Sara & Ryan's Wishes PJ & TR ~ 8/17/10 WP/GF/Marina ~ 1/22 Thank you! [Archive] - Page 5 - The DIS Discussion Forums

pezaddict231

11-06-2010, 11:02 PM

So everyone had a great time dancing with Mickey and Minnie and it definitely felt like a good amount of time, if anyone is concerned that half an hour seems to short.

Then DH and I went into the hallway for just some pictures of us with Mickey and Minnie. Some of my favorites.

luckily DH is not the jealous type
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my heart to heart with Mickey. I had asked him when he was going to propose to Minnie and he emptied his pockets, I guess Minnie wants a really big rock. :rotfl:
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thinking it was about time for them to leave, I asked if it was okay if Mickey and Minnie took a picture with some of the kids. So they did that and we headed back to the dance floor.

But then Minnie and Mickey came back to do the group photo. SO it worked out that we got a group picture with Mickey and Minnie which was even better than just doing it at the WP.

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After that the DJ announced that it was almost time for the fireworks, so to follow Mickey and Minnie to the dessert party. I definitely did not expect this at all and it was really fun to have Mickey and Minnie escort us. They walked down the hall with us and held the doors for everyone, so everyone got to say goodbye on their way to the dessert party.

Our DP was at the GF Marina and it was the perfect location for our group. I think Sago may have been too long and narrow for us, I liked how the Marina is more rounded. There were also a bunch of hotel guests around so it was a little like being a celebrity which was fun.

The view, even the castle matched my colors ;)
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our repurposed centerpieces.
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The food! We really had way too much and I wish I had picked different items because it was so hot and some things didn't do as well as others. I would have nixed the cheesecake lollipops because even though they were awesome at the tasting they were melting and almost impossible to eat. The tiramisu martinis on the other hand, totally awesome!
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We had mini coconut tarts, if you've ever had the coconut kiki tart at Kona Cafe this is what they were like.
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Chocolate covered strawberries...delicious!
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in this photo you can see how the drinks were set up. There were two warm chocolate shots. White chocolate with Amaretto and a non-alcoholic milk chocolate. Again something that was a great idea, just not when it's feels like 100 degrees out. I wish we had some iced coffee or punch or something instead. There was ice water so that was good.
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I had one of everything. The tiramisu and the strawberries were great. If I had to do it over I would have done those and maybe some Mickey crispies. I also forgot to bring the take away boxes to the reception, so a lot of food was wasted, but I think the only thing that people could have taken was the strawberries anyway.

DH and I mingled for a while. DH's cousin asked our RB where he learned his moves and his response was: "I don't dance, I've never seen anyone dance... I don't think, I just do". So there you have it :laughing:.

Then it was time for the fireworks. The Roots asked if we wanted a bunch of posed pictures or if we wanted to watch the show. As much as I do like those fireworks pictures, I really wanted to enjoy it myself and it was soo hot out. So we said, we did want some pics but didn't want to pose the whole time. And I love the pics we did get and we got to enjoy the show.

We had the music piped in, which I also thought was totally worth it. It really added to the whole feel of the dessert party.

So Jensey stayed with us and took these pics. I love how relaxed and natural they are.

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While Nathan got these awesome shots!

the blue fairy
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After the fireworks we said goodbye to the Roots and headed back to the reception room to party some more! We had extended our reception by an hour since we thought it might be weird to go back for only 1/2 an hour. And DH did not want to end the party at 10:30. At that point it had been a long day, so I don't think anyone would have minded if it had ended after the DP, but there was still lots more dancing to be done!

When we got back I had a nice cold drink and then we did the bouquet toss. My friend Rachel caught it, or should I say picked it up, because it actually fell on the floor, oops. Then there was lots of dancing, so that should be fun for the video. Kat had been so nice and agreed to send her assistant home earlier and stay until the end and she was all over the room! I feel like every time I looked she was somewhere else. Pretty much everyone stayed until the end. After our last song, we ended on a high note, Jay-Z's "Encore", we said goodbye to everyone and they all got on the bus. I wish I had thought to have our flowers donated to a hospital or something, I've read about brides that have done that and I think it's such a nice gesture and with a destination wedding most guests don't take the flowers anyway. So DH and I gathered all our things and then realized that the cart in the hallway had been delivered to our room....along with our room key.

So DH took the remaining cart with the tuxes and I insisted on taking some flowers and we went to the front desk to get another key. The girl was so sweet and offered to help us bring the cart upstairs and bring it back down, but DH was a little tipsy and couldn't grasp that concept. So I asked if we could leave the cart in the hallway and she said that was fine.

When we got back to the room I realized my sister's had taken my hairbrush and my hair was a horrible knotty mess. Luckily the Roots gave us that awesome survival kit and there was a brush in there, so I was able to get my hair somewhat normal.

It was such an awesome day and hard to believe it was over, but I was so glad we could sleep in and relax the next day!

pixie921

11-07-2010, 07:37 AM

WOW! What an ending! :wizard:

You were such a lovely bride and your pictures make it easy to see how much you and your dh thoroughly enjoyed the day. :goodvibes

ChocoKat

11-07-2010, 09:58 AM

Awww! Beautiful ending!
Loved it all.
Thanks so very much for sharing your day!!! :thumbsup2
It was amazing and it looks like everybody had an incredible time.:banana:

tinkerbell 766

11-07-2010, 10:24 AM

Lovely lovely lovely!!! What an incredible day!!

brer rabbit 28

11-07-2010, 01:09 PM

Oh my goodness. I have missed so much!

You had such a fabulous day. i really love all your pictures and it seems like everyone had the most amazing day.

Thank you for sharing so much :goodvibes

Stephie77

11-08-2010, 09:23 AM

What a great wedding. You guys looked like you had so much fun. I am so glad you decided on Mickey and Minnie and that all your guests loved them. It's weird how people are so against the whole Disney wedding and then the mice come and wa-la people love it. lol Anyway, everything looked beautiful.

PinkSleepingBeauty

11-09-2010, 12:41 PM

Wow, everything was beautiful, what an amazing day! Thanks so much for sharing your pics of the Marina, we are having a DP there so it is great to see it all set up! Congrats again on what looks like a truly fab day! :goodvibes

neener3

11-09-2010, 09:09 PM

Oooo thank you for sharing!

You looked gorgeous, and your wedding looked so elegant and FUN!

ValerieDFTWBride

11-10-2010, 08:15 AM

Hi! I love your pictures, everything turned out great! I was wondering how you liked your dessert party at the marina? I am thinking of switching my dessert party from Epcot to the marina to cut down on costs.

pezaddict231

11-10-2010, 08:58 PM

WOW! What an ending! :wizard:

You were such a lovely bride and your pictures make it easy to see how much you and your dh thoroughly enjoyed the day. :goodvibes

Aww, thanks so much. It really was a dream come true. :cloud9:

Awww! Beautiful ending!
Loved it all.
Thanks so very much for sharing your day!!! :thumbsup2
It was amazing and it looks like everybody had an incredible time.:banana:

Thanks for reading! We had such a great time! And don't worry there is still so much more Disney fun to come since we were there until Sat. ;)

Lovely lovely lovely!!! What an incredible day!!

