Who's Honeymoon is it Anyways????

[Victoriasmom98]

I have to give props to anyone who can get up that early and fly out on a 6:15am flight. The sunrise certainly was beautiful!

That is a bummer about be directed to the wrong line. I hope it didn't hold you up too long.

Beautiful pictures of POR. It's one of my favorite resorts! Glad things got better after your arrival.

MEK!!!

Like I said, by 2:15am I was up anyways.....the excitement of the trip!!! Being in the wrong line didn't hold us up too long --- it was just the principal of the whole thing! I mean, I told the guy at check in where we were going and I think my English is pretty good, so how hard is it to direct us to the POR line???!!! Oh well......just a little bump in the road, I guess. Yes, we LOVED POR!! This was our first ever Disney resort and it was just magnificent!! Next year I wanted to try POP or ASMu, but Peter has his heart set on POR!!!

 

[lilpapsgirl]

I just a little late, but I'm in.
It sounds like you had a rough start to your Honeymoon, but it looks like it is starting to get better.
Can't wait to hear more.
P.S. I love Planet Hollywood. The theming is so great and I just love looking at all the props and costumes when we eat there. I think that is half the fun!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Thanks for joining in the fun, lilpapsgirl!!!! Hopefully I will have lots of time this weekend for more updates.

Yes, I love Planet Hollywood as I love all the movie stuff. I think that's why I enjoy Hollywood Studios so much whereas most people could take it or leave it.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Friday, September 24th --- EPCOT DAY #1

My goal was to get there at rope drop, but that didn't happen. We got up, got dressed and headed to the Riverside Mill Food Court for breakfast. They have different stations set up like a bakery, grill, etc. We ended up getting the bounty platter for us and the waffle platter for Victoria. Of course they were Mickey waffles!!!

The food was good, nothing outstanding, but good. We caught the bus and we were on our way to Epcot. I had planned on using our GAD fastpasses but the park was soooo empty there was no real need to do so!! Good! I'll just save them for another day! I had planned out the order in which to do things but that didn't hold water with Victoria. She absolutely HAD to do Mission Space first. Since this was Peter's first time, we did the Green version. He seemed to do well with that, so we decided to try the orange version. BIG MISTAKE!!! On the green version he kept saying "oh this is just a movie screen, etc....." Yeah, not so much with orange.....He was pretty much sick for the rest of the day. Never again for orange for Peter!!! One funny thing that happened was that we were in the briefing room, Victoria called the "simulator" a "stimulator". It was quiet for a couple seconds and then the whole room started laughing!!! Too Funny!!!

Most of the rides were walk on or up to a 10 minute wait. We did get a regular fast pass for Soarin as that was a 45 minute wait. When we did get to ride Soarin, Peter loved it!!! He also enjoyed Test Track ---- especially the queue where all the car repair stuff is. He is such a car buff so that was very interesting to him. That man can look at any car and tell you the make and model year. It's amazing!

We never did make it to the World Showcase on this day but we sure as heck got our use out of Future World. I think we ended up riding Spaceship Earth at least 7 times! Oh, and since I prepurchased the Photopass CD I made it my mission to hunt down the photographers and force them to take our pics!!! I can't wait to get that cd!! I'll have to edit this report when I do get it...

We didn't stand in lines to greet the characters, but we did get to see Rafiki before anyone else spotted him. That was Peter's first character encounter. I warned him before we left that these are the ACTUAL characters --- not people dressed up as the characters.....Get into the magic, Peter!!!

By using photopass, I was making darn sure I was in some of the pictures. I wore my bridal ears for the majority of the trip and everywhere we went we were getting congratulated by cast members as well as guests. That was soooo cool!!! This place is just so magical, although I don't think at this point I have Peter quite convinced.

Next up....dinner at the Coral Reef......

 

[-Hope-]

Sounds like a fun day! I wish we'd just stayed and done Future World in a day and save World Showcase for it's own day. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

I love your bridal ears! It's so great the way the CMs go out of their way to acknowledge these things.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Your ears are so cute! I think spending a day in FW and then a day in WS is the way to go! I still haven't seen most of either b/c we tried to pack both into each Epcot day and failed miserably each time!

 

[klacey1]

The family picture of you all with Rafiki is terrific! I hope Peter got into the magic soon!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

This sounds like fun. I'm subbing.

