Once Upon a dream TR: Intimate WP/ Citricos Chef's Domain/ Grand 1/ Tour/ COMPLETE

[ForKeeps]

Whoo hoo. When I woke up I lept out of bed. Today was the day I would do Soarin’. Two times I thought. I’ll do it twice. No…maybe three. Oh…I loved that ride so much. We hadn’t been to Epcot in the morning yet.

I have no trouble saying that Soarin’ is hands down my favourite ride. We decided to get a fastpass, and then wait standby, and then use our fastpass. I wanted to go again, but I conceded that twice was probably enough.

My favourite part of the ride is where you expect to feel the cool splash of the surf on your toes. Don’tcha just love the way it makes your toes tingle?

We had hoped to go on The Land ride but it was down, so instead we headed back to the Living Seas to see Crush and the gang.

Dude!

After we got the whale to go away, we headed to get a fastpass for Test Track before heading back to Soarin for another flight.

Whoo hooo. Even better the second time. And this time: no feet! Yes!

Test Track was great as well. I think it’s great that you can add the ride photo to your photopass. More attractions should have this!

We decided to poke our head in the Character Connection to see how busy it was. On our first day the line must have been 45 minutes long. But now…no one. We breezed through getting fantastic interaction with each of the characters in their YOMD gear.

Then somehow…some way, DH managed to convince me to do Ellen’s University of Energy.

It was cute because as the ride got going the announcer congratulated us over the loudspeaker (ok, so we were a little embarrassed, but it was all good). And then I got an excellent opportunity to snooze …err…umm…learn about energy for 45 minutes. Oh c’mon…it’s dark in there and I don’t think they’ve updated it for a while. Lesson learned: Ellen is off the list.

After groggily stumbling back out into the sunlight we decided to bid adieu to Future World because the World Showcase was opening. We thought, what a nice morning to stroll around. As we passed England there was a photopass guy there so we asked him to take our picture.

I mentioned to him that I was surprised they were out and about…and he gave me a great tip. He told me that they pop up because the characters are out.

Wha? Characters in the World Showcase…are you sure? I mean there’s probably some tent with a ridiculously long line right? But nope. They were just hanging out. Most of the characters we could walk right up to.

First we ran into Belle, who was super sweet, because, well…she’s Belle.

We ran in to Aurora and Jasmine but missed Snow White…

In China we found Mooshoo! I asked if Mulan would be out but was told she was at the Studios that day.

We decided to take a rest on a bench and enjoy the view of the lagoon while waiting for Snow White.

We eventually wandered back and got in the only line that we encountered…for Snow White.

Just after we had our picture taken, guess who showed up? Dopey! So we got back in line for another picture.

By that time we were hungry so we ate at the American Pavilion. We had pretty much done everything at Epcot that we wanted, so we toyed once again with the idea of throwing the plan out the window. We decided to head to MGM to see some of the shows we missed. On the way out we found Alice and Mary hanging out in England.

We also stopped by Canada to checkout the waterfall in the day light.

Next up: Day 8 part 2 - Two crazy Canucks crave Canadian cuisine (say that 4 times fast).

 

[Maggimus]

Dang!! Still no Mulan, huh?

We had the exact same jasmine (except she was with aladdin and genie). How neat.

I love all your character photos!

It seems like for the past couple of years we have had bad luck will universe of energy. In 2005 we got on it, only for it to mess up midway and we had to walk off of the ride, never to have finished it. This was DH's first trip to Disney so he kinda wanted to see it all the way through. At that point it was closed for the rest of the week (We always start off Disney at Epcot). So DH never did ride UofE. This year, we rode it, no malfunctions, but we heard it had just recently been down for a short period of time as well. I think they need to update that ride a little. Ellens starting to look more and more like an alien (Her manican is a really bad replica of her-- especially when you consider how great Johnny Depp looks in POTC).

Cant wait for more..

