figmentfan814AAR~LivingSeas~French Is. *I'm back and married! Will start TR soon!*

[JaxTeach]

We had our engagement pictures taken on Monday. Boy was it hot! I hope the weather was good for your session. I just hope my face isn't too red in our photos! Hope your trip went well.

 

[figmentfan814]

Love your newsletters!

I see that you're having a welcome hayride at Fort Wilderness - someone suggested this to us as an alternative to the welcome dinner. Can you tell me a little more about it? Thanks!

Have fun at your tasting!

I stopped by Fort Wilderness and got more information last week. The cost is still $300 and the wagons can hold 30-35 depending on the ratio of adults and children. There are two times that leave each night- one is at 5:30 p.m. and one is 8:15 p.m. The direct number to call for booking is (407) 824-2734.

 

[figmentfan814]

We had our engagement pictures taken on Monday. Boy was it hot! I hope the weather was good for your session. I just hope my face isn't too red in our photos! Hope your trip went well.

Thankfully it wasn't too hot, but there was a horrible downpour about 30 minutes before we started. Our butts ended up soaked whenever we sat down Randy kept watching the sky and waiting for the right angle, so there weren't dark ominous clouds in the background.

 

[miranda1979]

figmentfan... I wrote you a PM and I don't know if you have got it but I would like to know were you got your tiara, necklace and braclet please if you have the time to let me know it would really be greatly helpful.

thanks miranda

 

[JaxTeach]

Thankfully it wasn't too hot, but there was a horrible downpour about 30 minutes before we started. Our butts ended up soaked whenever we sat down Randy kept watching the sky and waiting for the right angle, so there weren't dark ominous clouds in the background.

Oh no! That stinks that it had to rain right before your pictures. In Florida you get rain or heat. It had rained a lot the day before and Randy kept asking us if it was dry before we sat down. He's really wonderful! He would wait for a cloud to cover the sun for us since we were dying in the heat and it was really bright out! Where did you have your pictures taken?

 

[caryndisneydiva]

i'm just reading your pj and i have to say that your accident brought me to tears...you're so lucky your DF is so wonderful. i had a similar situation a few years ago with my DF (future at that time...) and he was so fabulous!!! happy planning!!!

 

[oneyodafan]

I was really pleased with how the design came out too.

dizneyfreak: This time I emailed the designer directly (Patnl34) who has a web site http://www.patsdesigns.com/. I've had them do other things before like the monogram that is on top of my newsletters with the K & V inside the Mickey head. All I did was go over to the board and started a new thread describing what I was looking for and I got several responses within a day or so. It's great, everyone over there is so talented and are willing to help with all kinds of Disney designs. They have some reallly cute designs for T-shirt iron-ons too.

Thank you for sharing. I've bookmarked her site and am going to share this with my SIL. Also am sharing your newsletters with her. Love 'em!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[caryndisneydiva]

i just emailed pat as well for that design, thank you so much for posting that info!!!

 

[figmentfan814]

figmentfan... I wrote you a PM and I don't know if you have got it but I would like to know were you got your tiara, necklace and braclet please if you have the time to let me know it would really be greatly helpful.

thanks miranda

Sorry just realized that I responded to your mom's account. I just forwarded you the original PM.

 

[figmentfan814]

Oh no! That stinks that it had to rain right before your pictures. In Florida you get rain or heat. It had rained a lot the day before and Randy kept asking us if it was dry before we sat down. He's really wonderful! He would wait for a cloud to cover the sun for us since we were dying in the heat and it was really bright out! Where did you have your pictures taken?

We ended up switching our pictures at the last minute. We were originally going to Wilderness and Boardwalk, but switched Boardwalk to Polynesian. My DF decided he wanted a Hawaii honeymoon (after our week at Disney with family) so I thought the Polynesian was fitting.

 

[figmentfan814]

i'm just reading your pj and i have to say that your accident brought me to tears...you're so lucky your DF is so wonderful. i had a similar situation a few years ago with my DF (future at that time...) and he was so fabulous!!! happy planning!!!

