Mr & Mrs "practically perfect" Disney-moon!

[IheartDDuck]

We hopped on the monorail to TTC so we could connect to the monorail running to resorts, but couldn’t we have just hopped on the monorail running to resorts at Epcot??? Maybe someone can clear that up for me.

I can clear that up for you. The only way to access the monorail to Epcot is from the TTC. There is no Epcot monorail running to resorts. If you're staying at a monorail resort you have to take your monorail to the TTC and switch to the Epcot monorail. Good thing you guys left with enough time.

That was so sweet of him to book the breakfast for you knowing that Mary Poppins is your favorite character. That's such a wonderful surprise. I'm glad you had a good time at breakfast. I love that breakfast buffet and I love the strawberry soup. I even have the recipe and I've made it at home before.

 

[Bethislucy]

Congrats on your wedding first off, and can't wait to read more.

 

[Shannon84]

YAY for awesome DH picking that breakfast That is so sweet he thought to do that and that picture with mary came out nice and clear

 

[megcellent]

With my initial step off the monorail, my mind was flooded with happy thoughts of a happy place. It’s Magic Kingdom time!

When I was young girl, when something was wrong, when I was hurting, when I really didn’t want to be somewhere, when I didn’t think I could endure something, when I woke up with a bad dream and tried to forget about it … I’d always tell myself to think of a happy place. I would “go to my happy place” in my mind and all those bad things and bad thoughts and bad times … well, they’d disappear. That happy place was Disney World … which at that time, in my young mind, was Magic Kingdom because I would picture things … in my happy place … like Cinderella’s castle, fireworks, eating popcorn on main street, riding Dumbo, walking by Space Mountain (notice I didn’t say riding), and meeting Mickey. Those were all things that at some point in my young childhood I had seen on TV or in a magazine, because I never visited Disney until I was in college. I didn’t even know there were 4 parks. Heaven’s to Betsy … that really woulda been a “happy” place! That happy place would’ve chased all the goblins from under my bed! Lol.

Now back to current day, I can’t even begin to explain the emotion of actually getting to walk through the turnstile, through the tunnels, and on to Main Street. Furthermore, the first sight of the Castle. Ahhhh … see, I’m in my happy place. Right NOW. As I type this.

Add that emotion to the roller coaster I had ridden over the last year and just the sheer fact that I am financially capable to be there and that I am there celebrating love (guess those “I’m celebrating” buttons might have been appropriate) for my handsome new Disney-loving beau … words just can’t describe.

At this point, you’re either feeling that emotion with me, or giggling that I take this “Disney stuff” way to serious! I’m hoping that I’m taking you back to happy memories, but if you’re giggling, that’s okay too.

We walk through purse check and through the turnstiles … why lookie there. They’ve decorated for Halloween!

Then onto Main Street … I wish I had taken pictures of all the scarecrows. I only got these two:

Whoa! Look at the crowd!

And, there it is … the first time my eyes laid sight on that beauty:

Ahhh … yep, the world disappears. It’s me, my hubby, Cinderella’s castle … and … all these other people.

Where did they come from?

I didn’t invite them to my honeymoon.

Wait … did that … yep, that dude just walked right into me. And, that lady. Did you see that lady? She just cut us off …

Sad face! We’re in crowds again.

October’s less crowded in Disney? Wait, I mean Disney's less crowded in October??? Umm…no!

Ok, ok … yes I’m exaggerating a little, but really. Where did these people come from?!

Let me try that last sentence again … for a better ending to this update …

Ahhh … yep, the world disappears. It’s me, my hubby, Cinderella’s castle … and many great adventures ahead!

Or, were there too many people in the park to have “many” great adventures?

 

[Purpleblanket]

Thanks for posting the threads about Pop Century. A ton of good information for me to read through!!
I can't wait to read more about your trip.
You and your hubby seem so sweet and appreciative. My favorite character is Mary Poppins too!!!

Looking forward to reading more!!

Debbie

 

[MEK]

Funny ending to your update! I think October has become a pretty popular time. September is the month for low crowds, but it can be so stinkin' hot. I would like to try October one of these years just to see!

Your pictures are really clear and beautiful. Nice work!

 

[megcellent]

Sounds like you guys had a good first day overall. Your thought process really worked with Toy Story Mania. That's a good drop in time from 120 minutes to 40. I love that ride. The more you ride it the more competitive you get.

