Mr. and Mrs. Weak Sauce Go the Distance (a completed Disneymoon TR!)

[shan23877]

Darn it! I missed a round!

Sorry about the Photobucket, I decided to pay when I started my last TR. At only $20 for the year, it made my life easier when uploading. It took forever to pick and choose which ones I wanted to upload and them delete what I didn't use.

 

[RachelNinja]

OOH OOH OOH!!!!!!

2nd character is CHUM!!!

Yay, that's correct! A weak sauce point for you!

BTW, do you have your photobucket settings on private? This can help with the bandwidth issue (and you can also make a second account with another e-mail address )

Yup, the Photobucket settings are private. I actually have like, 3 accounts with different email addresses, haha. I just upload to this one because it's the shared account between Howard and me because I've uploaded both sets of our vacation photos. I was thinking about starting a new one, but I didn't want to split up where we're keeping our photos. Hopefully, this won't happen again!

I think the answer to #10 is Bambi

Yay, that's correct! A weak sauce point for you!

Round 10 Character Scrambler: Bambi
Round 11 Character Scrambler: Chum

Also, I'll take a shot in the dark for round 8: I'll say Howard had the Sushi California Roll twice!

I can't wait to hear more of the trip report once you have pictures back- sticking Photobucket!

Edited to add- Aw nuts! Looks like I am too late on Round 10 and 11!

Yup, those are the correct answers!

And nope, Howard didn't have the California Roll, but it is somewhat close to what he really had because you are guessing something cold and refreshing!

Darn it! I missed a round!

Sorry about the Photobucket, I decided to pay when I started my last TR. At only $20 for the year, it made my life easier when uploading. It took forever to pick and choose which ones I wanted to upload and them delete what I didn't use.

Hopefully, I'll post 2 more rounds today!

Howard and I thought about paying for Pro since that's a shared account. The free account now has unlimited space, which is awesome, but I just never thought I'd run out of bandwidth! Crazy! If it happens again, I might reconsider it so that I don't have to wait so long in between updates!

 

[livsmom04]

Actually, I became a part-time transcriptionist because my fiance is a Realtor and has sold a few properties to a couple that owns a legal/medical transcription company. I'm also a full-time paralegal, but I don't think that really helps (mainly because I do Estate Planning work and this is like military Court Martial stuff). I think you would be really good at it! It really just requires good proofreading and grammar/spelling skills. I work for a company called Escribe Inc., but if you Google it (legal transcription), there's lots of companies. I have never even met the people I work for, they were able to remotely connect to my computer to download the software. I like it because, well, who doesn't love extra money )) and it's nice to just be able to do it whenever I want.

I'm going to guess you had the Roasted Beet salad at Sunshine Seasons twice?

And hooray for finally winning a weak sauce point!

This is so interesting to me. I have been looking to do something like this at home and be a stay at home mom but right now it looks like I will have to work in the workforce for now. But I also have my certification for Medical Billing and Coding and can't seem to figure out how to get started to work at home for that. Wish I knew how to get started to do it at home.

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[wisblue]

Rachel, congratulations to you and Howard on your wedding.

I'm enjoying your descriptions of your first stay at one of the Disney resorts!!!

 

[Bridora]

Still here and loving your updates! I think your short videos are great as well! I've never ridden Magical Express, so now I (sort of) know what it's like!

I really want to win some Weak Sauce points, but I'm always too late!

And I just can't figure what Howard had from Sunshine Seasons...

 

[Jennifer48]

Finally caught up! Whew!

Since I've only eaten at Seasons once, I have no idea what Howard ate but I'll take a shot in the dark and say Strawberry Shortcake

 

[RachelNinja]

This is so interesting to me. I have been looking to do something like this at home and be a stay at home mom but right now it looks like I will have to work in the workforce for now. But I also have my certification for Medical Billing and Coding and can't seem to figure out how to get started to work at home for that. Wish I knew how to get started to do it at home.

Likewise! I'm not a mom at this point in my life, but I always think about how having a job at home would make it easier on my health issues. Here's hoping you can find something that works better for you!

joining in

YAY! I hope you were able to catch up when my pictures came back up!

Rachel, congratulations to you and Howard on your wedding.

I'm enjoying your descriptions of your first stay at one of the Disney resorts!!!

Thank you so much!

Staying on property was definitely one of our more memorable Disney vacations!

Still here and loving your updates! I think your short videos are great as well! I've never ridden Magical Express, so now I (sort of) know what it's like!

I really want to win some Weak Sauce points, but I'm always too late!

