The Mr. the Mrs. and the Dining Plan–Our June 09 Disneymoon -**Naples 4/3/2010**

[Cinderella16]

June 23, 2009: Day One, Part Four –Explorations

Rather than packing, we grabbed our KTTW cards and the camera and set out to explore all the GF had to offer.

Down in the lobby they still had some afternoon snacks out. We couldn’t believe the selection of cookies, pastries, and drinks! We grabbed some sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and a coke and set off.

We walked out of the Sugar Loaf building, boy was it was HOT, and headed left to check out where the boat launch would be. These pictures are hazy, probably because it was 100+ degrees out!

Contemporary in the distance...

Boat launch dock

Me eating a sugar cookie, which were delicious! Those sugar cookies became one of my best friends.

Attempting to take a picture of the castle, our first glimpse of it...too hazy to see, but you can see the non-running Space Mountain in the distance.

Still enjoying that sugar cookie...I think I was trying to scarf it done since there was a garbage can right there for the napkin and can.

We couldn’t believe how close the boat launch was to our building. It was a definite plus, especially since we probably wouldn’t be heading home from the MK until late.

Seeing all we needed to see at the dock, we decided to walk around more.

We found the marina, there you can see one of the giant orange construction machines that were on both sides of our building.

I begged DH to do Sea Raycers sometime on our trip, he agreed that we would try to fit into our already jam packed schedule...remember yours truly did the planning...

Castle in the distance, I promise!

We walked around some more and found the beach area and some very comfy and inviting hammocks.

This is the life...and my legs need a major tan!

Alright, alright I’ll give you a turn. We tried laying in it together, but because the weight obviously isn’t distributed evenly I felt like I was going to fall out, so I kicked DH out of the hammock and enjoyed it while he took more pictures of our exploration.

More palms to feed the obsession...

The beach was also near the theme pool, which we never made it to, but that is okay because it always looked crowded. It did have a cool looking slide though.

We started walking and found the path that leads to the Polynesian and the GF’s spa. We started walking along and saw where we originally wanted to get married!

As we walked by the Wedding Pavilion, we noticed that a bridal party was walking out of it. I wanted to see the bride, but her and her groom were probably inside taking pictures. It was such a cool sight to see a wedding actually happening, since last time we saw the Wedding Pavilion was late at night during our 2007 trip. It also made me relieved that all that wedding stress was put behind me and I was in Disney World!!! Some days during the planning process, it felt like this day would never come.

Getting closer to our destination...don’t know what is up with the lawn furniture all flipped over like that. That was in front of the wedding pavilion.

Castle in the distance!

We had made it to the Polynesian, it really wasn’t that far of a walk, took probably less than 10 minutes, plus we lingered and took our time. We walked by the area where they do the Spirit of Aloha dinner show luau and could hear them setting up chairs and plates as we walked by. This was something we weren’t doing this year because we had seen it every other Disney trip!

We walked along the Poly’s beach and just took in all the sights. During this time of day, this area of the Poly is so peaceful, we were the only ones around.

A view of our beautiful resort in the distance!

Castle in the distance.

Nice photography skills, DH!

Okay, apparently, some people were on the beach too...but I swear there was no one else.

Another view, gosh, we are obsessed with taking pictures of the castle in the distance.

Speaking of obsessions...

I believe while my husband was taking pictures, I found a nice little two person swing to enjoy all by my lonesome, eventually he came to join me, we wanted our picture taken, but there wasn’t anyone to be found, except for the people sunbathing, but I didn’t want to wake them.


Continued in next post....

 

[Cinderella16]

Continued...

Continuing on our journey, we found this statue which I just loved. It is so different yet scary at the same time.

Pretending to kiss it.

DH laughed, called me a nerd, (you will hear him refer to me a lot in this manner during this trip) and started walking toward the Great Ceremonial House, AKA: the lobby.

Once in the nice cool air conditioning we walked around one of the art shops inside, trying to find some art for our new house. A couple pieces caught our attention, but the price tag was way to steep for these newlyweds.

We then decided to take the monorail back to the GF since we knew it would be its first stop.

I always love the first time on the monorail, it makes you truly feel like you are in Disney!

