Engaged in the Castle, Now Back for the Honeymoon! Sep '11 - 1/25 Upd! 3 Videos!

[BadgerGirl84]

Hi! Hola! My name is Elizabeth and welcome to my magical, exciting and fun-filled honeymoon trip report. My husband David and I got married on September 3rd, 2011 and honeymooned at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios from September 4th - 12th.

We did a split stay between the Wilderness Lodge and the Fairfield Inn near Universal Studios and we ate at a variety of WDW Counter Service, Table Service and Off-Site restaurants--all to be reviewed in this report!

I'm starting this trip report much later than planned, but newlywed life is busier than I was planning on! I spent so many evenings this past summer planning the honeymoon and wedding that I thought I would have boatloads of idle hours once we were back. Between writing thank-you cards, going to the gym, staring dog classes and staying on top of the cooking and cleaning, life gets busy.

However, I have really been bitten by the Disney bug again so I thought that writing my trip report would be the best thing to tide me over until my husband and I visit Disneyland Paris this May.

I introduced myself and my husband, David, on my last TR (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2550840), the one I wrote for my surprise trip to Disney where David proposed to me during dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table! He proposed on September 2nd, 2010 and we got married on September 3rd, 2011, and we arrived at WDW for our honeymoon on September 4th. What a great year!

Here's me:
http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1115.jpg

And here's David:
http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1214.jpg

David and I currently both work as project managers for an insurance company. (We didn't meet at work...David joined the company I was already working for right after the wedding...and the new job has been a great blessing to our family). We actually are an online dating success story! We live in Madison, Wisconsin with our two French Bulldog/Boston Terrier dogs, Minnie and Eve. (Pronounced Eva just like in Wall-E, of course!)

Here is Minnie, our dog that we got about a year ago. I don't have a photo of our new furbaby Eve uploaded yet because we just rescued her after Christmas from an animal shelter.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/215448_10100432914911927_8604659_62357103_4326742_ n-1.jpg

NEXT: Proposal in CRT Recap

[BadgerGirl84]

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pre-Honeymoon

Proposal in CRT Recap (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43674997&postcount=5)
How Did We Wind Up Going To WDW On Our Honeymoon? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43685067&postcount=9)
Wedding Recap-Part I (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43696880&postcount=11)
Wedding Recap-Part II (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43708366&postcount=13)

Honeymoon

Day 1
From Milwaukee to Orlando (aka my husband goes to our gift-opening shoeless) (http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/PWO3701.jpg)
Just the Deets (aka Details), Please! Hotel reservations, ADRs, Parks, and Special Events Planned (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43748396&postcount=19)
The Prettiest Electrical Boxes in all the Wilderness! (Arrival at WL and Room Photos) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43748396&postcount=20)
Champagne? Yes Please! Dinner at the WCC (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43748396&postcount=26)

Day 2
Did You Know Donuts at the MK are Calorie Free? Breakfast at the Crystal Palace (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43791088&postcount=32)
Morning at the MK: I married a Star Cadet! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43818631&postcount=37)
Afternoon in the MK: Identity Theft in the Most Magical Place on Earth (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43819258&postcount=40)
Resort Hopping and Dinner at the Wave: Oh, and Pardon my Feet! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43849895&postcount=45)

[mommytominnie]

Subbbing!! I am definitely in. I am such a sucker for romantic stories. Congratulations on your new marriage and may your days always be special as your wedding day!!

[portobello_rd]

ill join in too! fellow Wisconsiniter here, but im a little up north!
my DH and i were just in WDW in september for our 5th anniversary- its so fun going when your celebrating something isnt it?

[BadgerGirl84]

You can read my full proposal story here (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2550840) (warning: the TR is not finished, but the entire proposal story is in there. That's the best part, right? Wedding planning got the best of me before I finished the last day of the report).

But because this is a honeymoon trip report, and a honeymoon can't happen without a proposal, and a Disney honeymoon preceded by a Disney proposal is just magic upon magic...let me share a slimmed-down version of the story with you!

David e-mailed me out of the blue the week before Labor Day when I was on a business trip in Kentucky asking me if I could take the day after Labor Day off. Ten minutes after I agreed, he e-mailed me a flight itinerary to Orlando! A surprise, last minute trip to visit the Mouse! Dave and I had never been to Disney before...my last visit had been the January prior with my family when Dave and I had just started dating.

I was gleeful for 10 seconds, then terrified, because my flight getting back home to Madison wasn't scheduled to land until 10pm Friday night and our flight to Orlando was scheduled for 6am Saturday morning. Long, long story short...I was able to sweet talk my employer and Delta airlines into letting me leave my business trip several hours sooner and I got home on time.

When Dave and I were in the airport the next morning, waiting in the security line, he told me that he wanted to eat somewhere really good during the trip so he had booked a dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table at MK the next day. Swoon. I started crying in the security line. I had never done a TS meal at Disney, let alone a character meal...let alone IN THE CASTLE! Plus, I was shocked my boyfriend knew how to make an ADR?

We had a relaxing first day swimming at the hotel pool (we stayed off-site at the Marriott Fairfield Inn in the Marriott Village), eating at EPSN on the Boardwalk for lunch and eating at Hooter's for dinner (hey, they have awesome wings and beer!).

Our Magic Kingdom day the next day was great. We got there about 30 minutes after rope drop and hit all the rides in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland before lunch. We did Pecos Bill's for lunch (our now favorite!)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_0654.jpg (eating a burger...lovely!)

We saw everything in Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square after lunch. I wasn't sure what to expect crowd-wise, as it was the day before Labor Day, but the park was dead and it was walk-on for almost everything.

It started pouring as dinner time approached and we headed to the castle in beautiful plastic ponchos. When we got to the castle, we got our picture taken with her Majesty, Cinderella and waited to be seated.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_0674.jpg

When we were seated, we were brought to a table for two in front of a window overlooking Fantasyland. The room was breathtaking and I had no idea how Dave had scored an ADR at a prime table during dinner time! We enjoyed our dinner chatting about our day and our favorite rides and shows in the park. I was really surprised with how much Dave seemed to like being there!

We had a great meal and enjoyed meeting the princesses and getting our pictures taken with them. When dessert time came, instead of bringing me my dessert on a simple dish like everyone else was getting, the waiter brought out a platter with a white domed lid. He set it down and said, "A special dessert for the princess" and when he lifted the lid, I immediately starting bawling.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_0694.jpg

The plate was covered in rose petals and in the middle was a glass slipper with an engagement ring resting inside of it. The glass slipper was engraved with our names and the date of the engagement (I saw this later, because like I said, I was bawling!)

Dave got down on one knee (and by this time, had drawn the attention of the entire restaurant) and asked me to marry him.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_0689.jpg

When he stood up to hug and kiss me, he whispered "Remember when we saw that shooting star on the way to the airport? Dreams do come true." SWOON.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_0690.jpg

The restaurant applauded.


I spent the rest of the evening floating on air while enjoying wearing my new ring and wearing the Just Engaged pin they gave us.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_0700.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_0707.jpg

After calling our parents, we enjoyed the Main Street Electrical Parade and watched Wishes from the train station in the front of the park. It was my first time watching it, despite having been to the MK many times before and I started crying during the show because the show was all about wishing on a star and dreams coming true!

Getting engaged at the Magic Kingdom was the best day of my life and it will be a memory that I will always cherish. I know that sounds cheesy and sappy, but it's really true. When I think about being an old lady one day and stuck in a nursing home, I know I will smile when I think about that day.

NEXT: How did we wind up going to Disney on our honeymoon?

[BadgerGirl84]

Subbbing!! I am definitely in. I am such a sucker for romantic stories. Congratulations on your new marriage and may your days always be special as your wedding day!!

:yay: Thank you and thanks for joining my trip report!

ill join in too! fellow Wisconsiniter here, but im a little up north!
my DH and i were just in WDW in september for our 5th anniversary- its so fun going when your celebrating something isnt it?

:wave: Hello fellow Badger! I can't think of a better place to celebrate than WDW--congrats on your anniversary. We got so many special extras on our honeymoon and so many "Congratulations" from CMs. September is such a great time to visit WDW! (Although I was on hurricane watch in the weeks before the wedding!)

