Wishes in Catsablanca: 7.22.13 Epcot Wedding PJ&TR! Updated 03/09/15

[LittleKittyMarie]

Thank you everyone so much for your comments and well wishes!

We had a perfect wedding day and an amazing honeymoon adventure. We have our wedding photo website back, 6000 trip photos that we took and I've got a whole notebook of notes! I am hoping to start up that trip report very shortly, because I can't wait to relive it all again too!

Thank you once again everyone!

 

[MrsSpratt]

Welcome home! I am so happy to hear that everything was perfect, and I cannot wait to read all about your adventures!

 

[charliegirl76]

Yay!! I can't wait to read about everything!! The couple of pics I saw on Facebook were great and looked like you had a beautiful day!

 

[Zabnee]

Wow! I'm new to your story, and only found it by accident but it's absolutely amazing. Congratulations, you two!

I look forward to ready your TR for the wedding and your honeymoon!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

I want to start off by saying that, all told, our pre-wedding, wedding and honeymoon trip was an extravagant 23 days in total. I am going to do my best not to bore everyone, but to also go into the best possible detail I can manage, especially about the wedding and the really cool places we went. My ultimate goal is make my trip report and photos into a huge coffee table album, that I can read and remember for years and years and years.

Now that DF aka Bryan - I'll have to get used to writing DH now! - can actually read my PJ without risk of it spoiling anything, he's insisting on helping to write a few things too. And so much the better because this is going to take a lot of writing! On the other hand, we get to relive our memories again.

So, without further delay, the TR:

Day One
Thursday, July 18, 2013
In Which the Wedding Party Travels to Disney World; I Learn Quickly I Have to be a Leader; And I Get My Biggest Surprise of the Trip

First days are tough. You need to establish a mood, a culture that will define each day of the trip for the rest of the trip. Everything was carefully packed away the night before, except for my mother's fear of flying. Or so I thought. My dad made our lives a nightmare the morning of our departure by not actually being finished packing and also losing his luggage lock about ten minutes before the airport towncar driver was scheduled to pick us up. DF was at his parents' house, being transported to the airport by his dad along with the BM, Ryan. Forced already to put my leadership of this trip to the test, I sacrificed my second luggage lock in order to just get out of the door on time!

As I was heading out the door I got a call from one of my MOHs, Vanessa, that she was already at the airport. Yay! She was about an hour earlier than our scheduled meeting time, but with big groups, punctuality in the extreme is never a bad thing! There was a little rush-hour traffic, but we left early enough that it didn't really affect our timing at all.

We--that is my parents and I--were second to arrive at the airport, and I immediately called Vanessa over to our meeting place near the Canada to USA check-in gate. She was all ready to go with luggage tags, boarding passes and the works. Next, Bryan and Ryan arrived, and introductions were made between the BM and my parents. We'd all be getting to know each other pretty well over the next few days, I think. Lastly my second MOH, Ashley, arrived. She was a little behind schedule, probably because of the aforementioned traffic, but we were all in good shape! Next on the checklist: custom cards, bag check and customs. At our local airport you actually go through US border control before leaving Canada, which is a great timesaver when you arrive in Orlando! And for the first time ever, there was zero line-up at customs. If you're lucky, the line is at least 30 minutes, usually longer than that. But there was no one, it was a total walk-through. So, Thursday mornings: a good day to travel.

I should probably mention that my MOHs and I got a couple buttons to wear for the first part of the trip, mine said "Bride" and theirs said "Maid of Honour." (They'll start popping up in photos shortly!) Getting these buttons were possibly one of the greatest decisions we made for this trip as you'll hear about later! Anyway, as we dropped off our bags the button recognition began. The man lifting bags into the conveyor belt - and I kid you not - began singing to us! He was most definitely native to the Caribbean, so his song was like a calypso rap of marriage advice. "Love is 50-50 not 60-40.... Love is great, and you have to work on it..." And so forth. It was pretty cute! But he also would not stop singing... I was starting to get embarrassed because a line of people trying to drop off their bags was forming behind us. Eventually we pried ourselves away, but he continued singing! All the security members offered me marriage advice, including a customs agent whose advice was to not go through with it at all. (I made DF go through first in case they wanted to take a look inside my dress bag, so he would be far away from it).

Beyond security, our group headed for our departure gate and then split. Half went for food, and half of us stayed behind to save the seats and mind our bags. Too hyped up and excited, I had skipped breakfast at home. Many of our party opted for fries for breakfast, (our flight was at 10:20am for anyone keeping track) but I grabbed a banana bread. Unfortunately, it was actually lemon poppyseed... I'm not a huge fan of lemon-flavoured baked goods.

Vanessa and I

Ryan and Vanessa

Back at the gate, I gave my girls their bridal party info brochures, and I think they went over pretty well! It's always exciting to have that kind of thing, I think. Hey, I'd want one!

Ashley looking really surprised by my brochure, I think

Plane's arrived! Time for boarding!

I went over to the desk to ask about hanging my bridal gown in the plane's closet, and needing extra assistance. They offered to let me pre-board to take care of it! Yay! We haven't had the greatest customer service experience with Air Canada in the past, but on this day they were great, when it really counted. I went on with just the MOHs, because my mom was really trying to delay the inevitable. We hung up the gown in the closet, and one of MOHs had her dress on a hanger which they let us hang up in there too. It wasn't a full height closet, so the dress did have to be left on the floor a little bit, but the closet was so much better than the overhead bin that this concession hardly mattered.

Selfies!

Not too long after that, Vanessa realized her camera had gone missing! She exited the plane to search the gate and bathroom, and I looked through our stuff and our seats on board. Again, lucky that we pre-boarded because she made it back before the last person had even been boarded. They made an announcement on the plane and she texted her mom to call the airport lost and found... unfortunately despite our efforts we were later told the thing was gone, probably stolen. I felt pretty upset for her, to be starting the trip off on a down note, but she remained in good spirits and was reassuring me that I shouldn't worry about it and she needed a new one anyway. It was nice of her to say.

