Wishes 10/8/11 WP/GF-- Love's First Kiss-- Trip Report Complete

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Can I just say I'm so glad you're posting your honeymoon as well. Your post on V&A made me drool.

 

[One_Song]

This made me laugh because it is SO something my DF would do! He's such a friendly guy and is so proud if somebody waves back to him or if we get served by somebody unfriendly at the supermarket and he manages to get chatting with them and make them smile

That's Brandon too-- just kind-hearted and generous. He always assumes the best of everyone. I don't think I could be married to someone that didn't. Some members of my extended family are so negative, when we go to visit that energy just brings me down. I love Brandon's optimism.

Michelle sweetie
Just checking in!!!
Great news about the house!!! I wish I could live so close to my happy place!!! I would move to Florida in a heartbeat given half a chance!!!!

Thank you! We are very excited, I can't wait to make the trip down to find a house. (I'm really hoping I can suggest that we stop by Magic Kingdom on the drive back )

Just wanted to say congrats to you both!! I know after Adam and I took the Bar it was really hard to find a job--any job. There are just so many people coming out of law school these days and into a bad economy.

Your honeymoon looks like so much fun! I love when you have enough time to really savor and enjoy being at the World, rather than running around like crazy.

Thank you! It certainly isn't a good time to be a new attorney (although I guess it's not a good time to be in most fields). It will be nice to finally be able to nest. Since the wedding, I've had this overwhelming desire to organize our things, cook more dinners, make a schedule. I'm ready now!

And our honeymoon was great! It was really relaxed and just about having fun. I loved it

Can I just say I'm so glad you're posting your honeymoon as well. Your post on V&A made me drool.

Thanks! We had some really cool moments on the honeymoon, they will be fun to share!

 

[One_Song]

We hopped on the monorail, rode to TTC, then transferred to Epcot.

It had been a few hours since we had lunch, and we were feeling really hungry. We decided to head straight back to Food & Wine Festival—we were very excited because we had not yet been to F&W!

On the main walkway between Future World & World Showcase, Ocean Spray had this really cool cranberry exhibit set up.

I want to wade in a pool of cranberries!

We picked up our F&W passports and a Mickey pen to help us with the checklist.

And we started to wander. There were so many choices, and everything looked delicious. It was very difficult to choose!

We started at the Argentina pavilion, where we ordered the grilled beef skewer with chimichurri sauce and boniato puree. (We always split the plates during F&W, that way we got to taste more things before we filled up!) We started off on a high note—this was probably our favorite dish at all of F&W.

Next, we hit Scandinavia.

We ordered the “Taste of Scandinavia”—shrimp salad, cured salmon, and herring. I loved this, but to Brandon it was just so-so. He is not much a seafood person, though, and this dish was very seafood-y (in a delicious way).

Next, it was China. We split the pork pot stickers. We also got our first drinks: a “happy lychee” for Brandon, and a green tea plum wine cooler for me. Brandon’s was great, mine was gross! I felt wasteful, but I could barely drink it.

We pressed on to the cheese stand. Honestly, the sign just said “Cheese”. I knew it was my kind of place. I bought us a little cheese tray while Brandon hopped over to the beer stand and brought us three different brews to sample.

The cheese was yummy, but it was a sad comparison to V&A from the night before!

With a little beer left, we stopped at the Germany stand and bought a Nuernberger sausage in a pretzel roll. I took the first bite—it was amazingly good! Then I tried to pass it to Brandon. I can’t say definitely what happened, but someone fumbled and the sausage rolled sadly...

...to the ground. Honestly, I thought my marriage was going to be over right there and then. I’m lucky that Brandon felt it was his fault. Then we were left with just a pretzel roll with a little mustard, which was actually pretty good on its own.

It was getting pretty late into the afternoon. We had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night, and I wanted to change clothes before we went. We decided to head back to the GF.

Waiting around for the friendship boat

I'm sure at the time I thought this face was cute! How could he resist me??

 

[One_Song]

Ugh, Photobucket troubles again. I think I've got it fixed now.

 

[Jennifer48]

Michelle,

I have just read your entire planning journal, wedding report and now onto your honeymoon report. First let me say, congratulations! What a beautiful wedding and a beautiful couple you are.

I love your detailed report on V&A, sounds like a wonderful honeymoon dinner!

Thanks for sharing everything and I can't wait to read about the rest of your honeymoon TR!

 

[lilsqueakrr]

So cute. So fun! I make faces much like that one all the time. I call it the 'you can't resist me' face and Dave just laughs at me!

