not_joanna_eggs' PJ - 1/24/2010 WP/CG: TR: MK/Epcot Photo shoot link posted

[TinkLoverSam]

Happy Wedding Day!!!

 

[malibustacey]

Happy Wedding Day!!!!

So meet at the Poly at 3:00pm to go grab some dole whips Stacey?

I love the owl shirts, my grandma loved owls too and I almost bought a necklace with an owl on it to wear in memory of her, but I didn't.

As for DATW I suggest a snake bite in the UK, very yummy, just had one this afternoon

oooh Snakebite... yoouuuccchhaa!!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

wow 200 lbs! That's crazy! Good luck re-packing. Oh, and Jeff says he is interested in crashing your DP on Saturday

Man you should have two of our guests didn't show up, so we had the space! Good thing you didn't come taunt me wiht the dole whip - I may have wrestled you for it- I was so hot in my dress!

HAPPY WEDDING DAY!

Good luck with the packing and.........
Happy Wedding Day

Happy Wedding Day!!!

Congrats & Happy Wedding Day!

Happy Wedding Day! I hope it was magical!

Happy Wedding Day and congrats!!!

Happy Wedding Day!!!

Happy Wedding Day!!!!

Thanks all! Our day was awesome! We had a fantastic time! There were a few glitches and mis-haps, but in general it was fantastic.

I'll be starting the TR soon. I should have the pre-quil and day 1 up tonight. Darn work getting in the way

 

[ghoulish delight]

Wahh!! I've missed too much on the boards lately!

First off, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Happy belated Wedding Day!

Can't wait to see photos and hope it all went as wonderfully, though I'm sure it did! So happy for you!!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

I wanted to start to my TR as soon as possible. Because I'm impatient with other people's reports so I feel like I just need to get it up. I'm still gathering pictures, but I'd like to get a start....

So I find that starting at the beginning is never quite adequate... so I need a little of a prequel to properly set the stage....

So with out further ado... my TR begins.

I thought I’d start with a quick synopsis of the day before we left because I feel like I made at least two critical errors that day that hopefully I can share with others and they can avoid.

From time to time, I suffer from insomnia. I kind of figured it’d hit me as the wedding approached because it happens more frequently when I’m on “sensory overload” it’s like my brain can’t shut off. I really hadn’t slept too much that week, so now I was starting to be really tired, but I still couldn’t sleep. I caught a few zzzzzs that night, and then checked us into our flights before heading into work.

This is critical error #1. I travel all the time taking vacations and such and I never take the day before off. I always feel like that’s a waste of a precious vacation day that I could use at a different time. I knew that this would be more stress than a regular vacation, but I had Monday off due to the holiday, so I thought I’d be fine. Well, by the time I was pulling into work, I had 0 suitcases fully packed (they were packed, but waaaaaaaaaaaaaay over weight - like 200 lbs!) so there was a lot of work to do. I was so distracted and stressed at work, but then I had so much to do there that I couldn’t leave early. I’m stupid for going in - I should have just sucked it up and taken a vacation day.

On the plus side, my fabulous co-workers decorated my office and got me a really yummy cake.

So after work I had a few errands to run and got home at about 7. So for those of you keeping score – it’s not 12 hours before we leave and I am not packed and we still have to “stuff” favors and a bunch of other stuff. Not my best judgment. Fortunately DF was a good sport about it and stayed up with me until about 1 weighing and packing the suitcases. He is NOT an insomniac and loves his sleep. In fact he was even napping when I came home at 7 (and had been since 3). Which led to my only bridezilla moment thus far. I was so mad I couldn't see. But he woke up and did help me so it was all okay.

We packed and re-packed those suckers like 10 times. I was trying desperately to keep them under 50 lbs because we had 4 suitcases and an extra $50 each would have been tragic.

Then I still had to go and finish some stuff for work and then so some other stuff. It was around 3 that I got around to getting in the shower and de-hairing my legs. I have really sensitive skin on my legs, I can’t use a razor because the metal irritates them, so I use veet. I don’t de-hair my legs too often in the winter because it’s such a pain, so it’s been a few months. Well somehow the veet essentially gave me a chemical burn on me thighs. It started burning about 30 seconds after I had it all applied. It’s so painful and right where any piece of clothing will rub on it relentlessly. Fantastic. This has happened to me before, I’m not sure why it happens some times and not others. Just to mess with me I’m sure. So at about 3:30, I’m sitting there knowing that I have to be up in about an hour, so I decide to just stay awake. So I spent the next hour re-checking stuff and watching the Cosby show while drinking lots of coffee.