Two-and-a-half hours later we arrive in Orlando. We were all weeping with happiness, maybe some of us literally. We trotted over to Magical Express (and I begin using the word "trot") and wait in line. I've never waited in line for Magical Express, usually we just walk-on to a bus already in the station. But we waited a good while for a bus to show.

Soon enough we were on our way!

And then we were catching our first glimpse of the Boardwalk, being "welcomed home", and settling into our home for the next few days. Our guests were very impressed with the details in the lobby. Also, since our last visit in March, cast members with iPads in hand have begun meeting guests outside the hotel to begin the check in process, probably to take some heat off the front desk.

Both DF's room and my room were on the villa side of the Boardwalk, on the first floor (aka one floor down from the lobby), but down the hall from each other. When I added my request to the reservation, I asked from rooms close to transportation. What I really wanted was a room close to the lobby, unfortunately at the Boardwalk these are two very different things. We actually were close to the bus transportation if we were willing to tramp across the lawn from our first floor patio. This is not what I had in mind to be doing in my wedding dress on the wedding day. So, note to future Boardwalk visitors: close to transportation and close to lobby are mutually exclusive.

We took a quick walking tour of our two-bedroom villa, not too shabby!

The one bedroom side (aka the parents' room):

My mother in the master bathroom. More bathrooms should have optional shutter doors that open directly into the bedroom...

The kitchen/living space:

The famous teacup lamp that inspired my meet and greet. I'm not going to lie, I was surprised this wasn't nailed to the table.

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

The studio side (aka the girls' room):

Bags dumped unceremoniously, we headed out 15 minutes later to Downtown Disney to get lunch and start our Disney adventure. It's difficult to vacation in a large group, even in Disney World. We were lucky that most of the group was open to our plans most of the time. Still, with so many Disney neophytes in our group, it was taxing to be travel agent, concierge, tour guide and bride. This was my first taste however of navigating the group, trying to keep things in a timely order and satisfying everyone's desires to see what they wanted to see. What I wanted to see and do was mostly put on the back burner this trip as I did my best to show everyone what we love about Disney at my own expense. In the long run, it was more than worth it. On the first day it was extremely stressful and frustrating.

I started out by doing my best to steer everyone as quickly as possible towards Earl of Sandwich for a late lunch/early dinner. Lunch choice was an executive decision made by me for the convenience, food choices and prices. I had the chipotle chicken avocado--delicious. DF ordered an original roast beef and the mac 'n' cheese, and I snuck a bite. It was a little bland.

After lunch we did the shopping thing. Pin traders, World of Disney (I think my mom didn't even go in because she was scared of getting lost), TrenD, the Christmas Store and the Art of Disney. DF and I could probably do all these stores in an hour, maybe two tops. It took us straight into the evening and I had to practically drag everyone away to get back to the resort because we had wedding errands to take care of that night! But hey, it was fun watching my friends go crazy!

My parents. I have to savour the moments I can get photos of my mom, she will avoid the camera at all costs.

Quintessential hat shot!

As a side note, all I really wanted to get at WDW in terms of souvenir was a Just Married Christmas ornament. At the time (mostly because of the huge group) we didn't get the ornament. Little did I know this was the only place we found that actually had that ornament, and we had no time in our schedule to get back to DTD while at WDW.

The skies opened up as we boarded the bus back to the hotel and gave us our first taste of the unpredictable weather that was to become a recurring theme throughout the trip. We'd been able to set our watches to the mid-afternoon thunderstorms on previous Disney World trips, but past experience was not an accurate predictor of future events on this trip. All bets were off, and it rained in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and late at night. The only constant was rain. On this first day, it was the late afternoon, and it made for a long, soggy ride back to the Boardwalk.

Can I rant about one of my biggest pet peeves about Disney World? The bus ride between Downtown Disney and the Boardwalk. This thing takes a solid hour. It's a compelling reason not to book it as your home resort. A lot of our guests who weren't interested in the theme parks had to make stops at Blizzard Beach, Swan, Dolphin, Beach Club, Yacht Club before reaching the Boardwalk. Sure, you can get off at the Swan and walk to the Boardwalk, but how can you explain that to someone who's never been to WDW before?

We finally made it back, ages later. The sudden monsoon forced us to stay on the bus for the entire ride, although I would have otherwise forced everyone off the bus at the Swan/Dolphin.

First thing, DF and I had to head back up the concierge and find the package of welcome bag items I'd shipped ahead of time. When we got up there it was in time to find out that the business center was closed. And then we found out that despite all the info I plastered all over the box, there was no record of a box being tied to my reservation. I insisted to her that the package had been sent over via UPS and their tracking information had indicated that it had arrived and been accepted.

Anyway I don't know if it was because of our buttons (my bride button), or what, but the woman told us to wait while she tried to find someone who could go get it for us. We waited around for about ten minutes, barely able to focus on the magician performing nearby, when a man appeared with our box. Bad news, $10 delivery charge. Good news, we had it and things could still go to plan! Well, almost. While we waited to hear news about our box we also asked the concierge about getting photopass cards for the welcome bags. There was apparently no photopass desk in the Boardwalk as I'd hoped, and the woman was kept saying "you get them at photopass", but when I asked where exactly is photopass she just answered with the same statement. She also was very adamant that there could be absolutely no possible reason why we would need to get the cards for our guests. Tired and stressed, we left it at that. DF and I briefly discussed the possibility of me running into Epcot to get the cards (I was the only one who could do it, because of my annual pass), but it was late and the lack of sleep I was getting was really catching up.

