The Cast:
Me (Im not telling my age): Chief decision maker, planner and organiser extraordinaire
Darren (39): Mr. Grumpy, Marathon Man and Map Reader
Mollie (10): Jekyll & Hyde pre-teen and big girls blouse
Kirsty (4): Scaredy Cat and Drama Queen
Its our pre wedding day so we have a few things we need to sort out, firstly we need to go meet with our co-ordinator to finalise arrangements and then we need to go get our marriage licence. So having got up a little later, 8:00 blimey! we dont really have time for breakfast. Our meetings not till 10:00 but we are heading to an area weve never ventured to before, i.e., somewhere downtown and not only Im I in charge of reading the map but Im also the one who took the directions down so Darren thinks we should be lucky if we get there for 1:00! Okay I admit my sense of direction is wanting and yes Im the one who went out shopping in town at home on my own one day and went missing for nearly 3 hours, but in my defence we had not long moved to the area (6 months is not long) and there are so many roundabouts it all looks the same and no I couldnt remember our new phone number (6 months is not long) at least the nice policeman who escorted me home understood!!! Besides which, all this happened 10 years ago and like a good wine Ive improved with age, so I take great offence at this lack of faith.
So after being unceremoniously bundled into the car without any food we are heading away from WDW and onto the motorway, please dont ask me which motorway but suffice it to say that it at least turned out to be the right one, yippee. We followed my written instructions and navigation and found ourselves at Cypress Grove without any problems, whey hey! See I told you I could do it. In fact, we were half an hour early, so yes I am going to say it again, I told you so, I told you so!
Our original choice of venue had been Cypress Gardens but one month after booking it, I read on these here boards that it was closing down (see, unfortunate or what), grrrrrrrrrr! After speaking with our co-ordinator we agreed to move the venue to Cypress Grove instead but I wasnt happy. All I had seen of Cypress Grove was one picture and it didnt look much, but what could we do. Anyway as we were early it gave us the opportunity to have a good look around and I have to say all my fears, worries and hesitancy disappeared. The place was lovely, no in fact, it was beautiful. The wedding gazebo is actually much prettier than it looked in the picture, it faces onto a stunning lake with the whole thing surrounded by stunning gardens with flowers in the most amazing colours. Suddenly I knew everything was going to be just perfect!
We went into the mansion house to meet up with Naomi our co-ordinator, very nice lady, and we ran through the order of events for tomorrow, we discuss my bouquet style and colour and a few other bits and pieces and then she gives us directions to the court house where we need to pick up our licence and that was that. All very nice and very professional. Now, being a consummate organiser and planner, as it says above, I have been worrying just a little about leaving such an important event to the last minute so to speak but I now have a really good feeling that everything tomorrow will go wonderfully. We head off for the courthouse to complete the arrangements. We expect this to take up most of the day as it would here at home, an hour waiting to be seen, only to be told we are in the wrong queue, another hour in the right queue and then the ubiquitous forms to fill in in triplicate and forms to confirm we have filled in the correct forms and then even more forms just because we have nothing better to do, you know how it goes! but no, we have a two minute wait to be seen by a very pleasant lady who hands us just two forms, one each, to fill in which we do and then take straight back up to her. We have made a couple of silly mistakes but instead of reprimanding us like 5 year olds, ripping up our forms, and sending us to the back of the queue to start again as would happen at home, she simply scored out our mistakes and filled in the correct answer. The whole thing was over and done with in approx 15 minutes and we left with our marriage licence in our hands.
Given how we expected it to go we have no real plans for today so we decide as we passed Belz on the way down that we may as well stop off on the way back. Sounds like a good plan but, now please be seated here as the shock may do you some harm, Im a woman who doesnt like shopping, gasp horror but its true. Like some woman have to be in the mood for a bit of the other I have to be in the mood to shop! and today unfortunately I wasnt. Often I dont realise Im not in the mood till Ive reached the shops, in the same way a woman often doesnt realise shes not in the mood till she actually gets in to bed and realises all she wants to do is sleep!
