Lorana
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2001
- Messages
- 3,307
DAY 10: AUGUST 27, 2001
- Fairy Godmother remembers us, Sword Ceremony, Coronado Springs, Planet Hollywood
This morning was the first morning, I think, that we had slept beyond
6:30am, at least in as long as I could remember. What a luxury, to sleep
until 8:00am! Or so it felt. Of course, if we had gone to bed sooner than
1:00am, perhaps it would have felt truly luxurious! As it was, 8:00am was
still far too early for us poor tired newlyweds. But it was Bryan and
Sharon's last morning, and we wanted to spend it with them. We would have
time enough to sleep when we were alone in Disney.
Bryan knocked on the door while I was still in the shower, but it turned out
Sharon wasn't ready either; Bryan was just making sure we were up. We
finished getting ready, and then walked over to their room, and then all
four of us headed downstairs to Roaring Forks for breakfast. We helped
ourselves to as much as we wanted, and then settled down for a good,
comfortable breakfast. It was nice not to have anywhere to be.
Bryan and Sharon asked me how much a single day's admission to the Magic
Kingdom cost, and I told them it was around $50. It turns out there were
some things in the Magic Kingdom they had decided, last minute, to get their
kids. Bryan still had one day left on his Wedding Park Hopper pass, having
not gone into the park on Thursday, but Sharon did not. And even though
they had to meet their limo at 1:00pm, they still wished to go into the
park. So we quickly finished up breakfast, and headed upstairs again.
John asked them if they would take one of our suitcases home with them, and
they agreed. We took the largest suitcase, and filled it with all sorts of
wedding stuff from the ceremony and reception, for them to bring home with
them. They had finished packing very quickly, and came to take the luggage.
Sadly, we were still in the midst of packing and could not join them in
their trek to the Magic Kingdom.
After they left, we finished packing up all of our stuff, and tried to make
some order of the madness. I had some of our wedding cake while we doing
so, realizing that it would not last till we went home. Disney had not only
sent us the top layer of cake, but also a section of the cake that had
strawberries, just for me. Yay! Sadly, I discovered when I opened the box
that it had been dropped by someone, and was now a mess of cake. That's
okay, the mess was still delicious, and the best cake I had EVER eaten. I
helped myself, and then we sadly threw the rest away (though we kept the top
layer).
We packed up all of our stuff, and then I packed my bouquet carefully into
the box sent to me by FreezeFrame. John called Luggage Services, and they
came to take our stuff. We were hopping over to Coronado Springs for our
last three nights in Disney World. Our unity candle arrangement was mostly
dead at this point, but there were a couple of blooms still alive, so I
pulled them out to carry with me. John requested that they place our cake
topper (the white chocolate replica of Cinderella's Castle) and the top
layer of our cake (they were packaged separately) into the freezer so they
would not melt or go bad. They took all of our stuff, and then we were
heading down to the front desk so I could mail my bouquet to FreezeFrame to
be preserved.
It was a quick, easy, and painless process to have it sent 2-Day Mail, and
the CM at Guest Services was very helpful in taking care of everything. We
then made our way down to the dock, to head on over to the Magic Kingdom.
If I haven't mentioned it before, I just have to say that the ferry rides
are one of our favorite things about staying at the Magic Kingdom. We love
the boat rides over the water to and from the resort every morning. No
other form of travel on Disney property can beat a boat ride!
We arrived in the Magic Kingdom as people were beginning to line up for the
Magical Moments Parade. I asked John if we could stay and watch it, as I
had yet to see this parade. Since we still had some time, we went into the
ice cream shop and braved the long lines for some ice cream. Mmm mmm!
We then went back outside and managed to get some seats right on the curb,
and sat down to await the parade. We had great fun watching the parade and
all of the characters, and danced along with them a couple of times. When
the Cinderella float came by, we watched as it passed and saw the Fairy
Godmother at the back. Both John and I waved to her. We were still wearing
our Wedding Ears, as she turned towards our direction, we could see that she
recognized us, and she waved at us and blew us a kiss. Then she pointed to
herself, then to her head, and then to us, as if to say, "I remember you!"
That made us smile and laugh, and we stood up and waved back to her. That
one moment made our day for us.
