rgoble5972
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2001
- Messages
- 276
Robin Goble and Larry Wilmots Disneyworld and Disneyland Wedding Tour.
Prologue
Once upon a time, there were two Trip Report Writers called Robin and Larry, and they lived on separate continents. They fell in love and, after a long and both happy and painful time for them and others, they decided to get married and they chose the only sensible place for trip report writers to tie the nuptial knot, they decided to get married at Disney. This is the story of the wedding, so that you dear readers can know how magical it can be.
Cast of Characters
Robin Goble Bride.
Larry Wilmot Groom.
Bill Goble Brides Father.
Paula Hanna - Brides Sister and Bridesmaid.
Wes Hanna - Brother in Law (Paulas husband)
Clive Hamilton - Best Man. (Dashing English Military Sort.)
Karen Hamilton - Friend and Clives Better Half.
Michael Arroyo - Nephew.
Sue Holland - Friend and Trip Report Writer, of much fame.
Floyd Rayford - Sues SB.
Tom Burroughs - Friend and Wedding Guest.
Leanne Burroughs - Friend and Wedding Guest.
Planning
As you know, Trip Planning is for wimps. But even I (Larry that is, Robin is going to be kind enough to join in later.) know that when you have a wedding there is a wee bit of planning necessary. Fortunately for me Robin disagrees about the planning is for wimps theory and she is quite good at the old planning department, and I have to confess that she pretty much did most (OK All) of the planning. All I had to do was to get on an airplane and get myself to Orlando for the Wedding. Though life is very rarely as simple as that, and this little magical fairytale was no exception.
You see for those of you who dont actually know who Larry and Robin are a little word of explanation is in order. Larry lives in Scotland and Robin lives in Texas. Getting married is only part of this story, Robin decided to come and live in Scotland with Larry. This means getting a residents visa for Britain. So we thought, no problem, after the wedding, we will pop into the British Consulates Office in Orlando, or Miami and pick one up. Sadly not. There is no British Consulate in Orlando, or anywhere in Florida for that matter. No, if you happen to live in Texas then you have to go to Dallas? Nope too easy, you have to go to the British Consulate in LA.
So we thought, well if we have to go to LA, lets stay at Disneyland, whilst we are there. So this is the rather unique, Two Trip Report Writer, Two Disney Resorts Trip Report. Wow do you boys and girls get a bargain or what. This is not just any Trip Report; its a Marks and Spencer, four times as creamy Trip Report. (Joke for the British TR Readers).
Robin hereIll try to keep my comments in bold so you can tell whos talking/writing at the time. Dont worry; I wont be so rash as to bore you with all the planning details for this trip. First of all, I dont think you have the stamina to wade through them all and, secondly I know I dont have the stamina to write them all down! Suffice it to say that this trip the mother of all planning! What with having to make travel/accommodation arrangements for myself, my family, Larry, and Karen and Clive; planning a wedding; planning a reception at home for family and friends that werent invited to WDW; planning a honeymoon; planning a trip to Los Angeles; and planning a WDW/Disneyland vacation; there wasnt a day that went by from the time we set the date to the day the trip started and beyond that I didnt do some kind of planning for the trip/wedding.
Dont let anyone try to tell you that planning a small, intimate wedding at WDW is easy. Sure, Disney goes out of its way to make things easier for you and they do a great job of stepping you through the process but, at the end of the day, theres still a hundreds decisions to make, a thousand things you havent even thought of, and a million things that need to be done RIGHT NOW. After all, it is a wedding and there will be times when youre stressed out and questioning why youre even thinking about going through all this trouble. Having said that, however, I wouldnt have done it anywhere else or had it any differently (except wishing that my mom could have been there). The wedding was beautiful, magical, a fairy tale all those adjectives that they use in their brochures. And it was definitely worth any and all hassles.
Day One. Friday 22nd September.
Day one was one of some significant flying for everyone, but particularly me (Larry). Originally the plan was for me to fly to Lubbock, where Robin lives, famous for Prairie Dog Town, The windmill museum, Texas Tech Red and Black sporty teams and well thats pretty much it. (Oh Buddy Holly came from there, but theres other things too so well mention that last for a change.) Then we were to go to Orlando the next day. However, there was an exam Michael had to take, and I wont bore you with details of that, (Theres plenty of time for me to bore you later, believe me.) anyway the thing is, because of the exam, we had to change flights so that I flew, Inverness, to Gatwick, Gatwick to Dallas, Dallas to Lubbock, Lubbock to Dallas, Dallas to Orlando that day. Or how to get your bottom 4000 miles in a day by actually flying 7000 of them.