We decide that firstly we have to get something to eat so we literally just stop at the first place we come upon. After refuelling we start to wander. I realise after the second shop that today Im not in the mood so I ask Darren if there is anything specifically he is wanting to shop for. Just some trainers is the reply. ARRRRRG! if theres one thing I hate shopping for more than shopping itself its shoes! and yes I hear another gasp of horror arise from the crowd. He can sense my mood (or should that be lack of mood) and therefore agrees, albeit reluctantly, that we should split up and meet back here in half an hour, he does try for a whole hour with some excuse about having to try the shoes on but Im not buying it, its half an hour or we go home now (he loves it really when Im forceful). I take Kirsty whilst Mollie opts to go with her dad as she knows shell wangle something out of him but will get nothing from me in my non shopping mood and we go our separate ways. Deciding that as Im not in the mood to shop I should at least let Kirsty so we go into the Disney store. Surprisingly enough we use up our whole half hour and a bit more in this one shop and head back to our meeting point. No sign of the others, so we wait and we wait and we wait. Its so long Im now faced with that age old dilemma do I continue to wait or do I go looking in the hope that I bump into them, but then I might not bump into them, I might miss them altogether! but then if I continue to hang around here Im likely to explode! what to do, what to do? Just then they come sauntering around the corner with bags galore. What in blazes have you bought? Well they were doing a buy one get one half price deal! So you have 2 pairs of size 12 trainers? No I have 3! THREE, why they hell do you have three? Because I got 2 with the deal and the third pair was so cheap it what have been rude not too! But THREE! you only have one pair of feet for heavens sake! Mollie trying to diffuse the situation steps in and informs me that she only has the 2 pairs and they were really cheap and they are only a size 1!!!! I stomp off at this point muttering something about customs, dont look at me and youll be paying. You see I hate shopping.
We arrive back at our hotel room and I inform the pair of them that they better find somewhere to put those blasted shoes because if I trip over them just once theyre going in the bin, given that they were so cheap that shouldnt bother them too much! ASMo hotel rooms are just not big enough for 4 people, all their luggage, wedding dresses etc., etc., and now an extra 5 pairs of trainers, hmph! We decided its too late to go to a park so we head for the swimming pool instead. We have a nice afternoon just lazing and dipping and generally chilling out.
This evening we have a PS for OHana for 6:50 but we plan to arrive earlier so we can have a nose around. Although impressive I found the Poly too dark for my taste so for the time being its still The Boardwalk. OHana however was much better than Spoodles. I forgot when checking in to ask for a window seat but the Gods must have been smiling down on us that evening because we got a seat right by the window anyway and the view of the castle was fantastic! The food came, served family style and plenty of it. We all except Kirsty tucked in. Kirsty had a great time joining in with all the games. Mollie joined in on sufferance just to keep her little sister happy (that was her excuse). Shes at that funny age where she is 10 going on 16. She enjoys meeting the characters and playing the silly games and generally acting like a child although she would never willingly admit it because at the same time she wants to be grown up and cant understand why she cant wear make up outside the house, go to school with nail polish on, expose much flesh with the skimpiest clothes and totter around on 5inch heels and BECAUSE I SAID SO doesnt always cut it! I call it her Jekyll & Hyde age where one minute shes this charming, funny, sweet little girl, the next shell be this argumentative, stroppy, monster who claims Im ruining her life! the awful thing is knowing that it only gets worse!
Anyway we are just having dessert when the lights go down, a hush descends, the castle is changing colours right before our eyes and suddenly Jimminy Crickets voice is all around and the sky above, over and beyond the castle is lit up. This is our first experience of Wishes and I have to say it is truly spectacular, its wonderful and amazing all at once. This was a lovely way to experience this display and would recommend it and would definitely do OHana again ourselves for the food, the fun and the show.
We finish our drinks off in the lounge and decide to head for DTD to finish off the day but when we get outside it is absolutely pouring so we do the only sensible thing you can in these trying circumstances and head back up to the lounge and have another drink to wait it out. By the time the rain has stopped its too late to visit DTD and we are all ready to head home for bed.
Well tomorrow is a big day! THE Big Day!
