NoOrdinaryPrincess
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Messages
- 1,467
Awesome update
Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust! Jenn & Kevin 10/12/14 Italy/ADH/France - The End (7/2016 New TR Link!)
- Thread starter elphie101
- Start date
sheri18
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2011
- Messages
- 775
I just found this thread yesterday....and read through all 29 pages....it was great...what time you put into all your details both the journal and the wedding planning...it came out great....
thank you for sharing....as mother of the groom here, I must applaud you for including your MIL in the planning....very thoughtful of you.....
thank you for sharing....as mother of the groom here, I must applaud you for including your MIL in the planning....very thoughtful of you.....
elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,053
Your welcomeI am sure you are so excited to get the rest of your video and pictures I would be biting at the chomp for those!
and your bouquet came out so amazing!!! How many brooches did you use total I am still working on collecting mine and I am not sure how many more to get? and the colors all worked so great together! and gel manis are the best! you are going to be addicted for life!!!
cant wait for more!
-Melissa
Thank you!! In total I think the bouquet ended up being something like 70 brooches, give or take. I knew I wanted it to be fairly large (some you see are much smaller) so if you're looking for around the size I had 70 would be a good shooting number.
Thank you!! It was so much running around but it was so great to be FINALLY getting things done.
Sounds like the first day went fairly well, overall. By the way, I love that shirt you're wearing in the picture - Mickey balloons!
It's one of my favorite shirts - everyone loves it!
Thank you so much! You're too kind
Hahaha yes they did! Funny the things that drive you crazy before the wedding really don't matter at all on the day of
I would without a doubt 100% encourage everyone to get video. For myself, I never thought of dropping it just because my memory can be awful sometimes and it's something I know I'll want to rewatch for years to come. Especially with how crazy the day was I'm so thankful we had video there to capture it too!
Thank you!!
I just found this thread yesterday....and read through all 29 pages....it was great...what time you put into all your details both the journal and the wedding planning...it came out great....
thank you for sharing....as mother of the groom here, I must applaud you for including your MIL in the planning....very thoughtful of you.....
You are too sweet!! I hope you're having as much fun with your son's wedding as I did with mine (and hope my MIL did as well!)
elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,053
Day 1 - Thursday October 9th
The alarm went off at the ripe hour of 3:30am, and Amanda and I bounded out of bed (our friends split a hotel room with the two of us), bouncing off the walls with "WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD" excitement. The boys.....not so much. After some cleaning up and packing up we met Kevin's parents in the hotel lobby and headed off to the airport.
We got to the airport in no time (of course - no one's on the road in the middle of nowhere at 4:00am) and after parking our cars we headed inside to check in. I crossed my fingers that the repacking and rearranging our biggest bag meant that we weren't overweight; at some point when we were packing the bag seemed to be something like 5 pounds overweight, but we realized our scale wasn't that reliable.
We got to the desk to check in. Southwest's baggage weight limit is 50 lbs - our bag was 60 lbs
I wanted to drop right through the floor in that moment, but Kevin's parents stepped in and insisted on paying the baggage fee for us. Once we left our checked baggage we headed through security (where they seemed puzzled by my brooch bouquet but had no problems with me carrying it on - I carried 2 sheets of large-bubble bubble wrap around for every time I had to put the bouquet down, like in the airport security bin) and set off to find some breakfast. The Dunkin Donuts line (only one in the airport!) was at least 15 minutes or so long, but we were incredibly early for our flight so it didn't matter at all.
And so we sat at the gate waiting for our chance to board the flight - and took some pictures.
I just love being at the airport going to Orlando - the gate is full of happy families and excitement! We also learned that the bouquet was a bit of an attention magnet from other families at the gate. At one point a Southwest employee walked by and told us that one of our carryons was too big (even though I double checked the measurements per Southwest's website) and that we'd have to gate check it. I set the bag down to take out things like our champagne flutes that were NOT going to be checked when she too spotted the brooch bouquet.
She said "What are you, a pageant girl?"
To which I replied "Um, no, this is my wedding bouquet." She gave a big huff and said that they could allow it "just this once" but wanted me to know that I was "taking the overhead space from someone else". We definitely weren't in Disney yet.
We boarded the plane and due to our boarding number had to sit towards the back to be able to sit together (Kevin's parents were lucky enough to get the exit row). Even though they had a much later number then us, our friends were able to sit with us as well, which made for a fun flight.
Our flight was fairly uneventful - I was able to keep my bouquet in my lap the whole time, even during take off and landing (I found the best way to hold it was between my knees, so as not to bother the brooches towards the bottom). As I had no other movies on my computer, I watched Frozen
, and then made some last minute changes to the ceremony to e-mail to my brother once we got off the plane.
And some of us napped as well-
We landed right on time. As we were waiting to deplane, the flight attendants started calling for 'Passenger Nancy, paging Passenger Nancy'. Given that they kept calling for Nancy she clearly hadn't shown up. When we finally stepped into the aisle and headed off the plane the flight attendant noticed the bouquet in my hand and asked if we were getting married. She then asked if I was Nancy, and when I said no she pulled a bottle of champagne out of the closet and said "Well, this must be for you anyway!" Huzzah free booze!
We all headed down to baggage claim and then split up from there - our friends went to stay with local family for the night, while Kevin caught the Magical Express in hopes that our room would be ready early. My FMIL (well, current MIL now, but FMIL at the time) and I waited for their checked bags before we went over and met Kevin's father at the rental car counter. In less than an hour from the time we touched ground in Orlando the three of us were in our rental car headed to Patricia LeJeune's salon for my hair cut!
We got to the salon right on time and it was almost entirely empty. We met one of Patricia's stylist Andrea, who would be doing my hair as well as coming to our room the morning of the wedding. Kevin's parents headed out for coffee and we got to work on the beast of my dead, gross hair.
Patricia's salon was so cute and so stylish! I loved it.
Patricia came in while Andrea was washing my hair - they had just done an Epcot wedding that morning (ironically with The Roots as well!) and Patricia herself was going back to Disney in half an hour for another wedding! They both said that this was one of the busiest weekends of the year for them, hands down. While I was in the chair I also got to meet Randy, Patricia's husband (who I can say for certain definitely comes off better in person then in his e-mails). It was so wonderful to see Patricia again and her being there finally made it sink in that the last appointment, the last scheduled thing (my hair cut) had been crossed off the list, and I could finally being to relax.
The before....
And the after! I love it so much. Andrea is amazing!
The future in-laws and I then set off towards Disney, stopping first at Wal-Mart to get our bins for the items needed to be given to Disney. Before long we were looking at this sweet sight:
WE'RE HERE!!!
I texted Kevin to see what he had been doing while we were gone. Once he got to Beach Club, our studio wasn't ready so he set off to find lunch at the Boardwalk Pizza Window. He came back to Beach Club when we got closer and ran into my parents, who had just checked in.
Kevin's parents dropped me and our bags off (they were at the Yacht Club for their first night) and I decided to get our bags from bell services to store them in my parents room so that we could change and not have to worry about tracking them down later. Their room had a great balcony and a STUNNING view, especially for a standard view!
After a bit of relaxing, there was only one thing on our minds. We were here, walking distance from Epcot, with APs waiting to be activated and one of us (me) ravenous. It was time to become annual passholders!
It felt amazing to be back in Epcot and knowing that we were FINALLY HERE. It definitely took awhile to sink in.
Hello Italy!! We'll be seeing you very soon!
