ccannaley
07-17-2009, 03:27 PM
When
Saturday May 9th through Saturday May 16th, 2009
Participants
Me – Chris (32), groom and narrator
Lauree – (27), bride and much better half
23 immediate family members. 5 from my side, 18 from Lauree’s (she has 7 siblings!).
Travel Method
We are flying from Indianapolis to Orlando and using Disney transportation for the week. Our family is coming from Indianapolis, Chicago, and New Jersey by plane and from Chicago by car.
Resort
Lauree and I are staying at Contemporary. Our family is staying at Port Orleans French Quarter, All Star Movies, and off-site.
Experience
Chris – 1985 offsite, 2003 offsite, 02/07 POFQ, 09/08 POR
Lauree – 02/07 POFQ, 09/08 POR
Planning
We decided almost immediately after getting engaged at WDW in September 2008 that we wanted to get married there as well. So the planning began as soon as we arrived home in the fall. We contacted the Wedding group and were assigned a coordinator (Maxine – she was fantastic!) and began working on the details. We decided during our fall trip that we wanted to have the ceremony at The Yacht Club Wedding Gazebo, and have the reception at The Grand Floridian Whitehall Room. We also decided to have the ceremony on a Monday (May 11th) as opposed to a weekend as a way to save some money.
We spent the winter months going back and forth on food, music, and invitations, helping family make arrangements, and meeting by phone (generally once every couple weeks) with our Disney “wedding team.” The entire process from start to finish was nothing less that superb. Our questions were always answered in a friendly and timely manner, and to say that Disney is flexible is the understatement of the year. Several times throughout the process we made minor changes and each time we received an “absolutely no problem, we can make that happen.” From the planning process through the wedding day, everyone we worked with; planners, photographers, videographers, florists, etc. were great. We really felt like our wedding was the most important thing going on in the world at the time. Needless to say, we were both very sad when it was over.
We decided to spend the entire week at WDW for our honeymoon so I made some dinner reservations in advance. We passed on the dining plan this time around because there would have been 3 nights of our stay that we wouldn’t have been able to use it, so I don’t think we would’ve gotten our money’s worth. Our ADR’s were...
Raglan Road – Saturday @ 8:00pm
O’Hana – Tuesday @ 7:15pm
Yachtsman Steakhouse – Wednesday @ 6:30pm
Brown Derby (Fantasmic package) – Thursday @ 4:15pm
Hoop De Doo Review – Friday @ 7:15pm
Day 1
4:00 am wake up call. Waking up at a ridiculous time like that would normally be a multiple snooze button process but not this day, we were ready to go! We did a good job packing the night before and were ready as soon as the limo arrived at 5:15. One benefit of the early flight (7:22) was the absence of traffic. We had no issues getting to the new Indianapolis airport (which is very nice by the way) and were soon on our way to Orlando.
We arrived in Orlando at 9:30 and were moved quickly through the Magical Express queue and onto a bus. Lauree and I to Contemporary, Cierra and Grandma (my daughter and grandmother who flew with us) to Port Orleans French Quarter. The driver let us know almost immediately that Contemporary would be the 4th stop after Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Wilderness Lodge. We decided to perform a little experiment and got off the bus at the Polynesian. We were sick of being on the bus and thought that if we jumped on the monorail we might get to the Contemporary a bit faster. The end result was…no difference. We arrived at the Contemporary at the same time as the bus. Although I have to believe that our view was better.
We tried to check in but our room wasn’t ready and we were told to try back after three. During the check in process I realized that I left Cierra’s park pass at home and spoke with Chris at the front desk about our options. He disappeared for a few minutes before coming back with two 1 day park hoppers for her, and “Happily Ever After” buttons for us. We hadn’t been at WDW for more that 15 minutes and had already experienced some serious magic. We thanked him profusely, put on our pins, and made our way to the gift shop on the 4th floor for a snack and 2 Mother’s Day pins for our Moms for the next day.
We checked our carryon bags with bell services, and then walked to Magic Kingdom to grab a bus to French Quarter to pick up Cierra and Grandma. The four of us decided to spend the day at Hollywood Studios so we boarded a bus and were on our way. The first order of business upon arrival was to pick up our annual passes, and Grandma’s ticket, at will call. (As part of the wedding package we chose, Lauree and I both received annual park hopper passes, yay!) We were able to negotiate that process quickly, entered the park, and decided our first attraction would be…lunch. But not before seeing if there were any fast passes left for Toy Story Mania. Of course there weren’t, but the standby wait wasn’t bad (50 mins.) so we figured we’d give it a try after eating at Studio Catering Co. We ended up ordering a pulled pork sandwich, a chicken drumstick kid’s meal, and a hotdog with a large drink. It was all fine, pretty much what you’d expect for quick service. The total for Lauree, Cierra and I was $28.55
After lunch we went back to Toy Story and saw that the wait had increased to 60 minutes. This would be Cierra’s only day at Hollywood Studio’s so we went ahead and jumped in the standby line. Fortunately the wait only ended up being about 40 minutes. Love this attraction. I scored 168,400 to Grandmas 25,400. I realize it’s probably in poor taste to beat up on my Grandma like that, but my competitive spirit knows no bounds. Cierra had her heart set on Rockin Rollercoaster (she finally built up the courage to try it this trip) so we took off towards Sunset Boulevard. As we passed Voyage of The Little Mermaid, we noticed there was no wait so we went in for the show and got a nice break from the sun. After Little Mermaid, we continued our trek to RnR where we decided to grab fast passes rather than wait in the 45 minute standby line.
Grandma and Cierra wanted ice cream so they took a break while Lauree and I did Tower of Terror two times in a row with very little wait. Finally our fast pass time was posted for Rockin Rollercoaster so we rode it and Cierra loved it. She immediately wanted to ride again but we were running short on time and wanted to make sure we saw Lights, Motors, Action before we left. On the way to the LMA pavilion, Lauree and I stopped for ice cream and received special (I’m assuming) ice cream cones w/ Mickey ears on them. We missed LMA when we came last fall due to maintenance so we were excited to see it. Unfortunately the hero’s car was having some technical difficulties so some of the stunts were a bit tamer than normal, but it was fun nonetheless.
It was time to call it a day at Hollywood Studios so Cierra and Grandma hopped a bus to French Quarter to freshen up before dinner, and Lauree and I grabbed a bus to All Star Movies to pick up her Dad, Chad. He decided to drive to Orlando from Chicago rather than fly, which turned out to be a huge help for us. He stopped in Indy on his way down to pick up two extra suitcases full of wedding related stuff. Doing so kept us from dealing with the hassle, and cost, of flying with them. The bus dropped us off fairly close to the All Star Movies main entrance so we walked in to check out the lobby and food court. Both looked very nice. We took a quick look at the resort map out by the pool and zigzagged our way to room 6958. The room was brightly colored w/ a Herbie theme, very fun. It had a similar feel to a Moderate resort room, just with a smaller TV and no coffee maker.
So we jumped in Chad’s car and followed the signs to Contemporary to drop off the suitcases he brought for us, and hopefully get checked into our room. Our room was indeed ready and we were stunned to find out that they had upgraded us, at no charge, from a Garden Wing room to a Tower room with Magic Kingdom view (4736)! Actually stunned isn’t quite the right word, overwhelmed and ecstatic are probably more appropriate. We dropped off the bags and spent several minutes carrying on like small children before driving over to French Quarter to meet my 5 family members (and 7 of Lauree's 18) for dinner at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney.
Here comes my only real complaint of the week. I made reservations for us thinking it would be nice to ride the boat over and back together since almost everyone was staying at French Quarter, and it would be a bit more relaxing than taking the bus. Wrong. We waited almost 45 minutes to get a boat, and had to split the group in half to make it work. The problem (I think) is that the boat comes from Riverside first where everyone waiting is able to board. So by the time the boat leaves for French Quarter, there are only 3-4 seats available. This is pure speculation on my part because I didn’t see the line at Riverside, but if I’m right; Disney should cut off the line there and let them know they have to leave room for folks at French Quarter so wait times are equitable. Just a thought. Now if I was staying at Riverside I’d probably say to hell with the people at French Quarter, they can wait! Just kidding :).
I took the first boat and ran to Raglan Road, checking in about 10 minutes late (I called from the boat to let them know and they were very understanding). It ended up working out fine because they called our name just as the rest of the group arrived. Everyone thought the food was excellent, and the atmosphere great, but it is definitely not a place for intimate conversation. We were seated right next to the band, which was very loud and very good. I’m half Irish half German (a disciplined drinker?) so I’m a big fan of Irish pubs. I’d love to go back sometime when it’s just Lauree and I. Because it was so loud, I found myself worrying about everyone having a good time, especially after the long wait for the boats. The big excitement of the evening occurred when Cierra ate a scallop for the first time. She’s never been a big fan of seafood so Lauree and I were quite excited to 1. see her actually try some, and 2. enjoy it.
After dinner we all went back to French Quarter by boat and said our goodnights. Chad drove the two of us back to Contemporary and we wrapped up the day by watching the new and improved Stacey video, which gets two thumbs up in my opinion.
Day 2
We were up at 6:30 for tux fitting at French Quarter at 8:00. Chad again drove over from All Star Movies to pick us up, and while we were delayed by triathlon traffic for 20 minutes, everything worked out fine and we got to French Quarter right at 8. We only had minor issues w/ the tuxes; my brother’s pants were a bit short (they were fixed later that day) and my father in law’s jacket was snug, but otherwise no big problems. After the fitting we all had breakfast at the French Quarter food court. I had the western omelet which was quite good.
We planned on spending the day at Epcot since the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were at The Yacht and Beach Club starting at 5pm. Everyone seemed to be moving at their own pace and direction so Lauree, Cameron (my brother), Chad, and I decided to head to Epcot, and we’d meet everyone else throughout the day. The trip over took considerably longer than usual due to the triathlon, but we arrived without issue and spent several minutes at the entrance taking pictures and enjoying the Flower and Garden Festival topiaries.
