A Grand Dream of a Honeymoon - June 2011

[Stefy]

All caught up

Firstly, Happy Belated Birthday Hope you had a lovely day

Looks like you had fun on the Segway Tour. Bet it was really cool whizzing around an empty WS

Your Wishes cruise pics are great, love those cruises. I don't think I could not do one every trip now Its crazy how all those birds are in the trees on the island, but I love that its now a natural sort of habitat for the wildlife there

 

[disneybarbie]

Happy Birthday!

I'm always sad to come home from Disney too.

Hope you have a lovely weekend and are enjoying this very unexpected good weather we're having!

Can't wait for the next update

Hi! Thank you we really enjoyed the unusually hot October weekend, went to stay in Brighton.. it was like being on holiday!

Happy Birthday!!


The cupcakes are so big that I had to eat them with a fork and knife. But delicious!

hehe wow they must be big cupcakes!

great updates! xo

Thank you.. more to come soon!

Ooooh Happy Belated Birthday!!

Thank you very much!

Hi Emma!

I'm catching up after our trip. Oh no on nearly fainting at the Dessert Party - that is so sweet of Steve to take care of you like that and then worry afterwards

I love your safari pics and the PP shots that were taken at AK.

We never made it to the golf courses so I enjoyed seeing your photos.

Wow what great suprises you lines up for each other!

at the Buzz Lightyear score! Glad you both enjoyed the spa treatments.

I love that you got to watch Wishes from so many different places - first at California Grill, then at GF and then on the cruise.

Happy belated birthday! Hope you had a great day and lovely weekend!

Tanz

Thank you for all the comments Tanz - we love Illuminations and Wishes so it's great to view them from different angles

Cannot wait to hear more about your trip!

Update coming soon.. I really want to get writing, but unfortunately have had to start studying again at the weekends for my next accounting exam lol

All caught up

Firstly, Happy Belated Birthday Hope you had a lovely day

Looks like you had fun on the Segway Tour. Bet it was really cool whizzing around an empty WS

Your Wishes cruise pics are great, love those cruises. I don't think I could not do one every trip now Its crazy how all those birds are in the trees on the island, but I love that its now a natural sort of habitat for the wildlife there

Thanks for reading along Stefy... I almost can't believe you and the husband are back already! So excited to hear all about your honeymoon, especially concierge on the fabulous Dream



I must apologise again for the lack of updates.. I've checked through all my photos for the next day & should start typing soon.. will work on it this weekend!



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi everyone!

So my next update is in progress.. but just thought I'd share a few photos from my birthday.. Disney-related, of course

In my office, it's usual on your birthday to bring in cakes for everyone - a lot of people just buy them from a supermarket, but I decided to bake my own cupcakes!

They went down really well.. I was so pleased to find Cars & Disney Princess royal icing decorations

My parents got me a renewal of my D23 membership as a birthday present, so when I renewed that on disneystore.com I also bought a D23 Dumbo pin (one of my favourite characters!)

and these pretty Princess couture note cards & envelopes!

I got severall Disney cards, including this one from my sister..

and lots of lovely presents!

One gift from Steve was a 'Magic' candle from the Disney Store.. this is a new range they're selling, I love it! I find that the Disney Stores over here aim more at children, so it's great when they do some things for the adult fans

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!


Emma x

 

[TanzUnited99]

Hi Emma!

I love that you baked your own cupcakes to take into the office - what a sweet idea They all look so yummy!

The tink card is great and I am jealous that you are 2 years younger than me - I turn the big 3-0 next year!

Looks like you had a great birthday and got some great presents. I noticed that the Disney store now sold those candles and agree that it's a nice gift for us adult Disney fans!

 

[Hayley94]

looks like a great birthday!! those cupcakes look gorgeous!

 

[ronnmel]

Cute! I love all the Disney touches.

 

[buddles norfolk uk]

Aw what a fantastic birthday!

 

[Self_resqing_princz]

Hi everyone!


I got severall Disney cards, including this one from my sister..

