The Diary of a Willing Disney Hostage: A Pre-Trip Report (UPDATED: 1/4)

[danceintherain]

I'm trying to finish this PTR, so I'll probably be updating quite often.

Now y'all know that for our Honeymoon we will be staying in AKL Pool View. It took a LONG time for me to finalize this decision, and Logan was virtually no help. He listens to me rant about the choices, but as he knows very little about Disney World, his opinions are based entirely on speculation. Therefore, most of his contributions included things like "the Wilderness Lodge looks too rustic" and "I don't want to take you to a Moderate for our Honeymoon." All of which were highly irrelevant, because I KNOW we'll have a wonderful time no matter where we stay. Nevertheless, I am a little high maintenance. Not necessarily in a bad way, but I usually determine exactly what I want within reason, and since it's within reason I get a little disappointed if I don't get what I want.

Thus, I gave Logan a time frame for his proposal. We knew pretty soon after we started dating that we would get married. It was just a matter of time before we both got ourselves ready for that kind of step. When I started planning the Disneymoon, I told Logan that in order to go to Disney at the best possible time, and get the best deal, we needed to go in January. Therefore, he needed to propose by a specific point. Ultimately, it was determined that he had to propose before he left for training in Washington State for the summer. This time frame had 2 main rationales: our 180 day ADR date for January 4th was while he was in Washington, and I wanted to give my Mom more planning time to plan the wedding than my sister had. (My sister met her husband in February of the year that she married him in November - they didn't get engaged until July )
Now, it's hard enough to plan a wedding in the time frame I mapped out, so planning it in her time frame was much more difficult. (Luckily, our church is used to short engagements, and we can use the building for free as long as it's available that day, but we're not talking about my sister's wedding, we're talking about mine)
My Mom went completely crazy planning that wedding, and I aspire to a little higher level of excellence than my sister does, so technically I've been planning the wedding longer than the 6 months time frame I gave myself.
(I might have to make another installment later, because I'm not on my own computer right now)

Anyways, since January was my pick for my wedding I knew I had to make winter work. So I began formulating everything about the idea of winter. We would have lanterns as centerpieces. My colors would be Silver, Burgundy and an Icy Blue. I would have a cape to wear over my dress for warmth and adorability. I would serve hot chocolate at the reception, and give hot chocolate out as the favors.

One of the things that frustrated me about my sister's wedding was the fact that she bought the first dress she tried on. Since she had a time crunch she didn't have much time to try on dresses let alone get one altered before her wedding. This was frustrating to me, because I did not get to go with her when she picked out her dress. She moved to Georgia to live with my Aunt at the beginning of that year, so she was in Georgia while we were planning the wedding. Anyways, I'm the shopper in the family, therefore I would not have been satisfied with trying on only one dress. (I guess I should add that we both got dresses with sleeves)
I decided that I wanted to go somewhere with a large supply of modest dresses, and found that there was a little dress shop in Loganville, GA that sold entirely dresses with sleeves. As I spent most of my summer in Georgia visiting my sister to await the arrival of my adorable little nephew, this was a wonderful coincidence. We set up an appointment, and this is the dress I decided on: (it's not me in the dress...)

and this is my cape, which is on order and should arrive soon

I will add more pictures and details later!

 

[jenjolt]

What an amazing update!! I love the dress!!! Not to mention that gorgeous cape, you are going to look so beautiful!!!

 

[TxRabbit]

that dress is!!

Really, it's beautiful. And that cape is too fun. I LOVE that idea, and the cape itself, with the fur trim? I WANT ONE!

Keep it comin.

 

[pamouselover]

OMG I LOVE THE DRESS. The cape is so cute. I have never seen anything like that. Looks like something Bell would wear.
FYI: I bought the first dress I tried on. They could not order it, so I bought it off the rack, which shocked my sisters. It was so not like me. But ever dress I tried on after that, did not compare. My sisiters still talk about it.

