Grumpy and Minnie do Disney - the one with the honeymoon - finally complete!

[DisneyLaura]

Kirsteen - that room is gorgeous. I want to stay at the GF when you go to WDW for our vow renewal, of course that's a long time away (14 more years) but that gives me time to save up.

Laura

 

[Kirsteen]

Thanks for all the lovely comments guys.

Laur's - we were really luckly with our flights and didn't seem to be waiting long anywhere. We were very lucky on our journey home but more about that later...

The room at the GF was unbelievable, nothing like anything we had stayed in before and we loved staying there and will definitely try to include a few nights there on our next trip. It definitely made our honeymoon.

Natalie - we didn't feel out of place at all and we never had anything more dressy on than a pair of combats and a hoodie! You would not feel uncomfortable at all.

More coming soon...

Thanks for reading!! Kxx

 

[wilma-bride]

Really enjoying reading your reports. The GF looks absolutely lovely - we've onyl been there once for a look around and breakfast but we've always said we'd love to stay there. What a great upgrade for you.

Can't wait to read more

 

[Kirsteen]

Tuesday 4th December

It’s our first full day at Disney and we’re up with the larks. Well, ok not quite but almost. I dispatch Grumpy to Gasparilla’s for breakfast while I finish getting ready. Grumpy has a Grand Breakfast Platter and I have a Mickey Waffle Platter in our room – I love Disney food so I love my Mickey waffles. Grumpy is not so impressed though and I think I'm not going to get him to eat much more fast food

Mickey Waffle Platter (thanks Grumpy for the ever so f(l)attering shot of my belly! I swear it's not that big lol)

Bellies full - we head off to catch the resort monorail (I didn’t realise how much I would love being able to do that! ) and we arrive at the Magic Kingdom around 10am.

We're here!!! We're here!!! We're here!!!

First things first we stop off to see our brick!!

I stubbled across a thread on the DIS months ago that said that the bricks were for sale again. Knowing nothing more than the bricks hadn't been for sale for some time I took the chance, filled in my details and faxed my application form to Disney. All the while biting my nails wondering what I was doing and who I had sent my credit card details too. Low and behold it worked and I'd purchased a brick. I decided it would be my wedding present to Grumpy. A brick for a bricklayer - I though it was genious

Grumpy loves our brick and snaps a few shots of it - notice it's ours and not just Grumpy's brick, well marriage is all about sharing right?

Our brick

The one with all the feet

I bounce through the entrance collecting a 'few' maps as I go. Any scrapbookers among us will know the importance of collecting maps, receipts, badges, tickets, anything really for scrapping purposes. We meander up Main Street (wow we’re really here!!) and make use of all the Photopass photographers (I ordered our CD this week so will be able to add these photos soon).

A lovely couple offered to take this for us

We notice that Jungle Cruise doesn’t have much of a wait and we’ve never done it before so we give it a whirl. We think the skipper is a hoot but we’ll probably not rush back. We’re glad we’ve done it though and it’s all the more special as it’s our first Disney ride this trip!

Our first ride!

We nip along to Big Thunder Railroad which is DH favourite ride and again there is not much of a wait. It’s just as good as we remembered it and we vow to come back again. We also visit Space Mountain (yikes I’d forgotten how scary this is – ok so I’m a woose), Snow White’s Scary Adventure (another first for this trip), and Haunted Mansion (we love, love, love this and love the addition in the attic) all with little or no wait – we now officially love this time of year after being here less than 24 hours – fickle pair that we are. We also get our photo taken outside the Haunted Mansion but oooooh watch out for that ghost!

We stop at Mickey’s Star Traders and pick up a 2007 licence plate, it’s at this moment I decide that I’m collecting licence plates to decorate our craft/computer room at home. Grumpy buys his first Grump purchase – a stainless steel Grumpy mug from Emporium.

We decide to head back to the resort taking the resort boat back to the Grand Floridian. It is lovely to sail away from the Magic Kingdom taking in all the sights and to approach the hotel from the water.

We arrive back at the hotel and snap a few photos of our view before collecting the car at reception.

The view

We are dying to see the I-Drive again so we head off in that direction. We grab a bite to eat at MacDonald's (I'm not going to get away with much more of this fast food malarky - Grumpy makes noises about the amount of salt... ) and we potter around on the I-Drive for a little while. The tinsel decorations on the I-Drive glistening in the sun make me smile. We head back to the hotel to rest up for a little while.

Having caught the shopping bug earlier on we decide to visit DTD this evening. We buy the Bride and Groom ears from World of Disney and I buy a Minnie Santa Hat from Disneys Days of Christmas and write a mental shopping list for our next visit – I love the Chrsitmas shop!

Tired from all our shopping we head back to the Grand Floridian and enjoy some pizza from Gasparilla’s for dinner. We head back to our room and watch some TV.

Thanks for reading!