After the parade was over, we fought our way through the crowds and through
the castle, to the Carousel in Fantasyland. This was the real reason we
were in the Magic Kingdom today. I wanted to see the Sword Ceremony.
A replica of King Arthur's Sword sits in a stone in front of the Carousel in
Fantasyland, looking just like the Sword in the Stone. An inscription on
the stone informs everyone that whomever pulls it shall be king of the Magic
Kingdom for the day. I have a picture from our engagement trip back in 1997
of John trying to pull this sword. I had heard there was a ceremony
involving it, but I had never seen it before.
We sat down next to the sword and waited. We watched one family stop by
when the saw the sword, and a little boy tried to pull it out. I told his
mom about the ceremony, and they decided to stick around. Finally, about
five minutes after it was suppose to begin, I spied Merlin coming towards
us. I jumped to my feet and excitedly pointed him out to John. Both of us
would classify ourselves as "King Arthur buffs." We love the legend of King
Arthur, and have read as many of the tales and myths - both modern and
ancient - concerning King Arthur and Camelot. And thus, naturally, Disney's
The Sword In The Stone is one of our favorite Disney movies. And seeing
Merlin made us very excited!
He congratulated us as he came up to the stone, and apologized for being
late. He was very absentminded as Merlin should be, and the show was very
funny. He made everyone back off the platform, except for John and I, and
instead had John hold the end of the "rope" (it was invisible, naturally) to
block off the little stage area. We got the best seats in the house!
He pulled out a dove and cast a spell on it to find the true king, and then
tossed it into the air. It flew off towards the castle, and disappeared
from sight. He scratched his head for a moment. "Oh, dear," he said.
"That just won't do." So he then pulled out a tuning stick, the kind you
see in movies being used to find water, and cast a spell on it. It then
dragged him towards one of the men standing in the audience. He then had
the man come to pull the sword out of the stone, but try as he might, he
could not budge it. After a big to-do, Merlin realized he had held the
stick wrong, and tried again. This time it pointed to a little boy, who
came and in a grand flourish, pulled the sword from the stone. He was then
crowned King of the Magic Kingdom, given a crown and a cape, and we all
cheered him and did a little parade. The man who had tried to pull the
sword out first was named his bodyguard. John and I clapped and laughed
along with everyone. It was a lot of fun!
After it was over, as we were right next to Merlin, we asked him if we could
take a picture of us with him, and he quickly obliged us. Yay!! Our day
was now complete.
Afterwards, we wandered around the Magic Kingdom for a little bit, going on
a few rides, before deciding that we were too hot and too tired, and we
wanted to go swimming. So we left and went to the buses, to go to Coronado
Springs to check in.
Again, we had great luck with the buses, and the bus was right there as if
waiting for us. We hopped aboard, and soon arrived at our last resort.
We had never been to Coronado Springs before, not even to look at it, so it
was a very new experience for us, and we were giddy as children when we
arrived. We walked into the lobby and spent some time staring at the
fountain and at the fresco on the ceiling above us. We then got into line
to check in. One of the things we noticed here at CS - everyone was
smiling. Certainly Disney cheer still existed at all the other resorts and
parks we had been at so far, but it seemed as if the heat and everything had
begun to wear on everyone. But not here. There was a real festive
atmosphere to the place, and the CMs still had a bounce in their step and a
genuine smile on their face. You really felt they meant it when they did
something for you, and all the CMs here went out of their way to make our
stay magical. It was John who pointed this out to me, when I couldn't place
my finger on what was so different - they still had the genuine Disney
smile. For that reason, Coronado Springs ranked as one of our favorites
during our stay.
And Coronado Springs was the only resort to truly display Disney magic in
all its finery, and really made us feel truly special as newlyweds.
It began with checking in. When I gave the CM my name and reservation info,
she pulled up our info on her computer and then smiled a happy smile at me.
"I like the ears," she said to us. "Newlyweds?" We said yes, and she took
a moment to look at our info again, and then smiled once more. "In
celebration of your honeymoon, we're giving you a special upgrade to a
Junior Suite. How's that sound?" John and I were floored, and exclaimed
our happiness at this. She called Guest Services to get our luggage and
then finished checking us in, handing us a sealed letter when she was done.
