusk and the mountain and scenery looked amazing in the twilight. The second time was in the dark which, like most other fast rides (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, for example) caused a heightened sense of speed.

As we walked back towards the exit we enjoyed the scenery and the water all lit up at night—something you don’t normally get to see during the AK’s normal operating hours. I would highly recommend going to a late entry at the Animal Kingdom if only to ride Everest in the evening and to enjoy being at the Animal Kingdom after dark.

As we exited the park, there was a bus to the Grand Floridian waiting so we had to run for it. Back at the Grand Floridian we quickly freshened up and changed clothes. Larry was very Miami Vice in his linen suit and coral shirt. We matched quite nicely as I had on a coral blouse and long black skirt. I mentioned this to Larry and he said that he thought “coral” was blue. I explained that, no, coral was indeed a peachy, salmon-y color. “Oh sure,” he replied. “Common coral. But not the rare BLUE coral.” *Sigh*.

I think that Robin is trying to confuse me. She has always been mortally wounded that I have a bit of a thing about Ariel. So ever since she has tried to keep me away from anything nautical or fishy. But you know, there are few things as erotic as seashell lingerie.

We took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom where we then transferred to a boat to take us to the Wilderness Lodge and to Artist’s Point for dinner.

It was almost 9:00 by the time we arrived at the restaurant so it was fairly quiet (a ten minute walk-on, Larry says) and we were seated almost immediately. For our starters, Larry chose the smoky Portobello soup while I had the selection of artisan cheeses, both of which were quite good. For the entrees I had the cedar plank salmon and I believe Larry had the grilled beef tenderloin. We were both stuffed after the entrée so our server was nice enough to box up a portion of the berry cobbler to go (though I don’t think we ever got around to eating it—the Dining Plan gives you way too much food—although we did both taste a bite of it).

Considering that we’d both been up since 4:00 this morning and that we’d had a rather busy day, we were both starting to fade fast by the end of the meal. Our server was chatting to another table of guests while we were waiting for our bill and we were both tempted to just put our heads down on the table and sleep. We finally got everything squared away however and opted on just taking a cab back to the Grand Floridian rather than having to take a bus from the Wilderness Lodge to Downtown Disney and then transferring to a bus to the Grand Floridian (the Magic Kingdom had been closed for a while after our dinner so there were no more boats running from the Wilderness Lodge—something you need to plan for if you’re going to be dining at a resort later in the evening). The whole fare plus tip was around $10 and we were so tired that it was well worth it to us.

Back at the Grand Floridian we both collapsed and slept for a full, blissful 8 hours!

We may have snogged for a second or two.

Wedding TR – Seven

Thursday, 28th September, 2006

We both felt considerably better after a decent night’s sleep and were once more raring to go—though we vowed to take it easier today. Larry, the wise and ever-adored filler of re-fillable mugs, did the morning run to Gasparilla’s Grill for my diet coke and his coffee.

We arrived at the MK around 10:30 and decided to have some breakfast at the Main Street Bakery. It was very crowded, however, and we didn’t really feel like waiting so we headed towards Tomorrowland instead. Larry scammed some Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear and then for Space Mountain, using me as his decoy. We soon discovered that one of the hazards of being and accomplice is that some Cast Members love their jobs and are exceedingly friendly (which is not normally a fault). The CM at Space Mountain obviously loved his job and he chatted to me at length and I had trouble getting away from him even after Larry came up to help.

Collecting Fast Passes has become something of a sport for Larry and he said that getting extra Fast Passes at the Magic Kingdom was like taking candy from a baby. For some reason, however, he found the ones at MGM hard to break.

While we waited for our Fast Pass times, we rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority then used our FP for Buzz Lightyear (I spanked Larry with my score, by the way). We forgot to ride Space Mountain however and went for and early lunch at Cosmic Ray’s since breakfast had been denied.

While we dined we were entertained by the lounge stylings of Sonny Eclipse. His “Bright Little Star” song is one of our favorites and we enjoyed listening during our meal.