 

[danceintherain]

OMG I LOVE THE DRESS. The cape is so cute. I have never seen anything like that. Looks like something Bell would wear.
FYI: I bought the first dress I tried on. They could not order it, so I bought it off the rack, which shocked my sisters. It was so not like me. But ever dress I tried on after that, did not compare. My sisiters still talk about it.

My dress was by no means the first I tried on. The one she had in the store was on display in the window, and it's a rather heavy dress. I think she said it weighs 8 lbs! She didn't really want to take it out of the window, but of course as I am high maintenance it's the one I wanted. I tried on a ton of different dresses and styles, but I just love how mine sparkles. It really is pretty spectacular. The "floofy" skirt was kind of a requirement as well, but it just happened to be the dress that looked best on me.

 

[danceintherain]

I thought I'd add a few more pictures of different elements of my wedding.

My sisters' bridesmaid dresses:

Now my lanterns were one of my own creative plans. I had been to wedding receptions with candles, but most of the time people use flowers a lot in their centerpieces. I wanted something that was unique to me, and BONUS we get to keep the lanterns - I can give them out as Thank You gifts, or keep them all to myself. We ended up getting silver lanterns for all the tables, and a few extra black and white lanterns for accents around the rest of the room.
They were a score at the IKEA in Atlanta for around $2 a piece! If we had an IKEA in Kansas City, then I probably would have bought more, but we had to limit our purchase to necessity in Atlanta as we had to transport them all back here. Luckily we drove, because I doubt an airline would "handle with care." Another detail about me is I'm not a huge fan of online shopping. Certain things I'm ok with. Basically anything that I know exactly what I'm getting, so it doesn't make a difference I can buy online (CDs, books etc). The lanterns were a little difficult to conceptualize for me. I knew how big they would be, but I had a difficult time developing the proper spatial relations surrounding them. The fact that we could go to IKEA in ATL and actually see the lanterns cemented them into my mind. (luckily... it was a doubly effective trip, because we surprised my brother-in-law with a makeover of his office while we were visiting, we got all the furniture at IKEA)

Also, my Mom and Dona (the family friend who is doing the decorating) were worried that the lanterns would not be big enough. I didn't want HUGE centerpieces, because I hate sitting at tables where I can't see the person across from me. They came up with alternative lantern options for me. All of which I thought were hideous. Thus, we came to a compromise. We would get stands for the lanterns! The stands were a little more difficult to come by, and we were worried about whether or not they would be big enough for the lanterns, so for that we had to order a few different kinds of test stands, only one of which the lanterns fit on. Luckily, it was the pretty one!

My cake was a bit of a struggle for me. I didn't have any specific cake style that I absolutely loved, and once again a friend of the family is making the cake. I trust her cake baking ability entirely, but I realize that my wedding is during a really busy time for people, so I didn't want to make it overly complicated.
I found a simple yet elegant cake on the Wilton's site, and that's what I ended up choosing. We haven't nailed down the cake flavors yet, but I think we're going to do either a lemon or orange flavored layer, along with the normal chocolate and white.

The main difference between my cake, and the cake picture is the color of the decorative flowers. Mine will be burgundy, not pink. I'll probably even let her use her artistic abilities to change the actual placement and use of flowers on the surface of the cake, or any other decorating she wishes to implement.
The reason I liked this cake is because it has whipped frosting that looks slightly like drifts of snow.

I don't have pictures of the rest of my decorations.

However, my Mom called me the other day and told me that she was helping out with the Community Creche (Nativity) Exhibit at the church building. Apparently, they decorated really spectacular for it, and she knows the people who did the decorating.
One thing I hate and love about my mother is that she talks to EVERYBODY. This time it was a good thing, because she asked if they could leave it up through my reception. Now, of course my wedding is a month away, so the church leader in our area didn't ok the idea, because the room (basically a gymnasium) is used for other events that might not appreciate the beautiful decorations (like basketball). However, the gentlemen who were responsible for the draped fabric and twinkle lights all over the room are willing to duplicate it for my reception, and since they already have all the materials, it won't cost anything more than any labor fees we decide to pay them.
I don't know what it looks like, but considering it is a gymnasium it will at least make it look less ready for a basketball game.