We arrived back at the GF in no time and had to take in the beautiful sights of the lobby...

We took the fancy 2 story elevator back down to the main level and started heading back toward our building, but not without checking out the courtyard pool first.

I dipped my foot in and couldn’t believe how warm the water was, that was going to feel good on our legs after long park days!

We made it back to Sugar Loaf, realized we had to use our room key to get into our building, we felt so special having access. Back in our room we had a whole challenge of unpacking all of our stuff for the next 8 nights.

There wasn’t too much storage space in the room for all of my clothes, the closet would have worked better for us had there been more hangers, I am sure we could have called concierge and they would bring us more, but DH just ended up folding a lot of his clothes and keeping them on the top shelf of the closet. It worked fine for us.

While unpacking, someone brought up our extra fridge and plugged it in under the bathroom sink for us. We could now organize all of our food/drinks that we weren’t going to need.

While DH took care of that ,I decided to take out my Passporter (it’s a Disney guidebook for people that do not know) and look up what we were going to do with our night. I desperately wanted to go to the MK, but while making plans DH said he probably wouldn’t be up to doing a park on our arrival day. We talked about going on a carriage ride at Fort Wilderness or Port Orleans, but I really wanted MK!

Consulting the Passporter (many of our stuffed animals joined us apparently on this trip, and I had nothing to do with it!!)

When DH was done loading up our 2 fridges, he came back in the room and asked what we were going to do. I talked about the carriage rides, but explained we would have to drive to get to those places, and we had driven for the half the day already. I could tell he didn’t want to do that...

Bravely, I suggested just monorailing over to the MK, splitting a Counter Service meal for dinner, and going on a few rides. I explained that we could leave whenever he got tired.

Expecting him to say no, he said, “Okay, let me shower and then we will go, I’m getting hungry.”

So much for not wanting to do a park on arrival day!

UP NEXT: Magic Kingdom..........at last!

 

[froglover2]

Great TR what a beautiful resort!!

 

[IluvXU]

What a relaxing exploring tour. I loved all the pictures of things I have not seen. Yeah for going to MK that night!

 

[Nicole786]

I love your photos!! I would love to stay at a Monorail resort one day and this just made it even more so! I love the outside theme of the GF buildings, something about it reminds me of Disneyland which makes me giddy inside

 

[klacey1]

Yay! CAn't wait to read about when you guys finally get to MK. DBF knows that NOT going to a park is not an option-- I was nice enough to let him pick the park, though. (Epcot!)

 

[tinkgurl]

I posed there with my family before our Luau! I stood on the left...Well you'll see it when I get to that day.

 

[Stefy]

Wow the GF is really pretty, great shots. The lobby pic reminds me of the Disneyland Hotel in Paris, v similar decor.

I love the pic of your with your passporter and the teddies in the background

Can't wait to hear about MK

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I'm loving your TR!! It's hard to find a funny, well written, without kids TR . Can't wait for more!

Oh, and Congratulations on your wedding AND upgrade!!

 

[WriteDisney]

Congrats and great trip report so far!!

 

[Cinderella16]

Great TR what a beautiful resort!!

Thanks!

What a relaxing exploring tour. I loved all the pictures of things I have not seen. Yeah for going to MK that night!

You should definitely explore the GF one day!!

I love your photos!! I would love to stay at a Monorail resort one day and this just made it even more so! I love the outside theme of the GF buildings, something about it reminds me of Disneyland which makes me giddy inside

We were so incredibly spoiled staying at a monorail resort, I swear we can never stay anywhere else..my wallet says otherwise though.

Yay! CAn't wait to read about when you guys finally get to MK. DBF knows that NOT going to a park is not an option-- I was nice enough to let him pick the park, though. (Epcot!)

Hehe. You're funny! It sure is nice of you to let your BF pick the park!

I posed there with my family before our Luau! I stood on the left...Well you'll see it when I get to that day.

I can't wait to hear all about the luau!!!

Wow the GF is really pretty, great shots. The lobby pic reminds me of the Disneyland Hotel in Paris, v similar decor.

I love the pic of your with your passporter and the teddies in the background

Can't wait to hear about MK

I've never seen pics of the Disneyland Hotel in Paris...I want to now!!