Next on our agenda was a bit of shopping on Main Street. We had devised a contest to see who could buy the best, quirky, multi-use items. So, each armed with $20, we set a 30 minute time limit and split up. When we met back up we had a good laugh at our purchases and we headed back to our hotel on the monorail to rest a bit.

Back at the Grand Floridian, we grabbed our mugs with the intent of filling them up and then going to Epcot for a while. On the way to Gasparilla Grill, however, my Mom called and I wound up talking to her for quite a while. After the phone conversation, Larry and I decided that we were tired so we went back to our room and slept for 2 hours. I guess we hadn’t fully recovered from our long day yesterday.

I know you’ll probably find this hard to believe but, as nice and kind and loving as I am, I can be a bit of a bear to wake up if I take a long nap (so, as a general rule, I try to avoid naps at all costs). No, it’s true. And this was no exception. I felt decidedly zombie-like after our long nap. Eventually, with much coaxing from Larry, I got up and we took the monorail back to the MK.

Once off the monorail, we took some time to walk along the path of personalized bricks that leads back towards the Grand Floridian. The walkway comes quite close to the Grand Floridian and I think it would be good it Disney would build a small bridge and so create a walkway to the Magic Kingdom from the Grand Flo. There’s a nice little sitting area with a bench at the end of the walkway and Larry and I enjoyed a very quiet time, so close to a busy park, while we watched monorails go by.

Since we had such an early breakfast/lunch at Cosmic Ray’s, we decided to have a late lunch/snack at Casey’s. We found a table inside and were soon joined indoors by a very friendly duck which had a penchant for French fries.

After our snack we went to Tomorrowland to give Larry another chance to beat me at Buzz Lightyear. Sadly, he was denied. I let him console himself by agreeing to do Carrousel of Progress where he sang along to “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” every time they changed decades. Sad, I know. I think this falls in the “for better or for worse” category, so what’s a girl to do? We had good seats and were able to point out 3 hidden Mickey’s.

We hadn’t done Big Thunder Mountain in a while, so we headed there next for the wildest ride in the wilderness. Along the way we stopped and checked on Lucky the Turtle. After a bit of searching we finally located him close to the area where Larry had put him down all dug down in the dirt and taking a nap. He seemed to have learned his lesson about venturing out into the wilderness of the wooden walkway.

At Big Thunder Mountain, the queue for the last seat on the train wasn’t very long so we decided to wait. We were going to go on Pirates as well but, while the wait was posted at 10 minutes, it looked more like a 30 minute queue, so we decided not to wait.

A big crowd was gathering on Main Street for the parade as we left the park. We took the boat back to the Grand Floridian, enjoying the fact that it goes directly to the Grand Flo first, as opposed to the monorail which stops at the Contemporary and then the Polynesian before the Grand Floridian.

Dinner tonight was at Citrico’s so we got dressed up again (though no matching coral this time, orange or blue) and were at the restaurant by 6:00. Neither of us had ever eaten at Citrico’s before nor had we ever even taken a look at the restaurant (which was lovely). Our server was very nice though he seemed a bit freaked out at first when Larry started taking notes (For the trip report—such as they are. I’ve had to ask Larry to interpret his handwriting on more than one occasion when I come across such cryptic entries like “boat chunder” and “chattel eyes.”). I suppose maybe he thought we were restaurant critics or something but once we explained what the notes were for, the server seemed more at ease.

Since we were staying at the Grand Floridian, the server brought us a complimentary salad which was a nice touch. For our starters, we ordered the heirloom tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad (which was very good and which Larry thought was amazing) and the warm onion tart with walnut vinaigrette. As our entrees, I chose the crispy baked breast of chicken while Larry had the oak-grilled filet. We were way too full for dessert, but we didn’t let that stop us so we ordered the tropical fruit crème brulee and the tiramisu with chocolate and vanilla sauce, both of which were very nice. Citrico’s is another restaurant which counts as two sit-down meals on the Disney Dining Plan, but the quality of the food definitely made it worth it.

After such a large meal we both would have liked nothing better than to sleep for about a month but we had other plans for the evening. Tonight our goal was to go to Pleasure Island for the Adventurer’s Club and the Comedy Warehouse—something I had never experienced although Larry had been many times in the past.