One gift from Steve was a 'Magic' candle from the Disney Store.. this is a new range they're selling, I love it! I find that the Disney Stores over here aim more at children, so it's great when they do some things for the adult fans

Two things:
First- we are the same age... but only until February, when I turn 28.
Second- what is the magic candle? Never heard of it. What's it smell like?

Also... happy Paul McCartney's NEXT wedding day!

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi Emma!

I love that you baked your own cupcakes to take into the office - what a sweet idea They all look so yummy!

The tink card is great and I am jealous that you are 2 years younger than me - I turn the big 3-0 next year!

Looks like you had a great birthday and got some great presents. I noticed that the Disney store now sold those candles and agree that it's a nice gift for us adult Disney fans!

Thanks Tanz I think the cupcakes were quite popular.. I had a lot of compliments about them!

looks like a great birthday!! those cupcakes look gorgeous!

Thanks Hayley

Cute! I love all the Disney touches.

Thank you Mel!

Aw what a fantastic birthday!

Hi! I had a really nice day

Two things:
First- we are the same age... but only until February, when I turn 28.
Second- what is the magic candle? Never heard of it. What's it smell like?

Also... happy Paul McCartney's NEXT wedding day!

Hi! Lol the Tinkerbell card was originally for 2nd birthday, but my sister changed it to 27

The candle is meant to smell like vanilla with 'hints of chocolate and sea breeze' ... it smells very nice! I was especially pleased to get this as we couldn't find the Warm Cookies candle in WDW this trip.



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Saturday 2nd July 2011

Magic Kingdom and dinner at Le Cellier, Epcot

Today we had no fixed plans, except and ADR at Le Cellier at 7pm.. I asked Steve if he thought we should go to Epcot or Magic Kingdom as we still had quite a few attractions to do at both – and he picked Magic Kingdom! While we knew we’d be visiting the park the next morning for breakfast, he felt that there were many more ‘must dos’ at Magic Kingdom than Epcot, especially as this trip we weren’t trying to see and do absolutely everything.

We hopped on the monorail just after 8am.. almost forgetting just how close to the Magic Kingdom we were, so arrived to an almost empty park entrance!

We quite enjoyed the wait though, we perched on a brick wall to the left side of the train station – listened to the music and people watched for about forty minutes.

We got to see the opening ceremony which I absolutely love!

Very soon the ropes were dropped and we were strolling hand in hand up Main Street USA.

As was… Mary Poppins!!

I thought it was really unusual to see a character just walking (seemingly) alone through the park… she was walking very briskly, saying good morning to guests – by the time people had realised who she was she’d already walked by!

..........

 

[disneybarbie]

........

At the hub we turned left towards Liberty Square, making our way to Splash Mountain in Frontierland.

Donald waved right at me!

Splash Mountain was a walk on.. we noticed that the big water jet that usually soaks us had been adjusted so that it didn’t reach the log boats.. phew! (although in the summer heat, I really don't mind getting drenched on the water rides now and again)

Next we rode Big Thunder Mountain, the wait time said 20 minutes but again we walked straight on, I don’t think many people walk straight to these attractions at rope drop, which worked well for us!

We walked around to Adventureland next..

And headed to the Jungle Cruise, there was no wait except we had to wait for a Keys to the Kingdom tour group to board a boat ahead of us.

We had quite a good skipper, but she spoke quickly so many guests onboard missed the corny jokes!

Next we went to visit some salty old pirates..

Then headed to another favourite, the Haunted Mansion – we missed the interactive queue this time and just took the ‘direct route’

We walked around Fantasyland, taking in all the sights!

Peterpan didn’t have a very long wait, but we didn’t ride it this time.


We made it over to Tomorrowland, and picked up Fast Passes for Space Mountain, and then rode Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

My score was pathetic this time! I didn’t even get 10,000.. I find it harder when the rides busier to work out which is my red dot.


.........

 

[disneybarbie]

.......

We stopped on Main Street to get some breakfast from the bakery.