Oh, I wish we had been able to ride it more than once. And, if we both would have been in Nazi-riding mode, we probably would've, but this was a laid back trip, so we really took it easy. I can certainly see how it will become competitive ... and I bet that's exactly what it will be next time we visit! Yay! A happy thought --- NEXT time we visit!

I was worried about that cheescake turning my mouth colors too I hate when that happens and I did have red teeth for most of the day after I ate it!!

So happy you got your buttons and came across some friendlier CMs I love your pictures of the TSM line, I have never been through the regular line before

Aww, i'm sorry you had red teeth for most of the day ... don't you just hate that. It's like drinking kool-aid. I love the stuff. Even the sugar free kind, but i'm always soo worried that'll turn my lips red, purple, or green. Glad you enjoyed the TSM pics. It really is a cool wait line. A fun one ... it made us think about our childhood and the fun we had playing games. We still play board games and cards and such on holidays when we visit families. Good times!

Great pictures,and thanks for you article.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you visit again!

I can clear that up for you. The only way to access the monorail to Epcot is from the TTC. There is no Epcot monorail running to resorts. If you're staying at a monorail resort you have to take your monorail to the TTC and switch to the Epcot monorail. Good thing you guys left with enough time.

That was so sweet of him to book the breakfast for you knowing that Mary Poppins is your favorite character. That's such a wonderful surprise. I'm glad you had a good time at breakfast. I love that breakfast buffet and I love the strawberry soup. I even have the recipe and I've made it at home before.

Oh, thank you for clearing that up. I knew some resorts were monorail resorts, but I guess all of them are direct monorail-to-park resorts.

Yes, it was sweet of him to book breakfast with Mary! Just another reason I him! The strawberry soup is awesome! Point me in the way of the recipe. I'd love to make it at home!!!

Congrats on your wedding first off, and can't wait to read more.

Hi there! Thanks! Can't wait for ya to read more! I hope to put up another installment today. This weekend was too crazy!

YAY for awesome DH picking that breakfast That is so sweet he thought to do that and that picture with mary came out nice and clear

Yes, I was very thankful the pics with Mary came out perfectly! yay!

Thanks for posting the threads about Pop Century. A ton of good information for me to read through!!
I can't wait to read more about your trip.
You and your hubby seem so sweet and appreciative. My favorite character is Mary Poppins too!!!

Looking forward to reading more!!

Debbie

Yay! I'm glad there are others who love Mary, like me! That movie has always been my favorite! DH and I watched it last weekend. About 20 minutes into it, he asked, "do you really know every word to every song in this movie?" "Maybe ... something wrong with that?" "Nope, just wondered if I was gonna get to listen to you sing all night." Hehe. That DH is something else ...

Hope the link to the POP info helped. I know it is a lot of information to digest!

Funny ending to your update! I think October has become a pretty popular time. September is the month for low crowds, but it can be so stinkin' hot. I would like to try October one of these years just to see!

Your pictures are really clear and beautiful. Nice work!

Apparently, October has become a pretty popular time ... now I know. Even with the crowds, it was still a very nice time to visit. The weather was pretty hot a couple days, but not unbearable - like it was when I went in May before. The other days, it really was perfect, though ... warm enough in the day for shorts, but cool enough at night for a hoodie or light jacket. And, rain ... what rain?! I think it sprinkled one day. Much better than the daily summer showers.

And, the compliment about my pictures ... The are nothing compared to your work! I want a good camera ... I'm trying to talk DH into buying me one for Christmas. Like a starter SLR - do they have those. If I get it I won't know what to do with it, but i'd sure like to learn!!!!


Okay ... now i'm going to post a short picture update with a few Photopass pics from the part of the trip i've already covered. Then, i'll add photopass pics in with my pics for the rest of the installments. I hope to have another installment up later today. I'm sorry I was away from teh computer this weekend. It was a fun, full weekend with some exciting news. But, i'll have to share that news later ...

 

[megcellent]

I got my Photopass CD in Friday! It's a 183 pictures ... I knew I felt like I was constantly looking for Photopass Photographers. I just wanted to make sure to get some good one of the both of us. Maybe I went a little overboard. But, hey, it was fun ... I won't bore you with 183 pictures, but I will post some of the good ones!

So, to catch up ...

Day 1 - Hollywood Studios

Our very first one ... boy, we were cheesin!

Then, we got a photographer whose pictures are blurry ... a specialty?

Sad Face! Because I really super de dooper like those ... but they're blurry.

I like this one. Its the one I picked of us at HS to frame. I decided when I viewed our pics that i'd pick one good one from each park to frame. I made all of them black and white and added the park logo.