 

[danceintherain]

Oh, I almost forgot my flowers!
This idea I found, and just love it. My sister's will have nosegays similar to this, and I will have a variation with roses in it.

I love how simply elegant they are!

 

[jenjolt]

You are going to have the most gorgeous wedding...I love all the pictures LOL!!! Simply stunning Becca!!!

 

[BellaSoleil]

My cousin did the draped fabric thing in her chuch gymnasium and it was beautiful! With the twinkle lights and lanterns, it's going to look like a Winter Wonderland!

 

[danceintherain]

I thought I would do a Disney-related update considering the last few have been more wedding related. Though I will return to more wedding related and tell y’all how he proposed.

Before we booked our room, made our ADRs or Logan even proposed, I was sneaking around the Delta website looking for deals. This is something I got into the habit of before I left for Prague. I do it quite often even when I don’t necessarily have plans for trips. Usually, I have something in mind, like “Oooh I could take Mommy to Ireland.” or “I wanna go see my baby nephew.” In this case, I did have something specific in mind…

We needed airline tickets to Disney !

Driving was pretty much out of the question, especially considering gas prices in June were somewhere around $3 (more elsewhere), and it did not seem like they were going to drop. At this point with prices about half that it would be more of an option, but as I’ve already mentioned, I HATE driving. Besides, Logan still gets nervous driving in any kind of traffic. I figure if he gets scared in Kansas City – Atlanta would drain his face of blood.
Anyways, so I was looking at Delta ticket prices. This was slightly unnecessary, because my Dad always has airline points. It’s one of the only benefits of having a father who travels a lot for work. I had planned on alleviating the cost of transportation by using some of those points. However, I found the most amazing deal on tickets.
Only $211.00 per person round-trip! That’s INCLUDING tax and fees. I didn’t book immediately… I had to check with Logan… and call my parents to make sure it was a good price… ok… I knew it was a good price, but I always get feedback from people, even if I’ve pretty much made my decision. Besides, this was over 6 months before our trip, and I wanted to keep my options open. I knew that the chances of the price going down for slim to none, and I knew that our dates were pretty fixed. If anything we would get married a few weeks earlier, but still go on our honeymoon during the same time.
I talked to my parents, and my Daddy who never gets excited about anything thought it was an amazing deal, and offered to pay for the tickets, since we wouldn’t be using his points. (he is really attached to his points…)

Anyways, this got me REALLY excited! We had tickets, which meant we were definitely going no matter what.
Ok… so that wasn’t really all that Disney related, but it was trip related.

Since we bought the tickets our flights have only changed slightly. We arrive a little later, and our departure is a little earlier at 6:30pm, but I figure with ME we would probably have the same pick-up time anyways, and we'll get home a little earlier that way.

 

[jenjolt]

I thought I would do a Disney-related update considering the last few have been more wedding related. Though I will return to more wedding related and tell y’all how he proposed.

Before we booked our room, made our ADRs or Logan even proposed, I was sneaking around the Delta website looking for deals. This is something I got into the habit of before I left for Prague. I do it quite often even when I don’t necessarily have plans for trips. Usually, I have something in mind, like “Oooh I could take Mommy to Ireland.” or “I wanna go see my baby nephew.” In this case, I did have something specific in mind…

We needed airline tickets to Disney !