As hungry as I was (it was 2:30 at this point!) and having come in by the International Gateway I only had one thing on my mind:
From the Canada booth: “Le Cellier” wild mushroom beef filet mignon with truffle butter sauce & Canadian cheddar cheese soup
Now I was pretty famished, so I inhaled this and I definitely loved it. The soup is out of this world!! We visited Le Cellier together back in 2012 a few weeks after it became a Signature restaurant and the experience was so disappointing that I don't want to return any time soon - but I'm glad I can still have this phenomenal soup at events like this. The filet was also cooked very nicely (for Food & Wine), as were the mushrooms - very similar to the filet I used to love (though RIP to the cream cheese mashed potatoes). I also liked the fact that this really did fill me up till dinner. However given that I paid $11.50 for these two morsels of food, I will probably skip the filet on our next go-around - the soup definitely wins.
As big fan's of Easywdw's food reviews, we also had to stop at the Canada beer & popcorn cart for some beverages:
Unibroune Trois Pistoles (for Kevin) and St-Ambroise Apricot Wheat (for me)
We LOVED these beers! Kevin declared his to be one of the best beers he'd ever had. I similarly adored my selection - it was crisp and light and full of flavor, perfect for the hot and humid afternoon and the definition of refreshing. After having a sip of mine Kevin said it was the best fruit beer he had ever had!
I would give the filet a solid 6.5/10 while the soup an 8/10, and a 9/10 for my beer. Kevin (who rates his beers on a beer social media site) gave his beer a 4 1/2 and mine a 4.
We took our beers on the road and strolled through Epcot, just enjoying being in the park. I took a few moments to really savor this time just with the two of us - I was suddenly very aware that we were all alone in a park and that we probably wouldn't get to enjoy Disney on our own until we got on the cruise. Just getting some time to soak in the magic of Epcot made the moment quite romantic.
We decided to head over to the Festival Center to check out some of the Food & Wine merchandise - there were several cute things I liked, but we didn't make any purchases yet.
I had to photograph the Dooney of course!
Continued in next post
The alarm went off at the ripe hour of 3:30am, and Amanda and I bounded out of bed (our friends split a hotel room with the two of us), bouncing off the walls with "WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD" excitement. The boys.....not so much. After some cleaning up and packing up we met Kevin's parents in the hotel lobby and headed off to the airport.
We got to the airport in no time (of course - no one's on the road in the middle of nowhere at 4:00am) and after parking our cars we headed inside to check in. I crossed my fingers that the repacking and rearranging our biggest bag meant that we weren't overweight; at some point when we were packing the bag seemed to be something like 5 pounds overweight, but we realized our scale wasn't that reliable.
We got to the desk to check in. Southwest's baggage weight limit is 50 lbs - our bag was 60 lbs
I wanted to drop right through the floor in that moment, but Kevin's parents stepped in and insisted on paying the baggage fee for us. Once we left our checked baggage we headed through security (where they seemed puzzled by my brooch bouquet but had no problems with me carrying it on - I carried 2 sheets of large-bubble bubble wrap around for every time I had to put the bouquet down, like in the airport security bin) and set off to find some breakfast. The Dunkin Donuts line (only one in the airport!) was at least 15 minutes or so long, but we were incredibly early for our flight so it didn't matter at all.
And so we sat at the gate waiting for our chance to board the flight - and took some pictures.
I just love being at the airport going to Orlando - the gate is full of happy families and excitement! We also learned that the bouquet was a bit of an attention magnet from other families at the gate. At one point a Southwest employee walked by and told us that one of our carryons was too big (even though I double checked the measurements per Southwest's website) and that we'd have to gate check it. I set the bag down to take out things like our champagne flutes that were NOT going to be checked when she too spotted the brooch bouquet.
She said "What are you, a pageant girl?"
To which I replied "Um, no, this is my wedding bouquet." She gave a big huff and said that they could allow it "just this once" but wanted me to know that I was "taking the overhead space from someone else". We definitely weren't in Disney yet.
We boarded the plane and due to our boarding number had to sit towards the back to be able to sit together (Kevin's parents were lucky enough to get the exit row). Even though they had a much later number then us, our friends were able to sit with us as well, which made for a fun flight.
Our flight was fairly uneventful - I was able to keep my bouquet in my lap the whole time, even during take off and landing (I found the best way to hold it was between my knees, so as not to bother the brooches towards the bottom). As I had no other movies on my computer, I watched Frozen
, and then made some last minute changes to the ceremony to e-mail to my brother once we got off the plane.
And some of us napped as well-
We landed right on time. As we were waiting to deplane, the flight attendants started calling for 'Passenger Nancy, paging Passenger Nancy'. Given that they kept calling for Nancy she clearly hadn't shown up. When we finally stepped into the aisle and headed off the plane the flight attendant noticed the bouquet in my hand and asked if we were getting married. She then asked if I was Nancy, and when I said no she pulled a bottle of champagne out of the closet and said "Well, this must be for you anyway!" Huzzah free booze!
We all headed down to baggage claim and then split up from there - our friends went to stay with local family for the night, while Kevin caught the Magical Express in hopes that our room would be ready early. My FMIL (well, current MIL now, but FMIL at the time) and I waited for their checked bags before we went over and met Kevin's father at the rental car counter. In less than an hour from the time we touched ground in Orlando the three of us were in our rental car headed to Patricia LeJeune's salon for my hair cut!
We got to the salon right on time and it was almost entirely empty. We met one of Patricia's stylist Andrea, who would be doing my hair as well as coming to our room the morning of the wedding. Kevin's parents headed out for coffee and we got to work on the beast of my dead, gross hair.
Patricia's salon was so cute and so stylish! I loved it.
Patricia came in while Andrea was washing my hair - they had just done an Epcot wedding that morning (ironically with The Roots as well!) and Patricia herself was going back to Disney in half an hour for another wedding! They both said that this was one of the busiest weekends of the year for them, hands down. While I was in the chair I also got to meet Randy, Patricia's husband (who I can say for certain definitely comes off better in person then in his e-mails). It was so wonderful to see Patricia again and her being there finally made it sink in that the last appointment, the last scheduled thing (my hair cut) had been crossed off the list, and I could finally being to relax.
The before....
And the after! I love it so much. Andrea is amazing!
The future in-laws and I then set off towards Disney, stopping first at Wal-Mart to get our bins for the items needed to be given to Disney. Before long we were looking at this sweet sight:
WE'RE HERE!!!
I texted Kevin to see what he had been doing while we were gone. Once he got to Beach Club, our studio wasn't ready so he set off to find lunch at the Boardwalk Pizza Window. He came back to Beach Club when we got closer and ran into my parents, who had just checked in.
Kevin's parents dropped me and our bags off (they were at the Yacht Club for their first night) and I decided to get our bags from bell services to store them in my parents room so that we could change and not have to worry about tracking them down later. Their room had a great balcony and a STUNNING view, especially for a standard view!
After a bit of relaxing, there was only one thing on our minds. We were here, walking distance from Epcot, with APs waiting to be activated and one of us (me) ravenous. It was time to become annual passholders!
It felt amazing to be back in Epcot and knowing that we were FINALLY HERE. It definitely took awhile to sink in.
Hello Italy!! We'll be seeing you very soon!
As hungry as I was (it was 2:30 at this point!) and having come in by the International Gateway I only had one thing on my mind:
From the Canada booth: “Le Cellier” wild mushroom beef filet mignon with truffle butter sauce & Canadian cheddar cheese soup
Now I was pretty famished, so I inhaled this and I definitely loved it. The soup is out of this world!! We visited Le Cellier together back in 2012 a few weeks after it became a Signature restaurant and the experience was so disappointing that I don't want to return any time soon - but I'm glad I can still have this phenomenal soup at events like this. The filet was also cooked very nicely (for Food & Wine), as were the mushrooms - very similar to the filet I used to love (though RIP to the cream cheese mashed potatoes). I also liked the fact that this really did fill me up till dinner. However given that I paid $11.50 for these two morsels of food, I will probably skip the filet on our next go-around - the soup definitely wins.