I’ve always wanted to try the cinnamon roll, but it looks too big! So my husband offered to share one with me, we also got a fruit cup and some juices. We grabbed a table outside the Plaza restaurant and watched the world go by as we ate.


We headed back to Tomorrowland, and visited Mike Wazowski at the Laugh Floor – we really enjoy this attraction, so clever and funny!

It was then time for our FPs for Space Mountain, so we rode the rollercoaster… as we got to the disembarking area, a Cast Member noticed my Just Married button and said “congratulations!”.. and as I stepped out of the ride, another CM handed me a pile of fast passes, and said “here, take these!”

I was so surprised! While we were exiting the ride, we looked at the FPs.. there were six of them in the total – and 15 minutes to go until they expired!

As we’d already ridden the attraction several times this trip, we decided to spread the Disney magic a little instead – and found other guests to hand them out to.
This took longer than we’d imagined.. as some people didn’t seem to know what the fast passes were and maybe thought we were trying to sell them something! But eventually, we found a family of three who were really pleased; and then I saw a father & son approaching the stand-by line (it was 60 minutes) and the Dad said “oh no, we’re not waiting that long”.. so I quickly ran up to them and gave them two passes! We had one left over, for the scrap book.. it was nice to think that maybe we’d made someone’s day.

We walked back over to Fantasyland… stopping to admire some water art one of the custodial CMs had made!

We picked up some fast passes for Winnie the Pooh (some for Philharmagic came out too, think that happens quite a lot), and took in the sights…

We both felt a little hungry and decided to try out Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland.

Splash Mountain in the distance..

I was excited to try this place out as it always seemed to be closed when it was ‘La Pirata and El Perico’ – I had a taco salad and Steve had a pulled pork sandwich.

We caught some of the pirate tutorial too..

After lunch, we strolled back through Liberty Square and then to Fantasyland to visit the 100 Acre Wood..

And then we went to Philharmagic (didn’t need to use the FPs as it was a walk on)

We decided to do one more thing before exiting the park… have a Dole Whip!

There was 5-10 minute wait at Aloha Isle – think that was our biggest wait of the day a family behind us were from California and I could hear them discussing the differences between WDW and DLR … the Dad wasn’t sure if he’d like Dole Whip as he didn’t like pineapple, and the Cast Member actually gave him a sample to try before he ordered.

We perched on a wall near the Treehouse and ate our frozen treats – I tried a float for the first time, it was excellent!

.......

 

[Lorelai]

Just curious, what is your overall impression of late June/early July weather in Orlando?

It seems as if, although it rained for a bit each day (or every few days), that it truly didn't hamper what you were able to accomplish. Is that a correct observation?

Personally, we like the tropical weather when in Orlando, yet I know that it is too warm & humid for many in summer...what is your opinion?

 

[disneybarbie]

Just curious, what is your overall impression of late June/early July weather in Orlando?

It seems as if, although it rained for a bit each day (or every few days), that it truly didn't hamper what you were able to accomplish. Is that a correct observation?

Personally, we like the tropical weather when in Orlando, yet I know that it is too warm & humid for many in summer...what is your opinion?

Hi!

The weather was very hot (at least 90 oF every day) and humid, but yes it rained/thunderstorms at least every other day - about 3/4pm. This is usually the time we head back to our resort for a break, so it didn't really worry us - the only times we got stuck in it really were at the Fantasia Gardens golf course and then at Downtown Disney for about 20 minutes!

The Florida weather is very different to what we're used to in the UK, but I love being in warm humid climates so don't mind the heat at all! Just drink lots and lots of water.. so you don't end up nearly fainting like I did at the Dessert Party hehe


Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

....

We strolled down Main Street, stopping in the Emporium for a little more shopping – a really nice Cast Member served me, she asked all about our honeymoon – where we were staying, where we’d eaten… I loved wearing the Just Married buttons for these interactions!

There wasn’t a boat at the launch or approaching it, so we decided to get the monorail home, enjoy the air-conditioning too.

Back at the resort, we did the worst thing of any vacation… packing. I couldn’t believe it was the last night of our honeymoon already! And yet we agreed that we felt like we’d been away from a really long time, going on the cruise had made it feel like two separate trips in one – and so many amazing things had happened.

