Summer and Steven's WDW wedding SBP Aug 20 2007

[NatsyNoo]

That surprise for your mum looks awesome...would love to do something similar! Did you pre-arrange this with the ADR team? I love the strawberries' tuxedos!

[Summer-Caitlin]

Originally Posted by disneydreamer

Aw Summer just watched your wedding video it's lovely. Brought a tear to my eye.

Jackie

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Awww thank you. I watched it on my anniversary. I initially didn't want the wedding recorded but I am so glad we did. It is really nice to look back on every so often. It brings it right back to me.

[Summer-Caitlin]

Originally Posted by NatsyNoo

That surprise for your mum looks awesome...would love to do something similar! Did you pre-arrange this with the ADR team? I love the strawberries' tuxedos!

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I actually spoke to Coral Reef direct and organised it through them. As far as I am aware they no longer do the diver, which is a shame. I think you can get the strawberry tuxedos done at most TS restaurants. I am organising a replica (smaller of course) of our wedding cake one night. We had Chocolate and Peanut butter mousse for the bottom layer and Almond and Amaretto mousse for the top. It was awsome. I have pictures of the cake to post for the wedding day section. I loved it.

[Summer-Caitlin]

Day 4, Part 1

We awoke at 6.30am Stacey was still counting down her top 7 and the air conditioning droned on.
I was really looking forward to Kona, I had been waiting 11 months to taste this Tonga Toast and by Jo was I going to eat it all!
I made sure my mom was up and getting ready before I had my shower, then started up the percolator. I had decided to wear the same as I had worn the previous night as I thought the top would be cool.
I straightened my hair with my Maggie flat irons (thanks again Maggie!), which really took no time at all. I put in loads of product to try and combat the frizz that I was sure would consume my hair later on, applied my make up and I was ready. Meanwhile Steven had showered and changed and poured the French Roast Coffee that we both loved, mmm!
It was 7.40am and I knew we better leave. Mom was ready and we all headed down to the bus stop. The bus arrived in 5 minutes and we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom. I was slightly disappointed that we weren’t actually going to the Magic Kingdom and staying there, but I had planned to save that visit for my mom’s last day. I knew that would be her favourite park so I wanted to end things on a good note.

We were at MK in 15 minutes, pretty good I thought, why do people complain about these buses? I told Steven and my mom that we would need to catch the monorail over to The Poly, so we quickly headed that way. We saw a monorail was waiting and a conductor was ushering us shouting “Come on folks, we will get you to your resort hotel”.

We ran up the walkway, found an empty carriage and got in. The announcements over the loudspeaker telling us to ‘stand clear of the doors’ resonated in English and Spanish. These announcements began to feel like home after 3 weeks. We were informed that our next stop was The Contemporary then it would be the Ticket and Transportation Center, followed by The Polynesian, The Grand Floridian and finally The Magic Kingdom. We rode this monorail so much throughout our trip, I even remember the snippets of information that the loudspeaker volunteered while we rode.

I love the monorail, always have. I used to ride it in Sydney when we went into the city to shop. It really took me back. We entered The Contemporary Resort and I thought it was so cool that a monorail went through a hotel. I stood up to look for Chef Mickeys so I could point it out. We would be eating there for breakfast on my mom’s last day; it would be a great way to guarantee character interaction.
We continued on to The Ticket and Transportation Center where the loudspeaker announced that if this is where your vacation ends he hoped we had a wonderful time and a safe journey home, awww, I started to feel a pang of sadness as I realised eventually he would be referring to me. The place was pretty empty and we commenced our journey to The Poly.

KONA CAFE REVIEW

I was looking forward to seeing this resort; this had been the resort that had plagued my daydreams. I had looked into staying here on many occasions, but when my TA told me it would cost me an extra £1600 ($3200) to do so, I quickly stuffed my mind with the thought of more moderate resorts. We arrived at 8.20am and we stepped off the monorail into a tropical paradise. I was immediately reminded of Hawaii, I had been there when I was younger, and boy did it look like that. There was a certain smell; I couldn’t put my finger on it, like a rainforest sort of smell. I could hear pools of water bubbling and I felt such humidity with all the foliage around. We didn’t have time to really look so we entered on the second floor and began to look for Kona. To the right was a couple of shopping carts and a few stores selling souvenirs and to the left were a small coffee stop and a café. I could see from where I stood it said Kona and I was quite surprised. From the pictures I had seen, the café looked much bigger and closed in. I wasn’t disappointed, just surprised.
We walked over and were greeted with a big “Aloha” and I gave her our name. She smiled and said “Congratulations” and said we would be seated shortly. I grinned it was the first recognition we had had in a restaurant.

