Our Magical Trip of a Million Dreams, Wishes & Surprises~Engaged at Disney(6/26 p30)

[IluvXU]

A wedding in IL with all your friends and family able to be there is so important....and then a trip to Disney will be lots of fun for the two of you! Enjoy the planning!

 

[Piglets Mommy]

Thanks for a great Trippie so far. I can't wait to read more!
Congrats on the engagement and setting the wedding date! I'm sure you can't wait to wear those bridal mickey ears and know that it is just the 2 of you on your Disneymoon! Hey...you can even stay onsite!!!!

 

[natale1980]

Getting engaged at Disney is the best!! I can't wait until you tell us how it happened!!

-nat

 

[snowbell]

That is so sweet that you are getting married on your anniversary
When the time comes for me and dbf, we will probably do the same thing. Have a fairy tale wedding... but in the State of NJ

So MGM seemed like a blast. Glad you were able to get on RoR. I will hopefully be there on Saturday morning. Defintely want to take my cousins on the two thrill rides. Do you really think vot lm is worth it? They are 14 and 18 and I have never been on.

 

[Goofyluver]

I'm signing on! What a great thing...a disney trip and an engagement all in one!

 

[Beana9802]

&

 

[tigger536]

Great TR! How exciting! Congratulations! Can't wait for more! Too funny about the waiter at H&V. I would have colored too!

 

[Cinderella16]

Day 4: Blizzard Beach & Chef Mickey’s
June 18, 2007

My alarm rang at 8:00 AM, but I didn’t really get out of bed until 8:30, so much for springing right out of bed! I tried waking up DBF, but he just mumbled something and turned around. So I went down to the kitchen to get my daily caffeine dose and some breakfast. Matthew was the first one up and was watching something on Disney Channel. Everyone else was still sleeping or in the shower. Once I had finished my coffee I went to give DBF his final wakeup call. After about 10 minutes of trying to get him out of bed, he was finally up and getting ready. I think it was because I opened the blinds to our room, it was very sunny outside and the perfect day to visit a water park!

We loaded our bodies up with sunscreen, grabbed our beach towels, and arrived at Blizzard Beach by 9:30. Not a bad start to our day!

We had never been to Blizzard Beach because it was always closed to capacity, hence the reason we wanted to get there early. We accomplished that! The first thing we did was buy one of those water park refillable mugs for $10. It is definitely worth the money because we filled that baby up a lot more than $10 worth. Plus we would be visiting Typhoon Lagoon and for $5 we could fill up there too. We love the refillable mugs! I wish they would institute a refillable mug system for all of Disney property not just water parks and resorts. Like buy a mug for $25 and use it for the duration of your trip at all the parks and resorts. It would be very environmentally friendly!

Anyways we got our mug and started walking toward center of the park. I couldn’t believe how great the theming was in Blizzard Beach. I actually felt I was in a ski resort and I love that they play Christmas music. It was so weird hearing that when it was 92 degrees outside!

As we made our way to the main park area we just had to stop for some fun Blizzard Beach Photopass pictures, first with the sleigh.

The Photopass guy told us to pretend we were cold, apparently only Janna, Matthew and myself heard him.

And then with some cute little snowmen.

Jeff does not look amused. I think it was too early for pictures in his opinion.

I was sorta bummed that after MGM I didn’t get to meet any characters because in past years we had met so many at MGM, but none seemed to be out, or we just always missed them. As we kept walking to the main area of Bliizard Beach I spotted Goofy with barely any line! I was thrilled so I ran toward him, dragging DBF with me!

Goofy was funny and gave me a huge hug and a kiss, it made DBF jealous, but I was just excited I got to meet a character! I told Goofy I hoped to see him later tonight at Chef Mickey’s.

I was lugging my big beach bag and really wanted to put it down so I begged DBF to find a place to sit. We wanted to sit in the sun, and the rest of his family wanted shade...so we split up and told everyone to meet at 4:00 PM at his family’s chairs.

