"Babe, I Messed My Pants..." An Oct 2013 TR - FINAL UPDATE! Added 5/24

[courtneybelle]

Kylie did Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom one trip, but I was sick so I had to sit on a bench while she played. I'd love to try it sometime, though.

Mmmm, LeFou's Brew

RABBIT?! I am so jealous!

The mango margarita looks delicious!

 

[freckles04]

Such a lovely evening in Epcot. I'm going to have to try the San Angel Inn sometime. In every trip report I've seen with this restaurant, the atmosphere looks really cool, and the food looks great.

Is that school bread? I've heard so much about it... another must try for me...

The drinks look yummy too!

 

[Simba22]

Kylie did Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom one trip, but I was sick so I had to sit on a bench while she played. I'd love to try it sometime, though.

It was fun! Definitely worth a try!

Mmmm, LeFou's Brew

SO YUMMY!!!!!

RABBIT?! I am so jealous!

The wait was only like 30 minutes...not terrible.... And since I'd already waited 6 years, what's another 30 minutes?

The mango margarita looks delicious!

Heavenly!!!!!!!!! Their margarita's are THE BEST.

Such a lovely evening in Epcot. I'm going to have to try the San Angel Inn sometime. In every trip report I've seen with this restaurant, the atmosphere looks really cool, and the food looks great.

We love it! It can feel a bit crowded as the dining area is a bit small, and dark... and the tables tend to be a little close together. But the service is phenomenal and the food is very tasty!

Is that school bread? I've heard so much about it... another must try for me...

It is indeed!

The drinks look yummy too!

I would love one of those right now!

 

[KatMark]

Sorry I missed your update (family issues and a date with hubby).

They started hedging at 7 a.m.? I thought the rule was they didn't start anything until 8 a.m.

It looks like it was a beautiful day at the MK. And I love that Tigger asked Lumar to bounce with him (as you know, Tigger is my favorite, and I loved dancing with him last August).

Beautiful, beautiful pictures of Epcot at night. You got some real keepers that could be framed.

 

[RGirl]

Okay - somehow I keep falling behind.

You got some beautiful MK pictures. And how nice to have a sort of leisurely, do-what-you-want morning at the park. I love it!

3 hours at the Sorcerers game! It must have been fun, huh?

You met RABBIT!!!! Amazing!!!!

I love the view from your table at SAI. Gorgeous. I am drawn to this place because of the decor; I really need to just book a dang ADR someday! I’m so glad to hear that you loved the food!

Beautiful nighttime Epcot photos!

 

[Simba22]

Sorry I missed your update (family issues and a date with hubby).

Quite alright! Not going anywhere!


They started hedging at 7 a.m.? I thought the rule was they didn't start anything until 8 a.m.

SEVEN IN THE MORNING! Can you believe it!?

It looks like it was a beautiful day at the MK. And I love that Tigger asked Lumar to bounce with him (as you know, Tigger is my favorite, and I loved dancing with him last August).

It was a GREAT day! Hot, though! I love Tigger too! I was digging around in our basement yesterday and I found a big plastic bucket that is full of Tigger plushies.... I have reaffirmed why I'm not allowed to buy any more!

Beautiful, beautiful pictures of Epcot at night. You got some real keepers that could be framed.

Thank you so much!

Okay - somehow I keep falling behind.

It happens, no worries!

You got some beautiful MK pictures. And how nice to have a sort of leisurely, do-what-you-want morning at the park. I love it!

Thank you! It was a gorgeous day and it was really nice to just able to wander around and do whatever, after the stress of the Halloween Party the night before!

3 hours at the Sorcerers game! It must have been fun, huh?

We did ride a few things here and there but my note taking for this day was sub par. The game was fun though! You see a lot of things you never noticed before!

You met RABBIT!!!! Amazing!!!!

I know!! He is hardly ever out! That was why I made Lumar wait for 30 minutes! At least the queue was shaded and it went pretty fast! But I'm so excited I finally got to meet him!

I love the view from your table at SAI. Gorgeous. I am drawn to this place because of the decor; I really need to just book a dang ADR someday! I’m so glad to hear that you loved the food!

Still wish I could have one of those margaritas right now....

Beautiful nighttime Epcot photos!

Thank you so much! I think next time we go (which probably won't be for a long while), I may invest in a mini tripod. I have a full size one but a small table top one may be better for the nighttime shots...especially fireworks!

 

[Nermel9]

Ugh waking up to all that noise must have been so annoying! The same thing happened to us at the Beach Club once, and we switched rooms. I can't deal with noise when I'm trying to sleep. You have to go to the Grand Flo Cafe someday though, seriously, it's SO good!

OMG that view of the Tower of Terror though...

You have only been to Starbucks TWICE??? I don't think we can be friends anymore. I'm obsessed with Starbucks. The only reason I'm not there everyday is because it's so freakin expensive!

