Length - Tuesday, September 21st to Monday, September 27th
Celebration - Honeymoon!
Day 1 - Tuesday Sept. 21st
Day 1 really started on Monday. We both went to work on the 20th, I worked until 9pm and ran last minute errands, my husband worked until 11pm. Since we both worked so late, we ended up staying up until 1am finishing up packing, took a quick nap and then woke up around 3am to drive over to his parents house, where his mom drove us to the airport. We flew out on Southwest Air (Who I totally recommend! The flight attendants were funny, nice and a bit sassy, which amused me and my husband, you get 2 free checked bags, all the planes we flew on were spacious with lots of overhead storage and they have open seating.) and the flight lasted about 15-20 minutes less than it was said to, which was nice. We arrived in Orlando International Airport around 10:45am. We wandered around the airport for a bit, looking at the shops (Both Disney shops, haha) and finally made our way over and down to the Magical Transport (and skipping the baggage claim, yaaay!). The bus windows were shaded out, so I couldn't actually see much of where we were driving, so we just sat back and watched the little movie they played.
We got to the resort around Noon, got our folder with all of our resort info and keys (Did the online check-in) and bought our tickets for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party. Even though it was only Noon, the room was already ready so we went up to drop off our carry ons. We were in Oak Manor, which was pretty awesome, as it was a short walk over the bridge from the main area (with the Ferry, bus stop, restaurants and store). We spent pretty much the rest of the day in Downtown Disney, mostly in Marketplace exploring, playing in the toy stores (hehe) and we picked up our bride and groom hats. We ate at Wolfgang Pucks Express (which was AMAZING, and super awesome that it counted as quick/counter service) and then went back to Riverside for a Carriage ride, unpacked and went to Boatwrights (POR's restaurant) and then went back out to Downtown Disney, this time to Pleasure Island and the West Side. We caught one of the last ferries back to POR and passed out (having only had about 3 hours of sleep by then, haha).
Us in our Ears, after the Carriage ride.
Day 2 - Wednesday Sept. 22nd
We got up super early (we both work Second shift, so we're used to getting up around Noon or so and not having anywhere to go until 2/4pm) and made it to Magic Kingdom by 9:30. It was my first time using the busing system that they offer for the Resorts, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised (I'd heard lots of stories about how terrible it is, and I'm sure it's worse during busier seasons, but for us it was good. We only stood a couple times, all the rest we got seats and we never waited more than 10 mins for a bus). When we got there, we met with one of my friends from Gaia who works at Disney (at Pirates!) who pointed out the huge crane behind the castle and noted that they were already starting to decorate the castle for Christmas (guess there's a lot to do). She was disappointed it wasn't covered or anything, and it was kinda sad that it was like "BAM! Crane!" It was lowered when we went back for the Halloween party, so not all of my pics have it. We headed off to Adventureland and did all the rides there (including Swiss Family Treehouse, which I love!) saving Pirates for last. When we got there, my friend's coworkers gave us the front of the boat, which was awesome! We went back to Magic Carpets and met Aladdin and Jasmine (Who I believe to be from MI, because when we mentioned we were, she held out her hand, like only we do and asked where from. Even MORE surprisingly, I pointed to where I'm from and she knew the area!) We ate at Pecos Bills, which is SO tasty! (My friend had said she always wanted to eat there, since it always smelled amazing, so we went in) They rang bells and did a 'yeehaw!' sort of thing for me and Avrom for our honeymoon and all the other close by guests joined in. <3
Next we went to Frontierland, which started pretty tame, and ended in (happy) tears.
My husband and I were wearing the Bride and Groom ears, and instead of using the elastic strap, I had mine clipped in. (Stupidly) Thinking that was good enough, I didn't take it off on Splash Mountain. Needless to say, it wasn't. It flew off (Hitting about 3 people in the face as it went...) When we got off, my friend had me informe the Cast Member, who wrote what they call a "No Strings Attached", a little form that we took to The Chapeau, where they replaced my ears! When we went out to the picture area of Splash Mountain, our picture had already passed and the pulled it up for us. We laughed a little over the fact that the ears were still there (but obviously coming off) when the picture snapped. The CM working the picture counter asked what we meant, and we told her what happened...and she gave us the picture for free! We went up to The Chapeau, where we got it replace. The CM there asked what had happened as well, and then added in embroidery for both me and my husband on our ears! After I lost my ears (which I was convinced I'd have to rebuy), I was upset and by the end of the hour I was so overwhelmed by the kindness of the CMs that I was tearing up.
