My wedding is just an excuse to have a Disneymoon-Aug '13 PTR (NEW!! 9/14)

[YukiPhnx]

Glad you had a nice first day ..... can't wait for more!

Thanks Karin!

 

[PennyLane1084]

Great Update Yuki! Can't wait to hear all about your cruise.

It was also kind of funny when the officer asked for the relationship between me and my sister. We get this ALL THE TIME.

Really? That's so weird. Is there a big age gap between you two?

You're wedding is getting so close! If you ever need to vent about wedding frustrations, feel free to PM me anytime! Planning a wedding is the most stressful thing I've EVER done. It's totally surpassed the stress level of college finals even.

 

[YukiPhnx]

19.Stuff I want

I just listened to a podcast about WDW merchandise and did some scouring of the online Disney store for park merchandise. All I can think of now is what I want to buy!

I'm trying to buy less stuff at home so I can have more money for stuff in DisneyWorld, haha. Disney gets my money every time.

So here it is, in no particular ranking, what I plan to come home with.

-Walt Disney World Mini Barrel Bag by Dooney & Bourke - Retro

I'm only listing 1 D&B right now but I have a feeling I'll be coming home with more than 1...I'm planning on getting this as a in-park bag. Who needs a backpack when you have a husband, amirite? :haha:

-Minnie Mouse Ear Headband - Pirate

Again, I may be getting more than 1 Minnie Mouse ear. I love these new designer ears!!!

-3D puzzle from Japan

If they have this one. It's so cute!

I have wanted this since our last trip but I decided I would only pick up 1 large puzzle per trip.

-another Pick-a-pearl from Japan, probably either set in a ring or as earrings with the pearl I STILL have from 2010

-Oswald Ear Hat for Adults

Andrew and I both played Epic Mickey and have a soft spot for Oswald. This hat also looks ADORABLE on the two of us, so we'll probably get it.

-a Christmas ornament

Not these in particular, but they ARE very cute. I want to start this tradition because I think it's a great idea.

-a 2013 frame

I always put my favourite picture of the trip in here.

-a 2013 zip hoodie

Another souvie I always get. I love the words down the sleeve for this one!

-and some shot glasses for Andrew

I'd really love to not buy any mugs or cups but they make great gifts for my FAMILY and they're just SO NICE!!!! Especially those plastic cups with the princesses on them that come in sets of 4. I guess I'll have to see how much space is left in my suitcase by the end.

Oh yeah, I'll also be buying a LOT of clothes. Especially these matching shirts for Andrew and I that say, "I'll be your Mickey/Minnie". I would've bought that on our visit to DtD if they had the size I wanted. They're so cute!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Great Update Yuki! Can't wait to hear all about your cruise.



Really? That's so weird. Is there a big age gap between you two?

You're wedding is getting so close! If you ever need to vent about wedding frustrations, feel free to PM me anytime! Planning a wedding is the most stressful thing I've EVER done. It's totally surpassed the stress level of college finals even.

Kristin~ So happy to hear from you. You'll be MARRIED and DONE WITH so soon! Oh em gee, it's stupid how stressed I am about such a joyful day. I can't wait for this all to be over....

Actually, my sister has dark skin and I have light skin, so nobody ever thinks we're sisters. She's also 2.5 yrs younger than me but most people think she's older.

I think what's more stressful is that I'm also moving to China. All this stuff at once is just a lot to worry about.

Thanks , I'm glad I have a comrade to rant to.

 

[PennyLane1084]

Kristin~ So happy to hear from you. You'll be MARRIED and DONE WITH so soon! Oh em gee, it's stupid how stressed I am about such a joyful day. I can't wait for this all to be over....

Actually, my sister has dark skin and I have light skin, so nobody ever thinks we're sisters. She's also 2.5 yrs younger than me but most people think she's older.

I think what's more stressful is that I'm also moving to China. All this stuff at once is just a lot to worry about.

Thanks , I'm glad I have a comrade to rant to.