We were given a table way back in the corner. The restaurant was quiet but I figured it would fill up quickly. We perused the menus and I didn’t need to look very long. We ordered our drinks, mom and Steven took orange juice and I took a Cappuccino. Steven decided on ‘The Big Kahuna’, mom ordered the ‘Fruit Plate’ and of course I ordered the ‘Tonga Toast’.

The Cappuccino was really smooth, but definitely not big enough. I ended up ordering an apple juice because I had finished it before my breakfast came round.

The breakfast goes down in history as one of the best breakfasts ever! ‘The Big Kahuna’ consisted of French Toast, 2 pancakes, 2 eggs (sunny side up) fried potatoes, sausage, ham, pineapple and bacon. Steven LOVED this, everything was cooked to perfection, including the eggs which we find can be undercooked, you know what I mean? When you see that gooey white jelly sitting on the yolk, eeewww! Well these ones looked great. The French toast was sweet with just a light dusting of icing sugar; the sausage was not greasy and very tasty. The ham, which I tried, was slightly salty and sweet, not fatty, in fact was gorgeous, lightly griddled for a smoky flavor. The fried potatoes were beautiful, slightly spicy, well cooked, soft in the middle and crispy on the outside. I had one of his pancakes and they were perfectly fluffy. He devoured his pineapple and claimed it was sweet and juicy.

My mom’s ‘Fruit Plate’ looked amazing. This consisted of half a pineapple filled with melon (cantaloupe and yellow melon). On the side was half an orange sliced, half a kiwi, a huge bunch of red grapes, a whole banana, half a blueberry muffin and a slice of banana bread. My mom was so happy with this breakfast; I think she ate everything although I did get to taste the banana bread, which was beautiful. It had walnuts and mushed banana in it and it was slightly warm. It was melt in your mouth tasty! Sweet and fragrant, hands down the best banana bread I had tasted so far.

Now, the one I had been waiting for, it needs no introduction now does it? But for the readers I may have lost along the way, it’s ‘Tonga Toast’.
This was huge, I mean huge. It was sourdough bread with banana in the middle, deep-fried and dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Now when I went to California, I fell in love with cinnamon and sugar anything, pretzels, churros, donuts, if you had done this to my sneakers, I probably would have loved them. I had agreed to give Steven some Tonga Toast as a trade for a pancake and some ham. I had ordered sausages with mine also but I only managed to eat one of them. I started cutting into this moist wedge can something sound sweet when you cut it? I heard the granulated sugar crystals fall on my plate and my eyes glowed in anticipation. I saw the heated banana cocooned in the warm bread and my taste buds stood to attention.
I filled my fork and tasted the sweetness for the first time. WOW, oh wow, if anyone knows of the scene in the restaurant in ‘When Harry Met Sally’ then you know how I felt.

Steven tasted this, said it was nice but it didn’t ‘do it’ for him. He thinks banana goes a bit gooey when it is heated, as does my mom, but what do they know!

I managed to eat most of my piece of heaven but I was so full that I couldn’t possibly eat another bite. I began to feel the button of my trousers fight against my stomach and I knew I had gone too far.
We paid OOP for this breakfast, as I didn’t agree with using up valuable TS credits to pay for a breakfast. The bill came to $43.89.

We left highly satisfied and wandered over to pick up some postcards from the store and have a look around.
I have a love of unusual hats as you can see:




I tried to get Steven to join in:


and of course my mom:


We got some postcards and thought it best to catch the monorail and head to Epcot.
The monorail was waiting and we were at the Ticket and Transportation Center quickly. We swapped lines to get to Epcot and waited about 10 minutes. Throughout our journey we talked about our breakfast and the ride I couldn’t wait for my mom to try…‘Soarin’

Coming up…

Soarin, ooh a Dolphin, Sunshine Seasons and the old mom surfaces again.