Lauree and I made goody bags for all of our guests and passed them out at dinner the night before. However we still had 2 left for her older brothers who arrived late Saturday evening. Since we would see them at the rehearsal dinner we brought them along to put in a locker for the day. I went ahead and gave Lauree my park ticket, and the three of them left for Soarin’ to grab fast passes and wait for me while I walked quickly to the International Gateway to rent a locker. There were very few people in the park at this point and World Showcase hadn’t opened yet so I was able to get there and back fairly quickly. The standby wait was almost 40 minutes but we had fun with the games in the queue. The ride was great although Lauree and I both thought that our scent sprayers were faulty. We didn’t get a whiff of orange or pine.
As we exited the ride, Lauree got a call from her Mom to let us know they were touring World Showcase. We figured her younger brothers (Steve, Andy, and Charley) would enjoy doing the Future World attractions so I offered to pick them up assuming they’d be in Mexico or Canada. Nope, they were in Germany. So again I walked quickly through World Showcase, grabbed the three of them, and went back to The Land to meet the others for a picture w/ Chip and Dale.
As we finished our picture, my folks, Grandma, and Cierra came off Soarin’ so we visited with them for a few minutes before splitting off into groups again. Chad decided to go back to All Star Movies to rest for a bit, my parents and Grandma wanted to tour World Showcase, and the rest of us felt the pull of Test Track. We waited about 25 minutes in the standby line and enjoyed the ride. We would have been through quicker but the ride stopped at one point due to some technical issues. From the standby line we could see a car stuck on the banked turn near the ride entrance. They looked really uncomfortable and had to hold on to the high side of the vehicle to keep from squishing each other.
The temperature was expected to be near record highs (97) so after Test Track we cut through Mouse Gear and went to Cool Zone for frozen cokes. I was able to convince the boys to try the Beverly and they responded exactly how you’d expect. After that we all went to ride the green side on Mission Space, then went back to Mouse Gear to look for souvenirs. While we were in Mouse Gear Andy and Cierra mentioned that they would like to try the orange side of Mission Space so I begrudgingly agreed to escort them on their trip to Mars. I hadn’t ever tried the intense side before because (unlike drops, speed, and flips) I hate spinning. Holy cow what a difference. The g-forces you experience on orange aren’t anything like green. I spent almost the entire ride with my eyes closed focused on slow deep breathing, although I was with it enough to complete my duties as pilot. While Cierra and I emerged with our breakfast still in our stomachs, Andy wasn’t so lucky. Unfortunately our shuttle didn’t have the necessary supply of motion sickness bags, so his shorts paid the price. So after some good natured ribbing from his older brother, we made yet another trip to Mouse Gear to pick him up a new pair of shorts.
After Mouse Gear, we dropped the boys and Cierra off w/ Lauree’s Mom and Stepdad (they rented a van and were going to drive to Yacht Club) and Lauree, Cameron, and I went to use the Soarin fast passes we picked up earlier. The wait was a bit longer than we expected so we had to jog/walk to Yacht Club to keep from being late to our own wedding rehearsal. While we weren’t late we were the last ones to arrive and caught some grief for it. Our planner (Maxine) and officiant (Ron) were both there to lead us through the next day’s events, and after a couple run-through’s, deemed us ready for the big day.
After the wedding rehearsal we all walked over to Ariel’s at Beach Club for a buffet dinner. We had a great time sharing stories and talking about our day(s). The food was great and I think everyone agreed that the apple cobbler w/ ice cream for dessert was about the best they’d ever had. Sufficiently stuffed and tired, the majority of the group decided to head back to French Quarter, while Lauree, Cierra, Helena (Lauree’s sister), Chad, Lauree’s two older brothers and their boys, and I decided to stay and hang out by the Beach Club pool for awhile and visit some more. Cierra and Helena (the bridesmaids) were going to spend the night with Lauree so they had bags with them for the next day. They planned on going back to Contemporary to swim, but figured since they were at the Beach Club pool they’d go ahead and swim there. I thought it was a great idea because the Beach Club pool is at least 1000 times better then the pool at Contemporary. Maybe even 2000 times.
At about 8:50 I decided I’d say my goodnights and walk back over to Epcot to catch Illuminations and a bus back to French Quarter where I’d be bunking with my folks for the night. I was disappointed that Lauree wasn’t there to watch the show with me so I only kept one eye on it as I walked back up to the front of the park. A bus pulled up as soon as I got there and I was at French Quarter in no time. I wasn’t quite ready for bed so I decided to go for a quick swim and spent 20 minutes or so floating around the pool before going back to the room. My Dad arranged for a cot to be brought in for me, and while it made a valiant effort at impersonating a bed, it wasn’t quite the real deal.
Day 3 Wedding Day!
My side of the story.…
Tossed and turned for a bit (trying to get as much rest as possible for the big day) but finally had to get up at 8am. Lazed around the room for awhile and chatted with my Dad before hopping on the internet to do some additional research on the company I was having a 10am interview with. Yes, that’s right; I scheduled an interview on my wedding day. I figured I wasn’t doing anything in the morning anyway, plus it would show some serious commitment on my part if I was willing to take time out of my special day to speak with them. (It went very well and after another 3 rounds of interviews, I got the job!)
After the interview I went to the food court to grab some breakfast. I showed up just as everyone else was finishing. When they left I found a nice quiet spot outside to enjoy my western omelet in peace. After breakfast I went back to the room and changed into my bathing suit. On the way to the pool I stopped at the gift shop and bought a Wall Street Journal to peruse. I ended up alternately swimming, reading, and napping for the next couple hours. Fortunately I was able to find a break in that hectic schedule to grab a Yuengling and a slice of pizza for lunch. At 2pm the space shuttle launched, but unfortunately there was too much cloud cover to see it, although I did catch a glimpse of the contrail at one point.
I finally made it back to the room at 2:25 to get ready (which made my Mom very nervous) but was ready and out the door at 3pm for pictures. The first round of cars took me, my Mom, and my Dad (in a vintage 1958 Rolls Royce Phantom!) as well as my future step-father-in-law and groomsmen (Cameron and Steve) to Yacht Club. We spent about 30 minutes taking pictures in various settings in and around the resort before Mom, Dad, Cameron, and I were sequestered in the Crews Cup Lounge so Lauree could arrive and have her pictures done. We had a drink and watched Sportscenter until 4:45 when it was time to head to the ceremony.
The ceremony went great. Both of us were able to hold it together for the most part. Although I have to admit that I almost lost it when I turned around and saw Lauree coming down the aisle with Cannon D playing. She was beautiful!
After the ceremony, all of our guests were shuttled to the Grand Floridian for the pre-reception while we spent about 45 minutes walking around the resort taking pictures. It was very cool to have so many eyes on us, and we got quite a few well wishes and congratulations from guests as they walked by.
So we hopped back in the Rolls Royce and drove to the reception at the Grand Floridian Whitehall room. We got there about 10 minutes early (6:50) so they took us into one of the other banquet rooms to enjoy a drink and some of the pre-reception appetizers. Right at 7 we were introduced as a couple and enjoyed our first dance together.
The rest of the night was a complete blur. We went through the normal reception events; cake cutting (we decided to be nice and not shove cake in each other’s faces) dancing with our parents, dancing with each other, and eating entirely too much. Our wedding planner gave us a set of matching watches as a gift. I’m sure it’s SOP but we were floored and very grateful. The food was fantastic! We had the shrimp cocktail for an appetizer along with ceasar salad. For the main course some guests had steak and chicken while others had mahi-mahi. At 10pm we all went out to the marina for some final pictures, and watched Wishes. It was an amazing way to end one of the best days of my life. After the fireworks we said goodbye to everyone and rode back to the Contemporary.
Day 4
This morning would be the first day of what would become a theme for us for the rest of the week. We had about twice as much wedding cake as we needed so we ended up boxing up the rest and took it back to the resort with us. So it would be coffee and cake for breakfast for the next 5 days. I’m pretty sure I could have breakfast on the balcony of the Contemporary every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.
We also decided that this would be a day of rest since we’d done nothing but go-go-go for the past few days. It would be the first day ever that I’d wake up at The Kingdom and not go immediately to a park. I had a feeling it would be difficult for me to handle, but I actually ended up being quite content. Being lazy and enjoying our first day as newlyweds was a wonderful way to spend the day.
Around 11am Chad came by to pick up Lauree’s dress (and some other wedding related stuff we didn’t need) to drive it home. After helping him take everything down to his car we decided to hit the pool and have some lunch. Unfortunately we had to stop at the gift shop first for a new pair of sunglasses because mine ended up going home with my parents (I handed them to my Mom right before pictures started yesterday). It seems my issues with sunglasses at WDW will never end. When we came in 2007 I left them in a pouch on Space Mountain and had to buy a replacement pair, and when we came in 2008 I forgot them entirely and had to buy a pair at the airport. I almost talked myself into a new pair of Ray Ban’s, but since my luck with glasses has been so bad, I thought it would turn out to be a tremendous waste of money. So I settled on a pair of $15 cheapies, and we headed to the quick service restaurant/bar by the pool. I ordered a bacon double cheeseburger with fries and a Yeungling, and Lauree got a hotdog with fries and a Mai Tai. We sat next to the lake and ate. It was very nice.
We said to hell with the 1 hour rule and jumped in the pool after we finished eating. We each went down the very underwhelming waterslide a few times and generally floated around and enjoyed the day. As we swam we had a couple girls from Bowling Green KY latch on to us. 4 year old Jasmine and 6 year old Journey. We had fun playing w/ them for a bit before the sky got dark, so we decided to head back to the room.