No Problem guuurl! Anytime. It's funny who stressful planning "The Happiest Day of Your Life" is!

I've thought of doing the same thing. Deciding on souvenirs I want before hand. Now reading that update, you totally just pointed out things I didn't even know I wanted!

 

[YukiPhnx]

No Problem guuurl! Anytime. It's funny who stressful planning "The Happiest Day of Your Life" is!

I've thought of doing the same thing. Deciding on souvenirs I want before hand. Now reading that update, you totally just pointed out things I didn't even know I wanted!

Haha, I'm glad I gave you more things to buy!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Breaking news!

I'm going to Disneyland in California! Why you ask? Well, AirTran had cancelled our flight back from the cruise. In addition to putting us up for a night in the Sheraton suites and giving us food vouchers, we were all given 1 free RT each!

They're going to expire within a year but the problem is that Andrew and I are leaving the country in 3 months. We considered a short Universal Orlando trip but the dates we wanted were booked up. So we looked to the West and were able to book 4 seats to LAX! So Disneyland, here we come!

In other news, I'm leaving my place of work in mid June to prepare for the move. I hope to finally update regularly! My work has now blocked the DIS.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Freedom Day 2

We had a nice and late morning because we signed up for the 12:30pm shuttle to the terminal. Anything earlier had already been booked up but we were okay with sleeping in a bit. I believe the free breakfast ended around 11am so we pretty much took our time in the morning. It was so relaxing and wonderful to have all that time and not have to rush to go anywhere. My mom learned the value of flying in the night before. Yay me!

The shuttle only cost $3/person for the one-way trip to the terminal. If there were only 4 of us, I would've ordered a cab. Unfortunately, I forgot to upload the pictures of us arriving at the terminal so you won't get to see the million shots I took of the Disney Dream that was parked right next to our ship!

I think I was more excited to see a DCL ship up close than I was for the Freedom~ The Aquaduck looks so cool! I can't wait to take my family on a Disney cruise.

The check-in was super easy. I love using my Driver's license for my ID! It was so exciting to direct my family to the Gold members line even if the regular line wasn't that long. This was at 1pm. We were on the ship in less than 15 minutes.

And now for the moment you've been waiting for, ship pictures! Ladies and Gents, I present to you the Freedom of the Seas.

The beautiful Promenade.


The Solarium hot tub hanging over the side.


Main pool with the large screen.


Soft serve ice cream machine!


H2O kidzone.


Windjammer and Jade entrance.


Windjammer seating.


Our first lunch in here was great! I had the roast beef with mustard sauce and some pasta. Everyone was really enjoying their first moments on the ship. I was so excited for the rest of the trip! We're finally here!!!

Johnny Rockets outdoor seating.


Ball court.


Climbing wall.


The Crypt dance club.


Surprise jump shot of my siblings and I!


One of The Crypt entrances.


Cake and wine from our favourite MEI-Travel agent!


Dreamworks Sailaway Party.


Shrek and Fiona show up!


I never thought I would be so excited to see characters on a ship. I guess it must be like this on a Disney ship!

The Viking Crown lounge.


Outside Pharaoh's Palace, where most of the game shows took place.




Another great thing about this place is its proximity to the pizza place on the Promenade. We usually grabbed a slice (or 2 or 3) and settled down here for some silly fun!


Dinner time!


My lovely mom and wonderful dad.


Dinner was a bit frustating as our waiter seemed to have little patience for the fact that my parents and grandpa needed their menus translated for them. Unfortunately, his service doesn't get any better during our trip even after we brought it up to our Head Waiter. More on this later. The food was FANTASTIC.

Heading up to the Promenade from dinner.


To end our night, we played a bit of Scrabble in the Seven Hearts games room. Playing games became a nightly tradition that started with our 2012 cruise with my best friend.

My sister, the HUGE Harry Potter fan, found this in her letters at one point.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Freedom Day 3

Today was our sea day which to me meant "Sleep in, eat, sunbathe (ie.sleeping on the top deck), eat, shop, eat some more" Day. I am proud to say I had a very successful sea day!

