How I Spent My Honeymoon Vacation--by Rachel W. (Day 5, Part I, MK) About This Page:

[simbarel]

Who: Rachel, 30 and Wally, 38

How Many Stays: 2 previous. Once separately as children, once together in 2002.

Where: All Star Music, Broadway

When: March 14, 2004 to March 19, 2004

Why: Our Honeymoon! (Married 2/6/04)



Prelude

Many twists and turns got us this honeymoon—originally we were going to use our formerly upcoming 11/30/03 RCCL cruise as our honeymoon, but we weren’t able to clear it with the priest to get married so quickly after our 9/12/03 engagement (i.e. I wasn’t pregnant) so we instead cancelled the cruise, got our money refunded and put it towards the wedding. Picking a wedding date was no small feat either as DH has to travel a lot and we wanted to plan a date where we were absoposilutly sure he’d be around. We were going to double-up his Hawaii tour as our honeymoon, and I even got him to include some WDW days to follow...but the Hawaii tour got cancelled and with all the holiday and wedding planning, I never ended up booking a proper WDW honeymoon (Bad bride! Bad!) So, after things started coming into place and I was a little better coordinated, I realized that I could take advantage of Spring Break without missing any school, I started roping Wally back into the idea of going to The Happiest Place on Earth to celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives.



Problem was: we could only go the third week in March, and the rates that week were outbidding our modest budget. Mousesavers’s published codes reflected possibly a Moderate Resort for our stay…I ended up emailing Melissa at Magical Journeys, only to find that there were no Mod codes available during our dates. Wally said that we’d someday stay at the Poly, but it too was codeless therefore out of our league if we wanted to stay more than two days. It boiled down to two choices: ASMu or AKL. Of course I would have preferred the AKL but being practical, I chose the ASMu. I knew it wasn’t the most romantic of resorts, so I thought it would be best to spend our money doing stuff (i.e. EATING) rather than stressing out about money during our stay.



So, thanks to PP and PPs I was able to plan our stay. In May 2002 we had stayed at a DTD resort and had the most magical vacation ever. Together we had previously traveled to Europe, cruised the Caribbean, toured the ever romantic Wisconsin, but our WDW trip was hands-down our most enjoyable trip of all. I was armed with a Passporter, but didn’t yet know about the boards. My Passporter was an awesome support for planning and enjoying our first adult stay, and our first stay was PACKED with rides. We rode just about everything, and only ate counter food (Starlight Ray’s, Tusker House, etc) and breakfasted the less-than-fantastic hotel buffet. And even though DH agreed that our Disney trip was the best trip, he remained skeptical about more frequent trips, being on of those pesky SOs who said we had to go to “real” locations and experience “real” vacations. Sometimes he’d get going on the anti-corporation bandwagon, and for me that’s a tough one to combat because I’m critical of corporate evil myself—alas I am weak when it comes to adult vacations sprinkled with eye-pleasing cartoon characters and pixie dust. I spent a lot of time explaining to DH how I find the Disney product to be of such quality, and luckily, I came across the folks at PP and you all introduced me to all the OTHER stuff to do at WDW~~the strolls, leisurely dinners, nighttime spectacles, etc. These were the events I wanted to share with my husband on our honeymoon.



Day 1, Part 1



I had a nutso week leading up to Sunday March 14th with Finals and term-long projects due which didn’t leave much time for packing. I’m lucky that my husband is of German decent and therefore orderly and a heck of a good packer. He won’t even let me near the suitcase, he just has me hand him what I want to bring and it ends up at our vacation destination. He was late-night packing and I was pooped so he put me on the couch and popped in my brother’s Pirates of the Caribbean dvd. For the second time I fell asleep to this movie, but not without a fight. Both times I was struggling to keep my eyes open, but exhaustion won out. Someday I’m sure I’ll make it to the finish (even though I can prooooooobably figure out how it ends.) We had a 6:45am flight out of our local airport which is a 7-10 minute cab ride. Wally wanted to be in the cab around 5:00am, and I was fine with that. I was a little concerned about his energy quotient—not only is he a natural night-owl but his job requires mostly nighttime work, so that’s his natural body schedule—and he said that he was going to stay up all night and sleep on the plane. He says he does it all the time, so I figured I’d trust him (though I was a wee nervous because he, like anyone, gets cranky with lack of sleep.)