And I just can't figure what Howard had from Sunshine Seasons...

Yay! I love the short videos mainly because they are sometimes more fun to look back on than JUST pictures. I don't know how to edit anything yet, so I just post them as is.

Haha, hopefully you can win some weak sauce points soon! I'm going to try to get caught up with updates first now that my pictures can be viewed again!

You can just take a guess! A nice, refreshing entree since it was so hot out!

Finally caught up! Whew!

Since I've only eaten at Seasons once, I have no idea what Howard ate but I'll take a shot in the dark and say Strawberry Shortcake

Yay!!!

We would LOVE to try that strawberry shortcake, but alas, the cream is too filled with lactose! Haha. He did order a refreshing ENTREE though! Something that went well with the fact that it was so hot out, and we didn't want to order heated entrees.

Weak Sauce Points Scoreboard​

Round 10: Character Scrambler was BAMBI - yay to Self_resqing_princz!
Clue #1: Lady
Clue #2: Follow the yellow brick road
Clue #3: brine
Clue #4: backside
Clue #5: imagination

Round 11: Character Scrambler was CHUM - yay to kschafer!
Clue #1: that guy
Clue #2: Electrical Water Pageant
Clue #3: Jimmy
Clue #4: Yell and Howl

Part of Round 8 for Howard is still up for grabs! If you guessed already, you may guess again! His dish is NOT something that you get in the little refrigerated areas. It's an actual meal.

wdwgirl03 - 2
NeverlandClub23 - 2
shan23877 - 2
kschafer - 1
Self_resqing_princz - 1
therussells08 - 1
Curiouser&curiouser! - 1
jane2073 - 1
Happy Duck - 1

My bandwidth is finally refreshed again! Howard and I talked about going Pro for Photobucket (that particular one that we use for TRs and such is a shared account), but we decided against it for right now. If this happens again, maybe we'll consider doing it since the annual price is pretty low. I'd just rather spend that extra money on something else!

Stay tuned for updates again!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hi Rachel! Hi Howard!

Just wanted to say Congrats on your wedding! You guys looked amazing and I LOVE the pictures! I've been on and off the Dis for a while but when I started my new PTR, I knew I had to look up your Disneymoon TR...and here it is! Can't wait to read more and I know I'm in for a nice long epic TR!

Hope you guys are doing well and staying cool....our a/c broke (ugh) in our living room so it's not been too fun. We ordered a new one but who know when that's getting here (it's a specific model for our apartment so have to order through certain vendors only). Been staying at work a little later in the last 2 weeks...

 

[Leasha_Loves_Disney]

My mom is a huge chik-fil-a fan so we stop every road trip that we take when there is one around. Usually I just get the chicken sandwich but those nuggets look soooo good. I too am a HUGE fan of dipping, maybe I'll have to give those a try next time.

I love that Mickey Mouse suite case how cute and perfect!!!

Your pictures from the magical express are so magical. I love the eagerness and pure joy in them. It's awesome that you were able to rent DVC points and have an extra special Honeymoon.

I can't wait to read more. Especially about the hotel I too don't really know the difference between the two sections. On our ME ride home we picked up people at Kidani Village from the outside it kind of looked sad to me, not really sure why Can't wait to read about your stay at AKL. I would love to wake up to the giraffes every morning!!! ​

 

[RachelNinja]

Hi Rachel! Hi Howard!

Just wanted to say Congrats on your wedding! You guys looked amazing and I LOVE the pictures! I've been on and off the Dis for a while but when I started my new PTR, I knew I had to look up your Disneymoon TR...and here it is! Can't wait to read more and I know I'm in for a nice long epic TR!

Hope you guys are doing well and staying cool....our a/c broke (ugh) in our living room so it's not been too fun. We ordered a new one but who know when that's getting here (it's a specific model for our apartment so have to order through certain vendors only). Been staying at work a little later in the last 2 weeks...

Ahhh, Su-Lynn!!! Haha, I had to tell Howard to look at my monitor when I saw that you commented. So glad you're here! I know that you were away from the DIS for a while (so was I), but I'm so happy you're back and can't wait to read YOUR next trip report too!

Oh boo to the broken AC! I hate that the weather is so gross, and it makes it so difficult to breathe when the humidity makes the air so thick! Hope that you get your new unit soon! It needs to be here like, uh, yesterday!

My mom is a huge chik-fil-a fan so we stop every road trip that we take when there is one around. Usually I just get the chicken sandwich but those nuggets look soooo good. I too am a HUGE fan of dipping, maybe I'll have to give those a try next time.