I'm loving your TR!! It's hard to find a funny, well written, without kids TR . Can't wait for more!

Oh, and Congratulations on your wedding AND upgrade!!

Why thank you! Glad you are enjoying my "childless" TR

Congrats and great trip report so far!!

Thanks for reading!!

 

[AGPrincess]

WOO HOO for the concierge upgrade!! lol...now I want a sugar cookie. Can't wait to hear about the MK and which CS you went to!

 

[Stefy]

It is a lovely hotel, we call it the Pink Palace and it is the only hotel right outside MK, you literally can walk straight into the park.

 

[jwwi]

Congratulations on your marriage. I too read your engagement TR, wow time flies........

Congratulations on the awesome upgrade. I love the GF, and have never stayed there but often stop to visit when I stay at WDW. You sure took some great pictures of the property.

DD was married in Naples in May, so I look forward to that part of your trip report too.

 

[ArielSRL]

Enjoying the TR thus far. I'm a teacher, as well, and I had to go back for pre-planning last week (today was the first day for students) so I have been behind. All caught up now and waiting for more!

 

[Cinderella16]

WOO HOO for the concierge upgrade!! lol...now I want a sugar cookie. Can't wait to hear about the MK and which CS you went to!

I want a sugar cookie too! Those were so very good!!!

It is a lovely hotel, we call it the Pink Palace and it is the only hotel right outside MK, you literally can walk straight into the park.

I looked up pictures of it, and it really does look beautiful! I couldnt imagine staying literally in the MK!

Congratulations on your marriage. I too read your engagement TR, wow time flies........

Congratulations on the awesome upgrade. I love the GF, and have never stayed there but often stop to visit when I stay at WDW. You sure took some great pictures of the property.

DD was married in Naples in May, so I look forward to that part of your trip report too.

Thank you for reading! Congrats to your DD!! Naples really is beautiful!

Enjoying the TR thus far. I'm a teacher, as well, and I had to go back for pre-planning last week (today was the first day for students) so I have been behind. All caught up now and waiting for more!

I can understand being busy when you are a teacher! It sometimes takes over our lives! Glad you are all caught up!

 

[Cinderella16]

June 23, 2009: Day One, Part Five – The Magic Kingdom...At Last!

We started getting ready for the MK, I think I showered first since it takes me longer to get ready anyways.

While DH was in the shower, there was a knock at the door, it was Private Dining, which we didn’t order. I opened the door ready to tell them that they had the wrong room. The CM said that she had a special delivery from Mickey to celebrate our Honeymoon.

“Ooo, from Mickey, I’ll take that!” I thought.

Mickey has sent us up some champagne on ice, a rose, a signed picture of himself, and our first Photopass card.

What a sweet mouse he is!

When DH was out of the shower, I showed him our special gift from Mickey, gave him his “Just Married” pin and asked if he wanted to wear to the bridal Mickey ears. We noticed it looked like rain, so we decided to leave the ears for tonight and just do the pins.

Before we left, we noticed they had out some appetizers in the lobby. We decided to check it out since we were both really hungry! They had the most delicious chicken kabobs and crab cakes! We loaded up on some of those and couldn’t believe at how delicious everything was. There were no tables for us to sit at, so we sat on one of the couches in the lobby area. As we ate the delicious appetizers, we noticed that the skies weren’t looking too great as it had started to downpour, but we figured it was just one of those normal Florida summer storms that would pass within a couple minutes.

We decided to monorail over to MK since it is such a quick trip from the GF. We did end up getting wet on the way since the monorail station is in the main building, but it wasn’t too bad. The monorail station was completely empty, and when we got on, we were the only ones in our car. I believe it was around 6:00 by the time we got on the monorail.

So happy & wet on the monorail!

EMPTY!

Once we arrived, I literally skipped off the monorail, down the ramp, dodged some major puddles, and made it to the entrance gate, no bag check for me today! The rain had dwindled down to a drizzle, I was glad that we were eating our appetizers and on the monorail for the worst of it. Best of all, as we were walking toward the entrance, many people were walking toward the exit! Don’t you sometimes just love rain at WDW!?

