2 Haunted Mansions, 1 Day: Grand Finale & Link to Pre-Trip Report for Feb. Trip!

[reelmom]

Of all the pictures I have seen on the DIS, the one with you spinning is the best. That is an absolutely gorgeous picture.

 

[Philadisney]

I I have heard about these and would *love* to stay in one. I wish they'd be done in time for our anniversary trip, but maybe the prospect of sleeping in one will get DH back to WDW later this year when they're done.

That is the trick! I may have not taken Jack to Animal Kingdom when we were there in August so that I'd have something new and exciting to lure him back with

Your pseudo-Morocco Disneyland pictures are splendid - I have been to Disneyland 3 times and I don't recall seeing that area before. It's lovely!

 

[romymichelle21]

Carrie! I stopped at Borders tonight and found your magazine!

I didn't buy it (bad Heidi!) but I took a picture!

I can safely say trying to take a picture of myself on my iPhone with a wedding magazine is the most retarded I've ever looked in Borders!

(Forgive the college grunge look - I'd just gotten off work!)

 

[Kimberly815]

Please tell me that you didn't really put that penny in your mouth and it just looks like you did!

 

[nts4wdw]

I'm just a lurker here, but I work in a bookstore and was so excited to unpack the magazine you were in and show everyone the spread! Someone asked, "Do you know her or something?" I said, "Well, not really....." The reply was "Oh, another one of those Disney internet people."

Both Chuck and I enjoy your report!!

 

[blabbermouth]

Ok... don't tell my boss, but I just read your whole trip report! So awesome. I tottttally am going home to convince my bf we don't need to visit family on our next vacation and we should go to disneyland instead!

 

[Circusgirl]

The Roots make such excessively beautiful photos that I want to get married just so I can have the pictures!

 

[2BoysMom]

The Roots make such excessively beautiful photos that I want to get married just so I can have the pictures!

You won't believe this, but just last night I went to the Roots website and was reading their blog until 1 in the morning! I didn't finish and had to force myself to go to bed at 1am!

I was married in 2001 in Washington, DC and had a great photographer, but even she wasn't as good as the Roots. I'm pretty envious of y'all who get the Roots to photograph your various events. My God they are Good! I'm so impressed by their talent. REALLY.

 

[PrincessShea]

Are these the same type of flowers as your bouquet? If so, just more evidence of your perfectly themed and put-together wedding!

 

[lazydoxy66]

Fantastic photographs. I'm so glad you are sharing them with us.

 

[LaurenMic]

Your pictures are AMAZING!

I can't believe you are in a wedding magazine...well i can because your wedding was beyond gorgeous, but that is so cool!

I just got engaged at MK last week, I wish you lived in CT so I could hire you as my wedding planner!

 

[lurkyloo]

Of all the pictures I have seen on the DIS, the one with you spinning is the best. That is an absolutely gorgeous picture.

Wow – thanks!

Your pseudo-Morocco Disneyland pictures are splendid - I have been to Disneyland 3 times and I don't recall seeing that area before. It's lovely!

Glad you like it! It’s really small – just the gate and courtyard wedged into a corner of Adventureland between the Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise. I kinda wish it was still the Tahitian Terrace, though – it would be nice to have another table service restaurant in the park!

I can safely say trying to take a picture of myself on my iPhone with a wedding magazine is the most retarded I've ever looked in Borders!

Oooh! I looked that way too when I snapped a pic at Borders. But I think a year of taking pictures of my food at Disney had cured me of my self-consciousness...

Please tell me that you didn't really put that penny in your mouth and it just looks like you did!

Heck no! My mama raised me to be a huge germaphobe – I even washed my hands after taking that picture.

I'm just a lurker here, but I work in a bookstore and was so excited to unpack the magazine you were in and show everyone the spread! Someone asked, "Do you know her or something?" I said, "Well, not really....." The reply was "Oh, another one of those Disney internet people." Both Chuck and I enjoy your report!!