"This is for you as well," she said, "with our compliments." We thanked her
wholeheartedly, and then went to the Luggage Services window to meet our
bellhop.
He came over in a cart with all of our baggage, and then we left. He drove
us right up to our room, in the Casitas section, and helped us in. We were
astounded when he opened the door to our room. The Junior Suite was two
large rooms. The bedroom was master-sized, with a king-sized bed dominating
the center of the room. A table with chairs and a fax machine sat by the
window, a large bureau sat in the center of the wall, containing a large tv
and vcr, as well as shelves for clothes. Night tables sat on either side of
the bed, and there was a large comfy chair on the other side of the bureau.
A large walk-in closet, with ironing board & iron, a large vanity area, with
coffee machine, and separate bathroom and shower areas completed the first
room. The bedroom opened to the second room, which also had a walk-in
closet, vanity area, and bathroom and showers as well. A large desk with
chairs and fax machine sat by the large bay windows, and a small living-room
setup - a loveseat, large comfy chair, foot stool, lamp, and little table,
took up the center of the room, facing the bureau that held another large tv
and vcr. Against the opposite wall was what looked like a second bureau,
but was actually a pull-down queen bed. This place was huge!! We were so
astounded by it, and so glad we had decided to stay here. The bellhop was
smiling at our happiness.
Shortly after he left, our phone rang. It was AJ, asking us about dinner
plans. John and I immediately started babbling about the room, and told
them they HAD to see it. It was amazing! They had just gotten back from
the parks and wanted to shower, so we made plans to meet around 6pm here at
Coronado Springs and go to Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney for dinner.
I took a moment to open the letter we had been given at check-in, and then
proudly showed it to John. It was a letter congratulating us on our
marriage and entitling us to a free champagne toast at the resort lounge at
any point during our stay. Yay!!
We had a yellow Newlyweds "street sign" that was meant to be hung in a car.
We took it out and stuck it into the window of our room, to tell the world
we had just gotten married. It was a cute addition to our room - and made
it easy to identify which one was ours.
John and I decided to take that time to get our resort mugs - we were
thirsty - and to walk around the resort to check it out. We headed first to
the little market store next to the Pepper Market to purchase the mugs, and
then headed into the Market to get our drinks before going back outside.
The sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon at this point, and
splashed brilliant reds on the lake that was the central focus of the
resort. We spent a few moments just standing there watching the sunset,
enjoying the beauty of it. I took a few pictures, and then we continued on.
The section of the resort we were staying at was called the Casitas, and
they were the "city" area of the resort. Very refined in a Southern/Mexican
flavor, and very reminiscent of the desert buildings pictured in old
paintings. We began our walk by heading towards the giant Mayan Pyramid
pool that we could see directly across from us, walking over the bridge to
get to that section. The buildings on the other side of the bridge were the
"Pueblos", and we liked the theming here. We slowly strolled along, finally
reaching the pool. By this point we had finished our sodas, and noted that
the pool bar was still open and dashed over to see if we could get refills.
They were actually just closing down when we arrived, but they stopped when
we showed up. One of the CMs asked if we were newlyweds and John, jokingly,
asked him why everyone keeps asking us that. The CM laughed, and said that
maybe it had to do with our hats. He wished us well and then said that we
should take his advice and remain faithful. Turns out he had been married,
and divorced, three times and was not exactly the most...committed... person
in the world. But we had fun talking to him, and in the end, he gave us
free margueritas in celebration of us being newly married. John got a Lime
Marguerita, but I got one called a "Fiesta" which was a blend of three
different kinds. We were then off to continue our walk of the resort.
We walked around the pyramid, admiring it. We really liked it a lot. There
was a playground off to the side and to the back, and so naturally we had to
go on the slides and play on the swings.
We then continued around the lake and came into the "Ranchos." We
especially loved the theming here, meant to look like the rustic dwellings
of the desert, complete with cacti and dry river beds. It was really
amazing.
Finally we completed our walk around the lake, arriving back just as AJ and
Mike were coming into the area to look for our resort room. We said hello,
and then dragged them to our room to show it off. They laughed at the
Newlyweds sign, and then were in as much awe as we regarding the room.