We ended up taking a nap for a couple hours before getting ready for our 7:15 ADR at O’hana. We made it down to the monorail about 20 minutes before our reservation (thinking we’d have plenty of time) but since it stops at Magic Kingdom first it was almost packed each time a train pulled up, so we had to wait for about 15 minutes before one arrived with room. We made it to the Polynesian right on time and waited about 15 minutes before being called to a table.
Dinner was fantastic but I’m not at all proud of what I did to myself during the process. I ended up eating 2 dumplings, 2 wings, some noodles, some broccoli, some bread, some salad, 2 pieces of pork, a piece of turkey, 3 pieces of steak, a dozen shrimp and an entire bread pudding a la mode. Needless to say I did not feel good about myself when it was all said and done.
There was no way I was going to be able to call it a night after the debauchery at O’hana, so we decided to head to downtown Disney to do some shopping, and see if we could get our watches sized at World of Disney. A bus arrived at the Poly almost immediately and we were at Downtown Disney in no time. We had no problem getting our watches sized and Lauree bought herself a long sleeve organic t-shirt while we were there. After World of Disney we went to the Christmas store and bought ourselves, our parents, and Lauree’s friend who helped size Cierra's dress a Christmas ornament before calling it a night and heading back to Contemporary around 11. We didn’t have to wait long for a bus and were back to the resort in no time.
Day 5
We woke up around 8am and took our time getting ready. Oddly enough we had coffee and wedding cake on the balcony for breakfast. Our plan was to do Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon. We’d hit our favorites at Animal Kingdom before busing to Epcot to do the rest of the Flower and Garden Festival and the Kim Possible attraction.
We walked downstairs and right on to a waiting Animal Kingdom bus. When we got there we made a bee line for Expedition Everest where we grabbed fast passes and jumped in standby for a 20 minute wait. The wait ended up being nice because we were able to check out some of the queue stuff that we hadn’t seen before. I’m amazed by how much climbing gear they have on display. As an outdoor enthusiast I can attest to the fact that that stuff isn’t cheap. They definitely spare no expense when it comes to creating a realistic environment. After EE we went to Primeval Whirl (it was closed when we were here in the fall) and waited about 15 minutes there before riding. Even though there is something a bit “county fair” about this ride, I kind of get a kick out of it. Especially the “bye-bye” at the end.
After Primeval Whirl we walked directly into a briefing room for Dinosaur. I seem to enjoy this ride more every time I ride it. I think I’m getting used to the intensity of the ride vehicle and the noise, which makes it better in my opinion. We wanted to do Kilimanjaro Safaris next so we took off towards Africa but noticed that there was only a 5 minute posted wait for It’s Tough to Be a Bug. We actually ended up walking directly into the theatre, no wait at all. We finally arrived at Kilimanjaro Safaris and were greeting with a 50 minute standby wait, and a fast pass return time for much later than we wanted to be at Animal Kingdom so we passed. As hot as it was we probably wouldn’t have seen many animals anyway.
Lunch and our Expedition Everest fast passes were the last things on our list before leaving for Epcot, so we walked back towards Asia and grabbed lunch at Yak and Yeti. I had the sweet and sour pork, Lauree had the shrimp lo mien, and we split an order of egg rolls. I think it was all very good for quick service, and the portions were large. The total was $25.85. After lunch we used our Expedition Everest fast passes and left the park. An Epcot bus left just as we walked up so we waited about 15 minutes or so before another one arrived.
Once we arrived at Epcot we took some pictures towards the front of the park, and then walked right on Spaceship Earth. I’m happy to report that our future looks very bright. We then stopped at Cool Zone for a couple samples, before going to the Kim Possible stand at the entrance to World Showcase to sign up for a mission. Our ticket told us to be in Italy at 2:45 so we walked over to Mexico and rode the Gran Fiesta Tour with no wait. We took our time walking through Norway, China, and The Outpost before stopping in Germany for a Spaten (for me) and a Coke (for Lauree). We also browsed the gift shop for a while and Lauree found a Smurfs T-shirt she liked and bought it.
Finding the Kim Possible stand proved to be a bit difficult but we finally stumbled upon it and picked up our Kimmunicator, which directed us to our mission in Germany. I think we both ended up having much more fun with it than we were expecting. Once we saved the world in Germany, we decided to go ahead and do the missions in Japan and France. Apparently we are easily amused.
We had about an hour and a half to kill before our 6:30 reservation at Yachtsman so we went to the imagination pavilion to ride Figment, then waited a few minutes between shows for Honey I Shrunk The Audience. The waits at both of those attractions were short so we went to the Seas and rode Nemo, and then walked right into a Turtle Talk w/ Crush show. This was the 1st time we’d seen it and I was surprised at how much fun it was. We both especially enjoyed listening to the kids interact with Crush.
It was almost time for dinner so we started walking towards the International Gateway. On our way we stopped at a pin stand for a Flower and Garden Festival pin, and ended up at Yacht Club about 10 minutes before our reservation. We checked in and were seated within a few minutes. We decided to have a bottle of wine and, since the steaks were so large, we split an entrée. So we ended up with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir, split a Caesar salad, enjoyed the bread that was provided, and split the 20 oz NY Strip w/ mashed potatoes. It turned out to be the perfect amount of food, and we left very satisfied with both the quality and quantity of the meal.
There was still about an hour to kill before Illuminations so we spent a little time in the Yacht Club gift shop where we bought a Yacht Club pin, and a print of the resort from the lake side. We then walked back into Epcot and found a nice spot between the UK and Canada to watch Illuminations. This is without a doubt my favorite way to end a day at WDW. Once Illuminations ended we left the park with the rest of the masses and made it onto the 2nd monorail to arrive. We had a bit of a wait at the TTC for a transfer monorail, but were soon back at the resort. We decided to spend a few minutes in the pool and hot tub to rest our aching muscles, and then called it a night.
Day 6
We woke up around 8:30 and once again enjoyed coffee and cake on the balcony. After breakfast we got ready and hoped on a bus for Hollywood Studios, arriving around 10 to a fairly empty park. We beelined for Toy Story, grabbed a fast pass, and jumped in the standby line. The wait wasn’t bad, about 30 minutes, and our scores weren’t bad either. I think I was just below 200k and Lauree was around 145k.
After Toy Story we walked back to the board to check out wait times for Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. Wait times were short, and the crowd was still pretty light, so we figured we could probably ride each a couple times, but we decided to grab lunch first since we had an early dinner reservation at Brown Derby(4:20). We ended up deciding on Pizza Planet. I had a pepperoni pizza with a salad, and Lauree had the cheese pizza with a salad. We split a Sprite and the total was $20 even. Lunch was quite good and we were both entertained by the family sitting a couple tables away. They were apparently trying to recreate the movie “The Birds,” by feeding them their pizza remains. By the time they were done I’m pretty certain every bird in Central Florida knew about the free pizza being distributed at Pizza Planet.
After lunch we thought we’d do Muppet Vision. While waiting in line I remembered something I’d read in a blog about a key under the mat at the entrance. We checked and sure enough, there it was, just like the sign said. It’s a goofy little thing I suppose, but that attention to detail is part of the charm for us, and makes us want to keep coming back. We know that we will always pick up on something we missed on previous trips.
After Muppet Vision we went to Rockin Rollercoaster and as we were entering the standby line, a lady gave us two fast passes. We decided to go ahead and ride standby (the wait was only 15 minutes) and then went and picked up Tower of Terror fast passes and rode standby there as well. After Tower of Terror we rode The Great Movie Ride and did The Back Lot Tour. I hadn’t heard about any changes to The Back Lot Tour, but I’m guessing that they’re experimenting with an automated guide instead of a live one. Unfortunately it must not have been working because we spent 75% of the ride in silence.
We went back to use our Tower of Terror fast passes, then our “free” Rockin Rollercoaster fast passes, and on way back to use our Toy Story fast passes we picked up earlier in the day, we stopped for frozen lemonade at the candy store. As we were paying, the cast member noticed our “Just Married” buttons, asked us to wait a second, and came back with two chocolate covered marshmallows! It’s really a shame those buttons don’t work like that in the real world. After our marshmallows and lemonade we used our Toy Story fast passes and made a critical error we won’t repeat on future trips. While riding Toy Story and pulling furiously on the firing mechanism, it’s not uncommon for shoulders and elbows to go flying (at least for us it’s not). So when you have two people who are opposite handed (Lauree is a righty, I am a lefty), and they sit so that their pulling hand is on the inside of the ride vehicle, there exists the distinct possibility that one of them will walk away with a busted lip or bruised ribs. Fortunately we happen to like each other quite a bit, and decided to sacrifice our scores instead of our bodies. But we were both pretty bummed that we weren’t able to give 100%.
We still had some time before our dinner reservation so we walked through One Man’s Dream and, for the first time, saw the movie. After the movie we walked through a couple gift shops before heading to The Brown Derby for our 4:20 dinner reservation. We checked in and were seated within a few minutes. I’d heard great things about Brown Derby but came away even more impressed than I was expecting. We had a delightful waitress (Cheryl?) who took our picture shortly after we sat down. We assumed she had something in store for us but forgot about it quickly as we perused the menu. After ordering, she came out with a very nice flyer with our picture in it highlighting our visit to the restaurant, along with two glasses of champagne with strawberries. Dinner came shortly after and was fantastic. Since we purchased the Fantasmic Dinner Package we both got a drink, appetizer, entrée, and dessert. I had the crab cake appetizer with the NY strip and bananas foster dessert. Lauree had a bowl of soup(?), some pork dish, and the chocolate cake. We both waddled out of the restaurant fat and happy.
We’d done pretty much everything we wanted to do, but still had quite a bit of time before Fantasmic, so we decided to see the 6pm American Idol Experience Show. We walked in just as they were filling the auditorium, and immediately noticed how similar it was to “the real thing.” We definitely felt like part of the actual show. The three competitors were quite good, but in the end the audience decided to send a young lady from TX to the 7pm finale.