We went back to our room, feeling somewhat deflated, to find the group had split again. Half went in search of rations, while the rest stayed and helped me take care of our welcome bags. I'm glad that everyone saw how fast I was failing, and really started taking charge of all the projects that needed to be completed that night. Welcome bags were stuffed, unfortunately I was really the only one who knew what went in them, so there were a couple of moments of -- oops, you need to put these in there too! I went through packing the box of items from Franck's and assembling the favours (i.e. putting the pins on the thank you cards).

Dinner involved Red Robin frozen pizzas, and lots of drinking. I think we all needed to let off a bit of steam after a stressful day of travel, (and welcome bag annoyances) and it was helpful to get that out of our systems. The one downside: dishes!

I snuck into the other room wrap up the gifts for the girls. I'm embarrassed to say how generous I was with the gifts from the MOHs. I gave them a Cinderella compact (from the Cinderella Sephora collection; I'd been hoarding these under my bed for a looooong time), a day pass to Islands of Adventure for my "Bachelorette party" and a day pass to Disney World to cover the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner day. We all hugged and cried, I think.

I'm not sure how it came up, maybe I had a list of items for the welcome bags, but it came up that I hadn't asked for the I'm Celebrating buttons. The photopass thing had really weakened my resolve, let's just say. So the bridal party insisted if I wanted them they would go up and wouldn't come back until they found the buttons. I said, forget it, it's fine. They understood this to mean I really wanted them. So they left me and went on the hunt, while I helped DF carry all the welcome bags and the box of wedding stuff back to his room for him to drop it off the next day. After this brief moment alone I returned to my room to find the bridal party returned with a bag of I'm Celebrating buttons, handfuls of candy and two Just Married buttons. I wish someone had had a camera to take a photo of my face when they pulled those suckers out. None of them knew how hard these are to get, none of them knew they existed, and yet here they returned with two of them... I was so flabbergasted. I still am, frankly. It was just the touch of Disney magic I needed right at that moment when everything was getting stressful. And a happy end to a long first day.

 

[MrsSpratt]

The studio side (aka the girls' room):

Bags dumped unceremoniously, we headed out 15 minutes later to Downtown Disney to get lunch and start our Disney adventure. It's difficult to vacation in a large group, even in Disney World. We were lucky that most of the group was open to our plans most of the time. Still, with so many Disney neophytes in our group, it was taxing to be travel agent, concierge, tour guide and bride. This was my first taste however of navigating the group, trying to keep things in a timely order and satisfying everyone's desires to see what they wanted to see. What I wanted to see and do was mostly put on the back burner this trip as I did my best to show everyone what we love about Disney at my own expense. In the long run, it was more than worth it. On the first day it was extremely stressful and frustrating.

I started out by doing my best to steer everyone as quickly as possible towards Earl of Sandwich for a late lunch/early dinner. Lunch choice was an executive decision made by me for the convenience, food choices and prices. I had the chipotle chicken avocado--delicious. DF ordered an original roast beef and the mac 'n' cheese, and I snuck a bite. It was a little bland.

After lunch we did the shopping thing. Pin traders, World of Disney (I think my mom didn't even go in because she was scared of getting lost), TrenD, the Christmas Store and the Art of Disney. DF and I could probably do all these stores in an hour, maybe two tops. It took us straight into the evening and I had to practically drag everyone away to get back to the resort because we had wedding errands to take care of that night! But hey, it was fun watching my friends go crazy!

My parents. I have to savour the moments I can get photos of my mom, she will avoid the camera at all costs.

Quintessential hat shot!

As a side note, all I really wanted to get at WDW in terms of souvenir was a Just Married Christmas ornament. At the time (mostly because of the huge group) we didn't get the ornament. Little did I know this was the only place we found that actually had that ornament, and we had no time in our schedule to get back to DTD while at WDW.

The skies opened up as we boarded the bus back to the hotel and gave us our first taste of the unpredictable weather that was to become a recurring theme throughout the trip. We'd been able to set our watches to the mid-afternoon thunderstorms on previous Disney World trips, but past experience was not an accurate predictor of future events on this trip. All bets were off, and it rained in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and late at night. The only constant was rain. On this first day, it was the late afternoon, and it made for a long, soggy ride back to the Boardwalk.

Can I rant about one of my biggest pet peeves about Disney World? The bus ride between Downtown Disney and the Boardwalk. This thing takes a solid hour. It's a compelling reason not to book it as your home resort. A lot of our guests who weren't interested in the theme parks had to make stops at Blizzard Beach, Swan, Dolphin, Beach Club, Yacht Club before reaching the Boardwalk. Sure, you can get off at the Swan and walk to the Boardwalk, but how can you explain that to someone who's never been to WDW before?

We finally made it back, ages later. The sudden monsoon forced us to stay on the bus for the entire ride, although I would have otherwise forced everyone off the bus at the Swan/Dolphin.

First thing, DF and I had to head back up the concierge and find the package of welcome bag items I'd shipped ahead of time. When we got up there it was in time to find out that the business center was closed. And then we found out that despite all the info I plastered all over the box, there was no record of a box being tied to my reservation. I insisted to her that the package had been sent over via UPS and their tracking information had indicated that it had arrived and been accepted.

Anyway I don't know if it was because of our buttons (my bride button), or what, but the woman told us to wait while she tried to find someone who could go get it for us. We waited around for about ten minutes, barely able to focus on the magician performing nearby, when a man appeared with our box. Bad news, $10 delivery charge. Good news, we had it and things could still go to plan! Well, almost. While we waited to hear news about our box we also asked the concierge about getting photopass cards for the welcome bags. There was apparently no photopass desk in the Boardwalk as I'd hoped, and the woman was kept saying "you get them at photopass", but when I asked where exactly is photopass she just answered with the same statement. She also was very adamant that there could be absolutely no possible reason why we would need to get the cards for our guests. Tired and stressed, we left it at that. DF and I briefly discussed the possibility of me running into Epcot to get the cards (I was the only one who could do it, because of my annual pass), but it was late and the lack of sleep I was getting was really catching up.