We rinsed out our mugs and got ready, and then all four of us headed to
Downtown Disney for dinner.
I had earned a $25 gift certificate to Planet Hollywood through Click
Rewards (an online rewards program), which I had brought with me. It came
with a VIP pass to Planet Hollywood which allowed us priority seating, and
put us in front of all the regular people who were waiting for seats. We
checked in at Planet Hollywood, and were seated within ten minutes, despite
the restaurant being fairly crowded.
We were seated in the main dining area, which was the only bummer. We
wanted to sit in the Sci Fi section. But we were all so hungry that, in
truth, we really didn't mind. Our waitress was very nice, and quickly took
our orders. While we were seated, a CM came by with a camera to take our
picture. She chatted with us for some time, and John happened to mention
that AJ had sung for us at our wedding. When she discovered that AJ was a
talented singer, she gave her all sorts of advice on how to launch a singing
career. Apparently two of her children were into music, and had just signed
record deals.
After a while, our meals arrived, and we dove in with a vengeance. The food
was good, and we enjoyed the meal thoroughly. We took our time, and just
enjoyed being there, with no need to be anywhere else afterwards. When we
finally finished our meals, we decided to walk around and look at all of the
memorabilia on the walls. We went up to the Sci Fi section, and were
especially pleased to see stuff from the movie, Legend, hanging on the wall.
Yay!
When we were done, we headed outside, and stood around trying to make up our
minds as to what we wanted to do. The original plan had been to go to
Pleasure Island, but we were all noticing how tired we were. It was about
11:00pm now, and finally we decided to call it a night. Ah, sleep!!
AJ and Mike brought us back to our resort, and we said our goodbyes. We
made plans to meet at the front of the Magic Kingdom at 7:00pm for the
E-Ride Night tomorrow.
Eventually, we went to sleep...
- Fairy Godmother remembers us, Sword Ceremony, Coronado Springs, Planet Hollywood
This morning was the first morning, I think, that we had slept beyond
6:30am, at least in as long as I could remember. What a luxury, to sleep
until 8:00am! Or so it felt. Of course, if we had gone to bed sooner than
1:00am, perhaps it would have felt truly luxurious! As it was, 8:00am was
still far too early for us poor tired newlyweds. But it was Bryan and
Sharon's last morning, and we wanted to spend it with them. We would have
time enough to sleep when we were alone in Disney.
Bryan knocked on the door while I was still in the shower, but it turned out
Sharon wasn't ready either; Bryan was just making sure we were up. We
finished getting ready, and then walked over to their room, and then all
four of us headed downstairs to Roaring Forks for breakfast. We helped
ourselves to as much as we wanted, and then settled down for a good,
comfortable breakfast. It was nice not to have anywhere to be.
Bryan and Sharon asked me how much a single day's admission to the Magic
Kingdom cost, and I told them it was around $50. It turns out there were
some things in the Magic Kingdom they had decided, last minute, to get their
kids. Bryan still had one day left on his Wedding Park Hopper pass, having
not gone into the park on Thursday, but Sharon did not. And even though
they had to meet their limo at 1:00pm, they still wished to go into the
park. So we quickly finished up breakfast, and headed upstairs again.
John asked them if they would take one of our suitcases home with them, and
they agreed. We took the largest suitcase, and filled it with all sorts of
wedding stuff from the ceremony and reception, for them to bring home with
them. They had finished packing very quickly, and came to take the luggage.
Sadly, we were still in the midst of packing and could not join them in
their trek to the Magic Kingdom.
After they left, we finished packing up all of our stuff, and tried to make
some order of the madness. I had some of our wedding cake while we doing
so, realizing that it would not last till we went home. Disney had not only
sent us the top layer of cake, but also a section of the cake that had
strawberries, just for me. Yay! Sadly, I discovered when I opened the box
that it had been dropped by someone, and was now a mess of cake. That's
okay, the mess was still delicious, and the best cake I had EVER eaten. I
helped myself, and then we sadly threw the rest away (though we kept the top
layer).