Thank you! We really had the best time, and I love that we can always go back to Disney and relive those memories. I read a TR where a couple went to visit the WP and retraced their steps on that day and I thought that was so romantic!

Oh my goodness. I have missed so much!

You had such a fabulous day. i really love all your pictures and it seems like everyone had the most amazing day.

Thank you for sharing so much :goodvibes

Lol, well now you're all caught up. ;) Thank you so much. We love the pictures and the day really was so magical. I'm glad to share and I still have plenty of TR left. But sadly the photography from the rest of it isn't quite as good :rotfl:.

What a great wedding. You guys looked like you had so much fun. I am so glad you decided on Mickey and Minnie and that all your guests loved them. It's weird how people are so against the whole Disney wedding and then the mice come and wa-la people love it. lol Anyway, everything looked beautiful.

Thanks Stephie! We had the best time and I should thank you because hearing how much your guests loved them really helped me decide to have them. :goodvibes Lol, I know, isn't it funny? Even my MOH's husband who is so jaded about everything thought it was cool and I thought for sure he'd be like "I've seen a better Minnie than that :laughing:".

Wow, everything was beautiful, what an amazing day! Thanks so much for sharing your pics of the Marina, we are having a DP there so it is great to see it all set up! Congrats again on what looks like a truly fab day! :goodvibes

Thanks so much :goodvibes. I'm glad to help, I always hated not being able to see that many pictures of our locations. It's really a great sot, I think you will love it!

Oooo thank you for sharing!

You looked gorgeous, and your wedding looked so elegant and FUN!

Thank you! It really was magical :goodvibes.

Hi! I love your pictures, everything turned out great! I was wondering how you liked your dessert party at the marina? I am thinking of switching my dessert party from Epcot to the marina to cut down on costs.

Thank you! We really loved the Marina. It's not quite the same as being in the park for Illuminations, but we were able to have our photographers there, and it was nice to have everything in the same area. We had the music piped in so that definitely added some ambiance. And our guests loved it! We did an Illuminations Cruise on our last day so I think we got the best of both worlds. :) And I think you asked me about the crystal transfers when I posted in your PJ. I got them from MPress workshop, I must have deleted the link, but maybe if you do a search you can find it, their prices were really reasonable.

Boardwalk_bride

11-10-2010, 09:03 PM

shippedtosea

11-11-2010, 08:24 AM

omg! i've said this a lot...but beautiful! I love that Mickey and Minnie came!!! That group shot is awesome! I think everything turned out wonderful! You guys look like you had an amazing day.

Dr.Cinderella

11-13-2010, 06:27 PM

Hi Sara! Wow, the rest of your photos are just gorgeous! It looks like everyone had such a great time at your reception, with Mickey and Minnie, and at that yummy dessert party! How many guests did you end up having? Were you happy you went with the ballroom instead of Whitehall? Congrats again!

pezaddict231

11-13-2010, 08:31 PM

Oh, I love the group picture! It looks so amazing with the castle and fireworks in the background, and the mice with all of you!

The marina looked really nice. I love, love, love it there so much! I am counting down the days until I get to stand there and watch wishes again (assuming there will be no events there in my way :rotfl:)

Thanks! I love that picture and think it was way better than my original idea of in the WP. It was the perfect spot for our DP. Oh I'm so jealous you'll be there so soon! Even if there is an event you can still stand by Gaspies. There were so many people standing around our DP, it was kind of fun. :goodvibes

omg! i've said this a lot...but beautiful! I love that Mickey and Minnie came!!! That group shot is awesome! I think everything turned out wonderful! You guys look like you had an amazing day.

Aww, thanks Jen! I never tire of hearing it, :laughing:. They were the hit of the night, I can't believe I almost didn't have them. We really had the best time. :goodvibes

Hi Sara! Wow, the rest of your photos are just gorgeous! It looks like everyone had such a great time at your reception, with Mickey and Minnie, and at that yummy dessert party! How many guests did you end up having? Were you happy you went with the ballroom instead of Whitehall? Congrats again!

Thanks Marissa! We loved how all the photos turned out and how they really capture the mood of the night. We really had the best time. We ended up having 64, so it was 66 including us. I am glad we ended up going with St. Augustine instead. I think with the amount of people we had Whitehall would have been too small. Even during the pre-reception it felt a little small, I know the set-up would be different but I felt like we had plenty of room in St. Augustine, we had half the room and the dance floor was nice and big. Since it was so hot for our wedding I don't think anyone would have gone on the patio in Whitehall. I know only a few guests poked around out there during the pre-reception. I was worried most about the decor in St. Augustine, but they just redid it, and I like the new design a little better and plus when it's all decorated and the lights are dimmed you barely notice the wallpaper. Hope that helps! :)

pezaddict231

11-13-2010, 09:36 PM

Originally we had plans to meet my family for breakfast at Ohana but at the wedding we decided it would be better to sleep in. My parents also had to handle some things related to my Grandpa's estate so I didn't want them to have to come all the way back just for some mickey waffles.

So DH and I got to sleep in. We didn't set any alarms and just woke up when we woke up. We actually didn't really end up sleeping that late. I grabbed us some breakfast from the lounge. It was really nice to not have any set plans, well except for V&A's for dinner. The crazy thing was that we almost cancelled this, but didn't get around to it and the cancellation fee would have been really high.

There was one thing that needed to be attended to, apparently at Biergarten they never gave back our Tables in Wonderland card. :headache: So we had to get a new one, and had to pay to get a new one, which was annoying. But it was worth it since we still had a few days left at Disney and a few more group meals.

We ordered some room service burgers for lunch and then DH went to get the new TIW and I went down to the beach pool for a bit. DH told me DMIL and Grandma were by the courtyard pool so I met up with them and DH met us when he got back. DFIL came along as well as some of their friends, so it was nice to see everyone after the wedding.

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fun dance at the Beach pool, a few CM's just walked by and joined in.
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Then it was time to get ready, DH didn't bring a jacket, so he borrowed one from V&A's. I wore my Rehearsal dinner dress again since the only other appropriate option was my wedding gown :laughing:. While people were dressed up, it was far less dressy than I thought. I feel like I've seen people go there in evening gowns but I would have been seriously overdressed if I wore that.

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The restaurant is so nice inside and the service is amazing. They had personalized menu's for us and had my new last name. It was the first time seeing it in print. :goodvibes:goodvibes

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The food was incredible, best meal ever! :worship: I really don't even know how it's possible for everything to taste so good. There are a lot of courses but the portions are smaller so that you can eat them all.

Here's what we had, I'll try to remember everything. This was the one meal I took pictures of since we were alone and our family and friends wouldn't think I was a weirdo that takes pictures of food :laughing:. They had asked for any special requests so we said no seafood since we don't eat that.