He really has been so sweet even for being so far away right now. When we were down this weekend for the menu tasting he was my designated wheelchair driver. I can walk pretty good most the time, but I didn't want to slow us down so I went with a chair for at the parks.

 

[figmentfan814]

Glad I was able to connect some of you to the designers. They really are a great resource

I'll try to post some pictures and updates from my trip soon. I'm also going to be out of town for part of this weekend, but I'll try to get it done before I leave

 

[caryndisneydiva]

He really has been so sweet even for being so far away right now. When we were down this weekend for the menu tasting he was my designated wheelchair driver. I can walk pretty good most the time, but I didn't want to slow us down so I went with a chair for at the parks.

i know what you're talking about...df and i did long distance (nj to tx) for about a year and it was terrible!!! it's great though, to find that man that will be there, no matter how far apart you are separated!!!

 

[figmentfan814]

We headed down for our menu tasting from September 5-9. We stayed at Port Orleans. My parents and I went down a day earlier than Kris. Since it was right after Labor Day he couldn't take off the same day as us. We stayed at Port Orleans-Riverside; one of our favorite resorts.

I had to call the airline in advance to make special arrangements since I'm still having some trouble getting around from the accident. I needed more leg room for the flight., so the airline seated me right behind business class so there was plenty of space. I can walk short distances, but to save time we got a wheelchair at the Orlando Airport. We flew out of a relatively small airport near our home with only 15 gates, so walking wasn't an issue up here.
Here we are wheeling through the airport

We let our bags go with the Magical Express and rented a car from National, so we could hit up the 3 Disney Outlets on our way to our resort. We were looking for some items for our gift bags. I will take pictures of all my finds and post them tonight (hopefully).

We went to the Prime Outlets off of I-Drive to the Character Warehouse and then to the two Disney outlets in Lake Buena Vista. It was definitely worth the trip. We went to the Character Warehouse first and it had been redone since we last went there. It is definitely worth the drive to hit up this outlet. Here are pictures of me with the bags at the Prime Outlets.

After leaving there we were starving so we went on property to check-in and to get lunch. First, we went over to Fort Wilderness for lunch at Trails End Buffet and I stopped in to get the details for our Welcome Hay Ride.

We then decided to check-in before heading out to the other outlets. However, we ended up having some problems with our reservation. We had called in advance because we had requested a room in Alligator Bayou, but since I can't get around as well we wanted to make sure we had a first floor room since there aren't elevators in this section.

Needless to say we had been stuck on the second floor. At first they offered to move us to a building further away on the first floor then we would have to be moved the second night. My mom and I started getting a little upset because we have never had an issue like this before (on several trips we have traveled with people that need accomodations for disabilities and Disney is usually great about handling these issues.) We also told them that we're having group of around 40 people staying at this resort in March and don't want to encounter similar problems.

After about 30 minutes of going back and forth with the girl at the desk she went in the back room to talk to someone. When she came out she magically had a room for us in a building up front on the first floor I also went over to the concierge and got a wheelchair to use for the days where we would be doing a lot of walking. This definitely came in handy at the parks and for our engagement pictures.

The other two outlets weren't that great this time around. I'm glad I made the trip though because I probably would have second guessed myself if I hadn't went. The car rental perfect because we were able to turn in the car at the Car Care Center right by the Magic Kingdom that night and there was a free shuttle to our hotel afterwards. (Although a piece of advice... the shuttles stop running at 8 p.m. We called to check on our shuttle at 7:30 pm and had to rush to make it in time.) You have to rent through Alamo or National because they are the only ones right on property. It was great to get all the information because we have some guests that are venturing to other areas in Florida and had asked us about car rentals. In the past we always rented off property, so it was great to be able to go right by the Magic Kingdom.

The next morning we met up with my cousin at the Magic Kingdom. He is a cast member at Epcot and got us in the parks for the day. My cousin had to work that afternoon, so he only hung out with us for a while. While he went in search of coffee with my dad my mom and I came across this Jim Shore castle. I'll tell more about it later; it is going to be incorporated into my cake table.

