A Wedding, A Honeymoon and a runaway Grandma - Updated 6/6 Finally Finished!

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Hi
I'm venturing away from my usual digs on the Weddings and Honeymoons board to share the non-wedding portion of our January trip.

This will be a TR of days 7 - 12 of our trip January 27 - 31 (If you really want to read about days 1-6 which is the wedding, you can find it here)

Who:
DH and I... We're 27 year-old newly weds. We got married January 24, 2010 at Disney's Wedding Pavilion, and had our reception in the private rooms at the California Grill.

I'll spare you the thousands of pictures (there's a ton on the wedding boards if you are interested, just follow the link above) but what kind of TR would this be without at least a few...

We had 40 people at our wedding and the days and events leading up to it. Most of our guests left the day after the wedding, and by day 7 only DH's grandma and his aunt Sally were still in WDW.

Grandma

Aunt Sally (in the yellow)

We met up with them a few times, so they bare mentioning...

We did some resort hopping on this trip, so at this point we were staying at the Polynesian in a club level room.

Okay....I know it's kind of weird starting a TR in the middle, but I'm going to give it a try... So now you're all caught up.... so let the TR begin!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

We were just exhausted from the wedding events, so the night before we crashed really really early (like at 3) though we slept for like 12 hours straight, we were still kind of moving slow this morning.

As usual, I woke up before DH and took a shower.... and I actually have a picture of this part!

Don't worry, I'm clothed in this picture

One of my complaints about the Poly was shower. I'm 5'1" on a windy day... and the shower was about eye-level with me. Poor 6' DH.

So after slowly getting ready and waking up, we were ready to go! (or at least I was)

but first we stopped for a self-pic. Because clearly there were were not enough pictures of us on this trip.

We then headed over to the MK!

We had a couple of hours to kill before we had to meet grandma and Sally, so we meandered around and found ourselves heading towards Adventureland. Since it was about noon, but we weren't hungry at all we decided to get the lunch of champions.

Dole Whip!

Then we slowly meandered through Adventureland, stopping briefly to discuss the Tiki Room, but decided to keep going to Frontierland. Upon arrival, we discovered Splash Mountain was dry.

It was funny to watch them spray paint the "rocks"

After a while, we (okay I - I'm pretty sure the workers were DH's favorite part of the day ) got bored watching other people work, so we headed to Big Thunder Mountain!

We saw Woody and Jessie along the way

but the line was long so we didn't stop.

Onto BTMR!

OMG! This isn't Carousel of Progress? Get me Outta Here!

Okay... This isn't so bad

Trees!

Some kind of theming...

Is this ride really this long? I have like 20 pictures of it! DH was a bit camera-happy this day

So we keep just wandering aimlessly around and decide to check out Tom Sawyer Island, so we squeezed onto the raft with 600 of our fellow sardines

It was then that DH discovered the new love of his life...

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

I love my husband, and I know he loves me. But I'm fully aware that he'd leave me in a hear beat for a sexy steam-powered machine. That boy loves his steam power. So weird!

So from the raft he spotted the Steamboat!

So we get to the "island" and DH realizes that there are people on the steam boat.

We can ride the steam boat?????

We're here now, so I guess we should look around...

Okay, let's get going... I want to go on the steam boat!

Because we didn't have enough pictures of Big Thunder from when we rode on it, DH took a few more from Tom Sawyer Island...

Then we caught the ferry back...

And headed to the...Steamboat.

You notice that these pictures are all from BEFORE we got on the steamboat!!

So this is what a normal person would take pictures of during the steamboat trip...

but for us this was a mistake!

These are the pictures we "wanted"

Here he is with his "mistress"

Again, I have like 100 pictures from our 10 minute trek but I'll spare you!

After I drug DH away from his new found love... we made our way to Fantasyland to meet up with grandma and Sally.

 

[OhMari]

OH, so glad you came over to the TR board.
Plus, I get to read a completed wedding TR at WDW.
Thank you, you made my day.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

OH, so glad you came over to the TR board.
Plus, I get to read a completed wedding TR at WDW.
Thank you, you made my day.