As big fan's of Easywdw's food reviews, we also had to stop at the Canada beer & popcorn cart for some beverages:
Unibroune Trois Pistoles (for Kevin) and St-Ambroise Apricot Wheat (for me)
We LOVED these beers! Kevin declared his to be one of the best beers he'd ever had. I similarly adored my selection - it was crisp and light and full of flavor, perfect for the hot and humid afternoon and the definition of refreshing. After having a sip of mine Kevin said it was the best fruit beer he had ever had!
I would give the filet a solid 6.5/10 while the soup an 8/10, and a 9/10 for my beer. Kevin (who rates his beers on a beer social media site) gave his beer a 4 1/2 and mine a 4.
We took our beers on the road and strolled through Epcot, just enjoying being in the park. I took a few moments to really savor this time just with the two of us - I was suddenly very aware that we were all alone in a park and that we probably wouldn't get to enjoy Disney on our own until we got on the cruise. Just getting some time to soak in the magic of Epcot made the moment quite romantic.
We decided to head over to the Festival Center to check out some of the Food & Wine merchandise - there were several cute things I liked, but we didn't make any purchases yet.
I had to photograph the Dooney of course!
Continued in next post
elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,053
We caught a ride on Mission Space, as it had a short wait, before checking out the Odyssey Pavilion-I mean the Craft Beer "booth".
Kevin got in line and ordered a Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale.
It was sad to see the size of the beer samples now, especially having just come from the Canada cart. As for this beer, Kevin was not impressed - he called it bland and unexciting and gave it a 3/5. We did receive the provided snack mix but Kevin tossed it in the trash before I could get a picture.
At this point it was nearly 4:00pm, and even though we hadn't gotten a room text yet we had to assume our room was almost ready (or due to be ready) so we headed back to the International Gateway. Well, we made a small detour first...
I had wanted to try the ice cream in France on our planning session trip, but it didn't seem to work out and hey, we were on vacation! (The bright side to having a fever and losing weight from it the week before a Disney trip is getting my buffer to have ice cream 3 days before the wedding!) I got the Cinnamon, Caramelized Apple & Crumble Crunch.
Holy freaking crap!! This was like an apple pie in an ice cream cone - but creamy, delicious, and just all around wonderful. We ducked into the bakery real quick so Kevin could use the restroom and found his parents in there enjoying the same exact flavor! All three of us give it an 8.5/10 hands down. Mmmmm, I could go for some of this right now.
Back at Beach Club we checked and our room was actually ready (of course). We grabbed our bags out of my parents room (we had my mother's Magic Band) and then headed over to the Yacht Club convention center to get the boxes Kevin's family had shipped down, so that we could pack our bins to be dropped off at Franck's the next morning. It was also good to get a feeling for the convention center, since we would have to be there for our rehearsal just 48 hours later (WHAAAAAAT).
We brought everything to our studio and finally at 5:00pm we were able to unpack.
After a few hours of triple checking all the wedding items had made it into their appropriate bins we set off back to Epcot in search of dinner. I think I'm officially hooked on being able to walk to Epcot. I've been bit by the deluxe bug!
We saw a dessert party (or some kind of corporate event) at France - so of course I HAD to take a picture!
In my quest to eat around the Food & Wine world, I got dinner at the Japan booth then headed to meet Kevin at his favorite Epcot QS, Liberty Inn.
Kevin's chicken nuggets & fries, and Japan's Teriyaki gyoza bun (split open for your viewing pleasure)
I also grabbed some wine from Block & Hans outside to try (aka the booth next to the funnel cake stand in America - I had to look up the name so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't know either
)
Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc
The wine tasted like wine. I'll usually seek out a mixed drink or beer before I'll order wine, but I've been looking to expand my palate and figured the Festival was as good a place as any to try that. I'd give this one a 4/10 and I wouldn't get it again - not because it was awful by any means, just that it wasn't my thing.
The teriyaki bun on the other hand was fantastic - the otherwise plain bun exploded with flavor once you tasted the meat inside and I gobbled it up. I really enjoyed the teriyaki flavor they chose to use and the nice mixture of more than just meat inside the bun. A good 7.5/10. As for Kevin's chicken & fries - they haven't changed a bit and that's why he loves them so. He gives them an 8/10.He had wanted to try a beer at the Food & Wine booth in America, but for the size of the beer samples and the brands they were offering at that size nothing caught Kevin's eye.
Most of my family had arrived at Beach Club by this point and had been texting us to come meet them for drinks, so we went back home (still feels like home!) and met everyone down at Hurricane Hanna's for a few drinks. We found another dessert party on the way out, this time between Morocco and France.
Once we got to Hurricane Hanna's most of my family was sitting around enjoying some drinks, and Kevin's parents arrived soon after. Seeing the majority of my aunts and uncles at the pool at the Beach Club was the most surreal thing - this was OUR place (mine and Kevin's that is) and now all the dreaming of sharing this with our loved ones was finally coming to life.
When we got to Hurricane Hanna's my uncle insisted on buying us a drink, so we had a few beers.
Kevin's Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, which he gave a 5/5. This almost never happens (he usually saves the perfect score for Guinness!) so this must have been one heck of a good beer.
My Yuengling, which I think tastes far better on draft (and in Florida) then it does out of a bottle back home. 5/10
Kevin then followed it up with another Florida beer, Florida Beer Company's Hurricane Reef Caribbean Style Pilsner, which he gave it a 3/5. Pretty basic stuff.
We socialized for about an hour before heading back to our room to bring our bins to Kevin's parents room - we had a 9:15 ADR at Crystal Palace with some of our friends the next morning, so they offered to drop them off at Franck's for us. I guess I wasn't meant to get a picture with the doors of Franck's! (I never got one on our PS trip due to the near monsoon on our PS day). Maybe next time...
The walk to the villas, to the Yacht Club, and then BACK to the villas was quite the trek. Kevin's parents had a phenomenal room at the Yacht Club - it was on the corner of the resort and so it had a window in addition to a balcony (which was very deep). There were a lot of trees in the way, but through them you could see a bit of Wishes! The decor of the room really impressed me more than I thought it would and definitely bumped Yacht Club up on my list of Disney hotels to stay at.
Yep. We were ready for bed. Somehow Kevin has endless patience for my pictures.
The hotel was so empty, it was so peaceful.
We finally made it back to our room at 10:00pm and got ready for bed. After an episode of Modern Family (did I mention Kevin dreams of being Phil Dunphy someday?) we finally turned in for the first of many sleeps at Disney.
Kevin got in line and ordered a Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale.
It was sad to see the size of the beer samples now, especially having just come from the Canada cart. As for this beer, Kevin was not impressed - he called it bland and unexciting and gave it a 3/5. We did receive the provided snack mix but Kevin tossed it in the trash before I could get a picture.
At this point it was nearly 4:00pm, and even though we hadn't gotten a room text yet we had to assume our room was almost ready (or due to be ready) so we headed back to the International Gateway. Well, we made a small detour first...
I had wanted to try the ice cream in France on our planning session trip, but it didn't seem to work out and hey, we were on vacation! (The bright side to having a fever and losing weight from it the week before a Disney trip is getting my buffer to have ice cream 3 days before the wedding!) I got the Cinnamon, Caramelized Apple & Crumble Crunch.
Holy freaking crap!! This was like an apple pie in an ice cream cone - but creamy, delicious, and just all around wonderful. We ducked into the bakery real quick so Kevin could use the restroom and found his parents in there enjoying the same exact flavor! All three of us give it an 8.5/10 hands down. Mmmmm, I could go for some of this right now.