I love that Mickey Mouse suite case how cute and perfect!!!

Your pictures from the magical express are so magical. I love the eagerness and pure joy in them. It's awesome that you were able to rent DVC points and have an extra special Honeymoon.

I can't wait to read more. Especially about the hotel I too don't really know the difference between the two sections. On our ME ride home we picked up people at Kidani Village from the outside it kind of looked sad to me, not really sure why Can't wait to read about your stay at AKL. I would love to wake up to the giraffes every morning!!! ​

There were so many DISers who commented on the many different sauces that Chik-Fil-A has! I wish we had one closer so that I could enjoy all of them! DIPPERS UNITE!

We absolutely love the luggage! I was so afraid it'd get torn or ruined when we checked the bigger one in at the airport. Thankfully, it survived!

I wonder if we'll ever get to experience ME again! I don't know if we'll stay on property again, but I'd like to!

Jambo House is the main building of AKL and Kidani Village is for DVC only (there's DVC in Jambo too). When we made the walk over to Kidani, we were a little weirded out by the fact that it just seemed like it was parking lots, but it's the OTHER side of the resort that you need to see. They stretch out the buildings around the savannah so that more guests can have great views. It's really amazing! We didn't get to wake up to giraffes though because we requested a room closer to the bus stops because I read that it's possible to walk like, FOREVER at AKL just to get to the front! Looking at the maps, I saw just how true that would have been!

 

[RachelNinja]

A Room All to Ourselves

Once we got off Magical Express and got our luggage, we headed to the front of the resort. A cast member came up to us and asked us if we were the Ninja-Weird party, and I said yes. I thought it was so odd that we were being approached before we even stepped foot into the resort! Pretty clever planning there, Disney. Making us feel so welcome from the start, as if we were VIPs!

We were led into the lobby and the female CM had us sit down in one of the many little sofa areas. There was a male CM there with her, and after a bit, the girl told us that she was training. That made a lot of sense because even though we felt like VIPs, I have to say it felt like we were awkward VIPs because I was telling her that this was our first stay on property since it was our honeymoon, and she didn't really react much. We felt a little better because then it was just that SHE was nervous as opposed to the two of us being out of place. She explained the little folder packet to us and gave us "Happily Ever After" pins. Then she said that our room wasn't ready yet, so we could just hang around there (we gave them Howard's cell number) or leave our luggage with them. We decided to just sit and look at the map and such to kind of get an idea of where everything was, but literally two minutes later, the two CMs came back and told us that our room was ready! Yahoo!

Our room was on the Giraffe Trail on the 5th floor, which meant that we passed by Zawadi Marketplace every single day. A few days in, we realized that the door from the outside of the resort into the shop was a faster way for us to get in some AC instead of walking all the way to the lobby entrance.

We took a picture of all the food items that they had available. I wanted to compare the prices, but I didn't see any. It's nice that they have this stuff just in case though.

I still say it's better to just buy it from home on sale and bring it with you if you're driving or to get groceries delivered from Garden Grocer! That's what we did. We got drinks and breakfast items so that we didn't have to spend money in the morning. Gosh darn it, those breakfast plates at Mara are like, $6-8! We'd much rather spend it on lunch and dinner items.

We took the elevator upstairs to the 5th floor. When we put in requests online for our room, we clicked off 5th floor for nice views, but we also chose "close to bus stop" so that's why we were at the front of the resort and not by an animal trail.

Gorgeous elevators! So different than the elevators in our apartment, haha.

Ready to open the door of our first shared hotel room ever! I know that doesn't sound like much, but we were thrilled about the fact that we were on vacation alone! Our past vacations before we got married were always with my family (parents and younger brother) or with our friends/my cousins. Alone, we didn't have to worry about trying to schedule our days.

I had to go outside to see our view. Like I said, we didn't have animal views, but we did have a view of the pool. It was nice to see everyone outside having fun, and the sound didn't bother us at all since we never had the door open. I was glad we didn't have a view of like, the parking lot or something.

This was our first and only towel "animal" for the week since we were staying under a DVC reservation, which meant we only had housekeeping come every 4 days.

Ready for a tour of our fabulous room? This is the entryway into the room. I appreciated the full-length mirrors in the room. Ever since I purchased a full-length mirror right before my first year of college (haha, even though I didn't dorm, I bought dorm stuff from Target because they were on sale ... the garbage can is still in such good shape, Howard and I are using it in the apartment ... um, I digressed a lot ...), I feel really weird when I go somewhere without one because I find myself jumping up and down in front of the sink mirror to get a look at my outfit.