Thanks You made my day too - someone's actually reading my TR I hope I'm not too boring.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

So… it was about time to meet grandma and Sally at the carousel so we headed to Fantasyland. We spotted them right away, grandma had upgraded to a EVCC (she had to get a knee replaced in March, and at this time it was killing her).

I realized that this isn't in this part of the TR, so I should repeat it. DH and I go to Disney with some frequency - before the wedding it was every few years, now with the planning and the free APs and the new found obsession, it's like every few months. So when we do Disney we do it really low key and skip a lot of stuff and just go for our favorites. Grandma is 82 and had been to Disney for 1/2 a day in the '80s and always wanted to go back, and Sally had never been. So they decided to take advantage of the 4-3 deal and came down for the week. This was a once in a lifetime trip for both of them, and the really relied on us as their tour guides.

So I suggested we head to Mickey's Philharmagic since I knew grandma would love it. She looked leery, just said lead the way.

Well, it ended up being one of her favorite attractions of the trip! Way to go Donald's Butt!

So then we headed to Peter Pan, and took a flight over London, and then decided to hit up Dumbo. I'm not a fan of rides like dumbo that go up and down like that, but I sucked it up for grandma.

We were taking pictures talking about zooming, and I had my phone out, and grandma takes two steps towards me and says "this is how I zoom" I don't think she realized I was taking a picture…

Grandma - on zoom.

We got up to Dumbo and the CM made a comment about reminding the newlyweds it was a family show… and grandma goes… "she's riding with me, but I'll keep that in mind" I thought the CM was going to fall over laughing.

So then we put a feather in our elephant's nose and we started to fly!

Apparently, Riding Dumbo requires a lot of concentration…

So after Dumbo, it was time for dinner. CRT was our Christmas present to grandma and Sally. Since it was both of their "once in a lifetime" trip to Disney, we wanted to make sure they both got at least one "Disney" experience. We couldn't think of anything better than CRT. And DH liked it because it wasn't a straight up character meal.

So, we check at CRT and get our picture taken with Cinderella.

Grandma was thrilled - the rest of us (including Cinderella) , not so much.

We were seated fairly quickly, and DH and I were given a sword and a wand. Which Grandma found hilarious, and made me take a picture….

So we ordered…

I got the BLT Salad, but I forgot to take a picture, so instead… you get a picture of a BLT salad after it's all gone.

And DH got the Crab Cakes…

What an almost empty plate of crab cakes looks like:

Then the mice came out…

Now I hate to admit it, but though I'm a huge fan of the Disney Parks, I'm not a huge Disney movies aficionado or fan… so I have no idea who this is…and frankly, I'm too lazy to google it right now, so I give you the mouse dressed in blue…

She was really nice, and made a fuss about being just married… the other mouse (purple? Pink?? Yeah I suck - sorry) totally dissed us and didn't even stop by. So, the blue one's my favorite…. Whomever you are!

We waited what seemed like a really really long time for our food, and DH got angry and threatened to storm the kitchen and demand our dinners!

Fortunately they came out before any of us could stop laughing….

DH's pork chop - aka what I should have ordered…

What I actually ordered, which was just a big bowl of bland

Then the fairy godmother came out and did her show. When she did the part about love and anniversaries she came right to us and said, can you feel the love in this room. I mean just look at that hat (he was wearing the Mickey groom ears) now that's love.

I thought DH would die from embarrassment, but Grandma was so happy and thought it was so cute, that he let it go. Hmmm…. Maybe I should bring grandma with me everywhere so I can humiliate DH...

Fortunately Dessert came, and we were distracted by delicious chocolately things, so I couldn't taunt him more.