That’s fabulous! Thanks for lurking...

Ok... don't tell my boss, but I just read your whole trip report! So awesome. I tottttally am going home to convince my bf we don't need to visit family on our next vacation and we should go to disneyland instead!

Sounds like a smart plan to me!

The Roots make such excessively beautiful photos that I want to get married just so I can have the pictures!

Hee hee! I highly recommend it. Actually, what I usually recommend is a quinceañera - you get to wear the dress and have a big party without all the muss and fuss of finding a groom!

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/special/quinceanera/index

You won't believe this, but just last night I went to the Roots website and was reading their blog until 1 in the morning! I didn't finish and had to force myself to go to bed at 1am!

That happens to me all the time...

I was married in 2001 in Washington, DC and had a great photographer, but even she wasn't as good as the Roots. I'm pretty envious of y'all who get the Roots to photograph your various events. My God they are Good! I'm so impressed by their talent. REALLY.

AchoooVowRenewalooooooooooo!

Are these the same type of flowers as your bouquet? If so, just more evidence of your perfectly themed and put-together wedding!

Golly, I think they might be! I like them, so they must be! (At my floral planning session they asked me to point to pix of flowers I liked and every single one turned out to be a dahlia!)

Fantastic photographs. I'm so glad you are sharing them with us.

And I’m glad you like looking at them! Thanks for reading!

Your pictures are AMAZING!

I can't believe you are in a wedding magazine...well i can because your wedding was beyond gorgeous, but that is so cool!

I just got engaged at MK last week, I wish you lived in CT so I could hire you as my wedding planner!

Thanks! Come on over to the Weddings & Honeymoons Board (if you haven’t already) – I’m constantly offering my unsolicited opinions over there! Congratulations on your engagement!



I will try to get the next installment going – unfortunately it will be Root-free for the first part, but there will be more Root and less smooch after that!

 

[Mahale]

Those are truly some of the most beautiful photographs I've seen of Disneyland. Simply amazing.

 

[lurkyloo]

I love them too! I need to make a book of just the Roots' pictures of Disneyland....

 

[lurkyloo]

After we bid the Roots a temporary farewell, DH and I walked back to the Disneyland Hotel through Downtown Disney (at Disneyland, you can *walk* to your hotel!) and, apparently, the World of Disney store, because these pictures turned up in our camera...

Classic...

What?! How’d this picture get in here? Oh Patriiiick.....

Oh wait – now I remember why we went in the World of Disney: to get Nathan & Jensey some Free Dessert Magnets (a.k.a., wedding mouse ears) for their honeymoon! I wasn’t sure they actually wanted these, but I felt proud to be the one to indoctrinate them in the ways of Disney Honeymooning – and those babies are required wearing! Plus, hello, free desserts!

We had a little bit of time to go swimming before we had to check out, so we hit the Neverland Pool. Unfortunately, their slide policy is even lamer than the Polynesian’s: it doesn’t open until 11am – checkout time! Booo....

On the way out, we opportunistically tried to get into the Concierge Lounge with our room cards as we passed the door. No such luck!

We sat in the hot tub a bit, paddled longingly around the base of the slide a bit and finally got out just in time to freshen up before we checked out and stashed our luggage at Bell Services. I scrubbed off all my makeup, which means you’ll see no more Root photos of me for this report. Well, OK, one. The only one ever (I’m really building it up, eh?).

The plan was to meet the Roots at 11:30 for lunch at Cafe Orleans in New Orleans Square. Along the way we saw some newlyweds and I had to snap their picture.

We had a few minutes to kill and were hanging out in New Orleans Square when – hey, wait a minute....!

Cafe Orleans is one of my new favorite restaurants in Disneyland. We used to go to the Blue Bayou every single time we went to the park, but then they jacked their prices way up and only marginally improved the quality of their food, so we had to find a new hangout for non-special-occasion trips.

