B&P's VR 11/10/2012 UK/AAP/UKDP Day 1 Arrival & Epcot 6/10

[pinkfairy1684]

Bethie, I haven't been on the boards in such a long time, but I have been following your planning on facebook. Everything looks terrific! I can't wait to hear the details from your PS.

 

[BethieTink]

Hey Hun!

Omg I love the little bags and the hankies! So cute!

Glad you came bk to PJ world! hehe

x x x

Thanks, Fay! Glad I came back, too! I have a feeling I will have a lot to update on for the next 6 months! You must be getting excited since you only have a few weeks to go. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Woohoo! ALOHA!
Have fun!!!

Thank you, Danielle! We had a blast! The start of the TR is coming up.

SAVE TRAVELS, FDM!!! I hope the Poly is everything you have always wanted and more. I cannot WAIT to read all about your PS!!!

(Although, I do have my pink binder ready...)

Thanks, FDD! The Poly was good. I will post a review soon. First part of the TR coming up. Paul was shocked that you and Jennifer weren't hiding in the bushes near Franck's when we got there with your binders!

Not sure if I've commented before but I'm following along! Have a fantastic trip!!!

Thanks for following along!

Have lots of fun!!!!

Deena!!! Hi! Hope you have a great birthday trip.

Hi Paulie, I know you are on your way, so have a great trip.

As far as our ADR's we are hoping on Chef Mickey breakfast, Tonys dinner, and hopefully a lunch or dinner for our little princess in the castle, as she has never eaten there. Other than that we still are not sure.

Have fun and I can't wait to read all about it.

Thanks for the well wishes, Dee. I will keep my fingers crossed for the Castle. She will love it!

I waited by the interstate for you and Paulie! I looked everywhere for your parachutes! I thought we'd agreed that yall were going to drop down and pick me up.. then we would down together.. What happened?!?! I guess I'll just hang with Charley.. .

IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR YOUR PS!!!!

I'm so stinkin excited for you... and if this wasn't a site about Disney, I'd probably be using way more ugly language than stinkin! I hope you 2 have an absolute blast. I don't know if you'll be checking this or not. Apparently not all people are like me (Jackie).. they don't carry their phones around and read random updates or check FB while waiting in lines. I HATE WAITING IN LINES. At least I can read something while we're doing it. AND I even tell Charley all about them, so I keep him entertained too!! You know how much he still loves hearing about weddings.

Pick lots of great things!!! I know you will! Everything will be amazing. I'm sooooo happy for you Bethie! It's the wedding of your dreams!!

And I'll be praying for airfare to drop for May!! If not ( ), we'll take lots of random pics of us eating ice cream!

I <3 you lady!

We were going to stop, but the pilot said that we couldn't. Sorry. Hope you weren't waiting too long for us!

We had a ball this trip! I have the pictures uploaded and will be getting the TR going as soon as I can. Hoping for an installment tonight. Love that you use colorful language, I do too! I am constantly on my phone (as evidenced by my check-ins, which I only do at Disney). Iphones were made for standing in line at Disney, especially with kids. Absolutely!

We picked lots of pretty stuff! My head was spinning after a while! Can't wait to see it all put together. This is going to be awesome! Even Paul is really excited now.

I keep checking the airfare with my fingers crossed. I will keep everyone posted. If I can't make it, I better get lots of pics!!!

Hope you have a safe journey!

Have a grand time! hehe EXCITED!!!

xxxx

Thanks, Fay! Pretty soon it will be me wishing you and Greg safe travels!

Have a fantastic time on your PS! Can't wait til you come back to hear all about it!

Thanks, Becky! It was a fabulous trip! TR coming up soon.

Bethie!

I am a horrible disbride! I fell off the face of the planet for awhile, and I am now SOOO far behind with everyone's plans! And I made you do all those DIY projects (which are AMAZING by the way!!!) by yourself, after I promised to help! I totally suck. Anyway, I am back, and furiously trying to get caught up with everyone (and finish my TR). So I won't be able to comment on everything, but please know I'm still here and loving everything!! Can't wait to hear about the PS

Allie, that's okay. I seem to be muddling along anyway. Now that the PS trip is done, time to start revisiting some and finishing them off. Can't wait to read the rest of TR!

Bethie, I haven't been on the boards in such a long time, but I have been following your planning on facebook. Everything looks terrific! I can't wait to hear the details from your PS.