[Goldeelox9]

I am sitting at work crying!!! What an awesome proposal!!

[ChattaAlley]

Oh my maybe I shouldn't read these things at work. Made me tear up. You are living the fantasy. What a special guy you have!!

[BadgerGirl84]

Think of all the romantic destinations around the globe that a newlywed couple could visit on their honeymoon...Hawaii, an all-inclusive adults-only resort on a beach, an Alaskan cruise…

How did my husband and I wind up going to Walt Disney World? A land of theme parks filled with children and chaos? (And magic, and wonder, and great food, and all my character friends...but most non-Disney people just think of the other things!)

As soon as Dave and I began planning our wedding, Dave said that he wanted to plan the honeymoon. And that it would be a surprise. I was okay with this, because as evident by the proposal Dave planned, he is GREAT with surprises! However, I hated not knowing where we were going! The last-minute Disney trip for our engagement didn't throw me for a loop because I knew WDW like the back of my hand...but other places? Not so much. I am a Type-A planner when it comes to planning trips, so I worried about not being able to pack as much awesome-ness into a trip without any planning by yours truly in advance! Plus, how would I know what to pack?


Months went by without any hints from Dave on what he was planning, other than him saying maybe he would tell me the day before the wedding where we were going.
On a lazy Saturday in March, Dave went off to run some errands. When he came back, Dave asked me to meet him in the office where he had a surprise for me. Sitting on the desk was a big Toy Story gift bag. "Cute!" I thought, "Dave got me a Disney present from the store." Inside the bag was the Toy Story 3 Blu Ray (saddest movie EVAH!!) and the Disney version of Apples-to-Apples (my favorite party game). Cool! What a great guy!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/198584_10100252793391897_8604659_61864162_308394_n .jpg

Then Dave asked me if I saw the envelope that came with it. It was addressed from "Magical Drive" and was decorated with Disney stickers. (I just love the idea of Dave putting stickers on anything…) It was addressed to my name, and my current last name was crossed out and underneath it was my soon-to-be new last name.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/200464_10100252793187307_8604659_61864151_2252169_ n.jpg

Inside the envelope was a card and a book. The card had Disney stickers on the front and said "To the Newlyweds." The inside of the card had more stickers and said, "All of your friends miss you! See you in September!"

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/196536_10100252793287107_8604659_61864157_5584856_ n.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/189522_10100252793341997_8604659_61864161_428383_n .jpg

WE WERE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD FOR THE HONEYMOON!

Obviously, I started crying, then I got really excited, then I called my mother (another Disney nut).

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/200028_10100252793471737_8604659_61864167_4652196_ n.jpg

(The above picture was taken right after Dave move into my house...just want to clarify that we don't live in a Hoarders house!)

The book was a small Disney travel book. I had fun reading it and after I read it I decided that I could have read it because after years of reading the Disboards, you know more than a Disney travel book.


The best part of the surprise that Dave just booked the flight to Orlando: September 4th (the day after our wedding) through September 12th. All the planning was up to me because Dave knows how much I love planning Disney trips. Yippee!

Up Next: Wedding Recap

[BadgerGirl84]

I am sitting at work crying!!! What an awesome proposal!!

That happens a lot to me when I read trip reports! Especially proposals, weddings and WISH trips!

Oh my maybe I shouldn't read these things at work. Made me tear up. You are living the fantasy. What a special guy you have!!

Dave scored some major points with that proposal!

[BadgerGirl84]

So, before Dave and I could rush off to Disney World to enjoy our week of fun, we had one small task to cross of our list the day before we left: GET MARRIED!

Our wedding day was Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Five days before the wedding I woke up congested. I had been taking my multi-vitamin, Vitamin D supplement and Vitamin-C religiously for the two weeks before the wedding to ward off any germs that would be bent on making me feel cruddy for my wedding or Disney Trip. Given that my system was chock-full of vitamins and germ-fighters, I thought the congestion was just temporary.

But...the stuffy nose did not go away and later in the day I started to develop a sore throat. When I didn't feel any better the next morning, I called the doctor. My doctor was awesome! He saw me right away that morning and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. No, antibiotics do not cure a cold, but I had some symptoms of a sinus infection (as well as a history of them), so I was relieved to know that I'd starting fighting the infection that day if that's what it was.

On the wedding day, I felt pretty gosh darn good, thank goodness. My bridesmaids and I had spent the night at a hotel. I was a little jittery, but in a good way. I did not have any worries about getting married, but I had planned my wedding almost singlehandedly (I work as a project manager, so that came very naturally to me) and I felt it was up to me to make sure the day went off without a hitch! (I must say that my family and friends were great and I was able to delegate many tasks that day).

Despite how type-A and anal I was about planning the wedding (everyone involved had a wedding schedule that I gave them the day before that had times down to the minute!), I was surprisingly calm most of the day. I knew that I wanted to enjoy every moment of my wedding day and despite all my planning, something could potentially go wrong. It's not my nature to "roll with the punches" as much as it is to "plan for the punches" but my motto on the wedding day was "However it is, it is." If my bouquet didn't come out great, oh well. If they cake was lopsided, oh well. (Neither of these things happened, thank goodness!)

The girls and I got our makeup and hair done and were at the church by about 12:30 to get ready. On the way from the salon to the church it started POURING. Thank goodness our church had one of those drive-through overhangs that cars could pull up under.

When we got to the church there was a card, a small package, and two big black garbage bags waiting for me in the room where we were getting ready--gifts from Dave! The card was very sweet--he wrote it that morning and it said something like, "Today we are tying the knot. It is raining today, but water just makes the knot stronger!" In the small package were some beautiful diamond stud earrings. I had warned Dave and my family not got get me a gift they planed on having me wear that day because I had already planned my jewelry and accessories. But I was able to slip the earrings into my second-upper earring piercing and they were beautiful! As for the garbage bags? Inside each was a GIANT Mickey Mouse and a GIANT Minnie Mouse! (Pictures of these two will follow!) I laughed and laughed and I was so happy that my husband-to-be knew me perfectly.

We got into our dresses at about 1:30 and luckily it only took fifteen minutes to get into my dress! My dress was a zip-back but it had lots of these little hook and loop closures that had to go over the zipper that were tough to close. I chose a tulle ballgown because I wanted a princess dress and a dress that would stand the test of time.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND003.jpg

Beading on my dress

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND004.jpg

Dave and his best man, Mike, getting ready.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND009.jpg

The girls pushing on the front of my dress so we can get the clasps hooked!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND008.jpg

Sucking it in!!!!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND017.jpg

Whew! It's on! Thanks, Mom!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND018.jpg

The ceremony started on time, and before I knew it, it was time to walk down the aisle with my dad.

David and I did not do a "first look" (which is where some couples see each other before the wedding to give them time to do pictures before the ceremony) because we wanted the wedding ceremony to be that much more special.

I had a serious fear in the weeks leading up to the wedding that I would be crying my eyes out down the aisle. I cried during Finding Nemo and I used up three tissues during Toy Story 3. I bawled during the proposal and cried when Dave told me about the honeymoon. Naturally, I was picturing that no matter what I did, I'd be walking down the aisle with my face bunched up and tears dripping down my face (and out of my nose)--not exactly the beautiful bride I was picturing.



http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND037.jpg

My sister, the Maid of Honor, walking down the aisle. Not the best picture of her, but we called her Pippa that day because she was beautiful! P.S. I loved how our bouquets came out. I ordered them from the local grocery store!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND038.jpg

My second-cousin, my flower girl.


http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND040.jpg

Dave, just before I walked down the aisle.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND041.jpg

Me and my Dad


Would I have a breakdown? Stay Tuned!