Back at Beach Club we checked and our room was actually ready (of course). We grabbed our bags out of my parents room (we had my mother's Magic Band) and then headed over to the Yacht Club convention center to get the boxes Kevin's family had shipped down, so that we could pack our bins to be dropped off at Franck's the next morning. It was also good to get a feeling for the convention center, since we would have to be there for our rehearsal just 48 hours later (WHAAAAAAT).
We brought everything to our studio and finally at 5:00pm we were able to unpack.
After a few hours of triple checking all the wedding items had made it into their appropriate bins we set off back to Epcot in search of dinner. I think I'm officially hooked on being able to walk to Epcot. I've been bit by the deluxe bug!
We saw a dessert party (or some kind of corporate event) at France - so of course I HAD to take a picture!
In my quest to eat around the Food & Wine world, I got dinner at the Japan booth then headed to meet Kevin at his favorite Epcot QS, Liberty Inn.
Kevin's chicken nuggets & fries, and Japan's Teriyaki gyoza bun (split open for your viewing pleasure)
I also grabbed some wine from Block & Hans outside to try (aka the booth next to the funnel cake stand in America - I had to look up the name so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't know either
)
Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc
The wine tasted like wine. I'll usually seek out a mixed drink or beer before I'll order wine, but I've been looking to expand my palate and figured the Festival was as good a place as any to try that. I'd give this one a 4/10 and I wouldn't get it again - not because it was awful by any means, just that it wasn't my thing.
The teriyaki bun on the other hand was fantastic - the otherwise plain bun exploded with flavor once you tasted the meat inside and I gobbled it up. I really enjoyed the teriyaki flavor they chose to use and the nice mixture of more than just meat inside the bun. A good 7.5/10. As for Kevin's chicken & fries - they haven't changed a bit and that's why he loves them so. He gives them an 8/10.He had wanted to try a beer at the Food & Wine booth in America, but for the size of the beer samples and the brands they were offering at that size nothing caught Kevin's eye.
Most of my family had arrived at Beach Club by this point and had been texting us to come meet them for drinks, so we went back home (still feels like home!) and met everyone down at Hurricane Hanna's for a few drinks. We found another dessert party on the way out, this time between Morocco and France.
Once we got to Hurricane Hanna's most of my family was sitting around enjoying some drinks, and Kevin's parents arrived soon after. Seeing the majority of my aunts and uncles at the pool at the Beach Club was the most surreal thing - this was OUR place (mine and Kevin's that is) and now all the dreaming of sharing this with our loved ones was finally coming to life.
When we got to Hurricane Hanna's my uncle insisted on buying us a drink, so we had a few beers.
Kevin's Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, which he gave a 5/5. This almost never happens (he usually saves the perfect score for Guinness!) so this must have been one heck of a good beer.
My Yuengling, which I think tastes far better on draft (and in Florida) then it does out of a bottle back home. 5/10
Kevin then followed it up with another Florida beer, Florida Beer Company's Hurricane Reef Caribbean Style Pilsner, which he gave it a 3/5. Pretty basic stuff.
We socialized for about an hour before heading back to our room to bring our bins to Kevin's parents room - we had a 9:15 ADR at Crystal Palace with some of our friends the next morning, so they offered to drop them off at Franck's for us. I guess I wasn't meant to get a picture with the doors of Franck's! (I never got one on our PS trip due to the near monsoon on our PS day). Maybe next time...
The walk to the villas, to the Yacht Club, and then BACK to the villas was quite the trek. Kevin's parents had a phenomenal room at the Yacht Club - it was on the corner of the resort and so it had a window in addition to a balcony (which was very deep). There were a lot of trees in the way, but through them you could see a bit of Wishes! The decor of the room really impressed me more than I thought it would and definitely bumped Yacht Club up on my list of Disney hotels to stay at.
Yep. We were ready for bed. Somehow Kevin has endless patience for my pictures.
The hotel was so empty, it was so peaceful.
We finally made it back to our room at 10:00pm and got ready for bed. After an episode of Modern Family (did I mention Kevin dreams of being Phil Dunphy someday?) we finally turned in for the first of many sleeps at Disney.
Aschenputtel
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2013
- Messages
- 306
Amazing first day! And amazing first Disney food reviews! I knew I would love reading your TR (and the good news is: we're just crunching numbers and might actually be able to go to the world next year!!!! - so I'm already making a mental list based on your TR ;-)).
Disneyducks12
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 14, 2013
- Messages
- 756
I love how big you did your brooch bouquet I would definitely aim for that many but I doubt mine will look as amazing as yours your aunt did an amazing job!
and what an amazing first day driving through the gate is always the best part of the vacation "its like yes I have arrived" and having so many people there with you is so awesome and amazing and how fun you got to sit by friends on the flight that makes it way more fun!
Really enjoying your TR
Cant wait for more
Melissa
and what an amazing first day driving through the gate is always the best part of the vacation "its like yes I have arrived" and having so many people there with you is so awesome and amazing and how fun you got to sit by friends on the flight that makes it way more fun!
Really enjoying your TR
Cant wait for more
Melissa
LadyD
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 699
Ahhh congratulations on being married!!! It looks like the two of you had an absolutely gorgeous and wonderful day with all your friends and family. I'm loving reading your TR and all the pictures. Your bouquet is GORGEOUS! Your aunt really did a phenomenal job. What an absolutely stunning piece you can treasure forever.
eandesmom
I'm with Beast
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 14,172
I love that you took the time to do this! I'm not on many (any other?) wedding TR's so it's super fun to see a recap like this on the front end, versus the back.
I knew you were sick but oh, really blisters on you hands and feet????
LOVE the sneak peek!
What a travel day! Pageant girl. I think you deserved that bottle of bubbly just for that remark! I am glad the bouquet was hand carried and protected like that, it is just stunning!
Your hair looks great, they did a lovely job!
Love the food ratings. We thought the "craft beer" thing was a joke, didn't even order any there, super disappointing. Far better options out at the kiosks.
Ah, the Yacht Club. My all time love.
BUSY and full first day but amazingly, a lot of time for fun in between all the wedding prep and errands. Well done!
Seia
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2013
- Messages
- 504
Loving the TR so far! I can't believe they asked you if you were a pageant girl... At least you got free booze out of it. Haha. Your haircut turned out great. Your pictures are really making me want to stay at Yacht or Beach Club! I know what you mean about getting spoiled by the nicer resorts. We stayed moderate for the first time last trip, and I can't imagine going back to value just after that. I can only imagine what staying at BW will do when we're there in May!
At least you got free booze out of it. Haha. Your haircut turned out great. Your pictures are really making me want to stay at Yacht or Beach Club! I know what you mean about getting spoiled by the nicer resorts. We stayed moderate for the first time last trip, and I can't imagine going back to value just after that. I can only imagine what staying at BW will do when we're there in May!
elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,053
My parents had a spectacular view! We honestly like their room a little more than ours
Hooray!!!! Food did play a very big part in this trip, so be prepared for plenty more (which will be copy/pasted from my dining review that I'm doing as well - so this TR is the whole thing!)
I love how big you did your brooch bouquet I would definitely aim for that many but I doubt mine will look as amazing as yours your aunt did an amazing job!
and what an amazing first day driving through the gate is always the best part of the vacation "its like yes I have arrived" and having so many people there with you is so awesome and amazing and how fun you got to sit by friends on the flight that makes it way more fun!
Really enjoying your TR
Cant wait for more
Melissa
Just start early and work slowly and you can make your bouquet anything you want it to be!! I can't wait to see yours!
Love your TR so far! Can't wait for more. Also, I totally pinned the picture of your nails on my Pinterest... love the glitter!
Hahaha I'm glad you found something you liked here! I love these nails, honestly - especially because they're 4 weeks old now and I still have them! Hooray for clear bases.