We went back to our room, feeling somewhat deflated, to find the group had split again. Half went in search of rations, while the rest stayed and helped me take care of our welcome bags. I'm glad that everyone saw how fast I was failing, and really started taking charge of all the projects that needed to be completed that night. Welcome bags were stuffed, unfortunately I was really the only one who knew what went in them, so there were a couple of moments of -- oops, you need to put these in there too! I went through packing the box of items from Franck's and assembling the favours (i.e. putting the pins on the thank you cards).

Dinner involved Red Robin frozen pizzas, and lots of drinking. I think we all needed to let off a bit of steam after a stressful day of travel, (and welcome bag annoyances) and it was helpful to get that out of our systems. The one downside: dishes!

I snuck into the other room wrap up the gifts for the girls. I'm embarrassed to say how generous I was with the gifts from the MOHs. I gave them a Cinderella compact (from the Cinderella Sephora collection; I'd been hoarding these under my bed for a looooong time), a day pass to Islands of Adventure for my "Bachelorette party" and a day pass to Disney World to cover the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner day. We all hugged and cried, I think.

I'm not sure how it came up, maybe I had a list of items for the welcome bags, but it came up that I hadn't asked for the I'm Celebrating buttons. The photopass thing had really weakened my resolve, let's just say. So the bridal party insisted if I wanted them they would go up and wouldn't come back until they found the buttons. I said, forget it, it's fine. They understood this to mean I really wanted them. So they left me and went on the hunt, while I helped DF carry all the welcome bags and the box of wedding stuff back to his room for him to drop it off the next day. After this brief moment alone I returned to my room to find the bridal party returned with a bag of I'm Celebrating buttons, handfuls of candy and two Just Married buttons. I wish someone had had a camera to take a photo of my face when they pulled those suckers out. None of them knew how hard these are to get, none of them knew they existed, and yet here they returned with two of them... I was so flabbergasted. I still am, frankly. It was just the touch of Disney magic I needed right at that moment when everything was getting stressful. And a happy end to a long first day.

YAY For AWESOME Bridesmaids! That last paragraph has be tearing up at work!

 

[Bewitch324]

I'm so excited you started your trip report!! And I love that you are planning to include lots of details and pictures so you can have the memories recorded...because that means we all get to experience your trip vicariously!!

Your bridesmaids sound AWESOME, that is so terrific that they not only managed to hunt down the I'm Celebrating buttons, but that they managed to snag two of the coveted "Just Married" buttons. Sounds like they were really worth the "extra" you spent on their gifts...

Sorry to here that you had to deal with a lot of rain...and yes that ride from Downtown Disney to Boardwalk is ridiculous. It's so close!!! One of the many reasons I always have to have a car, I can't cope with not getting where I want to go when I want to go there (yes, I'm a brat )

Looking forward to seeing what happens next...

Brooke

 

[charliegirl76]

Yay! Welcome back! I love the coffee table idea. I started reading, but will have to finish and comment when I get to my computer...too hard to comment on my phone. Yay, again!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[cutejellybeen]

Congrats on your wedding!! So looking forward to reading all the details big and small!!!!

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

That's awesome that you got some pixie dust when needed ! Looking forward to more of your TR!

I can't remember but did you use Disney Fine Art Photography? If so who was your photographer? Would you recommend them? Did you do a MK bridal shoot?

Thanks
Jodi

 

[librarygeek]

Sounds like you had a long first day, I don't blame you getting stressed! And your bridesmaids sound awesome - seems like they were right there when you needed them. Yay!

 

[Mel*Pie]

Welcome back! Great first installment of your TR. Looking forward to the next one!

 

[alyaki]

So far, it sounds like an interesting first day for you guys. I can't help thinking "awwww" about what your friends did for you with going out and getting the pins and candy.

Looking forward to reading more about your time down in Disney for your wedding!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

I'm so excited you started your trip report!! And I love that you are planning to include lots of details and pictures so you can have the memories recorded...because that means we all get to experience your trip vicariously!!

Your bridesmaids sound AWESOME, that is so terrific that they not only managed to hunt down the I'm Celebrating buttons, but that they managed to snag two of the coveted "Just Married" buttons. Sounds like they were really worth the "extra" you spent on their gifts...

Sorry to here that you had to deal with a lot of rain...and yes that ride from Downtown Disney to Boardwalk is ridiculous. It's so close!!! One of the many reasons I always have to have a car, I can't cope with not getting where I want to go when I want to go there (yes, I'm a brat )

Looking forward to seeing what happens next...

Brooke

Thank you! My bridesmaids really are amazing and they make quite a bit more magic for my on the trip too. I couldn't have asked for better girls to share my wedding with!

During the trip DH drove around WDW in a car and then he spent the rest of the trip telling me how much faster the way the bus wasn't going would be . We're even talking about doing a roadtrip down for our next visit, so looks like someone agrees with you about the car situation.

Yay! Welcome back! I love the coffee table idea. I started reading, but will have to finish and comment when I get to my computer...too hard to comment on my phone. Yay, again!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Happy to see you are reading along! I need to get back and catch up on your PJ too!

Congrats on your wedding!! So looking forward to reading all the details big and small!!!!

Yay, thank you so much!

That's awesome that you got some pixie dust when needed ! Looking forward to more of your TR!

I can't remember but did you use Disney Fine Art Photography? If so who was your photographer? Would you recommend them? Did you do a MK bridal shoot?