4:30 came really fast.

 

[princess22]

WELCOME BACK MRS!!!! Congrats! Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Boston Disney Bride]

YAY! Welcome backkk!!! Can't wait to read more

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

My dad woke up around 4:30 and we started packing the car. With 4 people we had 6 checked bags, 3 carry-ons plus my “purse” which was huge and my “computer bag” that along with my computer had all of my welcome folder materials in it, my mom’s purse and oh yeah my dress. Basically we had a lot of crap. I mean a lot.

There was a hot debate in the days leading up to the wedding as to how we should carry my dress on the plane. There were schemes to roll it into a duffle bag or put it in a suitcase. No one would believe me that I could just carry the garment bag on the plane. Which is what I ended up doing because my dad ran out of patients trying to roll it into the duffle bag. So, as we pull up to the airport, thankfully there was a skycap there ready to help us. He didn’t even weigh the bags.

Seriously??? After all my work? I was mad! But thankful, because we probably would have had to pay for something.

Security was a breeze (love my full-service quiet little international airport! Go Milwaukee) and we got on the flight after only a few really snarky looks from the flight attendant. She did not like the fact that my dress took up so much space in the overhead bin, and was quite a pill about it. Oh well, it was fine and there was plenty of room for people.

DF how do you feel about getting up so early?

But you know you can sleep on the plane....

Then we'll be in Disney World!!

After a bit of a bumpy flight, we made it into Orlando. The baggage claim was easy as pie. By the time we got down to it, our bags were already making their 2nd go-around on the carousel. Then we went directly to the emerald isle at National and picked up our minivan. Then packed that thing to the brim. I was wedged back in the 3rd row surrounded by luggage. By the time we made it to BLT, I couldn’t feel my legs.

By now things were just going too smoothly, so of course we ran into a bit of a GPS issue, but it wasn’t long before we were entering through the gates. We named out GPS molly as in molasses because she was soooo slow.

Sorry for the lack of pics, I couldn’t move my arms enough to take any.

We checked in and our room was ready – bonus. So we unpacked our luggage and started to settle in to the room. We had a 3 bedroom grand villa at BLT. It was great as we used it as “party central”

Sorry I didn’t get pictures before our crap overtook the room. It was kind of an instantaneous thing.

and here's the view..

Let me explain something about my family – specifically the men in my family (plus Bob who is not technically part of my family but was traveling with us and we treat him like family) they’re really good helpers. Like if you would stand up and pause like you were about to do something, 3 of them would jump up and say “what do you need help with?” Like I said, really good helpers. But, they also all get very wound up. Needless to say wound up good helpers + cranky Joanna = Bridezilla. Thankfully, DF is not like this at all he’ll offer to help only if he senses the look of panic on your face or you (okay I) scream his name followed by “help me!” He’s much more zen than my family.

A good example of this is as we were entering the villa, I was taking in the room, hot and cranky from no sleep and starving because it was 1:30 and I hadn’t eaten since 7 the day before. The #1 objective was to get the dresses and tuxes out of the bags and hung up to minimize crush-age (but really we paid for steaming, so I’m not sure what the issue was) So I’m on sensory overload and my mom and Bob are scurrying about trying to figure out where to put all the stuff. And, then Bob and my dad are asking me questions like is it okay if this item gets put next to the dress, what about this one and all this stuff that I so did not care about at that point. I was moving slow and they would repeat the question – but slightly differently before I even had a chance to process the fact that they had asked a question once. Finally I had to say “I don’t know right now, just do whatever and I’ll fix it later, I can’t process” and then hid out on the balcony for like 10 minutes while I calmed down. This was the beginning of a really annoying trend.

So… as we were unpacking, I noticed in one checked suitcase there was a note from TSA that the bag had been searched. I didn’t think much of it, and we headed to lunch at the Wave.