We caught a bus to Downtown Disney and got off at the Pleasure Island stop. Larry showed me around Pleasure Island a bit and then our first stop was the Adventurer’s Club. We went down to the Main Salon and Larry went to get us something to drink while I tried to take in all the scenery and decorations. Larry had just returned with a diet coke for me when the Colonel appeared and began to chat with some of the guests. It wasn’t long before his gaze fell on Larry and me and he quickly began to give us a very hard (but very funny) time.

He was particularly hilarious when he found out that “Prairie Dog Town” was a big attraction in my home town and he compared it to a giant Wack-a-Mole game. When we were thoroughly humiliated and our sides were sore from laughing, the Colonel took his leave and the announcement was made that the next show would be in the Mask Room.

We found seats in the Mask Room and enjoyed the show with the (apparently) always dashing Hathaway Browne. Next up was the Library where Samantha Sterling was just back from an adventure and in the mood to talk about it. She chatted to me and Larry for a while when she found at that we were on our honeymoon. She asked Larry what was the most important thing that he had learned about me since we got married and he obediently replied, “She’s always right!” Is he a keeper, or what? And he’s accurate as well because I AM always right. All in all, I enjoyed the Adventurer’s Club immensely.

Having been the brunt of most of the jokes for the evening, we decided that it was time to move on to the Comedy Warehouse. The show was pretty funny but Larry said it was a bit more risqué than usual. Since it was Thursday night, there were quite a lot of Cast Members in the audience and some of the participation from the audience was a bit more adult themed than normal.

By now it was getting late and we were both tired so we decided to call it a night. I quite enjoyed my first venture into Pleasure Island however and I look forward to going back again.

We had about a 10 minute wait for the bus but, luckily, since no one on the bus seemed to be headed to the Wilderness Lodge (the usual first stop), the driver took us straight to the Grand Floridian first where we happily called it a night.

Wedding TR – Eight

Friday, 29th September, 2006

After our late night at Pleasure Island, we slept in this morning and Larry’s notes say that we “woke up idle” today. We had Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tonight, so we wanted to conserve our energy for another late evening. Larry also mentions that he spent 20 minutes shaving, so we must have been moving very slowly. I assure you, he’s not that hairy.

Epcot was on our agenda today, as it was the opening day of the Food and Wine Festival. I’ve always been a big fan of the Food & Wine Festival and my family and I have been three or four times. This was Larry’s first experience however and I was looking forward to sharing it with him.

We didn’t get to Epcot until around noon, so we headed straight to Future World. We had been saving up all of our snack options on our Disney Dining Plan because, as in past years, Disney lets you use your snack options for food choices at the booths during the Food and Wine Festival. This turned out to be the only thing that kept Larry from completely hating the Food and Wine Festival. As it so happens, he was a bit appalled at the size of the portions in comparison to the prices. Yes, the cheap Yorkshire man in him reared his ugly head and I don’t think he was really able to enjoy himself, even though we didn’t really have to pay for most of our samplings.

We started in on the Canadian side where we tried the Canadian staples of cheddar cheese soup and maple-glazed salmon. In the UK, the Irish stew caught our eye and in France, we sampled the crème brulee (one of my favorite desserts, as you might have noticed by the number of times I order it in restaurants).

Our food choices had left us a bit thirsty so we popped in at Morocco and got some drinks. We picked up some chicken Bastilla and some pistachio baklava and sat eating and enjoying the day for a while.

We moved on to America after our rest and tried the lobster roll, barbequed ribs, and the blackberry cobbler. We were getting a bit full so we skipped quite a few countries until we got around to Mexico where we tried the chiliquilies and the quesadilla. We took a break for a while for Larry to call back to Scotland and talk to his boys and then we backtracked to America and went to the American Adventure (which, as Larry will attest, is always good for making me cry).

We barely had room to try some truffles in France before stopping our sampling for the day. We had fairly early reservations at the Nine Dragons (since we had the Halloween party at the MK tonight), and we didn’t want to spoil our appetites for dinner.

We left the World Showcase and went to Future World where we took a turn on Soarin’. We took a break afterwards at the Sunshine Café where we had a diet coke and a lemonade.