As most of you know, when you put your ticket into the machine, it then prompts you for your index finger. DH is very very very against this, even though they say it doesn’t take your fingerprint, he doesn’t like doing it anyways, and frankly, when you think about all the germs...it is kind of scary. Not to mention, it takes some people so long to know what to do when they get to that point!

Anyways, in the past, when we say we don’t want to the biometric scan, they let us through by showing a photo ID. DH explained to the CM that he didn’t want to do the scan and CM said that he needed an ID, then DH remembers that his wallet with his ID is back at the GF, in the safe. The CM said to go talk to someone in guest relations.

Now, I was just about ready to put my finger in the darn machine, we were so close to the Magic Kingdom! It was like pure torture!! So we veered right toward the guest relations booth, where we explained our little predicament to the CM. I was hoping the Just Married pins would do a little magic and we wouldn’t have to go all the way to our hotel for our ID’s.

No luck. I knew we should have worn the ears too, that would have gotten us in! The CM explained that the only way in without the ID’s are by doing the scan! Even though we all know the CM’s only have to push a magical little button and it would let us through anyways.

Feeling defeated, and now annoyed, we marched our behinds to the GF boat launch (since the CM from bell services told us that it is the best way back to the resort).

Apparently, it is not the best way after it had just down poured! The seats were sopping wet, some people had put down towels in effort to dry the seats, but they were still soaking. So what do you do in this situation??

You sit, you get wet, besides it’s not like we wouldn’t be dry in a matter of minutes, it was still scorching outside!

The CM who drives the boat noticed our pins when we boarded and wished us congratulations, he announced it to the others on the boat and everyone clapped.

The boat ride really is nice, the breeze that comes off the water, gives you some much needed relief from the heat! The only downer was that as the boat goes, water starts dripping down from the sides, so if you are on the side of the boat, you are now more wet.

We hop off the boat, and trek back to the Sugar Loaf building to retrieve our ID’s. I was less annoyed now, I guess the cheerful CM from the boat made my mood a little better by wishing us a Happy Honeymoon.

With ID’s in hand and a whole vacation ahead of us we decided to take the boat launch back to the MK, besides it was a much shorter walk to the dock than it is to the monorail.

There was a boat on its way, so DH took some more pictures and you can see the dark clouds.

And that it was starting to clear up...

Once the boat docked, we took another wet seat, someone was nice enough to give up their towel to dry and mop up what water there was, as before it didn’t do much good. A new CM this time congratulated us on our marriage, and I was beginning to think I can get used to all the attention.

The boat ride to the MK is longer simply because it stops at the Polynesian before heading to the MK. Again, the breeze was lovely and in no time we were back at the MK, happy so see people were still exiting!

Having no problems this time since we had our ID’s we were in! Magic Kingdom...at last!!!!!!

With no plan we proceeded through the right tunnel, over to Main Street to catch our first REAL view of the castle! It such an amazing sight, no matter how many times I see it, I still get chills as if it is the first time.

Since we had no plan, I asked DH what he wanted to do, we decided to walk through Adventureland and just do things as we see fit. Now this is the way to do it, the MK at our leisure! Never had we been so relaxed! We knew we had the whole vacation ahead of us, 2 days planned for the Magic Kingdom, plus MK was literally in the backyard of our resort if we ever had the urge to go pay it a visit!

As we walked through Adventureland, I noticed the Swiss Family Tree House, it had absolutely no wait, so we decided to try it. This was the time to try all the things we never had time for on previous trips.

I don’t know what I was expecting out of the Tree House, but it wasn’t that. All those steps, all that walking! Some of the little rooms were neat, and I remember telling DH that I wish I had a tree house like this when I was little, but overall, we were not too impressed. I hear the Disneyland one is better...anyways, with our legs tired from all those steps we walked on over to Pirates, which also had NO wait!

Thank you, rain.

We literally walked right onto our boat and didn’t have many people in ours! I remember being kind of cold on Pirates since we still pretty wet from the rain, but as always it was so much fun! I don’t even know how many times we rode this one during our trip, but it was a lot as you will come to find out.