DBF and I found two chairs in the area near Melt Away Bay, which is their calm wave pool. Oh my were there a lot of chairs! The chairs were set up so that they were side by side basically touching. You couldn’t even see the ground that is how many chairs they fit in that area. The park was not all that crowded yet so we decided we would go ride some of the slides before the crowd got thicker. But first we had to take a picture in front of Summit Plummet.

Since we didn’t know anything about how Blizzard Beach was set up we just started walking until we found a slide that met our needs.

We first found Runoff Rapids, which is a one or two person tube slide. This met our requirements that there needs to be a tube (since body slides hurt, or so I am told) and my requirement that I didn’t have to ride alone. We grabbed our double tube and headed up the endless amount of stairs. There was no line so it was tiring walking up all those stairs at once. We basically walked right onto Runoff Rapids and within minutes we were all wet. It was definitely a fun ride and at times I felt we were going to flip it was going so fast! Since there still wasn’t a long line, we contemplated riding again, but doing those stairs did not seem fun! Instead we chose to keep walking to find other rides which were suitable for us to ride.

I remembered reading that Blizzard Beach had the longest family raft ride called Teamboat Springs. We followed the signs, got sort of lost and then found where it was. Being the newbies to Blizzard Beach that we were we took the stairs all the up to it instead of the chairlift. Remember when I said the stairs to Runoff Rapids were hard? Well that was nothing compared to our hike up to Teamboat Springs. The whole time I kept thinking, I wonder if the chairlift takes you up there?

You see, I thought the chairlift was to take you up only to Summit Plummet, and that thing scares the heck out of me, so in my head I thought if we took the Chairlift then I would be stuck riding Summit Plummet. I didn’t realize there were more rides up in those Green Slopes. When we finally reached the top we saw the exit of the chairlift laughed. We would definitely be using that chairlift later if we decided to checkout the Green Slopes again!

The line for Teamboat Springs was relatively short, I think we stood in line for about 10 minutes. Since we were only 2 we had to share our boat with another couple, hence the strangers in our Photopass picture.

The ride was fun and really long compared to the family raft ride at Typhoon Lagoon, but I didn’t get all that wet on it. When the Photopass guy took our picture the couple joked that they would now have our picture forever on their fireplace mantle. I really hope they were not serious.

DBF and I now decided we were getting hungry so we wanted a snack. We went back to our seats to get our refillable mug. When we arrived I thought someone had stolen our brand new $10 mug, I knew I shouldn’t have left it at our seats. Turns out I was overreacting since the mug had only blown underneath our seats. It was only the wind, go figure.

We went to the Lottawatta Lodge filled up on Lemonade and got a pretzel with cheese. We found the rest of our group while we eating and we recommended to that they try out Teamboat Springs. We shared some of our pretzel with them and then decided to go and ride another slide.

We found the Downhill Double Dipper which didn’t meet my requirements since you had to ride alone, but it was a tube slide. I really did not like the idea of going alone, but DBF kept saying I would be fine. I watched as kids as young as 4 years old came down the slide unharmed, so I figured I would be okay.

With this ride you can race someone and they time you to see who got down the fastest. So of course I raced DBF, but he got the better time. Downhill Double Dipper was fun, but only it lasts about 5 seconds and I sort of got hurt on it. At one point during the 5 seconds there is a waterfall which puts a lot of pressure on you once you cross under it. I think it me the wrong way and I sort of felt like I had the wind knocked out of me for a couple minutes. Overall, I was glad I tried it, but I did not need to do it again.

It was getting more and more crowded by the minute so DBF and I decided it was time to try out the lazy river otherwise known as Cross Country Creek. It is inevitable that on vacation you encounter rude people, and it is in the river we receive our first dose of it. I will call the woman, Orange Suit.

For all of you that have been in lazy rivers in Disney or other places you probably know there is a certain lazy river etiquette which should be upheld. These are common sense rules which make the experience enjoyable for all, I will now share with you these rules.

1. When waiting for a tube it is rude to shove and cut in line of the people in front of you.
2. If you can not secure a tube and decide to go tubeless, it is rude to shove people in tubes into other tubes or the wall just so you can go faster.
3. It is ultimately rude to start splashing other members of your party when there are people in between yourself and the members you are trying to splash.

