WonderWomanDC
Disney Bride
- Joined
- May 17, 2004
- Messages
- 159
A little late to be posting, I know. But I was encouraged to share them, and I hope you will enjoy hearing about our special day.
A little background.
My husband (called Fiance throughout the recaps for the most part) was the one who thought of getting married at Disney. We had an untraditional meeting (online); a very fast courtship; and a long engagement. LOL why have a traditional wedding when we could get married at Disney? I was a little skeptical when he first suggested the idea, since I had not been to Disney in years, and my parents had never had the money for us to stay on property. As you can tell from my participation on the Dis, LOL, my new M.O. is lots and lots of Disney trips!!
My parents hated the idea of Disney, but they later admitted that they had misjudged it. My inlaws (usually called outlaws in my reporting) were behind the idea of Disney, but very negative on the wedding in general, constantly complained about cost (although theyd volunteered), and gave both of us a lot of stress and bad feelings leading up to the wedding. Permanent damage to the relationship was an unfortunate side effect.
My original location, inspired by a Dis member (janet2k), was shut down unexpectedly a few months before the wedding. Disney Fairytale Weddings worked very closely with us to identify our new location, and we were very happy with it. We kept our reception location a complete surprise to our wedding guest and bridal party. It wasn't easy!
Chapter One: the first 24 hours..
Well, after finishing a lot of little last minute tasks and packing, we left for the land of Mouse at 10:15pm. We had decided to try to drive the trip straight through, but didnt tell anyone so that we could have a day alone to just be together leading up to the wedding.
We stopped at the cleanest rest stop wed ever seen somewhere in southern Virginia and then we just kept cruising down 95. I took a brief nap til about 2am and then Fiance was getting tired so I stayed awake to keep him up. Wed slept in super late on Sunday to be able to pull off the trip. We contemplated stopping when we were in South Carolina and kind of tired but we just really wanted to get there. I offered to drive for a while but Fiance said it was enough to just be awake and chatting with him. The toughest part was the hour or two before dawn. Once the sun was coming up we were doing fine and we hit Georgia which of course made us feel better about our progress.
We stopped for some gas and additional caffeine (I think Fiance drank 8 doubleshot starbucks espresso drinks on the trip). Finally we crossed the Florida line. We hit a little bit of traffic in Jacksonville but it was mercifully brief and after a bit we got to Daytona and jumped on I-4 West. Woohoo. We called the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see if we could have our room made ready a bit early since I know people sometimes have to wait when arriving early. I was told that they did not pre-assign rooms and could not do so now. So we had to take our chances.
Now the trip in general went faster than I expected but the last hour was endless!! I felt like we were never going to arrive. Finally at 11:15 13 hours after wed left we rolled up to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So happy!! We went in to see if our room was ready. I figured we had a pretty good chance since wed booked a deluxe and even called right???
Wrong! We were informed that first, we had two double beds rather than a king bed in our room (ummmm hello were getting MARRIED we want that king bed!!) and that our room would not be ready for several more hours. As you can imagine we were just so tired after all that driving and riding and waiting. But there was nothing we could do. So we hopped back in the car and headed out in search of food.
We decided on lunch at Wolfgang Puck Café. I just got a soup and Fiance had the chicken Caesar salad. We arrived at Downtown Disney and I gave our EM Our Event Manager a call just to let her know wed arrived, etc. She told me we should talk to the manager about giving us a king sized bed, so we said we would when we got back. We agreed to meet the next day at 4pm for our walkthrough and to go over details and hand her over our various items for the wedding programs, menu cards, candles, rose petal bags, etc. etc.
Here we are, very sleepy, when we arrived at AKL.
Check out the car, as packed!! A very tight fit.
We had a quick lunch and then hit the World of Disney for some shopping after calling and finding out that our room was still not ready. I did get a cute long sleeved Mickey tee and we bought two mugs and some coconut mickey heads
We wandered around in a semi-comatose stupor and then left to kill some more time with a visit to you guessed it the wedding pavilion!! There was an intimate wedding going on so we kept our distance. We talked about photos, etc.