I seriously need to get to Epcot one year for F&W. I've dreamed of it since I turned 21. lol. One year! But for now, I'll live vicariously through you!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Ooh, the F&W festival looks so fun, another thing I can't wait to try someday! Your poor sausage (I accidently said this out loud while reading your post and my DF gave me a strange and amused look). It's funny, but I've had experience with Chinese "plum" flavoured drinks before. The one I had tasted like a scented candle.

Loving the TR, can't wait to hear about MNSSHP!

 

[One_Song]

After a quick change at GF, we set off for MK and MNNSHP.

We picked up our trick-or-treat bag at the gate entrance

The castle looked so beautiful in the sunset

Brandon told me to jog ahead, then turn around so he could get me in the picture

It was a little hard to walk backwards, not bump anyone, and smile for the camera!

We started in Tomorrowland, where we hit our favorites—Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, & the Peoplemover. I absolutely love the Peoplemover at night, Tomorrowland looks so cool all lit up. We also stopped at some of the trick-or-treat stops. I was a little shy, but the cast members don’t make you feel weird at all for being an adult asking for candy! I should have known Disney wouldn’t shame me.

Next we headed to Fanstasyland. It was event ticket-holders only at this point, so we did all of Fantasyland in about 30 minutes.

Winnie the Pooh line

The carrousel

I forget how quickly you can do all the little dark rides when there are no lines.

We were feeling a little hungry again, so we stopped in Cosmic Ray’s for dinner. I’ve been there a couple of times (not many, I’m a die-hard Casey Jones fan), and I always forget that this weird animatronic alien band thing is there.

To be honest, at this point, I was feeling guilty that we did so much that day. I was really tired, but I didn’t want to go back to the hotel, since we’d paid separately for these tickets. I ate a ton of chicken nuggets, thinking the protein would re-energize me (this didn’t work, in case you were wondering )

We stopped in Fantasyland to watch the fireworks. I guess we should have watched from Main Street that night; it’s instinct to me to avoid Main St during fireworks. I know the view is the best, but I feel a little anxious in big crowds. Nothing debilitating, I just don’t care for it.

 

[One_Song]

Next we headed to Haunted Mansion, which looked so cool for the Halloween party!

I absolutely love Haunted Mansion, it’s my favorite ride in any park. I love doombuggies.com, I’m such a nerd. One Christmas, I tried to buy Brandon old stretching room posters, but someone outbid me.

This spooky lady was sitting on the lawn, interacting with guests in the queue

Everything was normal until we got to the loading platform. The ride went down, which I think is pretty common on HM. We were very patient and nonchalant for about five minutes. Then everyone started getting a little antsy. Because the stretching chambers had been full when the ride went down, those people were led to the loading area, and there were twice as many people in that loading hallway as usual. Being super tired, but trying not to show it, and getting bumped into constantly = not that fun. When a ride goes down, I usually jump ship after ten minutes or so. But this time, we couldn’t move two feet, much less get to an exit.

While we were waiting, Brandon got this neat photo of the CM at the switchboard.

You can kind of see here how crowded the line was.

Thank goodness we were already in the roped part, I bet it was absolutely terrible in that funnel area. The feeling in that room was very tense. People started clapping—that communal clap-clap-clap-clap that people mean to imply they are tired of waiting. It made me feel very uneasy. It was almost mob-like.

The ride started up, and I couldn’t have been happier. I didn’t want to get stampeded by some angry tourists!

Brandon snuck this cool photo in the ride (no flash though! I hate when people take flash pictures)

Then we zipped over to Thunder Mountain. I love it at night, it’s so pretty.

Pretty view from across the river.

We headed to Main Street to catch the second parade. I was feeling so tired I could barely pick up my feet. I caved in and confessed to Brandon that I was extremely tired and all I wanted was to curl up in bed. I felt so guilty—Main St was almost empty. We literally could have sat on the edge of the sidewalk anywhere we wanted. But I was just too tired.

We made our way back to the GF. I slept like a rock that night.

 

[One_Song]

Michelle,

I have just read your entire planning journal, wedding report and now onto your honeymoon report. First let me say, congratulations! What a beautiful wedding and a beautiful couple you are.

I love your detailed report on V&A, sounds like a wonderful honeymoon dinner!

Thanks for sharing everything and I can't wait to read about the rest of your honeymoon TR!

Thank you so much! I've really enjoyed writing the TR. I'm trying really hard to get to Tuesday, it's one of the best stories I have! Thanks again for reading!

So cute. So fun! I make faces much like that one all the time. I call it the 'you can't resist me' face and Dave just laughs at me!

I seriously need to get to Epcot one year for F&W. I've dreamed of it since I turned 21. lol. One year! But for now, I'll live vicariously through you!

Brandon laughs and photographs it (I think to save as blackmail. Little does he know I put it on the internet, take that!) F&W is so amazing, I really want to go back this year. What can I say, I love to eat!