Kxx

 

[Kirsteen]

Wednesday 5th December

We decide on a shopping day today so we hit our favourite Mall – the Florida Mall. We’re serious shoppers Grumpy and I so we need some serious shopping energy First things first we collect the car from reception. We type Florida Mall into the sat nav and we’re off, heading straight for the Florida Mall Food Court! We check all our options out and decide on a Subway for breakfast. Grumpy is happy that we are finally eating something that doesn’t come with fries Then we hit the shops. I head straight for Department 56 – I so want one of these at home! I could spend all day in here. I buy a ‘Just Married’ tree ornament and it comes in a lovely bag with tissue paper – it’s the little things We also buy t-shirts and festive PJs (for me) from Old Navy and a billion t-shirts from Billabong and Quiksilver for Grumpy.

We need to be refuelled so we head back to the Food Count and just as we enter someone from Mancho Wok is giving out samples of their honey garlic chicken – it is so delicious we decide on noodles, the honey garlic chicken and something else that I can’t remember… We soon hightail it back to the hotel.

We take some time to enjoy the lobby.

The Gingerbread House

Grumpy is tired after all the shopping

We decide to head to the I-Drive tonight to Pointe Orlando. Before we go I take a few photos of the lovely flower display in the lobby of our building. I think the flower displays at the Grand Floridian are amazing.

Flowers in our lobby

I take a snap of Wonderworks as we arrive.

Wonderworks

We have a little wander around - it’s changed quite a bit since we were last year in 2005 and it looks much better. Grumpy buys a Quiksilver wallet from the Boardwalk Surf & Sport – he loves this shop. Then we pop upstairs to have dinner at Adobe’s. We have jalapeño poppers and chicken fajitas. It’s very tasty but it’s a little chilly sitting outside so we head back to the hotel to hit the hay.

Tomorrow - EPCOT.

Kxx

 

[natalielongstaff]

great report again your brick is lovely

 

[arieljasmine]

Lovely reports. I love your brick, I didn't realise you could get these again. I am loving all the shopping! I am with you on the junk food - but I agree with your hubby about the salt, there is always waaaay too much!

Laur's

 

[Chilly]

A lovely couple of days. Do you mind if I ask how much the brick was? Do you know if you can still get them?

 

[mark&sue]

Congratulations on your wedding.

We stayed at the Grand Floridian in 2004. We thought that it was not that great value for money and bought into DVC while we were out there. DH thought the rooms were a bit chintzy for his liking. We did feel very special though and definately worth staying there.

Your brick looks so new compared to the others. Such a great idea for your wedding present to your DH.

Looking forward to reading more.



Susan

 

[jjk]

lovely couple of days,your brick looks great

 

[Tora Millypoops]

Great TR and great pictures, I can't wait to read more.

 

[Kirsteen]

A lovely couple of days. Do you mind if I ask how much the brick was? Do you know if you can still get them?

Hi Claire,

I think it was $295 and they stopped selling them not long after I bought it but I think it's worth keeping an eye on.

Kxx

 

[Kirsteen]

Thanks for reading guys and for all the comments... here's the next installment... Kxx

 

[Kirsteen]

Thursday 6th December

This morning we decide to have breakfast in our room. So Grumpy is dispatched to Gasparilla’s to do the deed. We have scrambled eggs and bacon – it’s delicious and even Grumpy enjoys what he has now started referring to as ‘Disney slop’ (the cheeky so-in-so).

We are moving to Port Orleans Riverside today so we pack up and call bell services to collect our luggage.

We jump on the resort monorail to TTC and hop on the next one going to EPCOT. This is the first time we have arrived at EPCOT by monorail and it’s great being able to ‘go in’ and catch a sneaky peek of the park before actually getting there.

We head straight for our favourite EPCOT ride – Soarin’. We seem to queue for hours – I think this must’ve been the longest queue we stood in and still it wasn’t really that long, probably only about 30 minutes tops. Soarin’ is fab as ever.

We then nip over to ride the Seven Seas with Nemo which is a cute ride.

We head over to Test Track but the wait time is really long and the Fastpass return times are later than we are intending to stay at the park. We are just about to turn about and accept that we won’t manage Test Track today when a lovely couple offer us their Fastpasses!! Thank you so much to that couple!! We quickly hotfoot it inside and practically walk on. It’s great. The ride is good fun and I just manage to save our ride photo onto our Photopass card with seconds to spare - phew. We have a wander around looking at the cars and in the shop. I buy Grumpy a small licence plate that says No. 1 Husband on it and a huge I-4 Disney signpost for our craft/computer room.

We have a quick look in Mousegear and then head over to World Showcase. We are getting a little hungry now so whiz straight though to The American pavilion and grab hotdogs and chips (Lays) for two. This is when we discover Lays and proceed to eat as many bags as we can between now and rolling on to the plane! It’s not pretty. haha Again I love my hotdog but Grumpy is not so impressed. There’s no pleasing some people.