We packed up all of our stuff, and then I packed my bouquet carefully into
the box sent to me by FreezeFrame. John called Luggage Services, and they
came to take our stuff. We were hopping over to Coronado Springs for our
last three nights in Disney World. Our unity candle arrangement was mostly
dead at this point, but there were a couple of blooms still alive, so I
pulled them out to carry with me. John requested that they place our cake
topper (the white chocolate replica of Cinderella's Castle) and the top
layer of our cake (they were packaged separately) into the freezer so they
would not melt or go bad. They took all of our stuff, and then we were
heading down to the front desk so I could mail my bouquet to FreezeFrame to
be preserved.
It was a quick, easy, and painless process to have it sent 2-Day Mail, and
the CM at Guest Services was very helpful in taking care of everything. We
then made our way down to the dock, to head on over to the Magic Kingdom.
If I haven't mentioned it before, I just have to say that the ferry rides
are one of our favorite things about staying at the Magic Kingdom. We love
the boat rides over the water to and from the resort every morning. No
other form of travel on Disney property can beat a boat ride!
We arrived in the Magic Kingdom as people were beginning to line up for the
Magical Moments Parade. I asked John if we could stay and watch it, as I
had yet to see this parade. Since we still had some time, we went into the
ice cream shop and braved the long lines for some ice cream. Mmm mmm!
We then went back outside and managed to get some seats right on the curb,
and sat down to await the parade. We had great fun watching the parade and
all of the characters, and danced along with them a couple of times. When
the Cinderella float came by, we watched as it passed and saw the Fairy
Godmother at the back. Both John and I waved to her. We were still wearing
our Wedding Ears, as she turned towards our direction, we could see that she
recognized us, and she waved at us and blew us a kiss. Then she pointed to
herself, then to her head, and then to us, as if to say, "I remember you!"
That made us smile and laugh, and we stood up and waved back to her. That
one moment made our day for us.
After the parade was over, we fought our way through the crowds and through
the castle, to the Carousel in Fantasyland. This was the real reason we
were in the Magic Kingdom today. I wanted to see the Sword Ceremony.
A replica of King Arthur's Sword sits in a stone in front of the Carousel in
Fantasyland, looking just like the Sword in the Stone. An inscription on
the stone informs everyone that whomever pulls it shall be king of the Magic
Kingdom for the day. I have a picture from our engagement trip back in 1997
of John trying to pull this sword. I had heard there was a ceremony
involving it, but I had never seen it before.
We sat down next to the sword and waited. We watched one family stop by
when the saw the sword, and a little boy tried to pull it out. I told his
mom about the ceremony, and they decided to stick around. Finally, about
five minutes after it was suppose to begin, I spied Merlin coming towards
us. I jumped to my feet and excitedly pointed him out to John. Both of us
would classify ourselves as "King Arthur buffs." We love the legend of King
Arthur, and have read as many of the tales and myths - both modern and
ancient - concerning King Arthur and Camelot. And thus, naturally, Disney's
The Sword In The Stone is one of our favorite Disney movies. And seeing
Merlin made us very excited!
He congratulated us as he came up to the stone, and apologized for being
late. He was very absentminded as Merlin should be, and the show was very
funny. He made everyone back off the platform, except for John and I, and
instead had John hold the end of the "rope" (it was invisible, naturally) to
block off the little stage area. We got the best seats in the house!
He pulled out a dove and cast a spell on it to find the true king, and then
tossed it into the air. It flew off towards the castle, and disappeared
from sight. He scratched his head for a moment. "Oh, dear," he said.
"That just won't do." So he then pulled out a tuning stick, the kind you
see in movies being used to find water, and cast a spell on it. It then
dragged him towards one of the men standing in the audience. He then had
the man come to pull the sword out of the stone, but try as he might, he
could not budge it. After a big to-do, Merlin realized he had held the
stick wrong, and tried again. This time it pointed to a little boy, who
came and in a grand flourish, pulled the sword from the stone. He was then
crowned King of the Magic Kingdom, given a crown and a cape, and we all
cheered him and did a little parade. The man who had tried to pull the
sword out first was named his bodyguard. John and I clapped and laughed
along with everyone. It was a lot of fun!
After it was over, as we were right next to Merlin, we asked him if we could
take a picture of us with him, and he quickly obliged us. Yay!! Our day
was now complete.