Thanks
Jodi

Yes, we did use DFAP. For our main photographer we had Cricket, who was absolutely amazing. We loved working with her and we really love the photos she took. On the wedding day we also had Dean as an assistant photographer. There isn't a lot of mention of Dean out there as a Disney photographer but he was really fabulous. He was so fun, carrying around my dress and making jokes. And more importantly he took some really great photos too! I would definitely recommend them both, and especially Cricket who we requested for our wedding, she caught some really unique photos of us and she got all the photos I requested (but for the most part I just let her do her thing and experiment and it worked out really well!) I will definitely be posting my Disney photos soon!

Sounds like you had a long first day, I don't blame you getting stressed! And your bridesmaids sound awesome - seems like they were right there when you needed them. Yay!

They really were right there doing their thing when I needed them, and then some! I knew then that I definitely had good friends by my side!

Welcome back! Great first installment of your TR. Looking forward to the next one!

Thank you! Next part should be up soon!

So far, it sounds like an interesting first day for you guys. I can't help thinking "awwww" about what your friends did for you with going out and getting the pins and candy.

Looking forward to reading more about your time down in Disney for your wedding!

They really worked their own Disney magic finding those pins for me, it totally made all the stress worth it and reminded me that I should calm down and remember to enjoy it!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Day Two -- Groom POV
Friday, July 19, 2013
Operation Wedding Drop-Off and the Cuban No-Go

Groom here.

Whilst the ladies were engaging in enchanted frivolity at HPW, there was manly, testosterone-fueled work to be done back at the hotel: delivering welcome bags. BM and I got up early and walked to the Dolphin, where we, unwisely, had breakfast at Picabu. The surprise is that Picabu is both slow and expensive. They must have been hosting a Gullible Millionaires of Central Florida convention, because for whom else would $14 for a plate of eggs, bacon and hash browns be a reasonable thing? It also took twenty minutes to arrive at our table. By contrast, my post-wedding breakfast with Nicole at Kona Cafe was a comparable price with better service, and that meal involved pineapple, macadamia nuts, a delicious obscenity they call "Tonga Toast," and booze. Don't go to Picabu is what I'm saying.

Dine with millionaires daily at Picabu!

Why all the fuss, then? The Dolphin has rental cars buried deep in its belly, and we needed one to deliver our welcome bags to the resorts our guests were staying at: Boardwalk, Caribbean Beach, Pop Century and Polynesian. We were also stopping by Franck's to drop off items for the wedding day. The Alamo/National desk is just off the Dophin's main lobby, and the valets pull the car up and park it upon return. It's a good system.

We drove our rental Fiat back to the Boardwalk to pick up the welcome bags, and made our first delivery on foot to the concierge desk at the Boardwalk. With seven guest rooms booked at the Boardwalk, it was by far the most popular resort on our room block. The woman at the desk told us that a new policy mandated a $2 fee for each bag to be delivered to each room. It was a bit of a shock, but what could I do but agree to it? Apparently, the mandate was so new that no other resort we went to charged a similar fee, and each one gladly offered to deliver the bags to our guests, no fees and no questions asked. (Seriously, these concierge folks were psyched to help out with our wedding.) It could be that the Boardwalk is a convention hotel, and the gratis delivery of convention materials to hotel rooms simply could not stand, but you can make of that what you will.

Driving around WDW is a new experience for me, and a worthwhile one. It's not too confusing once you get the hang of it, and I now have a better sense of how the resort is laid out and the awesome scale of WDW. For example, our first two stops were Caribbean Beach and Pop Century. These two resorts are essentially across the street from the Boardwalk and adjacent to each other, but they're so big it takes five minutes to drive from one to the next. My BM was a capable navigator and we made quick work of our EPCOT resorts and made our way to the Magic Kingdom, to the Polynesian and then Franck's.

The delivery of our ceremony programs, favours, guest book and other wedding day miscellany was packed in a box, labelled with our names and our wedding planner's. It was as simple as handing the box to the secretary at Franck's, and everything ended up right where it needed to be on the wedding day. We were done our deliveries in under two hours. Phase 2 of Operation Wedding Drop involved us getting some authentic Cuban food--a near impossible find in Canada. After some research, we decided on Padrino's Cuban Bistro, which came highly recommended by the Orlando Sentinel and numerous internet sites. It was... disappointing. Very heavy and bland. Moving on to Phase 3.

Here's a hot tip: If you're running errands around Orlando for whatever reason--picking up a marriage license, renting a tuxedo or what have you--the best advice I can give you is bring quarters, because you'll definitely run into some tolls. We were... unprepared for the first one, and had to... creatively... avoid... it. Bring quarters!

In our efforts to make our guests' stay at WDW as comfortable as possible, we offered to get some groceries--milk, cereal and fresh fruit so that they didn't have to go out for breakfast every day. For a lot of our family, a Disney vacation is not their idea of how a vacation works. Vacation is camping, where they pack the car full of everything they need, and basically eat out of their hotel room. We drove to a Super Target and stocked up on plenty of supplies. Shopping for groceries was a bit of a chore, though. Things just kept getting piled into the cart. The hardest part was bringing the groceries to the room. The next time, we just get them delivered.

On the way back to the resort, we drove down the W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway. Nicole and I never ventured beyond Disney's comfortable hermetic bubble, so I'd never seen the strip of motels and gifts shops that line the southern gateway into Disney World. It also has the greatest concentration of chain restaurants one could possible dream of (or have nightmares of, depending on your opinion towards loaded potato skins): Denny's, Denny's , Denny's (there are three on the same street!), Perkins, Waffle House, Waffle House (aww, just two), IHOP, IHOP, Olive Garden, Ponderosa, Longhorn, Red Lobster, Bob Evans, Bob Evans, Black Angus, Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Cracker Barrel, Cracker Barrel, Chili's, TGI Friday's--you name it, they've got it. I think I got a full house, Dennys over IHOPs.