It was now almost time for our dinner at Nine Dragons, so we walked to China and checked in at the restaurant. Neither Larry nor I had ever eaten here though we’re both big fans of Chinese food.

For our starters we had spring rolls and pot stickers. Our entrees were Nine Dragons fried rice with chicken and shrimp and General Tso’s chicken. Our desserts were ginger cake and ice cream. The food was good, but neither Larry nor I thought it was any better quality than what you get at the counter service Lotus Blossom Café (and for a fraction of the price).

We began to head towards the front of the park, stopping for a ride on Spaceship Earth and then to look up the picture of me and Paula on the Leave a Legacy Tombstones (it was free with a package deal we got a few years back). I also called American Airlines to confirm our flight times for tomorrow and to see if I could get our seats upgraded to first class for the trip home seeing as how I had some upgrade credits in my frequent flyer account. They were able to give us the upgrades and we thought that might help console us on having to leave WDW.

It was about time for our Halloween party so we hopped on the monorail and rode to the Transportation and Ticket Center.

The line for the resort monorail was way less than the queue for the express monorail, so we gladly hopped on the resort line for our trip to the Magic Kingdom. Once at the MK we exchanged our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (hereinafter to be referred to as MNSSHP to prevent me from getting carpal tunnel syndrome) tickets for some pumpkin orange wristbands and some trick or treat candy bags.

They had special maps printed up for the party which showed all of the trick or treat locations in the park and which had the schedule for the evening printed as well. We decided to start trick or treating on the “secret” path between Toontown and Tomorrowland. As it turns out, the secret path wasn’t much of a secret as there were hordes of trick or treaters collecting candy. The path had an Alice and Wonderland theme and we saw Alice, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and many playing cards helping the CM’s to pass out candy. Lots of candy. They had giant barrels of the stuff and all the locations seemed to have different assortments.

Not only were they passing out candy at various trick or treat stations, but they were also passing it out when you got off of the rides. At Space Mountain (which we rode), they were giving out Snickers and Skittles. We also rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority while we were in Tomorrowland.

We walked all over the park taking in the sights and a fair bit of candy as well. There were scads of characters out and about and most were dressed in various Halloween costumes. Lots of the guests were dressed up as well and we saw many groups and families that had put a lot of thought into their costumes and dressed en masse in a certain theme (for example, one extended family managed to cover all the major characters in Peter Pan).

In our wanderings we stumbled across Merlin’s School of Wizardry which was a cute little magic show held in the rose garden by the castle (where they usually have Belle’s Storytime).

It was almost time for the special fireworks, or Happy Hallow-Wishes as Disney calls them, so we decided to stake out a spot on the Tomorrowland Terrace. We found a table with a couple of chairs (result!) and Larry made a quick run for some ice cream and coke for us to enjoy while we watched the fireworks.

The fireworks were great (and longer than a normal show) with lots of purple, orange, white, blue and green fireworks; plenty of villains such as Ursula, Oogie Boogie, Cruella DeVil, Jafar, the Snow Queen, etc.; and neat effects such as ghosts and moons projected onto the castle and fog along the ground outside of the castle. After the shop, we decided to try to find a good spot for the parade. They run the parade twice each evening and we were hoping the later parade wouldn’t be quite as crowded as maybe some of the younger kiddos had gone home sleepy and with their tummy’s full of candy.

People were already several families thick all up and down Main Street and the castle hub, so we went into Liberty Square and found a few square inches of pavement to stake out. Larry lay down and took a quick power nap, half stretched under a vendor’s cart while I talked to a nice family sitting beside us. On the other side of us, however, which was a pathway clearly marked with tape and which needed to be kept clear, right before the parade was due to start, came the Encroacher Family.

I’m sure you’ve all run into this family before. It starts innocently enough with Mom and a kid in a stroller standing in the pathway. A CM comes along and informs the mom that the pathway is for walking only and needs to be kept clear. The mom inches the stroller in closer to you, smiling sweetly and indicating the child like he entitles her to push in at the last minute.