It had been cloudy most of the afternoon, and unfortunately right as we were exiting the attraction, it began to rain. Instead of running through it to find something else to do, we slipped back in line to see the final show of the evening, where the day’s winner would be determined. The auditorium was filled to capacity (it was about 2/3 full @ 6) and there was much more excitement this time around. The competitors were all great, and the young lady who won the 6pm show ended up winning the finale as well.
Unfortunately it was still raining after the 7pm show, and of course we left our ponchos back at the resort. Neither of us was terribly excited about hanging out in the rain but this was our one shot at Fantasmic so we came up the bright idea to purchase an umbrella. We didn’t see any benefit in owning 4 ponchos, and figured we could use the umbrella when we got home. So we bought an umbrella and huddled under it as we sloshed our way to the pavilion for Fantasmic. We reached the entrance and handed over our dinner package ticket and are immediately told we can’t have an extended umbrella in the pavilion. Ugh. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes we come up with another bright idea…homemade ponchos!
We had a couple plastic Disney bags with us that were filled with various purchases made throughout the day, so we figured if we could get our hands on a couple more we could tear them up one side, wear it like a hat, and at least cover our head and shoulders. Well it wasn’t pretty, but it worked. Lauree was able to get a couple more bags from one of the souvenir carts, so we made our hats, and tore the extra one up both sides to use as a seat cover. Just as we sat down and laughed about how ridiculous we looked, the rain stopped, and the show started. We were both quite amused. After the show we hopped a bus back to Contemporary, watched Wishes from our balcony, and called it a night.
Day 7
We were again up around 8:30 and, you guessed it, had coffee and cake for breakfast. I have to admit that by this point I was getting a bit tired of the cake, but I hated to see it go to waste. We decided we’d spend the majority of the day at Magic Kingdom before heading back to the resort to freshen up before dinner at The Hoop De Doo Review. But first we had to stop at the gift shop to exchange the glasses I bought on Tuesday. At some point the day before, the frame broke. I assumed it happened while riding Rockin Rollercoaster or Tower of Terror but couldn’t be sure. Anyway, we had no problem getting them exchanged. I was able to find the same pair, tried them on quickly, and we were soon on our way to Magic Kingdom.
Just as we walked outside I put them on and immediately noticed a problem. The right lense was fine, but the left lense made me feel like everything I was looking at was underwater. Rather than turn back we went ahead and walked to the park and went in the gift shop near the entrance to see what we could do. The cast member at the counter was very understanding and told me I could pick out another pair. I was able to find the same design (which I really liked and were only 15 bucks), exchanged them, and took off towards Buzz Lightyear in my 4th pair of sunglasses for the week.
Neither of us did very well on Buzz Lightyear. We went ahead and blamed it on the guns, which made us feel a bit better. We did Carousel of Progress next. Somehow we managed to miss it on both of our previous trips so we were excited to finally see what it was all about. We both really enjoyed it, although I found myself humming “It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow” on and off for the rest of the day.
After Carousel of Progress we cut back through the middle of the park and rode Jungle Cruise after a 20 minute wait. Our driver (can’t recall his name) was quite good and kept us chuckling the whole ride. By this point we were both ready for lunch so we ate at El Pirata y El Perico. We were excited to try it as it was closed when we were here in September of 2008. Both of us ended up with beef tacos, and we split a Sprite, it was all good.
After lunch we rode Pirates of the Caribbean after a 10 minute wait. We then went and picked up FP’s for Splash Mountain (posted wait was 60 minutes), and got in line for Big Thunder Mountain. The wait said 20 minutes but the line was all the way out into the road (is that what it’s called? a path? a walkway?) so we decided to try our luck elsewhere, and check back later. The wait at Haunted Mansion was short so we rode it, and then stopped in the pin store to buy a lanyard and the metal clamps to hold the pins in place. Over the next 45 minutes we took in Mickey’s Philarmagic, Snow White, and the Carousel.
It was another hot day so we decided to break for a bit and head back up towards the front of the park to grab ice cream and watch the 3pm parade. The new “Celebrate” parade was quite fun. As it passed we ducked in to the ice cream shop, and afterwards decided we’d try to use our Splash Mountain fast passes. As we were walking back towards Splash Mountain, we caught up with the back of the parade and followed it for a while. We actually felt like we were part of it in a way!
We used our Splash Mountain fast passes, and then saw The Country Bear Jamboree, and The Enchanted Tiki Room before going back to try Big Thunder Mountain again. It had been closed for a short time but was back up and running. The posted wait time still said 20 minutes but it ended up being closer to 30. We didn’t have much time left before we had to head back to the resort so we walked to Mickey’s Toontown fair to look for wedding related items – specifically a photo album. Unfortunately we didn’t find one, but we did end up buying a frame we liked.
We left the park and walked back to the resort to drop of our stuff and clean up a bit before heading to Hoop de Doo. We had a very nice boat ride over except that about halfway there the frame on my less than 12 hours old sunglasses broke!….again!....while they were on my face! Fortunately I had quite a bit of practice exchanging them and figured we’d take care of it in the morning. When we arrived at Pioneer Hall we got our picture taken, and were given a special wedding pin by the cast member working the pin cart.
As we entered the hall we were taken to the “Honeymoon Table”. Right up front and right in the center. They immediately started bringing out food and drinks and the show started not long after. During the show they announced us as newlyweds, and we liked the picture so much we decided to buy it when it came around. The food was fantastic but the highlight of the evening came when Lauree was chosen to play the role of the can-can dancer. She did great and really hammed up her line. After dinner we had another relaxing boat ride back to the resort, and called it a day.
Day 8
Our last day started the same way the previous four had, cake and coffee. The cake was chocolate with a strawberry and dark chocolate cream filling. It was fantastic but after eating it for 6 straight days I was happy to see the rest of it go in the garbage. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take the top back with us to freeze and eat on our 1 year anniversary, but we’re planning on going back to celebrate the occasion and hope we can talk to someone about recreating it for us. After breakfast we pouted about leaving, cleaned the room, pouted, packed, and pouted some more.
The previous day our Magical Express info showed up, along with a boarding pass for me, but Lauree’s was nowhere to be found. So we went down to the check-in desk to figure out the flight “sitch” (darn you Kim Possible!) and get our bags checked in. We made it through that process fairly quickly, and since we didn’t have to be back until 5:00 for DME, decided to go back to Epcot. But before we could leave we had the final act of the sunglass saga to address. Fortunately, there was no problem getting them exchanged (for the 3rd time), and I decided that trying another style would probably be in my best interest. So the week’s fifth pair of sunglasses made their way onto my face, and we hopped on the monorail for Epcot.
We decided we’d spend the day touring World Showcase, and when our stomachs started to growl we’d stop for lunch. So we made our way around the lagoon clockwise, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the day. By the time we made it to Germany we were ready for a bite to eat. We each ended up with a brat, and we shared a pretzel. After lunch we continued our stroll around the world, and for the second time during the week, found ourselves at the right place at the right time for a photo opportunity. As we were enjoying the tea garden in the UK, we noticed Mary Poppins exiting one of the cottages and heading our way. The cast member who was with her must’ve assumed we were waiting for a picture, and made us the first ones in line. The exact same thing happened at the exact same place with Alice on Wednesday. As Yogi Berra once said, “It was déjà vu all over again.”
In my last trip report I asked for help finding Yuengling at someplace other than Fantasmic. Disnut8 was kind enough to let me know about a couple spots in Epcot where it can be had (I also found it at Yacht Club, Contemporary, and French Quarter). Oddly enough, we happened to find ourselves standing next to one (The Promenade Refreshments near the beginning of World Showcase at Future World) and decided we’d be doing ourselves a terrible injustice by not having one. It might be the Schlitz of the South for all I know, and I’m sure I wouldn’t feel as strongly about it if it was available in Indiana, but we’re big fans.
So we took our beers and walked through the butterfly exhibit and Tink’s Garden. We also walked through the flower and garden exhibit in the pavilion between Ellen and Mission Space, and were going to do Ellen’s Energy Adventure but didn’t have the 45 minutes to commit. So we rode Spaceship Earth one last time, and left the park.
We monorailed back to Contemporary and bussed to the airport. Even though the security lines were long we made it through in plenty of time. When we got to the terminal we found out we had a 20 minute delay so we had dinner at Outback and reminisced about the week. Our 40 minute layover in Atlanta was uneventful and we were soon home safe and sound.
Final Thoughts1.
1. If you’re pondering a Disney Wedding, or know someone who is, please encourage them to go ahead and do it. It was truly an unforgettable experience. Here’s a link to our pictures if you’re interested in getting an idea of what they do with the photography.
https://www.collages.net/ConsumerSite/GuestLogin.aspx?eventcode=458563
2. Contemporary is unbelievably nice. I made the comment in my 2008 trip report that, because of our vacation style, we’d be happy staying in a value resort. I still think that’s true, but I definitely see the attraction to staying in a deluxe resort.
3. The food and the service we received at the restaurants was all top notch. Absolutely no complaints.
4. Other than waiting for a boat at French Quarter for 45 minutes, we had zero transportation issues. DME, buses, monorail….all perfectly acceptable.
5. We're hoping to use our annual passes at least two more times before they expire, during the Food and Wine Festival, and next Spring around our anniversary.
6. My mother and father in law spent another day at WDW and visited Magic Kingdom. Hearing about their experience only reinforced the fact that you HAVE to do a bit of planning before your trip begins. I don’t think it’s necessary to work out every last detail (although I do :)) but you must have a good idea where you’re going and when, make dining arrangements if you want a decent meal, and if you like the rides (especially the popular ones) get to the parks early, and take advantage of Fast pass.
7. It’s been a pleasure sharing our trip with you! Thanks for taking the time to read it, and keep yours coming! Living vicariously through you all helps keep me sane between trips!