[khertz]

Joining in! Your wedding gown is GORGEOUS!! And your engagement sounds so amazing, not only in MK, but at CRT! Your DH did a great job planning & executing that. :thumbsup2 I can't wait to see how the honeymoon went, although how could a Disneymoon go wrong? :goodvibes

[BadgerGirl84]

Despite my worry that I'd get to the end of the aisle with my makeup running and needing a Kleenex, I made it down the aisle tear free! The night before, Dave and I were both teary during the rehearsal. Glad we got it out of our system then! The moment Canon In D started playing and the guests stood up, I was running on pure adrenaline. It was a very happy moment and I had the biggest smile on my face seeing all my friends and family, and especially my groom at the end of the aisle.

The ceremony was perfect--short, sweet, and Christ-centered. Our pastor gave a short sermon on this verse in Ecclesiastes: "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." She then brought out a white and silver cord and tied it in a knot and instructed us to tie a knot in the cord on each of our wedding anniversaries as our bond grows stronger.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND056.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND090.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND074.jpg

Instead of doing a receiving line, Dave and I did each walked back up to the front of the church after the recessional and "released" our guests from each row instead of having the ushers do it. This worked out great! It allowed us to give a personal greeting to each of our guests, but not require everyone to stand in a long receiving line. My family served some refreshments in the church kitchen (I loved this because the reception site was 40 minutes away and I didn't want anyone to drive on an empty stomach!).

The original plan was to do all pictures (bride and groom, bridal party, and family) at the reception site--the West Bend Country Club. They have beautiful grounds and I love outdoor pictures. Problem was, it was still pouring rain! Going along with my motto of "however it is, it is," we went with Plan B. We snapped some bride and groom and family shots in the church (and I'm so happy we did because they turned out beautiful. Someone had the great idea to call the country club and see what the weather was like out there. Turned out it wasn't raining yet and according to the radar, rain wasn't expected for 2 hours!

The families and bridal party hopped in the cars and somehow my uncle and fiancé stuffed me and my puffy dress in the front seat of our Rav 4. I don't remember a whole lot of what we talked about other than how perfect the ceremony was and how we couldn't (well...I) wait to go to Disney.

We got to the club and immediately started taking pictures. We didn't have as much picture time as I would have liked before it started raining, but I'm grateful for the time we had. On the upside, I got to enjoy all of cocktail hour with my guest!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND159.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND190.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND143.jpg

I was amazed at how beautiful the club was decorated. The great thing about having the reception at the club was that it is very elegant and beautiful on its own, but my place cards, wedding cake, flower arrangements and centerpieces all made the room SHINE!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND211.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND123.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND124.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND118.jpg

During cocktail hour our guests enjoyed the craft beers we selected for the event--a brown ale and a local honey blonde (we are beer freaks!). I was surprised with how many people watched the slideshow that Dave put together (baby and growing up pictures of both of us, then pictures from our dating days and engagement) that was playing on the plasma TVs in the lounge area. That was a hit!

Before dinner, we cut the cake, as the serving staff was going to cut it and serve it for dessert. I was lucky enough to have two wedding cakes. My "official" wedding cake was my only tribute to Disney. As inspiration, I gave my baker an image of a WDW wedding cake and I purchased a castle cake topper online. The cake had written on it, "And They Lived Happily Ever After." It turned out beautiful. It's a family tradition to have an almond pound cake at weddings and my aunt made a wonderful, layered, heart shaped almond pound cake and also had a framed picture of my grandmother (who has passed) and a story about the tradition of the cake.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND115.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND197.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND235.jpg

When it was time for dinner, we did our grand march to "Marry You" by Bruno Mars. (After seeing it on Glee, I had to have it in the wedding!). We had a lot of speeches and prayers at the beginning of dinner, and that was one of the most special parts of the whole day. Dave's dad gave a great toast, then my dad did a speech that had the whole audience uproaring in laughter and then in tears. My dad does GREAT speeches. My sister's speech and the best man speech went off without a hitch and were heartfelt. (Not embarrassing, thank goodness!) The pastor said a prayer, then Dave said a prayer. Dave had written a really excellent prayer for the rehearsal dinner (that...guess what...had me in tears…) and it was so good that we all asked him to say it again at the wedding.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND304.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND311.jpg

Finally, it was time to eat! I was STARVING. We served pork in merlot sauce and walnut chicken and I got the pork. Dave ordered a special steak and we both loved our food. It was hot, tasty and a big portion. Even better, the guests all thought the same. We heard rave reviews of the food all night.

After that, we danced the night away!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/CHARLAND335.jpg

I loved our DJ and I was on the dance floor most of the night. We planned a couple of fun, unique things with our DJ. I had seen a thing called "the shoe game" on YouTube where the couple sits back to back and each couple holds one bride shoe and one groom shoe. The DJ then asks questions like, "Who controls the remote TV? Or Who is most romantic?" and if I thought it was me, I'd raise my shoe and if I thought it was Dave, I'd raise his shoe. It was hilarious. Dave also planned a really funny garter toss. He had me sit on a chair he had rigged. Underneath it were Twinkies, a funny DVD, bags of chips, etc and when he was reaching under my dress to get the garter, he started throwing that stuff out of it. Hilarious! The guests thought it was the funniest thing ever.

For the guests that didn't want to dance, or wanted a break, we also had a candy buffet and a photo booth. They were huge hits! I wasn't sure if the photo booth was worth the expense, but it was worth every penny because the guests had such a fun time with it. Oh--another guest favorite! Late night pizza. At 10 pm they brought out tons of hot, homemade pizzas.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/312412_10100724599383907_8604659_65132613_91377605 6_n.jpg

We wrapped things up at around 11:30 and I was beaming. It was the best day ever. Plus, it was only one more sleep until Disney!

Next up: From Milwaukee to the Wilderness Lodge!

[BadgerGirl84]

Joining in! Your wedding gown is GORGEOUS!! And your engagement sounds so amazing, not only in MK, but at CRT! Your DH did a great job planning & executing that. :thumbsup2 I can't wait to see how the honeymoon went, although how could a Disneymoon go wrong? :goodvibes

Thank you so much for your compliment! I love, love, loved shopping for my dress and I knew right away it was "the one!" Glad to have you along for the ride. I have really enjoyed reading your most recent TR with your DH and little one! I absolutely love the photos of him with the characters!!!

[ChattaAlley]

WOW you made a gorgeous bride. Loved the dress. How special it was for all to be the ones who released the guests. I have never seen that done.

The candy buffet sounds wonderful and fun!!!!

The photo booth sounds great. Was it an actual booth?

[BadgerGirl84]

WARNING: I don't have any photos until we get to the Wilderness Lodge. My deepest apologies if paragraphs of pre-trip narration without photos bores the pants off you.

On September 4th, I woke up as a married lady!

Dave and I didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked because we had major issues with the hotel where we were staying the night. When we got to the hotel at midnight, we were utterly exhausted. It took us forever just to get our overnight bags out of our car because we had packed all our wedding gifts over and around them. When we finally got to the front desk, the front desk clerk was assisting a guest with a public computer in the lobby. So we stood at the front desk waiting. And waiting. Then scowling. Mind you, I was still wearing MY WEDDING DRESS and Dave was in his TUX. So after five minutes, he finally came over. Guess what? He couldn't find our reservation! I was shocked because I had made the reservation months ago and had called to confirm several weeks before the wedding. Plus, we had a block of rooms reserved under our name as well for our guests. We felt like Mary and Joseph with no room at the inn! He said that he could get us a room, but not at the rate I said I had reserved it at. We were so fed up with the whole experience, we just left and drove to his mom's house. Why should we spend $100 at a hotel with such terrible service when we could just save the money for Disney?

Finally, at 1am, we got to bed. At 7:30, we got up to get ready for our 9am gift opening at the hotel we ditched the night before. As we were getting ready, Dave realized that he didn't have any shoes. Well, no shoes except for tux shoes. Dave had left his car at the church so we could ride together to the reception and he left his Keen sandals in the car. To remedy that situation, shoeless Dave decided to drive to Wal-Mart to pick up a quick pair of sandals. The town we were in had a Boston Store and Kohl's as well...but he thought that Wal-Mart was the most appropriate store to walk into barefoot. (BTW, have you ever seen the website, People of Wal-Mart? No way would he be worse than any of those Wal-Martians!).