Afterwards, we wandered around the Magic Kingdom for a little bit, going on
a few rides, before deciding that we were too hot and too tired, and we
wanted to go swimming. So we left and went to the buses, to go to Coronado
Springs to check in.
Again, we had great luck with the buses, and the bus was right there as if
waiting for us. We hopped aboard, and soon arrived at our last resort.
We had never been to Coronado Springs before, not even to look at it, so it
was a very new experience for us, and we were giddy as children when we
arrived. We walked into the lobby and spent some time staring at the
fountain and at the fresco on the ceiling above us. We then got into line
to check in. One of the things we noticed here at CS - everyone was
smiling. Certainly Disney cheer still existed at all the other resorts and
parks we had been at so far, but it seemed as if the heat and everything had
begun to wear on everyone. But not here. There was a real festive
atmosphere to the place, and the CMs still had a bounce in their step and a
genuine smile on their face. You really felt they meant it when they did
something for you, and all the CMs here went out of their way to make our
stay magical. It was John who pointed this out to me, when I couldn't place
my finger on what was so different - they still had the genuine Disney
smile. For that reason, Coronado Springs ranked as one of our favorites
during our stay.
And Coronado Springs was the only resort to truly display Disney magic in
all its finery, and really made us feel truly special as newlyweds.
It began with checking in. When I gave the CM my name and reservation info,
she pulled up our info on her computer and then smiled a happy smile at me.
"I like the ears," she said to us. "Newlyweds?" We said yes, and she took
a moment to look at our info again, and then smiled once more. "In
celebration of your honeymoon, we're giving you a special upgrade to a
Junior Suite. How's that sound?" John and I were floored, and exclaimed
our happiness at this. She called Guest Services to get our luggage and
then finished checking us in, handing us a sealed letter when she was done.
"This is for you as well," she said, "with our compliments." We thanked her
wholeheartedly, and then went to the Luggage Services window to meet our
bellhop.
He came over in a cart with all of our baggage, and then we left. He drove
us right up to our room, in the Casitas section, and helped us in. We were
astounded when he opened the door to our room. The Junior Suite was two
large rooms. The bedroom was master-sized, with a king-sized bed dominating
the center of the room. A table with chairs and a fax machine sat by the
window, a large bureau sat in the center of the wall, containing a large tv
and vcr, as well as shelves for clothes. Night tables sat on either side of
the bed, and there was a large comfy chair on the other side of the bureau.
A large walk-in closet, with ironing board & iron, a large vanity area, with
coffee machine, and separate bathroom and shower areas completed the first
room. The bedroom opened to the second room, which also had a walk-in
closet, vanity area, and bathroom and showers as well. A large desk with
chairs and fax machine sat by the large bay windows, and a small living-room
setup - a loveseat, large comfy chair, foot stool, lamp, and little table,
took up the center of the room, facing the bureau that held another large tv
and vcr. Against the opposite wall was what looked like a second bureau,
but was actually a pull-down queen bed. This place was huge!! We were so
astounded by it, and so glad we had decided to stay here. The bellhop was
smiling at our happiness.
Shortly after he left, our phone rang. It was AJ, asking us about dinner
plans. John and I immediately started babbling about the room, and told
them they HAD to see it. It was amazing! They had just gotten back from
the parks and wanted to shower, so we made plans to meet around 6pm here at
Coronado Springs and go to Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney for dinner.
I took a moment to open the letter we had been given at check-in, and then
proudly showed it to John. It was a letter congratulating us on our
marriage and entitling us to a free champagne toast at the resort lounge at
any point during our stay. Yay!!
We had a yellow Newlyweds "street sign" that was meant to be hung in a car.
We took it out and stuck it into the window of our room, to tell the world
we had just gotten married. It was a cute addition to our room - and made
it easy to identify which one was ours.
John and I decided to take that time to get our resort mugs - we were
thirsty - and to walk around the resort to check it out. We headed first to
the little market store next to the Pepper Market to purchase the mugs, and
then headed into the Market to get our drinks before going back outside.
The sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon at this point, and
splashed brilliant reds on the lake that was the central focus of the
resort. We spent a few moments just standing there watching the sunset,
enjoying the beauty of it. I took a few pictures, and then we continued on.