Chocolate buckle

Grandma's face when I tried to explain to her why I was taking pictures of the food…

So after dinner, we pondered heading back to the rides, but grandma was pooped. So we headed back to the main gate to bid them farewell. It was about 5:30 at this time and DH and I were planning on heading to AK for EMH. But our trek to the front wasn't a swift one, we stopped at like every store along the way, so by the time we got to the main gate, DH and I just decided to stay at the MK, so we head back in…

 

[bjgrazi]

Grandma sounds like a blast. I know one mouse is Perla, not sure of the other and don't know which is which.

Looking forward to the rest.

Oh my DH looked over my shoulder and said your DH is a brave man.

 

[MAJ RN]

Joanna,

I have enjoyed reading your trip report, even read all of your wedding TR too. What a beautiful wedding!! Your dress was gorgeous!! Can't wait to read more about your honeymoon.


Melissa

 

[princess22]

Alright Joanna, I got side tracked over here and heading back to look at your epcot pictures... GREAT TR so far... keep it coming!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Grandma sounds like a blast. I know one mouse is Perla, not sure of the other and don't know which is which.

Looking forward to the rest.

Oh my DH looked over my shoulder and said your DH is a brave man.

Grandma is a total blast. It was so fun to have her along, she was like a little kid just in awe of the magic of Disney.

I presume your DH was referring to my DH's hat (and hopefully not that he was brave to actually marry me - though that's true as well) and I can say that he only wore the hat for grandma. On the days where it was just the two of us - he was hat free I guess i know where I stand!

Joanna,

I have enjoyed reading your trip report, even read all of your wedding TR too. What a beautiful wedding!! Your dress was gorgeous!! Can't wait to read more about your honeymoon.


Melissa

Hi Melissa... welcome! Thanks for your kind comments. We're so happy with the way the wedding turned out. Disney does a great job.

Alright Joanna, I got side tracked over here and heading back to look at your epcot pictures... GREAT TR so far... keep it coming!

Hi Stacey! Welcome back from your cruise lucky lady!

I hope to have the rest of day 7 up this weekend.

Thanks all for reading along.

 

[bjgrazi]

Joanna, he meant the hat. :

 

[TinkLoverSam]

No Fair! I had to track you down to finish! You're too funny for me not to read the whole trip report.

 

[OhMari]

The other mouse is Suzie. Suzie and Perla.

I heard the food isn't that great at CRT, it is the atsmophere you are paying for.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr]

joining in! great tr

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Just subscribing here! Your TR is great! You have a wonderful writing style, it really captures the mood - and is funny too! Glad to hear your trip went so well! I look forward to reading more!

 

[JanetMom]

Sounds like a fun trip report. I'm in.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Joanna, he meant the hat. :

It's all about the free desserts baby! Though by the end of the trip, he'd had it with the hat.

No Fair! I had to track you down to finish! You're too funny for me not to read the whole trip report.

Thanks for reading Sorry to make you work for it

The other mouse is Suzie. Suzie and Perla.

I heard the food isn't that great at CRT, it is the atsmophere you are paying for.

Thanks OhMari! So Suzie's the nice one and Purple Perla gave us the brush off

I had heard the same thing about CRT, so we didn't go in with high expectations, but I have to say that what DH ordered was very good. Maybe not good like other 2 credit resturants, but good none the less. Flavorful and nice presentation. I was trying to be healthy and eat light - that was my downfall. Both of my dishes tasted like nothing. No spices no flavor. just blah. But dessert was great and that's all that matters

Actually what kind of put me off was the atmosphere. We were kind of brushed off by Cinderella and Perla because we were all adults. If we're paying for the atmosphere - then give it to us

I would go back again someday - when I have kids - but it's not high on my list anytime soon.

joining in! great tr

Just subscribing here! Your TR is great! You have a wonderful writing style, it really captures the mood - and is funny too! Glad to hear your trip went so well! I look forward to reading more!

Welcome! Glad you're enjoying it so far! I love reading the really detailed TRs on here, so I try to make mine like that too. And it's really hard for me to be serious for any length of time...

And you're in luck - an update is on it's way!

Sounds like a fun trip report. I'm in.

Howdy!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

So I ask him what he wants to do… and he looks at me with his big puppy-dog eye and says… can we ride the train?

