Summer & Steven's Fairytale Wedding TR, 20th Aug SBP Baby Pics!!!

[meryll83]

Congratulations on the new job hun, well done!
Sounds like it will be a perfect opportunity to get an insight into the career you want.

looking forward to the next installment......

 

[Wazzo]

Congratulations, and good luck!

 

[disneydreamgirl05]

Congrats on the new job!

Can't wait to hear the rest!!

 

[piglet50]

i've been reading along and have enjoyed your report. thank you for sharing your wonderful time with us.

 

[Kirsteen]

Congratulations on your new job chick - that is great news and will be great experience. Looking forward to your next installment - OH has his stag night this weekend so will be adding this to my to do list - I have the TV, Sky and Internet all to myself - no golf to watch, no Playstation games to listen to - yippee

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

meryll - Thank you, I'm really excited about this job. How are you coming along with your planning? You must be getting really excited?

Wazzo - Thank you, I just went and spent a fortune on new clothes!

disneydreamgirl05 - Thanks, I am putting up my next instalment now.

piglet50 - Thanks, I really wish I could have written more for tonight, but I will have a few instalments up this weekend.

Kirsteen - Thanks, this job has been something I have been hoping for, for a long time. Oooh so you have some alone time this weekend then, perfect time for some pampering!

As promised, I know it's small, but until tomorrow...

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Day 7, Part 4

On the bus back to POFQ, I realised how exhausted I was, I swear I could have fallen asleep right there and not woken ‘til morning.

Mom had definitely decided that she wasn’t going to The Pirate and Princess Party so Steven and I knew we would be going alone. Not only was I annoyed that I had paid extra for the ticket but I was more annoyed that she had paid for her pirate costume and wasn’t going to get to use it at all.
I don’t know, I guess I was just feeling sorry for myself. I expected the first day of our honeymoon to be spectacular, but I was so exhausted I could barely stand. The heat didn’t help and I was getting grumpy each second I was out.

My mom said she would get something to eat again at the food court and this made me even more disappointed. The whole point of the DDP was so we could eat at proper sit down restaurants, yet my mom would be eating at the food court 2 days in a row. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I knew how much she would have loved Kona, as the menu was perfect for her.
Steven was getting really tired too and he had a headache. I didn’t know how much of a nap we could have before the party but I intended to sleep as soon as I got in.

We arrived back at POFQ and it was almost 5pm. We said goodbye to mom and said we would see her in the morning for Chef Mickeys and would pick her up at 8.00am.

Steven and I continued on to our room and I was really happy to see these little guys when we arrived:

These guys are now sitting in my bathroom as a constant reminder of Disney!

We were exhausted, there was no use denying it, we needed to sleep. We fell on to the bed and it seemed so cool and inviting. I had left the air conditioner on and the room was a wonderful temperature. I changed into my PJ’s and cuddled up with the pillow, I didn’t want to leave this bed…EVER.

Steven and I discussed the night in front of us and we both realised that we weren’t hungry nor were we that bothered about going to the Party.
I think if I had more stamina I would have been itching to go. In hindsight, I don’t know what I was thinking when I booked the tickets for the day after the wedding.

I suggested to Steven that we just stayed in and cosied up on the bed, and slept for as long as we needed to. If we got hungry later on we could always grab something from the Food Court, or we always had wedding cake!

Steven was all for it and I was disappointed he didn’t urge me to go. I thought to myself that there were 2 more possible days available for us to see The P & P Party and I figured I could convince Steven to fork out a bit more money and go on one of the other days. Thinking this, I felt much better and decided to stay in and sleep.

I switched on the TV and settled on the news. I plumped the pillows, set the alarm for 7am, cuddled up to Steven and closed my eyes.
Within seconds I was asleep. The next time I opened my eyes it was morning.

Coming up…
Chef Mickeys and loads of pictures!

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Summer~

First off, cogratulations on the new job I know how much it means to get that kind of leg up in the field you're trying to break into. And I know school keeps you busy too I'm working full time, going to school full time and planning the wedding. This me most of the time --> :

Okay, two, I'm sooo glad you guys decided to stay in and get some sleep. I was starting to get exhausted for you guys. (hmm, maybe now would be a good time to take a nap.) Don't get me wrong, I'm a Disney warrior... up at 5am... parks open to close, back in bed at 1am. But I just don't think I could do it with all the extra stress. Heck... you just got married! And, looking after your mom prolly drained you some too.