I woke up around 2am and heard him rustling about and was too tired to make it to bed, so I just stayed on the couch. I woke up a little while later, but kept my eyes shut. I could hear a TV newsman reporting a dangerous, alarming snowstorm in Colorado so bad that was killing people. His serious, almost nervous delivery gave me a pit in my stomach. In the background was a constant high-pitch sound which is what I believe drew me out of my sleep. The old anchorman kept reporting about the Colorado snowstorm against a background of an eerie thumpy heartbeating noise (I was getting scared, but embarrassingly relieved it wasn’t in the northeast) but I was still yet all-the-way awake. The high-pitched sound finally got me to open my eyes to see Scatman Corruthers’s face seized in an arrested state of shock/horror/agony/disbelief, and then the scene cut to a little 70s boy shaking and freaking out. It was at this moment that I realized that I was waking up to The Shining. There was no people-killing Colorado snowstorm, there probably is no real Shining either—but it was a creepy way to wake up! Wally was asleep in the chair he uses for Playstation so I popped off the couch to check the time on the computer. It was 4:35! We were supposed to be *in* the cab at 5:00! So I woke him up, he didn’t seem too worried. I changed, threw some more stuff on the top of the suitcase before he shut it. I washed up a few lingering dishes and wondered if waking up to The Shining was a bad flying omen. Then I realized that if it weren’t for The Shining, I wouldn’t have woken up. So, I rationalized, it was GOOD luck waking up to Kubrik’s scary freaky Steven King movie. Riiiiight.



We were in the cab by 5:10, at the ticket counter by 5:30, and headed towards our gate at 5:35. I was a little thirsty so we stopped by a Starbucks stand on the way. I was looking at the juices when I heard “Hey, I know you!” and it was my 2nd cousin Danielle working at the kiosk. Her grandmother (my Aunt Charlotte) and my father were both down in Tampa visiting my Aunt Betty, and she said that Charlotte was having such a good time that she extended her stay for a few more days. I was happy to hear that. I got my Pomegranate/Kiwi/HowManyFlavorsCanYouBlendToMakeItHip-flavored iced tea and we scoped out a seat. Wally was already ready to continue sleeping, so I called Tiffany Town Car to confirm our reservation. Yes, yes I know I should have done this earlier, but it didn’t happen. I was calling at 6:00am for a Noon pickup, and the woman who answered the phone gave me a LECTURE about how I should have called the day before. My cell phone cut off, so I had to call back. She said we were fine, that Jack would be waiting for us, and I pleasantly thanked her for “giving a pleasant start to our vacation.” (<-- snide remark.) I hung up and Wally asked “What was that??” and I told him. A couple minutes later he even asked if I really said that to her, but mostly he was concerned that we were going to get a jerk of a driver, which we didn’t, and the whole TTC experience went well enough to recommend them and use them again.



Our flight took off as planned, DH slept the whole way. We got off in Newark and our next flight was boarding in a neighboring gate—how often does *that* happen? We took off and landed at 11:48am, the exact time they said we would when I booked the flight. Yay Continental!



Old, big Jack met us near the baggage claim and carried our luggage outside and we waited for him to bring the car over. On the way to WDW he told us that he’d been living in Orlando for 40 years and was part of the construction plans for Magic Kingdom. He put in a Winnie the Pooh CD and informed us of several different ways that Disney Corp screws people. Now, this for me was a real issue. I don’t know if I should admit this, but even pre-trip I was experiencing a moderate amount of Lenten guilt for partaking in so much expensive corporate fun. Jack’s diatribe against Disney didn’t help, and the doomy clouds were soiling my spirit altogether. Plus, I was tired, so was Wally. This wasn’t my favorite part of the trip. We arrived at the All Star Music and got this real ding-dong to check us in. He was seriously bizarre, he would joke with me, and when I joked back he didn’t get it. Then I realized he wasn’t really joking with me in the first place. He was just a big ding-dong. It took us about 20 minutes to check in and DH was antsy and seemingly irritable which was making me cranky. We got to our room and…ho hum. Not terrible, not great. I was hoping to get upgraded to Calypso since it was our honeymoon, but I don’t think that concept rung into ding-dong’s head. I think that this resort is nice for families and kids who like to swim. I enjoyed the Broadway theme. The room didn’t bother me, it was the lack of Disney stuff that did. I was expecting daily newsletters and little Mickey booklets or something…but nothing. It was as if we were staying at any other hotel in the U.S. Outside was cheery, but inside, enh. Plus, we felt so “out” there. Even at the DTD hotel we were at least within walking distance to something fresh, lively, and Disney. After a bit of exploring other resorts and being really charmed and impressed with the varying transportation options, we just didn’t want to ride the bus ev-er-y-where we went, and I think that would even hinder us from planning the AKL for our next stay—not to say that we’ll never stay there, but we’re most looking for something with transpor-variety so we can return to our room in the middle of the day to refresh.



There was one good part: the Beauty and the Beast portrait on the wall—which ended up more and more becoming the theme of our honeymoon. Also, I never, not once, regretted booking the All-Stars because it got us on-property, had reliable transportation, and after some exploring we now know what resorts to reach for!



Up next: Day 1, Part 2, Magic Kingdom.

[lkmom]

A great start Rachel. I love the title by the way. I was laughing before I began reading your TR. I spent my Honeymoon at Disney in '95. No better place if you ask me! I am positive things are going to be just great for the rest of your trip.