I can't believe that you were detained that long in security. Seems like a long time for a M&M tube with pennies. I packed mine in the suitcase because of the weight. Now I am glad that I did after reading what you went through.

Love the pictures you have posted so far.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

This sounds like fun. I'm subbing.

I can't believe that you were detained that long in security. Seems like a long time for a M&M tube with pennies. I packed mine in the suitcase because of the weight. Now I am glad that I did after reading what you went through.

Love the pictures you have posted so far.

Thanks OhioDisneyLover and welcome to the fun!!!

Yeah, I thought the TSA agent was a bit harsh. If she would have just asked me what was in the bag I could have gotten outta there within 5 minutes!!!! Definitely will pack them in the suitcase next year!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Soooo....Coral Reef time! We had reservations at 4:15pm. Although it's a neat atmosphere with the giant tanks, I wouldn't do this restaurant again. For one, the food wasn't that great and there were very limited choices. All three of us thought so. Waaaaay too much money for the portion sizes you get. Now, I know we were on the dining plan, but in my opinion, it wasn't worth the TS credits we used. As far as looking at the sea life, we could do that inside The Living Seas with Nemo. It's the same freaking tanks!!! My TA warned us against it, but I wouldn't listen. The second issue was our waiter. Ugh! Mr. "I don't have any personality". Hey, that reminds me of NATHAN in Sophia's TR!!

I did get some pictures......

Up next...... Our Illuminations cruise.....

 

[Victoriasmom98]

The Illuminations Cruise.....

I had read about this on the boards and thought, wow, that would be wonderful --- No pushing anyone out of the way, no being on the wrong side of the lagoon and having so much smoke from the first fireworks that you couldn't see the following fireworks, and no pushing through the crowds to get out of the park. I could handle all that. I had gone on the boards on the Cruises to share thread and found one for our night! Yes! The Dismember wanted payment for one just to have a deposit which was totally understandable! We were told to be at the marina at the Beach/Yatch Club at 8pm for our cruise. By looking at the map and asking some obsessive planners (HI Karen & Hope ) I figured out that you can walk in between the United Kingdom and France to the International Gateway and contine on the walking path to the Beach/Yatch Clubs. It's about a 20 minute walk. Oh, and did I mention it was raining? Yep, raining and I'm going out to cruise in the lagoon for a good 2 hours. Oh, and the boad wasn't covered....You know what??? I paid $43 per person for this cruise and darnit, everyone is going to enjoy it!!! We had ponchos, we aren't made of sugar and won't melt, so it's all good. Our captain was Scott and he was really funny and knowledgable. He took us around the lake and we saw the Boardwalk, the Swan, the Dolphin and Hollywood Studios. I thought it was cool how they were all connected by this waterway. They provided snacks and drinks, so that was nice. While this was fun and I'm glad we did it, it's probably not something I would spend the money on again. He parks the boat under the bridge at the International Gateway, so the view is somewhat off center and pretty far away, I felt. The wishes cruise sounds a lot better and from what I've read (I believe it was Sophia's TR) it sounds a lot more fun!! By the time the cruise was done and we walked that LONG walk back to the front of Epcot where the buses are, it was about 10:30pm and we were all soaked and tired. And this was the night I swear we waited 45 minutes for a bus!!!! Peter came up with the theory that it was a conspiracy against the Riverside bus to come. It was funny all the little comments he was making. See, the bus would pull in and meet a transportation cast member before pulling into any spots. Peter kept saying that the cast member would tell all the buses to avoid our stop because we all looked so happy to be in line! We had never been so happy to see the hotel beds!!!!

Can you say soaked???

Notice how there are no pictures of Illuminations itself? Yeah, I just wasn't impressed with the view. The cruise itself was nice, but I could do that on a daily basis with the water taxi from DTD to the hotel.

 

[klacey1]

I'm sorry you guys didn't have a fantastic experience at the Coral Reef-- we loved it! We had great food and a terrific waiter-- it's funny how much a waiter can really dent your dinner.
Also sorry the cruise wasn't so great-- good thing you didn't have to pay for the whole cruise! More than $43 pp would have been even more painful!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

I'm sorry you guys didn't have a fantastic experience at the Coral Reef-- we loved it! We had great food and a terrific waiter-- it's funny how much a waiter can really dent your dinner.
Also sorry the cruise wasn't so great-- good thing you didn't have to pay for the whole cruise! More than $43 pp would have been even more painful!!

