Wedding Crasher: Lurkyloo’s 4 Parties in 3 Nights with 2 Cameras and 1 Fabulous Hat

[princesskelz]

wow awsome trip report!
i was a lurker on your wedding trip report and OMG was i jealous

 

[KristinAnne]

It's so cool that you got to be such good friends with Nathan and Jensey. Great pictures!!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Wow breakfast looked fun!!!! I had been waiting to see pics of you with the princesses & they did not disappoint! Mary P rocks!!!!
Yeah for unidentified goo!
Hat ??????? Are you going to a tea party?

 

[Bolanette87]

Firstly, I your Trip Reports! I've never been to WDW, but as soon as I see you've written a TR I have to read it!

Secondly, I love your TR so far, and you can never include too many pictures!! Your hire car sounds like my last car... I felt very rich when I finally got one with "proper" windows!!

And lastly, I just showed my Fiance the website for your DHs company.... He LOVED it! He is a bit crazy about puppets and he absolutely loved the ones on the site!

Can't wait to read more!!

Bob xoxoxoxoxox

 

[AGPrincess]

Subbing! Love the updates so far (and the Root pics!). Sounds like a fun breakfast despite the funky/non-identifiable food and lack of mickey waffles --those croissants looked good though! Can't wait for more!

 

[lurkyloo]

I'll have to wait until I get home to post it. It's actually 3 separate recipes, one for the cupcakes, one for the filling, and one for the icing. All from scratch, but not difficult, I promise!

OK, I am going to trust you on that one because I am LAZY and will not do a recipe if it has too many steps!

Another TR--I'm doomed! If I flunk the bar exam, I'm blaming you for being so darn funny and entertaining.

But on studying for the bar!

wow awsome trip report!
i was a lurker on your wedding trip report and OMG was i jealous

Welcome out of lurkdom! But I am you felt jealous - how about a Disney quinceañera for you? It's all the same stuff, minus the groom!

It's so cool that you got to be such good friends with Nathan and Jensey. Great pictures!!

You know, they are so sweet, I think they become friends with everyone they meet! I don't even want to think about what their Christmas shopping list looks like though...

Hat ??????? Are you going to a tea party?

No, but I did go to 2 weddings, a birthday party and a Fantasmic! dessert party!

Secondly, I love your TR so far, and you can never include too many pictures!! Your hire car sounds like my last car... I felt very rich when I finally got one with "proper" windows!!

That's fabulous! You know the kids of today aren't even gonna know what it means to "roll the window down"!

And lastly, I just showed my Fiance the website for your DHs company.... He LOVED it! He is a bit crazy about puppets and he absolutely loved the ones on the site!

Aw, I'm so glad he liked them! I'm awfully proud of DH!

Subbing! Love the updates so far (and the Root pics!). Sounds like a fun breakfast despite the funky/non-identifiable food and lack of mickey waffles --those croissants looked good though! Can't wait for more!

Yeah, maybe I coulda drowned the croissants in syrup and pretended it was truly "French" toast!

 

[lurkyloo]

One of the thoughts that had woken me on the plane was the realization that I'd forgotten my doofy sun hat, which is a touring staple when you are as freakishly pale as I am.

Doofy Sun Hat

So the first order of business after we rolled out of Akershus Princess Storybook Fantasy Festival of Dining: The Experience! was to get me a new hat. I did not have high hopes for finding anything remotely fashionable or even Mickey-free. However, the first thing we came across was a merchandise booth set up for Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival, and there was a large display of sun hats – hooray!


They also had Mickey garden gnomes.

”Hmmm.... nice!”

"Double the sun protection!'

"Uh, no!"

"We have a winner!"

I didn't know it at the time, but this hat ended up becoming something of a mascot for my trip. I got so many compliments on it and on whatever outfit I was wearing with it, and nobody could believe I bought it at the park. The coolest thing is, I've been wanting a glamorous Audrey Hepburn-style hat for years, but I just kinda lucked into it that day.

Hat secured, Jensey and I staggered around in the heat for a bit trying not to sweat in front of each other. Seriously, it was 90 degrees out—I thought everyone said May had the perfect weather?

At any rate, I was totally in my element, because Jensey had told me to holler if I saw anything I wanted a photo of—which is exactly my touring dynamic with DH. ("Get a shot of those pretty flowers!" "Can you take a close-up of that?" "I want a photo of this!" [motions to a vast 180-degree vista]...)