I stopped by the concierge desk to ask if we could pay off some of our check-out bill in cash, before our credit card was charged.. we had quite a lot of dollars left over so it made sense to use some up – the cast member said it would be no problem at all and brought up our bill on the computer; I don’t think he picked up on my accent though because when I said “we can’t use these at home”, he said “oh, are they Disney dollars?” .. then realised I was English!

We got showered and ready for the evening, and headed to Epcot. Rather than getting the monorail, Steve suggested we get the monorail to Magic Kingdom and then a bus to the Yacht & Beach Club – that worked out really well, and we got a private bus again!

We strolled through the Yacht Club

And then towards the international gateway.

I love walking under this bridge than over it – it really reminds me of the scene in Ratatouille when Linguini is meant to ‘get rid’ of Remy, but doesn’t


Strolling through the UK…

And on to Canada for dinner!

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[disneybarbie]

....

We last ate here in 2009 with Steve’s family, and I’d been a few times with my family – but this was the first time we’d been just the two of us, I was so pleased our travel agent had managed to get us a dining reservation here, especially on our last night.

We were seated quickly, in the ‘Calgory’ section of the restaurant.

Our server brought us the delicious pretzel breads, and then we ordered – for appetisers, I had asparagus with cheese & bacon, Steve had the cheddar cheese soup (we first tried this at the food & wine festival in 2008 and loved it, I’ve even tried making it at home!).

We had a bit of a wait until our entrees – Steve had a steak but I decided to try the salmon. Unfortunately our server didn’t bring us more cutlery before our main courses, so we had to try and catch her eye before we could start eating!
The salmon was delicious, so tender – Steve enjoyed his steak but said the one at the Yachtsman Steakhouse had been better.

We declined dessert, but our server surprised us with two complimentary chocolate mousses!

We did actually manage to eat these, really rich & creamy without being too sickly.


My plan had been to stay and watch Illuminations, as it was our last night, but there was still about 45 minutes to go and the park felt very busy (probably as it was July 4th weekend!) – so we decided to head back to the Grand Floridian and watch Wishes instead.

We did ride Spaceship Earth before leaving the park, this is a definite ‘must do’ for me!

We hopped on the Tronorail and headed back..

.....

 

[disneybarbie]

........

Once back at the resort, we went up to the concierge lounge to check out the evening offerings – there were a range of desserts and liquers! I had an Amarula (like a fruity Baileys) then we went back to the room, watched some tv & ate our cupcakes from ‘Ohana the night before.

At 10pm we went out on the balcony to watch Wishes.

View of the courtyard pool..

Wishes..

video here (you can hear the noise from the pool in this video.. even though it was past 10pm!)

I felt a little sad it was our last night, but knew we still had some Disney time to enjoy tomorrow before our flight home!


Coming up … breakfast with pooh and more Magic Kingdom fun.



Emma x

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the MK opening ceremony pics Emma! We enjoyed this as well.

Don't you just love walking onto attractions? It sure is great!

Aaw that is sweet of the CM to give you FPs and then of you to give them to other people - am sure you made their day I can't believe that some people thought you were trying to sell them something!

Oh no on it being your last night at Disney World I'm glad you both enjoyed your meal at Le Cellier.

 

[ronnmel]

It's you last full day already! But I don't want your TR to end! At least you really seem to have accomplished a lot in MK that morning!

I really love those pictures of Spaceship Earth. The nighttime lighting is already on, but the sky is completely blue in the background. Lovely!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Emma, I'm so sorry that I had gotten so behind on your updates! I've been such a bad DISer lately.

I'm so glad your Wishes cruise was great! Your pictures turned out so much better than mine did from that night. Our captain showed us the island covered in the birds, too! I thought that was really neat.

What a great way to spend your last full day at Disney - the Magic Kingdom and Epcot! I can't believe how empty the MK looked! Especially right before the 4th of July. You got to do so many things!

I am so sad that your trip is coming to a close!