Ugh… Steam power.

So we get on the train and he's like a little kid on Christmas morning. So excited, taking all kinds of pictures.

Weirdo!

I may look like a grown-up, but when it comes to steam engines I'm just a kid in disguise!

So we rode the train to toon town, and got off and headed to tomorrowland. When he made me stop to watch the train leave, though it pained me, I knew what I had to do.

(pulling out the little booklet that comes with our annual passes) "You know I think there's a tour about the trains, and I think we get a discount on it" Hoping that he'd buy the fact that I just remembered it and hadn't been deliberately not mentioning it so I didn't have to go on it…

His response… "THERE IS? CAN WE GO??? CAN WE??"

So I tell him we can stop at the Concierge desk on the way back to our room to check it out.

So after finally bidding the train goodnight, we headed to tomorrow land. We were both still kind of full, so we didn't want to do Buzz, and Space Mountain was closed (but also wouldn't be a good full stomach ride) So we opt for the TTA.

Space Mountain with the lights on

It really kind of looses it's allure and mystique…

"We" are fascinated by mechanical things - can you tell

Maybe it's just me, but I love riding the TTA at night - the glow-y views are just so neat!

Then I took the camera away from DH - which he was really happy about….

So I repaid him by making him blurry….

Who's the better picture taker in the family?

Not me!

We neared the end of our ride…

And then we were attacked by a glowing rainbow…

(did I mention I'm the worst picture-taker ever?)

After our ride on the TTA, DH became fascinated by the turning building at carrousel of progress. So that was our next stop.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

We were the only people in the theater, so DH too advantage and took a million pictures.

There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow…

Shining at the end of every day

There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow

And tomorrow’s just a dream away

Man has a dream and that’s the start

He follows his dream with mind and heart

And when it becomes a reality

It’s a dream come true for you and me

… You're welcome for getting the song stuck in your head

So after COP, it was almost park time for Wishes. We were kind of fireworked out by this point so we hopped on Buzz for one final ride of the day…

DH beat the pants off me as usual - but oh well.

So we headed out of the park trying to beat the post-wishes crowd.

Okay - People - seriously. Either watch the fireworks or walk. Don't try to do both. You would think this would be common sense, but we almost ran into people so many times because they would be walking and the abruptly stop to watch the fireworks. I myself am often distracted by shiny-glowing objects, so I completely understand. But if your mission is to leave the park before the crowds, then do so, and don't make clumsy girls such as my self fall on their faces. DH had to catch me so I didn't crush some poor innocent child. It got so irritating, that we ducked into the shops and walked to the front of the park that way instead.

So after leaving the park a little worse for the wear… We jumped on the monorail back to the Poly.

Once we arrived, we stopped in the BouTiki and I bought a sweatshirt. After a week of freezing, I finally gave in.

Finally DH dragged me back to the Hawaii building so he could talk to the concierge about the steam train tour. Goodie.

So I left him to his own devices to talk to the concierge and get the tickets, and I went up to the lounge to get some spiked coffee. MMMM…

When I came back down DH told me that not only had he booked the train tour for us at 7:30 in the morning on Friday, but he also booked the KTK tour for Saturday. And so evaporated any hope of a nice lazy sleeping in kind of trip.

So we went back to the room, sat out on our patio and drank our coffees and went to sleep.

Up next - all I want to do is go to Fantasmic! Is that so hard?

 

[heaven2dc]

Congratulations on your wedding!! I think it is SO neat that you both spent time with your new hubby's grandma and aunt plus made their visit special with dinner at CRT. His grandma sounds like she is so much fun (I am trying to convince my 82-yr old aunt to come along with us on our trip later this year but she said her traveling days are over.) I think she would have fun going on a few rides like your grandma did plus relaxing at the hotel - we have a boardwalk view at BWV and I wouldn't mind sitting out on the balcony with her or on the rocking chairs overlooking the lake.

Do you prefer Buzz to TSM? I haven't gone on the Buzz ride but plan to on our next trip.