Lacey!!! So glad to see you! Hope all is going well out in Grafton. We were out in Upton for Easter and I thought of you and wondered where you were. Glad you have been following along of Facebook though. Looking forward to reading more of your TR.

 

[Deesknee]

Welcome home! Glad you had a nice trip. So exciting. I cant wait to read all about this trip & how you like the Poly!

 

[BethieTink]

Well, we are back! The trip was amazing! I have so much to share and lots of pics too! I say we start at the beginning....

Arrival night

We arrived into Orlando after an uneventful flight from Boston. Thanks to JetBlue recently adding the NBC Sports Network to their Directv lineup, we were able to watch the first 2 periods on the Bruins game on the plane. It was awesome when the Bruins scored and most of the plane cheered. Sadly, while we were pulling into the Poly, Paul who was checking the game online while I drove to the resort, announced that the Bruins had lost. Not exactly how we planned on our trip starting. Piffle.

Check-in at the Poly was uneventful. I had done online check-in and we were all set when we got there. I even got both the third floor and the building that I had requested. The CM also handed us our leis, one pink and one blue. As we were getting ready to leave the front desk, the CM saw that I was celebrating my birthday and gave me a birthday button. She then asked me what was my favorite color and I said "pink" and she gave me a real flower lei and a leaf rope for Paul. Apparently, they give these out for celebrations, because all the CMs asked me what we were celebrating as we walked to the room.

Wow, was my hair trashed by 10:30 and I had a terrible shine going on. Oops.

We also had the Mickey head made out of towels on of the beds.

The room seemed huge! Loved it! The daybed was great to store stuff on. Here are some photos of the room. Since we own DVC at Beach Club switching from the light, beachy decor to the dark decor of the Poly took some getting use to, but we managed.

I loved this tiki-god lamp! So cool

The bathroom was a little different since it has everything all together, but we made it work. It did have some really cool elements to it.

We dumped off our stuff and headed back to food court for a snack. I finally got to try a Dole Whip! OMG! Where have they been all my life! It was amazing! They even had it with a twist of vanilla. Delicious! After our snack we headed back to the room and I unpacked all of our stuff.

At this point, it was almost midnight and we needed some sleep before our 6am wakeup call. Our PS was at 9am the next day!!

To be continued....

 

[bearsgirl]

Bethie,
Welcome back! Cannot wait to hear how your PS went. So far, so good...but you are leaving us in suspense....!
Happy belated birthday--
Rebecca

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

-I tried waiting by the interstate just like Jennifer did… then I remembered that you didn’t need to fly anywhere near WI and I was VERY SAD!!!
-And Jennifer, stop making fun of me for not carrying my phone!
-Okay, onto the TR!
-Awww, I’m sorry the Bruins lost! I do miss the Boston fan community though.
-Those leis are fabulous. Giggle giggle.
-You look SO happy!!!
-Oohhh I do love the Poly. I see what you mean though--- it is quite dark. Did you find any hidden Mickeys in the décor?
-Actually: I have never had a Dole Whip either!
-ALMOST TIME FOR PS YAYYY

 

[CourtenayB]

Hi!! Fun start to the trip....how cool that they give you guys real flowered lei's. Enjoy yourselves.

 

[Deesknee]

I can't wait to hear the rest of the PS trip. Happy you had an uneventful flight. (in a good way of course) . Love the leis . Personally, I think your hair looked fine. and we will call the shine.....radiant, you looked radiant.
I too have never had a dole whip. Glad you enjoyed it.
Atleast you were in the happiest place on earth when you heard the B's lost. My family was sad. It would have stung less if we were in WDW. Perhaps, I can talk my family into taking turns paying for us all to go to WDW every time there is a "big game". yes? ... probably not.
Welcome home again! I am anxiously awaiting all the tidbits of the trip.

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

Wooo Hooo!

That is so awesome you got a real flower lei! I didn't know they did that, but then again I've never stayed at the Poly!

I can't wait to read more

 

[Deesknee]

Oh boy, I just caught glimpse of something you posted on another thread that you tried at the tasting...... I can't wait til you post photo's. I have a question and don't want to hyjack the other thread.

... no pressure.

 

[donald&daisy]

You look so happy! I can't wait to hear all the details.....

 

[pinkfairy1684]

That was such a tease! I want to read more!!!

 

[BethieTink]

Welcome home! Glad you had a nice trip. So exciting. I cant wait to read all about this trip & how you like the Poly!

Thanks, next installment is coming up...