Saturday May 9th through Saturday May 16th, 2009
Participants
Me – Chris (32), groom and narrator
Lauree – (27), bride and much better half
23 immediate family members. 5 from my side, 18 from Lauree’s (she has 7 siblings!).
Travel Method
We are flying from Indianapolis to Orlando and using Disney transportation for the week. Our family is coming from Indianapolis, Chicago, and New Jersey by plane and from Chicago by car.
Resort
Lauree and I are staying at Contemporary. Our family is staying at Port Orleans French Quarter, All Star Movies, and off-site.
Experience
Chris – 1985 offsite, 2003 offsite, 02/07 POFQ, 09/08 POR
Lauree – 02/07 POFQ, 09/08 POR
Planning
We decided almost immediately after getting engaged at WDW in September 2008 that we wanted to get married there as well. So the planning began as soon as we arrived home in the fall. We contacted the Wedding group and were assigned a coordinator (Maxine – she was fantastic!) and began working on the details. We decided during our fall trip that we wanted to have the ceremony at The Yacht Club Wedding Gazebo, and have the reception at The Grand Floridian Whitehall Room. We also decided to have the ceremony on a Monday (May 11th) as opposed to a weekend as a way to save some money.
We spent the winter months going back and forth on food, music, and invitations, helping family make arrangements, and meeting by phone (generally once every couple weeks) with our Disney “wedding team.” The entire process from start to finish was nothing less that superb. Our questions were always answered in a friendly and timely manner, and to say that Disney is flexible is the understatement of the year. Several times throughout the process we made minor changes and each time we received an “absolutely no problem, we can make that happen.” From the planning process through the wedding day, everyone we worked with; planners, photographers, videographers, florists, etc. were great. We really felt like our wedding was the most important thing going on in the world at the time. Needless to say, we were both very sad when it was over.
We decided to spend the entire week at WDW for our honeymoon so I made some dinner reservations in advance. We passed on the dining plan this time around because there would have been 3 nights of our stay that we wouldn’t have been able to use it, so I don’t think we would’ve gotten our money’s worth. Our ADR’s were...
Raglan Road – Saturday @ 8:00pm
O’Hana – Tuesday @ 7:15pm
Yachtsman Steakhouse – Wednesday @ 6:30pm
Brown Derby (Fantasmic package) – Thursday @ 4:15pm
Hoop De Doo Review – Friday @ 7:15pm
Day 1
4:00 am wake up call. Waking up at a ridiculous time like that would normally be a multiple snooze button process but not this day, we were ready to go! We did a good job packing the night before and were ready as soon as the limo arrived at 5:15. One benefit of the early flight (7:22) was the absence of traffic. We had no issues getting to the new Indianapolis airport (which is very nice by the way) and were soon on our way to Orlando.
We arrived in Orlando at 9:30 and were moved quickly through the Magical Express queue and onto a bus. Lauree and I to Contemporary, Cierra and Grandma (my daughter and grandmother who flew with us) to Port Orleans French Quarter. The driver let us know almost immediately that Contemporary would be the 4th stop after Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Wilderness Lodge. We decided to perform a little experiment and got off the bus at the Polynesian. We were sick of being on the bus and thought that if we jumped on the monorail we might get to the Contemporary a bit faster. The end result was…no difference. We arrived at the Contemporary at the same time as the bus. Although I have to believe that our view was better.
We tried to check in but our room wasn’t ready and we were told to try back after three. During the check in process I realized that I left Cierra’s park pass at home and spoke with Chris at the front desk about our options. He disappeared for a few minutes before coming back with two 1 day park hoppers for her, and “Happily Ever After” buttons for us. We hadn’t been at WDW for more that 15 minutes and had already experienced some serious magic. We thanked him profusely, put on our pins, and made our way to the gift shop on the 4th floor for a snack and 2 Mother’s Day pins for our Moms for the next day.
We checked our carryon bags with bell services, and then walked to Magic Kingdom to grab a bus to French Quarter to pick up Cierra and Grandma. The four of us decided to spend the day at Hollywood Studios so we boarded a bus and were on our way. The first order of business upon arrival was to pick up our annual passes, and Grandma’s ticket, at will call. (As part of the wedding package we chose, Lauree and I both received annual park hopper passes, yay!) We were able to negotiate that process quickly, entered the park, and decided our first attraction would be…lunch. But not before seeing if there were any fast passes left for Toy Story Mania. Of course there weren’t, but the standby wait wasn’t bad (50 mins.) so we figured we’d give it a try after eating at Studio Catering Co. We ended up ordering a pulled pork sandwich, a chicken drumstick kid’s meal, and a hotdog with a large drink. It was all fine, pretty much what you’d expect for quick service. The total for Lauree, Cierra and I was $28.55
After lunch we went back to Toy Story and saw that the wait had increased to 60 minutes. This would be Cierra’s only day at Hollywood Studio’s so we went ahead and jumped in the standby line. Fortunately the wait only ended up being about 40 minutes. Love this attraction. I scored 168,400 to Grandmas 25,400. I realize it’s probably in poor taste to beat up on my Grandma like that, but my competitive spirit knows no bounds. Cierra had her heart set on Rockin Rollercoaster (she finally built up the courage to try it this trip) so we took off towards Sunset Boulevard. As we passed Voyage of The Little Mermaid, we noticed there was no wait so we went in for the show and got a nice break from the sun. After Little Mermaid, we continued our trek to RnR where we decided to grab fast passes rather than wait in the 45 minute standby line.
Grandma and Cierra wanted ice cream so they took a break while Lauree and I did Tower of Terror two times in a row with very little wait. Finally our fast pass time was posted for Rockin Rollercoaster so we rode it and Cierra loved it. She immediately wanted to ride again but we were running short on time and wanted to make sure we saw Lights, Motors, Action before we left. On the way to the LMA pavilion, Lauree and I stopped for ice cream and received special (I’m assuming) ice cream cones w/ Mickey ears on them. We missed LMA when we came last fall due to maintenance so we were excited to see it. Unfortunately the hero’s car was having some technical difficulties so some of the stunts were a bit tamer than normal, but it was fun nonetheless.
It was time to call it a day at Hollywood Studios so Cierra and Grandma hopped a bus to French Quarter to freshen up before dinner, and Lauree and I grabbed a bus to All Star Movies to pick up her Dad, Chad. He decided to drive to Orlando from Chicago rather than fly, which turned out to be a huge help for us. He stopped in Indy on his way down to pick up two extra suitcases full of wedding related stuff. Doing so kept us from dealing with the hassle, and cost, of flying with them. The bus dropped us off fairly close to the All Star Movies main entrance so we walked in to check out the lobby and food court. Both looked very nice. We took a quick look at the resort map out by the pool and zigzagged our way to room 6958. The room was brightly colored w/ a Herbie theme, very fun. It had a similar feel to a Moderate resort room, just with a smaller TV and no coffee maker.
So we jumped in Chad’s car and followed the signs to Contemporary to drop off the suitcases he brought for us, and hopefully get checked into our room. Our room was indeed ready and we were stunned to find out that they had upgraded us, at no charge, from a Garden Wing room to a Tower room with Magic Kingdom view (4736)! Actually stunned isn’t quite the right word, overwhelmed and ecstatic are probably more appropriate. We dropped off the bags and spent several minutes carrying on like small children before driving over to French Quarter to meet my 5 family members (and 7 of Lauree's 18) for dinner at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney.
Here comes my only real complaint of the week. I made reservations for us thinking it would be nice to ride the boat over and back together since almost everyone was staying at French Quarter, and it would be a bit more relaxing than taking the bus. Wrong. We waited almost 45 minutes to get a boat, and had to split the group in half to make it work. The problem (I think) is that the boat comes from Riverside first where everyone waiting is able to board. So by the time the boat leaves for French Quarter, there are only 3-4 seats available. This is pure speculation on my part because I didn’t see the line at Riverside, but if I’m right; Disney should cut off the line there and let them know they have to leave room for folks at French Quarter so wait times are equitable. Just a thought. Now if I was staying at Riverside I’d probably say to hell with the people at French Quarter, they can wait! Just kidding :).
I took the first boat and ran to Raglan Road, checking in about 10 minutes late (I called from the boat to let them know and they were very understanding). It ended up working out fine because they called our name just as the rest of the group arrived. Everyone thought the food was excellent, and the atmosphere great, but it is definitely not a place for intimate conversation. We were seated right next to the band, which was very loud and very good. I’m half Irish half German (a disciplined drinker?) so I’m a big fan of Irish pubs. I’d love to go back sometime when it’s just Lauree and I. Because it was so loud, I found myself worrying about everyone having a good time, especially after the long wait for the boats. The big excitement of the evening occurred when Cierra ate a scallop for the first time. She’s never been a big fan of seafood so Lauree and I were quite excited to 1. see her actually try some, and 2. enjoy it.
After dinner we all went back to French Quarter by boat and said our goodnights. Chad drove the two of us back to Contemporary and we wrapped up the day by watching the new and improved Stacey video, which gets two thumbs up in my opinion.
Day 2
We were up at 6:30 for tux fitting at French Quarter at 8:00. Chad again drove over from All Star Movies to pick us up, and while we were delayed by triathlon traffic for 20 minutes, everything worked out fine and we got to French Quarter right at 8. We only had minor issues w/ the tuxes; my brother’s pants were a bit short (they were fixed later that day) and my father in law’s jacket was snug, but otherwise no big problems. After the fitting we all had breakfast at the French Quarter food court. I had the western omelet which was quite good.
We planned on spending the day at Epcot since the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were at The Yacht and Beach Club starting at 5pm. Everyone seemed to be moving at their own pace and direction so Lauree, Cameron (my brother), Chad, and I decided to head to Epcot, and we’d meet everyone else throughout the day. The trip over took considerably longer than usual due to the triathlon, but we arrived without issue and spent several minutes at the entrance taking pictures and enjoying the Flower and Garden Festival topiaries.