Amuse Bouche: I believe it was a play on tomatoes, starting from the top left: green tomato with pesto, tomato egg custard, deviled quail egg (not sure where the tomato in that was) and fried mozzarella with tomato sauce. They were all very good, only a bite or so each. My favorite was the egg custard, it was so rich and creamy. We also really liked the fried mozzarella.
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We both had the Minnesota Elk Carpaccio with Olives, Artichokes and Chorizo Vinaigrette. Yum, so good! The sauces on the plate were so tasty and I loved the parmesan cheese for sprinkling.
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I got the Brentwood Corn soup with petite corn cake. This was good, but a little bland. I think the flavor is supposed to be very subtle. But DH gave me a taste of his and I would definitely get that next time.
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Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin and Belly - with Beets and Sherry Bacon Vinaigrette. This was amazing. The Pork belly (in the back) tastes like the best bacon you've had in your life. :love:
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I love duck, so I had to have the Duck Breast, Duck Sausage and Confit with Strawberry and Rubarb. My favorite was the duck sausage.
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DH had Roulade of Ocala Rabbit with Pistachios and Apricots and surprisingly he really liked it. I had a taste and it was very good.
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Next up were the main entrees. I had the Niman Ranch Lamb with Spring Asparagus and Minted Jus. I love lamb and this was very good, but it didn't hold a candle to DH's entree and I would definitely get what he got.
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Australian "Kobe" Beef Tenderloin - with Smoked Garlic Potato Purée, the potato was served in a small crock on the side. There is an additional charge for this, but it is so worth it. They also gave him some of the oxtail jus, and OMG that stuff is amazing. DH said it was the best steak he's ever had in his life, and I got to try a bite and have to agree, it was phenomenal.
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We both chose the White Chocolate Gelato - with Tableside Shavings and Micro Orchids. This was very tasty and had such a subtle flavor to it. I really liked the white chocolate too but I think next time I would get the cheese.
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Then it was time for dessert! :cloud9:

I had Caramelized Banana Gateau which our server told us was the specialty. This was so good! It was so rich and creamy and I loved the flavor.
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DH had the Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange Purse - with Blackberry-Violet Sherbet. He is not a dessert person but he really loved this and said it was the best sherbert he's ever had.
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After all that they even bring you some little chocolates. They also gave us the personalized menu's and a rose for me. There was also some breakfast bread, which we saved for the airport but we did not like it at all. Oh well, everything else was spectacular. There were also three bread servings with different butters but I seem to have missed getting a picture of those. I remember liking all of them.

This was the perfect place for our first dinner alone together, and of course now DH says we have to go there every trip. I don't know about that, but we'll definitely be back. It's very pricey but totally worth it and unlike any restaurant we've ever been to. We had put off going because we thought maybe the food would be too fancy, but really it's just delicious, I don't see how anyone would dislike it. The one thing I did find strange is that they escort you to the bathroom, I thought a "it's down that hall" would suffice :laughing:. We also saw a couple get engaged which I thought was really sweet and it was fun to see a couple get engaged as we were celebrating just being married.

tinkerbell 766

11-14-2010, 04:53 AM

It looks fabulous!!
Roughly how much did it cost please!!
If you don't want to post it here, could you PM me as it is one of the options I am considering for myself and DH after our VR.

Petals & Pixie Dust

11-14-2010, 06:49 AM

Thanks for the review on V&A were are going there the last day of our trip!!! We're afraid that it will have to become standard for us as well..but who knows!

pezaddict231

11-14-2010, 06:56 PM

It looks fabulous!!
Roughly how much did it cost please!!
If you don't want to post it here, could you PM me as it is one of the options I am considering for myself and DH after our VR.

It really was! I can't remember exactly and don't seem to have kept the receipts but I want to say around $300 before the discount since I think we saved roughly $60 with the TIW card. The regular pricing is $125 per guest, we didn't do wine pairings but DH did have a few beers and then the upgraded entree. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the review on V&A were are going there the last day of our trip!!! We're afraid that it will have to become standard for us as well..but who knows!

It was fantastic, you're going to have the best time. Lol, I know that is the one downside, you'll feel compelled to go back, so far I got DH to agree to every other trip which is more reasonable than every trip.

TinkLoverSam

11-14-2010, 07:31 PM

TinkLoverSam

11-14-2010, 07:32 PM

Thanks for the review on V&A were are going there the last day of our trip!!! We're afraid that it will have to become standard for us as well..but who knows!

I think it may have become standard to us... best experience of my life!

pezaddict231

11-14-2010, 09:41 PM

We went to V&As the night of our wedding and the food was SPECTACULAR! I thought they only escorted you to the bathroom from the Chef's Table I was in my wedding gown :bride: and just before they seated us they seated a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, she was in an evening gown and it didn't seem out of place at all to me, though I didn't see that much of the main dining room.

Aww, what an amazing wedding dinner that must have been! I totally agree the food is better than anything you could possibly imagine, we were completely blown away. I'm not sure if it was standard practice but maybe it was because I asked where the bathroom was? It did make me feel very fancy though. :) I have always seen people going in there in evening gowns and thought that was what you were supposed to wear. We decided that instead of bringing a jacket for DH and a dress for me we were going to just cancel the reservation. When I spoke to the CL CM he said I really just needed a nice sundress and they had jackets for the guys. So I guess either goes. ;)

TinkLoverSam

11-14-2010, 10:37 PM

Aww, what an amazing wedding dinner that must have been! I totally agree the food is better than anything you could possibly imagine, we were completely blown away. I'm not sure if it was standard practice but maybe it was because I asked where the bathroom was? It did make me feel very fancy though. :) I have always seen people going in there in evening gowns and thought that was what you were supposed to wear. We decided that instead of bringing a jacket for DH and a dress for me we were going to just cancel the reservation. When I spoke to the CL CM he said I really just needed a nice sundress and they had jackets for the guys. So I guess either goes. ;)

They even add courses to the Chef's Table and it still didn't feel like too much food until the second dessert course... yeah second dessert course.

Chilly

11-18-2010, 06:28 AM

Great day 1 of your honeymoon, I think we'll try V&A one year, maybe I'll surprise DH with it on our 5 year anniversary!

pezaddict231

12-21-2010, 12:51 PM

They even add courses to the Chef's Table and it still didn't feel like too much food until the second dessert course... yeah second dessert course.

Oh wow, we'll definitely have to do that one day. OMG, that must have been so delicious, but I definitely don't know if I could have eaten two desserts, but I would do my best to try. ;)

Great day 1 of your honeymoon, I think we'll try V&A one year, maybe I'll surprise DH with it on our 5 year anniversary!

Thanks! Definitely do it, it really was an amazing experience!

pezaddict231

12-21-2010, 01:41 PM

Lol, well it's been a while, but I did make a goal to complete my TR and we're almost there. I don't think I will do a full Honeymoon TR but I'll definitely post some highlights and reviews from Hawaii for the brides that are planning their Hawaiian honeymoons ;).