We had 1:50 ADRs, and the restaurant closes at 2, so it was empty just us and 3 other tables. I made the ADR for convenience, I had read and heard some horrible reviews so I was kind of worried. I got the Mediterranean Tuna Salad and DF got the ruben. The rest of the group got crab cakes. It was all good – not great or memorable, but good. For what it was it was fine. Sorry no pics, we were way too hungry and I was starting to get really tired.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Wahh!! I've missed too much on the boards lately!

First off, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Happy belated Wedding Day!

Can't wait to see photos and hope it all went as wonderfully, though I'm sure it did! So happy for you!!

Welcome back! It all went fabulously, thanks! I'm trying to post what I have so far... which isn't much... but if you're willing to settle for pictures of my luggage you're in luck

WELCOME BACK MRS!!!! Congrats! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks! The trip was great! Thanks for reading along

YAY! Welcome backkk!!! Can't wait to read more

I wish I could say it was good to be back... but I'd so rather be in Disney right now...

 

[spacerangerqueen]

yey! You're back! I wanted to go stalk your dessert party but Jeff was all pooped from giving a Keys tour and didn't want to do any more walking that day I will be sure to tell him that he could have snuck in had he bothered to go!

Wow your room at BLT looks AMAZING! Sooo super jealous!

Can't wait to see how the trip and your big day turned out!

 

[Pirate's Princess]

YAY! I can't wait to read the whole trip report. That villa is ridiculous!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

yey! You're back! I wanted to go stalk your dessert party but Jeff was all pooped from giving a Keys tour and didn't want to do any more walking that day I will be sure to tell him that he could have snuck in had he bothered to go!

Wow your room at BLT looks AMAZING! Sooo super jealous!

Can't wait to see how the trip and your big day turned out!

Dude, that would have been fun! I was trying to keep my eyes peeled for you the whole time we were down there, but I kept getting distracted by shiny things.

The grand villa at BTL is AMAZING it was HUGE we had 7 adults staying there and never felt crowded at all. Plus the bonus of being at the Contemporary being so close to the MK and on the monorail.

I've collected a bunch of pictures from people, so I'm hoping to get the rest of day 1 and day 2 soon.

YAY! I can't wait to read the whole trip report. That villa is ridiculous!

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to get the rest of day 1 tonight! The BLT grand villa was awesome. There were 3 bedrooms, 4 full bathrooms, a laundry room and 2 sitting rooms. It was just crazy. It was totally perfect for us and how we used it.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

So, then we split off into 2 groups, My parents and Bob went to Costco and Publix, and DF and I headed to the Boardwalk to meet with the folks at Big River.

I also called our WP to arrange a time to drop off all our stuff, but she wasn't in so I left a message.

So we headed off to Big River...Now at this point I was less than confident that they knew what was going on. I had talked to 3 different contacts since July, hadn’t put down a deposit, and was going to visit them because the menu changed two days before, and I needed to pick out new stuff – seriously!

So we headed off... and we waited for a bus to DHS

note the coffee... we had to make a stop for coffee at Contemporary Grounds... DF is an addict what can I say?

We waited quite a while for the bus, so I played with the zoom on my new camera....

Finally the bus came... and we were off...so time for a self pic...

So we walked right past DHS...

As much as it pained us both to walk right by the park... we headed to the boat to the Boardwalk....

This is what happens when you accidentally use the flash in broad daylight on the boat...

Finally, we get to big River.... Well when I walked in, I again didn’t talk to whom I had been talking to, and he didn’t leave notes for the other guy, so he was looking at me like I was from mars. So we picked out of menu and were told to call back the next day after 5 to confirm pricing, but it wouldn’t be over $25 a person. So we left, just as concerned that they didn’t know what was going on, but I decided to just leave it up to the fates.

From the boardwalk, we slowly trudge back to the resort to meet my sister who had just called to say she was on the Magical Express. DF headed off to help my parents unload the Costco goodies, while I waited for my sister. At this point, my aunt called and asked me a question that I had answered like 5 times already and I kind of bit her head off. I felt bad, so I called her back and apologized. I was just so tired and cranky that I couldn’t handle it.