Just to break up the franchised monotony, Irlo Bronson Highway has a selection of wondrously gaudy "themed" businesses--buildings made to look like other things:

By Merlin's beard, what enchantment is this? It's a gift shop shaped like a wizard.

This place has everyone's daily intake of vitamin C. I wonder if a "fruit gift" is just a gift-wrapped piece of fruit, or a gift you give to fruit, like a box of sunshine.

There's a real fine line, I think, between what Disney does and what these enterprising folks are doing down in Kissimmee, because you could just as easily lob insults like "tacky," "tourist trap" and "poor taste" at some of the stuff that's being done in Disney World. But I also think that the fundamental difference in the care behind the theming, design and attention to detail comes through on the Disney side as well. Again, it was fascinating to see.

My BM and I are both avid cooks, so we thought it would be fun to cook a meal for the wedding party in the kitchen of the large DVC room my in-laws had rented. We settled on chicken jambalaya as a safe group meal, and bought the necessary groceries. The kitchen in the DVC room was adequate for the task, with a four-range electric stove, a large, heavy pot and a cutting board for prep. There was also enough glass dinnerware and metal cutlery in the room to serve all seven of us. The chef's knife was dull, however, and my BM had a bad time with the onions. Still, we managed to find some authentic andouille sausage (also hard to find in Canada) and the jambalaya was a rousing success. For me, it was one of the high points of the trip, because I had a lot of fun cooking with my BM, and the in-room meal helped the wedding party relax, chat and get to know each other. We also had unexpected guests who came knocking at our door, I guess Donald let them know we were in town. With food!

DUCKS!

This party of ducks were literally knocking on the door trying to get into our room.

While we were cooking Nicole's dad noticed the phone message light blinking. It was a message from Mickey and Minnie congratulating us on our upcoming nuptials. It was a welcome bit of Disney magic.

After dinner, the folks stayed in the room, and the bridal party strolled the boardwalk to Jellyrolls for some dueling piano action.

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

This is the only day that requires a two part POV, mostly because DH was doing wedding things, but our girls day out was more interesting.

Day Two -- Bride POV
Friday, July 19, 2013
Girls-Only Hogwarts Express

Anyway, day two started off bright and early because I wanted to get to Universal by 8:00am. I saw Harry Potter World at midday on my first visit and I did not want to get denied entry to the park under any circumstances. As I quickly learned, trying to start my days off that early was seriously wishful thinking. We did not do too bad in these early days, my girls were excited enough to go for it. That being said three girls, one bathroom, plus Harry Potter-ish themed outfits and such... I'm really lucky we did so well.

Attack of the Hermione hair!

We made it out of the room at 8:00am. Again, not what I hoped for, but after dealing with the rest of my family later on in the trip, I'm amazed we were able to make it happen.

We skipped up to the lobby and had Bell Services us call us over a cab. The ride over was animated, we were totally excited, and conversation fluctuated between our (their - I was mostly just laughing at them) Disney cartoon crushes and our to-do lists for the trip.

Once we reached Universal we zoomed through the stairs and moving sidewalks, it was almost 9:00am and already there were hoards of tour groups gathering and marching into the parks. I wanted to go around them as quickly as possible and into Harry Potter World to at least get a chance at seeing the last vestiges of a crowdless park at opening.

No time to take good photos guys! Just keep walking! Keep left!

We power-walked into Islands of Adventure, no time to slow down and take a good photo.

Through Suess-land where the girls really started to get excited.

Into... Greek myth world? Where I had to remind them not to get distracted and finally... into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Ravenclaw! (DH edit: More like Craven-flaw, amirite? Hufflepuff FTW!)

After a good amount of wide-eyed, mouth ajar oogling and photo-taking, we headed straight towards Hogwarts to get into a magical 75 minute line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Well, what are you going to do, right?

This is gonna be the most magical 75 minutes of the day! Whoo!

We wound our back behind the castle through the area below the greenhouses discussing our excitement and taking an excess of photos of the castle and the scenery.

When we finally made it into the building, the first employee - it feels weird to write employee now, since I usually write CM... so, let's say, Hogwarts student - the first Hogwarts student was a Gryffindor and began heckling Vanessa about her Slytherin tie. She told him that she was really a Ravenclaw in disguise, so shh! and don't give her away. The Gryffindor shouted up to the next student, a Slytherin, not to trust her because she was really a Ravenclaw. Vanessa and the Slytherin girl high-fived or something for fooling that Gryffindor, and then the Hogwarts student saw her Maid of Honour button, and Ashley's MoH button and my bride button. "You guys are celebrating your bachelorette here? That's so cool! Head over and put your stuff in the lockers and then come back and see me."

Honestly I thought nothing of that. We plowed our way into that ridiculously crowded locker area, threw our stuff in (wondered how they prevent people for waiting in the 15 minute line outside by not just sneaking in through the locker exit in the shop) and then went to go back in the line. Getting the locker took so long I think we forgot about the Slytherin. Luckily she didn't forget about us! Hey guys, come over here and see me, she shouted before we got too far out. And then a really magical thing happened. She let us in through the line you use to just see the castle and not ride the ride... but to ride the ride! She had just skipped us in front of the 75 minute line and we didn't even realize it until we were halfway there! We are all looking at each other in bewilderment, like: what just happened? Did that just happen? It totally did!