MK looked amazing that morning...so bright and sunny and uncrowded!

I want to go to San Angel Inn so bad, and I never go! I should seriously do a trip of all new ADR's someday, no repeats until we try every restaurant in WDW!

I miss Epcot. I can't.

 

[Simba22]

Ugh waking up to all that noise must have been so annoying! The same thing happened to us at the Beach Club once, and we switched rooms. I can't deal with noise when I'm trying to sleep. You have to go to the Grand Flo Cafe someday though, seriously, it's SO good!

I never even thought to ask about changing rooms!

OMG that view of the Tower of Terror though...

Yeah, it was pretty awesome! Especially in the morning when it was super foggy! So cool!

You have only been to Starbucks TWICE??? I don't think we can be friends anymore.

Is that why you didn't text me today!?

I'm obsessed with Starbucks. The only reason I'm not there everyday is because it's so freakin expensive!

I only ever had Dunkin Donuts around me so that's all I've ever known! I like Starbucks selection of food better, but I like Dunkin's coffee better...

MK looked amazing that morning...so bright and sunny and uncrowded!

It was hot but it was a gorgeous day!


I want to go to San Angel Inn so bad, and I never go! I should seriously do a trip of all new ADR's someday, no repeats until we try every restaurant in WDW!

That was kind of our plan for this trip! We had like, three places that were definite repeats and then almost everything else was new! It was GREAT!!!

I miss Epcot. I can't.

I know! And I'm torturing myself by looking at thousands of wedding pictures that used Epcot venues. But they only let you do 9am ceremonies and I want a late afternoon, so Italy is out.

 

[Simba22]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to apologize in the delay of updating! I was cleaning my house last week and fell...thankfully I'm OK but I was on pain meds for a few days and not really able to do much that required thinking or operating machinery

I'm interviewing for another position within my company tomorrow so hopefully that will go well! Then I promise I will update and maybe even post my current Disney Wedding plans!

 

[KatMark]

I'm sorry you fell, but glad it wasn't serious.

Sending for the job interview.

We will be here when you get back for an update.

Oh, and I saw you posted on my TR. Why are we not friends on FB? We must rectify that.

 

[smile4stamps]

Happy healing to you!!

I can't wait to hear more of your wedding plans!! Disney Weddings sound so fabulous!

 

[Simba22]

I'm sorry you fell, but glad it wasn't serious.

I'm, what some people might call, accident prone. I'm used to it by now.

Sending for the job interview.

Thanks, Kat! I'll get into how it went in my next post.

We will be here when you get back for an update.

Oh, and I saw you posted on my TR. Why are we not friends on FB? We must rectify that.

I have no idea! I sent you a friend request!

Happy healing to you!!

I can't wait to hear more of your wedding plans!! Disney Weddings sound so fabulous!

Thank you! Wedding plans coming up!

 

[Simba22]

So before we get into my next TR update, I wanted to share some of our tentative wedding plans!! Also included will be the inevitable family feud brought on the whole wedding planning process.

First of all, when we first announced (via text message from California Grill) that we were engaged, just about everyone responded with "you're doing a Disney wedding right?!"

So at least we're all on the same page, right?

So we started making our invite list and came up with about 100 people all together (including kids and 'plus ones'). Which sounds scary, but the general rule of thumb for destination weddings is that 30-50% of your invited guests will not go. And since I allowed for people to bring guests, I know I over estimated.

So I took a peak at the Disney Weddings website, and became instantly overwhelmed. Everything is a la carte and they won't let you actually talk to a consultant until you're 16 months out from your wedding date. So I just started asking questions on the Disney Weddings threads, bought the Disney Weddings Passporter and researched my behind off.

I mentioned something at dinner last weekend about how we'd finally decided on a date and we were starting to look at locations and my step-mom just about had a fit because I hadn't told her. I told her I was sorry, I hadn't really told anyone anything yet and I would get her some more info. So that night I decided to send an email to my two sets of parents (mom & step-dad, dad & step-mom. Lumar's parents are both deceased, sadly ) outlining some of the things I was looking into, and ending with some pricing info. I made it perfectly clear that Lumar and I would be willing to chip in to help with the cost.

I won't bore you with the details, but I got this absurdly long and insulting email from my step-mother (whom I usually get along with very well), going on and on and basically saying "do this my way or I'm going to be upset about it." But after reading her email and then getting the pleasure of hearing it all reiterated to me on the phone for 30 minutes, I was more than upset, not fully paying attention, and that's how I ended up falling and getting hurt.

Moral of the story: Don't let other people's opinions consume you. You'll only hurt yourself in the end (literally and/or figuratively).