Which ended up being an awkward state to go into for the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade.
The parade seemed typical enough, lots of dancers and the floats where cool. And then the Fairy Godmothers float came up and before I realized it, she had mouthed congratulations and threw fairy dust on me and my husband! The float with all the princesses, as well, each princess spotted us, pulled her prince over and the couples waved to US and yelled their congratulations! Needless to say, I was beyond tearing up by the end of it.
After that we had our early dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table, and my friend left with some other coworkers to go hang out in Epcot. It's just so gorgeous in there (I wish we had had a window seat, though!) and the personal time with the Princesses is awesome! My husband said that this was his favorite restaurant as far as food. They gave us a free cupcake with 2 candles in it to celebrate our Honeymoon, which was fun. After dinner, we went to Haunted Mansion (yaay!) and Hall of Presidents (which I liked a lot more than I anticipated) and got through about half of Fantasyland (small world was closed, which was sad for me. Love those darn dolls!) before it was time for Wishes and Main Street Electrical Parade. We ended up missing all of Toontown Fair and Tomorrowland and half of Fantasyland, but finished those up on Saturday when we went back for MNSSHP. We headed back to the hotel and spent an hour floating in the pool, then went to bed.
Blowing out our Honeymoon Cupcake Candles!
Day 3 - Thursday Sept. 23th
Another early day! (I suppose they all were) This time we went to Hollywood Studios (which I think is my favorite park <3 ) The biggest thing I wanted to do here was see the Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage show, as I'd missed it last time (our First Dance song was Tale as Old as Time, so it was REALLY important to get to that). We did a few ride while waiting around, and then went to the first show of the day for Beauty. We ran around, trying to fit in all the shows (we ended up missing the parade) and we checked on the wait time for Toy Story Mania, which was always over an hour, so we decided to try to do everything else before doing that, then to get it at the end if there was time (there wasn't, but we went back on our last day just to do Toy Story).
Prince Caspian was so much fun for me, because I love anything related to the books I read (which is always why I love Swiss Family treehouse and Tom Sawyers Island) and I totally geeked with all the props that they had on display (although they don't give you too much time to view them before shooing you for the next show).
I loved the costumes and colors for the Beauty show, and Gaston's voice was ABSOLUTELY breathtaking.
We ate lunch at the ABC Commissary, which was pretty tasty.
Hubby loved Muppet Vision 3-D, especially the wait line for it, pointing out all the funny stuff around us.
One Man's Dream was closed, which didn't really bother me, but Hubby seemed upset, cuz he loves history/info type things.
"Magical Moments" (what my Pirates friend called them) of the day included: being sat in the front seat for Great Movie Ride (so we could easily see the 'hijacking'), one of the Cast Members sat us in the "VIP" section (the little chained off rows in the front to the right of the entrance) with another newlywed couple and a family and another CM giving us free Mickey's Premium ice cream bars (also my first time trying them! So yummmyyyy!) and free champagne at the Brown Derby.
Dinner at the Brown Derby was SPECTACULAR (although only my second favorite of the places we went). We got a Spicy Sashimi-grade Tuna Tartar appetizer, then I had Spice-rubbed Black Grouper and my husband had Pan Seared Asian Barbecue Lamb Chops. The portions were huge and neither of us could finish them. My fish was sooo yummy and tasted just as good left over and Avrom loved the lamb (I wasn't too crazy about them, but that was personal taste). It was well worth the 2 dinning credits!