After Pirates we headed to Frontierland and grabbed some Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain. We were having so much fun just walking around and enjoying the MK without a real plan! We headed over the Haunted Mansion which only had a 10 minute wait. This was the first time we would be going on HM since 2005, we were excited to see the additions.

I don’t think we waited 10 minutes, I think it was closer to 5! We couldn’t believe how short all the waits were...were we really here in June?! HM was very cool, the bride was so very creepy! I just love this ride though, whenever I ride I notice something new!

After HM we stopped at one of the carts outside Haunted Mansion because DH’s aunt wanted a HM keychain. She was very specific on the one she wanted, so when we spotted it we made sure to get it right away, because sometimes they run out of souvenirs or you just can't find it again. DH took a picture of the keychain with his phone to send to his aunt, we were then on our way through Fantasyland, which was a bit more busy.

We noticed that Small World had a short wait, so we hopped right in line, we also noticed that the outside of it was under refurbishment...we noticed this a lot on this trip, it seemed that everywhere was under some kind of refurbishment.

Small World is very much like HM in that every time I ride it, I notice something new. I don’t know how someone can ride that ride and not be happy?

Everything else in Fantasyland looked like it had a pretty long wait and we noticed that we could now get another FP, we decided to get one for Buzz and then get a bite to eat at Cosmic Rays.
Walking through Tomorrowland was so strange without the People Mover & Space Mountain going! It felt like a different place, which was so sad since we both love those two rides!!

With Buzz FPs in hand, we walked the short distance to Cosmic Rays where we split a meal since we were still a little full from all the appetizers back at the GF!

We decided to get the Chicken Strip meal with fries and triple chocolate cake for dessert and a lemonade as our drink. It was the first time we used the Dining Plan, and I had no idea how easy it was. They just swipe that card and you are on your way!

Cosmic Rays was pretty empty, not something we are used to seeing, so we had no problem finding a table.

Everything was so good (sorry no pictures of this one)! It was the perfect amount of food for our appetite at that moment. The chocolate cake was definitely my favorite!

After our short dinner we saw that Stitch’s Great Escape had a 5 minute wait. I wish they would bring back the Alien version of this ride, even though it was super scary. I agree it didn’t belong at MK, but I think it could find a nice home at DHS! Had Stitch not had a 5 minute wait, we would have skipped it, but we were right there, and seized the opportunity. My favorite part is the show before you enter the ride and you see the aliens that they have caught, I think they are adorable!

We were able to sit in the front row of the theater, which was different, since every other time we have been all the way in the back. Frankly, definitely not my favorite ride at WDW, but we still had fun laughing at all the people who didn’t know what to expect.

We then used our FPs for Buzz since it was now our return time. We walked right on and have so much fun when on this one! This one is one of DH’s favorites! He always tries to max out his score. I do miserably, which later in this TR you will find out why. Of course, he won, I lost.

We still had to use our Thunder Mountain FP, so we headed that way. The standby line was pretty long, so I was really happy that we had our Fastpasses. We love this ride at night, it just seems to go so much faster! While we were on it we saw that Wishes had started, so we were able to watch some of it from the ride. It was such a fun way to end the night!

We discussed going on Splash Mountain, since that is my absolute favorite, but we decided to save it for our next MK day and head back to the hotel since we were getting kind of tired and we had a long ahead of us tomorrow. We were in the MK for just a little over 3 hours and had accomplished so much!

We walked out toward Main Street and back to our Resort Boat Launch and were back at the GF in no time. We noticed that our beds were turned down and little chocolates and a note were left for us. I didn’t realize how tired I was, but when I hit the pillow, I fell right asleep, excited for our day at MGM -- AKA Disney Hollywood Studios!


***I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LACK OF PICTURES IN THIS POST*** I really think we were so immersed at the Magic Kingdom, we didn’t even think to take any pictures. Don’t worry this changes once we hit DHS!

UP NEXT: Hollywood Studios with PICTURES! I promise

 

[MrsSpratt]

Yay! Another update!

I think I was unclear with my earlier question - would you do deluxe DINING with concierge if you were planning on staying concierge?

Thanks!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Great update! He must REALLY be against the finger scan to go all the way back to the resort for ID!

 

[tlhbdm]

Great update!