Lauree and I made goody bags for all of our guests and passed them out at dinner the night before. However we still had 2 left for her older brothers who arrived late Saturday evening. Since we would see them at the rehearsal dinner we brought them along to put in a locker for the day. I went ahead and gave Lauree my park ticket, and the three of them left for Soarin’ to grab fast passes and wait for me while I walked quickly to the International Gateway to rent a locker. There were very few people in the park at this point and World Showcase hadn’t opened yet so I was able to get there and back fairly quickly. The standby wait was almost 40 minutes but we had fun with the games in the queue. The ride was great although Lauree and I both thought that our scent sprayers were faulty. We didn’t get a whiff of orange or pine.
As we exited the ride, Lauree got a call from her Mom to let us know they were touring World Showcase. We figured her younger brothers (Steve, Andy, and Charley) would enjoy doing the Future World attractions so I offered to pick them up assuming they’d be in Mexico or Canada. Nope, they were in Germany. So again I walked quickly through World Showcase, grabbed the three of them, and went back to The Land to meet the others for a picture w/ Chip and Dale.
As we finished our picture, my folks, Grandma, and Cierra came off Soarin’ so we visited with them for a few minutes before splitting off into groups again. Chad decided to go back to All Star Movies to rest for a bit, my parents and Grandma wanted to tour World Showcase, and the rest of us felt the pull of Test Track. We waited about 25 minutes in the standby line and enjoyed the ride. We would have been through quicker but the ride stopped at one point due to some technical issues. From the standby line we could see a car stuck on the banked turn near the ride entrance. They looked really uncomfortable and had to hold on to the high side of the vehicle to keep from squishing each other.
The temperature was expected to be near record highs (97) so after Test Track we cut through Mouse Gear and went to Cool Zone for frozen cokes. I was able to convince the boys to try the Beverly and they responded exactly how you’d expect. After that we all went to ride the green side on Mission Space, then went back to Mouse Gear to look for souvenirs. While we were in Mouse Gear Andy and Cierra mentioned that they would like to try the orange side of Mission Space so I begrudgingly agreed to escort them on their trip to Mars. I hadn’t ever tried the intense side before because (unlike drops, speed, and flips) I hate spinning. Holy cow what a difference. The g-forces you experience on orange aren’t anything like green. I spent almost the entire ride with my eyes closed focused on slow deep breathing, although I was with it enough to complete my duties as pilot. While Cierra and I emerged with our breakfast still in our stomachs, Andy wasn’t so lucky. Unfortunately our shuttle didn’t have the necessary supply of motion sickness bags, so his shorts paid the price. So after some good natured ribbing from his older brother, we made yet another trip to Mouse Gear to pick him up a new pair of shorts.
After Mouse Gear, we dropped the boys and Cierra off w/ Lauree’s Mom and Stepdad (they rented a van and were going to drive to Yacht Club) and Lauree, Cameron, and I went to use the Soarin fast passes we picked up earlier. The wait was a bit longer than we expected so we had to jog/walk to Yacht Club to keep from being late to our own wedding rehearsal. While we weren’t late we were the last ones to arrive and caught some grief for it. Our planner (Maxine) and officiant (Ron) were both there to lead us through the next day’s events, and after a couple run-through’s, deemed us ready for the big day.
After the wedding rehearsal we all walked over to Ariel’s at Beach Club for a buffet dinner. We had a great time sharing stories and talking about our day(s). The food was great and I think everyone agreed that the apple cobbler w/ ice cream for dessert was about the best they’d ever had. Sufficiently stuffed and tired, the majority of the group decided to head back to French Quarter, while Lauree, Cierra, Helena (Lauree’s sister), Chad, Lauree’s two older brothers and their boys, and I decided to stay and hang out by the Beach Club pool for awhile and visit some more. Cierra and Helena (the bridesmaids) were going to spend the night with Lauree so they had bags with them for the next day. They planned on going back to Contemporary to swim, but figured since they were at the Beach Club pool they’d go ahead and swim there. I thought it was a great idea because the Beach Club pool is at least 1000 times better then the pool at Contemporary. Maybe even 2000 times.
At about 8:50 I decided I’d say my goodnights and walk back over to Epcot to catch Illuminations and a bus back to French Quarter where I’d be bunking with my folks for the night. I was disappointed that Lauree wasn’t there to watch the show with me so I only kept one eye on it as I walked back up to the front of the park. A bus pulled up as soon as I got there and I was at French Quarter in no time. I wasn’t quite ready for bed so I decided to go for a quick swim and spent 20 minutes or so floating around the pool before going back to the room. My Dad arranged for a cot to be brought in for me, and while it made a valiant effort at impersonating a bed, it wasn’t quite the real deal.
Day 3 Wedding Day!
My side of the story.…
Tossed and turned for a bit (trying to get as much rest as possible for the big day) but finally had to get up at 8am. Lazed around the room for awhile and chatted with my Dad before hopping on the internet to do some additional research on the company I was having a 10am interview with. Yes, that’s right; I scheduled an interview on my wedding day. I figured I wasn’t doing anything in the morning anyway, plus it would show some serious commitment on my part if I was willing to take time out of my special day to speak with them. (It went very well and after another 3 rounds of interviews, I got the job!)
After the interview I went to the food court to grab some breakfast. I showed up just as everyone else was finishing. When they left I found a nice quiet spot outside to enjoy my western omelet in peace. After breakfast I went back to the room and changed into my bathing suit. On the way to the pool I stopped at the gift shop and bought a Wall Street Journal to peruse. I ended up alternately swimming, reading, and napping for the next couple hours. Fortunately I was able to find a break in that hectic schedule to grab a Yuengling and a slice of pizza for lunch. At 2pm the space shuttle launched, but unfortunately there was too much cloud cover to see it, although I did catch a glimpse of the contrail at one point.
I finally made it back to the room at 2:25 to get ready (which made my Mom very nervous) but was ready and out the door at 3pm for pictures. The first round of cars took me, my Mom, and my Dad (in a vintage 1958 Rolls Royce Phantom!) as well as my future step-father-in-law and groomsmen (Cameron and Steve) to Yacht Club. We spent about 30 minutes taking pictures in various settings in and around the resort before Mom, Dad, Cameron, and I were sequestered in the Crews Cup Lounge so Lauree could arrive and have her pictures done. We had a drink and watched Sportscenter until 4:45 when it was time to head to the ceremony.
The ceremony went great. Both of us were able to hold it together for the most part. Although I have to admit that I almost lost it when I turned around and saw Lauree coming down the aisle with Cannon D playing. She was beautiful!
After the ceremony, all of our guests were shuttled to the Grand Floridian for the pre-reception while we spent about 45 minutes walking around the resort taking pictures. It was very cool to have so many eyes on us, and we got quite a few well wishes and congratulations from guests as they walked by.
So we hopped back in the Rolls Royce and drove to the reception at the Grand Floridian Whitehall room. We got there about 10 minutes early (6:50) so they took us into one of the other banquet rooms to enjoy a drink and some of the pre-reception appetizers. Right at 7 we were introduced as a couple and enjoyed our first dance together.
The rest of the night was a complete blur. We went through the normal reception events; cake cutting (we decided to be nice and not shove cake in each other’s faces) dancing with our parents, dancing with each other, and eating entirely too much. Our wedding planner gave us a set of matching watches as a gift. I’m sure it’s SOP but we were floored and very grateful. The food was fantastic! We had the shrimp cocktail for an appetizer along with ceasar salad. For the main course some guests had steak and chicken while others had mahi-mahi. At 10pm we all went out to the marina for some final pictures, and watched Wishes. It was an amazing way to end one of the best days of my life. After the fireworks we said goodbye to everyone and rode back to the Contemporary.
Day 4
This morning would be the first day of what would become a theme for us for the rest of the week. We had about twice as much wedding cake as we needed so we ended up boxing up the rest and took it back to the resort with us. So it would be coffee and cake for breakfast for the next 5 days. I’m pretty sure I could have breakfast on the balcony of the Contemporary every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.
We also decided that this would be a day of rest since we’d done nothing but go-go-go for the past few days. It would be the first day ever that I’d wake up at The Kingdom and not go immediately to a park. I had a feeling it would be difficult for me to handle, but I actually ended up being quite content. Being lazy and enjoying our first day as newlyweds was a wonderful way to spend the day.
Around 11am Chad came by to pick up Lauree’s dress (and some other wedding related stuff we didn’t need) to drive it home. After helping him take everything down to his car we decided to hit the pool and have some lunch. Unfortunately we had to stop at the gift shop first for a new pair of sunglasses because mine ended up going home with my parents (I handed them to my Mom right before pictures started yesterday). It seems my issues with sunglasses at WDW will never end. When we came in 2007 I left them in a pouch on Space Mountain and had to buy a replacement pair, and when we came in 2008 I forgot them entirely and had to buy a pair at the airport. I almost talked myself into a new pair of Ray Ban’s, but since my luck with glasses has been so bad, I thought it would turn out to be a tremendous waste of money. So I settled on a pair of $15 cheapies, and we headed to the quick service restaurant/bar by the pool. I ordered a bacon double cheeseburger with fries and a Yeungling, and Lauree got a hotdog with fries and a Mai Tai. We sat next to the lake and ate. It was very nice.
We said to hell with the 1 hour rule and jumped in the pool after we finished eating. We each went down the very underwhelming waterslide a few times and generally floated around and enjoyed the day. As we swam we had a couple girls from Bowling Green KY latch on to us. 4 year old Jasmine and 6 year old Journey. We had fun playing w/ them for a bit before the sky got dark, so we decided to head back to the room.