As Jensey says, "Favorite!"

Second favorite.

Just don't look down...

Next stop...

(And every time a baby cries, a fairy's life is snuffed out...)

Jensey was shooting all these gorgeous pix while we were wandering around and gabbing. The heat was starting to do us in, though, so I suggested we stop by the air conditioned festival center which, as at last year's Food & Wine Festival, was inside the Wonders of Life Pavilion (i.e., way out in the boonies) and offered absolutely nothing interesting to do.

 

[lurkyloo]

I was having a fabulous time talking Jensey's ear off, but I felt guilty that we weren't really doing anything. Then I remembered the To Do and To Eat lists I'd entered in my iPhone, so I looked those up to see if there was anything we could knock out while at Epcot.

A-ha! We could "Check Sunshine Seasons for peanut butter chocolate cake” that I’d enjoyed on two previous visits but which had been reported missing since last fall. So off we trudged to the Land Pavilion, all the way on the other side of Future World.

We took an air-conditioned short cut:

Our destination.

OK, so you know how there are those two looooong escalators down to Sunshine Seasons/the Soarin’ queue? Well, DH and I have this tradition of smooching every time we ride an escalator cuz it’s the only time I get to be the shorter one, and I can throw my arms around his neck like a movie heroine. So the escalator ride made me kinda sad....

As if that weren’t depressing enough, when we got to Sunshine Seasons, we found they STILL don’t have any peanut butter chocolate cake!


Not here...

...or here...

... or here!

Bowed but not broken, we decided the next logical step was to do another thing from my To Do/To Eat list: investigate the peanut butter chocolate cake slice at BoardWalk Bakery!

Our journey took us past the Magical Music Days stage, where a group of adorably earnest junior high schoolers had just wobbled their way through “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted.

One of several really fun-looking playgrounds set up for the Flower & Garden Festival

CUTE!

All of Jensey’s practice shooting in real Paris finally pays off!

OK, I know today’s update was short on story, but I left my journal at home, and I don’t want to write about what happens next without consulting it, so...


Coming up: Stalking DIS Bride Lori’s Wedding!!!

 

[Aburns8]

Love Jensey's photos I wish I had her talent. Your hat is adorable! Like you I am freakishly pale and require a lot of protection from the sun. Now after looking at the desserts I feel like a brownie!

 

[PopArtGal]

Pixie Hollow is so cute!

So sad I don't get to go in May anymore.

I went 2 times and really enjoyed it.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

First, you check in with the podium girl, but don't under any circumstances proceed to the conga line of people creeping toward the Grip 'n' Grin Princess Photo Op that's the first stop on your way to breakfast! Instead, you must mill around in front of the entrance, blocking the door, until at least five minutes have passed. Then your name will be called and you may go wait at the back of the line. No waiting in line before your name is called, though—and don't even think of sneaking off to buy School Bread at Kringla Bakery!

Well, that’s good information to have as we’ll be stopping here on our trip this summer.

As we were raising our first forkfuls, Belle came by and insisted on taking a picture with us. We set our forks back down and Jensey handed me her ginormous Canon EOS 5D Mach III Turbo ExXxtreme, which I gingerly hoisted like a loaded gun and then hung on to for dear life as it squeezed off dozens of shots in rapid succession (hope I didn't hit anybody!).

Yeah, if I was holding 4 grand worth of camera and lenses, I’d be a bit nervous myself.

However, one good thing about having the last breakfast seating is that you're first in line when they put out the lunch buffet!

SCORE! We have the latest seating on our day as well. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to analyze the brown squares by the yellow goo.


Now I see you've posted more updates while I was compsing replies. I'll be back in a few...

 

[inkedupmomma]

1.) I have decided I indeed need a big floppy hat..preferably in black, since that is my jam.

2.) Also being practically albino, I know ink would take wondeful on your skin.

3.) I love love love all the shrub characters!

4.) Yes, May is hawt as ballllls in Florida! We were there in 2005 and were dying!

5.) Despite that heat index and no free dining, I would really love to go during May again, just to see all the prettiness!

5.) You are adorable..now get with the cake pics.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

At any rate, I was totally in my element, because Jensey had told me to holler if I saw anything I wanted a photo of—which is exactly my touring dynamic with DH. ("Get a shot of those pretty flowers!" "Can you take a close-up of that?" "I want a photo of this!" [motions to a vast 180-degree vista]...)