FINALLY it was 3 and we headed back to AKL (keep in mind that during all this time killing, eating, wandering, etc. my wedding dress, all our luggage and two big boxes were packed into the back of our suv). We got there and snagged a valet to help us unload the car. He pretty much did it on his own and did a quick and careful job of it. He congratulated us as he saw the wedding gown and asked about the big day. Because we wanted our location to be a surprise for our guests, we told everyone who asked MGM rather than specifying the Tower of Terror. We would hate for some enthusiastic and well-meaning cast member to spill the beans to our guests on their arrival. He took us inside to the bell desk and we tipped and thanked him. We went to the guest services desk to discuss getting a king bed room rather than the two queens. We managed to talk to a sympathetic cast member who agreed to switch us. So we were set with that.
The bellhop was a small lady and I laughed to myself since we had a huge and heavy luggage cart. But she handled it just fine. She offered to store my wedding gown for me in their storage closet but I thanked her and politely told her that I wasnt going to let it out of my sight!! She did get us some ice too. We gave her a big tip and checked out the room. Very happy!! The room was big with a couch and table and chairs and drum roll please the king size bed!! Finally a sweet blessed nap.We dropped our stuff and I rigged up a way to hang my wedding gown from the hinge of the door that goes to the next room. The little bellhop that could also got me a clean white sheet from housekeeping to wrap the gown in so that it wouldnt be visible or get dirty. Then we got in bed and set a wake up call for 8pm. We had reservations for a romantic dinner at the California Grill at 9:40. We fell into an exhausted sleep coma!
Wakeup call came from Mickey right on time and we groggily watched tv for a bit and chatted. Then we got our showers and got dressed to head to dinner.
We arrived and found that since our last visit, California Grills check in counter had been moved to the second floor to expedite it and control the crowds (so we were told). They took us upstairs and though wed arrived first in the group of couples checking in, we were seated last. However they did give us a window seat as requested and we had a great view of the castle.
Our waiter arrived and we perused the menu and ordered up some flatbread, iced teas, the romaine salad and I chose the pumpkin lasagne while Fiance got the chicken. We started chowing down on the flatbread like little piggies LOL. Meanwhile we enjoyed the view and relaxed. I had asked our waiter to send the manager over if he/she was not busy. When she arrived I told her that we were having our rehearsal luncheon for our wedding in the Napa room the coming Saturday and I asked her about the new 2nd floor check-in. She said that during the day the elevators do go straight up so we didnt need to make any changes. She congratulated us on the wedding and I complimented her on the food and her staff vis a vis Heathers wedding. She was a very nice lady. After she left we chatted and ate our salad and then the manager came back. She was apologizing profusely apparently theyd inadvertently overcooked Fiances chicken and were preparing a new one. They were so sorry to keep us waiting. As a consolation, they brought over two wine glasses filled with huckleberry sorbet for us to try. Delicious!! I thought that was a nice gesture and honestly the wait wasnt very long. We were already filling up from the bread and the salad (thank god we split it) so we didnt mind a few minutes to relax plus the yummy sorbet. When the entrees did arrive they were both really good Fiance raved about the chicken and I was happy with my pumpkin lasagne very unusual and tasty. We decided to split the miniature chocolate cake with ice cream for dessert.
When the bill came the waiter once again apologized and theyd given us a big discount on the check which was so nice of them especially because we didnt even have any complaints!! They were very kind to us. We left a large tip and headed out to get back to our room. Sleepy time! First I put away all my clothes, requested some extra hangers which they sent up right away. Then we set a 10am wake up call and went to bed.
Next up my outlaws arrive, the walkthrough, and my crying jag...
A little background.