[disneydreamer]

Originally Posted by Summer-Caitlin

Awww thank you. I watched it on my anniversary. I initially didn't want the wedding recorded but I am so glad we did. It is really nice to look back on every so often. It brings it right back to me.

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We had ours recorded also and it doesn't matter how many times we watch it we always say, "can't remember that bit"! the kids love watching it. Your cake looked lovely. Did you take any of it home? I arranged a birthday dake for DH when we were there at Christmas time, it was a Mickey Head and it took us 5 days between the four of us to get through it! . Can't wait to read more of you reports.

Jackie

[Summer-Caitlin]

Originally Posted by disneydreamer

We had ours recorded also and it doesn't matter how many times we watch it we always say, "can't remember that bit"! the kids love watching it. Your cake looked lovely. Did you take any of it home? I arranged a birthday dake for DH when we were there at Christmas time, it was a Mickey Head and it took us 5 days between the four of us to get through it! . Can't wait to read more of you reports.

Jackie

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I would have LOVED to take some of the cake home as it was way too big to eat it all during our stay. I was told that there was no way it would survive the trip, so I am getting a replica made up when I go back this year, albeit smaller.

[Summer-Caitlin]

Day 4, Part 2

We arrive in Epcot and our first sight is the huge Spaceship Earth attraction. I knew this was closed for refurbishment and was kinda gutted. Body Wars was closed as was Cranium Command and The Making of Me.
You can see the crane is still there:


I took this pic of Steven before we went on:


We decided it would be best to head over to The Seas first but stopped to take a pic of the beautiful fountain:


Again it hardly does it justice.

We had just eaten and Steven didn’t think it would be a good idea to immediately go on ‘Soarin’ plus it wasl already a 30 min wait.
I was curious about the attraction ‘The Seas with Nemo and Friends’ and I thought my mom would like it, especially the “clamobile”.
It was pretty hot already and it was only 10.15am, the queue was pretty big but fast moving, so we were in it for no longer than 10 minutes. Most of it was in air conditioning so we were relieved. I didn’t know if a clam would hold all of us until we reached our clam, it was pretty clear that we would be way too squashed sitting together so I asked mom if she was okay going in her own clam, just ahead of us. She seemed fine with it, and I felt a pang of guilt as I sent her on ahead of us. I know, I know, she was clearly visible from our clam, but I felt she expected me to go with her, but I was adamant I wanted to go with Steven. After all this was our wedding/honeymoon trip and it didn’t seem right to have Steven on his own for everything that was paired. I told mom not to bother taking any pictures and it stated no flash photography was allowed. I hang my head in shame when I report that throughout the ride there was intermittent flashing, and yup, it was my mom. Steven sighed and said to me that none of those pictures would come out and although I knew this, I wasn’t exactly going to shout down to her clam and let her know this. We settled back and just enjoyed each others company, it was the first time other than during sleep we had been alone, it felt great and I was surprised at how drained I had been feeling with my mom always there.

Before we left for Florida, I had seen my mom every day for a week; we had shopped and been in each other’s company a lot. I think I was beginning to feel smothered and I desperately wanted some quality time alone with my husband to be. During the ride we barely paid attention to the screens, we lay back in our clam and remained quiet the rest of the ride; it was nice to just be peaceful.

Upon exiting the ride, my mom exclaimed that she managed to capture great pics of Nemo and Dory, I just agreed as it seemed pointless to say otherwise.

We slowly walked around ‘The Seas Main Tank and Exhibits’ saw the beauty of a dolphin, and visited many other tanks with assorted fish:


I love manatees and got this shot:


I tried to get a pic of a dolphin but it didn’t come out well and decided I would wait for Seaworld to get up close and personal.
We spent half an hour or so doing this, before my mom stated she required the restroom. We had finished our viewing of the tanks so we all left to find one for her.