Forbidden journey was a huge hit with the girls. We spent a bunch of time in the shop afterwards. Ashley decided she wanted to get a Gryffindor pin (her outfit slowly transformed into a Gryffindor uniform over the course of the day) and the line at that moment was huge. Usually I wouldn't bother mentioning how we spent time in the gift shop, except Vanessa was up to trouble while Ashley was paying and I was browsing. She decided to ask one of the Hogwarts students how they were assigned into their houses. She stops a guy and he tells her that they're sorted by the sorting hat of course, but just between him and her they got to decide which house they wanted to be in. From what I was later told, this conversation didn't end there. Long story short, the guy told Vanessa to bring us back later and he would get us onto the ride without waiting in the line. Trust me, by the end of this trip report you're going to want to make Vanessa your bridesmaid and bring her around with you.

Amazed by this (but I'll be honest, reluctant to believe it) we went off in search of more fun in Harry Potter world. We headed next to Flight of the Hippogryff. You can see Hagrid's hut in this line! Anyway, have you guys heard of Express Pass? Universal's version of Fastpass that you can buy (or get if you stay in a Universal resort hotel). Well... Vanessa went up to the Express pass line and asked the Hogwarts student if there was any way we could go through the express pass line, because we were celebrating a bachelorette party. And... he said yes.

What?! I have to be honest I'm totally flabbergasted by this day. What's the Universal Studios equivalent of extra pixie dust? Jurassic powder? Krusty creme? Whatever it is, we had some. Our bride and maid of honour buttons were about $3.50 each and express pass for a day is about $89 on top of park admission. I'm doing math here, balancing the odds, and just whoa!

Flight of the Hippogryff is a kiddy coaster, I guess? I thought I was actually filming our ride on it, but turns out the red light on my video camera means it's not filming? Boo! Anyway, it was fun! And we didn't wait in line!

After Hippogryff we decided to up the ante and go on the Dragon Challenge coaster. I'd never been on one of those coaster where your feet dangle (though I won't say I haven't had opportunity), so I was really freak out. Luckily I had less time to freak out because... you guessed it... our buttons got us into the express pass line. We veered toward the Chinese Fireball (red), and moments later I was sitting on my shoes in the ride car, freaked out and cursing my friends for getting me on it. All in good fun, of course, because it was truly thrilling!

Next more shopping, Ashley went for a Hogwarts sweater and tie so that we were all well and truly Hogwarts students now. And lucky for her, I'm quite proficient at tying ties.

I decided we'd better head into the Three Broomsticks for lunch. I was convinced it would be packed, but it was actually pretty empty. I was surprised. Why? Because we'd already done all of Harry Potter world I was convinced it must be after the lunch rush, 2:00pm perhaps? It was only 11:00am! The Three Broomsticks had just opened!

I tried to keep it as British and light as possible and ordered the Shepherd's Pie and a frozen butterbeer. (A pie made of ground beef, gravy and mashed potatoes and a frozen cream soda is considered British light, because they hold the black pudding.) The girl who gave us our food was totally psyched that we were having our bachelorette party at Universal and she wanted me to describe how handsome my husband-to-be was. Vanessa decided to play MOH and MOB and pulled out a photo of us kids to show off. It was all very entertaining.

We tucked in to our meals and butterbeers and for awhile really felt like we were in the Three Broomsticks and not just fangirls pretending, it was great!

Drinkin' butterbeer jus like Ron and 'arry!

After lunch Vanessa led the trek back to the Hogwarts castle gift shop to find this mystery student who was going to get us onto Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey again. Well, he didn't disappoint. He and another Hogwarts student came out and led us back into the skip-a-line express, and as we walked they gave us a tour of Hogwarts castle. Did you know J.K. Rowling made the builders reconstruct Hogwarts castle three times before she was completely satisfied? Did you know in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom there are movie props to represent each of the DADA teachers? There are a lot of movie props in the queue and themeing!

Moments later we were on the ride again! And to commemorate we got our photo (and conveniently cropped out the fourth rider), yay!

To round out our Hogwarts experience we ventured into the line at Ollivander's, because Ashley as a newly outfitted Hogwarts student also needed a magic wand. Duh! I followed her around nodding as she did all this, because it is exactly what I did on my first trip to WWoHP! We waited an hour for this I think. But we met more nice people in the line, and got more butterbeer (carbonated this time--frozen is better), so it was all fun! I was really hoping they would pick either Ashley or Vanessa for the wand demonstration, because Hogwarts student out front tipped us on how we should like look excited in order to be picked. Our hopes were dashed when they picked a girl (about the same age as my MoHs too) who looked not at all excited and as it turned out didn't speak any English. Oh well! Exit through the gift shop. As Ashley searched for her wand I heard a father exclaim: "I waited an hour for that?!" I know sir, I know. I've done it twice! If you are a big HP fan it's kind of cool and you should do everything in HP world if you can, but it's really not worth an hour long wait.

We rounded out our visit with some shopping in Honeydukes and Zonkos, and a character photo op. with the Hogwart's Express conductor, why not!

Mmmmm!

Yummmm!

Errr...

Bye-bye Harry Potter World! Bye-bye midday summer crowds!

With Harry Potter behind us, we ventured back to the world of Greek myth... I never got a park map, so I really have no idea what this is called. The huge building with ruins and waterfalls looked like a really good ride, so we hit it up. Vanessa did her thing. We got in the express line. I was really shocked the whole day how this kept happening and I kept telling them not to press their luck, but I mean it was their call to let us through, right? Okay, so apparently this thing was called Poseidon's Fury.

Have you all noticed my welcome bag being put into action yet? I'm thrilled at how many of our guests used them on their trips!

If you've been IoA and been on this, then you know it is not a ride. We didn't know. I kept waiting for this to be a ride. It's a show... or like a walk-thru show, because the show moves through multiple rooms. Maybe if I had known this was going to be a show I would have enjoyed it more, as it was... it's pretty lame. Sorry Poseidon you need to amp up the Fury before I wait in a 60 minute line for this one. And I didn't even wait in the 90 minute line, so... seriously.

