Disney, a wedding, & DVC. . . OH MY!

[littleaussie]

So we booked our wedding package with a company in Florida that specializes in weddings around the state. You pick your package type, where in Florida you want to get married, and they arrange some things for you and give you advice. We still had to get our marriage license ourselves though.

DH and I booked a basic package that included the officiant, photography and a sand ceremony plus a bouquet and DH's flower. Originally, we wanted to go to St. Pete's Beach. The company put us in touch with an officiant in the Clearwater area and we communicated with what was going to happen that day. He suggested we drive along the strip all the way to the tip of Tampa Bay and pick a beach we like and he would meet us there. His wife, conveniently was the photographer and I was reassured by her credentials, which included photographing some big sports teams in Florida, besides a million weddings.

In the document of advice I received from the company, I was given the name of a lady named Janet, who was a traveling hair/makeup artist. She had an opening for the 19th so I booked her to come to Oak Plantation and do mine and my daughters' hair/makeup.

What an interesting lady! She said she does a ton of Disney weddings! She had the most fascinating stories to tell about going to the Magic Kingdom at 6 a.m. for photos. She also did modeling hair/makeup.

Janet came at 11 a.m. She was worried about our upstairs condo so my niece17 said we could use their condo. I was worried about my parents. They had left that morning to go shopping and I was afraid they would come back before we were done. But we took over their condo anyway

First she did DD7's hair. DD7 really got into the spirit of playing dress up:

Then she did DD10's hair. DD10 was a little upset, as she doesn't like hair-dos or any makeup so we settled for a simple, single braid down the back:

And then it was my turn:

I started to get a little nervous with the time and my fear of my parents coming back. Janet asked if I was having second thoughts, due to my agitation! Happily, we all got dolled up and Janet packed up her 3 suitcases and left. WHEW!!! She did an excellent job, I would heartily recommend her to anyone considering a Florida wedding.

Now it was a matter of packing up the car and heading to Clearwater. I carefully put the dress in the trunk. It took me 3 hours to iron the thing! I thought, oh, 30 minutes tops and I am done ironing! Nope!!!!! Luckily I started early that morning and was done by the time Janet arrived.

It rained on the way to Clearwater Once we got on the strip, we traveled South and stopped at various public beaches. We almost made it to St. Pete's Beach, when we pulled into Treasure Island Beach. This was it. The beach we wanted. It was different from the others in the fact that the shore was covered in shells, instead of white sand.

We called George, our officiant and he said he would be there in an hour. Just enough time to get ready in the public facilities. But wait, they close at 5? It was 5:15!!! No worries, I'll just get changed in the car, with beach towels to cover the windows:

DH went around behind the buildings and changed:

The 4 kids were already changed. Here's niece17 with my DDs:

And we are set!!!

 

[Deemarch]

Nice!!

 

[littleaussie]

The ceremony was really nice. George and his wife Brenda showed up and we went out the beach and got started. He provided some steel drum music for the background and we exchanged our vows and then was the sand ceremony. I really liked this part. DH and I each had different colored sand to add to the vase. DDs added sand from the beach and also shells to the vase:

It was really nice having niece17 and friend17 with. They took all the amateur photos (our professional ones haven't arrived yet) and signed the license as our witnesses (you don't need witnesses in Florida, it is optional). DDs signed the frameable license the officiant gave us.

The shells on the beach:

Janet did our hair and my dress was chosen with the assumption that it would be windy on the beach. Not much wind. I was hoping I could get some photos of the chiffon trailing behind me. Oh well:

Brenda took a million photos. Here's the funny one:

Kids got bored, waiting around, so they went into the water:

We went into the water too:

The sky had cleared for a bit and we got some nice pics. Including the seaweed!!!

George and Brenda suggested we go to the Pub for supper. So we did. And called everyone and told them we got married as we were waiting for our supper. I made DH tell my parents It was a long 2 hour drive back. It rained again, heavy. DDs fell asleep. All in all, it was a perfect day and we managed to miss the rain. One we will remember forever. So meaningful to us.

 

[VowRenewal13]

Beautiful pictures. Love your gown!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Love the photo with all the sunglasses. Looked like a lovely day. Congratulations!

 

[littleaussie]

Thanks again for your kind words, our professional photos came in the mail this weekend so we are excited!!!

The dawning of Thursday came forth with clouds and a 60% chance of rain (as was every day we were there!). Today was DHS day. The grandkids decided they would rather go to Legoland so my parents took the kids and we took niece17 & friend17.