On the way to the store, Dave (who is very tech-savvy and a total electronic gadget expert and addict) had the great idea to back up the videos of the wedding that were on our camcorder on to an SD-card(Or friends had volunteered to record the ceremony and various parts of the reception--so sweet!). Not sure what he clicked or pushed, but Dave lost all the videos on the camera. Gone. Well, at least he thought he did. He as so upset about this (I wasn't with him when this happened, but he said he was very worried about having to tell me what happened!) that he turned right around back home--sans shoes.

Thank the good Lord that somehow, someway, the videos were not actually deleted. After sighs of relief all around, shoeless Dave, me (wearing my Bride shirt) and his mom headed to the hotel to meet some of our friends who had stayed overnight at the hotel as well as my parents and Dave's dad and step mom for the gift opening.

When I got to the hotel, I talked to the manager on staff about the incident that happened the night prior. Instead of us all having to pay $7 for breakfast, we all got to eat for free. Okay--I was too excited about the day ahead to care about arguing more.

The gift opening was great--shoeless Dave and I opened the non-card gifts and got to talk about our favorite parts of the wedding with our family and friends. We had a 1:55pm flight, so after the gifts were opened, we got a ride from Dave's mom to pick up Dave's car from the church. Finally Dave was reunited with some footwear and we were on our way to the airport!

Well, not quite. My aunt and uncle live near the airport and they were nice enough to let us park our car at their house and drive to the airport. On the way to the airport David HAD to stop at the famous Kopps frozen custard stand to get a waffle cone and a burger. He loves ice cream and burgers...this will become a trend on the trip. And in his life.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/PWO3701.jpg
(I didn't take this photo when we got custard at Kopps. We were not lucky enough to have three smiling people all handing us a cone. It's a promotional photo for the restaurant because I felt bad about not having pictures!)

We made it to the airport on time and lucky for us, the flight was empty. As soon as I sat down in my seat on the plane I started crying. Why? The wedding could not have gone any better, our guests had a blast, we made it to the airport, our flight was on time, and we were headed down to Florida for a week in Disney. How could life get any better? I was so grateful for the gifts I had been given in that moment.

We got a row to ourselves and got to spread out. The plane ride down was super fun. We plugged the video card with the wedding videos into Dave's laptop. To my surprise, our friend who filmed the wedding also had pulled aside some of our guests (including all of our parents and wedding party) to film them giving us their wishes! It was so fun to watch their messages to us--I had no idea it was going on.

For those of you who slugged through this with me, here is a surprise video from our engagement trip. Dave took it probably about 30 minutes before the proposal. He asks me what my favorite ride was and I joke and say "the tugboat" (aka the ferry we took from TTC).

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/th_MVI_0680.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/?action=view&current=MVI_0680.mp4)



Up Next - Honeymoon Day 1: Arrival at WL!

[EnchantedPlayroom]

Subbing!

[BadgerGirl84]

WOW you made a gorgeous bride. Loved the dress. How special it was for all to be the ones who released the guests. I have never seen that done.

The candy buffet sounds wonderful and fun!!!!

The photo booth sounds great. Was it an actual booth?

Aw, thanks! We wanted to make sure that at the very least we got to personally greet each guest at the wedding. I had heard stories of friends who had planned on finishing eating early and then making the rounds through the tables, but a lot had said that they ran out of time to say hi to everyone. So this plan worked really well for us.

I loved the candy buffet! I bought all the jars at Goodwill and my sister and dad stepped in from there--sister decorated the jars and Dad got the candy. Big hit with the guests (especially kids).

Yes, it was an actual photo booth--they are all the rage with weddings right now. Two people worked the booth and they printed two strips of the photos. The guest got to keep one strip and the other strip went in a memory book they made for me. Hilarious photos. I also got a CD of the pictures and uploaded them to Facebook. A lot of guests turned them into their profile pics!

Subbing!

:welcome: Glad to have you here!

[BadgerGirl84]

While it makes me sort of a spoil-sport to interrupt the big arrival to the Wilderness Lodge, but I wanted to take a moment to share our plans that we had lined up for the honeymoon. Here are the deets:

We had the following hotel stays booked:
9/4-9/6: The Wilderness Lodge
9/7-9/12: The Fairfield Inn on Canada Ave near Universal Studios

I had never stayed on-site before (Dave thinks he stayed at the Poly as a kid), so I knew that I definitely wanted to stay at least a couple nights on-site for our honeymoon. We wanted to stay at a reasonably-priced Deluxe resort (we also used a room-only discount) so we were deciding between the AKL and WL. The ability to take the boat to the MK and the Contemporary sounded incredible, so we went for the WL!

Why did we also stay off-site? The main driver here was that I still had a boat-load of Marriott points from my four years of doing very frequent business travel. My plan was to stay at my favorite Marriott in the area, the Lake Buena Vista Residence Inn, but the Fairfield near Universal had a points-special that was too good to pass up. It would also give us the chance to check out the I-Drive area.

We had plans to visit the following parks:
MK, DHS, AK, Epcot, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

We had the following ADRs:
Whispering Canyon Café, Sci Fi Dine In Theatre, Crystal Palace and California Grill. (We also ended up eating at the new TS place in Mexico at Epcot and The Wave in the Contemporary).

We also had tickets to the first Night of Joy concert at the MK on September 9, 2011. If you aren’t familiar, Night of Joy is a ticketed Christian music concert at the MK (has been at DHS in years past).

[BadgerGirl84]

Our plane landed right on time and we hopped off the plane and got our first good whiff of Florida air. AHHH….Lovely. We breezed through the airport to the car rental booth. There was no line and we got our paperwork and got to pick out any of the vehicles in the "Full-Size" row. I just love it when we get to pick out our car for the week! It's like anything could be out there...a Porsche, a Beamer, a Hummer...anything! :) This time it was mostly Ford Fusions, Nissan Altimas and Chevy Malibus and Impalas. I let DH pick since he was driving and I have zero interest in cars. He picked a Ford Fusion that had XM Radio (we enjoyed listening to that during the week).

We set up the GPS, plugged in Wilderness Lodge's address, and we were on our way! On the downside, it was lightly sprinkling, but on the bright side, we were headed to Disney World!

My excitement grew and grew...I had never driven directly from the airport to the WDW gate...to a WDW resort before!

I missed the shot of the big arches that you drive under as you enter the Walt Disney World gates, but here's a road sign for the Wilderness Lodge. (You can see how much it was raining.)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1038.jpg

We had to drive through the Magic Kingdom gates to get to the resort...so cool!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1039.jpg

We are finally arriving!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1040-Copy.jpg

And a bit closer…

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1041-Copy.jpg

Dave parked the car in the temporary parking area while we checked in. Had to snap a shot of the Let the Memories Begin sign...I love that slogan this year. "Don't Mind if I Do!" I thought when I saw the sign. We have such great memories of our honeymoon...barely a day goes by when I don't mention a memory from it. :goodvibes

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1042-Copy.jpg

Dave tried to get my picture taken under the sign but we didn't have the right lens on the camera to properly take it. So...here's just me smiling outside of the WL. :thumbsup2

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1046.jpg

Ah...our first glimpse of the lobby I had heard so much about. Simply beautiful. The place was buzzing! WCC was packed and there were lots of people milling about in the lobby.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1047.jpg

We did regular check-in and our room was ready. We were congratulated on our honeymoon and given the "Happily Ever After" pins. Nice! I had heard on the Disneymoon and Weddings board that the "Just Married" pins were now only given to Disney brides, so I had purchased some of the Just Married pins on Ebay, as "Happily Ever After" could be any romantic occasion and I definitely wanted a special pin for our honeymoon!

I was secretly hoping for an upgrade to a honeymoon suite or club level (we just book standard view) but we were given just a standard view. Didn't bother me one bit, as I knew we would be perfectly happy with a standard view. I honestly don't remember our room number but we were on the 6th floor.

View of the lobby on the way to the room. Standing with my beloved pink roll-aboard suitcase that has been with me through thick and thin. It used to be all bright bubblegum pink, and now it's grey, black and shades of muted-pink.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1055.jpg

At the room...doing what any good DISer does first...check out the view!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1057.jpg

That ceiling fan you see in the middle of the room will come in very handy later. (Oooo….foreshadowing!)