So my sister and I make it back to the room and the rest of the group are putting away the Costco goodies. I walk into the room and am handed two bottles of sparkling grape juice (I had asked them to buy non-alcoholic wine) and told they were for Chris’s grandma. I didn’t know what to do with them, so I said okay. I then had them thrust in my face and the fact that they were for Chris’s grandma was repeated, then immediately repeated again. At this point I hadn’t slept in about 32 hrs, so I asked what I was supposed to do with them. I was told to put them down about 5 feet from where we were both standing. I said…. Okay, and took my sister’s hand (who was staring at me bewildered) exclaimed I had to show Monica something and we went next door to the Top of The World deck and watched an early Wishes. A convention had rented out the MK that evening, so Wishes was at 6:30.

I was trying so hard not to loose my cool – but I was very worried about how the rest of the trip was going to go. So Monica and I return and get crap for getting out of all the work. I just smile and said “this is a surprise to you” when what I was thinking is “you’re really lucky that I did leave the villa or Bridezilla would have gone all Bruce Lee on your butt” So I’m a bit more calm and I start unpacking all the “stuff” suitcases. I pick up the box of decorative votive that I had carefully wrapped in my pajamas and heard an awful clinking noise. Crap. This is the box that TSA inspected. My pajamas are on top of all of the votives and 3 of them are broken. So not only is my stuff broken, but my jammies are full of glass. Fabulous.

No worries these votives were $.50 each at Michaels. And we were just going to use them for the villa....

Then DF picks up the box with the toasting flutes in them. The original packaging which was wrapped in bubble wrap, put in another box, wrapped in bubble wrap and boxed again. Crippity Crap! one flute is totally smashed. Are you kidding me right now??? So I let out a few expletitives and the helpers rush around me which only makes me more mad as they’re questioning why I didn’t carry them on. Um because I was packing at like 1 in the morning with no sleep and I had so much flipping stuff and there were like 30 blankets surrounding the thing – which were all shifted by my friends at the TSA. Ugh. Unfortunately they were a shower gift from a wedding guest. So now I have to replace them, because she asked about them and I just said I was worried about them breaking.

I’m almost in tears so my mom decides to make dinner. Salmon and ribs from Costco. Yum! I’m so glad we ate in the room this night because I think getting to an ADR would have sent me over the edge.

So after dinner, I started assembling the items for the welcome bags. This also sent the helpers into a tizzy since I didn’t have a written process for them to follow. Seriously?? Put one of each into bag how hard is this?? Fortunately DF and Monica recognized the rage in my eyes and offered to help me and pointed out that there was really only a need for 3 of us. My sister was truly awesome in this way!

So, we finally get everything packaged up and ready for delivery and we have some Publix cake, watch the Electric Water Pageant from our balcony and I go upstairs to our room to bid adieu to a stressful day 1 and finally sleep.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this segment... I was so tired and cranky... but I PROMISE I have more pictures and get sleep this night, so things improve a lot.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

So after sleeping for 8 hrs, I was still the first one awake on Friday. I made myself some coffee and relaxed on the balcony while watching the monorail and boats go by. The sleep really helped and the bridezilla tail that had started to sprout on Thursday retreat. I used my blissful alone time to brush up on people’s arrival times and make sure all my ducks were in a row, and start my TR. So finally my parents and sister wake up and we make breakfast.

Mmmmmm Coffee...

Our plan all along was for Monica and her boyfriend and DF and I to head to the parks so that as people arrived they could join up with us if they wanted to; and my parents to stay in the room for people to visit as they arrived. So as we’re getting ready to leave Bob decides he wants to go with us and my dad says “Joanna has an extra park ticket” which is true since we had to get a park ticket to qualify for the 4-3 deal, but we didn’t check in until Saturday, and this was Friday… Ugh. So I ended up shelling out $80 and we stuck with the AK instead of hopping. There are worse things that could have happened and we all had fun.

Here we are about to leave... Can you sense DF's excitement?

So as we’re heading out, my cousin calls me to tell me that he’s on the ME. I stop to talk to him and tell Chris to go ahead with Greg and Bob while Monica waits with me. We were like 5 minutes behind them. We get out the bus stop and I don’t see DF. I ask and am told he’s getting coffee. Why???? I don’t know seeing as we had just left the room where the free coffee was being consumed by the gallon. Of course this means that the bus comes I tell them to get on because it’s been like 10 minutes and Chris should be on his way, well he wasn’t! He ordered some dumb iced drink that took 20 minutes. So the bus pulled away without us. I quickly call my sister and tell her to go to will-call and buy Bob a ticket and we’ll meet them at the front gate. So DF comes sauntering in with his iced coffee and asks me why I’m so mad.