Driving was pretty much out of the question, especially considering gas prices in June were somewhere around $3 (more elsewhere), and it did not seem like they were going to drop. At this point with prices about half that it would be more of an option, but as I’ve already mentioned, I HATE driving. Besides, Logan still gets nervous driving in any kind of traffic. I figure if he gets scared in Kansas City – Atlanta would drain his face of blood.
Anyways, so I was looking at Delta ticket prices. This was slightly unnecessary, because my Dad always has airline points. It’s one of the only benefits of having a father who travels a lot for work. I had planned on alleviating the cost of transportation by using some of those points. However, I found the most amazing deal on tickets.
Only $211.00 per person round-trip! That’s INCLUDING tax and fees. I didn’t book immediately… I had to check with Logan… and call my parents to make sure it was a good price… ok… I knew it was a good price, but I always get feedback from people, even if I’ve pretty much made my decision. Besides, this was over 6 months before our trip, and I wanted to keep my options open. I knew that the chances of the price going down for slim to none, and I knew that our dates were pretty fixed. If anything we would get married a few weeks earlier, but still go on our honeymoon during the same time.
I talked to my parents, and my Daddy who never gets excited about anything thought it was an amazing deal, and offered to pay for the tickets, since we wouldn’t be using his points. (he is really attached to his points…)

Anyways, this got me REALLY excited! We had tickets, which meant we were definitely going no matter what.
Ok… so that wasn’t really all that Disney related, but it was trip related.

Since we bought the tickets our flights have only changed slightly. We arrive a little later, and our departure is a little earlier at 6:30pm, but I figure with ME we would probably have the same pick-up time anyways, and we'll get home a little earlier that way.

WOW!! Congrats on an amazing deal Becca!! That is so awesome!!!

 

[TxRabbit]

That is a GREAT deal for airfare! I loved flying out of Kansas City. It's such an easy airport to fly in and out of! So much better than Wichita.

We are planning on driving from Houston. Just about 1000 miles. I was thinking that I would keep looking for a deal (right now the best is still over $300), but now I am getting rather attached to all the items I am imagining bringing in my car!

Great style in your wedding selections. What a wonderful representation of a winter theme. Very elegant. I LOVE the lanterns. I hope you can post some actual pics with a TR!

 

[BellaSoleil]

You guys got great airfare rates! That's so exciting! You are going to be a Mrs. VERY soon!!!!

 

[danceintherain]

As I was saying before, I am very high maintenance. I realized this about myself a long time ago, and have accepted it and moved on. I say this for a few different reasons. First of all, since I was probably about 14 I've gone shopping with my Mom and picked out just about all my Christmas presents every year. Thus, I know all my Christmas presents beforehand. Last year, she didn't want me to know all my presents, so she made me list what I wanted, and then went back later. It was so much more work that way, so I have no idea why she did it, and since her memory isn't the greatest she forgot what I wanted, and I ended up disappointed. (I know that's bad)

I'm ok with surprises, but when I want to be, I can be very perceptive, so I can usually figure them out beforehand. Either that or my family is just really bad at surprises. For example, when I graduated from high school my parents threw me a graduation party with a few family friends. We went to the store a day or two before, and my Mom looked at my sister and said "You need to go get something else right, but Becca can't come with you." Anyways, I knew that they were going to put my picture on a cake. They also made me a picture quilt, which I found out about, because they took pictures out of frames in my room. (like I wouldn't notice)

Logan actually successfully threw me a Surprise Birthday Party a couple years ago, which was amazing, because I had no idea. I did get very close to figuring it out though. He had my roommate in on it, and she was leaving one day, and I actually asked her where she was going, which I never do, so she had to make up some excuse on the spot.