Here was the view when you looked strait ahead. Beautiful, lush Florida forest!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1067.jpg

Here was the view when you looked down to the right.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1086.jpg

And down to the left.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1085.jpg

:rotfl:

Hahaha. Standard view, for sure! Wish I would have taken a more panned-out shot because there was also a Smoke House, a crane, and some other construction-type equipment. Nothing says Wilderness more than that! There would be a perk with this view, however, that I will have to mention later. I really liked having that balcony. There were a couple of chairs and we enjoyed sitting out there to catch up on the phone with our family later in the trip.

Aw, Mickey head towel. Don't see those in Marriotts.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1058.jpg

Bathroom was fine. Always like having the sink outside of the shower/toilet area.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1059.jpg

I was a little surprised with how outdated the tub/toilet room was. Nothing was broken...the whole room just looked worn and outdated. As I said, I had been a very frequent business traveler and most of the hotels I had stayed at just seemed more updated. Nothing to complain about, though.


http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1060.jpg

Overall, I was very happy with the room! I liked the rustic-touches. The room was a bit smaller than I was used to, but it was just perfect for me and DH.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1062-Copy.jpg

Headboard

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1066.jpg

Enough room shots, we were starved. Time to get pretty and get some grub! I had made a 7:50p ADR at WCC, that in retrospect, I should have made much earlier, as it was just a little past six and we were starving.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1064-Copy.jpg

Up next: Exploring the Lobby and Dinner

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!!

[jecskc]

I'm in!!! I love a good Disneymoon.

[Johndough]

I MUST try the frozen custard! That sounds heavenly. Ps. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your amazing trip.

[heaven2dc]

Congratulations on your wedding! I loved how your hubby surprised you with the engagement :lovestruc You are a beautiful couple and will have many magical years together!

I would be so disappointed if I were on my honeymoon and didn't get an upgrade - they could at least have given you a king bed! But sometimes that extra bed is nice to put stuff on - and you're in Disney, right? Nothing could be more magical :)

Wish I could go see the Night of Joy concert some time - I love Christian music especially Jeremy Camp, TobyMac and Kutlass. Can't wait to read more!

[BadgerGirl84]

Count me in!!!

:wave: Great! Thanks for joining!

I'm in!!! I love a good Disneymoon.

Me, too! :love:

Congratulations on your wedding! I loved how your hubby surprised you with the engagement :lovestruc You are a beautiful couple and will have many magical years together!

I would be so disappointed if I were on my honeymoon and didn't get an upgrade - they could at least have given you a king bed! But sometimes that extra bed is nice to put stuff on - and you're in Disney, right? Nothing could be more magical :)

Wish I could go see the Night of Joy concert some time - I love Christian music especially Jeremy Camp, TobyMac and Kutlass. Can't wait to read more!

Thank you for all the kind words!

I was hoping for an upgrade but setting myself up to be fine if we didn't get one. I read countless times on the boards that you should book the view you would be happy with and not expect an upgrade, so I knew we'd be fine with standard. It was nice that they acknowledged our honeymoon, congratulated us, and gave us the pins. Can't wait to try Club Level one day!

Night of Joy was a blast! Love those artists, too!

[BadgerGirl84]

As I mentioned in my last post, our ADR at the WCC wasn't until 7:50, which was about an hour and a half away. I had been going back and forth on making the ADR at WCC, given that I knew it would be loud and I was hearing mixed reviews on the food...but I decided to go with it anyway just to give it a chance.

Dave and I decided to check out some more of the resort to kill some time.

Dave took a picture of the lighting fixtures in the lobby...neat!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1071.jpg

Here I am on that bridge with a couple of kiddos behind me!


http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1076.jpg

We then checked out the menu at Artist Point. The hostess said they could seat us in about 30 minutes. Mmm...the menu looked so good and I had heard great things about it, but we didn't want to blow our food budget the first night of the trip! We decided to pass.

I then tried to talk Dave into getting some flatbreads at Roaring Forks and eating outside, but after checking the place out we decided against it. They didn't have a huge selection of hot food. I'd heard good things about the flatbreads, but we were really looking to unwind at a TS dinner.

Then we decided to get a drink at the Territory Lounge. The place was hopping! We got the last open table near one of the walls. When we sat down we noticed that some people were eating food--chicken wings and also skillets from the WCC. Dave and I love to eat at bars at home, so we decided that maybe we could just eat there!

We didn't end up doing that because we didn't have a very good experience there. As I mentioned, the place was PACKED. But...there were only two ladies working there--one waitress and one bartender. It took us FOR-EV-ER (imagine me saying that just like the chubby kid in the Sandlot) for the waitress to get to our table. She was very short with us when we asked her for drink recommendations. I ended up ordering some type of flavored mojito and Dave ordered an agave margarita after I told him I had heard a good review of it on the boards. It took a very, very long time for Dave and I to get our drinks.


http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1077.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1079.jpg

They tasted good, but we were anxious to get out of there because we didn't feel very welcomed by the waitress...it's one thing to be treated rudely by a waitress in any restaurant...but let alone Disney! I have to imagine that there must have been a staffing error or mix up that night and that the woman was just stressed. Our first experience with Disney resort dining was not a good one, but I was hoping it would be a fluke!

It was about 7:15 and we checked in at WCC...we were hoping to get seated early. Didn't end up happening because the place was packed! So we sat in some of the comfy chairs in the lobby and just relaxed for a while.

We were seated and ended up having a really fun waitress. She didn't get too wild and crazy since it was just the two of us and we didn't have any kids, but she was fun. I ordered the smoked pork spring roll app as an entrée and Dave ordered the skillet.

They brought out the cornbread and salad for the skillet and they were really good. I had some. Is that against the skillet law since I didn't order the skillet? Oops. As we waited for our food we saw the kids run around on the wooden horses and saw people yelling for the ketchup--all very funny. We decided our future kids would love it there one day.

We were pleased with what we ordered. I'd heard mixed reviews on the skillet (all you care to eat pork ribs, pulled pork, oven-roasted chicken, beef brisket, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and coleslaw.

Dave was starved and he ate the entire thing. I think he even asked for some more brisket. I had a few tastes of the meats and they were all pretty good. Doesn't he look excited to eat here? I had to stand really far away since we still had this really zoomed-out lens on the camera.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1081.jpg

Dave schmeared some BBQ sauce on my face and took a picture. Neat!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1082.jpg

When we were finished, the waitress brought us some complimentary champagne with strawberries to celebrate our honeymoon! Aw! Then she proceeded to shout to the whole restaurant that it was our honeymoon and had them congratulate us. Good thing we aren't too shy!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1083.jpg

Overall, we enjoyed eating at the WCC. I don't think I'd go out of my way to seek it out until I had kids or unless I was staying at the WL again, though.

When we got back to the room, we discovered a unique perk of our electrical box/smoke house view from our balcony...I began to hear fireworks outside...and I could see Wishes outside! I couldn't see the castle or hear the music, but there were the Wishes fireworks. Magical!

Next up: MK Day - Breakfast at Crystal Palace

[kimbo0569]

I'm in! Loved seeing the pics and hearing the story of your surprise engagement! Can't wait to read more!
Dh and I honeymooned in Disney as well! And 12 years, 2 beautiful daughters and lots of memories, laughter and tears later, we still are the best of friends and he likes Disney just as much as I do, even if he won't admit it...
:goodvibes

[MickeyLover20]

Your wedding sounds like it was a lot of fun! Love the cake! I can't believe that you got engaged in the castle...that is awesome! Loving your TR so far and can't wait to read more!

[BadgerGirl84]

I MUST try the frozen custard! That sounds heavenly. Ps. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your amazing trip.

Frozen custard....soooo good. It's like ice cream but creamier and richer. Here in Wisconsin there are lots of places to buy it. Culver's is a big chain in the midwest that has good fast-food and good custard. I swear you would be a millionaire if you could open one up in Kissimmee!