My husband (called Fiance throughout the recaps for the most part) was the one who thought of getting married at Disney. We had an untraditional meeting (online); a very fast courtship; and a long engagement. LOL why have a traditional wedding when we could get married at Disney? I was a little skeptical when he first suggested the idea, since I had not been to Disney in years, and my parents had never had the money for us to stay on property. As you can tell from my participation on the Dis, LOL, my new M.O. is lots and lots of Disney trips!!
My parents hated the idea of Disney, but they later admitted that they had misjudged it. My inlaws (usually called outlaws in my reporting) were behind the idea of Disney, but very negative on the wedding in general, constantly complained about cost (although theyd volunteered), and gave both of us a lot of stress and bad feelings leading up to the wedding. Permanent damage to the relationship was an unfortunate side effect.
My original location, inspired by a Dis member (janet2k), was shut down unexpectedly a few months before the wedding. Disney Fairytale Weddings worked very closely with us to identify our new location, and we were very happy with it. We kept our reception location a complete surprise to our wedding guest and bridal party. It wasn't easy!
Chapter One: the first 24 hours..
Well, after finishing a lot of little last minute tasks and packing, we left for the land of Mouse at 10:15pm. We had decided to try to drive the trip straight through, but didnt tell anyone so that we could have a day alone to just be together leading up to the wedding.
We stopped at the cleanest rest stop wed ever seen somewhere in southern Virginia and then we just kept cruising down 95. I took a brief nap til about 2am and then Fiance was getting tired so I stayed awake to keep him up. Wed slept in super late on Sunday to be able to pull off the trip. We contemplated stopping when we were in South Carolina and kind of tired but we just really wanted to get there. I offered to drive for a while but Fiance said it was enough to just be awake and chatting with him. The toughest part was the hour or two before dawn. Once the sun was coming up we were doing fine and we hit Georgia which of course made us feel better about our progress.
We stopped for some gas and additional caffeine (I think Fiance drank 8 doubleshot starbucks espresso drinks on the trip). Finally we crossed the Florida line. We hit a little bit of traffic in Jacksonville but it was mercifully brief and after a bit we got to Daytona and jumped on I-4 West. Woohoo. We called the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see if we could have our room made ready a bit early since I know people sometimes have to wait when arriving early. I was told that they did not pre-assign rooms and could not do so now. So we had to take our chances.
Now the trip in general went faster than I expected but the last hour was endless!! I felt like we were never going to arrive. Finally at 11:15 13 hours after wed left we rolled up to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So happy!! We went in to see if our room was ready. I figured we had a pretty good chance since wed booked a deluxe and even called right???
Wrong! We were informed that first, we had two double beds rather than a king bed in our room (ummmm hello were getting MARRIED we want that king bed!!) and that our room would not be ready for several more hours. As you can imagine we were just so tired after all that driving and riding and waiting. But there was nothing we could do. So we hopped back in the car and headed out in search of food.
We decided on lunch at Wolfgang Puck Café. I just got a soup and Fiance had the chicken Caesar salad. We arrived at Downtown Disney and I gave our EM Our Event Manager a call just to let her know wed arrived, etc. She told me we should talk to the manager about giving us a king sized bed, so we said we would when we got back. We agreed to meet the next day at 4pm for our walkthrough and to go over details and hand her over our various items for the wedding programs, menu cards, candles, rose petal bags, etc. etc.
Here we are, very sleepy, when we arrived at AKL.
Check out the car, as packed!! A very tight fit.
We had a quick lunch and then hit the World of Disney for some shopping after calling and finding out that our room was still not ready. I did get a cute long sleeved Mickey tee and we bought two mugs and some coconut mickey heads
We wandered around in a semi-comatose stupor and then left to kill some more time with a visit to you guessed it the wedding pavilion!! There was an intimate wedding going on so we kept our distance. We talked about photos, etc.