So, our original plan was to do the ceremony at Seabreeze Point (at The Boardwalk), then have the reception in Harambe Village at AK. But after I really started researching it, the AK venue can hold like 2000 people and it costs a fluffillion dollars to rent.

Moving right along.....

The next option was to do everything at The Boardwalk. Ceremony at Seabreeze Point and the reception at Atlantic Dance Hall. This was the stuff I emailed to my Parental Units.

Then I found out that Atlantic Dance Hall can hold like 200 people or something, and it costs $2500 to rent. Then I looked up the price of rooms at The Boardwalk. We rented through DVC when we stayed there. I would never, ever, EVER, in a million years...pay over $500 a night for a hotel room. EVER. And neither would ANYONE in either of our families! The whole point of doing the whole at the Boardwalk was to save on transportation costs (you can rent vans or a Disney bus to move your guests from place to place), but if no one was staying at the Boardwalk then it was a moot point, right?

Next!

So then, of course, I found out that Disney changed their ENTIRE pricing structure for weddings effective October 2013. So everything I learned and everything I sent to the Parentals was wrong.

So I printed out my digital version of the Disney Weddings Passporter, and got rid of all the information that was either not relevant to us or no longer correct. I saved the stuff that I felt I could still use and started to go through it again. Disney has also, finally, updated their website a little bit. However, the site does not include all possible ceremony and reception venues, where the Passporter does. So I've really been using the Passporter more than the website!

So as I was browsing the list of locations, I finally came across one that felt 100% right (and I know Kathy will appreciate this....)











Lumar and I have stayed at Coronado Springs a couple of times and we LOVE it there. It's gorgeous, the CMs are amazingly friendly... and there are several pros to doing everything here:

1) Onsite spa services, which means me and my girls get our hair and make-up done right there. No travel needed.

2) It's a moderate. So anyone staying there within our room block will get the discounted rate (I think the regular rate is like $165 - $180).

3) They have both indoor and outdoor venues available.

4) If we really wanted to, we could skip the Disney Fairytale Weddings package and book DIRECTLY through The Rix Lounge, which is not owned by Disney and will host both your ceremony, and your reception, with a cocktail hour in between. It's a fraction of the cost of a Disney Fairytale Wedding package, but I know it doesn't include all the bells and whistles.

Another idea that I LOVE but not sure if it will be within the budget is an Illuminations Dessert Party. I was thinking about doing that, for the wedding party only, in lieu of a rehearsal dinner.

So there is a lot to think about still, and I know that one way or another, it's going to be a huge expenditure, and spending that kind of money is SCARY. But I know that it will be well worth it in the end!


So that's it for now... Update will come tomorrow!

 

[M303871]

Sounds familiar we got married in Epcot at the american adventure rotunda in 2007 and it was great we invited 115 people and ended up with 46 total there. We did not want to pay for two places as $ was an issue, so we did everything right there we were married down stairs in the rotunda with just our close familly and all our guests were upstairs seated around the railing so everyone had a great view, we had the cocktail hr upstairs, and dinner down stairs we used the rotunda part for our dance floor. It was awsome and would do it again in a heartbeat, also Disney had never had a wedding setup that way but they were more than willing to work with us, it was a lot of mouney but still less than what 75% of my friends spent around here.
You are 100% right you need to do what you want and what makes you guys happy.

M303871

 

[wiigirl]

Wedding sounds wonderful!

 

[Teetah]

I'm so sorry to hear the fam wedding drama has already started for you. Totally not cool! However, do not let others steal your joy! Easier said than done, I know, but it is possible and it does sound like you moved right along!

Ahhhhh....a Disney wedding! How amazing! It will be fantastic no matter what! I think it sounds like you have found a pretty darn smart option!

Enjoy planning! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[KatMark]

YES YES YES YES!!!! I love the idea of you and Lumar having your wedding at "our" beloved Coronado Springs. I think the color scheme is perfect and the landscaping is just so beautiful. I may have to sneak in a trip to Disney and stay at the CSR just so I can peek at the festivities.

I can't wait to hear more.

 

[Simba22]

This is totally but before I do replies, it occurred to me in the middle of the night that I posted the wedding thoughts and never told you what happened with my weird job interview....

She basically told me flat out that they are not offering me the position. They want someone they don't have to train. Today, they offered me another job instead but I'd have to take a pay cut of just over $4,000 a year.

Ummmm no.

So needless to say, I literally feel like I'm trapped in this job that I hate, and I'm super depressed about it. I search online job ads every day. Since October I've applied for over 20 jobs and only been called for interviews twice. Obviously, I wasn't offered either position. I feel myself getting to the breaking point and today I literally had to force myself to not get up and walk out.

So, there's that. I'm trying not to dwell on it...trying to remain positive and focused on continuing my search for something else. But it's really hard to look at the job listings for my area and everything offered is either part time or requires a teaching degree.