Backtracking through Seuss-land we decided to try riding The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride". There was something like 10 minute wait? I told them, don't do it! Don't do it! And they did it. They flashed the buttons and the guy not only let us into the express line, he led us over to the elevator and let us up through the handicap line. I hope I'm not getting any employees in trouble here, it was truly magical (err... jurassical? Krustical? I know! Seussical!) that they let us do these things!

The trolley was another ride my video camera red-lighted but didn't film. Bugger!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

We had our fill of Seuss, so we headed toward Marvel-land. What is going to happen to Marvel once Disney's ownership fully kicks in and Universal's licensing agreement expires? Who knows, as it is, Universal's version of Marvel has a lot of comic book imagery but also stuff from the new movies? Like life-size mannequins of Chris Evans as Captain America and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Weird.

This looks strikingly familiar to some Disney merchandise I've seen before... Hmm...

I'm a Marvel girl myself, so I love it all.

But especially Rogue. She's my favourite!

We decided to head over to the Incredible Hulk ride. And by we, I mean my MoHs. I knew this ride had some kind of insanity record. I looked it up later and it apparently used to have the world's tallest cobra roll. Sounds crazy.

We went over, the line wait was something like 100 minutes and Vanessa tried her best with the bride buttons, but finally our luck had run out and we went into the regular standby line. I was kind of happy this had finally happened, I'm a very by the book girl, what can I say! Weeeelll... not two minutes later an employee from the front came up and said, "You girls are celebrating, right? Follow me." And yep, express line. I was shocked. I'm still shocked. When I got back to our hotel that night and told the story about how we waited in NO LINES, I was literally shaking from shock. It's astounding!

And speaking of shaking. That Hulk ride was so intense I had to actually pry my hands off the handlebars when we got off, because rigor mortis had set in and they were set to stay that way.

After Hulk while our things we still safely stowed in our free Hulk locker we hopped onto Storm Force Accelatron. Yes, it's seriously called that.

It's basically the Mad Tea Party ride over at WDW, except, Stormy and Marvely. This would have been a pretty standard ride through, except for the old man who decided to stand up in his Storm-themed-not-tea-cup-accelatron vehicle just as the ride started moving. Well, as it turned out he lost his wallet but he seemed very reluctant to get off the ride to go look for it. So, we waited a good while for the man to finally decide to exit the ride to go look for his wallet.

I forgot to mention, Ashley is a big Jurassic Park fan, so we were really on the hunt to make it back over to the Jurassic Park area. As it turns out, Jurassic Park is really close to WWoHP but we walked all the way around in the opposite direction to get to it! Oh well! There is of course one stop on the way to Jurassic Park, and it is... old newspaper comic strip... uh... ville? Yeah. That is really weird. They've got some rides there just begging for a retheme? Or do they not do that at Universal?

How tall are the average guests at Universal? ...

It was getting pretty hot so we decided to hit up Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. Is it just me or could some of these ride names use some editing down? There was a long line at the barges, so the employee told us he couldn't let us through express. And then a second later he said what the heck and let us do it. Amazed, really!

I've been on a couple water rides before at Disney and elsewhere, but I have never been so thoroughly soaked before and in my white blouse no less. As we rocked our way through around Popeye's boat kids were equipped with water guns to blast unsuspecting riders. Vanessa made the mistake of shouting don't hit me... guess who they all immediately aimed for!

Really and truly wet, we were the bilge-rats for the rest of the day.

Did you know Universal has giant dryers you can walk into and I guess the blow all over you and dry you off after their insane soaker rides? It costs $5. No wonder they want to get you so wet!

It was then that we finally made it to Jurassic Park. Cue the music.

Heads up guys! They've got a T-Rex loose in there! Ahh!

We decided to head over to the Jurassic Park ride. Yes we did express. And since this was our last ride of the day, I might as well just say we didn't wait in line for any rides and the only thing we did actually wait in line for all day was Ollivander's, I still really can't believe it, still. Really.

The Jurassic Park ride is both weird and cool. It's exactly like the movie, except it's a water ride. In some ways it makes Dinosaur over at Animal Kingdom feel like a more authentic Jurassic Park experience. The actual audio-animatronics on Dinosaur are cooler too, but it's hard to compete with Disney in that department. Anyway, it was great fun, but we ended up wet again and we got huge backlash on the final drop.

As we exited the gift shop it was after 5:00pm and we could see a huge black storm cloud rolling in on our perfect day, so we decided to make a dash back to the entrance to catch a cab before the masses started departing. Just as we got to the taxi stand it started dumping buckets on us. There was already a decent line for cabs, but apparently they were all waiting for vans or something because we were immediately called over and we were soon on our way back to Boardwalk, our girls day out complete!

And as Bryan wrote, we got back, ate his jambalaya and headed out to Jellyrolls.

At Jellyrolls they did the same thing they did to us last time at Atlantic Dance Hall. Denied us entry without our passports. I still think it's ridiculous to ask people to carry their passports into a nightclub, and they told us they have to do it because the ADH has that rule. (Obviously people would get denied over at ADH then get into Jellyrolls so they had to change all the rules for everyone, but not necessarily for the better.)

It was nice to hang out us young folks, and I'd say the Jellyrolls experience went over well with most of our party. The important part was we got a wedding shout out from two of the pianists (including my favourite) and they played Spice Girls. Totally satisfied bride.

Next up: Rehearsing the wedding, our first day at Disney World and a tearful end...

 

[MrsSpratt]

I love the dual perspective of the report!

I can't get over how AWESOME WWoHP was for you and your girls - what a perfect day!

Love the details, keep it up!

 

[cutejellybeen]

you;re days were so different but so interesting to read!!! Hopefully after your last experience you guys all had your passports and didnt have to go back to get them? I agree though - I don't travel with my passport - that stays in the room safe!!