We ended the night at Fantasmic! and caught a bus back to Port Orleans and went straight for the pool again. (The day passed in such a whirl, I can't think of too much else to say about it. Favorite ride is still Tower of Terror. Was super sad that Star Tours was closed, since Hubby's a pretty big geek and woulda loved it)
Our hats in front of the Brown Derby menu
Day 4 - Friday Sept. 24th
Friday was Animal Kingdom (and then Epcot after AK closed at 5). It was really empty there, which surprised me after the insaneness at Hollywood Studios, and we got through Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest well before our 11:15am Lunch and Yak and Yeti. While waiting for it to open at 11 to check in, we wandered around a little by accident sat down in the Flights of Wonder show, which was funny and awesome!
Lunch was at Yak and Yeti, which quickly became my favorite of the restaurants we visited. I had a delicious seafood curry and my husband got the kobe beef burger. Our desserts were cheescake wontons (his) and a trio of sorbets (mine) and we got Fuji Apple sake, which was really tasty. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about our waiter (he had a kind of forced cheerfulness about him and it bothered me), but he was attentive and polite, so no real complaints there. We had already decided to order the sake and he tried to press HIS favorite on us (which was more expensive and didn't sound that good), but I used to work food service, so I know he was only doing his job and I just politely declined.
After lunch we ran through all the areas, trying to get all the rides done. Last time I was there, we did a lot of the nature stuff, so I wanted to do the rides.
I loved The Festival of the Lion King! The man who did 'Be Prepared' had a wonderfully powerful voice and it gave me shivers when he preformed.
One ride that we did was Dinosaur and OMG. That ride actually freaked me out, I'm not sure how younger kids get through it! We headed towards Africa, to catch the parade, then do Kilimanjaro before the park closed. The lightning ended up postponing the parade, and when it finally got going, the rain started, so they called the parade off, but since it was already going, they let it pass through Africa, so we ended up getting to catch it!
We hurried up to Kilimanjaro Safaris (which my husband said was one of his favorites at AK) and then hopped a bus over to Epcot, since they had their EMHs that night.
Dinner was at Yakatori House, which...quite honestly REALLY disappointed me. I know it's just a quick service and I guess I'm spoiled for sushi and Japanese food, since we have some really good shops out here, but I honestly expected more. The Ginger Chicken salad I got was just a salad with grilled chicken and ginger dressing and my husbands sushi looked like it came from a grocery store cooler. The ginger cake was alright, but it mostly tasted like vanilla cake with a hint of ginger.
We hit up the Coke Products from around the world shop (Wow, was the Beverly stuff BAAAD. EW.), then did a couple of the rides in World Showcase (Norway and Mexico's) and spend most of the rest of the night exploring Japan and watching IllumiNations.
Us with Daisy in her Safari gear!
Day 5 - Saturday Sept. 25th
We started out our day at 1900 Park Fair for their character buffet breakfast (We saw Pooh, Tigger, Mary and Burt and The Mad Hatter!) which was yummy. We were running a little late, the buses were super busy that day, and so when we got on the boat ferry to Grand Floridian, we had a good laugh over our boat driver being from Detroit (the area we're from), which is pretty infamous for it's bad drivers. Me and my husband's exchange went something like:
Me: Oh, he's from Detroit! We might not be late now!
Hubby: Sweet.
Me: Should be there in 3 minutes.
Hubby: Cutting off 3 boats, though.
Me: Which he'll blame on them.
Hubby: WELL. It WAS their fault!
The driver seemed pretty amused, haha.
I think I tried pretty much everything they had up at the buffet, and all the characters were fun to play with and talk to, and they all congratulated us. I wore a little Maleficent ring almost all trip and Hatter commented on 'No wonder it took him so long to put a ring on it!' which I thought was funny.
One of the funnest things that happened at breakfast is that there are these little penny smoosher machines all over Disney, and I love doing those. I didn't want any of the ones that were at the restaurant, though, but 3 kids (2 sisters and a brother) were staring at the machine, so I stuck in coins and asked the oldest to pick a character to do (she picked Alice). I gave her the penny, then repeated it for her brother and sister. Her parents were really sweet and tried to give me dollar bills for the quarters I used, haha. The mom asked if I was a teacher, because of 'how good you are with kids!" (these kids were super sweet anyway, though) and I said 'Nope! Just an older sister!'