[statelady01]

Looking forward to hearing more Rachel!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Rachel Glad you woke up in time That wouldn't have been a good way to start a honeymoon Looking forward to more

[luvnwdwgal]

Great installment! I spent a couple days of my honeymoon at WDW......in a tent at FW! It was pitch dark one night on our loop and after being at the Shower House, I walked right by our site and completely around the loop! Luckily the second time around DH just happened to have the car door open and I noticed! Looking forward to your next installment!

[simbarel]

Day 1, Part 2



What do two travel-weary, sleep-deprived, cheerleader-annoyed honeymooners do on a poopy cloudy day? Go to Magic Kingdom, of course! Made sure was a super, giant, busy Sunday, too! Team AwMahGawd Cheerleading competitors abound? No Problem!!! Anyways, both of us kept our complaints to ourselves and tried to make the best of it. One thing was fer shur—we were famished! The crowds were so thick that we didn’t quite feel like meandering around for the right meal, so we just popped into The Bakery and each had a sandwich. They were good, and not too filling as I didn’t want to spoil my appetite for Artist Point that evening. We knew there was one thing we had to do before leaving, and that was to ride Splash Mountain. We hiked over to get our FastPasses and then toured the rest of the park to see what else we could do. The park was much, much busier than it was in May, and I think it’s safe to say we won’t be going back in March anytime soon.



We made it over to Carousel of Progress (or Boringness, as I’ve heard it been called ) and enjoyed the air conditioning, and being reminded that there was a GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW shining at the end of the day. This was the first of many songs to get stuck in our heads, and we enjoyed each and every song that got stuck.



After that we were able to walk right on to Mickey’s Philharmagic. Ok, now if you go to this attraction and don’t come out either moved, or smiling, or crying, or just plain feeling goofy, you must stop immediately, grab a cell phone (yours, your neighbors, that gum-chewing cheerleader’s) and dial 911 because YOU HAVE NO PULSE! This is one fantastic, magical, soul-swinging experience. I love this movie. We went 3 times. This is easily the BEST 3-D movie at WDW (though DH still says he prefers the Muppet one—but he’s more Muppety anyways) and I’m spraying my Foo just thinking about it. (BTW, I used Mango Mandarin…mmmmmm!!!!) There are many things to love about this attraction, and for me, just using the actual movie soundtracks was the most giant clincher of all. From “Be Our Guest” to Peter Pan’s “You Can Fly” and “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”….aaaahhhahgghaaaaaa!! It was SUCH a great movie! And so well done, the Lion King part is incredible and I had forgotten how much I loved the songs from The Little Mermaid. Later on that evening Wally started singing the Simpsons version of “Be Our Guest” where Mr. Burns had all kinds of irreverent, unusual animal skin garments (See my vest, see my vest, it’s a real gorilla chest…) and we added THAT song to the soundtrack of our Honeymoon. Unfortunately, we could only remember two of Mr. Burns’s garments (My loafers, made of gopher…) and late in the trip Wally remembered a third (See my sweater, Irish Setter…) It was just kinda nice because this was still early on in the vacation and DH still wasn’t hooked on Disney, but making a Simpsons connection worked for him, and therefore for me. We even looked up the entire lyrics first thing when we got home.





Marquis Poster Outside Philharmagic





So, yes, Mickey’s Philharmagic is a great, great addition to MK and WDW in general. There’s something for everyone. Do prepare to get splashed with a little water, though. It lifted my spirits through the thick clouds and the injuries from Jack’s comments. We were still waiting for our Splash Mountain Fastpass time and hopped onto the Liberty Belle, something we hadn’t done the last time. DH fiddled with the camera and got lots of photos here. We both enjoyed the boat’s interior and I was charmed by all the detailing in Frontierland. We sailed past Haunted Mansion and knew we had to Fastpass that before the day was through.



Me, on the Liberty Belle--a rare moment where I wasn't wearing my Bride Ears (only because I didn't have them yet!)





By the time we disembarked we were able to get a second Fastpass so we went over to HM. Then we went back to Splash Mountain, my favorite ride—our jointly favorite ride. (DH’s is ToT, but we both enjoy Splash Mountain together.) I confess to being a *little* apprehensive about the big fall, but I kept my eyes shut and hands firmly on the log and I was fine.



Going to Haunted Mansion was a bit of a chore. The Fastpass line was as long, if not longer than the regular line, and the girls running the place were, jeez, uh beeeotches. I told DH that one of them was only alive because we (the crowd) only had to be around her for 45 seconds, because otherwise she woulda gotten creamed by someone. What a b--! Anyways, once the crowd funneled into the conveyor part, our excitement started building with the darkness and the commotion! This ride is one of very few I remember from my 1984 trip. So fun and sinister, gotta love that wallpaper! We wish we could have some of that to put in a room somewhere.