The section of the resort we were staying at was called the Casitas, and
they were the "city" area of the resort. Very refined in a Southern/Mexican
flavor, and very reminiscent of the desert buildings pictured in old
paintings. We began our walk by heading towards the giant Mayan Pyramid
pool that we could see directly across from us, walking over the bridge to
get to that section. The buildings on the other side of the bridge were the
"Pueblos", and we liked the theming here. We slowly strolled along, finally
reaching the pool. By this point we had finished our sodas, and noted that
the pool bar was still open and dashed over to see if we could get refills.
They were actually just closing down when we arrived, but they stopped when
we showed up. One of the CMs asked if we were newlyweds and John, jokingly,
asked him why everyone keeps asking us that. The CM laughed, and said that
maybe it had to do with our hats. He wished us well and then said that we
should take his advice and remain faithful. Turns out he had been married,
and divorced, three times and was not exactly the most...committed... person
in the world. But we had fun talking to him, and in the end, he gave us
free margueritas in celebration of us being newly married. John got a Lime
Marguerita, but I got one called a "Fiesta" which was a blend of three
different kinds. We were then off to continue our walk of the resort.
We walked around the pyramid, admiring it. We really liked it a lot. There
was a playground off to the side and to the back, and so naturally we had to
go on the slides and play on the swings.
We then continued around the lake and came into the "Ranchos." We
especially loved the theming here, meant to look like the rustic dwellings
of the desert, complete with cacti and dry river beds. It was really
amazing.
Finally we completed our walk around the lake, arriving back just as AJ and
Mike were coming into the area to look for our resort room. We said hello,
and then dragged them to our room to show it off. They laughed at the
Newlyweds sign, and then were in as much awe as we regarding the room.
We rinsed out our mugs and got ready, and then all four of us headed to
Downtown Disney for dinner.
I had earned a $25 gift certificate to Planet Hollywood through Click
Rewards (an online rewards program), which I had brought with me. It came
with a VIP pass to Planet Hollywood which allowed us priority seating, and
put us in front of all the regular people who were waiting for seats. We
checked in at Planet Hollywood, and were seated within ten minutes, despite
the restaurant being fairly crowded.
We were seated in the main dining area, which was the only bummer. We
wanted to sit in the Sci Fi section. But we were all so hungry that, in
truth, we really didn't mind. Our waitress was very nice, and quickly took
our orders. While we were seated, a CM came by with a camera to take our
picture. She chatted with us for some time, and John happened to mention
that AJ had sung for us at our wedding. When she discovered that AJ was a
talented singer, she gave her all sorts of advice on how to launch a singing
career. Apparently two of her children were into music, and had just signed
record deals.
After a while, our meals arrived, and we dove in with a vengeance. The food
was good, and we enjoyed the meal thoroughly. We took our time, and just
enjoyed being there, with no need to be anywhere else afterwards. When we
finally finished our meals, we decided to walk around and look at all of the
memorabilia on the walls. We went up to the Sci Fi section, and were
especially pleased to see stuff from the movie, Legend, hanging on the wall.
Yay!
When we were done, we headed outside, and stood around trying to make up our
minds as to what we wanted to do. The original plan had been to go to
Pleasure Island, but we were all noticing how tired we were. It was about
11:00pm now, and finally we decided to call it a night. Ah, sleep!!
AJ and Mike brought us back to our resort, and we said our goodbyes. We
made plans to meet at the front of the Magic Kingdom at 7:00pm for the
E-Ride Night tomorrow.
Eventually, we went to sleep...
I can't bear to ever throw it away and it is too old to eat so I guess it will alway be there!
We only had about 37 people down for our Disney Wedding. Our invited guest list is about 180 for the celebration here in MA. We originally planned it for September, but due to the tragedies post-poned it to November 3. Then we had to move it again, to december 1, and then had to move it AGAIN to January 26. LOL. We were beginning to think it was never going to happen!! It's more of a party than a reception - a chance for us to share our wedding joy with all our friends and family who couldn't make it. Because it had been pushed off for so long, we almost thought it would be silly to have it, but all of our family insisted and so it's on!