And, here's another ...

I sort of like this with the people in the back blurry but us and the hat clear. And, the lights behind the hat ... nice.

Oops, I guess I actually gave myself 2 choices to frame in black and white ...

Now, decisions, decisions!

This one's funny to me. Doesn't that person walking beside me actually look like a ghost?!

And, this one was the last one of the night, in front of TOT. The streets seem empty. I think this was on the way out of the park. I remember thinking that we may not make it back to HS, and I wanted to see if maybe there was a photographer down that way. And there was. There had not been earlier!

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

When we first arrived to my happy place ...

In the street after seeing the castle for the first time.

Oh look, Jer was finally around when Tink came to visit ... and, doesn't he looked surprised to see the little lady!

And here is the first time a Disney photographer suggested to DH that he should kiss his new princess ... The photographers that suggested this were ones who were very aware, attentive and seemed very happy with there jobs. They generally noticed our buttons and told us congratulations. Then after taking the "normal" posed pictures they'd ask Jeremy if he wanted to kiss his pricess. Well, of course he did!

I believe that's it. I'm caught up now with photopass pictures. I'll be back later with a new installment.

 

[IheartDDuck]

You ask for a recipe, and I shall provide!

If the soup isn't sweet enough (depending on whether or not strawberries are in season) I have added sugar and it's helped it out. Super easy.

Strawberry Soup

Servings:
4 4-6 Servings Size

Ingredients:
2 lbs frozen strawberries
16 ounces heavy cream
2 ounces sour cream
3 ounces yogurt
1/2 lb fresh strawberries

Directionsrep Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 25 mins
1 Thaw the frozen berries in their juices.
2 Blend all of the ingredients (except the fresh berries) on low until smooth.
3 Chill, shake well before serving.
4 Add fresh strawberry halves as a garnish.

 

[jstack]

Congrats on getting married. I have really enjoyed reading your trip reports and looking at your pictures.

 

[megcellent]

After taking Main Street Photopass Pics, as included in the above update, and slowly moseying down the beauty of Main Street, we were off for those great adventures Mary had mentioned …

“Where to first, Mrs Funderburk?”
“I don’t know, where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know, what do you want to see first?”
“I had to see the castle first, that’s done. I’ve had my picture. So, it doesn’t really matter to me.”
“Well it doesn’t really matter to me either.”

I failed to mention it, but that little conversation took place the night before too in Hollywood Studios. Several times.

Somehow or other, we decided to head over to Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain to see about the wait times and fast pass returns. The crowds were a bit crazy. You couldn’t walk through them without bumping into other people. However, fortunate for us, while the crowds were a bit crazy the lines weren’t too bad! We decided to fast pass Splash with a return of about an hour and wait in the stand-by line of Big Thunder.

Now, I mentioned earlier that today was THE day … yes, THE day to meet Mary Poppins, but also THE day to ride my favorite ride at Disney. Can you guess? If you guessed Big Thunder, which you probably didn’t, you would be correct. I think the standby line was only 25 minutes or so. The line was constantly slowly moving forward, so you didn’t notice how long it took. Here is the one lonely picture that we took. DH was the photographer.

I don’t know what it is about that ride that I adore. I love the smell when you walk into line and go into the area with the roof over your head. I know it’s just the smell of sitting water, but it’s nostalgic to me. Does anyone else recognize smells of Disney? Main Street even has a smell! There are times when I’m somewhere and have Déjà vu and think … oh, that’s Disney I smell!!! Lol! Anywho, I just love Big Thunder Mountain. I think I could happily live there … in the big thunder mountains. The ride just puts a smile on my face every time, and I giggle – I’ll tell you more about that later in the week when we ride it again. I enjoy hearing the narration by the old country-sounding coal miner and seeing the green light that we are clear to go. The narration says something like “…the greatest ride in the wild west” and for some reason I always feel the need to repeat that to the person sitting next to me? I love seeing the bat eyes and hearing the screeches when you first start. I love the little water fall when you crest the first hill, the turns, the possum hanging from the tree and the billy goat standing on one of the cliffs … oh and that one tunnel that just doesn’t look big enough for the train to fit … I always put my hands down and duck my head. It’s just a reaction. My mind knows there’s plenty room, yet I still duck. hehe. I just love it!

By the time we were threw visiting the Wild West, we only had a couple minutes till our fast pass return time for Splash, so we just waited it out. I can’t remember what exactly we did. Maybe we just sat and people watched … I love doing this in Disney! No, I’m not some crazy person that likes staring at people or stalking. I just like to watch. I enjoy the beauty of seeing so many different people from all backgrounds with all kinds of stories (I’m sure) enjoying the same things that I enjoy. That probably makes me weird. But, if so, I’m ok with that.