We decided to have breakfast in the Main Dining Room. It was another beautiful day.


The theme of the cruise weather seemed to be WINDY. No matter sun or not, it was windy. Especially at night. It would get so windy on the pool deck I was worried I might get blown away! The ports were much better but it was still windy. The win was that we never felt too hot, the lose was that we couldn't feel our skin BURNING. We all came home with sunburn. Good thing I learned my lesson from my last cruise and brought 2 bottles of sunburn relief.

Breakfast in the MDR was actually very disappointing. The service was slow and when the food came out, the portions were small and the food was dry. Even the yogurt bar wasn't all that great. It was pretty much the food you could get in the Windjammer but served to you by a waiter. We stuck to breakfast in the Windjammer from then on.

The ship offered Dreamworks breakfasts on sea days but those started at 7:45am! There was no way I would be waking up that early to have a mediocre breakfast with Shrek.

Main dining room.




Here's the view from our promenade stateroom.


I really loved our stateroom and the extra space we had! I also loved the placement of the furniture with the vanity and couch at the end of the room. It made our room appear more spacious.

We also spent some time at the Flowrider and I watched as my siblings and Andrew wiped out! Yes, I'm a wonderful person really. I made sure to capture it all on video so they could be reminded, I mean REMEMBER all the FUN they had!

Go Andrew!






Hooray little sister!






Yay little brother!






The boys had a lot of fun. My sister came away pretty bruised up and vowed to "never again".

The 2nd night of the cruise was also Formal night, so we got all dressed up to take some formal photos of the family. Unfortunately, I still haven't uploaded those either, so here's Andrew and I!


I'll be wearing that tiara and he'll be wearing that suit on our wedding day!

And now for the FOOD PORN! I actually don't remember what most of these were so bare with me here...

Banana and cinnamon soup. I love fruit soup! I think this also had a bit of rum in it...


Tilapia and scallop. I can't remember who had this. (Oh boy, Karin is so much better at this than I am)


Prime rib. Andrew seemed to enjoy it.


Duck confit. This was my dish. It was great but the portion was too much.


Chocolate souffle. I can never complain about chocolate souffle.


Lemon meringue tart. It's not my thing but Andrew enjoyed it.


I brought a green dry-erase board for our room door so we could leave messages for each other. When we found that our walkie talkies were much better for keeping in touch, Andrew started creating polls for other guests to vote on! All of these votes are from our cabin neighbours!


He would then draw the results at the end of each day.


This was probably one of the best ideas we had. We had so much fun! We also used it to invite other guests to join us in our nightly games. Tonight we played Apples to Apples. No guests showed up so far. Maybe tomorrow night?

 

[YukiPhnx]

Disneyland

TWO MORE WEEKS UNTIL MY FIRST TIME IN DISNEYLAND RESORT IN CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
​

You can never have too many dancing bananas in a post, amirite?

I thought it would be at least 4 years until I could say (write?) those words but I guess the Disney gods were smiling on me? I'm so excited I could burst! I did a lot of hardcore researching for the two parks. I already knew a lot from listening to the Disneyland Dis Unplugged but I needed more!

I'm finally at the point where I feel like I'm ready to take on the first Disney park. Some people have been telling me that as a WDW "veteran", I'm going to be disappointed. Clearly, they don't know what it means to be a true Disney fan. How I can be disappointed by the first park Walt Disney built? The only park he actually walked around in and had a personal hand in all its finishings? There is so much history and personality in that park. It would be an insult (IMO) to be "disappointed" in Disneyland. I don't think it's even in my blood to do. Yes of course I have Disney-fan blood running inside me, don't you?