We had two sinks, which was pretty cool. Haha, I mean, there were only two of us, but it was great still getting a sink to ourselves. I especially like spreading all my stuff out instead of constantly digging through my toiletry bag, so I didn't have to feel bad that I was taking up all the counter space!

Great bathroom! I say that because it was SO CLEAN! I get so grossed out when there's like, dirty grout or hair on the floor. It was just super clean, but of course, that didn't stop me from Lysol-ing it for all the germs that you can't see. We also really like it when the shower curtain rod is curved out so that there's more room inside. I don't like taking a shower and having my arms touch the curtains when I'm washing my hair.

We had a little kitchenette area with a fridge, sink, and microwave. It was perfect for storing our Garden Grocer order, which included Lactaid milk (we are BOTH mildly lactose intolerant), one pack of Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches (4 in the pack so we had it for 2 days), and drinks (Vitamin Water and bottled water). We also ordered donuts because I needed $40 of groceries for delivery. The fridge was also perfect for leftovers!

We look like 2 kids in this photo, but I guess in some ways we are! It felt so funny that we were on vacation without parents, and then it was even weirder to think that we were MARRIED and on our HONEYMOON!

We had nice couch so that we could sit and watch TV or go online or eat leftovers.

The bed LOOKS really nice, but in actuality, it was extremely uncomfortable for me. It was way too mushy, and it was very easy to just roll towards the center and sink in. At least there was a TV so that I could watch Stacy for the FIRST TIME! It was funny FINALLY getting to understand what everyone references like the "There doesn't seem to be any track" line. But then I have to admit that I got a little bored with it. I wish she was able to go more in depth with the rides or show even more about the parks. It repeated itself way too often.

As you can see in this photo, I was watching Stacy and eating the rest of my nuggets! I didn't know Howard was taking pictures so I turned to my left and he captured this weird face.

Howard decided to be creative with our wedding rings and my engagement ring and one-up the towel Mickey head!

Video: Tour of AKL Room (Tour includes a ton of my narration as Howard and I explore the room, open up the cabinets, and show you the location of our room)

I loved standing out on the balcony to watch what was going on in the pool area. We could also see the the pathway that led to Mara.

I also had fun dancing on the balcony, haha.

This was a bit of the view that we had. The trees made it seem as if we had some privacy and that we weren't really in a busy resort.

Harry Potter on the telly! We didn't watch it for long; it was just on for the little bit of time that we were hanging out in the room. I'm glad that the room was ready right away. On the TV stand, you can also see the assortment of Vitamin Water. It made so much more sense for us to just stick some in the fridge and bring out 2 of them along with bottled water to the parks so that we didn't have to waste money on drinks except for the occasional soda.

Here Howard goes with those light fixtures! These were probably some of my favorite lights that I've seen on property. Of course, these are probably really difficult to clean though and were probably very dusty!

Even having this headboard really set the tone. So different than the random hotels that I've stayed in on I-95! Haha, I guess it had better be considering it costs a ton of money per night!

(continued in next post)

 

[RachelNinja]

(continued from previous post)

Getting ready to head out. As you can, my hair is crazy long because I didn't want to cut it before the wedding. I cut my hair every two years to donate to Locks of Love (although now I know Pantene has a program too that only requires 8 inches instead of the Locks of Love 10 inches). This year is a cut year for me, and it'll be my 4th year doing it. I still haven't cut it yet though ... it takes me a while to get used to the idea of having it short and looking like I'm 16!

From reviews, I read that the AKL rooms were dark, but we never had an issue with the lighting. It was bright enough for us. I mean, it wasn't like I was in the room crafting and needed bright lights anyway!

Howard made the Mickey a bit rounder to photograph again. It was then moved onto the table by the mirror. Haha, I think we left it there for the entire time we stayed there!

How convenient to give us a map of Africa! But we weren't going to explore Africa; we were going to get ready to explore a new food experience!

Stay tuned for our first dining experience of the trip! DELICIOUS!

 

[jane2073]

Very fun update!! The room looks really pretty! I love all the details.

Wiping down the room with Lysol wipes is always the first thing I do in a new room!

 

[wdwgirl03]

YAY for getting into your room at AKL! Isn't that resort great?! And YAY for finally getting to watch Stacy! Even though we've been there so many times (and seen that show so many times) it never takes us long to put in on the TV. haha! Resort TV used to be better though-it is really short now. It used to be around 20 minutes. I even have an old version of Stacy (the Top 7 countdown) and and even older version of resort TV on my ipod.