It wasn’t long before we were aboard our log ride. We got the back seat, as I recall. Just where I wanted to be. I truly do enjoy this ride. And, at times, I even enjoy getting wet on this ride, but when I still have half a day ahead of me in the parks, I don’t really want to get wet, so the back seat suited me just fine! Soon we heard Brer Rabbit say, “Oh please Brer Fox, whatever you do, please don’t throw me in the briar patch” and down the hatch we went. It was fun … as always. Jer couldn’t wait to see the picture. I wasn’t quick enough getting the camera out of my zippee, out of my larger zippee, and out of my purse to take a redneck photo of the photo. That’s almost too confusing to understand … but, you probably know what I’m talking about. Don’t act like you don’t do it. You have to waterproof your camera and your cell phone and your wallet … don’t you? My method just happens to be a small zippee inside a larger zippee, inside the zippee compartment of my zippee purse that I put underneath my shirt and cover with my jacket, that all lies underneath the poncho I bring to wear on wet rides … Just kidding. Maybe. But it was 2 zippees inside my purse.

After viewing our photo, we headed into the dump shop and Jeremy spotted this:

“Oh, baby, that’s the perfect shirt”
“Really … you took the plunge. Cute.” I kept walking.
“Wait. It’s the perfect shirt because we took the plunge on Splash Mountain, but we also took the plunge and just got married.”
I pondered. And pondered. I wondered what correct response I should have…I choose a simple, “Ohhhh…”
“We should get them and wear them one day.”
“O..ok. Do you really wanna be that dorky?”
“Sweetie, we’re in Disney. Everyone’s dorky. You’re supposed to be. Its just to have fun. I think it would be funny and cute.”

We bought the shirts. You’ll see them in some pictures in upcoming updates. Aren’t you excited?!

Its hard to believe but by this time I had little twinge of hunger in my tummy. Not so hungry I needed to eat again, but … icecream! Icecream would be perfect! No, actually, a dole whip would be perfect! So, that’s where we headed next. We grabbed our pineapple floats – mine with pineapple ice cream, Jer’s with orange – and we found a place to sit and enjoy that little taste of heaven. I think we switched mid-way to share the different flavor ice creams. Little did we know the spot we had picked to sit and enjoy our little taste of heaven was certainly far from heaven because it wasn’t long before we were surrounded by smoke.

“Hmm … I guess this is a smoking section, honey. Let’s start walking.”

So, we got back up and started walking toward this place:

I noticed the crowds gathering. I had no concept of the time, but once I pulled my phone out to look, I realized that the parade was about to take place. We decided there was too much left in the park for us to do, so our goal was simply to get across the crowd and not get stuck watching the parade. No disrespect to the parade, of course. I actually love this Share a Dream Come True Parade, but I had other great adventures awaiting my arrival!

We made it across the massive crowd. We decided to stop here for a quick moment …

to take these pictures

And get the photopass photographer to snap this pic:

I love that photopass spot!

When we arrived to Future World, wanna guess the first place we went?

We grabbed a Fast Pass for Buzz to enjoy later and jumped in the standby line with a wait of something like 35 minutes.

Soon we would be on a galactical adventure.

Wanna guess who had the highest score???

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm going to say that you had the highest score!

The conversation you had at the beginning of the update is so true though. At some point during any of my trips, I always find myself in this "what do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" conversation.

I agree wholeheartedly that Disney has distinct smells. It's indescribable. And redneck photos? Oh yea, been there, done that, and totally been busted by cast members before. Apparently they "frown" upon it, so if you get caught, they'll tell you you can't take the picture. Oh well.

 

[Purpleblanket]

Great Photo Pass pictures!!!
I can't wait to see more!!

Debbie

 

[MEK]

Hmmmmm....I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say that you are the high scorer!

You really got some beautiful pictures - photopass and your own. Some of your shots are so crystal clear that I feel like I can just reach out and touch them. Nice work!

Boo to the fuzzy pp pictures! That's just wrong!

 

[mariacj]

Where have I been.... I feel so behind!!!!!


Sigh anyway.... I love the picture you chose for your frame. I think its funny... I have a kissy picture at the exact same spot with the hat.

Jer. was super sweet for choosing Park Fare... I love me some Mary P.!!!!

I think you guys are adorable!!!!!

Keep posting!