Thank you!!! It really was an amazing way to start the trip. We just brought the bouquet home this weekend from my parent's house and I just want to stare at it forever!
Hahaha, welcome to the wedding boards! Yeah, the blisters were no fun at all. The feet ones were super sore, so I couldn't really walk pain-free, and the hand ones ITCHED like nothing I've ever felt before, so I couldn't really use my hands either! Baring the 3 times I went to the doctor every day I got new symptoms I essentially didn't leave bed for a solid 5 days
Now I can say thank god it happened when it did instead of even just a week later, but at the time it definitely was an unwelcome wrench in the scheme of things.I was SO surprised on how much I loved the Yacht Club rooms. Given how chaotic the Beach Club tended to seem I suspect I might prefer YC when it comes down to it. I want to try a MK resort as our next deluxe for sure but YC definitely rocketed up my list after this trip.
Yeah, the craft beers were.....meh. It was just SO disappointing to see the sizes they were offering, especially for Kevin's first F&W (where his main draw was being able to try lots of different beers).
Loving the TR so far! I can't believe they asked you if you were a pageant girl...
I'm pushing for Coronado hard on our next trip down, only because I've heard it's the closest thing to a deluxe on cheaper prices!! I told Kevin it's a good thing we've hit all the values already (well except AA) because it's going to be soooo hard to go back.
Disneyducks12
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 14, 2013
- Messages
- 756
That is true I have time to get it done and I will be looking for more brooches this weekend so hopefully I find more I have 21 only 49 more to go I will be posting some of my brooches soon on my PJ
Can't wait for more updates!
-Melissa
Can't wait for more updates!
-Melissa
disneybarbie
Disney Princess
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2006
- Messages
- 2,873
just caught up... Congratulations ! Hope married life is still going perfectly
Looking forward to reading along - we've booked one night at BCV after our cruise next year so it's great to see photos
We love Modern Family too (season 6 just started this week in England!) .. my DH often quotes Phil Dunphy
Emma
x
Looking forward to reading along - we've booked one night at BCV after our cruise next year so it's great to see photos
We love Modern Family too (season 6 just started this week in England!) .. my DH often quotes Phil Dunphy
Emma
x
TheBurchBunch
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2014
- Messages
- 10
Amazing! Everything is positively amazing! Your sneek peek had me in tears. You guys are so stinking cute together! I started following your PJ b/c of your location(Italy) and I have been absolutely enthralled ever since. Your brooch bouquet is stunning. I can only hope mine comes out even remotely resembling a bouquet. I can only hope that I am able to be as detailed and helpful when my time comes to stop lurking. Thank you so much for taking us on this journey with you!
Belle612
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 2, 2013
- Messages
- 82
Hi Jenn! I just wanted to let you know that I have been following along since the beginning and have really enjoyed reading all about your wedding planning! I got married last March, and then my husband and I had a Disneymoon this past summer where we spend 10 days in WDW and then did the Disney Fantasy Western Caribbean Cruise (it was amazing!!!) I can't wait to hear all about your trip and how you liked the cruise and what you chose to do.
Your whole wedding look and brooch bouquet were gorgeous, I wouldn't be surprised if it was trending on pinterest someday!
I am looking forward to hearing all about your magical day and trip!
-Suzanne
Your whole wedding look and brooch bouquet were gorgeous, I wouldn't be surprised if it was trending on pinterest someday!
I am looking forward to hearing all about your magical day and trip!
-Suzanne
elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,053
That is true I have time to get it done and I will be looking for more brooches this weekend so hopefully I find more I have 21 only 49 more to go I will be posting some of my brooches soon on my PJ
Can't wait for more updates!
-Melissa
How exciting!! I can't wait to see more of what it looks like
just caught up... Congratulations ! Hope married life is still going perfectly
Looking forward to reading along - we've booked one night at BCV after our cruise next year so it's great to see photos
We love Modern Family too (season 6 just started this week in England!) .. my DH often quotes Phil Dunphy
Emma
It is still going wonderfully
Beach Club was wonderful - you'll love it!!
Thank you so much!! You are so sweet
Am I thinking you're also hoping to be an Italy bride? It's never too early to start a PJ!! Thank you so much!! Isn't the Fantasy fantastic? I honestly have a hard time accepting the fact that we won't be back on a Disney ship any time soon. Ugh.
elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,053
Day 2 - Friday, October 10th
As tends to be our accidental first-morning-in-Disney tradition, we woke up super early, far before our alarm. We lounged about for a bit and I started to get ready - Kevin ran down to the business center at the Yacht Club as he was missing a USB cord (of course!). We left our room by 8:30am and headed down to wait for a bus to Magic Kingdom.
As we were planning to hop to Epcot for the afternoon, I picked a very special shirt for the day:
(Jesus I look tired!!)
While we were waiting on the bus Kevin got to talking to a family near us - it turns out they were on our flight down and recognized us as That Couple Who Came Off The Plane Shouting About Free Booze That's my DH and I! They were incredibly nice and wished us well for our wedding (in 48 hours!!!) The bus took about 10 minutes, and in just about 20 minutes we were pulling up to the sweetest of sights:
Home home home home home. It still doesn't quite feel real to me until I get to Magic Kingdom, my favorite place in the world, the sunshine that drives my life. Well that may be a little much, but working at Magic Kingdom really and truly made every part of me fall in love with the park.
We met up with our friends at Crystal Palace (two of our groomsmen, one of their wives and her cousin) and a few minutes later we were headed inside for some breakfast!
Crystal Palace is one of those places I know I visited during my Disney trips as a child but can't for the life of me remember, and since DH and I don't seek out character meals on our own I was excited to try out a place we otherwise wouldn't get around to for awhile.
I felt a little awkward trying to taking pictures of the full buffet, so all I have for you is pictures of my plate:
Starting from the top of the plate - Pooh's Puffed French Toast, corned beef hash, Mickey waffle (of course!), breakfast potatoes, potato casserole, breakfast pizza, eggs with I want to say some kind of spinach in them (what else would be green?) a sausage frittata, some watermelon & a strawberry and breakfast lasagna.
Yep, I go all out
The standouts on this plate were by far the breakfast pizza & potato casserole - I loved the crunchy peppers and even though I haven't had much in the way of breakfast pizzas before (I always avoided eggs until recently) I feel like it was definitely excellent! As for the potatoes - they were cheesy and gooey and tasty and WONDERFUL! Yum Yum Yum. And of course who can resist a Mickey waffle?
The other items on the plate were fine - nothing out of this world but nothing awful as well. I grabbed the puffed french toast and breakfast lasagna due to their online popularity but neither impressed me much. If anything I thought the breakfast lasagna was a little weird. That being said, I would totally try both on my next visit to CP (whenever that may be) just to be sure.
Plate #2 was more of the favorites and some extras: more breakfast pizza & cheesy potatoes, some Disney bacon, a cheese danish & apple & raisin quinoa (look! I can try to be healthy!)
I don't know why I persist in grabbing Disney bacon - maybe in the hopes that one day it'll magically taste like real bacon? The quinoa was a poor choice, it smelled amazing from the pot but did not taste delicious to me. I don't think I even touched the cheese danish; who has room for pastries when Mickey waffles & breakfast pizza are on the line?
(By the way, I have no picture of Kevin's plate, but I can tell you exactly what he got with confidence - Mickey waffles. Just Mickey waffles. You'll see when we get to the cruise that my DH is a creature of habit...)
And of course, it's not a character buffet without characters. I will say (from the perspective of someone who doesn't care about characters at all) that I appreciated that the characters looked at our table of 6 20-somethings and said hello, took a quick picture, and left. Much appreciated
If I had to pick a favorite Pooh character, it would be Tigger - I relate to his hyperactiveness - so we all enjoyed seeing this picture later to see that Tigger was actually looking to replace Kevin!