 

[kschafer]

Yay for your AKL!! The room is beautiful We rented points once and stayed at OKW. I would love to rent points to stay at another DVC resort but hubby doesn't like that the second bed is just the sofa in all the other resorts. He wants the boys to have a real bed, not just a pullout

I love your comment about being excited to be on vacation alone! I remember feeling that way on our honeymoon too. I'm sure I'll be just as excited when we get to do it again someday after the kids are gone

Can't wait to see where you head first!

OK, I'll guess again about Howard's dish at Sunshine Seasons. Peeking at the menu, the Tuna Noodle salad jumps out at me as sounding yummy and refreshing!

 

[RachelNinja]

Very fun update!! The room looks really pretty! I love all the details.

Wiping down the room with Lysol wipes is always the first thing I do in a new room!

Isn't it just lovely? Disney apparently knows how to do their rooms right!

I got the Lysol thing from my mom. That's the first thing she always did when we arrived at a resort! Normally she had the spray so that she could spray the shower curtain liner on the edge where you need to touch it to get in and out. But I just brought wipes and got the fixtures, countertops, and light switches. I can't get comfortable until that's done! I know there are germs everywhere else that's not Lysol-ed either, but at least the things that we touch when we're brushing our teeth or eating are cleaned.

YAY for getting into your room at AKL! Isn't that resort great?! And YAY for finally getting to watch Stacy! Even though we've been there so many times (and seen that show so many times) it never takes us long to put in on the TV. haha! Resort TV used to be better though-it is really short now. It used to be around 20 minutes. I even have an old version of Stacy (the Top 7 countdown) and and even older version of resort TV on my ipod.

It's such a fabulous resort! I think we're always going to have a special attachment to it, not just cuz it was our honeymoon resort but because it was our first resort! Yeah, I think a good 20 minutes would've been awesome! Haha, it's funny that you have them on your iPod!

Yay for your AKL!! The room is beautiful We rented points once and stayed at OKW. I would love to rent points to stay at another DVC resort but hubby doesn't like that the second bed is just the sofa in all the other resorts. He wants the boys to have a real bed, not just a pullout

I love your comment about being excited to be on vacation alone! I remember feeling that way on our honeymoon too. I'm sure I'll be just as excited when we get to do it again someday after the kids are gone

Can't wait to see where you head first!

OK, I'll guess again about Howard's dish at Sunshine Seasons. Peeking at the menu, the Tuna Noodle salad jumps out at me as sounding yummy and refreshing!

Yeah, I like that it was just the two of us in the room and not 4 because I can't imagine that the sofa bed would be that comfortable. If the regular bed wasn't the greatest, I wouldn't want to subject someone to the sofa bed! Plus, it'd get a little annoying having to set it up and put it back in every day since it would've been in the way if it was left out.

Being alone was really the greatest feeling ever! Howard and I used to see each other on Saturdays and Sundays only whereas a lot of my cousins and friends saw their significant others during the week too. We couldn't do that because of the cost of the bridge toll and the fact that we had work (never had time as a teacher; even on Saturdays I had to work in the morning). Finally being married and not having to say goodbye was fabulous! Less than a month after we got married, people were asking us whether we were going to have a baby yet. Um, no thanks! We still want to be alone for right now!

YAY you got that weak sauce point! He LOVED that tuna noodle salad!!!

Weak Sauce Points Scoreboard​

Round 8 for Howard's dish was finally guessed correctly - yay to kschafer! He did order the Togarashi Seared Tuna Noodle Salad twice because it's a cool dish and just SO DELICIOUS! Within less than 2 months time, we both ordered those dishes three times! Yum, with this heat right now, we could totally have that for dinner tonight! Alas, we are stuck in NY!

kschafer - 2
wdwgirl03 - 2
NeverlandClub23 - 2
shan23877 - 2
Self_resqing_princz - 1
therussells08 - 1
Curiouser&curiouser! - 1
jane2073 - 1
Happy Duck - 1

 

[RachVH]

Wow, that room looks awesome! Had I known about renting points when we were planning our Disneymoon I may have gone that route, but I am happy to be heading to POFQ. (In 79 days!)

First hotel room to yourselves is exciting! Our HM will be the longest vacation we have ever taken together, and only the second one that wasn't just to my parents house to visit. So I totally get the thrill of having a room, and a vacation, all to yourselves.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[shan23877]

The room looks great! I'm so glad that it was ready for you. I hate waiting around until the room is ready, I like to get settled right away.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I was nervous before I stayed at Kidani because of all the reviews of the rooms being dark, but I loved the rooms. They were cozy and beautiful.

So excited to read more!