Something Borrowed, Blue, COLD & New - A Disney Wedding Extravaganza! Update: 11/15 (pg. 15)

[fallonkendra]

I love it! But how did you get that home?!?!

On a regular trip, it would have been even more difficult, but all the stuff for our welcome bags took up almost a full suitcase so that was empty for the trip home. The most difficult part was packing it so none of the pieces broke.

 

[fallonkendra]

Ooofff.....so.....I was behind.

Though it didn't feel quite as bad with you since I feel slightly more up-to-date on your life in general, since I've at least been able to follow along with you and Luke some on Facebook. But still. Anyway. I made it back here! Eventually!

Don't worry, it took me months just to get back to responding to you

We're also bigs fans of the Nomad Lounge! One of our favourite respites from the business of the park.

Great food, great drinks and a quiet spot to sit - it's basically perfect!

My favourite show! (You probably already know that.) Glad you got to see it! We also love Festival of the Lion King (I think that's still Nathan's favourite,) but Nemo just does it for me. I actually just listened to the whole soundtrack again this morning on the treadmill.

I'm ashamed to say this was still the only time we've watched the Nemo Show.... I'll have to check out the soundtrack

Seeing as I only just finished our anniversary trip from 3 years ago, I'm definitely not judging!

I'm getting close to our 4 year wedding anniversary now haha... maybe I'll finish this trip report by our 10 year anniversary

I'm so glad I tuned back in to this report just in time to read the update about our Dismeet! That was a great meet, and I'm so glad we hit it off and have been able to keep in touch here and there since then.

My first Dismeet <3 I'd like to eventually get back to the Maritimes because, you know, it might be nice for my daughter to meet my family and her grandfather - and obviously I will let you know once I have something booked!

It was amazing how much we, two complete strangers, had in common! And that we lived so close for years, went to the same school a few years apart, and had to travel all the way to Florida to finally meet! I sometimes struggle with Dismeets because I find it a little challenging to meet new people for the first time, but you and Luke were such a treat and made it easy!

We loved you and Nathan! I can be very shy about meeting new people, but it was as if we'd known each other for years!

I also think it's hilarious how in this photo the couples have switched up, so now you and I are a couple, and Nathan and Luke are an item!

So unfortunate! Right before your race!

Yep, leave it to me hahaha.

Yes, that was SUCH a cold morning. A good portion of that trip was super cold, but that morning...getting up early to run...soooo [literally] freezing. I seem to remember it was about -1C when I checked on my phone a while before we started running.

Yeah, I remember hearing everyone around us talk about how the temperature was in the "low 30's! So cold!" - when of course I think of a temperature in the 30's as being summertime hot haha.

Wow! You guys did great! Our bags definitely didn't have as much great stuff in them! We also didn't do shirts for everyone, just offered them the chance to order if they wanted their own. Your stuff looked great!

I had the shirts made by someone local, and she gave us a fantastic deal on them! I think I got them for like $12/each?

 

[fallonkendra]

January 5, 2018 - Part Four​

We entered Magic Kingdom, our second park of the day around 3pm. We didn’t have any fastpasses, and our dining reservation wasn’t until 4:10 so we were not in any rush. We noticed that Tinkerbell had a short wait, so we went to say hello to everyone’s favourite pixie-dusted fairy. She was very excited about our wedding buttons, and insisted on checking out my ring. She was a wonderful Tink, very animated and excited and we really enjoyed our visit with her.

As we exited, we realized the Festival of Fantasy Parade would be coming through shortly, so even if we wanted to head to another area of the park, all of Main Street was blocked off for the parade route, and both sides were lined with people. Obviously we could have cut through the shops, but we decided to take the time to actually watch the entire parade (something we’d never actually done before – up to this point we’d only seen bits and pieces of it). Enjoy the four million photos I took of this parade haha –

(Apparently posts have picture limits, so this will continue in the next post)​

 

[pkondz]

You'll definitely have to try one of those one day!

If we're ever able to fly down again! Or drive! Or... anything!

Thanks for standing by... for four months

Well... had no where else to be, so...



(Nice to "see" you again, though. )

 

[pkondz]

We noticed that Tinkerbell had a short wait, so we went to say hello to everyone’s favourite pixie-dusted fairy.

I've noticed she has short waits too. Convenient.

She was very excited about our wedding buttons, and insisted on checking out my ring. She was a wonderful Tink, very animated and excited and we really enjoyed our visit with her.

From the photos, she sure looks animated!

Obviously we could have cut through the shops, but we decided to take the time to actually watch the entire parade

I'm not a huge parade fan, but that one was done really well.

Enjoy the four million photos I took of this parade haha –

But you did get some good ones.

 

[fallonkendra]

January 8, 2018 - Part Five​

Since I maxed out the photo limit in the last post, here's the rest of my millions of photos from the Festival of Fantasy Parade-

The last post allowed me to post 30 pictures, this post is maxing me out at 10 pictures

​

 

[fallonkendra]

January 8, 2018 - Part Six​

And some more parade pictures haha -

After the parade ended, we made our way up Main Street with the crowd and made our way over to Liberty Tree Tavern to check in for our early supper. Our reservation was at 4:10, and we checked in a few minutes early – but we’re talking about LTT so of course they were running behind. They said they would text us when our table was ready, so we went around the corner and watched The Muppets: Great Moments in American History.