Annmarie
Me (Im not telling my age): Chief decision maker, planner and organiser extraordinaire
Darren (39): Mr. Grumpy, Marathon Man and Map Reader
Mollie (10): Jekyll & Hyde pre-teen and big girls blouse
Kirsty (4): Scaredy Cat and Drama Queen
Its our pre wedding day so we have a few things we need to sort out, firstly we need to go meet with our co-ordinator to finalise arrangements and then we need to go get our marriage licence. So having got up a little later, 8:00 blimey! we dont really have time for breakfast. Our meetings not till 10:00 but we are heading to an area weve never ventured to before, i.e., somewhere downtown and not only Im I in charge of reading the map but Im also the one who took the directions down so Darren thinks we should be lucky if we get there for 1:00! Okay I admit my sense of direction is wanting and yes Im the one who went out shopping in town at home on my own one day and went missing for nearly 3 hours, but in my defence we had not long moved to the area (6 months is not long) and there are so many roundabouts it all looks the same and no I couldnt remember our new phone number (6 months is not long) at least the nice policeman who escorted me home understood!!! Besides which, all this happened 10 years ago and like a good wine Ive improved with age, so I take great offence at this lack of faith.
So after being unceremoniously bundled into the car without any food we are heading away from WDW and onto the motorway, please dont ask me which motorway but suffice it to say that it at least turned out to be the right one, yippee. We followed my written instructions and navigation and found ourselves at Cypress Grove without any problems, whey hey! See I told you I could do it. In fact, we were half an hour early, so yes I am going to say it again, I told you so, I told you so!
Our original choice of venue had been Cypress Gardens but one month after booking it, I read on these here boards that it was closing down (see, unfortunate or what), grrrrrrrrrr! After speaking with our co-ordinator we agreed to move the venue to Cypress Grove instead but I wasnt happy. All I had seen of Cypress Grove was one picture and it didnt look much, but what could we do. Anyway as we were early it gave us the opportunity to have a good look around and I have to say all my fears, worries and hesitancy disappeared. The place was lovely, no in fact, it was beautiful. The wedding gazebo is actually much prettier than it looked in the picture, it faces onto a stunning lake with the whole thing surrounded by stunning gardens with flowers in the most amazing colours. Suddenly I knew everything was going to be just perfect!
We went into the mansion house to meet up with Naomi our co-ordinator, very nice lady, and we ran through the order of events for tomorrow, we discuss my bouquet style and colour and a few other bits and pieces and then she gives us directions to the court house where we need to pick up our licence and that was that. All very nice and very professional. Now, being a consummate organiser and planner, as it says above, I have been worrying just a little about leaving such an important event to the last minute so to speak but I now have a really good feeling that everything tomorrow will go wonderfully. We head off for the courthouse to complete the arrangements. We expect this to take up most of the day as it would here at home, an hour waiting to be seen, only to be told we are in the wrong queue, another hour in the right queue and then the ubiquitous forms to fill in in triplicate and forms to confirm we have filled in the correct forms and then even more forms just because we have nothing better to do, you know how it goes! but no, we have a two minute wait to be seen by a very pleasant lady who hands us just two forms, one each, to fill in which we do and then take straight back up to her. We have made a couple of silly mistakes but instead of reprimanding us like 5 year olds, ripping up our forms, and sending us to the back of the queue to start again as would happen at home, she simply scored out our mistakes and filled in the correct answer. The whole thing was over and done with in approx 15 minutes and we left with our marriage licence in our hands.
Given how we expected it to go we have no real plans for today so we decide as we passed Belz on the way down that we may as well stop off on the way back. Sounds like a good plan but, now please be seated here as the shock may do you some harm, Im a woman who doesnt like shopping, gasp horror but its true. Like some woman have to be in the mood for a bit of the other I have to be in the mood to shop! and today unfortunately I wasnt. Often I dont realise Im not in the mood till Ive reached the shops, in the same way a woman often doesnt realise shes not in the mood till she actually gets in to bed and realises all she wants to do is sleep!