Orange Suit broke all these rules.

Like I said before, Blizzard Beach was starting to fill up so there was a short line to get a tube for the river. DBF and I were waiting patiently near the entrance for our turn when finally it was our turn to find and obtain a tube, this woman probably in her forties, Orange Suit, comes out of nowhere with her posse who are a bunch of other grown up women. She shoves me out the way and grabs a tube which rightfully should have been ours. Now I realize there isn’t an organized line for the river, but it is common sense that when you see people waiting you wait your turn and don’t just cut everyone because you found a way in. She was very pushy too!

So I let it go because I am not confrontational and I just wait for the next tube which comes available which did not take that long. Orange Suit was still around and without a tube, I guess she stole the one from me for a member of her posse. Most of her friends are now ahead of her, so decides to go at it tubeless. It is fine to go without the tube in the river, but as she is trying to catch up to her friends she is pushing people toward the walls, into other people, and splitting up couples and families that were trying to stay together. She was brutal!! I guess people were going too slow for her taste, after all it is called a lazy river. I roll my eyes at DBF because she is now at strike two in my book. I noticed that she found a tube up ahead and was now ahead of her friends. We reached a point where there was the usual river traffic jam which I swear was caused by Orange Suit because she was trying to stay put in the river so she could be reunited with her posse instead of going with the flow of the river.

Unfortunately she did catch up her friends again, except DBF and I were still in between her and her buddies. She decided they were close enough now and started splashing massive amounts of water at her friends obviously not realizing that she was splashing everyone else in her vicinity. Ok, Orange Suit, that is strike 3. I finally piped up and loudly declared that I wished that people would stop the splashing. I guess she finally got the hint because the splashing stopped. It was the most frustrating lazy river I had ever been in! Somehow we were able to break away from Orange Suit, and I started to enjoy myself at Blizzard Beach again.

I understand that I am at a water park and splashing water is inevitable, but you should have the common sense and courtesy to not get in a splashing fight with your friends in a river which is filled with people including young children who are trying to relax.

DBF and I like Typhoon Lagoon’s lazy river better simply because you can get a double tube so you don’t get split up. Blizzard Beach’s was nice but those waterfalls when you enter into the caves are ICE cold. I guess it goes with the theming, but I was freezing after being doused with those waterfalls. I think we only made it around the river twice before deciding it was time to hit up the wave pool otherwise known as Melt Away Bay.

I liked this pool because you are allowed to bring inner tubes into it unlike the one at Typhoon Lagoon. We found a Photopass guy and kindly asked him to take our picture.

Sitting in the inner tube and the constant waves made me feel like I was on a boat in the ocean and I started to actually feel seasick. We stayed in the pool for about 20 minutes before deciding it was time for lunch.

We went to our seats, got our lovely refillable mug and headed back to the Lottawatta Lodge for some grub. As we started walking we noticed the ground was considerably hotter than the morning, but we were too lazy to go back and get our sandals. We did not think it would be that bad.

WRONG.

Our feet were burning so bad from the pavement, every now and then we would find one of those sprinklers to refresh our feet, but it was not enough. By the time we reached the Lodge for lunch, our feet were so burnt. We got Chicken Strips and fries to share and another lemonade. I love Disney chicken strips, and you will notice that I will be eating a lot of them throughout the trip. It took forever to find a place to sit and our feet were still being burnt. We finally found a table directly in the sun, but we didn’t care, we needed to get our feet off of that ground!! We ate our lunch, grabbed another refill, and tried to think of the best possible way to get back to our seats without obtaining third degree burns on our feet.

We literally would run/hop 3 feet to a sprinkler and then run another 5 feet to a shady area all the way back to our chairs, that is how bad our feet burnt, it hurt! We walked along the wave pool for relief and that helped a little.