 

[CastleLight]

Its SOOOO cute how you and your DH posed with the characters - rather than just standing there. I love the one with Jasmine!!

 

[RBennett]

Yeah, I COMPLETELY learned about the characters in the World Showcase the hard way. My disneymoon turned into a character hunt. My DW was obsessed with finding as many characters as possible and getting their pictures AND autographs and when we went to the World Showcase we saw Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, and then saw Aladdin and Jasmine and my DW mentioned we were trying to get as many characters as possible and they said Mulan was over in China probably for another 5 min!!!! So we ran full sprint all the way from Moracco to China, (with a quick stop to take a picture of one of the living statues) and made it in time to see Mulan and Mushu! Where else can you run from Moracco to China in 5 min but at Disney!!!!!

 

[Maggimus]

Seems like your trip just gets more and more magical

 

[JJClemson]

Wow, you 2 met so many characters! I'm jealous

 

[SRUAlmn]

Great pictures!! I agree about the photopass option on rides! This was our first time using photopass and when they told us we could scan it at Test Track I thought that was so cool. I checked at every other ride and no other ones seemed to have it and we were bummed. Someone needs to check into that

 

[jwwi]

"Just after we had our picture taken, guess who showed up? Dopey! So we got back in line for another picture."

I started with your dinning thread, then had to look at your TR from the wedding. You are doing a fantastic job, I really have enjoyed reading both threads. Keep up the great work. And Congratulations to both of you

 

[VMK magic WDW]

aww awesome for you.

 

[ForKeeps]

Dang!! Still no Mulan, huh?

We had the exact same jasmine (except she was with aladdin and genie). How neat.

I love all your character photos!

It seems like for the past couple of years we have had bad luck will universe of energy. In 2005 we got on it, only for it to mess up midway and we had to walk off of the ride, never to have finished it. This was DH's first trip to Disney so he kinda wanted to see it all the way through. At that point it was closed for the rest of the week (We always start off Disney at Epcot). So DH never did ride UofE. This year, we rode it, no malfunctions, but we heard it had just recently been down for a short period of time as well. I think they need to update that ride a little. Ellens starting to look more and more like an alien (Her manican is a really bad replica of her-- especially when you consider how great Johnny Depp looks in POTC).

Cant wait for more..

They really have come along with what they can do -- I was amazed by POTC. I was especially surprised that an energy feature seemed do...out of date. One of my favourite things about Future World is boggling my mind with new ideas. When I was 10 and saw the hydroponics I just about burst, but now there just doesn't seem to as much forward thinking. Maybe it's indicative of where we are with technology right now. I mean, have we hit a plateau???

Its SOOOO cute how you and your DH posed with the characters - rather than just standing there. I love the one with Jasmine!!

Thanks! The characters who spoke were super good about that. I really liked Belle who said to DH, "here, you stand in the middle so you'll have a princess on both sides" it's nice that they give just as much gusto for big kids!

Yeah, I COMPLETELY learned about the characters in the World Showcase the hard way. My disneymoon turned into a character hunt. My DW was obsessed with finding as many characters as possible and getting their pictures AND autographs and when we went to the World Showcase we saw Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, and then saw Aladdin and Jasmine and my DW mentioned we were trying to get as many characters as possible and they said Mulan was over in China probably for another 5 min!!!! So we ran full sprint all the way from Moracco to China, (with a quick stop to take a picture of one of the living statues) and made it in time to see Mulan and Mushu! Where else can you run from Moracco to China in 5 min but at Disney!!!!!

That's what I love about the world showcase...I can travel the world in half a day! We really enjoyed seeing the characters this time because we'd pretty much done all of the attractions last May. I had no idea he was proposing last May, so as far as I knew it was going to be the last Disney trip for a while I was pretty miltant about our plan last time, there wasn't a lot of time for characters. So it was nice to take a breath this time and take things as they came.