After a minute or two, here comes Dad with children number two and three. They’ve been getting ice cream and are thrilled that Mom has snagged such a good spot. They proceed to sit down (so close to you that if they moved in anymore they’d be on the other side) and drip ice cream on your formerly sleeping husband who has woken up disoriented, confused, and sticky.

But that’s not all. Oh no. Here comes Aunt Peg who’s been doing some last minute shopping and who has three huge bags of sharp, pointy, objects which she “accidentally” impales you with at every opportunity until you squnch over as far as you can next to the poor people on the other side of you (who smile weakly and shrug their shoulders as if to say “I’ve been there myself, pal.”) and she plops down as well.

By the time the parade starts, 30 seconds later, you’re on the back row of a mob of people stacked ten deep consisting of the Encroacher’s extended family (which would make the Kennedy clan look sparse)several of their neighbors and “closest friends” (whom they just met this morning while cutting in line on Pirates of the Caribbean), a Brazilian tour group, the 118th Armoured Division, two donkeys, several goats, and a badger, all of whom stand up and wave their arms wildly (causing their popcorn, cokes, corn dogs and Mickey ice cream bars to pelt you like a bad Vaudeville act) during the entire parade, wondering what happened to your good spot that you staked out well in advance.

Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that bad but we did start the parade with considerably less room than we originally had.

Anyway, the parade was worth being crowded for. It started out with the Headless Horseman galloping down the parade route, pumpkin head held high. Some of the more notable floats included a Pirates of the Caribbean float with Jack Sparrow sitting high atop the ship, Peter Pan and his Lost Boys, and the whole gang from 100 Acre Woods all in costume. The coolest one, however, was the one for the Haunted Mansion. The float was led by the grounds keeper and his faithful Bloodhound (a real, live dog) looking most apprehensive. Following him were the ghostly ballroom dancers waltzing down the street. The float itself featured the three hitchhiking ghosts that join you at the end of the ride. Following the float was a troop of gravediggers, complete with shovels. As they danced along behind the float, they dragged their shovels over the pavement in tight circles, causing an eerie racket and sparks to fly. Super Cool.

At the end of the parade was Goofy himself from Goofy’s Candy Company. He’s followed by a ton of helpers pulling big barrels of candy which they shower the crowd with. Honestly, I think that even if you missed all the trick or treating stations, you could have filled you bag up with candy from the parade alone.

After the parade, the draw of the Haunted Mansion was too much to refuse, so we headed there for an evening ride.

It was almost midnight by now so we slowly headed out of the park, admiring the ghosts projected onto the buildings along Main Street on the way out. We took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian and collapsed into bed after another long but fulfilling day at Disney.


Wedding TR – Nine

Saturday, 30th September, 2006

Alas, all good things must come to an end and this was our last day at WDW. We were up at 8:00 with Larry going for our usual coffee and diet coke while I started the heinous chore of packing. This was no small feat because we not only had my wedding dress, veil, crinoline, etc. that I had shipped down earlier, but also had picked up several wedding presents and the usual barrage of souvenirs. Feeling like I had been wrestling a giant meringue, I finally got the dress and accoutrements in our suitcases without wadding them up too badly.

I hated to leave my bouquet, which still looked good, but knew that it would never survive the trip home. We had sent the top of our wedding cake home with my Dad and Michael on Monday (along with some of the leftover cake for my mom) so it could be frozen for our first anniversary. Apparently my dad managed to drop the cake twice before he even got on the plane with it! Oh well.

We got our bags checked in at the Magical Express service desk, which was located outside just past the valet parking desk, and, with instructions to be back at the resort by 3:00 for the bus to the airport, hopped a bus to MGM.

Once we were at MGM, the first course of business was to get some breakfast so we headed to the ABC Commissary. We got there right at 10:30 and they had just stopped serving breakfast. Disappointed, but still hungry, we decided to go ahead and eat anyway. Larry, in a fit of British-ness, went for the fish and chips while I (apparently in a fit of Cuban-ism) went for the Cuban sandwich. While we ate we talked to a very nice older CM who was cleaning up in the dining area. We talked about the dining plan and Larry mentioned that he was a bit disappointed in the lack of diabetic-friendly dessert choices. The CM told us that he would pass that along but to be sure and stop by Guest Services and fill out a comment card. He said that the powers that be at Disney would listen to that more intently than a suggestion from a CM.