We decide that firstly we have to get something to eat so we literally just stop at the first place we come upon. After refuelling we start to wander. I realise after the second shop that today Im not in the mood so I ask Darren if there is anything specifically he is wanting to shop for. Just some trainers is the reply. ARRRRRG! if theres one thing I hate shopping for more than shopping itself its shoes! and yes I hear another gasp of horror arise from the crowd. He can sense my mood (or should that be lack of mood) and therefore agrees, albeit reluctantly, that we should split up and meet back here in half an hour, he does try for a whole hour with some excuse about having to try the shoes on but Im not buying it, its half an hour or we go home now (he loves it really when Im forceful). I take Kirsty whilst Mollie opts to go with her dad as she knows shell wangle something out of him but will get nothing from me in my non shopping mood and we go our separate ways. Deciding that as Im not in the mood to shop I should at least let Kirsty so we go into the Disney store. Surprisingly enough we use up our whole half hour and a bit more in this one shop and head back to our meeting point. No sign of the others, so we wait and we wait and we wait. Its so long Im now faced with that age old dilemma do I continue to wait or do I go looking in the hope that I bump into them, but then I might not bump into them, I might miss them altogether! but then if I continue to hang around here Im likely to explode! what to do, what to do? Just then they come sauntering around the corner with bags galore. What in blazes have you bought? Well they were doing a buy one get one half price deal! So you have 2 pairs of size 12 trainers? No I have 3! THREE, why they hell do you have three? Because I got 2 with the deal and the third pair was so cheap it what have been rude not too! But THREE! you only have one pair of feet for heavens sake! Mollie trying to diffuse the situation steps in and informs me that she only has the 2 pairs and they were really cheap and they are only a size 1!!!! I stomp off at this point muttering something about customs, dont look at me and youll be paying. You see I hate shopping.
We arrive back at our hotel room and I inform the pair of them that they better find somewhere to put those blasted shoes because if I trip over them just once theyre going in the bin, given that they were so cheap that shouldnt bother them too much! ASMo hotel rooms are just not big enough for 4 people, all their luggage, wedding dresses etc., etc., and now an extra 5 pairs of trainers, hmph! We decided its too late to go to a park so we head for the swimming pool instead. We have a nice afternoon just lazing and dipping and generally chilling out.
This evening we have a PS for OHana for 6:50 but we plan to arrive earlier so we can have a nose around. Although impressive I found the Poly too dark for my taste so for the time being its still The Boardwalk. OHana however was much better than Spoodles. I forgot when checking in to ask for a window seat but the Gods must have been smiling down on us that evening because we got a seat right by the window anyway and the view of the castle was fantastic! The food came, served family style and plenty of it. We all except Kirsty tucked in. Kirsty had a great time joining in with all the games. Mollie joined in on sufferance just to keep her little sister happy (that was her excuse). Shes at that funny age where she is 10 going on 16. She enjoys meeting the characters and playing the silly games and generally acting like a child although she would never willingly admit it because at the same time she wants to be grown up and cant understand why she cant wear make up outside the house, go to school with nail polish on, expose much flesh with the skimpiest clothes and totter around on 5inch heels and BECAUSE I SAID SO doesnt always cut it! I call it her Jekyll & Hyde age where one minute shes this charming, funny, sweet little girl, the next shell be this argumentative, stroppy, monster who claims Im ruining her life! the awful thing is knowing that it only gets worse!
Anyway we are just having dessert when the lights go down, a hush descends, the castle is changing colours right before our eyes and suddenly Jimminy Crickets voice is all around and the sky above, over and beyond the castle is lit up. This is our first experience of Wishes and I have to say it is truly spectacular, its wonderful and amazing all at once. This was a lovely way to experience this display and would recommend it and would definitely do OHana again ourselves for the food, the fun and the show.
We finish our drinks off in the lounge and decide to head for DTD to finish off the day but when we get outside it is absolutely pouring so we do the only sensible thing you can in these trying circumstances and head back up to the lounge and have another drink to wait it out. By the time the rain has stopped its too late to visit DTD and we are all ready to head home for bed.
Well tomorrow is a big day! THE Big Day!
Annmarie