I'm in! Loved seeing the pics and hearing the story of your surprise engagement! Can't wait to read more!
Dh and I honeymooned in Disney as well! And 12 years, 2 beautiful daughters and lots of memories, laughter and tears later, we still are the best of friends and he likes Disney just as much as I do, even if he won't admit it...
:goodvibes

Sounds like a great life! I'm glad you have a DH who enjoys Disney...I couldn't imagine if Dave hated it. I'm hoping for my little Disney princess one day, but I just have a feeling that I'll be taking two little Princes there one day!

Your wedding sounds like it was a lot of fun! Love the cake! I can't believe that you got engaged in the castle...that is awesome! Loving your TR so far and can't wait to read more!

Thanks and thanks! More to come!

[ForAandA]

Subbing in. You had a beautiful wedding! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness :).

[rockin2it]

I love the Wilderness Lodge..definitely one of my favorites. It's the best at Christmastime. :)

I have eaten at the WCC a few times. My kids absolutely love it especially asking for ketchup..my daughter still talks about how we had 19 bottles on our table. I don't eat brisket or pork but I thought the chicken was pretty good there.

[BadgerGirl84]

We woke up well rested, bright and early at 6:45am on the first full day of our honeymoon. Who needs sleeping in when your friends Pooh and Tigger are waiting to have breakfast with you at 8am? You guessed it...we had a pre-park opening reservation at the Crystal Palace. This was one of the many dining tips I had picked up with the Disboards as I was planning the honeymoon.

One of the main reasons we had booked the WL over the AKL was the fact that WL was on Bay Lake and had the boat you could take to Magic Kingdom. What better way to start the day than a boat ride? I was envisioning the perfect morning of boat ride to the MK, breakfast at the Crystal Palace, and a fairly empty park.

We got down to the lobby a little before 7:30. I asked one of the CMs who was working in the lobby if he recommended the boat or bus to get to MK the quickest that morning--he recommended the bus. Making our ADR on time (and enjoying an empty Main Street USA) was most important to me--so bus it was!

Here I am, happy at the bus stop!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1090.jpg

Here I am, sad at the bus stop, because we had been waiting over 15 minutes at that point.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1091.jpg

We saw 3 buses come for AK and one for each of the other parks. At the 25 minute mark, I was getting sort of upset because I was nervous we were going to miss our breakfast and empty park pictures! As much as I try to be go-with-the-flow, when I have something planned, it's really hard for me to accept my plans going wrong.

To pass the time, I threw a bean bag into this Celebrate board-thing (thrilling game, really!). Guess which one I got the bean bag into?

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1092.jpg

Finally the bus came (I'm sure the walkie-talkie guy was even more relieved than me! Haha). The bus driver was great--he took off with just us on the bus when I told him about our reservation.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1093.jpg

We ran off the bus, went to the special turnstile for people with breakfast ADRs, prayed a littler prayer we'd have no issues with our Undercover Tourist tickets (we didn't!), and we were on Main Street USA! Yahoo!! I did a happy dance.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1099.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1100.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1103.jpg

Oh! Something I forgot! On the way over to the MK, I realized I forgot to put our Just Married pins on us that I had bought on Ebay. This had been a tip from the honeymoon board because I had heard they were just giving out the Happily Ever After pins (which could be for just engaged, married, anniversary, etc.). That sort of bummed me out, so when we got to the MK, I checked in at the Town Hall building to see if they had any pins. They had 2 Just Married pins for us--woohoo! This ended up being a blessing, as we were able to tuck the two pins into a wedding gift the following month for a friend of ours who loves Disney.

We had bought a Photopass CD in advance (another great tip from the Disboards!) so as much as I wanted to run to the CP, we stopped for some empty park pictures. Just the two of us, baby! Oh, and that lady over there.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0008FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0009FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0013FourBySix.jpg

Note to future honeymooners--if you get a Photopass picture, get ready to smooch! The photographers will ask for it a lot.

We were about 10-15 minutes late for our reservation, but it was not a problem. (Probably would have been fine regardless, but I had also called the reservations line to let them know we were running late.)

I was so happy we were in the MK and made our reservation that I asked Dave to snap a picture of me posing with the buzzer.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1109.jpg

It went off shortly and we were invited to the Friendship Day Celebration!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1112.jpg

Our table had some cute honeymoon flair (little Mickey-head confetti).

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1113.jpg

We ordered some coffee and then Pooh came over! We weren't thrilled with the camera lens we had for the breakfast...a little too close up.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1114.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1116.jpg

I know some adults aren't into character breakfasts. We hadn't done one before (well...other than CRT on the engagement trip), but we had a great time with it. As you'll see, we met and got photos with A LOT of characters on our trip. When I'm at Disney I forget that there's a person in that suit and in my mind I am interacting with the real character! That is what Disney is all about.

We hit up the buffet next...yum. We were really impressed with the spread. Standard hot buffet line (eggs, bacon, casseroles, potatoes, etc) but they also had a made-to-order station for pancakes, omelets and eggs. We each ordered an omelet and got some other items from the buffet. I was not expecting the food to be very good but we really enjoyed all the options and the made-to-order omelets.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1136.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1120.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1121.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1124.jpg

I loved the Pooh's Stuffed French Toast! It's like a huge cinnamon sugar donut...I dream about having another one...in the land of Disney where all the food is calorie free, of course!

While we ate, we got to visit with Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1127.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1130.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1132.jpg

We got some photos of the beautiful topiaries as we left.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1135.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1137.jpg

Looking back, my breakfast at CT was my favorite meal of the whole trip. The fact that it was our first day in the MK, the first full day of our honeymoon and a totally new experience for us probably added to that! I have a possible trip planned with my mom and sister this fall and taking them to a pre-park opening CT breakfast is a must-do on my list.

Next up: Touring the MK

[tinkgurl]

Just found this TR! It has me so excited for our "Disney-moon" in August!! Congrats to you two!!

[ForAandA]

Chrystal Palace is one of our favs as well! Cannot wait to read more :)

[BadgerGirl84]

Chrystal Palace is one of our favs as well! Cannot wait to read more :)

We absolutely loved it. I am probably talking about that darn breakfast once a week. I will e-mail Dave a picture of it and say, "I really wish I was celebrating Friendship Day today!" I think it will become a 1st day of vacation tradition for us.

Just found this TR! It has me so excited for our "Disney-moon" in August!! Congrats to you two!!

Oh, wow! Have fun planning! I really enjoyed planning for our Disneymoon. Dave was getting a bit tired of hearing me say "Dave, I can't wait until XYZ in Disney..." so he put a dry erase magnet board on the fridge and called it our Disney Dreams board and we wrote down what we were looking forward to on it. :goodvibes Congrats on your engagement and upcoming wedding!

Subbing in. You had a beautiful wedding! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness :).

Oh, thank you so much! I was so pleased with how nicely everything turned out with the wedding.

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

I love this! This makes me so excited for our "Disney-moon" this upcoming September! We are getting married September 1; only a year and 2 days after you! :)

I'm shocked to see the fall decorations going up that early! I hope they are there when we get there on September 2nd!!

[BadgerGirl84]

We were done with our fantastic breakfast at the Crystal Palace at a little after 9am--just after park opening. We were there on Labor Day, and just like I was hoping, the crowds were very low. We could have gone anywhere in the park and the lines would have been fine, but we went ahead with my favorite park-opening strategy at the MK: head straight to Fantasyland and get the "kiddie rides" done. This was another tip I picked up from the boards (shhh...don't tell anyone else)--rides like Pooh and Peter Pan get PACKED later in the day. At park opening there are no lines for these rides and they are all so close together that you can get all of Fantasyland done in about an hour.

We walked towards the back of the park and hopped on the Mad Hatter's Teacups. We hadn't ridden that one on our engagement trip, so we took a spin--fun! Outside of the ride we saw Alice and the White Rabbit. When it was our turn, we stood right next to the characters to get our photo taken. Alice said something smart alecky and funny (in character, of course!) about not wanting to chat with them and wanting to get right to the picture-taking.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0021FourBySix.jpg

We then rode Snow White (I said my goodbyes--boohoo! Can't wait for the mine car coaster, though!)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1143.jpg

(Okay, this is probably my 10th complaint about the camera lens--just not good for some shots!)