Then DH wanted to go to Tom Sawyer island to have an ice cream (he saw Aunt Polly’s from the Liberty Belle) but sadly Aunt Polly’s was closed. But what a cute concept TSI is! Just part of the theming I love in Frontierland.



I was struggling to keep my spirits up and the rain and the thick crowds were making it more and more difficult (and silly me was worried about Wally’s mood!) so we decided it was time to go down to the dock to catch the boat to WL for our dinner PS’s. Boy, were we lucky that we got down there early. I won’t get into all the cranky details, but after missing 2 boats, it was HIGHLY stressful waiting for the 3rd boat to dock. I don’t know what was going on, but that boat backed up and returned to unsuccessfully dock, backed up and returned to unsuccessfully dock, backed up and returned to unsuccessfully dock (you get the picture) for at least 20 minutes. Everyone on the dock was aggravated, I can imagine it was the same for all on board. This was so bad that after a day of more than a few unmagical moments, this was the worst (I know so because I wrote it in my Passporter pocket!)



Despite the Docking from Hell, we enjoyed our boat trip over to the WL. We both love boats, and the boat rides at WDW are typically my favorites. I was anxious to see the WL lobby since it’s so celebrated on the boards. We were still a little early for our Artist Point PS’s so we had a chance to look around and relax. Wow! What a place! The teepee chandeliers are too much!



At WL Lobby





We sat down in front of the fireplace and I dug out my cell phone. I saw that my Aunt Betty had called and that I had received another call from Portland, but didn’t readily recognize the number. After a few moments it occurred to me who the second number was—it was Father Don (who performed our wedding ceremony) and it was Sunday night and I was scheduled to attend a class. It's a series of classes and I told him earlier that I would be out of town, but I assumed that he had forgotten and was calling to guilt me about it (we’re Catholic.) (I ended up avoiding that message throughout the whole trip, and didn’t check it until we were at baggage claim back in Portland—turned out he wasn’t calling to guilt me at all, he was calling to tell me that class was cancelled. That made me feel guilty. ::shame:: )



My guilt and shame got interrupted by our electric PS disky-thing started flashing and vibrating and we were off to eat at Artist Point! I couldn’t wait! I was hungry and needed to chill, and I had heard and read so much about this place! Why, Jennifer even rated it a 10! We were walking up the ramp and I was getting giddy, looking forward to being swept away by a magical restaurant. Then we were seated. I looked around the room and thought “this is it?” I was really underwhelmed and I admitted to DH that I was disappointed. I can see how perhaps my fatigue (I had done a lot since 4:35 that morning! It was 8pm!) and being let down by the weather may have affected my judgment, but reflecting back on a week of upwardly mobile magic, I’m still not swept away by the interior of that place.



The food, however… OMG, THAT was a 10! I ordered the only vegetarian meal—it was acorn squash, and THE BEST acorn squash I’ve ever had with a lentil-something wrapped in something green sidedish. Wally said he enjoyed his meal. My food was filling, invigorating, and still light. However, it still wasn’t able to justify a restaurant rating higher than 6. Two glasses of chardonnay later I upped it to a 7.



We left the WL and boarded the ferry to go back to MK. We stopped at Fort Wilderness and we caught a glimpse of the ELP. I was starting to feel a little magical with it being nighttime. I love Disney at night. I really appreciate how Disney has so many magical nighttime events that cater to all ages. As we were sailing up to the Contemporary my breath was being taken away by the place--I had never thought it was particularly interesting (in fact, I thought it was downright ugly and outdated) but sailing up to the dock I was really taken by it. It seemed so city-ish, so contemporary and I started to understand its charm and magic. I was looking forward to taking advantage of our Cali Grill PS’s for the following day. We had missed Wishes and we were severely pooped. We caught a bus from the CR and wrapped up Day 1.

[DouglasE]

Okay, I am just pooped reading about your honeymoon. Ever hear of a nap? Just teasing. Do you recall my taking a nap in my trip report? I love how you were so worried about Wally and it turns out you are the cranky one!

Love the new signature photo. Wally's got a great smile. You don't look half bad either.

[Fortissimo]

[ QUOTE ]
I woke up a little while later, but kept my eyes shut. I could hear a TV newsman reporting a dangerous, alarming snowstorm in Colorado so bad that was killing people.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm glad you were listening to the SHining and I was safe here in Colorado after all!

Ready for more, please!

[statelady01]

No wonder you were exhausted and I am beginning to think we probably went right by each other at MK- as we hit some of the same spots that day that you and Wally did!