So this is what's going down.

~~~

July 1-Drive to Buffalo airport for our 6am flight that will eventually get us to LAX by 12pm. Since we'll be connecting in Atlanta, we have decided to travel by carry-on only to avoid losing our luggage. Losing my bags once is enough for me.

On a slightly related tangent, has anyone seen that new auction show about unclaimed luggage? I've only seen the commercial but it still boils my blood!

Once we arrive in LAX, we pick up our rental car (which will be booked by tonight, Andrew promises) and make the 45min-1 hr drive to our hotel just 2 blocks away from DLR. We're booked for 2 nights at the Stanford Inn and Suites in a family room which has 2 Queen beds and a bunk bed for only $104/night! They also provide free wifi and breakfast.

If our room isn't ready when we check-in, we'll just leave our stuff in the car and drive the 10mins to the parks. Since we have 3-day Park Hoppers as part of our Southern California CityPass, I think our first park will be Disneyland. After having a late lunch, we'll explore the park and orient ourselves for our early morning the next day. Then we'll head to DCA and do the same.

I made a reservation (not called ADRs here!) for 8pm at the Carthay Circle restaurant to get into the reserved viewing area for the 2nd showing of World of Color. I'm avoiding watching videos of this show because I want to be really surprised. All I know is that it's a spectacular show worth waiting for! I'm also going to get "Glow with the show" ears to wear during the show!

After our very long day, we'll crash in our room and try to get some sleep for our 7am start in DL the next day!

July 2-Our 3-day park hopper includes 1 Magic Morning that lets us into Disneyland an hr early (much like AM EMH) 3 days a week. Unlike our EMH, they actually have a set Magic Morning schedule that rarely fluctuates. Imagine that! With the help of my DL touring plan, we are going to experience most attractions by the time lunch comes around.

I also did something I never thought I'd do. Book a character breakfast. It didn't make sense to book it for when the park opens because we wanted to take advantage of that extra hour. So I booked a breakfast at the Plaza Inn with Minnie and Friends for 10am.

After breakfast, we will continue with our touring until we've had enough and go over to Downtown Disney for a break. Our hotel is actually close enough to return to for an afternoon break, but I think we'll just chill in Downtown Disney.

We may either choose to go to DCA or return to DL where we'll end our night with the 2nd showing of Fantasmic. I've learned that we won't have to line up too long for the 2nd showing which is exactly what I want. If we can get into Blue Bayou for dinner, it would be ideal. I don't want to make reservations because I don't want them to dictate my day (says the girl who made 2 of them already). Then again...it IS July...

After another long day, we will again crash in our room.

July 3- After checking out and loading up our rental car, we will head for DCA's 8am park opening for our last day in DLR. We will follow our DCA touring plan until mid afternoon, with an early lunch at the Cozy Cone Motel for some cone shaped goodies!

We will either go back to DtD for our break or maybe cross the street to Garden Walk for some non-park time. We'll make a choice of either returning to DCA or hop over to DL for some evening rides on Jungle Cruise.

We'll leave the parks while the 1st showing of Fantasmic shows and drive to Hollywood for our Universal Studios portion of the trip. We have an Airbnb property booked for 2 nights in Studio City. The house we're staying in belongs to a very well-off Acroyoga (acrobatic yoga) instructor!

July 4- Spend day in Universal Studios Hollywood and end with some 4th of July fireworks! We're joking with our friends about how un-patriotic we are because we're leaving Canada on Canada Day and staying in the States until after Independence Day.

July 5- Rise and shine bright an early to fill up on gas and return our car before our 6am flight out of LAX and back to Buffalo. We land in Buffalo around 3pm which means we can do some last minute shopping before heading home to Toronto. I am pretty in love with Hobby Lobby. That's where I got my wedding tiara!

~~~
I bought DLR's PhotoPass Plus card to use on our trip. I'm loving that Disney is finally including attraction photos on the PP because those are some of my favourite vacation photos. No more red-necking those ride shots! We are also planning on taking advantage of our PP to take some nice shots for future cards we'll be sending out. Andrew wants us to dress up as Mario and Luigi (which is something we did at the May convention) on one of the days to make these "card shots" even more fun. We shall see...

Y'all know I'm planing on getting a WDW Dooney and Burke bag on my honeymoon. Now that I'll be in DLR, I'll HAVE to get a DLR Dooney and Burke too right? I mean, there's just no way around that right?