Wow, you 2 met so many characters! I'm jealous

OH...it was so great. I couln't believe how many characters we saw. I especially loved when there was 2 characters from the same movie together.

Great pictures!! I agree about the photopass option on rides! This was our first time using photopass and when they told us we could scan it at Test Track I thought that was so cool. I checked at every other ride and no other ones seemed to have it and we were bummed. Someone needs to check into that

I KNOW! It was awesome. DH asked the guy that was there if he could list all the places where they had that feature. The guy said: "Absolutely...this is the only one...but we're working on it"....hopefully they work fast

I started with your dinning thread, then had to look at your TR from the wedding. You are doing a fantastic job, I really have enjoyed reading both threads. Keep up the great work. And Congratulations to both of you

aww awesome for you.

Awww....thank you both so much!!!!

 

[ForKeeps]

We entered the park just as the end of the parade was turning the last corner.

The plan was to go to see Beauty and the Beast and then Indiana Jones. We had seen both last May, but we didn’t see them yet this trip. When Beauty and the Beast was over we headed to the other side of the park. We had no idea that the characters from the parade would be available for pictures at the Sorcerer Hat. Hmmm….Jasmine is with Aladdin. No Genie…but still a great picture. We lined up.

Whoa…Pinocchio and Gepedo? We’re totally in!

But in our haste to get as many character pictures as we could we missed the last showing of Indiana Jones (I was heartbroken ). Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to watch the tape of the entire show that DH taped the last time we were there.

Instead we decided to head to the Muppets.

We also saw Woody and DH had to have a picture with him.

After grabbing a Mickey bar and one more photopass in front of the hat we started to head back to Epcot. On the way our we realized we could take the boat from MGM to Epcot and enter the park in the World Showcase. We decided to enjoy the leisurely boat ride as well as the sunset as we headed over.

When we arrived, we realized that it had gotten quite chilly. That was too bad because I had hoped to go for a swim back at the hotel. Apparently our unseasonably warm weather pixie dust had worn off.

We were a bit early so we thought we’d try to go to the 360 degree movie before our reservation. We didn’t know that the show times were spaced apart. Unfortunately if we waited for the next show time we’d be late for our Le Cellier dinner, so we regretfully (and with quite a bit of guilt -- ugh...how unpatriotic) turned back.

Now I had been looking forward to this reservation quite a bit. I’d never been to Le Cellier before and I’d heard rave reviews from the DIS. When DH came home with some of the Canadian Olympic clothing one day I was completely excited to go to Le Cellier in my green Canada shirt. Why? Because I’m silly. Because I find things to be humorous that not everyone quite gets. But that’s ok. I was excited. I mean, here we were two Canadians, just married at Disney, honeymooning and dining at Canada.

Because we were so early when we checked in the hostess said they couldn’t guarantee that we’d be seated any earlier. So we chatted with another hostess, because when you walk into Le Cellier with a “Canada” shirt on apparently it’s easy to tell you’re a Canuk. It may have been easier to identify us as such if we had touques on, but it wasn’t quite that cold.

You know, it’s funny how it works, because somehow you always meet someone that lives like half an hour away from you.

We were seated early. We were greeted by a very nervous first timer from PEI. She had just started serving. We laid everything out for her: no need to worry…we’re Canadian too (in case you missed the big CANADA). She did a great job, but I was so nervous for her. I wanted her to do good to build her confidence. I felt bad when DH ordered wine and she struggled with the corkscrew. I furrowed my brow at him (silently saying…c’mon…it’s her first day. I can’t even open a bottle of wine without getting cork everywhere!) But she was wonderful. There was no added “pixie dust” just great food, great company, and a great server. We smiled all the way through and out the door.

It had gotten even chillier, and DH was trying to convince me to retreat to the warm bus that would bring us back to the even warmer hotel room. But I really wanted to see Illuminations. It makes me feel hopeful. Like if everyone could see Illuminations there could be peace on earth.