Based on the food I would give Crystal Palace a 7/10. I would very happily come here in the future for breakfast pizza, cheesy potatoes and Mickey waffles and be happy as a clam. The characters will keep me away for some time though, unless we travel with friends again like this, or whenever we visit with little ones of our own.
It's also worth mentioning that our friends were all on the dining plan, while we were using our Tables in Wonderland card, and they were able to split the bill up no problem!
We left CP at 10:00am on the dot and headed straight to my former stomping grounds.
(I just realized we walked RIGHT by the spot where Kevin proposed and we never revisited it!! Oops times 30.)
Our target was Buzz Lightyear (in the spirit of Jenn's Tour of TLand) but the ride already had a 25 minute wait - and based on the look of the line I knew from experience it was even longer. Somehow Space Mountain was also a 25 minute wait, so we ran over and hopped in line for our first ride of the trip!
Our groomsman Brian, modeling our celebration button - fun fact, most people throughout the day assumed he was the groom, even more then Kevin! We couldn't stop laughing all weekend.
Our friend's cousin, friend, and other groomsman respectively
We had hoped to hop in the Buzz line after Space but it was even longer at this point, so we headed into the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, hoping one of our guys would get picked for something. Sadly, it was not meant to be.
Throughout the day I had been texting with my aunt as well as some more of our friends who were all in magic Kingdom that day, hoping we could meet. It felt a little like I was being pulled in a couple different directions, but I just knew that being everywhere at once wouldn't be possible - the best I could do was try.
It just so happened that my aunt & family were in Tomorrowland when we got out of the show, so we were able to stop and say hi real quick - and get a bridesmaid picture!
It was about 11:45 at this point, and many of the lines around Tomorrowland were growing like crazy, so we hopped on old reliable, and my favorite, the Peoplemover.
After our trip on the highway in the sky, we decided we were done with the future - it was time to head to the Frontier!
As tends to be our accidental first-morning-in-Disney tradition, we woke up super early, far before our alarm. We lounged about for a bit and I started to get ready - Kevin ran down to the business center at the Yacht Club as he was missing a USB cord (of course!). We left our room by 8:30am and headed down to wait for a bus to Magic Kingdom.
As we were planning to hop to Epcot for the afternoon, I picked a very special shirt for the day:
(Jesus I look tired!!)
While we were waiting on the bus Kevin got to talking to a family near us - it turns out they were on our flight down and recognized us as That Couple Who Came Off The Plane Shouting About Free Booze
That's my DH and I! They were incredibly nice and wished us well for our wedding (in 48 hours!!!) The bus took about 10 minutes, and in just about 20 minutes we were pulling up to the sweetest of sights:
Home home home home home. It still doesn't quite feel real to me until I get to Magic Kingdom, my favorite place in the world, the sunshine that drives my life. Well that may be a little much, but working at Magic Kingdom really and truly made every part of me fall in love with the park.
We met up with our friends at Crystal Palace (two of our groomsmen, one of their wives and her cousin) and a few minutes later we were headed inside for some breakfast!
Crystal Palace is one of those places I know I visited during my Disney trips as a child but can't for the life of me remember, and since DH and I don't seek out character meals on our own I was excited to try out a place we otherwise wouldn't get around to for awhile.
I felt a little awkward trying to taking pictures of the full buffet, so all I have for you is pictures of my plate:
Starting from the top of the plate - Pooh's Puffed French Toast, corned beef hash, Mickey waffle (of course!), breakfast potatoes, potato casserole, breakfast pizza, eggs with I want to say some kind of spinach in them (what else would be green?) a sausage frittata, some watermelon & a strawberry and breakfast lasagna.
Yep, I go all out
The standouts on this plate were by far the breakfast pizza & potato casserole - I loved the crunchy peppers and even though I haven't had much in the way of breakfast pizzas before (I always avoided eggs until recently) I feel like it was definitely excellent! As for the potatoes - they were cheesy and gooey and tasty and WONDERFUL! Yum Yum Yum. And of course who can resist a Mickey waffle?
The other items on the plate were fine - nothing out of this world but nothing awful as well. I grabbed the puffed french toast and breakfast lasagna due to their online popularity but neither impressed me much. If anything I thought the breakfast lasagna was a little weird. That being said, I would totally try both on my next visit to CP (whenever that may be) just to be sure.
Plate #2 was more of the favorites and some extras: more breakfast pizza & cheesy potatoes, some Disney bacon, a cheese danish & apple & raisin quinoa (look! I can try to be healthy!)
I don't know why I persist in grabbing Disney bacon - maybe in the hopes that one day it'll magically taste like real bacon? The quinoa was a poor choice, it smelled amazing from the pot but did not taste delicious to me. I don't think I even touched the cheese danish; who has room for pastries when Mickey waffles & breakfast pizza are on the line?
(By the way, I have no picture of Kevin's plate, but I can tell you exactly what he got with confidence - Mickey waffles. Just Mickey waffles. You'll see when we get to the cruise that my DH is a creature of habit...)
And of course, it's not a character buffet without characters. I will say (from the perspective of someone who doesn't care about characters at all) that I appreciated that the characters looked at our table of 6 20-somethings and said hello, took a quick picture, and left. Much appreciated
If I had to pick a favorite Pooh character, it would be Tigger - I relate to his hyperactiveness
- so we all enjoyed seeing this picture later to see that Tigger was actually looking to replace Kevin!
Based on the food I would give Crystal Palace a 7/10. I would very happily come here in the future for breakfast pizza, cheesy potatoes and Mickey waffles and be happy as a clam. The characters will keep me away for some time though, unless we travel with friends again like this, or whenever we visit with little ones of our own.
It's also worth mentioning that our friends were all on the dining plan, while we were using our Tables in Wonderland card, and they were able to split the bill up no problem!
We left CP at 10:00am on the dot and headed straight to my former stomping grounds.
(I just realized we walked RIGHT by the spot where Kevin proposed and we never revisited it!! Oops times 30.)
Our target was Buzz Lightyear (in the spirit of Jenn's Tour of TLand) but the ride already had a 25 minute wait - and based on the look of the line I knew from experience it was even longer. Somehow Space Mountain was also a 25 minute wait, so we ran over and hopped in line for our first ride of the trip!
Our groomsman Brian, modeling our celebration button - fun fact, most people throughout the day assumed he was the groom, even more then Kevin! We couldn't stop laughing all weekend.
Our friend's cousin, friend, and other groomsman respectively
We had hoped to hop in the Buzz line after Space but it was even longer at this point, so we headed into the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, hoping one of our guys would get picked for something. Sadly, it was not meant to be.
Throughout the day I had been texting with my aunt as well as some more of our friends who were all in magic Kingdom that day, hoping we could meet. It felt a little like I was being pulled in a couple different directions, but I just knew that being everywhere at once wouldn't be possible - the best I could do was try.
It just so happened that my aunt & family were in Tomorrowland when we got out of the show, so we were able to stop and say hi real quick - and get a bridesmaid picture!
It was about 11:45 at this point, and many of the lines around Tomorrowland were growing like crazy, so we hopped on old reliable, and my favorite, the Peoplemover.
After our trip on the highway in the sky, we decided we were done with the future - it was time to head to the Frontier!
elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,053
We continued onto Frontierland, stopping for a few hilarious photos along the way.
Splash Mountain was only a 30 minute wait, so we hopped in line. As we were waiting, two of my friends dashed through the Fast Pass line on their baby swap! It was another clashing of the worlds (Kevin's college friends meeting my theater group friends) and I know I'm going to say this to death, but it was so surreal to see all these people from different parts of our lives here.
This is what mid-20s men do while waiting for a ride
Splash has always been one of my wonderful, favorite rides. Partly because it always lends itself to great photos....