Ooh, the F&W festival looks so fun, another thing I can't wait to try someday! Your poor sausage (I accidently said this out loud while reading your post and my DF gave me a strange and amused look). It's funny, but I've had experience with Chinese "plum" flavoured drinks before. The one I had tasted like a scented candle.

Loving the TR, can't wait to hear about MNSSHP!

Poor sausage, I love it! That plum drink was just too strong. A weird mix of sweet and heavy. I should have gone with the Happy Lychee!

 

[One_Song]

Honeymoon, Day 3

Tuesday morning we woke up and said, scratch today’s plans. Let’s relax! (This kind of freedom was my favorite thing about the honeymoon. If we can’t do something today, we’ll just do it tomorrow!)

I told Brandon that I felt like laying by the pool, and he said that sounded great to him too. I was surprised; he’s not usually a beach or pool guy. He must have been tired!

We donned our suits (I was very excited, as I had bought some pretty new bikinis just for the honeymoon) and walked down to the beach pool. I’ve heard that this one can get a little more crowded than the other GF pool, maybe because of the water slide, but I wanted the view of the beach. Plus, it was a Tuesday morning, and it was almost empty anyway.

We originally thought we would grab some lounge chairs, but we noticed that the pool cabanas had “Available” signs in front of them. We talked to the nice CM at the activities desk, and about a minute later we had a cabana rental! It was really simple.

Our cabana had two plush lounge chairs, tons of towels, sofas, a TV, a fan, a mini fridge with water and sodas, and tables (most of those things were under a tent-like covering). None of the other 3 cabanas were being used, so we felt pretty secluded. We tossed some towels over our two loungers and got busy relaxing!

The loungers are also extremely flattering for pictures. It looks like I have incredibly slim hips and derriere, but that’s just because they sunk into the cushions!

I would so highly recommend the cabana rentals for any WDW honeymooners. It was sooooooo nice and peaceful. It was probably my favorite morning of the honeymoon. Brandon read his Kindle, but I just rested. It was good weather for it, too. It was a little overcast, but when the sun was out it was very hot. I was always ready for the next wave of sun or shade.

The activities CM took care of anything we wanted—which mostly involved bringing us Banana Cabanas from the bar! We had a constant string of them. They were delicious and felt very tropical!

Occasionally we got up to play in the pool. Brandon convinced me to go down the slide (I thought we might look strange since we didn’t have any children with us), and it was a lot of fun! He did the slide a lot, actually—I have a cute video of it on my phone.

Around lunchtime, we ordered room service and had it delivered to the cabana. We sat under the little tent and ate our sandwiches while watching the news on our TV. This might be the #1 dorky thing about us, we absolutely love the news. We’re both journalism school grads, so I guess it goes with the territory. We had been out of the loop for a few days and it was nice to catch up. (Later in the honeymoon, on our cruise, we discovered that the cruise ships get CNN International and you’d have thought we won the lotto We tried to get CNN-I on our cable package at home, but you have to pay through the nose.)

After about three hours at the cabanas, we decided it was time to go back to the room and get dressed for the day. I fully intend to rent cabanas on one of our next Disney trips, it was exactly what you want in a vacation.

 

[belle2211]

Honeymoon, Day 3

Tuesday morning we woke up and said, scratch today’s plans. Let’s relax! (This kind of freedom was my favorite thing about the honeymoon. If we can’t do something today, we’ll just do it tomorrow!)

I told Brandon that I felt like laying by the pool, and he said that sounded great to him too. I was surprised; he’s not usually a beach or pool guy. He must have been tired!

We donned our suits (I was very excited, as I had bought some pretty new bikinis just for the honeymoon) and walked down to the beach pool. I’ve heard that this one can get a little more crowded than the other GF pool, maybe because of the water slide, but I wanted the view of the beach. Plus, it was a Tuesday morning, and it was almost empty anyway.

We originally thought we would grab some lounge chairs, but we noticed that the pool cabanas had “Available” signs in front of them. We talked to the nice CM at the activities desk, and about a minute later we had a cabana rental! It was really simple.

Our cabana had two plush lounge chairs, tons of towels, sofas, a TV, a fan, a mini fridge with water and sodas, and tables (most of those things were under a tent-like covering). None of the other 3 cabanas were being used, so we felt pretty secluded. We tossed some towels over our two loungers and got busy relaxing!

The loungers are also extremely flattering for pictures. It looks like I have incredibly slim hips and derriere, but that’s just because they sunk into the cushions!