[simbarel]

Day 2



Day 2 we had 10am PS’s for Crystal Palace. Last time we were at WDW we saw the CP and thought it looked like a nice place to eat so when we told them “We’d like a table for two!” we were promptly laughed out of the vicinity (or were we flattened by rolling eyeballs? ) Anyways, I since educated myself about PSing and knew we were in for a treat. I woke up at 7:45 feeling better than the day before. Wally said that he was still behind in sleep (he wouldn’t get on schedule until day 3.) We were on the bus at 8:55 and got our only enthusiastic bus driver of our stay—“only” being a blessing. DH said something like “Some people love microphones.” The guy was nice, but I really didn’t believe the information that he was telling us. Such as…did you know that Epcot stands for “Every Person Comes Out Tired”? Hm. Interesting. Anyways, the kids seemed to like him and he seemed to like his job, so that was fine by me.



We arrived at MK and entered the gates. We had about a half hour before our PS, so I decided to finally kick off my Disney Honeymoon right and buy my Bride Ears. We trotted into the Emporium, found them, and I also picked up a Mickey pendant necklace. Thanks to Denise (wdwlovers) I was prepared with bobby pins to secure my hat in place. To Denise: Thanks so much! This was a majorly helpful tip! The special treatment started coming almost immediately. We registered with CP and she wrote “Honeymoon” on our card. We waited out front for our disky-thing to start buzzing, and as we were out there the Cinderella play came at the Castle. It hit me: THIS is why newlyweds come here—To complete the fairytale. Duh, Rachel! I mean, I knew that WDW is a fun, romantic, magical place to be, but the Princess aspect kind of went over my head. It took a pair of white ears to channel the concept through my thick skull. Fine by me!



Waiting for CP







After the aww-ing, and the ooohing over the Cinderella performance, our PS-thing started blinking and vibrating and we were ready to EAT! We arrived at our table, and they had sprinkled a heart of Mickey confetti on it! We were greeted pleasantly by our server and ran up to the buffet. Ok, Wally and I are huge buffet lovers. I love being able to pick and choose stuff, even if I have to skip over half (or more) of it for being a vegetarian. But this place was golden. We’re both breakfast fans, and this was some treat! Breakfast Lasagna? Gimme a break, how good could things get??? I loved it. And then the characters started coming around. We were both getting into the spirit of things. Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore—they all gave me such well-wishes for our newlyweddom. I even heard Tigger give me a smooch!



Our Honeymoon Table at CP







Us with Pooh--Wally doing a “Headsize Comparison”









After brunch we put-putted around MK trying to work off some of the calories we just gorged on. We FastPassed Buzz Lightyear and received a lot of “Congratulations.” The ears really did it for me. I’ve been caught between Child and Adult for many, many years and the bride ears are the best of both worlds. My only regret is that we didn’t come down straight after the wedding, when I was still on that “Wedding High.” The two most frequently asked questions were “Where’s your groom hat??” and “When’d ya get married?” to which I felt stupid saying “Last month.” By the third day I told Wally that I was going to start telling people “Last Saturday” but I never did (felt too guilty—plus I couldn’t even think of what the date would have been.) It was fine by me that DH wasn’t wearing his groom hat because…well, because he just didn’t want to. He did say that I was much easier to find with “that white thing on your head.” I think he once even referred to it as a yarmulke. (Dork.) However, I think by Day 4 he was starting to get jealous of Wedding Ears and wanted some of his own…(Yes, I wore them every day following.) We both thought it was kind of neat that we were at the only place where you could go to a really nice restaurant and wear Bride Ears and not offend people. The cutest part was seeing the look in little girls’s eyes. I did feel like a princess—not everyone can wear those ears. I’ll never be able to wear them again, which is why I wore the HECK out of them while I could!



The weather was pretty cloudy, which was kind of a bummer. It looked like it was threatening to rain all day. I’m not sure on what order, but I know that we did some rides…We did BTMRR, PotC, Timekeeper, SWSA. It was still really crowded and the lines were long and the FastPasses were hours and hours ahead. By 3:00 I needed an “attitude adjuster” so we headed over to the Poly and sat at the outside bar. Wally ordered a virgin Strawberry Margarita and I got a real one. I saw that some people were getting souvenir Poly pint glasses and I was bummed that I didn’t get one. I asked the bartender what I had to order to get one, and he gave us two free ones! The power of the bride hat!



As we sat there we contemplated renting a Mouseboat (is that what they’re called?) outside the Poly. We asked about the rates as we headed to the Tiki bar and they seemed moderately reasonable, but our time was crunching in (they only rent until 4:30) and it was threatening to rain. Thursday was our freeform, unscheduled catchall day, and we decided if we were to rent one, we could do it then.



I was worried that my previous mood was ruining his trip. I had bouts of crankiness, and I feel kind of bad about it. I figured he wasn’t in a hurry to come again. I looked around the pool area of the Poly, and the beach, and said “Maybe we’ll come here for our 20th anniversary, hm?” and he responded “Oh, knowing you we’ll be here waaay before then!” This was a critical magic moment for me; it proved that my mood(s) wasn’t (weren’t) pooping him out and that he’d agree to future visits. We had already had the typical “yes, but we have to explore other places too” conversation, so this was just a nice thing to hear.