After breakfast we went over to Magic Kingdom to finish the stuff we missed from the first time around and got done just in time for the Halloween party to start!
We ate at Cosmic Ray's, because I just HAD to show my husband the funny stage show by Sonny Eclipse (he thought it was cute, but hates puns, which is...kinda why I made us eat there). He got ribs and chicken and I had a burger, all of it was really good.
We started to hit up the candy stops, but decided that we wanted to try to see all the shows and such, so after about 3 stops we just started wandering around for shows and rides.
Someone mentioned the later Boo to You parade was less crowded, so we skipped the 8:15 one and went on our favorite rides. One was Laugh Floor, and since there were barely any people, we got picked for being part of the show. The two headed monster asked where we were from to show off their geographical knowledge and when we said MI they looked very lost. Musta been Ohio fans! We watched the HalloWishes fireworks, then went to do Haunted Mansion, and a woman dressed up was outside on the grounds talking to the people in line (I can't remember her name, but I think she's supposed to be one of Leota's sister?).
We then caught the second Parade, and followed it back to the castle, intending to see the last Villain's Mix and Mingle. They diverted us from a main bridge, and as we were turning, I mentioned to my husband how I was sad we had missed seeing Tiana and Naveen at all that trip. Quite ironically, we had been diverted to their Garden...where they had JUST shown up for an appearance! My husband was left in the dust (laughing...) as I GASPED and took off running. Naveen played with my veil and had me walk around while he held it out for me and we chatted about being married. We even had enough time to make it up to the Mix and Mingle (and met Dr. Facilier! who was disgusted when we mentioned meeting Naveen and Tiana, haha!)
For the Parade, Mickey spotted me and my husband and gestured to us (I assume congratulating us). He traced over his ears, gave a thumbs up and waved at me, and since we were the only ones in that area wearing ears, I think he was doing it to us! <3
We saw my Pirates friend one last time (she had to work that night) and we hit up her candy stop, where the other person dumped most of the remaining candy into our bags, since it was 4 minutes to Midnight.
Oh! Another pretty awesome thing was, we stopped at a PhotoPass person, and he offered to take some pictures with our digital camera too (well, a lot did that), and as he did, he fiddled with the settings (I...still don't really know how to get the best pictures from it at night) and then said that if we left it on what he set it on, we'd be set. And we were! I got amazing night pictures, and I even figured out the settings he used, and how to alter them per setting, so that was terrific.
We went back to the hotel and quickly passed out.
Meeting Dr. Facilier!
Day 6 - Sunday Sept. 26th
Back to Epcot! The very first thing we did was sign up for a Kim Possible mission. While we were waiting for our time to get a Kimmunicator we did Spaceship Earth and Test Track. I was so sad to hear that Jeremy Irons had been replaced by Dame Judi Dench. I LOVE her, but I definitely preferred Jeremy Irons for that ride.
Our Kim Possible mission was in China and it was really fun to follow the prompts and explore China while "saving the world!" at the same time. I wish we had had time to do all the missions (Especially UK and Japans), but we decided to just do the one this time. We went back to Future World and did Turtle Talk (where all the kids asked the same question. It was adorable!), Livin' with the Land (where I've decided I want to work as a research scientist), got Fast Passes to Soarin' and then did Imagination and Captain EO while waiting for our time.
We grabbed a quick lunch at Sunshine Seasons, which ended up being fantastic. I had a Seared Tuna Noddle salad with apple caramel crumb cake and Avrom had Salmon (which LOOKED horrible, but was delicious) and pineapple upside down cake.
After Soarin' we went back to the Coke shop, to settle my stomach. I was near the edge of the row, and I think being next to the rounded edge of the screen messed with me and I felt nauseous halfway through. We decided (heh...) to follow it up with Mission Space. I didn't get sick, but neither of us felt all that hot after we got off.
We wandered in Innovations, got to test out a Segway and then headed over to World Showcase, since Future World was closing for the night.