Anyhow, I look forward to additional installments this weekend. I'll use them as breaks between this huge project I have to finish in two weeks. My life is shot until after the 13th! Hmpf.

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Awesome news on the new job Summer!!!

It's really tough for UK Law Students to find a Training Contract after studying, and something like this can most certainly give you a leg up - well done!!

Where are you at in your studies Summer? I teach Contract Law and Tort so anything I can help you with

 

[traceycooper]

Congrats on the new job Summer
I hope you managed to get to the P&P party another day!

 

[DisneyLaura]

Summer - congrats on the new job. That's great. I was excited to see that you decided to get some sleep. I hope you get to go the the P&P party though because I am dying to see pictures of that but if you don't I understand dishing out more money but I hope you do. Can't wait for more.

 

[blondie7]

Congrats on the new job Summer. I am sure you will do well and the experience will be great as you continue your studies. I can't wait to hear more about your trip

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

MistressOfAllEvil - Thanks for the congrats on the new job, I am now at the stage of being nervous. I know where you're coming from when you talk about having no time. I have zero free time anymore but I can't give up anything, It get's really hard sometimes to squeeze everything in.
That sleep was wonderful and we so needed it, it allowed us to have a better day. I like to think I could stay up constantnly at Disney but in practice it just isn't possible, we were exhausted. Hope you aren't working too hard!

Hayley - Hiya girl, how are you getting on? I am studying Contract Law this year so if I have any questions I will be sure to drop you a line. I'm also studying Criminal and Administrative Law. Thanks for the job congrats, I am hoping this will give me a leg up in the field. I am looking forward to starting.

traceycooper - Thanks, unfortunately it means no getting on the computer for sneaky peeks all day, although it might be a good thing and I can concentrate on my studies for once! The Dis is too much of a draw!

DisneyLaura - Thanks! I needed that sleep, I hate being grumpy full stop but being grumpy in Disney is just not on. Stay tuned to find out about the P & P Party, we eventually do go, but it's easier said than done...

blondie7 - Thank you, I think this job is going to help so much with my studies. I am looking forward to seeing this impact on my studies.

More coming up...

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Day 8, Part 1

So we awoke at 7.00am. I was shocked that I had managed to sleep all night long without waking. 13 hours of sleep resulted in us feeling wide-awake and ready for the day ahead.
This was my mom’s last full day with us and the plan was to visit Sea World. I hoped that she had enjoyed herself so far, and although I was glad she had came, I was looking forward to spending the rest of the honeymoon alone with Steven.
I quickly showered, dressed, donned my Minnie ears and removed the cake from the fridge. I was really hungry and I thought a bit of cake before breakfast would go down well, only in Disney, of course!

The cake was beautiful, it was so much better after being refrigerated, the icing was firm and the cake was cold. I tried both sections, almond and chocolate and they were magnificent. I can’t pick a favourite actually, the chocolate was rich and full flavoured and the almond was light and sweet. Both were equally tasty, although Steven preferred the almond cake.
After having about 6 forkfuls, I made myself stop; I had to save room for breakfast at Chef Mickeys!

Once Steven was dressed we headed down to pick up my mom. We made sure we had our tickets for Sea World as we didn’t intend coming back to the resort after breakfast.
Mom was ready and I told her that we didn’t make it to The Pirate and Princess Party either. I explained how exhausted we were and that we decided it was best to catch up on our sleep. I think she felt relieved, as I’m sure she felt guilty about not going to the party.

I had been looking forward to Chef Mickeys for a long time. Mom had missed out on a lot of character interaction so I was really glad I had reserved this on her last day. We were guaranteed pictures with our favorite characters here and although we would be paying OOP for this breakfast, I thought it would be worth it.
We headed down to the bus stop and waited for the bus that said Magic Kingdom. Mom was now not going to get the chance to see MK as we had planned to visit it during The P & P Party and as we all didn’t go and this was her last day, there wouldn’t be any time for her to go back. I was really disappointed about this as I knew that the MK would be my mom’s favorite park but there wasn’t anything I could do!

The bus arrived quickly and we boarded. We arrived at the MK within 15 minutes and we hurried over to the Monorail. It was 8.50am and our reservation was for 9.10 so I began to panic that we would be late. Luckily the monorail was waiting there and we boarded straight away. It was only one stop to The Contemporary Resort and we were there in 2 minutes.