We arrived at DHS and awaited the gate opening. I tried to get my new DH to buy the bridal Mickey ears set but he was against the idea.

I herded my family over to TSMM and the wait time was 10 minutes when we pushed our way through (just kidding!). Love this ride, it is one of my favorites:

After this, we got fastpasses with a return time of 12:40-1:40.

Next we headed over to TOT. My niece chickened out but I held her in the death grip so she basically had to go. Friend17 looked a little green once we got off the ride but she said she was ok.

Rock N Roller Coaster was our next stop:

Everything seemed to be going wonderful. Not too crowded, short ride waits, excellent touring plan, no rain

Upon disembarking from our limo, friend17 got sick. . . twice. I felt so awful for her. We sat for a while outside in the humid weather and then slowly made our way to Indiana Jones. Viewed the show but friend17 was still sick.

We ended up putting her on a taxi to go back to the resort. You could see she wasn't feeling well and was probably embarrassed so it was probably for the best.

DH, niece and I continued on. At this point, I was so flustered, that I lost the touring plan momentum. I don't think we needed it anyway. So it was off to StarTours:

It had changed quite a bit from the last time I was there, but I thought the changes were good.

At this point, we walked past the DVC stand, while browsing the shops. I had chatted to the CM working DVC at this same place almost 2 years ago while kids were having a bathroom break. I ended up talking to them for about 1/2 hour back then. Almost took the tour but we had 5 kids with us so we didn't do it. This time, DH was with me and we chatted again. DH said we should go on the tour so we made an appointment for later.

We got some lunch at Backlot Express, not busy at all. We then used our FP for TSMM.

And then it was time for DVC. Niece17 decided to stay at the park and ride/shop. The CM walked us back to RNR and we took the CM exit there. That was probably the highlight of my day, seeing the off-limits part of the park. The van driver wisked us away to Saratoga Springs where we met with Cynthia.

I have done many time share sales in my life and Disney is very laid back. We toured the resort, toured some model rooms and discussed our options of Aulani, AKL or BLT. We did not make a decision that day but were not made to feel like we were trash for wasting people's valuable time . We got 12 VIP FP for our time and were bussed back to DHS.

Niece17 met up with us and told us she rode ST 15 times in a row while we were gone .

We decided to head to the Muppets, the show never gets old. I especially like the preshow. Sometimes I watch the preshow and don't stay for the theater presentation

Our final ride was The Great Movie Ride. I hadn't seen it for several years but it was a nice air-conditioned break. We did a little more shopping and then decided not to stay for Fantasmic, as we were worried about friend17.

Spent another evening in the hot tub and called it a night. Oh yes, I have to share one of my favorite photos from the wedding pictures we received:

Next up: Magic Kingdom and taking the plunge

 

[missx0xdelaney]

Aww, I feel so bad for your niece's poor friend! I hope she felt better. Thanks for sharing about your DVC tour. We've been thinking about buying in a few years and I'd like to take a tour to see what it's all about but I was worried it would be too 'time-sharey'. Glad to know that's not the case. And omg, that wedding picture, just darling!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Aww, I feel so bad for your niece's poor friend! I hope she felt better. Thanks for sharing about your DVC tour. We've been thinking about buying in a few years and I'd like to take a tour to see what it's all about but I was worried it would be too 'time-sharey'. Glad to know that's not the case. And omg, that wedding picture, just darling!

The tour is great! We took it two or three times before we actually bought. No pressure or anything like that. Really well done and informative.

 

[luckylady]

All caught up now. Everyone looked beautiful for the wedding. Sitting on the edge on weather you bought into DVC.

 

[angelbear425]

How horrible for your niece's friend to be sick at Disney. I had the same problem when I was there in August and it wasn't a fun experience. It was my second day there too so I was out of the count for a full 24 hours. Let me tell ya it's super hard to recuperate when all you want to do is go-go-go.

 

[littleaussie]

The tour is great! We took it two or three times before we actually bought. No pressure or anything like that. Really well done and informative.

Yes, the tour was fabulous! Other timeshare reps need to take some lesson from Disney. Disney doesn't really offer much of an incentive (like free park tickets and cash that other places do) for you to take their tour so they have a better standing with you. They KNOW you aren't there just because they have too-good-to-be-true freebies (well maybe the free Fastpasses and Ice cream).

 

[littleaussie]

As you may remember, today was supposed to be the day of MNNSHP only. But since we missed Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, we decided to spend the whole day at MK and stay for the party too. The forecast was a worry though, another 60% chance of rain showers all day and cloudy. We decided to wait to buy party tickets until later in the day, which turned out to be a good idea.