Okay here goes: Day 6: Animal Kingdom

It was Thursday and our AK day. We had plans to go to Donald's Safari breakfast which is my favorite. We met up with my MOH and her husband pretty much right after park opening, but we had no problem getting FP's for Everest and we even rode Stand-by. My MOH is not really into rollercoasters but she survived :thumbsup2.

After that we walked over to Dinosaur and rode that. Surprisingly she really liked that one. We even bought the photo although I think we all look a little more confused than scared. :laughing:

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After that it was pretty much time for brunch. I love doing a later brunch at this park, since I feel like eating a huge breakfast and then riding Everest would not be the best combo. :rolleyes:

We met up with DMIL and Grandma, and also DSIL and DBIL. The last time I went here Donald walked around the restaurant and I liked that better. Since there were so many of us, I thought it might be nice for us all to have a copy of the pics, so I bought the pictures. But I do think it would be nice for Disney to just include them since they must throw them away anyway.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1505.jpg

The food was awesome and we all had a great time taking pics with the characters. DH had been kind enough to pick up FPs for the Safari so we were able to all go on that together afterwards.

We saw a lot of animals. Supposedly the cheetah was visible but I couldn't see him. It was a hot day and the elephants were playing in the water which was really cute.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1527.jpg

Afterwards we rode Everest again and then went to see the tigers which is one of my favorite things to do at AK. Three were sleeping, they remind me of my kitties.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1530.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1531.jpg

but this guy needed to cool off, so he went for a dip!
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1532.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1534.jpg

After that we split up, it was so hot so DH and I decided to get a snack and go back to the pool. My MOH and her DH decided to get their swimsuits and join us. And DSIL and DBIL were going to hang out at the park a bit before our ADR at Ohana that night.

On our way out DH and I got some pretzels, and there was this squirrel that was really scaring us, he looked like he was going to attack us, so we moved to a different bench. :laughing:

Back at the GF it was of course snack time, so I probably had a cookie or two and then that leftover cake was looking pretty tasty...
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1538.jpg

but it was not tasty :sad1:, it had a fruit filing and bavarian cream so I'm pretty sure it wasn't good anymore, we never thought to refrigerate it. Oh well, I didn't really need to eat more cake.

We hung out at the pool for a bit and got ready to head over to Ohana. We'd never been to Ohana before and I was a little nervous since the reviews seem to be all over the map. We waited for a little while and ordered some drinks. Then they brought us over to our table and gave us some pineapple bread. Wow that was good! Then they brought out the salad and I don't even like salad but the dressing was delicious! I even found a recipe and made the dressing at home once since we got back.

We all really liked the food. It was all very good. My favorite were the noodles. They just had such a subtle flavor. The little show they had was really cute for the kids. I didn't find it to be unbearably loud or anything. It did seem that there were trays of dirty dishes left around and it was somewhat disorganized in there, but that didn't bother me too much.

Unfortunately our server was terrible. Now, we are not picky people. He was really downright rude. I almost want to write a letter to Disney. After bringing us drinks he basically disappeared and everyone's drinks were empty the whole time. We had to ask at least twice for any refills and most people were ordering alcohol, so it's not like he wouldn't be making money on it. Then DBIL asked about a vegetarian option. He's not a vegetarian but all the meat everyday had been bothering his stomach so he had asked for something else. So the one time our server came back to check on us, he noticed DBIL had a piece of chicken on his plate. He hadn't even eaten it and wasn't planning to, they had just put it on his plate and basically our server interrogated him on why he had meat on his plate. :confused3 And it wasn't a curiousity thing, he really tried to make it seem like we were criminals or something.

DSIL accidentally knocked over her wine glass and it broke and he made it seem like a huge imposition to bring us more napkins so that we could clean it up. He didn't even offer to help clean it up and so we had wet napkins and broken glass on the table for the rest of the night. When we asked for more napkins he even rolled his eyes at us.

I have gone to other restaurants at Disney and spilled water and our servers always rush over with other napkins and offer to help clean it up. I clean it up myself, since I spilled it, but they are always nice and take the wet napkins away.

The best part of the meal was of course the bread pudding. Oh my, this was fantastic! I wish I didn't have to share! I may try to make this at home one day too.

So now I think I understand some of the reviews. We found the food to be awesome! And I would really like to go back, but the service was possibly the worst I have ever had in my life. So I don't know, maybe one day we will go back, but probably not for a while... in writing this I realize I am still pretty angry about it.

After dinner we went and hung out in our room for a while. It was so nice after that to come back to the welcoming CM's at the GF. We only had one more full day left at Disney, I couldn't believe our trip was coming to an end!

Stephie77

12-21-2010, 02:01 PM

I am glad you are finishing your TR. Looks like you had a great time at AK. That really sucks that you had that experience at Ohanas. Usually the servers are nice and the food is very good, especially their breakfast. Can't wait to read the rest.

pezaddict231

12-21-2010, 02:32 PM

Lol, yeah I'm too close to the end not to finish it now, but I think if I put it off too much longer it'll never get done. It's crazy how busy life gets after the wedding!

We had a great day there. Donald's breakfast is my favorite! Oh I'll definitely give the breakfast a shot. It looks really fun with Lilo and Stitch. I thought it was so weird, this guy was so un-Disney, we normally have really nice servers everywhere and I think because it's Disney when someone isn't as nice it's even worse. The food was really so good though, I've tried to find out how to make those noodles but no luck yet.

Stephie77

12-21-2010, 02:46 PM

pezaddict231

12-21-2010, 03:37 PM

Looks like I may even be able to finish this today. Our two little kittens are at the vet (they're fine, just getting "fixed") and our older cat Max is really missing them. He has been walking around the house meowing for them and he gets really upset if he doesn't see me so there goes running any errands or wrapping presents. :rolleyes: It is really sweet though.

Day 7: MK and Fireworks Cruise

It was our last full day at Disney. This day always makes me a little sad since I know our trip is coming to an end and our flight was pretty early the next day.

I was really excited about MK though because it's our favorite park and the first time my MOH was going ever. I know, I can't believe she's never been to Disney world, but she and her DH loved it and even booked bounceback before checking out! They are going back in Feb and I am so jealous!

I can't really remember the exact order of stuff we did. I think DH may have gotten us FPs for Space Mountain and we went to Fantasyland and went on Peter Pan, where we ran into my Uncle and his family! It was really fun seeing them and we also rode Winnie the Pooh with them.

My MOH in front of the new little mermaid attraction. Ariel is her favorite.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1542.jpg

Then we went with my uncle and cousin and rode Splash with them. It was really fun. After that, they had to get back, so we said goodbye and got our BTMRR fastpasses and headed back to Future world to ride Buzz.