I was excited to see this resort as it had been one of the resorts Steven and I had really liked the look of. I LOVE modern, contemporary looks and the rooms looked amazing, but when I got it priced up, it was way over our budget. For the same price I could have scored The Poly and there was no way I would choose The Contemporary over The Poly.

I thought it was really cool that the monorail entered the resort, but when we stepped foot on the carpeting, I thought it lacked the usual Disney theming. Now I know that The Contemporary is home to many business executives and they have loads of meeting rooms etc here, but it was so far removed from the usual Disney feel that I knew immediately that we wouldn’t have been as happy here.

We quickly looked around for the sign to direct us to Chef Mickeys and followed it. We arrived to a huge queue, everyone waiting to check in. I was annoyed about this as we had managed to get here before our reservation time, but by the time we got up to the desk we would likely be late!

We stood in line and slowly eased up the queue. We finally got to the desk and we checked in and got our beeper. A Cast Member came up to us and asked if we would like our picture taken, my mom immediately said yes so we were led over to the photo shoot point. Once the woman had left, I told mom that we would have to pay for this picture and it really wasn’t worth it, we would have loads of opportunity to get pictures with characters and that was the main reason for coming.

So we sidled over to another area while we waited for our beeper to go off. We noticed Goofy getting his picture taken with some children; the queue or what vaguely resembled a queue wasn’t long. I dragged my mom over and said we would get our picture taken with him.

At this point loads of adults obviously noticed that Goofy was stopping for pictures and autographs; people started circling like vultures and the queue dispersed and people started jumping in wherever they saw a space.
If there is something I cannot stand, it’s queue jumping. It’s totally disrespectful and I never do it nor condone it.

I exclaimed loudly that people obviously didn’t realise that there is a queue. A Cast Member must have heard me as she walked over and started positioning people to form a queue. Satisfied, I waited my turn.
We were seen within minutes and I was shocked to see just how tall Goofy is. Do they have to have a really tall person play Goofy?
I don’t know what Goofy is either, it is a question that has plagued me for years, is he a dog? I mean he talks and he stands on 2 legs in the cartoons, unlike Pluto. If anyone can fill me in on what animal he actually is, I would be very grateful.

I got a pic with Goofy alone:

Mom and I were very happy to get our picture taken with Goofy:

Steven chose not to get his pic taken with him, much to my disappointment. He was happy being cameraman and vowed to get really good pics of me and the characters!

Shortly after our picture was taken, my beeper went off. While we waited at the desk for our host to show us to our table, mom asked me what kind of food they served here.
I explained it was a buffet and that she could have whatever she wanted, I gave her a rundown of the types of food, French toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, corn beef hash, coffee, donuts etc.
She said and I quote “But I don’t eat food like that, I don’t like fattening stuff”
I told her she was bound to find something that she liked, as I knew they had a huge variety.
We were shown to our table over in the smaller part of the dining room on the right hand side, we had a booth, so Steven took the comfy seat and told mom and I to sit on the opposite side so he could get photos of us with the characters. I told mom that the characters came round to our table so she didn’t have to chase them round the restaurant. Believe me, if I didn’t tell her that she likely would have been tailing Mickey!

Our server came over to us and offered us coffee and told us to help ourselves. She wished us both Congratulations and said that the characters would be round shortly.
Hunger called and I had to get some food. We all found a station and started loading our plates. I didn’t know what to have, surprisingly everything looked really good. I had read mixed reviews about this place but I figured you could hardly go wrong with breakfast so I gave it a go.
I picked up scrambled eggs, sausage, corn beef hash, French toast and a croissant. Steven picked up similar and my mom, remember the one who DIDN’T eat stuff like that, well she picked up French toast, eggs, sausages (plural) 2 croissants, omelettes and a bagel. Her plate was a mountain of food and towered way above Steven’s or mine. I had to laugh at her comment earlier as judging by her plate you would think she lived for food like this!

We headed back to our table and noticed Mickey coming towards our section. We quickly sat down and waited patiently for him to arrive. Steven got a great pic of Mom, Mickey and I together:

We started on our breakfast after I poured the coffee, which was very good by the way. The corn beef hash was beautiful. I LOVE corn beef hash, but it’s not something that is very popular over here. It was slightly spicy and I wished I had picked up more of it. The scrambled eggs were just that although slightly undercooked for my liking, the French toast was beautiful. I would love to know how they do this. It doesn’t taste like there is much egg on this French toast and I know they put a dusting of icing sugar on it. It is so sweet and tasty; it’s also really crispy, perfect! I had only taken one slice and regretted not having another. The croissant was a bit on the firm side, it seemed like it had been sitting out a bit too long. I had forgotten to take butter too so I just ate half of it plain. The sausage was pretty nice, but again a bit undercooked for me; I don’t like meat underdone, as I’m sure you already know.