Disclaimer: I did not take ANY photos of this day!!!!! But I promise there are photos for Saturday.

We arrived at the park at 8:30 a.m., niece17 and friend17 tagged along with DH and I and my girls. DH realized his extra work phone was NOT CHARGING AT ALL! So it was a tense time with trying to forward the phone before the battery went dead and contacting employee to tell him to call my phone.

Saw the morning show and they announced the family who was opening the park but once the train arrived, there was no family . Maybe they got sick on their first MK ride too?

We did all the fun favorites for our group. Space Mountain, Buzz, all the Fantasyland rides, HM, BTMRR, Splash all in our morning adventure. The park seemed REALLY REALLY busy, as far as people wandering around. But waits were all 20 minutes or less. Space Mountain and Buzz were walk-ons, as they were our first ride.

While we were wandering Tomorrowland, we saw DVC again. We decided to make an appointment with Cynthia, who had told us she would be at BLT today. So we did.

After Splash, we ate lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, I have never eaten there. It was pretty good. Out of the tens of thousands of guests in the park with us, we ran into my dad and nephew10 at lunch! We did not plan it, but I am always amazed when I run into people I know at MK. The park is huge and we just happen to be at the same place at the same time, crazy. . .

After lunch, we had to go to our appointment and took my girls with us. Niece/friend decided to ditch us and my dad was interested in coming too but he didn't want to miss the 3 p.m. parade (we missed it )

The secret exit and van ride was not as fun this time, the parking lot looked like any other, hahaha. BLT was beautiful. Very contemporary, and not really my thing but it still was beautiful and so convenient to the MK. Cynthia showed us around, after we checked the girls into the kids club. We decided to sign our life away and purchased 100 points for AKL! The incentive was an extra 10 points and we were to receive a bunch of FPs but we asked for them to be saved for next time.

It was so exciting! Buying into DVC!!!! DH wasn't sure about locking down the next 400 years to Disney vacations but I quickly changed the subject. . .

Paperwork was complete so we got the girls and headed back. We used our original VIP fastpasses to return to extra rides but we really didn't need them. But they had to be used up so. . .

At this point, the park is almost gridlocked, especially Main Street USA. We did some shopping and then the wind picked up at 6 and it started to rain, with a huge black cloud coming closer. No MNSSHP for us! I felt sorry for some people, their faces were made up really well. I don't know what they did in the downpour.

Another hot tub night to wind down and lament our lighter pocketbooks from DVC but we were excited too.

Next up. . . Downtown Disney, AKL and. . . the murder.

Wait, I will include another wedding photo!!!!! We tried to get our ring finger handprints in the sand with the wedding bands but it didn't show up very well:

 

[littleaussie]

I am combining Days 6 & 7 for the next installment, as the events sort of spill over.

Day 5 - We woke up to 60% chance of showers and humidity. Today we decided to go to downtown Disney: DH, girls and I. I think the rest of the family went to Daytona Beach. None of us have been to Downtown so we hopped in the car and took off.

It was a lot of walking, well it seemed that way. I absolutely loved browsing all the stores. Everyone else just put up with it:

DD7 did like the woven hat I purchased:

.

We decided to try out Disney transportation and head over to AKL. The bus stop at DD was well-marked but not much shade for the heat and humidity.

The bus ride was uneventful and then we came to AKL. Again, none of us have ever been here so it was an adventure! AKL is huge!!! We got something to eat at The Mara, not bad. We then walked around to the different savannah viewing spots and checked out the pool and waterfalls:

Inside the Lodge, I forced a few more photos:

We were highly satisfied with our DVC choice so we hopped the bus back to Downtown Disney, got our car and went back to Oak Plantation.

Swimming is a big hit in our family so we took advantage of the Saturday night Dive In movie. At the pool, a big wedding party was having fun. We chatted with them as we made our way out for the night, everyone seemed nice and friendly. They offered us a beer but we declined, as the kids were tired.

We woke up the next morning to this:

Seems a man in the party decided to kill his wife sometime in the night, in the next building over from us. He then packed up their children and drove back to Tampa, where he turned himself in. You can google the story: Tampa man murder Oak Plantation.

I realize the resort has absolutely nothing to do with what happened. And my heart is heavy for everyone involved. But it just seemed to be another strike against where we stayed.

So Sunday became a day of lounging by the pool, feeding the ducks and our resident kitten and just trying to recover from our busy week and find out what the crime scene van/tape was for.

 

[VowRenewal13]

Wow, your vacation was definitely not boring!