FINALLY it was 3 and we headed back to AKL (keep in mind that during all this time killing, eating, wandering, etc. my wedding dress, all our luggage and two big boxes were packed into the back of our suv). We got there and snagged a valet to help us unload the car. He pretty much did it on his own and did a quick and careful job of it. He congratulated us as he saw the wedding gown and asked about the big day. Because we wanted our location to be a surprise for our guests, we told everyone who asked MGM rather than specifying the Tower of Terror. We would hate for some enthusiastic and well-meaning cast member to spill the beans to our guests on their arrival. He took us inside to the bell desk and we tipped and thanked him. We went to the guest services desk to discuss getting a king bed room rather than the two queens. We managed to talk to a sympathetic cast member who agreed to switch us. So we were set with that.
The bellhop was a small lady and I laughed to myself since we had a huge and heavy luggage cart. But she handled it just fine. She offered to store my wedding gown for me in their storage closet but I thanked her and politely told her that I wasnt going to let it out of my sight!! She did get us some ice too. We gave her a big tip and checked out the room. Very happy!! The room was big with a couch and table and chairs and drum roll please the king size bed!! Finally a sweet blessed nap.We dropped our stuff and I rigged up a way to hang my wedding gown from the hinge of the door that goes to the next room. The little bellhop that could also got me a clean white sheet from housekeeping to wrap the gown in so that it wouldnt be visible or get dirty. Then we got in bed and set a wake up call for 8pm. We had reservations for a romantic dinner at the California Grill at 9:40. We fell into an exhausted sleep coma!
Wakeup call came from Mickey right on time and we groggily watched tv for a bit and chatted. Then we got our showers and got dressed to head to dinner.
We arrived and found that since our last visit, California Grills check in counter had been moved to the second floor to expedite it and control the crowds (so we were told). They took us upstairs and though wed arrived first in the group of couples checking in, we were seated last. However they did give us a window seat as requested and we had a great view of the castle.
Our waiter arrived and we perused the menu and ordered up some flatbread, iced teas, the romaine salad and I chose the pumpkin lasagne while Fiance got the chicken. We started chowing down on the flatbread like little piggies LOL. Meanwhile we enjoyed the view and relaxed. I had asked our waiter to send the manager over if he/she was not busy. When she arrived I told her that we were having our rehearsal luncheon for our wedding in the Napa room the coming Saturday and I asked her about the new 2nd floor check-in. She said that during the day the elevators do go straight up so we didnt need to make any changes. She congratulated us on the wedding and I complimented her on the food and her staff vis a vis Heathers wedding. She was a very nice lady. After she left we chatted and ate our salad and then the manager came back. She was apologizing profusely apparently theyd inadvertently overcooked Fiances chicken and were preparing a new one. They were so sorry to keep us waiting. As a consolation, they brought over two wine glasses filled with huckleberry sorbet for us to try. Delicious!! I thought that was a nice gesture and honestly the wait wasnt very long. We were already filling up from the bread and the salad (thank god we split it) so we didnt mind a few minutes to relax plus the yummy sorbet. When the entrees did arrive they were both really good Fiance raved about the chicken and I was happy with my pumpkin lasagne very unusual and tasty. We decided to split the miniature chocolate cake with ice cream for dessert.
When the bill came the waiter once again apologized and theyd given us a big discount on the check which was so nice of them especially because we didnt even have any complaints!! They were very kind to us. We left a large tip and headed out to get back to our room. Sleepy time! First I put away all my clothes, requested some extra hangers which they sent up right away. Then we set a 10am wake up call and went to bed.
Next up my outlaws arrive, the walkthrough, and my crying jag...
and we went to MGM. When we got to the lobby I wanted to go back up for my rain slicker but Fiance insisted it wouldnt rain. Famous last words! We got to MGM and went for a fast pass to the Tower of Terror. I wasnt sure I wanted to go on it as I thought it might be nice to save for the wedding day but we got the fast passes and then headed into the courtyard to check out our location! 