Of course DH beat me again on Buzz.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1549.jpg

Had to stop off for a Castle pic
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1550.jpg

After BTMRR it was time for a snack. My absolute favorite! Sadly I did not have one in Hawaii
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1551.jpg

Then we went and used our Space FP's, lol, not the most flattering pic
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1552.jpg

It was my first time riding since the rehab and it did seem faster than before, but I'm not really sure what the other changes were. In the line area there were little games now, but we were using FP so we couldn't play.

This day was probably the hottest day yet, it was lunch time and the heat was pretty much unbearable. DH and I decided to head back to our hotel for lunch and order some tasty room service burgers. :)

On the way out we saw my family coming in. It would have been fun to hang out with them but they had already eaten and I knew I wouldn't last much longer in the parks. I get really cranky in the heat. :laughing:

We had a nice afternoon rest and then my MOH & her hubby picked us up for dinner at the Yachtsman. The food was really good, but DH wasn't feeling so well that night. I really love the Yacht Club and wished we had stayed there for a few days too, oh well, maybe next time.

Since I had IPO make all our reservations we were finally able to snag an Illuminations cruise! DSIL and DBIL met us at the dock. They say the boat can cold 10-12 people but there were 6 of us and it was just about perfect. I think you'd be really cramped with more people.

the dock is so pretty at sunset.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1558.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1559.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1560.jpg

the boat ride was really nice, the boat drives around the lake and the captain tells you about the hotels and parks and stuff.

You then park right under a bridge by the International Gateway. The view is great, and it was a really cool way to see the show. Here are some of my pics, which I think came out pretty good. I used the fireworks setting on my camera.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1571.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1572.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1578.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1604.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Disney%202010/IMG_1614.jpg

There were snacks on the boat, but we didn't have many, so the Captain encouraged us to take a few with us, and they definitely came in handy on the plane the next day.

We all went back to the GF for a while. It made me a little sad to see people checking in when I knew we'd be checking out the next day. We'd really had such a great time at Disney. After everyone left we finished up our packing and went to bed.

Boardwalk_bride

12-21-2010, 04:03 PM

I'm jealous you got to see the tiger in the water....I always have wanted to see one in there!

I'm sorry to hear your wedding cake didn't taste good when you went back for a snack. We found ours wasn't the greatest either...and we didn't have any fruit filling.

I'm glad the fireworks cruise went well! Will you be posting any Hawaii pics?

pezaddict231

12-22-2010, 10:07 AM

Tell me about it! IT took me forever to finish mine also. I was thinking of trying to do a TR for my anniversary trip but we will see because it always seems to get busy after Disney!

The breakfast is a lot of fun. The Lilikoi Juice is amazing. I think it's the best breakfast buffet in Disney and you don't have to get up. They bring it to your table and if you ask for more, they bring more. Those noodles are so good. If you find a recipe, let me know. We did not make a reservation for dinner this time, just breakfast but we are staying at the Poly so maybe one night towards the end we can sneak in. I totally agree with that. You just expect everyone to be nice, you are shocked when you meet a CM or waiter/waitress who is nasty. I would be mad also if I dealt with that.

Lol, yeah I always have big plans for TR and DR too, but life does always seem to get really busy after the trip. Maybe do a highlights TR? I definitely want to see your pics from your DHS shoot!

We were supposed to go, but cancelled because it was the day after the wedding, so next trip we definitely will do that one. Oh I love that type of juice, I've had it in Hawaii, so tasty. I definitely will, so far no luck on the recipe front. I found one, but it wasn't the right thing, even though it said Ohana noodles. :sad2:. It's so true, I mean, it's the happiest place on earth, it's kind of your job to be nice ;).

I'm jealous you got to see the tiger in the water....I always have wanted to see one in there!

I'm sorry to hear your wedding cake didn't taste good when you went back for a snack. We found ours wasn't the greatest either...and we didn't have any fruit filling.

I'm glad the fireworks cruise went well! Will you be posting any Hawaii pics?

I had never seen them in the water before either. I think it was just so hot that day that he needed a swim :laughing:.

Yeah, I think it probably should have been kept cold. Aww, sorry yours wasn't so great either. I guess it's just an excuse to have a replica made the next time you're in Disney. :)

It was really awesome, I'm glad we were able to do it and I think it was more fun with a few people.

I'll definitely post some pics and kind of a highlights of our trip type thing. ;)

pezaddict231

01-03-2011, 12:56 PM

Since the flight to Hawaii is so long, 10 hours from Orlando, we couldn't stay too late in Disney and still get to Hawaii at a reasonable time. We had a 10 am flight, so we didn't have to get up super early, and my Dad was driving us to the airport since we had to leave some of our luggage with my parents to bring home. So luckily we didn't have the 3 hour window that we would have with Magical Express.

We were sad to leave Disney and our awesome room at the GF. We had some food from the lounge, for old times sake. We really had such an amazing stay here and I hope we are lucky enough to stay in RPC again.

The drive to the airport was uneventful, and we got through security fine. Now when I booked the flights, I thought it would be nice to take a slightly later flight. The 10 am stopped in Dallas around noon and then from there to Oahu and we'd get in around 5 pm. There was an earlier flight that left at 7 or 8 and then stopped in LA. In my silly mind I thought, perfect, 12 pm will be just in time for us to get some lunch since they don't serve food on planes anymore and we don't have to get up super early...

But what I didn't consider, is that if you stop 2 hours into a 10 hour flight, that still leaves 8 more hours :rolleyes:. So I would recommend doing the flight that was 5 and 5 instead.

The first half was fine, landed in Dallas on time. It's a nice airport and we got something to eat. They had some tasty looking bbq but with an 8 hour flight ahead of us, and I'm always nervous about my stomach on planes, I opted for a boring turkey sandwich. DH had some McDonald's.

Before we knew it, it was time to board the plane. The nice thing about most flights to Hawaii is the plane is really large, and they have rows of 2 along the windows. We really don't like sitting with strangers, and DH likes aisles, and I like windows, so it's perfect ;).

About an hour into our flight, the Captain comes on and says that the more astute passengers will notice that we've turned around :eek: and are headed back to Dallas. Apparently one of the generators on the plane was out. There are three and they can fly with two, but they can't cross the pacific with just 2, so we had to turn around. Now I kind of wonder why we couldn't maybe stop somewhere a little closer, like CA or something, but I guess it's because their hub was in Dallas.

Now DH hates to fly. Another reason he really likes Disney, short flight ;). And he starts getting agitated and says if they fix the plane, he doesn't care, he's not going on this plane :confused:. Which I do understand to an extent, but I figure if they fix it, it's probably even more likely to be working correctly, since they couldn't just say it was okay if it's not, right?

As we're about the land, the pilot comes on again and mentions how we're a little fuel heavy, so as part of protocol, there have to be fire trucks around when we land and they will examine the plane. Not really so great for DH's nerves, but luckily everything was fine, although the landing was a lot bumpier than normal. It was kind of scary to see the fire trucks and to realize it was really in case the plane goes on fire...but I put that out of my mind.