Then we rode Peter Pan...I love boarding that ride--how cool is it to step into a little sailboat and then take off over the tiny lit-up city?

We checked out the blocked-off area for the Fantasyland expansion--I am so looking forward to new stuff to check out at the Magic Kingdom...I was never much of a Toon Town fan.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1145.jpg
http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1146.jpg

Our last ride in Fantasyland that morning was Winnie the Pooh--I think this ride is so well-done and "classic Disney." Walt would be proud. I always make sure to look at the framed picture of Mr. Toad handing off the deed.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1147.jpg
http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1148.jpg

The new interactive queue for Pooh is very cool. We didn't "have" to go through it since there was no line, but I wanted to check it all out and try everything out. Very entertaining for me as an adult...I'm sure it will be very handy for entertaining the future kiddos if we ever go during a busier time.

Next up we moved on to Tomorrowland and rode Space Mountain (didn't try out the new video games in the line, but looked like a nice addition) and Buzz.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1150.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1155.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1158.jpg

Look how serious we are about saving the planet from the evil Zerg!!! Oh, and notice that I'm a Galactic Hero (the highest rank!!) and Dave is a lowly Star Cadet.

We met Buzz after the ride.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0030FourBySix.jpg

We did one of my favorites, The Carousel of Progress (Love, Love, Love the song! But I wish they would update the last scene some more--the whole room looks so 1991) and Monster's Inc. I always try to be very strategic where we sit...aisle seat in front of the light things...but we weren't picked. Oh well--still fun!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0033FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0038FourBySix.jpg

We headed back towards the castle and saw a bit of the afternoon castle show (sorry, can't remember the name). It was so blasted hot and the shady spots were taken so we didn't watch much of it.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1162.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1175.jpg

Before leaving the castle area, we got some nice Photopass pictures.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0039FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0050FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0055FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0017FourBySix.jpg

The woman who took our pictures with the castle background did a great job. She did lots of different poses and really took her time with us. I just wish we had done that station when it was either earlier or later in the day--a bit too sunny.

Next up: Afternoon in the Magic Kingdom

[ForAandA]

Great update! You were able to accomplish so many rides in what seems to be such a short amount of time. With the girls we always have to stop here, and browse there. Would love to just go, go, GO!

And your DH's face in the photopass pic with Tink is too funny! :)

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Great update! I really like you "kiddy-ride" in the morning strategy. I never thought to do that...most likely because we just can't get ourselves to the park early enough to do so :confused:

How crowded were the parks? It looks really empty!! It's getting me excited for our September honeymoon! I love a nice, empty park! :cool1:

[BadgerGirl84]

We decided to head to the Liberty Square area to cool off and ride the Haunted Mansion and maybe see the Presidents show. On the way we stopped at one of our must-dos for our honeymoon: buying a special Christmas ornament! I am NOT a shopper--not at home and not at Disney. I despise clutter and knick-knacks so I don't like to pick up a whole lot at the parks. We stopped at the Ye Olde Christmas Shop because we knew they'd have a nice assortment and also because you could get them personalized.

Whee! They had a whole wedding display. Here I am with the Mickey Bride ears and the ornament we ended up getting.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1198.jpg

We also got a photobook that Dave wanted. The veil ears were cute to try on but I never once considered wanting them in the park. For one, the Just Married pin was enough attention--did not need to "declare" my status as a newlywed. Two, I'm not one for headgear of any sort.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1199.jpg

Aw, look at that cute little knick knack you could get if you liked that sort of thing.

After riding the Haunted Mansion (again, loved the new interactive queue!) we decided to skip the President show because our tummies were a-grumblin'. When we are in the MK and hungry for lunch, there is only one option for us: BURGERS at PECOS BILLS! We love that place.

We took that cute wooden path across Frontierland to get there and we passed our feathered-friends who are always hungry.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1200.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1201.jpg

At Pecos Bills, Dave ordered whatever burger had bacon in it, and I ordered a single hamburger. I don't think those are on the menu, but you can ask for one and they are bit cheaper than whatever souped-up burger they have on the menu is.

Here's our food after we loaded up at the toppings bar. Tomato, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, cheese sauce, yes please! Oh, and extra cheese sauce for the fries, please.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1203.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1204.jpg

Nom, nom, nom!

After lunch we rode Pirates...but not before getting some photopass pictures by the stage-thing across from the ride and also with Goofy.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0056FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0061FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0065FourBySix.jpg

Last year we had to wait awhile to see Goofy because he had to take a break to "check on his Pirate ship" but no wait this year.

On our last trip, Dave thought it was hilarious to steer me into the spot where that golden camel spit out water by the Aladdin carpet ride and also where the totem poles shoot out water. Well, this year the totem poles were dried up so I just got a splash from the camel.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1206.jpg

Decided to pose for a picture after I realized I could stay dry.

You'd think that after a buffet breakfast and a pig-out burger lunch that Dave and I would be full to the gills. We'll, this is Disneyworld, where stomachs always have room for a sweet treat. Like any good Diser, we love our Dole Whips. I got the pinapple vanilla swirl in a cup and Dave got the Dole Whip float.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1210.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1209.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1214.jpg

Let's take a moment to pause and look at Dave's shirt. I gave it to him as a wedding gift the morning of the wedding. I sure hope you like the shirt because he wore it three times on the trip. Thank goodness I had some of that Downy freshening spray.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1225.jpg

Yum. I took the time while we were sitting down to listen to these voicemails I kept getting all day from a number I didn't recognize.


http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1229.jpg

Turns out it was my credit card company calling to ask me if I had made an iTunes purchase in California. UMMM….NO. Grr...identity theft stinks! I cancelled the card with them over the phone and they mailed out a new one to my home address. Good thing I had a back-up card to use during the trip.

After our Dole Whips, we rode the Jungle Cruise. We had a pretty good captain but the other guests weren't laughing that much. I tried to laugh extra loud to make up for them because I always feel bad when no one laughs at the jokes. I also did my best not to answer the riddles (i.e. the backside of water, you can look at the elephants because they have their trunks on, the captains favorite plant life is "that one and that one over there") and ruin the jokes.

If I could ever quit my job and move to Florida, I think I would be very happy as a Jungle Cruise operator--I'd love to ham it up and think of more corny jokes.

It was getting to be around 2pm so Dave and I decided to do just one more attraction before heading back to the hotel. Since we only had 2 nights booked at the WL, we wanted to have some time this afternoon to check out the resort and go swimming. So for our last attraction of the day we had to do the one attraction that I would be absolutely devastated if we didn't get to see when we came back for the Night of Joy concert...my all-time favorite at MK...Mickey's Philharmagic.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1241.jpg

I'm half-Mexican so I think I'm an expert maraca-shaker.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1243-1.jpg

I can't express how much I love this attraction. It stands for everything that is good about Disney...their movies and their parks. It is the most "magical" of all the attractions for me and sometimes I tear-up watching it! I really enjoy it when there aren't too many people in the theatre and I can sort of sit by myself...this allows me to sing a long a bit! :) If I had it my way, I'd sing the songs really loudly...but I don't think other guests came to see "Elizabeth Sings the Disney Hits."

A few more photopass shots on our way out of the park…

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0071FourBySix.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0082FourBySix.jpg

Either Photopass or the photographer made an error here...they told us I was holding the Frog Prince and for Dave to look mad because he wanted to give me a kiss. But...here is Tink...who could be mad at little ol' Tink?

On our way out down Main St USA, I mentioned to Dave that I had heard some Disers rave about an ice cream cookie sandwich you could get at the bakery. SHOCK ALERT: My ice-cream loving husband wanted one.

Oh, wow, that cookie sandwich was HUGE. Dave at most of it.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1244-1.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1246-1.jpg

I had a few bites!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1248-1.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1250-1.jpg

We garnered some stares from the other diners in the bakery because that cookie was humongous and it was impossible to take a bite of it without the ice cream squeezing out the sides. No challenge is to hard to overcome, however, for expert eaters like us!