I knew that I wanted to try out the chairlift so we decided to ride Teamboat Springs again, except this time we wouldn’t be climbing any stairs! We went to get in line for the chairlift, which thankfully was in the shade! We heard the CM’s telling people that they had to leave their towels, flip-flops and cameras before they could board the lift. Since it goes over the park they don’t want things dropping on people’s heads. I had brought my camera because I wanted a picture and I didn’t want to leave it there. Thankfully DBF’s bathing suit had pockets, and I told him to be sure to take pictures once we were securely in the air and not let any of the CM’s see!

Yes we are rebels. We take pictures on Blizzard Beach’s chairlift when we are not supposed to.

We arrived to the Green Slopes safely and without dropping the camera on anyone’s head. We waited about 25 minutes to ride Teamboat Springs this time, but it was just as fun. On this round we shared our raft with a father and his young daughter who was laughing and screaming all the way down, she was so cute. At the end I asked her if she liked it and she said she did. The Photopass guy only gave us one card for the picture so we let the father have it since we had already had some. He thanked us and DBF and I were off to ride Runoff Rapids again.

The line for it was longer this time, but those stairs still hurt to go up. I must have pulled some muscles in my legs that day because it was beginning to hurt to walk! We loved Runoff Rapids as much as the first time and contemplated getting in line again because the line seemed to die down, but again we changed our minds quickly when we saw those horrible stairs.

I think all water slides should have a chairlift.

We spent the rest of our afternoon in the wave pool alternating sitting on the “shoreline” and going deeper into the pool. DBF wanted to keep swimming so I decided to go lay down in the sun for a while.

Blizzard Beach was now so crowded that all of the seats which were so close together were now filled. So when I went to lay down I was literally sitting on top of the people next to us. DBF returned and we were too tired to do anything else. It was about 3:30 so we packed up all of our stuff and went to find the rest of his family.

We found their seats with no problem and by 4:00 everyone was ready to go as planned, except Jeanne and Matthew. They were no where to be found. We wait and wait and wait. I was so tired by this point I just wanted to go to sleep, but I knew we had Chef Mickey’s ADR at 7:40 and would have to shower and get ready the minute we got home.

Jeanne and Matthew showed up at around 4:20 and we were out of Blizzard Beach and in the hot and steaming car by 4:30.

Overall, we like Blizzard Beach. We did not love it like we love Typhoon Lagoon. DF thinks the ground is way too sharp at BB and he likes the TL wave pool much better. I also thought they didn’t have as many tube slides at BB. We would definitely do BB again, but if I had to choose only 1 water park to go to, then the winner would be TL. Who knows, we may have liked it better had we known where everything was because we spent a lot of the day looking at maps and reading signs trying to manuever the park. Next time we will be better prepared.

We arrived home after a quick stop at Walgreens for some sunburn cream for Janna and we were all so very tired from the fun in the sun. We took our turns showering and getting ready for the fun night that lie ahead of us with Chef Mickey and his friends!

To Be Continued... Find it on p. 9, post #134

 

[Cinderella16]

AWWW Congratulations honey!! I'm looking forward to the rest of your TR and to your wedding planning! Remember to set up a Wedding Planning Journal on the Weddings Board if you haven't already done so So I can be nosy and hear all about it I love Friends Monica is the ultimate Bridezilla lol

I will definitely consider starting a planning journal on the wedding boards once I finish my TR!!

I'm loving your report so far...I can't wait for more!

Thanks for joining I am glad you are enjoying it!

A wedding in IL with all your friends and family able to be there is so important....and then a trip to Disney will be lots of fun for the two of you! Enjoy the planning!

Thanks so much! There is so much to do that 2 years doesnt even seem like enough time!!

Thanks for a great Trippie so far. I can't wait to read more!
Congrats on the engagement and setting the wedding date! I'm sure you can't wait to wear those bridal mickey ears and know that it is just the 2 of you on your Disneymoon! Hey...you can even stay onsite!!!!

We are so excited to be staying onsite!! It will definitley be a memorable honeymoon!

Getting engaged at Disney is the best!! I can't wait until you tell us how it happened!!

-nat

Dont worry the engagement story will be up soon enough!