Actually the flying wasnt as bad as you might think, the first flight from Inverness to Gatwick, was quite nice because I met a lady that I used to work with a couple of years ago, in the lounge. And we passed the time waiting for the flight to board, chatting and me eating breakfast of a Cheese and Ham Croissant, rather soggy due to it being warmed in a microwave, and a much better cup of coffee. On the plane, she was sat about five rows behind me, and during the flight she came up to me and gave me a nice tea towel, our first official wedding present, I thought that was awfully sweet of her, after we landed we walked through the International Connections corridor till we got to the pre area to the lounge or should I say shopping mall, where we went our separate ways, she was going to Hamburg to meet her husband, I had to check in with AA and then I had to go to gate 63, where my AA flight was already almost ready to board. (Which was good, because I wasnt an AA Platinum Member then, so I couldnt swank around in the posh lounge, like I can now. (He says in a swanky and not remotely modest way at all.))
The 10 hour flight was pretty un-eventful, I was sat with a pretty quiet guy, who despite the fact that I sat with him for 10 hours, I have very little recollection of, except that he was reading a book about Teddy Roosevelt. I asked him if he was the president that had set up the National Parks with Mr Muir the Scottish Guy, but he just kind of grunted at me, so I shut the something up for the rest of the flight. I think I watched X Men the Final Bit, but other than that I have little recollection. Im pretty sure that the meal choice was Chicken or Beef. Im pretty sure that all six transatlantic flights that Ive made this year from Gatwick to Dallas were Chicken or Beef. And if I was you I wouldnt bet against me that the next six wont be Chicken or Beef either.
When I got there, I shot off the plane like a lightning bolt and dashed to immigration and customs, bowling all those rich types from Business and First Class out of the way like pesky skittles. I got into a very short queue at Immigration. Obviously being completely paranoid, I was convinced that they would find some reason not to let me into the country so I avoided saying that I was getting married. After all, knowing Officialdom like I do, there might be some kind of form I had to have completed at the American Embassy in London, a USWED 343 or something, so I said, which was true, Im going to Walt Disney World with my girlfriend. This seemed to suffice, and I was in. I scooted past the luggage carrousel of slow progress. And was the first person to go through the customs bit, carrying only one small and I mean small, thanks to the luggage regulations at the time, bag. The customs lady, said, Have you forgotten your luggage and I said, No, Im travelling light, I have clothes at my girlfriends house and that seemed to do the trick and I was in the Good Ol USA again.
The next flight was pretty short, and uneventful, I think I got a Hot Dog and rang Robin so she would know that I had made it in time to go to Lubbock for my flight back to Dallas later on. The plan was for me to skip the Lubbock trip, if I was late and wait for the family to arrive in Dallas to catch the Orlando flight, but if I got there in time, Id go to Lubbock, to freshen up and get 1000 frequent flyer miles, after all they were already paid for.
I arrived in Lubbock to be met with Robin, rather pleased to see her groom arrive. (Rather pleased is probably the understatement of the year. While I knew that, if something went horribly wrong, wed still have time to get Larry to Orlando by the wedding on Monday, it was still cutting things a little tight for me. When my older sister married her husband (who is from Mexicoare we an international family or what?), we were panicked when he arrived a mere two weeks before their wedding. Wimps. Try getting your groom in the country two HOURS before your plane leaves!) We drove to her house, and I had a sandwich and got freshened up. Then it was time to go to the airport again, this time with her Dad (Bill), Paula and Wes, and her nephew Michael. I picked up some luggage for the trip, and it went in her brother in laws pick up truck. It was nice to see her Mom before the wedding; she couldnt come to Walt Disney World due to her fracturing her leg badly a little while before.
We all got checked in, and went off to Dallas. Robin and I are Gold Card Members of American AAdvantage (see comments above, re promotion to Platinum) so we got the nice extra leg room seats by the exit doors, and the other folks were near by.