I don't know, Kylie.....maybe I was trying too hard to make the trip one of a lifetime........oh yeah, that waiter was just not friendly, whereas the one who was serving the table behind us seemed wonderful. He knew all kinds of facts about who was in the tank, etc. OH well....it's true about the wait staff either making or breaking the meal.

 

[MEK]

Nice updates. I love your bride and groom ears. the groom ears are so cute! Your T shirts are also great!!!!!

Sorry dinner wasn't that great. I've only eaten there once and it was "meh". I would like to try it again some day, but there are so many other places to eat.

Sorry the cruise was not all that great. I would have thought it would be a wonderful view, but I guess you can only get so close. At least you were sitting. Better to sit in the rain than stand....or not! At least you can say you tried it.

 

[-Hope-]

It's always disappointing when things just don't live up to your expectations. Sorry that Coral Reef and the Cruise were a bit of a let down. I'm sure you still had some fun just being together as a family and I'm finding that as time passes I forget more and more about the disappointments but the magical moments hang on.

 

[klacey1]

I don't know, Kylie.....maybe I was trying too hard to make the trip one of a lifetime........oh yeah, that waiter was just not friendly, whereas the one who was serving the table behind us seemed wonderful. He knew all kinds of facts about who was in the tank, etc. OH well....it's true about the wait staff either making or breaking the meal.

See, if I had the same experience as you, I would have hated the Coral Reef, too. It's not hard to be nice, so I don't understand why waiters are never not friendly!
That's like us at Ohana-- our server was SO rude and ignored us, and the waitress behind us was LOVELY. So sweet and always making sure they had enough of the food they wanted. It almost made it worse to see that we could have had an amazing server but didn't!

 

[1971DBday]

I'm in....and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you!

 

[heaven2dc]

Congratulations on your marriage! Even though your pre-arrival and bus experience wasn't the best, I hope you had a good time after all.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

I'm in....and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you!

Thank you so much and

Congratulations on your marriage! Even though your pre-arrival and bus experience wasn't the best, I hope you had a good time after all.

Oh, as you continue reading, you'll see we really did have a wonderful trip! Thank you for joining in!!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Saturday, September 25th Epcot Day 2

This day started with our reservations at O’hana’s Lilo & Stitch breakfast at 8:10am. Ok, note to self…..8:10am reservations are a little early for us to be up and dressed and ready. You have to take in consideration that it’s almost one hour to get to the destination using Disney transportation! We took the bus from our resort to the Magic Kingdom and then took the boat from Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian. We had a little trouble finding O’hana’s as we didn’t know the resort, but fortunately there was another family heading that way and they seemed to know where they were going. We signed in at the podium and waited our turn. This was so far our favorite experience! They have this little area set up where you receive your leis and get your photo taken. As the hostess walks you to your table all the cast members are saying “hello cousin” to you and Peter was getting quite a kick out of that. He started saying “Hi Cuz” to everyone and I mean EVERYONE!! They serve your breakfast in a huge skillet and it’s all you can eat! The “stitch” juice was excellent and even Victoria loved it. We met Mickey, Stitch, Lilo and Pluto. Stitch gave me lots and lots of lovins!! That was so great.

After breakfast we walked on the beach where Peter and Victoria found the hammocks. So cool.

We then took the boat back to Magic Kingdom and caught another bus to Epcot for our second day. Again we rode Test Track and Mission Space. We were going to do Soarin again, but we were all so tired. We ended up leaving just as Illuminations was starting but we did end up visiting Mexico, Japan and Norway. In Mexico we had a ring made up for Peter that says A & P since he lost his wedding ring!!! Once we picked that up, we headed to the bus stop.

Note for next year, we MUST spend at least ½ day in the World Showcase. Peter never did get to see much of it and I think it’s an amazing experience. It’s this situation that makes me think of bringing a friend for Victoria so she and the friend can hang out in Future World and Peter and I can take our time in World Showcase. Ah, but then comes the expense of it and also the huge responsibility of having someone else’s child in another state with us. I guess Victoria will just have to be patient with us. She used to love it when she would do the KidCot activities, but she doesn’t do those anymore, so she gets bored. 12 is such a confusing age, I suppose. We did get a chance to “pick the troll’s nose” in Norway and take the boat ride in Mexico, so I’m thankful for that.

Up next......my favorite park.........