You have lived a DIS'ers drema my friend.

Jensey was shooting all these gorgeous pix while we were wandering around and gabbing. The heat was starting to do us in, though, so I suggested we stop by the air conditioned festival center which, as at last year's Food & Wine Festival, was inside the Wonders of Life Pavilion (i.e., way out in the boonies) and offered absolutely nothing interesting to do.

It's so sad to see that wated pavilion just sitting there.

A-ha! We could "Check Sunshine Seasons for peanut butter chocolate cake” that I’d enjoyed on two previous visits but which had been reported missing since last fall...Bowed but not broken, we decided the next logical step was to do another thing from my To Do/To Eat list: investigate the peanut butter chocolate cake slice at BoardWalk Bakery!

I've got to write that one down. First Lady Biscuit would be on cloud nine.

Excellent updates and AWESOME pics. The Roots are some amazing photogs!

 

[LouDisney]

My only recommendation is to smuggle in some Mickey waffles. Oh, and the moment they set your food down, start eatin' it cuz you'll never get another chance!

Will do!

 

[annnewjerz]

Disclaimer: I mean this in the least insulting way possible, so hopefully it doesn't offend, but......

That picture of you on the escalator in The Land Pavilion is probably the funniest thing I have seen in a long while (which doesn't really say much for my life). GREAT picture, great expression, great hat----just hilarious.

PS: I see they still don't have the PB Chocolate cake at Sunshine Seasons. Was the Boardwalk an acceptable substitute?? (I'm sure you'll answer that later on in your TR, but I'm hungry now and on a diet---so at least indulge me with a simple yes or no!!)

 

[Janell]

Loving your Trip Report!

 

[dallastxcpa]

"We have a winner!"

I didn't know it at the time, but this hat ended up becoming something of a mascot for my trip. I got so many compliments on it and on whatever outfit I was wearing with it, and nobody could believe I bought it at the park. The coolest thing is, I've been wanting a glamorous Audrey Hepburn-style hat for years, but I just kinda lucked into it that day.

Awesome hat! I want one for my September trip. Can't wait to read the next installment.

 

[Beka]

That hat qualifies as a Derby Hat. In fact, I think it's ore a Derby hat than a sun hat, so from now on, you must walk around WDW with a mint julep cup in your hand. I'll teach you the Kentucky drawl to go along with it.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

As promised, here are the completely-worth-it cupcakes. A word of advice: on their own, each part is completely un-noteworthy. But together . . . well, surely you've seen those commercials for the his-and-hers lubes? With the great graphic euphemisms? Well, it's like that!

With love and gratitude to my friend Shauna, whose grandmother is the source of these cupcakes ~

Cupcakes
Put cupcake liners in 24 standard size muffin tins.
Beat together:
1 1/2 c sour cream
2 eggs
1 3/4 c sugar
Add:
1 3/4 c flour - plain all purpose
4 TBSP cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Then add:
2 level tsp baking soda dissolved in 1/4 c hot water
Beat well. Pour into prepared muffin tins. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. We all know how to check for doneness, right? Remove from oven and let cool.

Cream Filling for Cupcakes
1 c milk
4 TBSP plain all purpose flour
Cook until thick.
Add 2 TBSP vanilla. Cool.
Cream 1 c Crisco shortening and 1 c sugar. Mix until creamy, about 5 minutes. Add cooled mixture slowly. Mix well.
This will make enough for this batch with enough left over for another batch. Refrigerate; saves nicely.

Chocolate Frosting for Cupcakes
1 c sugar
1/3 c milk
1/4 c Crisco shortening
dash salt
2 TBSP cocoa
Mix and boil, stirring constantly. Boil about 1 minute. Beat until thickness desired.
Add:
1 tsp vanilla. Stir.
Put pan in cold water to help set frosting.

OK everybody, are you still with me? At this point you have to get the cream filling into the cupcakes. I will have to post a link to what I use after I get 10 messages! Please stand by . . .

So, you scoop the cream filling into this contraption, choose a plain tip, and pierce the top of the cupcake and fill to your liking. The cupcakes will plump up as they're filled. Stop when you see the cupcake getting full, or the cupcakes will crack. After the cupcakes are filled, frost them and enjoy!

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

10 posts!

Here's the link to what I use to fill the cupcakes:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=12884192&RN=106