At Dallas some people got some snacks, and Michael got a seventeen course Chinese Meal to eat on the plane. The flight was smooth, and I, unusually for me, slept for most of it, with my head on Robin. Just before landing, I swapped out seats with Michael and sat with Robins Dad, and we chatted together whilst we landed. I think we were arranging the dowry; I have to give him seven sheep and four goats. Bargain.
We arrived at Orlando, and I enjoyed the train ride to get the luggage, though I was surprised how tatty it all was, with foam ripped out of seats and just generally more grotty than Dallas or Gatwick. Then we picked up a great big mini van, and off to Orlando we went. I was in a bit of a daze, so dont remember much of the ride. We were staying at the Pop Century for the pre wedding part of the trip, but more of that tomorrow. Sleep well readers, I know I did.
(Upon checking in at the Pop Century, my first course of action was to get Michael to bed, since most twelve year-olds I know dont function very well on small amounts of sleep. Paula, Wes and Dad were in one room and Larry, Michael and I were in the other with Michael as acting chaperone.
It was 2:00am so we said good night to Paula, Wes and Dad and then I put Michael and Larry to bed. I think Michael actually beat Larry to sleep as he seemed to fall asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Larry didnt take much longer as he had not only been up for well over 24 hours, but had been on airplanes or at airports for 24 hours as well.
I, however, as hostess and chief obsessive/compulsive wedding planner, had other things to do.
The main priority was to assemble the welcome bags for the wedding guests. I had bought bright green canvas tote bags to fill with some essentials and treats, along with an itinerary for the weekend, for all the guests. So, to the gentle hum of some deep breathing/light snoring from the men in my life, I spent the better part of an hour and a half filling bags with items such as aspirin, sun-block, insect repellent, lip balm, band-aids, sewing kits, cookies, chocolates, chips, crackers, rain ponchos, bath gel, candles, and anything else I could think of that folks might need at WDW.
With the completed welcome bags lined up in a row along the wall, I crawled into bed with Michael around 3:30 and set the alarm on my cell phone to wake me up in an hour so I could get the gift bags delivered before everyone was supposed to meet for breakfast in the food court the next morning.)
Goble/Wilmot Wedding Weekend - Day Two
Prologue
Once upon a time, there were two Trip Report Writers called Robin and Larry, and they lived on separate continents. They fell in love and, after a long and both happy and painful time for them and others, they decided to get married and they chose the only sensible place for trip report writers to tie the nuptial knot, they decided to get married at Disney. This is the story of the wedding, so that you dear readers can know how magical it can be.
Cast of Characters
Robin Goble Bride.
Larry Wilmot Groom.
Bill Goble Brides Father.
Paula Hanna - Brides Sister and Bridesmaid.
Wes Hanna - Brother in Law (Paulas husband)
Clive Hamilton - Best Man. (Dashing English Military Sort.)
Karen Hamilton - Friend and Clives Better Half.
Michael Arroyo - Nephew.
Sue Holland - Friend and Trip Report Writer, of much fame.
Floyd Rayford - Sues SB.
Tom Burroughs - Friend and Wedding Guest.
Leanne Burroughs - Friend and Wedding Guest.
Planning
As you know, Trip Planning is for wimps. But even I (Larry that is, Robin is going to be kind enough to join in later.) know that when you have a wedding there is a wee bit of planning necessary. Fortunately for me Robin disagrees about the planning is for wimps theory and she is quite good at the old planning department, and I have to confess that she pretty much did most (OK All) of the planning. All I had to do was to get on an airplane and get myself to Orlando for the Wedding. Though life is very rarely as simple as that, and this little magical fairytale was no exception.
You see for those of you who dont actually know who Larry and Robin are a little word of explanation is in order. Larry lives in Scotland and Robin lives in Texas. Getting married is only part of this story, Robin decided to come and live in Scotland with Larry. This means getting a residents visa for Britain. So we thought, no problem, after the wedding, we will pop into the British Consulates Office in Orlando, or Miami and pick one up. Sadly not. There is no British Consulate in Orlando, or anywhere in Florida for that matter. No, if you happen to live in Texas then you have to go to Dallas? Nope too easy, you have to go to the British Consulate in LA.