 

[YukiPhnx]

Hello friends!!

I'm so sorry to have abandoned this PTR. In the midst of our Disneyland trip, the wedding, the Disneymoon, and moving to China, it's been tough trying to find time for the DIS.

I'm now going to take a few days to catch up on everyone else's TRs before I get started on my DL and WDW TRs.

I know I've started my cruise side-TR here so I'm going to finish that before starting on the others.

I've missed you all dearly and am ready to come back!

PS. Andrew and I are all moved into our new place in Beijing and am taking a while to get used to things. Talk about culture-shock! This city is unlike any other Asian city I've been in. Nothing could've prepared me for this...Wish me luck!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Hello friends!

I've just started my DLR TR which can be found at this link. I will be starting my WDW one soon. See y'all there! And here too of course because I have unfinished business.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Freedom Day 4

Today was our Labadee Day, or "Laba-daba-ding-dong" as our cruise director called it. The weather was gorgeous and it was the perfect day to get some sun in. It had been so windy on the ship that it was hard to just stop and sun tan so I was really looking forward to that!





We were 1 of 2 ships on this RCI part of the island. I hate to admit it but it felt GOOD to be the bigger ship.


Hello Labadee!


This is our first time on a "private island" so I didn't know what to expect. I had already heard a lot about Castaway Cay from Karin (dizneeat) but not a whole lot about Labadee. I knew the beaches were just for us and that there was going to be a free bbq lunch and that some excursions cost money.

What I found out is that almost everything cost money on this island. Besides the free lunch and some floating mats on the beaches, everything had an extra cost. I was really looking forward to playing on that floating playground out there. I thought it was free.


To play in the floating playground, it costs $15/person for 60 minutes. Since there wasn't anything else to do on that beach except lounge and maybe play in the water, we decided to fork over the money.

It was worth it! Those 60 mins are more than enough to explore everything and it's SO TIRING that you will be glad you only have 60mins. You are provided a life jacket and you just jump in and have at it for the next hour. We had so much fun!!! I would definitely recommend this if you know your kid is a climber and not afraid of jumping off of high places. Not recommended to small children who can't lift themselves up onto the playground floaties.

I almost forgot. This playground is only at the Columbus Cove part of the beach.


Here are some more pics of Columbus Cove and its beach.

PLENTY of lounge chairs.





Here are some more pics of Labadee.




Lunch was right behind the beach and was an assortment of island food such as black bean rice, fried plantains, grilled chicken, bbq ribs, 3 kinds of slaw, potato salad, cookies and cakes. Sorry, I didn't have my camera with me when we went to eat. The food was very good and we were really happy with it.

After lunch, we proceeded to lie out in the sun and bake ourselves a little before jumping into the water and having ourselves a good old fashioned splash fight! We were also able to commandeer some floating mats and spent a good 30mins on those. Floating in the ocean on those things were PURE BLISS.

As we were heading out of the water, Andrew cut his foot on some sharp rocks at the bottom of the water. What made it worse was he still had to make it back to the beach through the salty water! Once we were back on the beach, we called First Aid over and they were able to patch him up in no time. They even gave him some extra packets of ointment for his foot.

Goodbye Labadee!


Back on the ship, the results of the latest poll were in.


Two-piece wins!


Speaking of the medical aid on the ship, my mom got sick the day before and she took a visit to the doctor on the ship. It was a routine check-up and she was prescribed some aspirin. It turned out to be a $200 visit! Yikes! We had no idea it would cost so much. I guess as Canadians, we're pretty spoiled when it comes to healthcare. I had bought insurance for the trip but my mom didn't want to bother with it? So we didn't make a claim and took it as a lesson learned.

This is what we had for dinner tonight.

Beef carpaccio! I love this stuff. Yes, both those plates are mine. Yum!


Lamb shanks. I love lamb and according to my notes, it was good.