I would so highly recommend the cabana rentals for any WDW honeymooners. It was sooooooo nice and peaceful. It was probably my favorite morning of the honeymoon. Brandon read his Kindle, but I just rested. It was good weather for it, too. It was a little overcast, but when the sun was out it was very hot. I was always ready for the next wave of sun or shade.

The activities CM took care of anything we wanted—which mostly involved bringing us Banana Cabanas from the bar! We had a constant string of them. They were delicious and felt very tropical!

Occasionally we got up to play in the pool. Brandon convinced me to go down the slide (I thought we might look strange since we didn’t have any children with us), and it was a lot of fun! He did the slide a lot, actually—I have a cute video of it on my phone.

Around lunchtime, we ordered room service and had it delivered to the cabana. We sat under the little tent and ate our sandwiches while watching the news on our TV. This might be the #1 dorky thing about us, we absolutely love the news. We’re both journalism school grads, so I guess it goes with the territory. We had been out of the loop for a few days and it was nice to catch up. (Later in the honeymoon, on our cruise, we discovered that the cruise ships get CNN International and you’d have thought we won the lotto We tried to get CNN-I on our cable package at home, but you have to pay through the nose.)

After about three hours at the cabanas, we decided it was time to go back to the room and get dressed for the day. I fully intend to rent cabanas on one of our next Disney trips, it was exactly what you want in a vacation.

Woohoo! Great update!

Okay, several questions
1) Where did you get that bathing suit? Sooo cute!
2) What is a Banana Cabana? I love anything banana so can't wait to see what this is?
3) Do you mind if I ask how much the cabana was? We just might have to rent one on our anniversary stay!

Oh, and I"m a journalism grad too! (broadcast) but I went back and got my Masters in education...I sure miss reporting sometimes though!

 

[roxysmum123]

Cute bikini is right! I don't think I've ever seen a more appropriate pattern for lounging around at the Grand Floridian, LOVE the floral!

 

[One_Song]

Woohoo! Great update!

Okay, several questions
1) Where did you get that bathing suit? Sooo cute!
2) What is a Banana Cabana? I love anything banana so can't wait to see what this is?
3) Do you mind if I ask how much the cabana was? We just might have to rent one on our anniversary stay!

Oh, and I"m a journalism grad too! (broadcast) but I went back and got my Masters in education...I sure miss reporting sometimes though!

Thanks! I got that suit at Dillards last summer, I think it was GUESS (I'm sure it's discontinued now, I got it for almost nothing on clearance). A banana cabana is a muy delicious banana/rum frozen drink. I found this recipe, where else, on the disboards:

Banana Cabana Recipe
2 parts Cruzan Mango rum, 2 parts Cruzan Guava rum, 1 part Creme de banana liqueur, 3 parts orange juice, 3 parts pineapple juice. Shake or stir, serve over ice and THEN add a drizzle of grenadine.

Now I'm going to have to make them at home!

I can't remember exactly, but I think the cabana was $100 for 4 hours. Not inexpensive, but I think it's comparable to excursions and things like that. And you will not regret it later!! We felt so rejuvenated afterward.

I didn't know you were from journalism, cool! I worked at a magazine my senior year, and I loved it. Harder to find writing jobs now if you don't know how to code (I'm scared of computers). I've been doing a lot of research into psych masters programs, I think I would like to be a school/family counselor.

Cute bikini is right! I don't think I've ever seen a more appropriate pattern for lounging around at the Grand Floridian, LOVE the floral!

Isn't it perfect? I saw that pattern and instantly thought of the GF. I felt positively dainty!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

I think the thing that I (and other dis-ers I'm sure) appreciate about your PJ is how wonderfully and meticulously detailed it is. I feel like I'm there with you at a gorgeous, well planned, wonderfully executed wedding at the greatest place on earth. It's kind of awesome.

 

[mermaids1960]

It it all looks so lovely, getting excited now as my DD also planning a pavillion wedding

 

[Lulu83]

Ohh relaxing in a cabana sounds SO good about now! (I've had a super stressful day at work)

And I agree with all the compliments on the bikini, very cute!

 

[Jennifer48]

What a perfect fit for your honeymoon that cabana is! I have a friend that rented one at the Poly on her honeymoon and thought it was fabulous as well!

Your bikini is quite dainty for the GF, nice find!

 

[tric8783]

Not sure how but I missed a few pages! I'm caught up now!
You really have a gift with your writing, even describing the smallest things I am enthralled to read!

We are staying at the Poly the night after our wedding before we head off to our HM! I'm hoping even more now we'll be able to rent a cabana there!! Do you know if we can reserve ahead of time or only the same day?

Can't wait for more!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

That cabana sounds spectacular! I didn't know they had that sort of thing, I think I may have to look into it myself further down the road. And your bikini is too cute, very GF!