Eventually we were seated at Liberty Tree – about half an hour past our reservation…

After we finished eating, we didn’t really have any major plans for a few hours. Since it wasn’t too far from where we were, we decided to go visit the Country Bear Jamboree! We both really enjoy this stupid show haha, and try to go see it at least once every trip.

This was Frederick the AT-AT’s first time seeing the show, but since he’s an inanimate popcorn bucket, he didn’t tell me his thoughts or feelings about it.

​

 

[pkondz]

Since I maxed out the photo limit in the last post, here's the rest of my millions of photos from the Festival of Fantasy Parade-

Point of order.
I only counted 999,998. You're missing two.

Seriously, though, they're all great.

Nice one! (Especially)

The last post allowed me to post 30 pictures, this post is maxing me out at 10 pictures

Did you paste them directly vs using a photo storage service?

made our way over to Liberty Tree Tavern to check in for our early supper.

mmmmm!!! LTT food!

we went around the corner and watched The Muppets: Great Moments in American History.

I think this no longer exists? Could be wrong.

we decided to go visit the Country Bear Jamboree! We both really enjoy this stupid show haha, and try to go see it at least once every trip.

This was Frederick the AT-AT’s first time seeing the show, but since he’s an inanimate popcorn bucket, he didn’t tell me his thoughts or feelings about it.

That's no excuse!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Man I miss the Festival of Fantasy Parade! I hope it comes back soon!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I really can't wait til Festival of Fantasy is running again!! I put the soundtrack on when my students are working sometimes It gives me all the Disney feels!!

We've never eaten at Liberty Tree, but it has made our list several times. Definitely have to give it a try one of these trips!

 

[fallonkendra]

January 5, 2018 - Part Seven

Earlier in the day, after using our third Fastpass, we had jumped on MDE and grabbed a fourth Fastpass – for Jungle Cruise. We were now in the window for that, so that’s the direction we headed in.

Frederick the AT-AT got to see the eighth wonder of the World – the BACKSIDE OF WATER!

Our next stop was to visit some animatronic birds at the Enchanted Tiki Room. I love this water feature that you see from the queue line, it’s so pretty (especially at night when it’s all lit up). I still give Disneyland the edge when it comes to the outdoor space at the Tiki Room though…

Also – the crowds were high. This was less than a week after New Year’s, and it was the Friday night of Marathon weekend. You can see in my Country Bear photo above that it was pretty full, and we were in the back row of a packed house at the Tiki Room as well – two shows that are not always at capacity.

After we left the Tiki Room, we slowly made our way over to the Tomorrowland Terrace to check in for the Happily Ever After dessert party. We were not in a rush, and thoroughly enjoyed our relaxing evening together – our last night in the parks alone! We were both so excited for our friends and families to arrive – all of our Disney trips up to this point had been with just the two of us, so we were looking forward to sharing our love of the parks! We really enjoyed this dessert party, you can read all about it on my dining report. Here's a few of my pictures/videos from the show

Once the show ended, we decided against leaving with the crowd, and instead headed into Tomorrowland and hopped on one of our favourites – the Peoplemaker!

After our tour of Tomorrowland, Main Street had cleared so we decided to head out. The park was open until midnight, but we had to get back to OKW – my Dad had finally landed in Orlando and was en route via the Magical Express! We hopped off the bus at Hospitality House at OKW and a few minutes later the Magical Express bus pulled in. I hadn’t seen my Dad since the previous June, so this was exciting! He was actually staying in our room for the night – he was booked in a room of his own for a week, but then we weren’t able to find him a flight on January 6th that didn’t cost way too much money, or have terrible flight times. So, January 5th arrival it was! We had him added to our room with a note that it was just for the one night, and reconfirmed this at the front desk on the day we checked in – no problems at all!

We were all pretty tired, so we just headed to the room and settled in for the night, and just spent some time chatting and getting my Dad excited for the week to come. We were all sad too, one of the first things my Dad asked was if the news of Terence’s accident was true (my uncle was still a kid, only 9 years old or so when my parents had started dating so my Dad had known him for a long time).

We eventually fell asleep filled with a lot of emotion – Luke’s family and some of our best friends would be arriving tomorrow, and we had a busy schedule for the day!​

Fitbit Steps: 13,599

 

[pkondz]

Frederick the AT-AT got to see the eighth wonder of the World – the BACKSIDE OF WATER!

Never gets old.

Our next stop was to visit some animatronic birds at the Enchanted Tiki Room.

What?? They’re not real???

love this water feature that you see from the queue line,

Huh. Odd. I don’t remember that.

We really enjoyed this dessert party,

I enjoy them too. Nice to have a place to sit and relax while watching the show.