We got off the ride and said goodbye to our friends. My brothers and cousins had just arrived at MK, and Kevin was itching to head to Epcot for Drinking Around the World. We decided to compromise since my family had just arrived and after a bit of Vinylmation shopping hopped in the line at Pirates of the Caribbean.
This is one of my favorite pictures. We hadn't been to Disney with these cousins since we were toddlers - and for my youngest brother, never in his life!
The wait took some time but I didn't mind too much - we were catching up and enjoying actually being together. Finally we got on the ride - and got stuck in the burning city.
At first I just assumed someone had trouble getting out of the boat, but then the music and sound effects stopped and announcements in Pirate-CM code started coming over the soundspeakers. I got SO excited that we were going to get evacuated from the ride, especially since I knew there wasn't an evac point for guests in the burning room and that would mean seeing CMs in water pants come out and pull our boats down to the exit Sadly/luckily the ride started up soon after and we finally got off, an hour after we got in line. Someday I'll be evac'd off a ride, someday! (For reasons that will not jeopardize anyone's safety at all of course).
At this point Kevin was anxious to leave MK to meet up with the friends who wanted to see us in Epcot, we were getting hungry and my bridesmaid wanted to go back to Beach Club to see my aunt (she was feeling under the weather). MK was packed, so we decided to take a bus to Beach Club so my cousin could spend some time with my aunt and we could walk into Epcot to continue our day.
We got back to Beach Club and found my parents and my aunts & uncles in the lobby - my mom's remaining sister was on her way to WDW in her rental car and was lost, so she called my dad. He was on the phone with her and suddenly burst out laughing. After he hung up he turned to us all and said "She asked what street Disney World is on".
My aunt is known for being incredibly scatterbrained and in her own little world so we all had quite the laugh about that one.
We headed into Epcot and made a beeline for Mexico - some of us wanted some food, and some of us were ready to start DRINKING AROUND THE WORLD. As much as I wanted to complete it, I was thinking of the wedding dress I had to wear in less than 48 hours. I was starting to feel a little run down as well at this point, and so I figured I should take it slow for sure. Almost no one else felt up to it, so only Kevin, my brother, and 1 groomsmen decided to take up the challenge. My way of participating was to take a sip of every one of Kevin's drinks so I could say I did
We started in Mexico. Kevin got a Modelo Especial which he gave a 2/5. Being a beer snob, he tends to avoid the Bud Light level if he can help it (so he was generally setting himself up for disappointment here). As for myself, I wanted to start off with my own drink, so I headed into La Cava for....
The avocado margarita!! As one who does not typically enjoy margaritas, I liked this one a lot. I don't know how much it really tasted like avocado, but I enjoyed it none the less. I say 7/10.
Glamorous button and beverage shot!
I skipped Norway and China, but Kevin and my brother decided to try the fairly new Einstok White Ale in Norway. They both proclaimed it pretty average - not fantastic but not awful. I also took a moment to mourn the fact that I missed my final Maelstrom ride by mere hours.
China meant Kevin getting a Tsing Tao (as he will almost never deviate from beer, unless it's for whiskey), which meant Kevin being sorely disappointed. One of our friends tried the Cantoloopy (vodka and cantaloupe juice) and proclaimed it as "Holy crap" strong.
Sibling picture!!
Germany for Kevin meant an Altenmünster Oktoberfest, which he gave a 3.5/5 - you can always count on Germany (and Canada. And the UK) to have reliable not-light beer!
It was at this point that we ran into at least 2 bachelorette parties (one bride said her groom was at his party - in COSTA RICA) and saw even more.....remnants of parties around the World Showcase. As in, drinking straws that resemble parts of the human body that would only really be purchased for a bachelorette party. I realize that a lot of drinking happens in Epcot but it's sad that people will get so intoxicated they will throw their male-genitalia drinking utensils on the ground of what is (of course) first and foremost a family place.
Italy was where I finally got back in the game. We had to stop to take a picture of where we would be getting married (at that point, it was 40 hours away!)
We stopped inside the Enoteca Castello Wine Shop, where I finally tried the much-talked about (at least in my Disney circle) Rosa Regale.
This was waaaaaay too sweet for me. Like drinking pure syrup. I usually gravitate towards sweeter wines too. Total pass - 2/10.
I have failed you already friends, for I cannot remember what Kevin got (and he did not check in on his app with it). I can tell you where he got it (the wine shop) and what he thought of it (awful, tasteless junk). I can show you a picture of our groomsman drinking the same beer though!
We continued to America Adventure, stopping to watch the barges for Illuminations come into the lagoon.
The men were craving sustenance, so where did we go? If you guessed Liberty Inn folks, you get a Golden Mickey.
If memory serves I'm fairly sure I helped him with some of these fries.
The guys also chose this time to have a Sam Adams Oktoberfest (which was of course loved by all, given that we are all from MA and drink this on a fairly regular basis). Our groomsman Brian, ever the politician, couldn't resist taking a survey.
Yes, I did skip Japan (I actually was done for the day at this point) but Kevin got a Kirin draft from the sake booth. He was once again let down by Japan's "beer" (or as he called it, Number 1 in a Cup). We played around inside the enormous Japan shop that I can't spell (like you do).
My brother working on his future career as a kimono model
That's my future hubs that is
I also insisted on a sibling pic - now with additional future spouse!
Morocco was next, where Kevin got an Efes beer. This is also where Kevin discovered that Efes beer is basically Bud Light.
Sadly this was where our drinking around the world ended for the day, 3 countries short. As Kevin said, eating the chicken nuggets in American did him in, leaving no room for additional beverages. He was disappointed he couldn't finish, especially given that out of all the countries he was looking forward to UK and Canada the most. Go figure!
Lesson Learned: If you stubbornly insist on only drinking beer when DATW and you are a beer snob, be prepared to be disappointed in Mexico, China, Italy, Japan and Morocco.
We stopped for a bio break in France and watch Aurora meet little princesses for a bit, before we headed back to Beach Club. My brothers were planning on heading to a big family dinner at Captain's Grille (essentially my entire family except Kevin and I), while I had visions of finally getting to swim at Stormalong Bay. We convinced our groomsmen to come with us, and to our delight we discovered they stop checking for room keys at the pool entrance later in the day, so the three of us spent a good hour enjoying the different facets of the pool and chatting with a particularly disgruntled college program lifeguard.
At one point we were floating through the lazy river when my uncle happened to walk by and shared that when my father had made the reservation for dinner he told the restaurant they were celebrating our wedding, and they made up custom menus for 'Jennifer and Bradley'. We're not sure where the Bradley came from - it's Kevin's middle name but also his father's name, but given that neither of them were on the reservation we still don't know how it happened. They somehow made up new menus but were disappointed that we didn't show up for dinner with our family, so the Captain's Grille staff insisted on sending a plate of goodies to our room. We got back to the room later to find this:
So nice!! We enjoyed the Bride strawberry that night, and man was it delicious. I also enjoyed the macaron (my first!) - it seemed to be some kind of a berry flavor (like a raspberry) that I wouldn't seek out on my own (nor would I again) but I definitely didn't hate it. I'm not sure what the egg-like things were, they had some kind of cream filling, but I tried one and left it at that. The jelly cubes were some odd unclear fruit flavor that wasn't very good, and of course (being that we are anti-chocolate!) the groom strawberry went uneaten.
We changed and even though I was exhausted, we went over to Jellyrolls to meet some friends that had just arrived that night, before finally heading to bed around 11:00pm.
Splash Mountain was only a 30 minute wait, so we hopped in line. As we were waiting, two of my friends dashed through the Fast Pass line on their baby swap! It was another clashing of the worlds (Kevin's college friends meeting my theater group friends) and I know I'm going to say this to death, but it was so surreal to see all these people from different parts of our lives here.