Bethie,
Welcome back! Cannot wait to hear how your PS went. So far, so good...but you are leaving us in suspense....!
Happy belated birthday--
Rebecca

Rebecca,

Thank you for the birthday greetings. Have to have a little bit of suspense.

-I tried waiting by the interstate just like Jennifer did… then I remembered that you didn’t need to fly anywhere near WI and I was VERY SAD!!!
-And Jennifer, stop making fun of me for not carrying my phone!
-Okay, onto the TR!
-Awww, I’m sorry the Bruins lost! I do miss the Boston fan community though.
-Those leis are fabulous. Giggle giggle.
-You look SO happy!!!
-Oohhh I do love the Poly. I see what you mean though--- it is quite dark. Did you find any hidden Mickeys in the décor?
-Actually: I have never had a Dole Whip either!
-ALMOST TIME FOR PS YAYYY

* I am so sorry that you waited and waited....if I had known I would have sent the pilot that way.
* Still not completely over the Bruins, but getting better. Thanks!
* Loved the leis. Was sad to leave them behind, but I got good photos.
* Thanks. I was happy (even with the Bruins loss). I was really hyper when we got there.
* I did see a couple Hidden Mickeys, but forgot to take photos of them.
* Dole Whip was really good. I highly recommend them. With the vanilla twist was my favorite.

Hi!! Fun start to the trip....how cool that they give you guys real flowered lei's. Enjoy yourselves.

Thanks Courtenay! It was really a great start to the trip.

I can't wait to hear the rest of the PS trip. Happy you had an uneventful flight. (in a good way of course) . Love the leis . Personally, I think your hair looked fine. and we will call the shine.....radiant, you looked radiant.
I too have never had a dole whip. Glad you enjoyed it.
Atleast you were in the happiest place on earth when you heard the B's lost. My family was sad. It would have stung less if we were in WDW. Perhaps, I can talk my family into taking turns paying for us all to go to WDW every time there is a "big game". yes? ... probably not.
Welcome home again! I am anxiously awaiting all the tidbits of the trip.

Thanks, Dee. I like the "radiant" spin. Much better than I needed to wash my face. Also like the go to Disney for big game ideas. I might have to work on that one.

Wooo Hooo!

That is so awesome you got a real flower lei! I didn't know they did that, but then again I've never stayed at the Poly!

I can't wait to read more

Amanda,

I am sorry we couldn't meet up this trip, but definitely next time. They also gave us silk leis, but the real ones were amazing.

Oh boy, I just caught glimpse of something you posted on another thread that you tried at the tasting...... I can't wait til you post photo's. I have a question and don't want to hyjack the other thread.

... no pressure.

Ah, you saw the donut, huh? That part is coming up soon. I promise.

You look so happy! I can't wait to hear all the details.....

Justine,

Thank you. Can't wait to read all of your details too!

That was such a tease! I want to read more!!!

Lacey,

So glad you are back! Missed you! More is coming right up!

 

[virtuous girl]

That was definitely a TEASE! Where are my DETAILS!

 

[BethieTink]

Sorry for the small delay everyone, I hit my head yesterday as I was getting dressed, ended up in the ER and have a mild concussion. Tried to stay off the computer for the most part. Feeling better today and should be back to my normal self in no time. Also, even though I have a hard head, the wall appears to be fine.

And without further ado and delay...

Planning Session

Stitch called at 6am and I was up and raring to go! Got showered and dressed and put of all our stuff together, including the Pink Binder.

We had a 7:30 breakfast reservation at GF Cafe, so we headed out to the monorail. As we were walking through the door to get to the platform, they closed the gates. It turned out to be a theme of the trip. The next one came along in a few minutes and we were on our way to Grand Floridian.

We were seated right away and had a great server. GF Cafe, IMO, is one of the hidden gems. Room is lovely, service good and the food is always tasty. They also are willing to go out of their way for you. We love the juice at 1900PF and they always get it for us, which is nice.

I ordered the steak and eggs, because well, it was my birthday and nothing is better on my birthday than steak and bearnaise sauce. Two of my all time favorite things! It was delicious and I knew it would hold me till the tasting at 2:30.

Paul ordered one of his favorite items The Maple Vanilla French Toast. French toast is one of his favorite things and this one ranks high on the list.

Because he is a Type 2 diabetic, he did get scrambled eggs with it, to balance out the protein to carb ratio.

Fascinating picture, I know... I also ordered the press pot coffee and even though it was breakfast, I did get a birthday cupcake! The cupcake was delicious. There is something about the GF Bakery, especially the icing.