Fortunately, Disney simultaneously converted Cafe Orleans, across the street, to table service and started offering the Blue Bayou’s famed Monte Cristo sandwich there for a mere $16 (I know...) compared to the BB’s $22 (plus a $4 split fee if you wanna share). The cafe has a nice patio where you can sit and people-watch along the Rivers of America. And then there are the amazing garlic fries....

So anyway, Nathan & Jensey called us, and as we all tried to find each other in the crowd outside the restaurant, somebody in front of me moved, and there they were standing right in front of us the whole time.

As you can see, they very gamely put on their Free Dessert Magnets for me, although we later heard they got lots of congratulations, but no free desserts! That made me sad. Bad show, Disneyland... bad show.

We got a nice table right by the railing. They took a picture of us....

...We took a picture of them (with their camera – ooh la la!)

...and we all chowed down on amazing garlic fries....

It was so nice just to sit and gab and hear about their honeymoon and how they liked Disneyland (they liked it! They really liked it!)

 

[lurkyloo]

I’ll let the Roots’ pictures do the talking for the rest of our day in Disneyland.

Views across to Tom Sawyer Island.

Big Thunder

Inside Indiana Jones & the Temple of the Forbidden Eye

View into the Jungle Cruise

The most amazing Jungle Cruise photo ever taken (sez I!)

 

[lurkyloo]

DH asked the Roots if they could try to get pictures of one of his favorite attractions, the Primeval World from the World’s Fair, which you pass on the train. We always try to get a shot of it, but with the darkness and the moving train, our pix never turn out.



Behold, the Roots’ Primeval World!!!

This next part was one of the highlights of our day. There’s a Disneyland history exhibit in the lobby of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln that includes lots of neat old photos, props, and maquettes, and, best of all, a huge scale model of the park as it looked when Disneyland first opened. Nathan spent a good deal of time taking shots of the model from all angles, and the results are amazing.

 

[lurkyloo]

Our last stop was a table at Rancho del Zocalo, where we all enjoyed Dole Whips and talked about our plans for their visit to us in L.A. (the pix of which I wish I could find an excuse to post here – again, amazing!).

We saw this lil’ guy...

Bye-Bye, Disneyland!

Back to harsh reality – namely, the discovery that the Zippy shuttle I’d scheduled to come get us at 4pm so we could make our surprise date at the Staples Center was mixed up and not coming til 8pm! I freaked out (but couldn’t tell DH why cuz our tickets were a surprise), the shuttle guy said they could come but it would be at least 30 minutes, we canceled them, and then we grabbed an exorbitant curbside cab.


Scene of the Fiasco

We white knuckled it all the way home, tipped the cab driver way too much, dropped our bags inside the front door, and discovered we’d won five pairs of Year of a Million Dreams mouse ears from sending in postcards every day:

In the end, we got to the Staples Center in time, and I surprised DH with a 7th-row ticket to see..... Walking With Dinosaurs: Live!

This was a big deal because when we’d gone the first time, our seats were in the nosebleeds and we couldn’t see anything. So when I learned they’d added an L.A. show on the last day of its run here and it was the day we got back from Disneyland, I went for it. I almost fell asleep a couple of times during the show from sheer exhaustion, but it was all worth it cuz DH was having such a great time!


The End!

I’ll be back in 3 1/2 weeks to bring you.....


Anniversary at Disney World: Whaddya Mean I Can’t Still Wear My Bride Ears?!!

 

[Aburns8]

Again, great pics! I can't wait for the next trip report. You will have a great time.

 

[Philadisney]

The Roots make such excessively beautiful photos that I want to get married just so I can have the pictures!

I feel the same way. I don't know when I'm getting married, or where, or who will be in my wedding party or what my dress will look like...I just know I'm flying to Roots out for the event!

The most amazing Jungle Cruise photo ever taken (sez I!)

I agree - it looks like a painting! They really should do a book of Disney photos. It boggles my mind how awesome their pictures are.