So we thought, well if we have to go to LA, lets stay at Disneyland, whilst we are there. So this is the rather unique, Two Trip Report Writer, Two Disney Resorts Trip Report. Wow do you boys and girls get a bargain or what. This is not just any Trip Report; its a Marks and Spencer, four times as creamy Trip Report. (Joke for the British TR Readers).
Robin hereIll try to keep my comments in bold so you can tell whos talking/writing at the time. Dont worry; I wont be so rash as to bore you with all the planning details for this trip. First of all, I dont think you have the stamina to wade through them all and, secondly I know I dont have the stamina to write them all down! Suffice it to say that this trip the mother of all planning! What with having to make travel/accommodation arrangements for myself, my family, Larry, and Karen and Clive; planning a wedding; planning a reception at home for family and friends that werent invited to WDW; planning a honeymoon; planning a trip to Los Angeles; and planning a WDW/Disneyland vacation; there wasnt a day that went by from the time we set the date to the day the trip started and beyond that I didnt do some kind of planning for the trip/wedding.
Dont let anyone try to tell you that planning a small, intimate wedding at WDW is easy. Sure, Disney goes out of its way to make things easier for you and they do a great job of stepping you through the process but, at the end of the day, theres still a hundreds decisions to make, a thousand things you havent even thought of, and a million things that need to be done RIGHT NOW. After all, it is a wedding and there will be times when youre stressed out and questioning why youre even thinking about going through all this trouble. Having said that, however, I wouldnt have done it anywhere else or had it any differently (except wishing that my mom could have been there). The wedding was beautiful, magical, a fairy tale all those adjectives that they use in their brochures. And it was definitely worth any and all hassles.
Day One. Friday 22nd September.
Day one was one of some significant flying for everyone, but particularly me (Larry). Originally the plan was for me to fly to Lubbock, where Robin lives, famous for Prairie Dog Town, The windmill museum, Texas Tech Red and Black sporty teams and well thats pretty much it. (Oh Buddy Holly came from there, but theres other things too so well mention that last for a change.) Then we were to go to Orlando the next day. However, there was an exam Michael had to take, and I wont bore you with details of that, (Theres plenty of time for me to bore you later, believe me.) anyway the thing is, because of the exam, we had to change flights so that I flew, Inverness, to Gatwick, Gatwick to Dallas, Dallas to Lubbock, Lubbock to Dallas, Dallas to Orlando that day. Or how to get your bottom 4000 miles in a day by actually flying 7000 of them.
Actually the flying wasnt as bad as you might think, the first flight from Inverness to Gatwick, was quite nice because I met a lady that I used to work with a couple of years ago, in the lounge. And we passed the time waiting for the flight to board, chatting and me eating breakfast of a Cheese and Ham Croissant, rather soggy due to it being warmed in a microwave, and a much better cup of coffee. On the plane, she was sat about five rows behind me, and during the flight she came up to me and gave me a nice tea towel, our first official wedding present, I thought that was awfully sweet of her, after we landed we walked through the International Connections corridor till we got to the pre area to the lounge or should I say shopping mall, where we went our separate ways, she was going to Hamburg to meet her husband, I had to check in with AA and then I had to go to gate 63, where my AA flight was already almost ready to board. (Which was good, because I wasnt an AA Platinum Member then, so I couldnt swank around in the posh lounge, like I can now. (He says in a swanky and not remotely modest way at all.))
The 10 hour flight was pretty un-eventful, I was sat with a pretty quiet guy, who despite the fact that I sat with him for 10 hours, I have very little recollection of, except that he was reading a book about Teddy Roosevelt. I asked him if he was the president that had set up the National Parks with Mr Muir the Scottish Guy, but he just kind of grunted at me, so I shut the something up for the rest of the flight. I think I watched X Men the Final Bit, but other than that I have little recollection. Im pretty sure that the meal choice was Chicken or Beef. Im pretty sure that all six transatlantic flights that Ive made this year from Gatwick to Dallas were Chicken or Beef. And if I was you I wouldnt bet against me that the next six wont be Chicken or Beef either.