After my cupcake, it was time to walk over to Franck's and get started.

Our planning session went great. Kathy is amazing! We loved her and feel really confident with her as our planner. She really "got" us and was so sweet. She loved how organized I was and it went very smoothly. With everything we discussed, it's all kind of a jumble of everything we decided. We came up with some awesome ideas and hope that all of them come to pass. My BEO will take about 4-6 weeks, since there is so much to put on it. One of the big things we want and added was having a slushie machine for the dessert party and serve the Grey Goose and Grand Marnier slushies from France!!!!

This is Kathy

We also added the Major Domo for the ceremony. I did it while Paul was out of the room for a moment. Not sure we will keep that, but I am intrigued about possibly having one. He stays for the reception to do the announcements, right? It is very princessy and I deserve one really princessy element, don't I??

One thing we didn't take was special transportation. Paul's eyes lit up when Kathy mentioned the Rolls and the Model A. It would take us from the Beach Club to backstage in Epcot. The problem is no one will see it if we go for it. Knowing that we can't justify the price and went with a limo.

When we were discussing the welcome dinner, we talked about the Groom's cake. I gave Kathy the picture of the Boston sports t-shirt that we wanted the design of and she asked us if we wanted the cake to look like the t-shirt. We totally decided that it WAS what we wanted. Can't wait to see it!

At some point Elizabeth came in and we got started on floral and decor. I had another binder for Elizabeth and she loved that! I also had a 9 page document with everything we wanted for each event and she and Kathy loved that I had a copy for both of them. Again, we decided so much that it was hard to keep straight. I will post our full plans once things get a bit more settled. A couple things we decided on are the pink pintuck linens and pink satin sashes on silver chiavari chairs for the reception. I also fell in love these chargers. They are amazing. Just have no idea how much they cost. I guess they will be more than $6 for the plastic ones I was thinking. They are so amazing! They are glass and very heavy too! I will find a way to make them stay.

Elizabeth was great to work with and I can't to see what she comes up with.

Towards the end of the session, which ran more than hour over, we did the cake tasting.

We had a ball. Some flavors we just didn't like at all like the Bavarian Cream and sadly, The Baileys mousse. We decided on Marble cake with Peanut Butter Cup Mousse for the grooms cake. For the wedding cake, we went with almond cake and amaretto mousse for the top layer and then lemon cake with raspberry mousse for the bottom (thanks Danielle for the recommendation!). We loved that combo! Again, I can't wait for this!

After our PS, it was time to head to Epcot for the tasting....

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

-Hey! I have a binder that looks JUST like that! Except it says “Jackie and Jennifer’s wedding.”
-I looove the GF Café. I’ve never been there for breakfast though.
-Woah! Steak for breakfast! I always forget people do that. (I’m a banana and yogurt kind of gal.)
-Mmmmm press pot coffee.
-OMG YOU’RE HAVING THE ORANGE SLUSHIES GAHHHHHHHH
-Yes!!! Keep the Major Domo. He does stay to do the announcements. Just do it. I know you want to.
-Those chargers are soooo pretty and sparkly.
-The almond cake! I loved it. Chris didn’t. But mmmmm. I can’t wait for more!!!

 

[bearsgirl]

Bethie,
Hope you are feeling better after your ER visit. That is scary and I'm glad you're ok! Thanks for giving us more of th PS story....
The blingy chargers are stunning!!

 

[CourtenayB]

Hi Bethie! I am SO sorry about your little noggin; how scary to end up in the ER. But glad you are okay and the wall is too.

The planning session looks great, so much fun. I think major domo is a wonderful addition and you should certainly keep him. Also, LOVE the chargers, so beautiful. Let us know what the price ends up being. I haven't even talked about chargers with our florist Laura...so thanks for bringing it to my attention lol. MMmmmmm cake, may I just say YUM! We chose marble and PB for our middle layer! I can't wait. All the other combos sound yummy too. It's so stranger I noticed everyone having their cake tasting at the planning session floral/picking everything out part and we had ours right after our tasting...I was about to pop. Well, I am so happy for you and Paul and can't wait to read more.

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

Bethie!!!

I love everything so far...

GREY GOOSE SLUSHIES??? I had no idea that could even happen! LUCKY GIRL, they are my favorite of all time!!!

Love those chargers, I can't wait to hear more about your fun

 

[tinydancr06]

I've been reading along and wanted to say hi! Loving your TR so far. The cake pic is making me HUNGRY, thoug! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!