We got back to the monorail and stopped of at the GF to check out the scene there. There was a nice jazz band playing in the lobby and Wally saw the salon and said "I wish there was someplace *I* could get my haircut," to which I responded "There is!" and told him about the Barber Shop on Main Street. He thought this sounded like a good idea if he could keep it under 20 bucks--and that a barbershop quartet wouldn't sing to him in the chair. I wasn't sure of the liklihood of either of these events but thought it was worth checking out. We headed back to MK, slipped into the Barbershop the door shut behind us as we walked in--just made it! I was also pleased to see the prices: only $15 for a men's haircut! How reasonable! So DH got his haircut (I have photos, but have to get posting clearance before I can put them up.)



After that we used our Buzz Lightyear FP. Rachel’s Score: 10800. Wally’s Score: 90300. The photo was too funny so we bought it…I’ll post it once I find and scan it.



Later that evening I had a Passporter meet scheduled with Maureen (statelady) and Kelly (goofy4goofy) at the Outer Rim. We had 7:50 PS’s for the California Grill, so we were just biding our time until then. I went into the shops on Main Street and started poking around. I found a Wedding Cinderella/Prince Charming ceramic figurine and lost myself in it. It totally reminded me of how special I felt on our own wedding day, and how good “happily ever after” sounded. I didn’t care how much it cost, it was entrancing me into buying it. I was all in magical whirliwind mode when Wally came by. I showed it to him and lovingly said “look…I’m buying it…” to which he responded with a halting “Why??”



*boom*crash*airbag*



I decided to take his “Why” as a cute, little, FUNNY moment rather than ruining the whole thing. Afterall, I married him—for better or for worse was part of the deal, so I managed to work it into my fairytale. In the end he said he didn’t understand where I’d put it…once I explained to him just where I knew it would go, he thought it was fine. He actually even just this morning gave me another curio-cabinet Honeymoon gift—a Mickey/Minnie wedding frame that I wrestled over buying.



This same store I came across the Princess Wedding doll sets. There was Cinderella/Prince Charming, Ariel/Eric, Jasmine/Aladdin, etc all decked out in their wedding gear. I came across the Belle/Beast set, and it showed how Beast’s head came off to reveal the human guy, and a caption on the box read: “You can turn the Beast into a Charming Prince!” This made me LOL because isn’t that what all women want to do? Disney’s starting them out early. I wanted to buy it, but this really was one item where I just didn’t know where to put, and I figure I’m *just* over the other side of the Child/Adult arch. Still, the Beauty and the Beast theme started going through my mind after that—not that I’m that beautiful, but I wanted to Disney-fy my Beast.



I also picked up a Mickey/Minnie Wedding Christmas ornament that had a place to for engraving on the front and said “And they lived happily ever after” on the back. I had it engraved with “Wally and Rachel 2/6/04” on two lines and had it sent back to the room. After I made these purchases I decided it was finally time to buy a rain poncho. It was intermittingly raining.







It was getting closer and closer to our Cali Grill PS time, and the MK magic was coming over me...the Margarita made my Crystal Palace brunch re-swell in my belly and I just wasn’t hungry. I asked DH if he wanted to save a few bucks by ditching our PS and he said sure.



Mistakus Majorus. This was the biggest mistake of our trip. We didn’t realize how big of a mistake it would be until later, but it was. It grew closer to Spectromagic time and I staked out a seat near the artists at Liberty Square. DH grabbed a little something to eat and we let our feet rest until Spectromagic started and then we stood on one of those brick things that go around trees and bushes.







I loved Spectromagic. This was a song that I got in my head, but DH never really seemed to. He thought the parade was cute and all, but mostly considered it “square.” I love sparkly things, so I thought it was great and was swept away by the lights and the music, choreography, magic, etc. Unfortunately it started POURING during the parade, and of course I refused to take off my Bride Ears to lift my poncho’s hood. Seriously. I was addicted to them. Pour pour pour. Spectromagic ended and our re-worked plans to watch Wishes from the park changed back to our original plans to watch them from the California Grill.



Pour pour pour.



I was so wet and cold. DH kept stopping to ask me if I wanted to wear a sweatshirt, but I just wanted to keep on walking and get to shelter as fast as I could. Wally said that walking to the Contemporary would be faster since everyone was exiting the park and the monorail would be packed. So I got soaked som’more. I still refused to take off my Bride Ears, but only because I didn’t want to slow my pace, I just wanted to *get* there, get to shelter. We made it up to the 15th floor, and the show was already on. I wanted to stay inside to watch it in moderate dryness; DH wanted to go outside. We kept going back and forth and the commotion and the confusion and the wetness…I basically considered myself in the “Never seen Wishes” category. This was something we would reschedule for our final Catchall day.