When I got there, I shot off the plane like a lightning bolt and dashed to immigration and customs, bowling all those rich types from Business and First Class out of the way like pesky skittles. I got into a very short queue at Immigration. Obviously being completely paranoid, I was convinced that they would find some reason not to let me into the country so I avoided saying that I was getting married. After all, knowing Officialdom like I do, there might be some kind of form I had to have completed at the American Embassy in London, a USWED 343 or something, so I said, which was true, Im going to Walt Disney World with my girlfriend. This seemed to suffice, and I was in. I scooted past the luggage carrousel of slow progress. And was the first person to go through the customs bit, carrying only one small and I mean small, thanks to the luggage regulations at the time, bag. The customs lady, said, Have you forgotten your luggage and I said, No, Im travelling light, I have clothes at my girlfriends house and that seemed to do the trick and I was in the Good Ol USA again.
The next flight was pretty short, and uneventful, I think I got a Hot Dog and rang Robin so she would know that I had made it in time to go to Lubbock for my flight back to Dallas later on. The plan was for me to skip the Lubbock trip, if I was late and wait for the family to arrive in Dallas to catch the Orlando flight, but if I got there in time, Id go to Lubbock, to freshen up and get 1000 frequent flyer miles, after all they were already paid for.
I arrived in Lubbock to be met with Robin, rather pleased to see her groom arrive. (Rather pleased is probably the understatement of the year. While I knew that, if something went horribly wrong, wed still have time to get Larry to Orlando by the wedding on Monday, it was still cutting things a little tight for me. When my older sister married her husband (who is from Mexicoare we an international family or what?), we were panicked when he arrived a mere two weeks before their wedding. Wimps. Try getting your groom in the country two HOURS before your plane leaves!) We drove to her house, and I had a sandwich and got freshened up. Then it was time to go to the airport again, this time with her Dad (Bill), Paula and Wes, and her nephew Michael. I picked up some luggage for the trip, and it went in her brother in laws pick up truck. It was nice to see her Mom before the wedding; she couldnt come to Walt Disney World due to her fracturing her leg badly a little while before.
We all got checked in, and went off to Dallas. Robin and I are Gold Card Members of American AAdvantage (see comments above, re promotion to Platinum) so we got the nice extra leg room seats by the exit doors, and the other folks were near by.
At Dallas some people got some snacks, and Michael got a seventeen course Chinese Meal to eat on the plane. The flight was smooth, and I, unusually for me, slept for most of it, with my head on Robin. Just before landing, I swapped out seats with Michael and sat with Robins Dad, and we chatted together whilst we landed. I think we were arranging the dowry; I have to give him seven sheep and four goats. Bargain.
We arrived at Orlando, and I enjoyed the train ride to get the luggage, though I was surprised how tatty it all was, with foam ripped out of seats and just generally more grotty than Dallas or Gatwick. Then we picked up a great big mini van, and off to Orlando we went. I was in a bit of a daze, so dont remember much of the ride. We were staying at the Pop Century for the pre wedding part of the trip, but more of that tomorrow. Sleep well readers, I know I did.
(Upon checking in at the Pop Century, my first course of action was to get Michael to bed, since most twelve year-olds I know dont function very well on small amounts of sleep. Paula, Wes and Dad were in one room and Larry, Michael and I were in the other with Michael as acting chaperone.
It was 2:00am so we said good night to Paula, Wes and Dad and then I put Michael and Larry to bed. I think Michael actually beat Larry to sleep as he seemed to fall asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Larry didnt take much longer as he had not only been up for well over 24 hours, but had been on airplanes or at airports for 24 hours as well.
I, however, as hostess and chief obsessive/compulsive wedding planner, had other things to do.
The main priority was to assemble the welcome bags for the wedding guests. I had bought bright green canvas tote bags to fill with some essentials and treats, along with an itinerary for the weekend, for all the guests. So, to the gentle hum of some deep breathing/light snoring from the men in my life, I spent the better part of an hour and a half filling bags with items such as aspirin, sun-block, insect repellent, lip balm, band-aids, sewing kits, cookies, chocolates, chips, crackers, rain ponchos, bath gel, candles, and anything else I could think of that folks might need at WDW.
With the completed welcome bags lined up in a row along the wall, I crawled into bed with Michael around 3:30 and set the alarm on my cell phone to wake me up in an hour so I could get the gift bags delivered before everyone was supposed to meet for breakfast in the food court the next morning.)
Goble/Wilmot Wedding Weekend - Day Two
