9 Days, 6 Parks, 3 resorts, and 1 "Villainous Arabian Night" SURPRISE Party! (updated 4/13)

[mlegerto]

WOW. Okay. First, what a great experience to finally get to go back "home" and to revisit the place you and Josh got married. So special.

Massages two days back to back....A-MAZE-ING.

I am so glad that they arranged such an impressive and special evening for you and your party. Just goes to show you that kindness and consideration for others is still alive and well!

 

[TeamSy]

Day 7: Magic Kingdom Until 2AM (CONTINUED)

SO CLOSE to being finished and I'm determined to just finish this tonight... So I've actually been away from all things Disney lately. I don't know why. We've been busy trying to sell our condo and stuff I guess... Our 180-day mark came and went for our upcoming trip and I LET IT PASS. Yeah...

I mean way back when I had a preliminary schedule for this next trip, complete with dining ideas, and when the August/September calendars came out, the hours SUCKED. I don't know what's going on with Disney, but last year I had such a clear view of what was going on and when. This time, the hours are horrible, like, 10pm Magic Kingdom closing?, will there be Hollywood Fireworks? Will there be a nighttime show @ Animal Kingdom? Will we extend our trip like we did last time? Are they really cutting a lot of things because of the Shanghai Disney expansion? We were looking at extending our trip to the Four Seasons after our time on Disney property, but again, we were unsure if we even wanted to go to begin with (but neither of us actually said it). So we sat on it. I watched the Four Seasons rates go up, up, up (and our flight options when using reward miles become less and less available). Still, we did nothing, but we also didn't change our current Disney reservations. We were actually focused on a Europe trip we were planning in June, and then the whole Brussels thing happened, and we waited to book, and when we went to FINALLY went to book our +/-$600pp one way flight to Milan sky rocketed to over 2k per person for the 1 way. So there went that.

This weekend we started talking about Disney again, and I actually came back on Dis and got a little excited. So much so that I made dining reservations and snagged some (not ideal, but whatever) flights. So I guess we're officially going. I had to change park days around in order to get dining reservations (since we are now well past our 180 day mark), but whatever. I think I'm most excited about Crystal Palace, because we've never been. I don't care for Winnie The Pooh characters, but I got an 8:10 reservation when the park opens at 9, and I'm really excited to see a nearly empty Magic Kingdom. Although, what I'm currently most excited about can totally change now that Disney's charging extra for early admission and stuff. Ugh.

Then they added a MNSSHP to the day after we are supposed to leave, so do we extend? Ultimately, I decided not to because the only thing I really want to accomplish out of the party is meet the "rare" characters and go to a fun dessert party, which again, so up in the air. Disney is really pissing me off.

Anyway, I'm glad I was still able to get Be Our Guest for dinner one night and I'm excited to try the new Skippers Canteen restaurant (but seriously Disney, decide if you want us to plan ahead or not). It annoys me I can't get ADRs here.

Anyway, back to the trip report...

So last I left off we arrived at Magic Kingdom just in time for fireworks. After fireworks we headed to Tomorrowland for our Space Mountain Fast Passes.



The fast pass line was LONG, but we discovered it was only because some lady with a stroller was standing there unnecessarily and people were lining up behind her. So stupid. We went around and got right in, but Josh got upset because technically we cut people, but if people are too stupid to realize where they are standing it's not my fault

So we went on Space Mountain and by the time we got off it was a 10 minute wait, so we went on again. I keep trying to be able to tell the difference between the two tracks (because apparently there are minor differences), and I can't.

After that it was time for our mine train fast pass, and we got the front car AGAIN. I actually think the back is the best, but here we are. I really hope next time we go the wait won't be too crazy so we can actually see the things they have in the line (same with Peter Pan)!





I mean, the front is pretty cool for pictures, though.

After that, we hung around Fantasyland for a while...



Then, we headed over towards Thunder Mountain, which was walk-on...





CONTINUED...

 

[TeamSy]

Day 7: Magic Kingdom Until 2AM (CONTINUED)

We missed our Splash Mountain fast passes from earlier in the evening, so we headed there next. We had a 20 minute wait, but after that, it was walk on. We went on it about 5 times in a row LOL!