That is so sweet that you are getting married on your anniversary
When the time comes for me and dbf, we will probably do the same thing. Have a fairy tale wedding... but in the State of NJ

So MGM seemed like a blast. Glad you were able to get on RoR. I will hopefully be there on Saturday morning. Defintely want to take my cousins on the two thrill rides. Do you really think vot lm is worth it? They are 14 and 18 and I have never been on.

Hi there! If your cousins are girls then I would say it is worth it, since it is sort a girly show and I couldnt picture two teenage boys enjoying....well actually now that I think about ariel does wear something that resembles a bra so maybe it could be reccommended for teenage boys as well!

I'm signing on! What a great thing...a disney trip and an engagement all in one!

Thanks for joining!!!

&

And I am glad you like the TR cards!!

Great TR! How exciting! Congratulations! Can't wait for more! Too funny about the waiter at H&V. I would have colored too!

I am glad you are enjoying it! I actually didnt mind coloring..but as you could see I didnt get to finish!!

 

[Poohbear67]

We are going to both Water Parks this Sept. and now I really can't wait with your TR it sounds like so much fun.

Me I am not much for heights so I am not sure if I can to the chair lifts or not but maybe i will give it that old college try.

 

[Disneyolic]

Day 4: Blizzard Beach & Chef Mickey’s
June 18, 2007
For all of you that have been in lazy rivers in Disney or other places you probably know there is a certain lazy river etiquette which should be upheld. These are common sense rules which make the experience enjoyable for all, I will now share with you these rules.

1. When waiting for a tube it is rude to shove and cut in line of the people in front of you.
2. If you can not secure a tube and decide to go tubeless, it is rude to shove people in tubes into other tubes or the wall just so you can go faster.
3. It is ultimately rude to start splashing other members of your party when there are people in between yourself and the members you are trying to splash.

I didn't think I'd have to be confrontational here but I have a story in which I broke "your" rule #1. On our honeymoon we went to BB's lazy river. There was a family just standing there and standing there waiting for rafts. We just blew right by them and they all gave us the dirtiest looks and said, "Hey!" But we didn't take any rafts. We just went with the flow of the river until we saw rafts up further ahead. I thought it was no big deal. I would never have taken a raft right there but I was not going to stand there forever waiting for a raft either. Just floating in the lazy river is nice!

Okay confrontation done. That feels better now that it's off my chest.

You make me feel like I missed out on not going to BB when Rob took the boys. Next time!

 

[DisneyJo]

Great day at BB and you are such a rebel aren't you Can't believe Orange Lady and she wasn't even young

 

[momof2boyz12]

Congratulations on being engaged and setting the date. My husband and I were married at Disney 8 years ago, and it was wonderful, but expensive. You were wise to sit down and really think it through, and if you don't think your family will be able to make it for a Disney wedding in Florida, then you are wise to have it in IL. My family isn't very big, and we confirmed with them that they would definitely be able to come, so we planned it a year in advance to give everyone a chance to save. Most of them just worked their family vacation around our wedding, so it was a win-win situation. You might want to consider that if you have your heart set on the Disney wedding. JUst a thought, but either way, the most important thing isn't the location, it is the marriage!

 

[IluvXU]

We go to Kings Island all the time and I feel that way about people on the lazy river all the time. Just wait until you have a little one who you are holding and the three rules are broken!

Can't wait for more... and the next day is the engagement right... the 19th? (You said so in your wedding update). Can't wait!!!!!

 

[Avivasmom]

Big congrats on setting the date...how cool in how you picked it,

Loving your report with pics!!!

 

[Nicole786]

Awesome! We are hitting Typhoon Lagoon this trip, but i'm wondering if we can make time for BB!? Looks like fun!

 

[castawaymam]

that is so sweet to have set the date on your annverisary. And I'm enjoyed your day at the water park. We didn't do any of them on our trip.

 

[4boysrus]

I'm really enjoying your TR. Can't wait for more.
Our older 2 boys are begging to do a water park when we go back next April, so I really enjoyed the details of BB.