We huddled together to keep warm. There’d be no swimming tonight.

What a great end to a great day…with the arms of my DH wrapped around me and believing peace on earth was just a matter of time and understanding. We had one more full day left. We treasured every minute.

Next up: Day 9 - Part 1: Our honeymoon shoot…without the honey.

 

[ForKeeps]

We had our shoot scheduled for 9:00 at the Magic Kingdom. We were there for the park opening and enjoyed the show. It was a nice way to start our last full day.

We immediately went to City Hall to meet our photographer. We waited for about 5 minutes before he approached us and introduced himself. Out of respect for his privacy I have decided not to post his name publicly. If you want to know who photographed us, feel free to PM me.

He asked us what we wanted to do for the shoot and I was immediately confused. I didn’t know that I was supposed to prepare any ideas for shots. With wide eyes I said that I thought that we would just do whatever he thought was best because, he’d done this more times that we had. I did ask him if we could stop by the wishing well. He said that was fine as long as it wasn’t blocked off.

We headed towards the front of the park for the first shots. As we started walking he asked: “So were we at your wedding?” I was confused.

Me: “Pardon?”

Photographer: “Did we do your wedding. Did we photograph it?”

Me: “Uh…no, we had an outside photographer.”

Photographer: “Can I ask who?”

Me: “Randy Chapman”

Photographer: “Can I ask why?”

Me: Slightly taken aback “Well to be honest, it’s the CD. I mean $1000 is a lot of money when there are others who will provide the CD for less.” (ok, I thought, I gave you a reason….I was polite and respectful…I’m not trying to insinuate that your quality is poor or anything…please drop this it’s uncomfortable)

Photographer: “Well….I guess that depends on how you look at it. I mean…what are you going to do with the CD when you have it…”

I start to get annoyed, but before I can say anything DH interrupts, kind of misunderstanding where the photographer is going.

DH: “Well we’re getting prints too. 400 of them.”

Photographer: “I see.”

We’re at the location and it’s time to get the shot. Click. Click. The photographer takes us back inside the park and off to the right where we get shots with the cutouts. Afterwards we head up Mainstreet. He stops us at a merchandise cart to look for ears to borrow. I tell him we have ears in our bag if he wants us to wear them.

Next we wander towards the castle. The trolley pulls up and the people exit. He directs us to climb aboard. I have a hard time posing because I have to crouch down…too tall jones, that’s me.

He takes us towards the one side of the castle. All the while I’m acutely aware of the fact that DH and I are always squinting into the sun. I’m kind of confused.

He takes us to the Storeytime with Belle setting. He says, “hmmm…let’s see you’re both the same size aren’t you.” I nod. Thanks for pointing that out, I thought. I love being reminded how big I am. Yes I realize I’m the same size as him. It’s kind of obvious.

As he poses us sitting with our back to him and turning towards him I wonder how flattering having my behind front and centre will be. I feel uncomfortable. Are my underwear showing? Darn low rise jeans. Click, click.

We stop by the wishing well. It isn’t blocked off. Well, that’s good at least I thought.

As we wander back towards the castle I ask him how many of the shots we’ll receive.

Photographer: “Didn’t your wedding coordinator go over this with you?”

Me: “No…she didn’t tell me about much of anything.”

Photographer: “Oh maybe because you hired an external photographer.”

Me: “Oh.”

He explains that we’ll get the prints that turn out in the mail in 6-8 weeks. He says that they’ll be online within 7-10 business days.

Me: “Wow, that’s fast. That’s great!”

Photographer: “Well. We’re not a one man operation like Randy. What did he tell you 4 months?”

DH: “Actually he was going to try to have everything done before we left, prints and all. But then he took like 900 shots, which we didn’t expect at all in the timeframe of an intimate…”

Photographer: “That’s because you’re considered an international couple. He doesn’t want to pay the postage to mail the stuff to Canada.”