After breakfast/lunch, we left with the intention of seeing the Muppet show but noticed that the Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show was just starting and they were still letting people in, so we went to that instead. The show was very similar to the original version in Disneyland Paris, but the stunts were in a bit different order.

After the show we walked down Sunset Boulevard to queue up for the 11:45 showing of Beauty and the Beast but the queue looked too long so we rode Tower of Terror twice and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster once.

We decided it was time to leave MGM for our last farewell to Epcot. Also, I was under strict orders from my mom to bring back some of the sweet pretzels from the bakery in Norway. We walked to the boat dock but had just missed the boat. We decided to walk instead and got there at Epcot at the same time that the boat we had missed arrived.

It was after 1:30 and our breakfast/lunch was long gone so Larry and I split an order of (what else!) fish and chips from Harry Ramsden’s. I suppose fish and chips run through a Yorkshire man’s blood, so Larry didn’t seem to mind having them twice in one day. We took our food to the Off-Kilter stage area and sat on the benches there to eat. A well-mannered little Disney squirrel came and begged some chips off of us. The squirrel took the first one out of my hand and ate it right away then took the second one from me and ran to the stage to eat that one.

After our snack we decided we’d better leg it over to Norway (Larry’s notes say “Denmark,” but I don’t think we went quite that far) and pick up the pretzels for Mom. There was a slow moving queue at the bakery and we had to wait a bit to get the sweets so we had to rush to the front of the park (I miss that they don’t stamp your hand anymore when you leave. We always got our hands stamped on the last day as a small way of telling ourselves that we’d be back.) to catch the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then switch to the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian.

We arrived at the Grand Floridian with 5 minutes to spare. Whew!

The Magical Express bus driver was snippy with Larry—I can’t remember what for—so, he didn’t get a tip from us. Aside from that, the trip to the airport was as fine as could be expected when you have to leave Disney.

We got to check in at the first class desk at American Airlines but were disappointed that there is no first class lounge for American Airlines at the Orlando airport. So, we had to settle for the first class lounge at Burger King instead. You know the one—the tables closest to the soft drink machine so you don’t have to walk as far to fill up your own coke cups.

We had a nice first class flight back home where we had one day of rest—and when I say “rest” I mean “a day of attending two church services, cooking a big Sunday lunch for your entire family, filling your family in on all the details of your trip, unpacking, washing all the dirty clothes from your trip, re-packing, and going out for dinner Sunday night after evening church.”—before we had to leave at 4:00am Monday morning to fly to Los Angeles where we had to get my UK Visa before going to Scotland on Saturday!

But, hey, everyone knows that a trip to Los Angeles can only man one thing…Disneyland! How does the commercial go? “Robin and Larry, you just got married and had your honeymoon at Walt Disney World. What are you going to do?” Answer: “Go to Disneyland!”

Hi there Mouseplaneteers.

Larry here, though using Robin's password.

Thanks Robin, for finishing off the trip report for us, I kinda retired sometime ago. (Which is code for I got really really lazy.)

Most of all thanks for marrying me, and thanks for being so wonderfull and being such a great sport about everything.

I hope all the readers from the old days enjoy the trip report, and people we havent met enjoy our quirky style.

The trip was fantastic, where else could have been a possible venue for our wedding errr that would be nowhere.

The short trip to Disneyland the same week was pretty cool though, well apart from leaving Disney to go to the British Embassy and getting stuck in LA traffic.

Thanks for reading folks. Have fun, have great disney trips. Right I'm going to go and mourn the Adventurers Club Now...... bye. (Larry.)

Robin! I had wondered what happened to you! How exciting! Best wishes for many years of happiness. Hope everything is well.

Suzanne

Wow, this is so wonderful! I've really missed you guys and your awesome trip reports--formerly separate (except for one to DLP, I think) and now together. Thanks so much for sharing this! I can't wait to dig in and read it. Don't be a stranger, as they say on this side of the pond!