Before dinner we stopped in Japan to see Miyuki the candy artist. She asked me to pick an animal for her to make. I picked an Otter! (Didn't get to keep it, though. They get donated to Children's Hospital. :3 )
Our last dinner for the week was at Chefs De France. The host actually announced us to the crowd and said we were recently married and everyone clapped as we were seated, which was sweet. <3 The food was delicious, but all the rich food earlier in the week had really been upsetting my stomach, and so instead of getting some fancy duck or beef, I ended up getting the vegetarian dish: Macaroni and cheese (I mean, the make it sound fancy: Gratin de macaroni - Baked macaroni with cream and gruyere cheese, but it's really just Mac and Cheese). I wish I could have tried something more different, but I just didn't think I could stomach it. Maybe next time! My husband got Beef short ribs and the beef was super super tender (like, melt in your mouth tender). For dessert we got creme brulee (me) and a cream puff (him). The creme bruelee was so much more different than any other I'd had. It wasn't overly sugary and heavy, but light and fluffy. I loved it!
We finished off the night by wandering around United Kingdom and met the sweetest girl! She was working in the Tea shop in UK and we got to chatting about our favorite teas, and her coming to the US (she'd been here 2 weeks!) and she mentioned her trouble with currency. We talked about the Halloween party and our favorite villains, both of ours is Maleficent, which is where I stopped wearing my ring. I'd been so overwhelmed by the friendliness of the CMs, that I gave her my little ring, and the three of us sat talking until the shop closed 20 minutes later. We exchanged names and are friends on Facebook now. =D
My husband and I caught a bus to Downtown Disney, where I bought my big souvenir: A Dooney and Burke princess purse! I'd seen it the first day in Downtown, but didn't want to drop all my spending money the first day. I didn't find anything else that I really wanted, so we went back so I could pick it up the last day. I'm definitely excited I got it, it's so beautiful! We got back to the hotel around 11:30pm and (sadly) began packing for our departure the next day.
Me and my Candy Otter!
Day 7 - Monday Sept. 27th
All good things must come to an end....But not before making a quick trip back out to Hollywood Studios!
After making a quick stop at the Riverside shop to get a $12 luggage set (we, ahhh....ran out of room in our suitcases and they were only 12 dollars!) and finishing packing, we dropped off our luggage and ran out to HS to do the Toy Story Mania ride that we had missed the first time. It was so much fun! Well worth the wait (which ended up being over 20 minutes shorter than they said on the sign). My husband ended up beating me by 14,000 points though. I loved the wait line, especially the giant Mr. Potato head that preformed for us.
A man had noticed that we were newlyweds and congratulated us and gave us re-entry tickets to Rock'n'Roller Coaster the day before, since he said they were leaving that night and wouldn't be able to use them, so we used those to ride it really quick too. We got a second (and final) Mickey's Premium bar and then went back to Riverside and played in the arcade while we waited for the Magical Express bus that would take us up to MCO.
Somewhere between HS and the Arcade I managed to lose my "Just Married" pin, and so 2 minutes before the bus came, Avrom ran in and got me a new one.
At the airport we were delayed an hour because of a lightning storm (and I was hoping it would last longer to stay just a little longer, haha!).
Finally we landed in Michigan, to 55 degree weather very late at night.
Last day at Port Orleans Riverside
Summery: I had a fantastic time! The Cast Members seemed to enjoy the newlyweds running around, but really loved the few of us wearing the bride and groom ears and definitely went out of their way to make it EXTRA special. I have to say, I've always been a little bit of a ham, and I loved all the attention, but I was touched too (especially when I lost my ears) that it all seemed sincere and not the typical 'oh, congrats...' sort of thing the places back home did. On top of the CMs, the guest themselves were all wonderful too. We got stopped frequently by couples/families/other newlyweds congratulating us and sharing their stories about their honeymoon at Disney! I wish we had had time to explore Port Orleans more (we missed the French Quarters pool, which looked so cute) and they looked like their nightlife was lots of fun. I was sad to leave on Monday, but I know that we'll be back sometime next year! We plan on going for the Food and Wine festival, which we just missed this year. I can't wait!
Rest of the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2494500&id=21702278&l=df52c5398e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2494532&id=21702278&l=2bbb888831
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http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2494559&id=21702278&l=412faca114
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2494573&id=21702278&l=efddd3e291