I furrow my brow, but say nothing. We’re responsible for shipping. We’ve always known that.

He finished up that last shots and says goodbye. I breathe a sigh of relief. It had only been half an hour. The last time I had experienced such an uncomfortable amount of time I had my annual exam.

DH looked at me and the first thing he said was: “I’m so glad that hired Randy.” I smiled and said, “C’mon, let’s go get some food at the bakery.”

It was packed, but we decided to wait. There really wasn’t much else open and we didn’t think we could get into the Crystal Palace without an ADR.

Afterwards we decided to head to the front of the park to see which characters were there. We got in line to see Daisy.

We went to see if Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie were back by the Magic Carpets where we saw them the last time. They weren’t there and there wasn’t anyone around to ask so we decided to head to toontown to see which Princesses were open for business. The wait wasn’t too long so we got in line to see Ariel, Cindy, and Belle.

On the way out we shopped at the boutique a bit, trying to find some more souvenirs to justify. I picked up a plush and held it towards DH. He smiled and nodded. What was it? You’ll have to wait…it’s a surprise.

We couldn’t help but head back to Adventureland in one last desperate attempt to find Genie. As we turned the corner I pointed: “Look, there they are!”

This was by far my favourite character interaction. You could tell they loved working together. Jasmine was so nice (and beautiful), Aladdin was perfect for the part, and Genie…he was funny. He kept playing with the kids. They got us to do two poses.

We also saw Captain Hook and Mr. Smee

Happy we headed out of Adventureland, asked for a few more photopass pictures in front of the castle, grabbed some ice cream from Mainstreet before we left.

Not a bad way to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom.

So we did.

Next up: Day 9 - part 2: My tribute to the Fairy Tale Bride herself.

Here's the link to the honeymoon shoot if' you'd like to take a look:
Go to http://www.collages.net/disneyweddings.

Fill in the following name and password information:

User Name: Murray / Ribbans Wedding

Password: 1971

 

[JJClemson]

I totally know what you mean about wearing a Canada shirt to Canada, that's something I would do (if I were Candian) When I'm in NJ and see people wearing a Clemson shirt (which is in SC), I always run up to them and say "I went to Clemson too!", and of course they couldn't care less! It is kind of silly, seeing how NJ and SC really are not that far apart!

I'm loving your TR! I am so upset you two only have 1 more day in WDW How about you go back and write another TR

 

[sajetto]

Geez, I'm so sorry about the photographer. That just is too weird. Ours asked who we were using for photography and is so used to seeing Randy that he pointed out his car to us when we pulled up to our hotel after the MK shoot. LOL He wasn't rude or anything and definitely didn't try to make us feel uncomfortable about using outside photography, but I did feel a little weird saying that we used someone else other than Disney. I would think that it might tell DPS that they might want to rethink charging $1,000 for a CD

 

[SRUAlmn]

That's awful that you had to deal with the photographer acting like that. I would have been REALLY annoyed, you handled it beautifully! I'm worried now for our MK shoot that they are going to ask since it looks like they asked Caroline too! I wonder if you had the same photographer. I would have been so uncomfortable.


Sounds like you had a great couple days otherwise! We LOVE Le Cellier!! My fiance salivates for the cheese soup every time we go to WDW I think it's very cool that you wore your Canada shirt. It's totally something I would have done too! Just like Jen said. I always love to recognize people by their shirts. On our day we were in WDW that we wore our Ravens jerseys, I kept running up to other people who were wearing them too to say Go Ravens! My family was so embarrassed, but every person I went up to thought I was cool!!

 

[Maggimus]

You know my take on the photographer....

Anyhoo... I love your photos with the genie... Cant wait for more!