But anyway! I'm going to do some replies then figure out dinner and then I'll post an update later tonight!

Sounds familiar we got married in Epcot at the american adventure rotunda in 2007 and it was great we invited 115 people and ended up with 46 total there. We did not want to pay for two places as $ was an issue, so we did everything right there we were married down stairs in the rotunda with just our close familly and all our guests were upstairs seated around the railing so everyone had a great view, we had the cocktail hr upstairs, and dinner down stairs we used the rotunda part for our dance floor. It was awsome and would do it again in a heartbeat, also Disney had never had a wedding setup that way but they were more than willing to work with us, it was a lot of mouney but still less than what 75% of my friends spent around here.
You are 100% right you need to do what you want and what makes you guys happy.

M303871

I really wanted to do the whole thing at Epcot, as well! But I would want the Italy Pavilion and they make you do 9am a ceremony! We just don't want an early morning ceremony! There are just so many options, it makes choosing very difficult! I was also considering doing the reception at The Living Seas...that could be pretty cool!

Wedding sounds wonderful!

Thank you!! I hope it turns out wonderful, too!

I'm so sorry to hear the fam wedding drama has already started for you. Totally not cool! However, do not let others steal your joy! Easier said than done, I know, but it is possible and it does sound like you moved right along!

Ahhhhh....a Disney wedding! How amazing! It will be fantastic no matter what! I think it sounds like you have found a pretty darn smart option!

Enjoy planning! Can't wait to hear more!

It's so weird because my step-mom and I never fight. And she's just being so mean about this? She even told me that her own sister told her she being completely unreasonable! At this point, it's whatever to me! Contribute or don't. Go or don't. I don't care! The planning process is too overwhelming as it is...I can't tack on her petty little gripes on top of it all!

YES YES YES YES!!!! I love the idea of you and Lumar having your wedding at "our" beloved Coronado Springs. I think the color scheme is perfect and the landscaping is just so beautiful. I may have to sneak in a trip to Disney and stay at the CSR just so I can peek at the festivities.

I can't wait to hear more.

I knew you'd like that idea! I would totally love for you and Mark to crash our wedding!

 

[Simba22]

"Guys! I Took Pictures At Hollywood Studios!"​

So....remember way back when I started this TR, and I said there were a couple of days when I didn't take notes?



This was one of those days....


I have no idea what time we woke up, but I know that I made FP+ ressies that morning before we left.



Where were we headed on this glorious Saturday morning?



Hint: We walked there.
















I remember that it was not all that crowded when we got there, and since we already had FPs for ToT, TSM, and Star Tours, we went to get paper FPs for RnRC.

Fully stocked on FPs for the day, we stopped for breakfast at Rosie's All American!







We enjoyed our bacon, egg, & cheese sandwiches and I took some pictures as we made our way towards ToT to use our FPs.


Yes. ToT after eating breakfast. Because we're thug like that.























After ToT we used our RNRC FPs, but I only took one picture in that area and it's this one:






Then we went over to TSM, where once again I only took one picture.


But this one might as well be the best picture I've taken this entire trip.


Because it shows that I beat Lumar! FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!




We stopped to use our Star Tours FPs, then we decided we were going to head back to BWV for a nap before heading out again later on for our dinner ADR. But as we were making our way back towards the hat, we saw signs for this awesome meet & greet!








We said goodbye to Mike & Sully, and as we were walking towards the entrance I saw a PP spot that I wanted to stop at and I'm so glad we did! Turned out to be some of the best pics from our trip!


















That last one is my favorite!


So we headed out of DHS and made the journey back to BWV. It was hot. And in direct sunlight. And it seemed to be the longest walk ever.


We decided to use the Super Secret Entrance to the BWV, because it was literally right under our room, and we wouldn't have to make the seven minute walk from the lobby..... but we did have to go up 4 flights of stairs.... Not sure if it was any better....


But in about 3.6 seconds, I was sleeping in that amazing comfortable BWV bed!

BTW.....I know they always have those little books on the table in the rooms about buying the bedding and I didn't take any of the info but I would love to get my hands (or my head) on those BWV pillows!! Anyone have the info?? I bet I could just call the BW, right??



Up next: Yes, I am a big, huge, idiot!

 

[Nermel9]

A wedding at CSR seems perfect for you guys! I can't believe how expensive Disney weddings are, I wish I did one, but I wasn't really into my wedding back then so I just didn't bother. Have you looked into the Swan and Dolphin? I don't think you have to book through Disney to have a wedding there either, which means it's probably cheaper and they have some really nice places for a wedding.

Yay, DHS! I need to stay in the Boardwalk so I can walk there. I know I've stayed in the Beach Club, but I never walked, it just seems SO much father than the Boardwalk!

Your PP pictures are so cute! We never do PP pics there for some reason, and when we do, they are always awful!