We ended up taking a nap for a couple hours before getting ready for our 7:15 ADR at O’hana. We made it down to the monorail about 20 minutes before our reservation (thinking we’d have plenty of time) but since it stops at Magic Kingdom first it was almost packed each time a train pulled up, so we had to wait for about 15 minutes before one arrived with room. We made it to the Polynesian right on time and waited about 15 minutes before being called to a table.
Dinner was fantastic but I’m not at all proud of what I did to myself during the process. I ended up eating 2 dumplings, 2 wings, some noodles, some broccoli, some bread, some salad, 2 pieces of pork, a piece of turkey, 3 pieces of steak, a dozen shrimp and an entire bread pudding a la mode. Needless to say I did not feel good about myself when it was all said and done.
There was no way I was going to be able to call it a night after the debauchery at O’hana, so we decided to head to downtown Disney to do some shopping, and see if we could get our watches sized at World of Disney. A bus arrived at the Poly almost immediately and we were at Downtown Disney in no time. We had no problem getting our watches sized and Lauree bought herself a long sleeve organic t-shirt while we were there. After World of Disney we went to the Christmas store and bought ourselves, our parents, and Lauree’s friend who helped size Cierra's dress a Christmas ornament before calling it a night and heading back to Contemporary around 11. We didn’t have to wait long for a bus and were back to the resort in no time.
Day 5
We woke up around 8am and took our time getting ready. Oddly enough we had coffee and wedding cake on the balcony for breakfast. Our plan was to do Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon. We’d hit our favorites at Animal Kingdom before busing to Epcot to do the rest of the Flower and Garden Festival and the Kim Possible attraction.
We walked downstairs and right on to a waiting Animal Kingdom bus. When we got there we made a bee line for Expedition Everest where we grabbed fast passes and jumped in standby for a 20 minute wait. The wait ended up being nice because we were able to check out some of the queue stuff that we hadn’t seen before. I’m amazed by how much climbing gear they have on display. As an outdoor enthusiast I can attest to the fact that that stuff isn’t cheap. They definitely spare no expense when it comes to creating a realistic environment. After EE we went to Primeval Whirl (it was closed when we were here in the fall) and waited about 15 minutes there before riding. Even though there is something a bit “county fair” about this ride, I kind of get a kick out of it. Especially the “bye-bye” at the end.
After Primeval Whirl we walked directly into a briefing room for Dinosaur. I seem to enjoy this ride more every time I ride it. I think I’m getting used to the intensity of the ride vehicle and the noise, which makes it better in my opinion. We wanted to do Kilimanjaro Safaris next so we took off towards Africa but noticed that there was only a 5 minute posted wait for It’s Tough to Be a Bug. We actually ended up walking directly into the theatre, no wait at all. We finally arrived at Kilimanjaro Safaris and were greeting with a 50 minute standby wait, and a fast pass return time for much later than we wanted to be at Animal Kingdom so we passed. As hot as it was we probably wouldn’t have seen many animals anyway.
Lunch and our Expedition Everest fast passes were the last things on our list before leaving for Epcot, so we walked back towards Asia and grabbed lunch at Yak and Yeti. I had the sweet and sour pork, Lauree had the shrimp lo mien, and we split an order of egg rolls. I think it was all very good for quick service, and the portions were large. The total was $25.85. After lunch we used our Expedition Everest fast passes and left the park. An Epcot bus left just as we walked up so we waited about 15 minutes or so before another one arrived.
Once we arrived at Epcot we took some pictures towards the front of the park, and then walked right on Spaceship Earth. I’m happy to report that our future looks very bright. We then stopped at Cool Zone for a couple samples, before going to the Kim Possible stand at the entrance to World Showcase to sign up for a mission. Our ticket told us to be in Italy at 2:45 so we walked over to Mexico and rode the Gran Fiesta Tour with no wait. We took our time walking through Norway, China, and The Outpost before stopping in Germany for a Spaten (for me) and a Coke (for Lauree). We also browsed the gift shop for a while and Lauree found a Smurfs T-shirt she liked and bought it.
Finding the Kim Possible stand proved to be a bit difficult but we finally stumbled upon it and picked up our Kimmunicator, which directed us to our mission in Germany. I think we both ended up having much more fun with it than we were expecting. Once we saved the world in Germany, we decided to go ahead and do the missions in Japan and France. Apparently we are easily amused.
We had about an hour and a half to kill before our 6:30 reservation at Yachtsman so we went to the imagination pavilion to ride Figment, then waited a few minutes between shows for Honey I Shrunk The Audience. The waits at both of those attractions were short so we went to the Seas and rode Nemo, and then walked right into a Turtle Talk w/ Crush show. This was the 1st time we’d seen it and I was surprised at how much fun it was. We both especially enjoyed listening to the kids interact with Crush.
It was almost time for dinner so we started walking towards the International Gateway. On our way we stopped at a pin stand for a Flower and Garden Festival pin, and ended up at Yacht Club about 10 minutes before our reservation. We checked in and were seated within a few minutes. We decided to have a bottle of wine and, since the steaks were so large, we split an entrée. So we ended up with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir, split a Caesar salad, enjoyed the bread that was provided, and split the 20 oz NY Strip w/ mashed potatoes. It turned out to be the perfect amount of food, and we left very satisfied with both the quality and quantity of the meal.
There was still about an hour to kill before Illuminations so we spent a little time in the Yacht Club gift shop where we bought a Yacht Club pin, and a print of the resort from the lake side. We then walked back into Epcot and found a nice spot between the UK and Canada to watch Illuminations. This is without a doubt my favorite way to end a day at WDW. Once Illuminations ended we left the park with the rest of the masses and made it onto the 2nd monorail to arrive. We had a bit of a wait at the TTC for a transfer monorail, but were soon back at the resort. We decided to spend a few minutes in the pool and hot tub to rest our aching muscles, and then called it a night.
Day 6
We woke up around 8:30 and once again enjoyed coffee and cake on the balcony. After breakfast we got ready and hoped on a bus for Hollywood Studios, arriving around 10 to a fairly empty park. We beelined for Toy Story, grabbed a fast pass, and jumped in the standby line. The wait wasn’t bad, about 30 minutes, and our scores weren’t bad either. I think I was just below 200k and Lauree was around 145k.
After Toy Story we walked back to the board to check out wait times for Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. Wait times were short, and the crowd was still pretty light, so we figured we could probably ride each a couple times, but we decided to grab lunch first since we had an early dinner reservation at Brown Derby(4:20). We ended up deciding on Pizza Planet. I had a pepperoni pizza with a salad, and Lauree had the cheese pizza with a salad. We split a Sprite and the total was $20 even. Lunch was quite good and we were both entertained by the family sitting a couple tables away. They were apparently trying to recreate the movie “The Birds,” by feeding them their pizza remains. By the time they were done I’m pretty certain every bird in Central Florida knew about the free pizza being distributed at Pizza Planet.
After lunch we thought we’d do Muppet Vision. While waiting in line I remembered something I’d read in a blog about a key under the mat at the entrance. We checked and sure enough, there it was, just like the sign said. It’s a goofy little thing I suppose, but that attention to detail is part of the charm for us, and makes us want to keep coming back. We know that we will always pick up on something we missed on previous trips.
After Muppet Vision we went to Rockin Rollercoaster and as we were entering the standby line, a lady gave us two fast passes. We decided to go ahead and ride standby (the wait was only 15 minutes) and then went and picked up Tower of Terror fast passes and rode standby there as well. After Tower of Terror we rode The Great Movie Ride and did The Back Lot Tour. I hadn’t heard about any changes to The Back Lot Tour, but I’m guessing that they’re experimenting with an automated guide instead of a live one. Unfortunately it must not have been working because we spent 75% of the ride in silence.
We went back to use our Tower of Terror fast passes, then our “free” Rockin Rollercoaster fast passes, and on way back to use our Toy Story fast passes we picked up earlier in the day, we stopped for frozen lemonade at the candy store. As we were paying, the cast member noticed our “Just Married” buttons, asked us to wait a second, and came back with two chocolate covered marshmallows! It’s really a shame those buttons don’t work like that in the real world. After our marshmallows and lemonade we used our Toy Story fast passes and made a critical error we won’t repeat on future trips. While riding Toy Story and pulling furiously on the firing mechanism, it’s not uncommon for shoulders and elbows to go flying (at least for us it’s not). So when you have two people who are opposite handed (Lauree is a righty, I am a lefty), and they sit so that their pulling hand is on the inside of the ride vehicle, there exists the distinct possibility that one of them will walk away with a busted lip or bruised ribs. Fortunately we happen to like each other quite a bit, and decided to sacrifice our scores instead of our bodies. But we were both pretty bummed that we weren’t able to give 100%.
We still had some time before our dinner reservation so we walked through One Man’s Dream and, for the first time, saw the movie. After the movie we walked through a couple gift shops before heading to The Brown Derby for our 4:20 dinner reservation. We checked in and were seated within a few minutes. I’d heard great things about Brown Derby but came away even more impressed than I was expecting. We had a delightful waitress (Cheryl?) who took our picture shortly after we sat down. We assumed she had something in store for us but forgot about it quickly as we perused the menu. After ordering, she came out with a very nice flyer with our picture in it highlighting our visit to the restaurant, along with two glasses of champagne with strawberries. Dinner came shortly after and was fantastic. Since we purchased the Fantasmic Dinner Package we both got a drink, appetizer, entrée, and dessert. I had the crab cake appetizer with the NY strip and bananas foster dessert. Lauree had a bowl of soup(?), some pork dish, and the chocolate cake. We both waddled out of the restaurant fat and happy.
We’d done pretty much everything we wanted to do, but still had quite a bit of time before Fantasmic, so we decided to see the 6pm American Idol Experience Show. We walked in just as they were filling the auditorium, and immediately noticed how similar it was to “the real thing.” We definitely felt like part of the actual show. The three competitors were quite good, but in the end the audience decided to send a young lady from TX to the 7pm finale.