Jan

Suzanne,

Great to hear from you. I hope all is well with you and your family.

Yes, if anyone would have told me five years ago that I'd be married and living in Scotland in a few year's time I never would have believed it. Fortunately, life doesn't always work out as planned.

As it is, I have a wonderful husband and have the opportunity of a lifetime to be living in the UK. Flying to London or Paris over here is like a trip to Dallas. We've spent New Year in Rome, had weekends in London, spent a few days in Paris, not to mention all the beautiful Scottish sites.

The only drawback, of course, is that I'm so far away from my family but we've managed to go back to Texas often enough that I'm completely ashamed of my carbon footprint and have vowed to plant more trees than Smokey Bear to offset some of our waste! Also, we hoping to be able to move back to Texas in a couple of year's time so we'll be closer to Mom and Dad (and WDW!!).

Robin

Yay, a TR posted in full!!! Thanks for writing it, who cares about the date. I think it may have been the most enjoyable report I've read, I laughed out loud several times. Congratulations on your nuptials even though you aren't quite newlyweds anymore! My 32 yr. old sis dreams of getting married at WDW but we're still trying to find her Prince Charming! It's time for another trip so you can post a new report.

Robin,

Do not feel bad that your Dad dropped the cake in the airport. My maid of honor's mother sat on ours in the car after the reception - in all fairness not her fault - my Dad laid his tux jacket over top of it. To say it was flattened was an understatement - we discarded it because it was sooo pitiful! But I guess we didn't need it for luck - we will be celebrating our 24th this year. Belated congratulations - great report!

To say it was flattened was an understatement - we discarded it because it was sooo pitiful! But I guess we didn't need it for luck - we will be celebrating our 24th this year. Belated congratulations - great report!

Parktowne,

Yup, we decided ours was a bit sad as well. Fortunately, we were able to go back to WDW for our first anniversary so we just ordered a new cake!

Robin

First let me say a heartfelt congrats to both of you on you wedding. I loved reading your report of the wedding and everything that you did with your family. Outstanding!!! Many, Many years of happieness for you both. Donna and son Matt (age 9)

LARRY YOU SLY DOG I WAS WONDERING WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO YOU. DONT LET MY MOUSEPLANET NAME FOOL YOU . MY REAL NAME IS AGENT 86 & MY WIFE 99 WAS WISHING FOR INFO ON FASTPASSESS & YOUR NACK OF PINCHING THEM.ANY INFO WOULD BE HELPFUL .YOU MAY CONTACT ME ON MY SHOE PHONE OR AS STATED IN YOUR REPORT DISNEY OFFICIALS HAVE ASKED YOU NOT TO RELEASE THAT INFORMATION I WILL REQUEST THE CONE OF SILENCE.:cool:

Parktowne,

Yup, we decided ours was a bit sad as well. Fortunately, we were able to go back to WDW for our first anniversary so we just ordered a new cake!

Robin

And no Trip Report of the first Anniversary?!?!!? Whatsupwiththat?!?!

So the way I figure it, you owe your fans and adoring public (too far?) TWO count them: TWO trip reports. The brief Disneyland/Embassy visit and the WDW part Deux. PLeazzzzze

Ragrobyn,

We did actually intend to write the continuation of this trip when we went to Disneyland California. In fact, Larry even took notes. However, he's since re-read his notes and says even he can only decipher about 50% of them! (Luckily, I didn't marry him for his penmanship!)

As for the Anniversary trip, we didn't even take notes on that one although I do distinctly remember leaving my engagement ring in our hotel room on our last day after we had checked out. We didn't notice it until we were on a bus to Downtown Disney. Even though Larry was very understanding about it, the ride back to the hotel was nerve wrecking to say the least.

Thankfully, the ring was still there although Larry does tend to ask me before we leave hotel rooms now, "Do you have your ring?!"

Robin

What a wonderful surprise to check in here and find your report!! I copied it into Word to enjoy as I listen to Floyd's game (starts in 20 minutes) on the internet. I can't wait to relive the parts we were there for, and the stuff we missed after the wedding.