 

[Sparkles9306]

Wow, that just reassures my pick for booking Randy. I mean if you look at the packages and prices, it's just a better deal to go with Randy. Plus the fact that his work is AWESOME doen't hurt . And I like the fact that I know who is going to photograph me, instead of with Disney not finding out until the day of. Well at least it was only a 1/2 hour!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

I've been lurking for awhile so I had to just say I looooved your TR and your wedding/honeymoon looks amazing. I'm jealous. But your TR has provided me with Disney fantasy fodder for weeks! : )

Congratulations on your marriage!!

 

[JJClemson]

Oh my goodness Tiffany! I cannot get over how horribly that photographer treated you That really makes me angry, but happy that I chose Randy too You know, DF and I were debating over whether to do the honeymoon shoot or buy the photopass CD, and I am pretty sure we are going to buy the CD now. I am really sorry about that experience!

 

[ForKeeps]

Geez, I'm so sorry about the photographer. That just is too weird. Ours asked who we were using for photography and is so used to seeing Randy that he pointed out his car to us when we pulled up to our hotel after the MK shoot. LOL He wasn't rude or anything and definitely didn't try to make us feel uncomfortable about using outside photography, but I did feel a little weird saying that we used someone else other than Disney. I would think that it might tell DPS that they might want to rethink charging $1,000 for a CD

Yeah, I can understand that they want to know why we went with another vendor. And I think it's a fair answer to tell them that $1000 is out of line for what is available in the market. But when he kept on about everything I just found it really unprofessional. I'm glad it didn't ruin our day though. I thought your MK shoot and honeymoon shots were just beautiful

That's awful that you had to deal with the photographer acting like that. I would have been REALLY annoyed, you handled it beautifully! I'm worried now for our MK shoot that they are going to ask since it looks like they asked Caroline too! I wonder if you had the same photographer. I would have been so uncomfortable.


Sounds like you had a great couple days otherwise! We LOVE Le Cellier!! My fiance salivates for the cheese soup every time we go to WDW I think it's very cool that you wore your Canada shirt. It's totally something I would have done too! Just like Jen said. I always love to recognize people by their shirts. On our day we were in WDW that we wore our Ravens jerseys, I kept running up to other people who were wearing them too to say Go Ravens! My family was so embarrassed, but every person I went up to thought I was cool!!

I was really uncomfortable. I started getting a bit more frustrated later on because I thought...you know...Disney's getting their money regardless. Even if there was no option to sub the Honeymoon shoot in for the photography coverage of our wedding we would have gone with Randy. That should be a pretty clear signal that they need to re-evaluate things.

I'm glad I'm in shared "t-shirt" company I still smile thinking about that.

You know my take on the photographer....

Anyhoo... I love your photos with the genie... Cant wait for more!

Wow, that just reassures my pick for booking Randy. I mean if you look at the packages and prices, it's just a better deal to go with Randy. Plus the fact that his work is AWESOME doen't hurt . And I like the fact that I know who is going to photograph me, instead of with Disney not finding out until the day of. Well at least it was only a 1/2 hour!

Oh...yea...you're in fantastic hands. Maybe our photographer was just having an off day. I mean, everyone has bad days. But boy oh boy.....

I've been lurking for awhile so I had to just say I looooved your TR and your wedding/honeymoon looks amazing. I'm jealous. But your TR has provided me with Disney fantasy fodder for weeks! : )

Congratulations on your marriage!!

Awww....thanks for saying so. I'm glad I can return the favour to my DIS-mates. Trip reports and hanging out here helps me get through those long boring law school days.

Oh my goodness Tiffany! I cannot get over how horribly that photographer treated you That really makes me angry, but happy that I chose Randy too You know, DF and I were debating over whether to do the honeymoon shoot or buy the photopass CD, and I am pretty sure we are going to buy the CD now. I am really sorry about that experience!

Oh...to me...$295 is totally NOT worth the "honeymoon shoot". I also said that to DH..."at least we didn't pay for it". I mean we did.. but we wouldn't have gotten the photography credit any other way. I like the work that the photopass people do and we wound up with something like 300 shots on our CD for $99.