For dessert I had this...I cannot for the life of me remember what it's called. It's pudding-like...and had a very nice light taste to it.


This stole dinner. This warm chocolate cake. I still think about it. It was the best chocolate cake I've EVER HAD. It was sooo soft and and warm and melty and rich and *drools*.


Looks like Henry wants whatever my sister is having.

Our night after dinner was jam packed! We all returned to our room for a rest but my parents called us on our walkie-talkies and tricked us into getting to the headliner show 40mins ahead of time! They told us the theatre was almost full and that we HAD to be there. So imagine our surprise when we show up to an empty theatre with our parents waving us down to the front.

I didn't even write about what the show was about! But I did say it was good and our cruise director Rich is "too funny".

After the show, most of the audience headed to the Battle of the Sexes game at the opposite end of the ship. My sister and I grabbed a Starbucks drink on the way and I used one of my Gold coupons The men won. I swear, some of the women competing....made the rest of us look very bad, let's just say that.

We went straight to bed after that. No games tonight. Beach day was tiring!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Great update! (and thanks for the link to your DLR trip report)

I love all the pics of your "water fun" day. Labadee looks so different to CC. Guess you will need to check that out too.

Andrew hurting his foot - NOT so good. Hope it healed soon.

Food looks good as well. I would have LOVED the lamb chops!

Can't wait for more.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Great update! (and thanks for the link to your DLR trip report)

I love all the pics of your "water fun" day. Labadee looks so different to CC. Guess you will need to check that out too.

Andrew hurting his foot - NOT so good. Hope it healed soon.

Food looks good as well. I would have LOVED the lamb chops!

Can't wait for more.

Yes, we must check out CC one day! Labadee was my first time on a private cruise line island so it was pretty cool.

Andrew actually still has a bit of a scar on his foot from the cut...we're glad it never got infected.

Oh my gosh, we are so alike. I LOOOVE lamb chops! It was grilled very well.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Yuki! I noticed your siggie and realized I had "missed" your wedding. I'm all tuned in but no pics. Looking forward to reading all about it.
And Congratulations! I can't believe you moved to China! Crazy! What did your parents think? Oh and Andrew did a great job on he proposal!

I'm all caught up - love your cruise updates! We took the same cruise from Miami on Liberty of the Seas. It was exactly the same ship! I'm glad you enjoyed your food - looks like a much better menu - our food was very disappointing. Beautiful pics from formal night!

I'm excited to read about your Promenade room. We had an outside balcony, but I was wondering what it would be like to be on the promenade. I love to people watch. We liked the pizza place, too. Jim's fav was the little sandwiches at the café across the "street."

Looking forward to more when you get settled. Has Andrew been inventing board games?

 

[YukiPhnx]

Hi Yuki! I noticed your siggie and realized I had "missed" your wedding. I'm all tuned in but no pics. Looking forward to reading all about it.
And Congratulations! I can't believe you moved to China! Crazy! What did your parents think? Oh and Andrew did a great job on he proposal!

I'm all caught up - love your cruise updates! We took the same cruise from Miami on Liberty of the Seas. It was exactly the same ship! I'm glad you enjoyed your food - looks like a much better menu - our food was very disappointing. Beautiful pics from formal night!

I'm excited to read about your Promenade room. We had an outside balcony, but I was wondering what it would be like to be on the promenade. I love to people watch. We liked the pizza place, too. Jim's fav was the little sandwiches at the café across the "street."

Looking forward to more when you get settled. Has Andrew been inventing board games?

Hey Tammie, it's so great to hear from you!

I'll be posting up wedding pictures on my disneymoon TR. My parents were ok with the move since they moved to China not too long ago too! It feels good to be close to both our families.

Oh my gosh, we LOVED Sorrento's. I still think about their pizza. Being on the Promenade was pretty good. It felt really nice to just sit in our bay window and watch from above. We could also watch the parties without being trapped in the crowd!

I hope to finish this off soon so I can get started on my disneymoon. I mean, a girl can only have so many TRs going on simultaneously, right? So good to have you here!