I will say the pilot was very nice and once the plane landed walked down the aisles to make sure everyone was doing okay. I think they really did handle things as best they could and keep us pretty informed the whole time.

In the end, the couldn't fix the plane, and they would put us on a new plane, but that didn't get in for another hour and a half. They did give us some vouchers for food so we got some subway sandwiches and then just waited it out in the airport.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, but we didn't get to Hawaii until after 10 pm, so much for dinner plans, and it kind of stunk to have the day wasted, But we were really tired anyway.

We went to the rental car desk and picked up our car. We had bought a gps for the trip since renting one for two weeks would have cost the same anyway and then we drove to the hotel.

The GPS was really helpful, but sometimes it can be wrong. It was hard to find our hotel or figure out where we should park. It kept saying our hotel was on the right, when it was the left. :headache: We eventually found it and checked in. The room was really nice, it was like having our own little apartment. And luckily there was a Washer / Dryer, because I was unpacking I discovered that the toothpaste exploded all over our stuff :mad:. So DH learned to always put things like that in a ziplock bag ;). It wasn't too bad really but just not something I wanted to deal with.

Up next - I won't do a day by day, since that will prob get pretty boring. There was a lot of relaxing and esp the first few days, when we were really jet lagged, a lot of falling asleep by 6 pm. :lmao: Dh was like, I just want to go out to dinner, but we couldn't make ourselves stay awake. I kind of wish we did the Big Island first, since there wasn't much to do there at night anyway and Oahu second. Oh well, we can always go back one day. ;)

Boardwalk_bride

01-03-2011, 03:52 PM

OMG, the plane thing is so scary! I am pretty okay with flying, but if I saw firetrucks waiting one the runway, I think I would give myself a heart attack!

That is too bad you were so late getting to Hawaii! I am really excited to hear about your time there and see all your pics :goodvibes

pezaddict231

01-03-2011, 04:06 PM

We were in Oahu from Sat - Friday, but with our plane misshap, really Sunday - Friday and I wish we had more time. We really liked Oahu and would definitely go back one day. I know a lot of people say it's "too commercial", but honestly, Disney is our favorite place, we like commercial. ;) It's like a big city, but clean and beautiful, with tons of palm trees. Here are some pics around Waikiki

city streets
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1641.jpg

Royal Hawaiian hotel
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1649.jpg

Grounds of Royal Hawaiian
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1640.jpg

Waikiki Beach and Diamondhead
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1647.jpg

I'll do this more as a highlights / tips with some pictures in between. So here goes:

1) Stay in Waikiki, it doesn't matter where in Waikiki, and there are lots of different hotels for all budgets. But this is where the action is, it's where the restaurants / stores / beach is, and you'll want to be close to that.

My parent's were kind enough to let us use their timeshare for our honeymoon, so we stayed at the Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk. It was in a great location, and the unit itself was beautiful and well maintained. They are pretty new anyway. The washer/dryer also came in handy. We loved being able to just walk outside and be steps away from tons of restaurants and shops.

Here are some pictures of the hotel.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1642.jpg

kitchen, we did make breakfast one day and possibly pasta one night. Groceries were super expensive in Oahu, so it was not much of a cost savings. I think next time we wouldn't bother cooking at all.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1627.jpg

dining area / living room
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1629.jpg

bedroom
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1624.jpg

The bathroom had a jetted tub and also a full sized shower which was great. I still had a few bath bombs left from basin, so I really enjoyed being able to take a bath now and then :).

2) Rent a car. Yes, you can walk to tons of places in Waikiki, but there are also lots of places worth seeing that you can't walk to. And the best beaches are not on Waikiki. You do generally have to pay for parking, but even still we thought it was worth it. Use Priceline Negotiator, we were able to save a ton of money this way, and it was kind of fun too! You get a car from a major rental agency (I think we had Hertz) and we even returned the car a little late and did not get charged a ton extra or anything. Highly recommended. But here's the main reason you want to rent a car. I could go to Oahu and spend every single day here.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1722.jpg

3) Explore other beaches. Waikiki beach may be very popular, and we did go one day so that we could at least see what the fuss was about. But really, I was disappointed, I had heard it was narrow, but it was really narrow and packed! I don't really like to be on top of other people and I felt like you barely had any room to yourself. I also felt like it was a little unsafe in the water with the surfers / swimmers / paddleboarders / boats, etc. And for comparison:

Waikiki Beach:
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_0083.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1648.jpg

and Lanikai Beach (also in picture above). About a 20 minute drive away. We used the GPS to find a Lanikai beachwear store since you can't find the beach itself and then followed the directions in Frommers to get there. ;)

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1712.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1727.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1717.jpg

4) Wear Sunblock! :cool2: The sun is extremely strong but with the breeze it often doesn't feel that hot out. It's warm, but it's not like you're sweating a ton like Disney in August, lol. So it's really easy to forget to put on sunblock, but you will regret it. We got sunburned a lot, basically if you even miss a spot, it will get burnt and be really uncomfortable for a few days :laughing:. I find the liquid sunblock works better than the spray.

5) Excursions - There is tons to do in Hawaii and lots of different companies hoping you'll pick them. Since we wanted to relax and had already spent more than enough money on the wedding, we didn't do much in the way of excursions. We did a private surf lesson on Oahu and a Manta Ray Snorkel and daytime snorkeling trip in Kona. The good thing is, with a car you may be able to tour some areas by yourself. We were able to drive to the Volcano on the Big Island instead of doing a tour. So my advice would be to pick the things that appeal most to you and don't worry about not "seeing it all". Also think about what it really includes and if you want to do that. There were some waterfall tours that were essentially hiking tours. I knew that it wasn't really our thing and at $200 a person it wasn't worth it to me to see a waterfall up close. Tripadvisor was a great resource for picking excursions, it was nice to be able to read reviews to figure out if we really wanted to do something or not.

So on Oahu, we did a private surf lesson. What appealed to me about this company was they took you to a more isolated beach that was good for beginning surfers since the waves were mild. I really liked how they focused so much on safety. So we booked our lesson through Hawaiian Fire Surf School and they were great. They picked us up close to our hotel and provided all the equipment we needed. They brought us to Nimitz beach, which was really nice and not crowded at all.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1668.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1672.jpg

The staff was great, really friendly and focused on everyone being able to surf. I had a lot of trouble paddling all the way out since the board was so big and my arms barely hung down the sides, so they would pull me out. They also give lessons to kids. There was one kid in our class who must have been 5 years old, he was surfing tandem with an instructor. They also had someone taking pictures and at $40 for the CD, it was actually pretty reasonably priced, so we got that too.

We did discover, that we are not surfers, I told DH he should have to return all his surf brand shirts. :lmao: It was definitely a fun experience and I have so much respect now for people that are surfers because it is hard and tiring! We would totally recommend Hawaiian Fire Surf School though.

