(DF: Why are you listening to Copacabana?
Me: No reason...)
The next day began a good amount of time before bright and early. This was the morning of our site visit, where we would be visiting the locations for our wedding day. To make sure that we were good and fueled up for the adventure, we planned to meet my parents at Kona Cafe beforehand.
But, yes, of course, I had to attempt my towel animal bait as per usual before leaving the room.
He now hangs out in our living room along with Planty, Hoot, and another new friend that will be introduced in a few days.
(No, not the flamingo lawn ornament. Sigh.)
Our plan of transportation was to do bus to MK, then monorail (
no, not the Epcot monorail - that wouldnt start running until 8, remember?) to the Polynesian.
(Have you noticed in TRs when somebody outlines their planned transportation methods, they never work out that way? Yeah, me too.)
See, still not even bright out yet, even at the bus stop.
The first step, bus to MK, went as planned.
When we arrived at the MK, we headed in the direction of the monorail ramp, along with a few other groups of people. At the base of the ramp stood a CM, cheerfully but apologetically explaining that the monorail was down, and that they would be running busses to the monorail resorts back at bus stop #1.
We all turned around and headed back to the bus stops, where we waited for several minutes for a bus to arrive. This whole process would have been significantly less annoying had it not been pretty cold outside, in contrast to the beautiful weather of the day before. I mean, it was definitely not as cold as it was back up home, but all of the used-to-Floridian-weather CMs were bundled up in hats and scarves, and I had on a sweatshirt and jeans.
There was a fuzzy plant by us, which I thought was cute.
Eventually, our chariot arrived, and headed first to the Contemporary. The bus driver then announced that he would be stopping at the TTC before heading to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian. Wingnut suggested we get off at the TTC, and walk to the Polynesian from there. (
Yeah, I think he also just wanted to show off his now-awesome Polynesian navigation skills.) Even though it was still pretty chilly out, we were both just sick of being on busses at that point already, so we decided to go with that plan (interestingly enough, along with a few other groups that had originally said they were Poly-bound as well) and disembarked (gotta throw in that bus lingo somewhere) at the TTC.
Throughout this, I had been texting my mom to warn her of the roundabouting if they were planning to use the busses that morning as well. However, as I had suspected, my parents decided to forego the Disney transportation that morning and took a cab over to the Poly.
Who's navigating the Poly like pros now???
Despite the slight re-routing our morning took, we still beat my parents to the Poly by a few minutes, so we hung out and enjoyed the tropical atmosphere while we waited for them to arrive.
A few minutes later, they came over, and I noticed that my mom was carrying a large Disney shopping bag, which she said contained something for us, but it wasnt from them.
Intrigue.
After we placed our breakfast orders, they explained that when they had checked in to the Swan, they had told the front desk that they were here at Disney to plan our wedding. They then merrily went to Epcot, where you guys first met. When they returned back to their room that evening, they found that they had been left presents for us, courtesy of the lovely front desk staff at the Swan.
We opened the bag and found this inside:
A sweet card.
An awesomely fluffy pen, and two more Happily Ever After pins.
We all agreed that this was totally unexpected and a really nice gesture from the resort, and we then told my parents the story of our pins from the night before. Our server stopped by at that moment to drop off the drinks, as I was joking I wonder how many pins well end up with on this trip?.
"Oh! Did you guys want some celebration pins??" she asked, poised to get us even more flair.
We reassured her that no, 6 pins in a span of less than 12 hours was more than enough for us, but thanked her for offering!
DF, of course, got his favorite Lilikoi juice.
My parents split a press pot of the Kona coffee.
They said that it was very strong and bitter, and a bit disappointing.
I got just regular orange juice.
The view from our table:
No, no Tonga Toast this morning!
For our breakfasts, Wingnut got the Big Kahuna.
He thought that it was very good, and that the French toast and sausage were the best parts.
My parents both got the Samoan.
My mom loved it, but my dad said that it was "good, not great."
And I got the Pineapple Macadamia Nut Pancakes, after being torn between that and the Tonga Toast for longer than Id care to admit. (FINE. At least a few weeks leading up to our trip. I cant be the only person who does this, right?)
I thought that they were very good, and found them to be a bit more manageable to eat than the last time I had ordered them, when I could barely make a dent in the plate. They were still very hearty and filling, and I enjoyed them very much.
Full of Polynesian fare, we headed off to the now-working monorail to the Grand Floridian to officially embark on our at-Disney wedding planning!!!! (Out of images for this post, but imagine the little yay one here!)