I took the wheelchair this day because I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle that much walking. Unfortunately, my therapists told me that I couldn't do any rough rides or rollercoasters, so I missed out on Space Mountain and Big Thunder two of my favorites.

It was a lot of fun to have some time at the parks because in May when we came down for the planning session we never went into any of them! We got to do the new Laugh Floor with Monsters, Inc. and I was surprised how much fun this actually was even for adults. We walked right on Buzz Lightyear several times and this was the first time my mom and I ever beat my dad on the ride.

Since we were on the free dining plan we had decided to try new restaurants. We went to Tony's that night. It was pretty good, but I wasn't that amazed with anything. I'm not sure if I would ever really go back, but the atmosphere was nice. It was funny because it was so cold in there they were handing out tableclothes to the women to use as blankets! Lady and the Tramp fountain in the center of the restaurant:

That night we rushed back to the hotel to meet Kris when he got off the Magical Express.

More to come- menu tasting, engagement pictures, and hair & makeup trial....

 

[disneyeeyorefan]

I love that castle, I can't wait to see how you are going to incorporate it

 

[caryndisneydiva]

OHHHH! i can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!!! i'm sorry that you're still not 100% from your accident...will you be able to get around for the wedding?

side note: if your cousin is still a cast member the next time you're down, have him take you to property control. it's the cast member only disney store and there they sell all disney merchandise that's returns, discontinued, etc...you can get stuff for pennies on the dollar, at least you used to. df and i used to go once or twice a week when we were cast members...

 

[figmentfan814]

I love that castle, I can't wait to see how you are going to incorporate it

We're going to use the castle as part of my cake display. I was not happy about spending $100 for the plain chocolate one, so I was excited to find this pastel one which fits my theme perfectly! Plus, it was only $110 and it was signed by the artist.

Even though it is pretty lightweight it is still a little heavy to be on top of the cake, so my planner said it would be okay to use one of these tiered stands. I'm only have 3 layers of cake, so the top stand would hold the castle. (This is just a sample of the stands; my cakes will not look like this at all.)

 

[figmentfan814]

OHHHH! i can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!!! i'm sorry that you're still not 100% from your accident...will you be able to get around for the wedding?

side note: if your cousin is still a cast member the next time you're down, have him take you to property control. it's the cast member only disney store and there they sell all disney merchandise that's returns, discontinued, etc...you can get stuff for pennies on the dollar, at least you used to. df and i used to go once or twice a week when we were cast members...

I'm suppose to be back to most of my normal routine by November, so my fingers are crossed. I am finding that it's a lot slower for my recovery than I originally wanted. Basically, I have to do a lot of muscle strengthening to make sure that I don't have problems down the road with my back, etc.

Thanks for the tip on the cast member only store. My cousin never knows anything about what's going on down there and he has already worked there like 4 years, I think I'm going to have to drag him to the store next time!

 

[jenelope]

Vanessa, I could see from the first entry that you are from the Flint area. I was born in Flint and raised in Lapeer. When I was in high school, I took drama classes at the Bower Theater and saw a classmate perform in "The Nutcracker" at the Whiting. Also, my cousin's daughter had her senior picture taken sitting on the rock in the river right behind you in your Frankenmuth engagement pics. So much of your journal has been a real walk down memory lane for me, so your engagement story and planning journal dragged me out of lurking!

Everything looks so beautiful. I can't wait to read the rest of your planning journal and look forward to reading a wedding trip report.

 

[figmentfan814]

Vanessa, I could see from the first entry that you are from the Flint area. I was born in Flint and raised in Lapeer. When I was in high school, I took drama classes at the Bower Theater and saw a classmate perform in "The Nutcracker" at the Whiting. Also, my cousin's daughter had her senior picture taken sitting on the rock in the river right behind you in your Frankenmuth engagement pics. So much of your journal has been a real walk down memory lane for me, so your engagement story and planning journal dragged me out of lurking!

Everything looks so beautiful. I can't wait to read the rest of your planning journal and look forward to reading a wedding trip report.

You are absolutely right; I live just a little north of Flint. It really is a small world after all it's good to hear that everything brings back fond memories. I'm glad you're enjoying everything so far!