Tell Larry I'm mourning PI too - but Comedy Warehouse rather than Adventurer's Club. What a bone-headed moving closing those clubs is!

I haven't even read this yet but all I have to say is:

IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME!!!!

Can't wait to read!

Stacey

PS We leave in 11 days to drive to WDW for a 15 night stay!!!Wahoo!!!

What a wonderful surprise to check in here and find your report!! I copied it into Word to enjoy as I listen to Floyd's game (starts in 20 minutes) on the internet. I can't wait to relive the parts we were there for, and the stuff we missed after the wedding.

Tell Larry I'm mourning PI too - but Comedy Warehouse rather than Adventurer's Club. What a bone-headed moving closing those clubs is!


Sue,

You were the first person I thought about when I heard Pleasure Island was being closed down and Jill mentioned that you had emailed her about it as well.

I guess we can just hope for the best for whatever replaces the clubs and who knows? Disney's brought things back because of public outcry before (early entry vs. the character caravan, or whatever that silliness was called, comes to mind).

Robin

Loved the report! Thanks so much for posting!

:)

I am on day 3, but I just had to post.

What a great trip report. I have laughed out loud so many times! :D

And to think I almost didn't read it because it read "2006".

Oh my goodness! I gotta get back to it!

Well, it's taken me the good part of the day to read the TR in its entirety, but it was the most fun, witty, and delightful TR I've ever read! How wonderful to hear the behind-the-scenes details (well, not ALL of them;)) of the Disney Weddings.

Thanks for going ahead and finally posting. It made a great companion to the 12 hours of Olympic tv I've been watching!

Thank you guys for sharing your amazing trip with us. It was one of the best I have ever read! I laughed, I cried...2 enthusiastic thumbs up. Congratulations and I wish you both a joyous and magical like together!

Robin, you kept half apologizing for the wedding details in your post. Honestly I think that was my favorite part. Of course that could be because I've become engaged recently myself but nonetheless I really enjoyed them. I'm sooo jealous you got a Disney Wedding. Hope your married life is filled with happiness. :)

I just finished reading day six. How wonderful that you got your pictures taken in the Magic Kingdom and got to see all of the behind the scenes action. I would love to see a few pics if you can share them. :) What a great read!

Also, you had me laughing hysterically about the $20 in the CD player...sounds like something I would do!

Well...goodbye for now...I am going to keep on reading your very entertaining trip report!

Okay, let's see if I can get this to work.

Here's the link to our professional disney photographs:

Disney Photos (http://www.collages.net/)

User Name: Goble / Wilmot Wedding (you have to have the space before and after the forward slash)

Password: 1971

And here's a link to our wedding video summary:

Wedding Video (http://www.stvsweddings.com/images/Goble_Internet.wmv)

Now then, for a few "unprofessional" pictures:

Here's me and my sister, Paula, in the Bride's Vestibule at the Wedding Pavilion

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/WeddingPhotos008.jpg

And the guys, waiting at the altar. Reverand Jack Day, Larry, and Clive, the best man.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding010.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding008.jpg

This is Larry and me with my Dad.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding001.jpg

The bottom of my shoes

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding006.jpg

And the tops

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding007.jpg

The table at the reception

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding009.jpg

Clive's speech!

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding002.jpg

Our first dance

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding003.jpg

Cutting the cake

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/WeddingPhotos070.jpg

All of us on the Illuminations Cruise: Paula, Tom, Me, Larry, Clive, Karen, Sue, Floyd, Leanne, and Wes

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/rgoble5972/Wedding005.jpg

Thanks,
Robin

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful pictures! :)

What a lovely couple! Thanks so much for sharing. And I love your shoes!

I can't wait until you go again, so I can read another entertaining TR! :D

take care!

Oh, the pictures were terrific. I LOVE your dress and the photos were worth getting up in the wee hours to capture. LOVELY. I also really loved the cake.

Congrats to you both. Best wishes for your wonderful future.

Thanks for adding the picture links. Watching your video is probably the only way I'm every going to see the inside of the wedding pavillion. What a beautiful building. It looks like it was a lovely day and a gorgeous wedding.

Thanks for sharing!:)