 

[Cinderella16]

We are going to both Water Parks this Sept. and now I really can't wait with your TR it sounds like so much fun.

Me I am not much for heights so I am not sure if I can to the chair lifts or not but maybe i will give it that old college try.

I wouldnt worry too much about the chairlifts, the ride is pretty short and the view is amazing! Have fun going to both water parks, I loved them because there was no set schedule to ride anything and it was very relaxing.

I didn't think I'd have to be confrontational here but I have a story in which I broke "your" rule #1. On our honeymoon we went to BB's lazy river. There was a family just standing there and standing there waiting for rafts. We just blew right by them and they all gave us the dirtiest looks and said, "Hey!" But we didn't take any rafts. We just went with the flow of the river until we saw rafts up further ahead. I thought it was no big deal. I would never have taken a raft right there but I was not going to stand there forever waiting for a raft either. Just floating in the lazy river is nice!

Okay confrontation done. That feels better now that it's off my chest.

You make me feel like I missed out on not going to BB when Rob took the boys. Next time!

DM, you didnt break rule #1 because you didnt steal the raft! Going into the river without a tube is completely acceptable, we do it all the time!

Great day at BB and you are such a rebel aren't you Can't believe Orange Lady and she wasn't even young

Yes, DF and I are so rebellious! We like to disobey Cast Members!

Congratulations on being engaged and setting the date. My husband and I were married at Disney 8 years ago, and it was wonderful, but expensive. You were wise to sit down and really think it through, and if you don't think your family will be able to make it for a Disney wedding in Florida, then you are wise to have it in IL. My family isn't very big, and we confirmed with them that they would definitely be able to come, so we planned it a year in advance to give everyone a chance to save. Most of them just worked their family vacation around our wedding, so it was a win-win situation. You might want to consider that if you have your heart set on the Disney wedding. JUst a thought, but either way, the most important thing isn't the location, it is the marriage!

Thanks so much for your kind words. We definitely sat down and talked about it with our families and the idea of a smaller wedding was a possibility, but I think deep down I wanted everyone to be there with me. I am sad that I wont be able to have the MK photoshoot in my wedding dress. But that is okay we will still have wonderful pictures and memories in Illinois.

We go to Kings Island all the time and I feel that way about people on the lazy river all the time. Just wait until you have a little one who you are holding and the three rules are broken!

Can't wait for more... and the next day is the engagement right... the 19th? (You said so in your wedding update). Can't wait!!!!!

You are very observant! You are correct, DF proposed on the 19th! But dont get too excited, I still gotta write up on Chef Mickey;s which was still on the 18th...but after that....

Big congrats on setting the date...how cool in how you picked it,

Loving your report with pics!!!

Thanks so much! We definitley wanted to choose a day that had meaning to both us. Nothing better than the day we started dating! Now if only we had met eachother on that day too....

Awesome! We are hitting Typhoon Lagoon this trip, but i'm wondering if we can make time for BB!? Looks like fun!

If you can make time for it then it is definitely worth a shot. But dont worry if you cannot make it, then it just means you will have to plan another trip!!

that is so sweet to have set the date on your annverisary. And I'm enjoyed your day at the water park. We didn't do any of them on our trip.

I dont know what we would have done with out our water park days. They were definitley our days to recharge our batteries!

I'm really enjoying your TR. Can't wait for more.
Our older 2 boys are begging to do a water park when we go back next April, so I really enjoyed the details of BB.

I am glad my TR helped. The water park days are great days to relax while at Disney. We call them our "regrouping" days because it becomes such a lazy day in the sun. It is nice sometimes not to have a set schedule and just do things as they come. I am sure your 2 boys would have a blast at either of Disney's waterparks no matter their age.

 

[CruisinEars]

Great tr so far. Can't wait to hear about how the engagement happened.

We adore the waterparks. They are 2 of the reasons we go to Disney. They are sooooo much fun.

Up here in the PNW, waterparks really don't exist. We have a wild waves about 1.5 hours from here and most of the time the weather just doesn't cooperate. Although it is 97 degrees today, so it would be a good day to go.