As we are about to leave a CM is calling that the American Adventure is about to start. We have no idea what this attraction is but we fancy finding out so we pop inside. The building is gorgeous and before long we are queuing outside the auditorium. Now I should mention that I’ve coaxed Grumpy into wearing his Just Married badge today. We’re standing in line, minding our own business when a CM approaches Grumpy and asks his family name, Grump obliges and the CM says ‘great they have been looking for you all morning’ and raises the side rope and ushers us to the front of the queue. A nice American lady shouts from behind ‘oh you’re in trouble now’ lol and Grump near dies of embarrassment. We are taken right to the front of the auditorium and asked to dial a number and low and behold Mickey and Minnie are on the line! They are talking about our wedding and arguing over wedding cake. I am loving it! They wish us well and as we put the phone down the CM presents us with a Magical Moment certificate. I’m delighted, all the while Grumpy is worried that he is going to become ‘part of the show’ lol We are seated and another couple and a family are asked to stand before the show while everyone claps and cheers. It was a lovely moment that we will remember forever. Don’t ya just love Disney.

After our American Adventure we wander through the rest of World Showcase but we are beginning to wilt and are looking forward to settling in at POR so we start to head back to the park entrance. We stop off first to look for our Leave a Legacy tile:

We collect our car and luggage and head off to POR saying our sad goodbyes to the Grand Floridian, feeling very lucky to have been able to stay there and vowing that we will come back on day.

We arrive at POR with heavy hearts and it’s a real shame as this clouds or first thoughts of this lovely resort. I love the theme here and the resort is gorgeous but we’ve come from the Grand Floridian and we’re a little nostalgic over our little piece of heaven.

We settle into Alligator Bayou and Grumpy is chuffed that he doesn’t have to ‘faff’ with bell services to park the car lol We have a lovely room with two windows and a huge king size bed. Our view is out on to a quiet pool which is lovely and peaceful. We unpack and settle in. It’s nice to know that we don’t need to pack again until it’s time to go home.

I’m not feeling very well so we have a lie down and watch some TV. I’m still not feeling any better later on and I’m worried that I’m not going to feel up to MVMCP, although I’m still going no matter what! We order cheese pizza from the Port Orleans Pizza Delivery Service and its huge! I don’t eat much but it’s great to chill out for so long and it seems to have done the trick so I am up and ready and donning my Minnie Santa Hat in no time.

We drive to the Magic Kingdom and I can’t wait to arrive. This is our first MVMCP and our first ticketed event so we don’t know what to expect.

The park is mobbed. Main Street looks so pretty all dressed for Christmas and it’s snowing. We make our way through to the Galaxy Palace Theatre to watch Mickey's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas which is really sweet. We ride Buzz and as usual I’m about as handy as a chocolate fireguard at scoring points. We also pop into Mickey’s Star Traders and we buy a MVMCP Christmas ornament to remind us of tonight. We head back to Main Street and catch the tail end of the parade and look for a good place to watch Holiday Wishes. By now I’m feeling much better and Grumpy pops to Casey’s Corner to buy me a carton of chips and they are the best chips ever!

We make our way to Frontierland to the second parade. I love the parades and really enjoy this one but my camera runs out of battery just as Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella come out – they are my favourites so I’m gutted that I didn’t realise that the battery was so low. It’s getting cold and we are ready to call it a night but we jump on Splash Mountain before we head back to POR. We’re soaked through and laugh all the way home.

TFL Kxx

 

[Kirsteen]

Friday 7th December

After our late night at MVMCP we decide to take it easy today. We stop off at Fultons General Store at POR and I buy a pink lanyard and two pins. We head off to the I-Drive and stop in at Burger King for a bite to eat. We nip into one of the cheaper souvenir stores as well but I don’t see anything that catches my fancy. We do a little bit of shopping at Old Navy on Conroy Road and I have my first Joanns experience. For those of you who don’t know Joann’s as like heaven for a scrapbooker like me. It’s like a craft supermarket. I am like a kid at Christmas, dragging my jaw off the floor I spend ages checking everything out and selecting my purchases. I only spend $103 but have loads to show for it. Most of things I buy would have cost twice sometimes, treble the amount in the UK. I love Joanns!!

We head home and have a dip in the pool and do a little washing. It's great to be swimming outside in December We have dinner at Boatwrights and we discover Don’t Forget the Music, Deal or No Deal and Are you Smarter than a Firth Grader on TV – we love American TV.

 

[arieljasmine]

What a lovely couple of days. I would love to go to MVMCP, glad you were well enough to go by then. Lovely magical moment at American Adventure.

Laur's

 

[Chilly]

Great couple of days. I hope to do MVMCP in 2009.

 

[jjk]

lovely couple of days,I love MVMCP almost convinced Dh to go back this year for xmas

 

[jjpenguin]

Joann's is great. Michaels is also pretty amazing. I usually spend more than $103 tho'!

 

[Minniespal]

A lovely couple of days ~ We really enjoyed MVMCP when we did it last year.