It had been cloudy most of the afternoon, and unfortunately right as we were exiting the attraction, it began to rain. Instead of running through it to find something else to do, we slipped back in line to see the final show of the evening, where the day’s winner would be determined. The auditorium was filled to capacity (it was about 2/3 full @ 6) and there was much more excitement this time around. The competitors were all great, and the young lady who won the 6pm show ended up winning the finale as well.
Unfortunately it was still raining after the 7pm show, and of course we left our ponchos back at the resort. Neither of us was terribly excited about hanging out in the rain but this was our one shot at Fantasmic so we came up the bright idea to purchase an umbrella. We didn’t see any benefit in owning 4 ponchos, and figured we could use the umbrella when we got home. So we bought an umbrella and huddled under it as we sloshed our way to the pavilion for Fantasmic. We reached the entrance and handed over our dinner package ticket and are immediately told we can’t have an extended umbrella in the pavilion. Ugh. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes we come up with another bright idea…homemade ponchos!
We had a couple plastic Disney bags with us that were filled with various purchases made throughout the day, so we figured if we could get our hands on a couple more we could tear them up one side, wear it like a hat, and at least cover our head and shoulders. Well it wasn’t pretty, but it worked. Lauree was able to get a couple more bags from one of the souvenir carts, so we made our hats, and tore the extra one up both sides to use as a seat cover. Just as we sat down and laughed about how ridiculous we looked, the rain stopped, and the show started. We were both quite amused. After the show we hopped a bus back to Contemporary, watched Wishes from our balcony, and called it a night.
Day 7
We were again up around 8:30 and, you guessed it, had coffee and cake for breakfast. I have to admit that by this point I was getting a bit tired of the cake, but I hated to see it go to waste. We decided we’d spend the majority of the day at Magic Kingdom before heading back to the resort to freshen up before dinner at The Hoop De Doo Review. But first we had to stop at the gift shop to exchange the glasses I bought on Tuesday. At some point the day before, the frame broke. I assumed it happened while riding Rockin Rollercoaster or Tower of Terror but couldn’t be sure. Anyway, we had no problem getting them exchanged. I was able to find the same pair, tried them on quickly, and we were soon on our way to Magic Kingdom.
Just as we walked outside I put them on and immediately noticed a problem. The right lense was fine, but the left lense made me feel like everything I was looking at was underwater. Rather than turn back we went ahead and walked to the park and went in the gift shop near the entrance to see what we could do. The cast member at the counter was very understanding and told me I could pick out another pair. I was able to find the same design (which I really liked and were only 15 bucks), exchanged them, and took off towards Buzz Lightyear in my 4th pair of sunglasses for the week.
Neither of us did very well on Buzz Lightyear. We went ahead and blamed it on the guns, which made us feel a bit better. We did Carousel of Progress next. Somehow we managed to miss it on both of our previous trips so we were excited to finally see what it was all about. We both really enjoyed it, although I found myself humming “It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow” on and off for the rest of the day.
After Carousel of Progress we cut back through the middle of the park and rode Jungle Cruise after a 20 minute wait. Our driver (can’t recall his name) was quite good and kept us chuckling the whole ride. By this point we were both ready for lunch so we ate at El Pirata y El Perico. We were excited to try it as it was closed when we were here in September of 2008. Both of us ended up with beef tacos, and we split a Sprite, it was all good.
After lunch we rode Pirates of the Caribbean after a 10 minute wait. We then went and picked up FP’s for Splash Mountain (posted wait was 60 minutes), and got in line for Big Thunder Mountain. The wait said 20 minutes but the line was all the way out into the road (is that what it’s called? a path? a walkway?) so we decided to try our luck elsewhere, and check back later. The wait at Haunted Mansion was short so we rode it, and then stopped in the pin store to buy a lanyard and the metal clamps to hold the pins in place. Over the next 45 minutes we took in Mickey’s Philarmagic, Snow White, and the Carousel.
It was another hot day so we decided to break for a bit and head back up towards the front of the park to grab ice cream and watch the 3pm parade. The new “Celebrate” parade was quite fun. As it passed we ducked in to the ice cream shop, and afterwards decided we’d try to use our Splash Mountain fast passes. As we were walking back towards Splash Mountain, we caught up with the back of the parade and followed it for a while. We actually felt like we were part of it in a way!
We used our Splash Mountain fast passes, and then saw The Country Bear Jamboree, and The Enchanted Tiki Room before going back to try Big Thunder Mountain again. It had been closed for a short time but was back up and running. The posted wait time still said 20 minutes but it ended up being closer to 30. We didn’t have much time left before we had to head back to the resort so we walked to Mickey’s Toontown fair to look for wedding related items – specifically a photo album. Unfortunately we didn’t find one, but we did end up buying a frame we liked.
We left the park and walked back to the resort to drop of our stuff and clean up a bit before heading to Hoop de Doo. We had a very nice boat ride over except that about halfway there the frame on my less than 12 hours old sunglasses broke!….again!....while they were on my face! Fortunately I had quite a bit of practice exchanging them and figured we’d take care of it in the morning. When we arrived at Pioneer Hall we got our picture taken, and were given a special wedding pin by the cast member working the pin cart.
As we entered the hall we were taken to the “Honeymoon Table”. Right up front and right in the center. They immediately started bringing out food and drinks and the show started not long after. During the show they announced us as newlyweds, and we liked the picture so much we decided to buy it when it came around. The food was fantastic but the highlight of the evening came when Lauree was chosen to play the role of the can-can dancer. She did great and really hammed up her line. After dinner we had another relaxing boat ride back to the resort, and called it a day.
Day 8
Our last day started the same way the previous four had, cake and coffee. The cake was chocolate with a strawberry and dark chocolate cream filling. It was fantastic but after eating it for 6 straight days I was happy to see the rest of it go in the garbage. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take the top back with us to freeze and eat on our 1 year anniversary, but we’re planning on going back to celebrate the occasion and hope we can talk to someone about recreating it for us. After breakfast we pouted about leaving, cleaned the room, pouted, packed, and pouted some more.
The previous day our Magical Express info showed up, along with a boarding pass for me, but Lauree’s was nowhere to be found. So we went down to the check-in desk to figure out the flight “sitch” (darn you Kim Possible!) and get our bags checked in. We made it through that process fairly quickly, and since we didn’t have to be back until 5:00 for DME, decided to go back to Epcot. But before we could leave we had the final act of the sunglass saga to address. Fortunately, there was no problem getting them exchanged (for the 3rd time), and I decided that trying another style would probably be in my best interest. So the week’s fifth pair of sunglasses made their way onto my face, and we hopped on the monorail for Epcot.
We decided we’d spend the day touring World Showcase, and when our stomachs started to growl we’d stop for lunch. So we made our way around the lagoon clockwise, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the day. By the time we made it to Germany we were ready for a bite to eat. We each ended up with a brat, and we shared a pretzel. After lunch we continued our stroll around the world, and for the second time during the week, found ourselves at the right place at the right time for a photo opportunity. As we were enjoying the tea garden in the UK, we noticed Mary Poppins exiting one of the cottages and heading our way. The cast member who was with her must’ve assumed we were waiting for a picture, and made us the first ones in line. The exact same thing happened at the exact same place with Alice on Wednesday. As Yogi Berra once said, “It was déjà vu all over again.”
In my last trip report I asked for help finding Yuengling at someplace other than Fantasmic. Disnut8 was kind enough to let me know about a couple spots in Epcot where it can be had (I also found it at Yacht Club, Contemporary, and French Quarter). Oddly enough, we happened to find ourselves standing next to one (The Promenade Refreshments near the beginning of World Showcase at Future World) and decided we’d be doing ourselves a terrible injustice by not having one. It might be the Schlitz of the South for all I know, and I’m sure I wouldn’t feel as strongly about it if it was available in Indiana, but we’re big fans.
So we took our beers and walked through the butterfly exhibit and Tink’s Garden. We also walked through the flower and garden exhibit in the pavilion between Ellen and Mission Space, and were going to do Ellen’s Energy Adventure but didn’t have the 45 minutes to commit. So we rode Spaceship Earth one last time, and left the park.
We monorailed back to Contemporary and bussed to the airport. Even though the security lines were long we made it through in plenty of time. When we got to the terminal we found out we had a 20 minute delay so we had dinner at Outback and reminisced about the week. Our 40 minute layover in Atlanta was uneventful and we were soon home safe and sound.
Final Thoughts1.
1. If you’re pondering a Disney Wedding, or know someone who is, please encourage them to go ahead and do it. It was truly an unforgettable experience. Here’s a link to our pictures if you’re interested in getting an idea of what they do with the photography.
https://www.collages.net/ConsumerSite/GuestLogin.aspx?eventcode=458563
2. Contemporary is unbelievably nice. I made the comment in my 2008 trip report that, because of our vacation style, we’d be happy staying in a value resort. I still think that’s true, but I definitely see the attraction to staying in a deluxe resort.
3. The food and the service we received at the restaurants was all top notch. Absolutely no complaints.
4. Other than waiting for a boat at French Quarter for 45 minutes, we had zero transportation issues. DME, buses, monorail….all perfectly acceptable.
5. We're hoping to use our annual passes at least two more times before they expire, during the Food and Wine Festival, and next Spring around our anniversary.
6. My mother and father in law spent another day at WDW and visited Magic Kingdom. Hearing about their experience only reinforced the fact that you HAVE to do a bit of planning before your trip begins. I don’t think it’s necessary to work out every last detail (although I do :)) but you must have a good idea where you’re going and when, make dining arrangements if you want a decent meal, and if you like the rides (especially the popular ones) get to the parks early, and take advantage of Fast pass.
7. It’s been a pleasure sharing our trip with you! Thanks for taking the time to read it, and keep yours coming! Living vicariously through you all helps keep me sane between trips!