Wishes ended and we were off to the 4th floor to the Outer Rim where we would be meeting Maureen and Kelly. First though, I had to go to the ladies room and try to dry out my hair, change my top, put on some makeup, and *gasp* remove the bride ears. I made it out to the bar and ordered a glass of white wine. I was starting to get hungry, so we ordered 2 appetizers—chips and salsa and brie and fruit.



We still had about 40 minutes before we were to meet Maureen and Kelly, so I had a few moments to shake out, relax, and take in the atmosphere. After seeing the Cali Grill I knew immediately that we should have never skipped out on our PSs—that place is nice and What.A.View. Plus, we would have escaped the whole rain debacle. Oh well. Now we were at the Outer Rim, I started getting a real feel about the Contemporary, a continuance of the appreciation I started the night before when we sailed into its dock. I told DH about DouglasE and how he liked the OR that I could see why. The more time that went by the more people came to fill in the wide, comfortable seating. So many that I was getting nervous that Maureen, Kelly, and us wouldn’t have a place to sit, but DH reassured me that there was another whole section that nobody was sitting in. I lingered over my glass of wine as we talked about our day.



A little while later, Wally nudged me and asked “is that your friend?” to which I turned around and saw who I knew was Maureen—she’s even prettier than her Minnie Ear picture. We said our hellos and she asked if the girl in the other part of the bar was Kelly. I peeked over, but couldn’t tell, so Maureen said that she’d go over and find out. I ordered a beer to take with me, DH stuck with Club Soda, and it was a minute or so with No Maureen, so I figured that the girl on the couch was indeed Kelly. Wally and I headed over and grabbed a couple comfortable seats. We had plenty to talk about, Kelly even mentioned how much we indeed *do* know about each other—I don’t know if she was scared about that, but I thought it was pretty neat. Kelly was in town for 2 interviews with WDW, neither of them she had yet. Her family was looking for a place to live in the Orlando area. Maureen said that the potential MiL trip from Hell was going ok, and I was pleased for her. We had a good time, lots to talk about, because we really did know a lot about each other! I love PP! And after hearing about Maureen’s view from the Contemporary (“I wake up, and I can SEE Cinderella’s Castle”) I’m adding this resort on my Future Stay When I Get Rich list. Things broke up after Kelly’s bro came to get her, and we all got together for some group photos. On the way back to the ASMu I asked Wally if I made a jerk of myself (I’m paranoid) and he said no, but that we were all “Internet Passporter GEEKS!” He meant it with the greatest of kindness…this meet was good for him, too. Now he can see just *what* and *who* keeps me in front of my HP for so many hours a day (by Day 3 he was also sold by all the dining tips I had learned on PP .) It went great—Maureen and Kelly are both fantastic and I’m glad to finally meet some PP’s in person and look forward to more meets in the future.



Passporter Meet: Guess Who is Who!

[simbarel]

Thanks all!

Maureen--I thought of a couple times to look for you---But you know how many people were there! Yowzas!

Next time, we're going to save up to spend a few days closer to parks--FOR NAPS! We were downright exhausted each and every day. I'm sad that our trip is over, but soooooo happy I left this weekend for us to recoup from our vacation. More to come!

[simbarel]

Day 3, Epcot, Part 1



Day 3. Epcot. May 2002 I expected us to both love Epcot. May 2002, we both hated Epcot. March 2004, WE LOVE EPCOT. More specifically, we love World Showcase. We affectionately call Day 3 “The Day We Rediscovered Epcot.” Our Day 3 Epcot day was what turned it all around for me. Day 3 elevated Epcot to my 4th (and least) favorite park to my Number 1. I largely have PPs to thank for this…you all really exposed, introduced, and intrigued me to Epcot’s magic. 2002 we didn’t know about IllumiNations or PS’s or Walt’s love for Worlds Fairs—we just did “get” it and when we got home and researched Walt’s original intentions and compared it to what it is today--it just put the final nail in our Epcoffin. With a little bit of planning and research, we now think it’s just romantically the tops.



Day 3 we woke up late—9:30 and when I opened the curtains it was raining. I was really starting to get tired of the weather and ready to just scrap any plans of magic for the day. The Weather Channel wasn’t giving us any better news, so I strapped on my poncho and we braved the fierce Orlando weather.



However…something magical occurred…Even though it was raining, we were pleased to discover it was very light rain, that the air was rather agreeable, and that there was indeed sun behind those clouds. Before then, even if it wasn’t raining and that there was certainly some blue sky to see, the clouds were dark, heavy, and dreary. Day 3, even though it was rainy, it was bright and that brightness was soooooooo welcome! We got in queue for the Epcot bus and I put on my Bride Ears as the rain wasn’t threatening to soak me to the bone.