We were just about to exit the park when we saw a sign to meet Mickey and Minnie and that there was no wait. I hadn't read much about the new Mickey and Princess meet-and-greets at the entrance of the MK, but wow, were we ever impressed. We walked through an empty line area, and then waited outside of a door for a moment or two. We didn't know what to expect, but then we walked into a big private "set room" with the one and only Mickey! I loved seeing Mickey and Minnie in their most traditional outfits.

Dave pulled out his cell phone and showed him a picture of our puppy, Minnie, and told her that we named her after her. <CHILDREN, SHUT YOUR EYES HERE.> We literally heard the person giggle. This was not a Minnie mouse giggle, this was a real lady giggle. We laughed--she must have LOVED the picture of Minnie!

[CENTER]http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/Photo0088FourBySix.jpg


The photoshoot with Mickey and Minnie was a really nice surprise for us and completely unplanned--what a great way to end our day at the park!

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Sounds like such a fun day so far! I couldn't agree more about Philharmagic being one of the best attractions. It really represents "classic Disney." It brings me to tears every time we see it. :)

[BadgerGirl84]

I love the Wilderness Lodge..definitely one of my favorites. It's the best at Christmastime. :)

I have eaten at the WCC a few times. My kids absolutely love it especially asking for ketchup..my daughter still talks about how we had 19 bottles on our table. I don't eat brisket or pork but I thought the chicken was pretty good there.

Fun! Yeah, I can see why kids would really like it. I'm really hoping to do a future stay at WDW in the late Nov/early Dec time frame so that we can go to MVMCP and see all the resort and park decorations.

I love this! This makes me so excited for our "Disney-moon" this upcoming September! We are getting married September 1; only a year and 2 days after you! :)

I'm shocked to see the fall decorations going up that early! I hope they are there when we get there on September 2nd!!

Yup, MK will be beautifully decorated for fall. A bit of a shock since it's still summer the 1st week of September pretty much everywhere in the USA, but it's pretty. I think you and your DH will really enjoy visiting the parks at this time. Pros: Parks are EMPTY--you barely need to use Fast Passes. Dave made fun of me when I got them because the wait times were so low. Cons: Need to keep an eye on hurricanes that time of year--I was watching the weather websites for two weeks before our trip and tracking Hurricane depressions.

It will be HOT--we've gone that week for the past 2 years and it's been in the low 90s both times. Also, every day, count in it to rain for 15-30 minutes. Not a big deal--we packed ponchos and went on with our day.

Sounds like such a fun day so far! I couldn't agree more about Philharmagic being one of the best attractions. It really represents "classic Disney." It brings me to tears every time we see it. :)

Me too!

[kimbo0569]

What a great ending to a wonderful day!

I had someone hack into my Itunes account a couple months ago but luckily it wasn't my credit card. I just buy the Itunes cards at Target/CVS and use those. They did credit back the money to my account though.

[ForAandA]

Another great update, thanks for sharing!

[BadgerGirl84]

We left the MK at about 3pm and headed for "home." We decided to take the boat instead of the bus--obviously the boat ride across Bay Lake is more magical! I LOVED being able to glide across the lake back to our hotel and enjoy the scenery and resorts. This was a major "perk" for us compared to staying off-site. The ferry/monorail > parking tram > walk to the car option that the off-site guests have to take is not very fun. We are "sold" on staying at a MK Deluxe Resort when we go to Disney with kids one day.

The plan for the rest of the day was to relax. We had been going non-stop for the past three days between the rehearsal, the wedding, and traveling to Florida...I was glad I had planned for relaxing! Our plan was to hang out at the pool and then eat somewhere. I didn't have an ADR, but it was a slow time, so I wasn’t anticipating having an issue.

As our boat neared the WL dock, the skies turned very dark, and it was raining cats and dogs by the time we had to get off the boat. Good thing I had been working on sprints at my gym, because that's how we got from the dock to the hotel!

When we got in the room, we were surprised by a special message on the phone from our friends, Minnie and Mickey! (You can hear it on the video below.)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/th_00000-1.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/?action=view&current=00000-1.mp4)

Our pool plans were shot for the moment, so we decided to hang out in the room until the storm passed. The great thing about the rain in September was that although it rained every day (usually in late afternoon), the rain would usually only last 15-20 minutes. We sat on the balcony, called our families, and watched some more wedding videos.

I had taken off my Keen sandals before going on the balcony and when we came back, we found that the whole room smelled kinda funky. I did my best to fix the situation! (See video below)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/th_00001.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/?action=view&current=00001.mp4)

I did not end up wearing those stinkin' sandals the rest of the trip. I know some people RAVE about Keen sandals at the park but they rubbed my feet in an uncomfortable way, even though I had been wearing them off and on during the summer.

The rain cleared up a bit later so we headed out to the pool. Sorry, we didn't take our camera, so no pictures. We liked the pool but found that it wasn't as big as we were expecting and the slide was pretty small. I love waterslides but it was so small I would have felt like an elephant going down it. The kiddos were having fun with it, though. We mostly floated around in the main pool and watched a kids activity where one kid would sit in a chair with a contraption holding a water balloon over their head. The other kids would take turns trying to hit a target and if they hit the target, the water balloon would pop. Fun!

After relaxing in the lounge chairs and taking in the sights (the geyser was neat!) we decided to get dressed and find somewhere to eat dinner. We stopped at the concierge desk and asked what was open at one of the resorts that we could take the boat to or a resort that was on the monorail--we also excluded Signature dining restaurants. Our options were The Wave, Grand Floridian Café, and Kona. We went back and forth between the Wave and Kona after listening to the CM's recommendations and looking at the menus. We picked the Wave.

We walked to the boat dock and waited for the boat to take us to the Contemporary. On the dock, we filmed the first of several "video updates!" Check it out!

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/th_HU1.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/?action=view&current=HU1.mp4)

I rave enough about how much we liked taking the boat to and from the hotel. So much fun! I don't remember if these pictures were from the MK to WL or WL to Contemporary.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1257-1.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1267-1.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/IMG_1265-1.jpg

I don't have pictures of the Contemporary or the Wave, so I'll make this part quick. We LOVED the Contemporary. Everything was fresh and modern and we loved how close it was to the MK. As soon as we walked in we knew we wanted to stay there some day. I'd love to rent DVC Points to stay at Bay Lake Towers!

We enjoyed our dinner at the Wave. We were seated right away and ordered beers. We got the shrimp and scallop appetizer. I ordered a pork chop entrée and Dave ordered the short ribs. He loved his entrée and I really liked mine, too. We were seated at a two-top where Dave was sitting on a long bench and I was at a chair. We ended up chatting with the couple sitting next to us and really enjoyed that. They were probably about 20 years older than us and were there for a long weekend trip--hope that's us someday!

I had listened to the Disunplugged podcast review of the Wave after our trip and it was awful. I was really surprised because we thought that the ambiance and food were both good!

After dinner, we decided to make as much of our short on-site stay as we could, so we headed to the Grand Floridian to check out the resort and also get a spot to watch Wishes. The resort was beautiful but a bit spread-out. We walked on the patio by Narcoosees and bumped into a couple who had just gotten engaged and congratulated them (that had been us just a short year ago!).

We got a spot on a bench on the pier/dock at the GF and had about an hour to wait for the fireworks. No problem--when you are in Disney you always have friends to chat with! We met an older couple from Canada who came to Disney for a MONTH every year and another couple with a young daughter who offered us some of the sweets they had brought down from the concierge lounge at the GF. Very nice of them!

We got to see the Electrical Water Pageant--it was so loud it startled me! Here was our favorite (DH and I are very patriotic!) Video:

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/th_00004.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/BadgersGirl84/?action=view&current=00004.mp4)

We watched Wishes, which was fun, but not as fun as it is with the sound. That would have to wait until our dinner at the California Grill. I remember sitting there watching the fireworks and feeling very grateful for the gifts that God had given me...to be sitting with my new husband enjoying the fireworks in Disney World. Wow.

After the fireworks we took the monorail to the Contemporary and then took the boat to the WL.

Next up: DHS Day!