Next, we headed to Haunted Mansion...



And after that we went back to Fantasyland. The park was basically empty, which we LOVED!



We noticed the Anna and Elsa meet and greet was only 10 minutes (the lowest time we saw it our entire trip was 90 minutes, but it was always closer to 120). Honestly, none of care for Anna and Elsa, but because the wait was so short I felt like we had to do it, so we did!



By now it was well after midnight, and the park was really clearing out, so we set off to the castle to get some cool shots with no one around.



After that we shopped on Main Street...



I can't believe we made it until 2am!

 

[TeamSy]

Day 8: Relaxing!

We went to bed late and were really excited to sleep in! When we got up, we headed straight to the pool to our pre-reserved cabana, ordered food, and relaxed. It was great getting to wake up at our leisure and know we had a prime spot just waiting for us, especially since it was holiday weekend and busy.



After our jam-packed week we were exhausted, so today was definitely a breath of fresh air!

By late afternoon I headed to my spa appointment, and by the time I got back to the pool it started to rain, so we headed upstairs to get ready for dinner. I got a pretty cool shot of the pool cleared out, thanks to the rain!



I was really excited to see what the Marriott had planned for dinner, and it did not disappointed! We checked in for our reservation, and were escorted into the back and through the kitchen. Then, they opened this door to this amazing room and seated us at the chef's table!!!



We had our own chefs and our own waitress. It was seriously one of the BEST experiences of my life!!



The food was BEYOND amazing, and we were floored when they rolled out a mini replica (which wasn't so mini) of our wedding cake!! It was seriously SO SPECIAL.



We obviously couldn't eat it all, so we shared it with the kitchen staff and brought some back to our room.



It was seriously one of the best meals/nights of our lives, and we cannot believe how the Marriott went out of their way for us! Especially at the end of the night, when they didn't even give us a bill! FLOORED. Just, floored. We obviously tipped everyone well and went back to the room with our jaws on the floor. Amazing.

We were so stuffed, and after relaxing, we decided to go for a late night swim since it was our last night.



After our swim we headed back to our room and had a great view of Epcot's fireworks, so we sat on our balcony and watched!



Then we pre-ordered breakfast room service for the morning before going to bed.

 

[TeamSy]

Day 9: Heading Home

Our flight isn't until 3:30, so we had the morning to relax and explore. We woke to great breakfast...



Not a bad view...



We also may have had some dessert (leftover cake from the night before) lol.

So after we finished eating, we set off to look at some of our wedding locations that were still left (not happy with a bunch of the changes the hotels made!). For example, that whole green area in the picture above used to be water, and it was gorgeous, ugh! So much better before! Anyway... first, we went to the ballroom where our reception was held.

NOW:


THEN:


Next we went to our ceremony location!
NOW:



THEN:


So many memories!! You can check out more of our wedding photos, if you're interested, here.

So we had a late checkout, and once again booked a private Mears car. It was a little over $50 and the service was prompt and wonderful. I sort of liked doing this better than Disney's ME, because we were able to leave in under the 3 hours Disney requires, which saved a lot of boring time hanging around MCO.

-------------------------------

So that's the trip! It was SO MUCH FUN, and I can't imagine another Disney trip ever comparing to this one, but I guess we're gonna try, as we're going again in August! We'll be (back) at Beach Club and (first time) Poly this time around!

Special thanks to those that followed along!

 

[mlegerto]

So glad that you got back to finish this report! I'm so jealous that you have your next trip booked - I'm trying to work on it, but dear hubby wants to travel "else where". Ugh, men!

I just checked out your wedding photos and they are beautiful. It's so wonderful that you and Josh has the chance to go back and relive / revisit your wedding locations. Sucks that they've made changes that you aren't trilled with, but nice that you got to experience it. I LOVE that they treated you like suck special guests. Pixie dust!

I agree with you, what is going on with Disney. My absolute favorite time to visit the parks at night when the sun is down and crowds thin out. I hate when they cut back on park hours and rob me of this experience. Hopefully they will get a more confirmed schedule and you'll be able to make solid plans. Can't wait for your next report!