6) Eat as many pancakes as you can! Hawaii is seriously land of the most delicious pancakes :cloud9:. See what I mean?
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1634.jpg

Which brings us to, our favorite Hawaiian Food finds on Oahu.... up next

pezaddict231

01-03-2011, 04:51 PM

Foods of Oahu

The good thing about jetlag was that we were waking up super early. And everything opens pretty early since I think they kind of count on that.

1) Our favorite breakfast place was Hula Grill in the Outrigger Hotel, there are lots of Outriggers, it's the one on Waikiki beach where Duke's is.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1631.jpg

The restaurant is located upstairs and is open air with views of Waikiki beach and diamondhead. Since it's open air there were some birds looking for crumbs, but it was just unusual and not a nuisance.

the view:
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1639.jpg

I imagine the food is sort of what Kona is like, since I haven't been for breakfast. DH would get the breakfast platter with eggs and I always had pancakes.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1635.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1636.jpg

and the pineapple and coconut pancakes, my favorite! I also did enjoy the banana and macademia nut, but these ones were my favorite.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1687.jpg

And I'd wash it down with fresh pineapple juice, really amazing. The pineapple was so good in Hawaii and the pineapple juice was even better. :lovestruc

2) Malasadas. Now I'd heard about Leonard's on tripadvisor and wasn't really sure what all the fuss was about. I figured they'd be like zeppoli's or beignets, but I did have to find out what people were going crazy over, so we made sure to stop there one day.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1694.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1696.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1697.jpg

Oh my, these were fantastic. They were delicious and warm. My favorites were the custard filled one. DH liked the sugar and cinnamon ones. I totally understand the lines out the door. We even stopped back another day and got a few more....I kind of wish I had some right now!

3) Shave Ice. We asked our waiter at Hula Grill where to get the best shaved ice and he said he actually preferred Waikola Shave Ice to Matsumoto's and the plus side was it was much closer to where we were.

Waikola ice is supposed to be finer, and it was, the consistency was like fresh snow. They had a bunch of different flavors, but we both had Rainbow. This was another place where the line is down the street, but they were really good but I did not like the Mochi balls, luckily those were just on the bottom. We both agreed that we liked Malasadas better though.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1748.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1749.jpg

4) Hawaiian Plate Lunch. I definitely wanted to try a Hawaiian Plate lunch and a great place for that is The Rainbow Drive Inn. It's the type of place locals go and the food was good and inexpensive.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1739.jpg

DH actually really enjoyed his, he got roast pork.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1738.jpg

I liked mine, but I liked his a little better. It was good and filling, and the rice and macaroni salad was not as weird a combo as I would have thought.

5) Duke's. You can't go to Waikiki and not go to Duke's. We went for lunch one day and the food was really good. We just had burgers but the view is great, it's located right below Hula Grill. I loved the tiki feel to it.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1743.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1747.jpg

6) The Yardhouse. Casual but with great food. There are a ton of beers on tap. You can get insanely large beers like this.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1761.jpg

bar area
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1652.jpg

awesome spinach dip
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1653.jpg

my chicken dish, it was super tasty
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1655.jpg

We went for lunch and dinner but liked it better at lunch since it was less crowded. The menu was the same for both meals.

7) Hy's Steakhouse. Dh was dying to go to a Steakhouse, so we picked this one since it wasn't somewhere we could go back home. The food was really good and the service was very good. They actually made the caesar salad tableside, the dressing and everything!

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1740.jpg

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There are also lots of familiar places in Waikiki, there's a Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, PF Changs, etc, so pretty easy to find something for everyone. I would recommend making reservations or trying to call ahead that day since it gets really crowded out at night. There are also lots of places to get a quick meal, like subway or there's a food court nearby. Which is why I wouldn't really bother cooking too much in Waikiki.

The only place we didn't like was Cheeseburger in Paradise. The burgers were not that good and there was no American or Cheddar Cheese :confused3, so I would go somewhere else. The burgers we had at Duke's were much better. :thumbsup2

And with all the restaurants around, you may even spot a celebrity chef, we happened to see Iron Chef Morimoto on the streets of Waikiki. We were able to snap a pic when he stopped to take a picture with this girl.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/Pezaddict231/Hawaii%202010/IMG_1693.jpg

ChocoKat

01-03-2011, 05:04 PM

Boardwalk_bride

01-03-2011, 05:30 PM

Wow, Hawaii looks amazing!! I really need to go there!

The beaches look so amazing, and the food (especially those pineapple coconut pancakes) looks so good! Thanks for making such a great effort to provide tips. I am definitely going to save your TR to my travel folder for a future Hawaii reference!

shippedtosea

01-04-2011, 10:48 AM

WOW! Behind again. I'm sorry your server was so mean at Ohana's! that sucks. at least you still enjoyed the food. the fireworks cruise sounds great! we really want to do that sometime.

I can't believe what happened with the plane! My DH would have freaked out as well. So I don't blame yours! I'm glad you got to Hawaii safe in the end.

Hawaii looks amazing! I really really want to go...and your pictures make me want to more! I'm glad you guys had such a great time at both places!

pixiegirl

01-04-2011, 07:46 PM

Your Hawaii pictures are fantastic. DF and I would plan to go to Hawaii for the honeymoon as well. We would be staying at my mom's timeshare which I believe is the same one you stayed at. So thankful for the tips. What islands did you go to? Was it hard to go from island to the other? We would like to go to Kauai and Oahu. Can't wait to see more!!

Petals & Pixie Dust

01-04-2011, 08:36 PM

WOW! First, amazing pics at AK...Where is the tiger exhibit...I don't think I've seen that before...or maybe I walked by it and never realized...
Hawaii is beautiful...and not I have to add surfing to my list...

Dr.Cinderella

01-04-2011, 09:40 PM

Awesome Hawaii pics and info Sara! It looks like you had an amazing honeymoon, and I am enjoying getting all these Hawaii tips from you! Thanks!

pezaddict231

01-04-2011, 10:53 PM

OOoooh your pics are making me sooo hungryyyy.
I am sorry about the plane miss-hap your poor DH!
Those beignets look so good, and so does all the other food!

And how lucky! I would love to meet Morimoto, he is my all-time favorite iron chef :worship:

Lol, I really think about those pancakes way more often than I should! We usually have such good luck with flights too, but while it was a little annoying, it was definitely much better that the generator went before we started crossing the ocean, so maybe we were lucky after all ;). It was definitely cool to see him, he was there for the opening of a new restaurant and he had done an appearance at a festival in town. Although I wouldn't say meet, so much as followed down the streets of Waikiki, and man he is fast! :lmao:

Wow, Hawaii looks amazing!! I really need to go there!

The beaches look so amazing, and the food (especially those pineapple coconut pancakes) looks so good! Thanks for making such a great effort to provide tips. I am definitely going to save your TR to my travel folder for a future Hawaii reference!

It really is one of the most beautiful places and the weather is perfect. :) Oh man, I dream about those pancakes, they were unbelievable :lovestruc. I'm glad I could help and the tripadvisor forums were a really good resource too.