Side rant – but why do men do this? Don’t they realize that asking this question or telling us that what we’re mad about isn’t a big deal only makes us more mad? So we had a mini blow up and I walked away for a while, but fortunately another AK bus came quickly.

It turned out that we were on some sort of weird “express” bus that only stopped at CR and the Poly. The other group was on a bus that stopped at CR, Poly, GF and WL. So we actually got off our busses about a minute apart from each other. DF apologized and we worked our way to the entrance.

Ahh the Tree of life!

What first? Dinosaur of course! It's kind of a tradition for us - Dinosaur is always first... My sister hates that ride, can’t you tell.

As we were going through Monica and I were laughing so hard. The little kid behind us was HILARIOUS! The picture was great. Unfortunately there as a big yellow-clad tour behind us and I couldn’t dawdle to take a picture of the picture, and I really wasn't going to buy it...

After we safely returned to the present, we headed to Everest. Stopping to take a picture I like to call "Monica and Friend"

But we couldn't get it to line up correctly so we took like 6 of them, which led to this...

Can't you feel the "screw you" in this picture

So, we get to Everest, and the line was about 45 minutes and the fast-pass time was only an hour, so we chose the latter and went off to find something to eat. We settled on the Yak and Yetti CS restaurant. Monica and I had the honey chicken which we should have split. Greg had a sandwich which he really liked and DF had sweet and sour pork. Bob ordered something off the children’s menu – chicken bites I think. After we were nice and full – we headed over to the roller coaster. We’re geniuses! The line FP line went quickly and soon we were out running the Yeti.

After that adventure we all decided that we needed some time to digest so we headed to the Safaris.

While in line we ran into two of our wedding guests. It was cool to run into someone we know at Disney! Did they update the Safaris? It seemed longer and I don’t remember the bridge bit. DF and I agreed that we liked the changes. Though they still need to get rid of that silly fake elephant.

After our trek through the jungles of Africa, we headed deep into the earth to experience “it’s tough to be a bug” This one took some arm twisting to get my sister into, as she had bad memories of it, but I’m so glad I did because it was far and beyond Bob’s favorite.

By that time it was about 4:30 and we headed back to the villa to change and get ready to drink around the world!

That needs to be another post, because there's a lot of pictures from our fun and that post will be another night because I need to go to sleep soon 'cuz I have to be at work super early tomorrow.

 

[padisneyfour]

GREAT pics.....

 

[MainStMandy]

Joanna great pictures! BLT looks AMAZING!!!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[disneygal922]

Ahhh Joanna, welcome back! Sorry to hear about your insomnia. Thanks for the warning about working the day before you leave. I'm scheduled to work that day and now am thinking about taking a half day... so thank you! That was nice of your co-workers to decorate your desk and get you a cake.

Bummer the TSA didn't at least take some care with the glass in your luggage. Another thing I am most grateful to you for sharing. I was going to put our bud vases in my luggage so now I know to make sure they are wrapped separately.

I can't wait to read more about your trip! AK looks like it was lots of fun!

 

[MsEsty]

Ahhh Joanna, welcome back! Sorry to hear about your insomnia. Thanks for the warning about working the day before you leave. I'm scheduled to work that day and now am thinking about taking a half day... so thank you! That was nice of your co-workers to decorate your desk and get you a cake.

Bummer the TSA didn't at least take some care with the glass in your luggage. Another thing I am most grateful to you for sharing. I was going to put our bud vases in my luggage so now I know to make sure they are wrapped separately.

I can't wait to read more about your trip! AK looks like it was lots of fun!

Definitely thanks for the heads up! While the planning continues, I add more and more to the list of "Must ship because I don't trust the TSA"...sorry you had to be our guinea pig!

 

[ZipADeeEm]

I'm loving reading along! The cliff-hangers keep me coming back for more! Love BLT and your description of your family!

 

[aduck126]

welcome back! lovin' the TR so far