Trip Report ~Flip Flops & Fairytales~ Pics Added 06-22

[KT27]

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Katie: Disney Bride to be
Dwayne: Groom who deals with Katie’s Mickey obsession
Aaron and Blessing: Our stepchildren 13 and 9

Bags are packed, it’s 4:30 am, and I let the dog out then shower. Dwayne wakes up, to drive me to the airport. He is driving to Dallas tomorrow to pick up Aaron and Blessing at DFW. They are flying in from Alaska where they live with their mother. So we have 2 huge suitcases, my dress in a David’s Bridal Garment Bag and my trusty Mickey laptop case. Dwayne tells me he is going to drop me off curbside and I proceed to inform him that he will be accompanying me inside. I had already checked in online with Delta but needed to check those darn suitcases. Up on the scale they go…one weighs in at 46 lbs, one weighs in at 71.2 lbs, the attendant tells me that I can remove 1.2 lbs from the heavier bag and will only be charged $25.00 for over weight baggage, sounds like a deal to me! And to think I was going to ship all of this stuff, it would have cost me much more to do that. I hold onto my dress and laptop case and proceed to security. Dwayne watches from the other side. He wanted to see if I had any problems going thru with my dress. Seems to me there was going to be quite a few weddings this weekend as I saw 3 or 4 very large white David’s Bridal bags throughout the airport. Destination Weddings are so popular but I’m not having just any destination wedding, I’m having a Disney Wedding!
My Mom and Aunt are flying in from Long Island and will be arriving a few minutes after me, My sister Kim, her 2 boys are flying in from Rhode Island and will be getting there a bit earlier than us. I make calls to both parties and everybody is accounted for! Kim almost forgot one of her husband’s shoes (he is flying in on Friday) but she is ready for Mickey! I go to the gate to board the plane and realize that it is one of the smaller type planes, only 18 rows and you have to walk down the tar mat to board the plane. That makes me a bit nervous…but I continue to board. The stewardess takes my dress and hangs it in the coat closet. I sit in my seat and off we go!

 

[KT27]

I was a bit nervous on the plane as I never flew on such a small one before. We arrive at the gate & the flight attendant announces "the lady with the wedding dress make sure you pick it up as you are leaving" Like I would forget! I arrived in on the "A" side and my Mom and Aunt were arriving on the "B" side so I grabbed a cart and my luggage and went over to find them. I find them as my Mom is trying to call me. I never get cell signal in Orlando Airport for some reason. We grab the rental car and we are off. We decide to have lunch at UNO on the way and in the middle of lunch I get a call from a manager at a company I sent my resume to. He wants to have a phone interview right at that moment so I excuse myself from the table and go sit in the car. (I just moved from NY to Texas last month because my husband is now stationed at Fort Hood, TX). We talk for about 15 minutes and he asks if I can come in to meet with him, when I explain I'm on my way to my wedding & honeymoon. So we set a date for after we get back. I head back to the table and we finish lunch. Then we are off to The Beach Club! Since we rented points for our stay and my mom & aunt as well as I were coming in a day early we had the free night set for Thursday so when Dwayne arrived with his kids we could be already settled into the Beach Club Villas. We check in and they have Dwayne & I listed for the room, not Mom, My aunt & me. They upgraded us to Concierge and a honeymoon suite overlooking Stormalong Bay. I wished Dwayne was here to enjoy it! We go up to the room and its a king bed for 3 of us LOL! Luckily my sister had an extra bed in her room so I let my mom & aunt have the suite. The view was awesome:

We decide to head to the pool for a lil swimming and a cold frosty drink! Our waitress suggests a pina colada with chambord....YUMMY! We relax by the pool for a few hours and then head to get ready for dinner.

 

[nkkilala]

Oh so exciting! A great start to a trip report! I can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[scarlett873]

Patiently waiting for more!

 

[JJClemson]

Great TR so far! I cannot wait for the rest since your wedding will be so similar to mine What a beautiful view from your suite! Patiently waiting for more

 

[KT27]

Friday, May 19th

My sister & I woke up early on Friday and I called Dwayne who was enroute to DFW to pick up Aaron & Blessing who were flying in from Alaska (my soon to be step children!!!). I got ready and went back to my honeymoon suite where my mom & aunt were. We decided to get things ready to go so we could change rooms into the Beach Club Villas. After packing up everything we called Bell Services who took all of our stuff to store it until our Two Bedroom Villa was ready. We all went out to go shopping at Publix, had to get some snacks, water bottles for the labels & some breakfast items. When we got back I proceeded to check in at the Villas. This is where the trouble began. I booked a 2 bedroom villa lock off with handicap accessiblity many many months ago. We requested 1st floor because Dwayne's son Aaron is wheelchair bound due to Cerebal Paulsey. Now I know that certain things you request through DVC are just "requests" and not guranteed however when I get to the desk they tell me that there is no 2 bedroom lock off with handicap accessibility. Well than why did Member Services book that? The rep leaves the desk to talk to the manager and then comes back. She said to give them a bit of time and they will work it out. So we head off to the pool. My Dad stops by after his tux fitting at Carolyn Allen's with my step mother & step sister. We walk over to Seabreeze Point so I can show them and then head to Beaches & Cream for lunch. Now at the same time my mom, aunt & sister are at the pool avoiding my Dad like the plauge! Don't you just love divorced family drama! We finish up lunch and they decide to visit EPCOT. I stay back at the hotel so I can move into our Villa as soon as its ready. I rejoin my Sister, Mom & Aunt at the pool. I call the number to find out if our room is ready and it's not. I call every hour until 4:30 & its still NOT READY! Check in time is 4pm, Dwayne is due to arrive at 5:30pm with Aaron & Blessing via the Magical Express. I go to the front desk and have to explain the whole thing over again. No 1st floors available, no handicap accessibility is available, they offer 2 rooms at the Beach Club but that won't work. Our honeymoon includes the children but I do not need them sleeping on top of me, at least with the Villa they have a seperate room. So they finally find a room that is ready on the 4th floor that is a lock off. At this point I just want to get in a room, my bathing suit & shorts outfit is getting old (remember we had no luggage it was in storage). We go to the room and only 1/2 of it is ready. I am fuming by this point. Mom pours me a glass of wine and says "let's start the welcome bags before Dwayne gets here" So we put them all together so they can be delivered.
My sister's Special Door Hanger I made her:

The Welcome Bags

The Contents of the Welcome Bags all layed out

As soon as they arrive the front desk calls to see if everything is ok with the room. I ask to speak to a manager to complain that we did not get the room we asked for. They tell me a manager will call me back snd she does. They offer us a 2 night stay at the Villas to compensate for the mix up and I am satisfied at this point. I also ask them to call Member Services to tell them that they don't offer 2 bedroom lockoff handicap accessible rooms to help prevent this problem again. *the 2 night stay will help our trip for our 1st anniversary kid-free delayed honeymoon next year after Dwayne returns from serving in Iraq*

The things I learned today:

~Disney will make it better just give them some time~

~Check, Double Check & Triple Check Special Requests~

~Changing Hotel Rooms/Resorts is ANNOYING but if you do pack a change of clothes you will get sick of hanging out in your bathing suit & shorts~\

~Welcome Bags go together easier with a glass of wine ~

~Remember names of Cast Members that help you~

~The Magical Express is great transportation that caters to people in wheelchairs Two thumbs up!!!~

We decide to just have some pizza and relax in the room because we are all tired. We watch Illuminations from our balcony & head off to bed.

 

[Rustyflwr3]

Kaite,
I love the start to your trip report! Your pictures are great! And I love how you pointed out that putting the bags together is easier with a glass of wine...too funny

 

[smoof]

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Mary626]

Great start to a great trip report - this looks like it is going to be good!!

 

[Kim10110]

Katie,

great trip report i can't wait to hear more

 

[KT27]

Saturday May 20th

We wake up refreshed & ready to go. We get Aaron & Blessing ready to go for the day. Aaaron has a tux fitting with Carolyn Allen's at 10am. Blessing tries her dress on that my mom made so she can hem it. We head off to the tux fitting and Phil calls (Dwayne's best man) he is lost so I give him directions to Carolyn Allen's so he can meet up with us. I highly recommend Carolyn Allen's they made things so easy. I pay for my dress steaming which is the next morning and we are done. We needed to find shoes for Blessing because the pair I bought were too big. We go to the outlets & find a cute sparkley pair of flip flops. The off to Walmart because her mother didn't send a slip or white undies. Her dress is ivory and you could see the print right through her dress from her undies. After shopping we head back to the hotel and get ready for the Welcome Party at 4pm. We bring the welcome bags for the people staying offsite. We arrive at Winter Summerland Mini Golf and the guests are starting to arrive. They section off a shady area with tables & umbrellas. They put purple balloons everywhere (as requested). Ken Weaver my EM is there. *Side note: Blessing has a severe peanut & soy allergy and could not eat alot of the items we wanted to have at the party so Ken PERSONALLY went to Pizza Hut and had a special pizza made for her.* He tells me Blessing's pizza is in the warmer and if we need anything just ask the hostess. He had a wedding to get to and would see us the next day.

Some Shots of the Party:

Phil - the best man

Me, My Dad & Step Mom

Group Shot

The Bride & Groom

Mom & Me

Me being silly

Santa left an elf behind!

Our new lil family!

So we eat pizza and cake then head off to play golf. They split us up into groups of 4 & 5, there was basically no one at the course so we were all over the place. They gave us 2 cakes one snowman & a best wishes cake.

(For those of you who haven't visited Winter Summerland its a Christmas/Holiday themed mini golf course....this is from a website about the course:"The wacky, elf-sized golf course is divided into two 18-hole experiences. One course carries the zany, snow-clad Florida look reminiscent of Blizzard Beach, while the other takes a more tropical, holiday theme, with ornaments hanging from palm trees. Both courses at Winter Summerland are loaded with interactive elements that will entertain and engage golfers of all ages.")

The snowman cake:

The Best Wishes Cake:

We finsih up the games, take a group shot, relax a bit and back to the hotel. Everyone commented that they had fun, got to meet everybody. I am really happy that we decided to do a welcome party like that.

 

[AnimalPrincess]

Loving the report Katie but I couldn't see most of your pictures on the last post =(

 

[janine]

You know.. we have been to WDW twice and although passed winter summerland we never even considered it as we thought it was just a golf course, as we have never seen any advertising for it.
It looks and sounds great. I will remember that for next time!!

Great trip report too, can't wait for more! Best wishes. xx

 

[Laurafoster]

report sounds great so far! glad you had a great time!

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

Couldn't see alot of the pictures in your last post, but love your trip report so far. Keep it coming!

 

[luciloo]

Great report and pictures, can't wait to read more.

Congratulations to you both

 

[mindystar]

Yea Katie--Congratulations on your Happily Ever After! I love your flip flops and fairy tales The door hanger you made for your sister is so cute. Can't wait to hear more

 

[WithDisneySpirit]

I've bumped you so we could all hear more of your wedding trip

 

[KT27]

I will be posting more soon I just need more pics of my wedding day! They should be here soon.

 

[KT27]

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