Our server came back and gave us our special placemats and our mini cupcakes, she told us the next song was for us.

I was so excited, I was ready for a napkin-twirling good time and it was for us, even better. The music began and everyone was instructed to twirl his or her napkins, Steven looked a bit confused and I explained to him that this was for us and he had to participate. He picked up his napkin and gave it a twirl but then decided to concentrate on getting some pictures of me having a good time:

It was a great sight, a sea of green twirling napkins, everyone was having a blast!

We blew out our candles on our cupcake and I decided to eat half, the cake was really sweet and the mickey confetti made it even sweeter, I could only eat half anyway, I wouldn’t be able to stomach any more.

Pluto’s turn was next and I adore Pluto, so I just had to get a good picture with him:

He is so unbelievably cute; I swear I could just take him home with me. Pluto offered his hand to Steven and I told him to get up so I could get a pic of them both. He agreed, he didn’t want me to put this up, but what the hell, I think it’s cute:

We finished off the rest of our breakfast and we noticed Donald coming towards our table. I LOVE Donald, it is a tie between him and Pluto; I can never decide who I like best.
Donald noticed my ears and Steven took a picture of us together:

He was adorable; I think Donald was overtaking Pluto for my affections. He cuddled me and looked at my ring and feigned a heart attack. I thought that he had finished and was about to leave, but he motioned for me to get out of my chair. Willingly I took his hand, paw or whatever he has and followed him. We circulated and mingled with all the other diners. He introduced me by his actions as his now wife, he showed off my ring to the diners and everyone congratulated us. When he was to get pictures with the children he would stand me off to the side and motion for me to stay.

One diner said to me that it doesn’t bode well for our marriage if he is already leaving me on the sidelines, LOL. I said I was only with him for his money and the fluffy children!

Here you can see Donald and I way in the background:

Donald came back to me and took my hand again and took me up to the buffet and motioned to the spread. I told him I already had some breakfast and I was no longer hungry.
A Cast Member told Donald that he was being selfish and that I already had a husband, but Donald pointed to himself quite forcefully and stamped his feet. She asked him about Daisy Duck, and he shook his head and hands back and forth. The Cast Member translated that he had dumped Daisy for me, so he grabbed my hand again and walked with me up through the buffet line. He kept stroking my hand and I accidentally stood on his feet. I apologised to him and explained that I wasn’t used to walking beside someone with feet like his.
I told him that I wasn’t aware that the restaurant was so big; I was going into unknown areas here!
We returned to our table and I thought he was going to let me go, but no, he wanted to circulate again, with me by his side. The woman next to us wanted a picture with Donald and this time he didn’t want to let me go, so she said it wasn’t a problem for Donald’s new wife to be in the picture with them:

Again we went round, and I must admit I was enjoying every minute. We walked over to the other area of the restaurant and greeted the other diners and servers. One server looked at my ring and exclaimed that she wished we were on her side as judging by my ring it must mean I‘m a good tipper!
Another Cast Member came and found us and told Donald that he was needed in the kitchen and couldn’t take me with him.

He got down on one knee and grasped my hand, I would have considered this quite romantic if I hadn’t just got married and he hadn’t been a duck. I told him that although he was sweet, I had to go. I told him we would always have Chef Mickeys and he wiped away a tear. I gave him a kiss on his bill and he showed me his heart breaking. He grabbed me for one last hug and everyone in the restaurant cheered. I waved goodbye to him and he blew me a kiss.
It is by far one of my most treasured moments and something I will never forget. I practically skipped back to my table.

Mom had gotten out of her chair to come find me and I told her what had happened. I was so excited, what an experience!
I decided I was in need of some sugar and I was sure I had spotted some glazed donuts on my way round the restaurant. My weakness has to be donuts, jellied or glazed they are all here to tease and tempt me, I often succumb to their powers and this was no exception.
I picked up a glistening glazed donut and a chocolate one and headed back to my table. They were awesome, so sweet and sinful but a necessity. I offered Steven some but he refused, how he could pass it up was beyond me.

Steven went back for some fruit, as did mom but I happily sat back with my donuts. I figured I would walk it off in no time anyway. I had more coffee, mmm, coffee and donuts, is there anything better than that?