This is what mid-20s men do while waiting for a ride
Splash has always been one of my wonderful, favorite rides. Partly because it always lends itself to great photos....
We got off the ride and said goodbye to our friends. My brothers and cousins had just arrived at MK, and Kevin was itching to head to Epcot for Drinking Around the World. We decided to compromise since my family had just arrived and after a bit of Vinylmation shopping hopped in the line at Pirates of the Caribbean.
This is one of my favorite pictures. We hadn't been to Disney with these cousins since we were toddlers - and for my youngest brother, never in his life!
The wait took some time but I didn't mind too much - we were catching up and enjoying actually being together. Finally we got on the ride - and got stuck in the burning city.
At first I just assumed someone had trouble getting out of the boat, but then the music and sound effects stopped and announcements in Pirate-CM code started coming over the soundspeakers. I got SO excited that we were going to get evacuated from the ride, especially since I knew there wasn't an evac point for guests in the burning room and that would mean seeing CMs in water pants come out and pull our boats down to the exit
Sadly/luckily the ride started up soon after and we finally got off, an hour after we got in line. Someday I'll be evac'd off a ride, someday! (For reasons that will not jeopardize anyone's safety at all of course).At this point Kevin was anxious to leave MK to meet up with the friends who wanted to see us in Epcot, we were getting hungry and my bridesmaid wanted to go back to Beach Club to see my aunt (she was feeling under the weather). MK was packed, so we decided to take a bus to Beach Club so my cousin could spend some time with my aunt and we could walk into Epcot to continue our day.
We got back to Beach Club and found my parents and my aunts & uncles in the lobby - my mom's remaining sister was on her way to WDW in her rental car and was lost, so she called my dad. He was on the phone with her and suddenly burst out laughing. After he hung up he turned to us all and said "She asked what street Disney World is on".
My aunt is known for being incredibly scatterbrained and in her own little world so we all had quite the laugh about that one.We headed into Epcot and made a beeline for Mexico - some of us wanted some food, and some of us were ready to start DRINKING AROUND THE WORLD. As much as I wanted to complete it, I was thinking of the wedding dress I had to wear in less than 48 hours. I was starting to feel a little run down as well at this point, and so I figured I should take it slow for sure. Almost no one else felt up to it, so only Kevin, my brother, and 1 groomsmen decided to take up the challenge. My way of participating was to take a sip of every one of Kevin's drinks so I could say I did
We started in Mexico. Kevin got a Modelo Especial which he gave a 2/5. Being a beer snob, he tends to avoid the Bud Light level if he can help it (so he was generally setting himself up for disappointment here). As for myself, I wanted to start off with my own drink, so I headed into La Cava for....
The avocado margarita!! As one who does not typically enjoy margaritas, I liked this one a lot. I don't know how much it really tasted like avocado, but I enjoyed it none the less. I say 7/10.
Glamorous button and beverage shot!
I skipped Norway and China, but Kevin and my brother decided to try the fairly new Einstok White Ale in Norway. They both proclaimed it pretty average - not fantastic but not awful. I also took a moment to mourn the fact that I missed my final Maelstrom ride by mere hours.
China meant Kevin getting a Tsing Tao (as he will almost never deviate from beer, unless it's for whiskey), which meant Kevin being sorely disappointed. One of our friends tried the Cantoloopy (vodka and cantaloupe juice) and proclaimed it as "Holy crap" strong.
Sibling picture!!
Germany for Kevin meant an Altenmünster Oktoberfest, which he gave a 3.5/5 - you can always count on Germany (and Canada. And the UK) to have reliable not-light beer!
It was at this point that we ran into at least 2 bachelorette parties (one bride said her groom was at his party - in COSTA RICA) and saw even more.....remnants of parties around the World Showcase. As in, drinking straws that resemble parts of the human body that would only really be purchased for a bachelorette party. I realize that a lot of drinking happens in Epcot but it's sad that people will get so intoxicated they will throw their male-genitalia drinking utensils on the ground of what is (of course) first and foremost a family place.
Italy was where I finally got back in the game. We had to stop to take a picture of where we would be getting married (at that point, it was 40 hours away!)
We stopped inside the Enoteca Castello Wine Shop, where I finally tried the much-talked about (at least in my Disney circle) Rosa Regale.
This was waaaaaay too sweet for me. Like drinking pure syrup. I usually gravitate towards sweeter wines too. Total pass - 2/10.
I have failed you already friends, for I cannot remember what Kevin got (and he did not check in on his app with it). I can tell you where he got it (the wine shop) and what he thought of it (awful, tasteless junk). I can show you a picture of our groomsman drinking the same beer though!
We continued to America Adventure, stopping to watch the barges for Illuminations come into the lagoon.
The men were craving sustenance, so where did we go? If you guessed Liberty Inn folks, you get a Golden Mickey.
If memory serves I'm fairly sure I helped him with some of these fries.
The guys also chose this time to have a Sam Adams Oktoberfest (which was of course loved by all, given that we are all from MA and drink this on a fairly regular basis). Our groomsman Brian, ever the politician, couldn't resist taking a survey.
Yes, I did skip Japan (I actually was done for the day at this point) but Kevin got a Kirin draft from the sake booth. He was once again let down by Japan's "beer" (or as he called it, Number 1 in a Cup). We played around inside the enormous Japan shop that I can't spell (like you do).
My brother working on his future career as a kimono model
That's my future hubs that is
I also insisted on a sibling pic - now with additional future spouse!
Morocco was next, where Kevin got an Efes beer. This is also where Kevin discovered that Efes beer is basically Bud Light.
Sadly this was where our drinking around the world ended for the day, 3 countries short. As Kevin said, eating the chicken nuggets in American did him in, leaving no room for additional beverages. He was disappointed he couldn't finish, especially given that out of all the countries he was looking forward to UK and Canada the most. Go figure!
Lesson Learned: If you stubbornly insist on only drinking beer when DATW and you are a beer snob, be prepared to be disappointed in Mexico, China, Italy, Japan and Morocco.
We stopped for a bio break in France and watch Aurora meet little princesses for a bit, before we headed back to Beach Club. My brothers were planning on heading to a big family dinner at Captain's Grille (essentially my entire family except Kevin and I), while I had visions of finally getting to swim at Stormalong Bay. We convinced our groomsmen to come with us, and to our delight we discovered they stop checking for room keys at the pool entrance later in the day, so the three of us spent a good hour enjoying the different facets of the pool and chatting with a particularly disgruntled college program lifeguard.
At one point we were floating through the lazy river when my uncle happened to walk by and shared that when my father had made the reservation for dinner he told the restaurant they were celebrating our wedding, and they made up custom menus for 'Jennifer and Bradley'. We're not sure where the Bradley came from - it's Kevin's middle name but also his father's name, but given that neither of them were on the reservation we still don't know how it happened. They somehow made up new menus but were disappointed that we didn't show up for dinner with our family, so the Captain's Grille staff insisted on sending a plate of goodies to our room. We got back to the room later to find this:
So nice!! We enjoyed the Bride strawberry that night, and man was it delicious. I also enjoyed the macaron (my first!) - it seemed to be some kind of a berry flavor (like a raspberry) that I wouldn't seek out on my own (nor would I again) but I definitely didn't hate it. I'm not sure what the egg-like things were, they had some kind of cream filling, but I tried one and left it at that. The jelly cubes were some odd unclear fruit flavor that wasn't very good, and of course (being that we are anti-chocolate!) the groom strawberry went uneaten.
We changed and even though I was exhausted, we went over to Jellyrolls to meet some friends that had just arrived that night, before finally heading to bed around 11:00pm.
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