Well, as far as the proposal went, I didn't give him the chance to surprise me. He had a very specific time frame to follow. He had to propose before he went to training. I suppose he could have proposed after he got back, but that would have been pushing the actual planning time down to much shorter, which was unacceptable to both me, and my Mom, especially since I was planning on trying on dresses in Georgia.
I could do quite a bit of planning without a ring, but I didn't want to do the bulk of the planning until I had one.
Now, he could have proposed at any point between when we got back from Prague and he left for training. Actually, he could have proposed while we were in Prague, but he wouldn't have had a ring. The ring was the big problem.
Since I am high maintenance, I wanted a very special ring, but I wanted him to surprise me with it. Also, one of my criteria was that it needed to be as big as my sister's. (sibling rivalry) Well, he found a beautiful ring, but the center stone was not as big as my sister's, and being the good boy he is, he actually respected that criteria. He ended up trying to get the center stone replaced, which was not possible for the setting. Anyways, it was only a few weeks before he was leaving, and he was having a hard time. He knew I would love the ring, but it didn't fit my specifications exactly, so he didn't want me to be disappointed. Thus, he came to me, and said that he wanted to show it to me, so I could say yay or nay, but it would ruin the surprise.
Well, I decided not to see it. My Mom and sister had both seen it, and loved it, so along with his judgment I knew it would be perfect. So, that was settled.
However, he still needed to ask my Dad for my hand. Now, once again being high maintenance I told him that he had to best my brother-in-law by asking in person. (my BIL did it over the phone) This should not have been a difficult task, and my Mom and I put Logan and my Dad alone together multiple times before Logan thought it was a good time to ask. Finally, he did, but that left us with only a week before he had to leave for training.

This is where I put my foot in my mouth. Logan was trying to think up some amazing way to propose, which was hard since we live in Manhattan. I still think he should have taken me out during the tornado and proposed then, but he didn't.
Well, a few days before he proposed he told me he wanted to take me out to dinner, and being me I said, "I hope you're not planning on having my ring presented to me as dessert."
The poor boy. He got really worried. I had to do a lot of soothing to try to get him to stop worrying.

Anyways, we went to Harry's one of the only (if not the only) nice restaurants in Manhattan. I ordered the Filet Mignon, partially because I had never had any before, and wanted to try it before we got to Disney and I wouldn't be able to get something else if I didn't like it.
Then, at the end of the meal, they presented me a chocolate square. Of course, since I'm hardly surprisable I knew it was the ring box, but I couldn't get it out.
I tried to no avail to get it out for a while. Logan even aided my efforts, but we just couldn't get it out.
He had dipped the ring box in white chocolate and drizzled chocolate syrup over it.
Well, the chocolate basically sealed the box closed.
I had to use my teeth to gnaw it off.
By the time we got the ring out we were both laughing so hard!

He came around to my side of the table, got down on one knee and proposed. I don't remember exactly what he said, because I was still laughing very hard, but this is the ring he gave me.

I was pleased, but I definitely need to work on letting people surprise me.

 

[BellaSoleil]

Here's a little gift from me to you :

 

[jenjolt]

Ahhhh...I love Harry's Uptown..the restaurant is really nice and I love the story behind the building...I have been there a few times. My dinner at prom was the most memorable!! Sounds like a really fun proposal...congrats!!

 

[danceintherain]

Here's a little gift from me to you :

Haha thanks!

Ahhhh...I love Harry's Uptown..the restaurant is really nice and I love the story behind the building...I have been there a few times. My dinner at prom was the most memorable!! Sounds like a really fun proposal...congrats!!

Yeah... we've gone a couple times, but only for special occasions. He took me for our 1 year anniversary and to propose, but that's it.
I like it though, because both times I've gotten jewelry!

 

[pamouselover]

I need to make one of those for my DD!
Do you understand everything for the photospass share?
I can not wait....forget christmas I am going to disney!

 

[danceintherain]

I need to make one of those for my DD!
Do you understand everything for the photospass share?
I can not wait....forget christmas I am going to disney!

Yup... pretty much just add our PhotoPass card number to the account when we get back.

 

[danceintherain]

So I got online yesterday and realized that the Unofficial Guide changed their crowd levels, and best parks for most of my days. I've decided not to change anything though. It would just be too complicated to change ADRs. I suppose I might make some changes once we arrive, but I like the plans I've made thus far, and who knows if we'll even stick to the plan anyways. I do have outfits planned out for everyday, but I do not have pictures of said outfits, so we'll see if I take some and put them up later.