I hadn’t seen my Dad since the previous June, so this was exciting!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I am loving the pictures of Frederick's first adventures on Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room! Can't wait til we get to see Jocelyn's firsts!!!!!

Yay for Dad's arrival So excited for the upcoming days!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We hopped off the bus at Hospitality House at OKW and a few minutes later the Magical Express bus pulled in.

Talk about good timing!

We eventually fell asleep filled with a lot of emotion – Luke’s family and some of our best friends would be arriving tomorrow, and we had a busy schedule for the day!

Let the real fun begin!!!!

 

[fallonkendra]

: laughing: Never gets old.

I laugh like an idiot every. single. time.

What?? They’re not real???

Uh oh, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you about Santa Claus...

I enjoy them too. Nice to have a place to sit and relax while watching the show.

And not have to find a spot hours in advance! I refuse to do that.

Now it's really time for the fun to start!

 

[fallonkendra]

I am loving the pictures of Frederick's first adventures on Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room! Can't wait til we get to see Jocelyn's firsts!!!!!

Jocelyn's firsts will be happening sooner than we thought they would! We may or may not have a hotel booked for a trip in 2022....

Yay for Dad's arrival So excited for the upcoming days!

I was so excited to introduce my Dad to Disney!

 

[fallonkendra]

Let the real fun begin!!!!

I was SO EXCITED to introduce our friends and family to Disney and show them why Luke and I loved it so much <3

 

[fallonkendra]

January 6, 2018 - Part One

Introduction: My Dad, Perry. This was his first Disney trip, and he was only here because it was my wedding. I was really hoping I’d be able to make him fall in love with the Disney Parks and possibly return with us again one day – but you’ll need to keep reading my report to find out if that will ever happen haha! He hasn’t seen many Disney movies recently, and when I asked him about Star Wars the response was “I think I saw the original ones when they were new?”. So yeah, not a big movie guy. He also did zero research on Walt Disney World, and allowed me to plan everything for him – so he was going into this entire week blindly. It was going to be exciting! Also – I live on the other side of the country from my dad, so I only get to see him once a year or so – I was looking forward to spending time with him.

I woke up excited! My dad was already here, I was going to take him to his first Disney Park today, and most of Luke’s family would be arriving today (along with quite a few of our friends).


The first order of business for the day was breakfast. We had made a reservation at Olivia's, so we didn't have far to go.

After eating, we caught the bus to Hollywood Studios. My dad had no idea what Disney was going to be like, he had never been and didn’t really have a huge desire to ever go, but he told me he didn’t care where I got married, he would be there. I think he was already impressed though, “so, these buses are free and they take you right to the park?”.

I told him to smile, and for some reason, this is the face he gave me…

Once we arrived at Hollywood Studios, we had to stop at the ticket gate to get Dad’s park tickets activated. He had purchased a 5 day hopper with the Canadian discount (or, rather, he gave me his credit card and I purchased a 5 day hopper for him haha), so you must show your passport before you can use them.

Once his tickets were active, we entered the park. I think he was expecting a typical amusement park, so I could see him quickly taking everything in. We were already in our first Fastpass window, so we went straight to Star Tours – my Dad’s first Disney ride ever! I was so excited to see what he would think of the rides, and I was just hoping he wouldn’t get motion sickness and refuse to go on anything else for the rest of the week.

We took our time walking through the queue line, it’s one of my favourites but you miss so much when you’re in the Fastpass line since you can typically walk at a normal pace. We stopped a few times, letting others go past us so we could point out different things to my Dad. He took pictures to show his Star Wars-obsessed great-nephews when he got home, he was impressed by the animatronics.

I glanced over at my Dad a few times during the ride and the look on his face was priceless- he had the biggest, goofiest grin. His first Disney ride experience was a hit, I was so relieved! When we got off the ride, his only comment was “whoa!”

I stopped in the gift shop to take a picture of Jedi Stitch

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

5 day hopper with the Canadian discount (or, rather, he gave me his credit card and I purchased a 5 day hopper for him

ha!

my Dad’s first Disney ride ever! I was so excited to see what he would think of the rides, and I was just hoping he wouldn’t get motion sickness and refuse to go on anything else for the rest of the week.

Risky!

he had the biggest, goofiest grin. His first Disney ride experience was a hit, I was so relieved! When we got off the ride, his only comment was “whoa!”

YEAH!!!! So, glad he liked it. I feel like Disney is even more impressive when you literally have no idea what to expect.

 

[fallonkendra]

ha!

Dads

Risky!

Yeah, it definitely was a bit risky! But the original plan was for it to be just Luke and I this morning, and once we realized my Dad would be joining us I just modified our existing plans to include him. Luckily it all turned out, and Dad had no issues on anything!

YEAH!!!! So, glad he liked it. I feel like Disney is even more impressive when you literally have no idea what to expect.

Yeah, pretty much all of our wedding guests were coming in blind - they all gave me complete control of planning and I actually set up dining reservations and fastpasses for every single person (and had them personalized based on everyone's trip dates/likes/preferences. This actually took even more time and planning than our actual wedding haha! But I loved it!