WOW! Behind again. I'm sorry your server was so mean at Ohana's! that sucks. at least you still enjoyed the food. the fireworks cruise sounds great! we really want to do that sometime.

I can't believe what happened with the plane! My DH would have freaked out as well. So I don't blame yours! I'm glad you got to Hawaii safe in the end.

Hawaii looks amazing! I really really want to go...and your pictures make me want to more! I'm glad you guys had such a great time at both places!

He was really terrible, but I still think it was worth it for the banana bread pudding, so good! I may attempt to make that at home one day...when I'm not on a diet that is :rolleyes:. The cruise was really nice, and you are so close to the fireworks, and we didn't have any problems with it being too smokey either. They book up super fast though, I've never been able to get them calling on my own. Yeah, I felt really bad, I know he hates to fly, and it was a little scary, and I don't think I'm getting him on a flight that long again in a while!

It is really beautiful there and definitely worth the flight. :goodvibes

Your Hawaii pictures are fantastic. DF and I would plan to go to Hawaii for the honeymoon as well. We would be staying at my mom's timeshare which I believe is the same one you stayed at. So thankful for the tips. What islands did you go to? Was it hard to go from island to the other? We would like to go to Kauai and Oahu. Can't wait to see more!!

Thanks! We had a really great time :goodvibes. That is awesome! The location is perfect, I'm sure you'll love it. It was really great to be in the middle of everything. We went to Oahu and the Big Island, but I think next time I'd do Oahu and Maui. We didn't like how isolated and back to nature the Big Island was :laughing:. I've heard Kauai is beautiful! It's really easy to get between islands, you take a short flight. From Oahu to the Big Island it was around 30-45 minutes, but felt much shorter. I'm pretty sure Kauai has it's own International airport too, so you can fly into Oahu, take the interisland flight to Kauai and fly home from Kauai :thumbsup2.

WOW! First, amazing pics at AK...Where is the tiger exhibit...I don't think I've seen that before...or maybe I walked by it and never realized...
Hawaii is beautiful...and not I have to add surfing to my list...

Thanks so much! The Tiger exhibit is one of my favorite things at AK, it's in Asia, near Kali River rapids, it's called the Maharajah Jungle Trek. There are also bats and some other animals, but the best part is the tigers, and since the exhibit is all glass, they are usually pretty close. Just don't wait too late in the day because I think they may close it a little before park closing. Hawaii is really a gorgeous place! Lol, it was definitely a fun experience and I think you gotta try it at least once. ;)

Awesome Hawaii pics and info Sara! It looks like you had an amazing honeymoon, and I am enjoying getting all these Hawaii tips from you! Thanks!

Thanks Marissa! We really had a great time! Glad to help, I knew you and a few other girls were planning Hawaii honeymoons so I wanted to be sure to at least get a few tips out there. You'll have an awesome time! :goodvibes

Chilly

01-07-2011, 07:23 AM

pezaddict231

01-22-2011, 09:11 PM

Wow what terrible service at Ohana, I've heard of other people having problems as well but its always been fine when i've been.

You are right about 6 people on the firework cruise being the perfect number, I did it back in 2007 and there was meant to be 10 of us but 4 didn't show up and I was very glad.

I'd love to go to Hawaii.

We were really shocked, but we'd give it another chance...I loved that bread pudding!

I don't know why, but for some reason I thought 10-12 would fit, and there really was no way it would have worked. I could have been completely wrong about the number though.

Hawaii is really a beautiful place, you should definitely try to go one day. :)

pezaddict231

01-22-2011, 09:26 PM

Boardwalk_bride

01-23-2011, 09:12 AM

I just wanted to thank everyone that nominated us. The past two weeks have been really difficult, one of our cats was diagnosed with FIP and we are just devastated, he is only 7 months old. We are trying to stay optimistic and do the best we can for him, but the prognosis for that disease is not good. So we are just hoping he can beat the odds.

We are both really touched by the nomination, it was nice to have some good news.

Congrats to all the other nominees, it was great to see so many disbrides on there!

Oh no, I am so sorry to hear about your cat. I have three cats, and I know how important they are to our little family, and I am sure yours is the same to you. I really hope everything works out for him, and that he gets better soon:goodvibes

I'm glad that you have something to help cheer you both up right now :goodvibes Congrats on the nomination

weedee

01-23-2011, 10:35 AM

oh no :sad2: I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty. My thoughts are with you and your husband and hopefully your cat will make it through this. Congrats again on your awesome nominations.

shippedtosea

01-23-2011, 11:54 AM

I'm so sorry about your kitty hun. Keep optimistic. My thoughts are with you.

Congrats on the nominations!

kagsinbotley

01-24-2011, 11:36 AM

hi where abouts did you get your nails done... looks fab in the pictures and im looking for somewhere for me and the girls to go the day before the wedding.

Stephie77

01-24-2011, 11:42 AM

I'm sorry to hear about your Kitty. I hope he gets better. Congrats on your nominations! This is all so exciting.

pixiegirl

01-26-2011, 06:26 PM

So sorry to hear about your cat. I know how important pets are!! Just love him and treat him well and you may be surprised that he pulls through. We recently went through this with one of our dogs and he stayed strong long after everyone said he would be gone. I think it was because of the love we gave him. Keep optimistic!!!

Congrats on your nomination!!!

pezaddict231

01-26-2011, 08:35 PM

hi where abouts did you get your nails done... looks fab in the pictures and im looking for somewhere for me and the girls to go the day before the wedding.

I'm pretty sure this is the info, it's called Magic Nails.
http://www.mgnflorida.com/lbv.html

One of my friends had a car, so we drove there and it didn't seem to take that long to get there. We all felt that they did a really nice job with our nails. Hope that helps!

pezaddict231

01-26-2011, 08:40 PM

Oh no, I am so sorry to hear about your cat. I have three cats, and I know how important they are to our little family, and I am sure yours is the same to you. I really hope everything works out for him, and that he gets better soon:goodvibes

I'm glad that you have something to help cheer you both up right now :goodvibes Congrats on the nomination

oh no :sad2: I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty. My thoughts are with you and your husband and hopefully your cat will make it through this. Congrats again on your awesome nominations.

I'm so sorry about your kitty hun. Keep optimistic. My thoughts are with you.

Congrats on the nominations!

I'm sorry to hear about your Kitty. I hope he gets better. Congrats on your nominations! This is all so exciting.

So sorry to hear about your cat. I know how important pets are!! Just love him and treat him well and you may be surprised that he pulls through. We recently went through this with one of our dogs and he stayed strong long after everyone said he would be gone. I think it was because of the love we gave him. Keep optimistic!!!

Congrats on your nomination!!!

Thanks girls for the congrats and sympathy. He is doing a lot better this week and we are just trying to stay optimistic. There is a medicine that has in a few cases been shown to help. We had to order it from Europe since it is not approved in the US. So we are hoping that it may help him.

In the meantime though, we are spoiling him rotten and just trying to make the most of each day. He has been wonderful and such a little trooper.