Anyways, on January 4th we're supposed to arrive around 3 at the airport. I'm guessing that we probably won't get to AKL until around 5 with delays and Magical Express. This is ok... except for the fact that we have to go pick up at least one Annual Pass before we check in, and since the Animal Kingdom closes at 5, it probably wouldn't be an option. I know that people have checked in with only a voucher, but I'm not even sure we'll have vouchers at that point which means we have to go to Guest Relations as soon as we get there. This means we will probably end up canceling our ADR for Jikos. This makes me a little sad, but Logan wants to reschedule it for another night, so we'll see how that goes. If we don't get to keep it we'll try to get in somewhere else that night, or schedule another meal for during the week.
This is the one night I have no nailed down plans. Mostly because I have no idea when we'll get there, and how we'll feel.
Tentatively, this is the plan:
Choice 1: After we arrive we'll jump a bus to MGM and spend a little bit of time looking at the lights and possibly riding a few rides.
Choice 2: EPCOT - this is Logan's choice, and it would have the most interesting food choices, if in fact we cancel our Jikos ADR.
Choice 3: Magic Kingdom EMH - It'll be open until 11 that night, but I don't think we'll make it.
I am of the opinion that we should go see the Osbourne Lights at MGM since they will not be up during the rest of our stay. EPCOT would be fun, but it will be the same the other 2 days we have planned there.

As for our first full day at Disney we're going to EPCOT.
My plan is to arrive at EPCOT at 10am. We will most likely not get up in time for Rope Drop this day. We'll head to Soarin' to get Fastpasses or ride, then do some other stuff in that pavilion, or head over to the Seas until our Coral Reef ADR. After that we'll stay in Future World for a while to use our Soarin' FP and do some other things on that half of the park. Then we'll start touring the World Showcase counter-clockwise. Depending on how we feel (I have a feeling it's going to be difficult to pull Logan away from a park once we're in it) and time, we'll either hang out in EPCOT or head over to MGM for EMH, possibly spending some time on the Boardwalk for some Beaches and Cream and Jellyrolls.

DAY 2: Our 1st Day at the Magic Kingdom!
I do plan on making it for Rope Drop this day. Mostly because I promised my army man that he could ride Dumbo , and I will not wait over an hour for this ride. Besides, when I mentioned to Logan that we'd have to wake up early a couple mornings he looked at the time and said "That's not too early." He's used to getting up earlier for PT.
We'll head there first and then tour around Fantasyland for a little while. We'll probably eat lunch at Pinnochio's Village Haus. Then, after the parade we'll go to Toontown and play there for a while. We have ADRs at Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner, then after that we might finish touring Toontown, hit some other rides, or leave.

DAY 3: Our 1st Full MGM Day
I love MGM. However, I found out that the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground will be closed, which makes me sad, because it's one of my favorite things.
We'll hit Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster first. We'll be skipping Toy Story Mania this day, because I have no desire to run back and forth between those two areas. We have another full day scheduled here which I'm sure will be ample time to get to ride everything. We have lunch scheduled at Sci-Fi Dine In.

I made checklists of all the rides at all the parks. I've decided that even though I've pretty much decided what order we'll be riding the rides, we can check off the rides as we do them, so if we're walking past Star Tours and there's no line, then we can do it, check it off, and have more time the next day. This way I'll be able to remember which rides we rode on which days, so I can write a TR later, and so we make sure we ride everything even if we don't remember.

I was talking to someone about Disney the other day, and she was like "You're not going to ride ALL the rides." and I said, "I don't see why we wouldn't be able to." We have 8 full days, and 2 partial days, which means we have 2 full days in each park.

I'll finish the rest of my days later. Hopefully, with pictures.