Once I had my fill and Steven and mom were finished we thought it was best to make a move. Mom had decided to pay for the whole lot, as she wanted to pay me for my old GHD flat irons, so I told her if she paid for breakfast we would call it even. It came to just over $60, which I thought was very reasonable.
The character interaction was brilliant and although we didn’t get to see Minnie, it was well worth it. This is definitely a place we would come back to; it is on my list already for when we return to Disney. I felt like we had bathed in Pixie Dust, this meal had really been magical for me.
Mom loved it but she didn’t get as much pics with the characters as she had hoped for. She kept concentrating on taking pictures of the characters and me and by the time she took our picture they were moving on.
Steven enjoyed it although he pretended not to, I saw him smile loads during breakfast, even if he thought he had disguised it!

We walked to the front of The Contemporary and Steven snapped his famous walking away shot again:

I checked with a Cast Member how we could get to Sea World. She didn’t seem to know too much about transport but she thought it would be best to get a cab. I frowned at this as I thought this would be really expensive and I was sure I could get a bus from somewhere, I just couldn’t remember where.

We went outside and I asked mom if she really wanted to go to Sea World. I told her that we could go anywhere she wanted. It was her last day and I wanted her to choose. I said that I thought she would love the Magic Kingdom and it was really close by. It didn’t matter to us where she wanted to go as Steven and I knew that we would be returning to all the parks anyway.
Mom said that although she wanted to visit Sea World, she really wanted to see Magic Kingdom. She asked me if that was the park with the castle and I said “of course”. I knew that it would be easier to go to MK, but I really wanted mom to be happy on her last day and if she chose Sea World it wouldn’t have bothered me. We had paid for her ticket to Sea World and I knew it would be wasted if we didn’t go, but I wasn’t bothered.

Deep down I knew she would love MK, there was so much more there that we could see and do, and of course more opportunity for characters again!

After a discussion where mom went back and forth on her choice, mainly due to her saying she wanted to go wherever I wanted to go. Mom admitted that she preferred the sound of MK and that she had been looking forward to that park the most. She exclaimed she now regretted not going to The P and P Party. I rolled my eyes and softly sighed as we made our way back into The Contemporary Resort and up to the monorail station.

Coming up…
We hit Magic Kingdom, get serenaded by a quartet and lunch at Peco Bills.

 

[Wazzo]

Summer, your breakfast stroll with Donald sounds AWESOME!

I LOVE Donald, he is by FAR my favourite, and we didn't get to see him at all during our Chef Mickey breakfast. I'm so excited for you that you have a such a fun and happy memory!

 

[Rain]

Summer it sounds like you had so much fun. What a great time you had with DD you must have been the envy of every lady there.
I can't wait to hear more!

 

[thunderbird1]

Mom admitted that she preferred the sound of MK and that she had been looking forward to that park the most.

YAY!! You took your mom to the MK!!!! I'm finally caught up and de-lurking, and am thrilled to end the night on that note. Really, it would have been a tragedy of monumental proportions to bring your mom all the way to FL and not even get her to the MK.

I don't usually hang out on the wedding boards much, as I'm an old, married lady (albeit a former Disney bride myself--who married during my last year of law school, no less). But I saw you several times on the DDP board, and was intrigued by all your planning, so couldn't resist becoming addicted to your TR (page 42 and your mother hasn't left yet)? Will I have the strength to see it through to the end? As you've had me in tears and stitches several times already (often in the same post), I'm sure somehow I'll manage. Keep it coming, girl, your fans await!

 

[B2B-2008]

Summer your breakfast sounded like so much fun. I think I might have to add Chef Mickey's on my list of places to eat.

 

[MUDisneyCouple]

We also went to Chef Mickey's on our trip and LOVED the character interaction...it was so much fun. We were also done with our meal and still hadn't seen Minnie, but we hunted her down (I think she was less than happy to stop, but we got a pic anyway). Character interaction is so much fun. On our recent trip to Disneyland, my Mom loved all the characters. I thought her face was locked into a permenant smile

So, glad that you all are going to MK with your Mom!!! Can't wait for more!

 

[traceycooper]

Hi Summer
Chef Mickeys souded great, especially with Donald
I had the same reaction as you the first time i saw the Contempory, Although last year we ate at California Grill (on the top floor) & it was amazing, we timed it with the fireworks at MK & watched them on an outside deck, the food was my favourite of the whole trip - i thought you may want to know about this maybe for your next trip
looking forward to the MK report