We had noon PS’s for Restaurant Marrakesh. Originally I wanted San Angel Inn but Wally HATES onions and runs into a bunch of onio-probs at Mexican restaurants. Me vegetarian, he onion hater, we hard 2 please. So I figured we’d both be satisfied at the Moroccan restaurant.



As they say in Maine, we were stahvin so once we got to Epcot we headed straight towards RM. Actually, we stopped at Mission Space first so DH could got a FP. He got 2 FPs because I told him under no circumstances would I be riding MS. Period. We agreed that he could use mine so he could ride it twice if he wanted to. And then off to Restaurant Marrakesh!



At Morocco







I remembered the inside of this restaurant at our 2002 trip, but I must have peeked inside because it all seemed new to DH. We both enjoyed the atmosphere. I enjoyed the pavilion so soon after seeing The Passion—kinda/sorta the same region, many of the same aspects. I was a little surprised that there was only one veggie meal on the menu, but DH believes that it was because I’m used to Indian food and Moroccan food is NOT Indian food (me, I think they’re probably a lot the same…but anyways.) So I got a HUGE meal that I couldn’t finish and DH enjoyed his meal as well. We both enjoyed RM, but no real magic moments here.



I don’t recall the order of our stops, but there were a lot and we so enjoyed the exploring. DH is, how you say, really into food so he was really into World Showcase. Rain came and went, DH bought an umbrella but it was kind of difficult to share with my unmoveable Bride Ears and all. He also has a new-found fascination with France and wanted to explore this pavilion over and over again. On our way to Restaurant Marrakesh I had noticed the parasol stand and thought a wedding parasol would make a cute honeymoon umbrella. I wanted the décor to be painted on it, full knowing that it was probably run in the rain—I just didn’t care, I wanted it. So I ordered one up—you could have different images painted on it, including princesses, so I asked for a Bride Princess. With brown hair and blue eyes. The painting fille said “pas de probleme” and we were to pick it up in 15-30 minutes. We trekked around, and Wally went back to MS as I shopped in the giant shop near the Electric Umbrella. I bought a much-needed watch (we had a timepiece on my cell phone, but since I had no pocket on Day 3, I really needed a watch) and DH came back to say that he enjoyed MS. He insisted that I’d have no problem on it, but we’d leave that issue for another day.



We attempted to tour a little more of Future World, but didn’t really tune into the vibe. We ended up at the Food Fair and Wally wanted a little something sweet. I ended up getting a cappuccino and wanted to get hiking to catch Off Kilter in Canada because I had heard just so many great things about them (Hi Melanie ) I think I picked up a drink somewhere because I was feeling rather footloose AND fancyfree. The weather had lightened up and we had an enjoyable time watching this band and ended up with a new song to get stuck in our heads…”Run, run away” by Slade. DH ended up exchanging “See chameleon lying there in the sun” with “See Canadians lying there in the sun.” It was fun.



Off Kilter with Future Groupie







We ended up making our way back to France to pick up my parasol. It was just adorable, the artist did a really good job. Unfortunately they told me that it would be safe for rain use in three days. Now, I KNEW it would run, but they didn’t have to tell me. After that I just couldn’t use it for rain. It was pretty frigging cute, though.











We strolled towards China and I realized how non-dry the parasol artwork was, so I ran back to France to let it hang a little longer. We strolled, strolled, strolled along, we took Friendships and grabbed some sweets here and there. As we went past Italy, I couldn’t help but notice the sparse plaza area near the water. We were walking past it and I kept thinking….thinking…think—and then I grabbed Wally and told him to stand “just so” with his hand “doing this.” Aloud he was wondering “WTH are you doing???” I snapped the photo and told him I was taking a picture of him holding SE. “Whatever!” he said, and then when he saw the image he thought it was pretty neat. Of course, it’s nothing like WillCAD’s, but I thank him for the idea.



Ode to WillCAD







Which reminds me, we also rode SE this day. I think we both liked it better than the first time. Wally said it as the day began—he was holding out high hopes for Epcot the first time we visited, and his hopes were squashed, squammered, squalished. This time, we knew what we were getting into, hopes were lowered, and could only go up—and they did!



Next: Day 3 Epcot, Part deux

[BritDisFan]

Rachel ,

I love your report, it is so detailed, I also really love your bride ears. One of our bus drivers said once that EPCOT stood for Every Person Comes Out Tired but my friend Maxine who was a CM at the Rose and Crown said it stood for Extreme Polyester Costumes of Torture . I don't think she liked the uniform she had to wear!

Can't wait for you next installments.

Karen

[OffKilter_Lynn]

I think we've experienced that same bus driver!!! You're right - the kids do seem to enjoy him (while the adults just kind of roll their eyes)

Wonderful details and I'm glad you gave EPCOT a second chance. Can't wait for more!