While my mom was away I suggested to Steven that it might be better if we asked mom if she really wanted to go to Victoria and Alberts. My mom was not one for fancy food and I couldn’t imagine her sitting for a 3-hour meal. We were due to get pictures taken with Randy after our meal so it would mean not getting back to the resort until midnight. As we would be up at 5.30am on the day of the wedding I thought my mom might be too tired to enjoy the meal anyway. On a side note the meal was costing us $160 per person and if my mom wouldn’t enjoy it, it seemed silly for her to go. I felt guilty, as I knew I should want my mom to come, but we would be having a Wedding lunch at Citricos and my mom had already shown that she tired very easily and didn’t eat fancy food. Steven agreed that it would be best to ask her and make it clear to her exactly what Victoria and Alberts was and how long she would have to be up for. I decided to wait until after lunch to broach the subject, it gave me time to figure out how I was going to do it.

We moved on to ‘Honey I Shrunk the Audience’:


Steven and I had done this in Disneyland before and although I didn’t think it was among the best 3D movies Disney had to offer, I knew mom would like it. We had to wait 5 minutes for the next show, but we only waited 2 before we got the pre show.

We picked up our 3D glasses and watched the pre show. I never have the patience for these things, I always just want to see the attraction, I’ve noticed I have become more impatient as I get older but people around me seemed to enjoy it, so maybe it’s just me!
We entered the theater and again I held back to see where the best seats were. I settled on 6 rows back, and again managed to get the middle of the row by quickly scanning the crowd entering the row.
The show was as I remembered it, and I wasn’t sure if I had received a bum pair of glasses but sometimes I saw 2 Rick Moranis’s. I found myself squinting to make him become one and at times the 3D aspect was too small. My mom enjoyed it, which was the main thing, and we exited and headed straight to ‘Soarin’.

It was nearing midday and I thought that as the World Showcase was open now, the queue for ‘Soarin’ might have depleted some. It stated a 25-minute wait, which seemed okay. I knew it had those queue games installed as a trial so I hoped to try them out. As we approached ‘Soarin’ a CM handed my mom a red card and asked her to hand it to the 3rd CM before she boarded the ride. The queuing area was very long and winding, it took several minutes to reach the end.
I had told mom about this ride dozens of times. As we were waiting in the queue, my mom asked if we really boarded a hang glider. Huh? I explained the concept again to her and she then asked if we actually went outside and in the air. Huh? Again I explained the concept.

The bird game appeared on the screen and it ran through the instructions. Telling us all we had to move left, right, back and forward to make the bird move in the direction we wanted him to. We started our training and I think some people in our section were too embarrassed to train our bird. Some stayed completely still while others, including our group joined in.

We started our race and the competition set in. Most moved left and right in unison, sometimes hitting rocks and trees and getting bashed back to the center of the screen. It was clear that our opponents were beating us to a pulp and many stragglers gave up in our section. We lost, badly, and my mom turned to me and said loudly, that we lost because of Steven and I not playing. Huh? WHAT? I informed her that we hardly lost because of 2 people not participating but for her information we were playing, and damn well too!

We moved on to the next section of the queue and the game commenced again, this time we had the winning bird from last time and I think everyone opted to participate this time. We all trained our bird well and he glided rather than jerked when we wanted him to change direction. We flew over rocks and around the fallen trees, dipped under icicles and above the snowy peaks, our bird was a winner and the loudspeaker confirmed this 10 minutes later. We all cheered and my mom cheered the loudest of all.

We passed the first CM and my mom told him she had to give him the red card because the woman at the beginning told her too. He told her to give it to the 2nd CM before she boarded. So not the next one but the next one, you see where I’m going with this?

It was time for our section to move on where there were no longer birds to keep our attention, woo hoo, we were almost on ‘Soarin’.
The addition of the game is a brilliant idea. The queue in California was long for ‘Soarin’ and very boring. I didn’t notice the wait at all because of the distraction.

We waited a few more minutes and we saw the next CM, she asked us how many were in our party and waved us through, not before my mom stopped her and relayed the info she had been given about the red card. She told her to pass it to the next CM she sees at the ride entrance.

My mom complained that no one wanted the card and she didn’t know what she was supposed to do with it, that she was just going to give it to the next CM she saw, and they better take it!

I had to laugh, if I didn’t I would have broken down in a fit of tears and began whacking myself over the head. Steven saw my reaction and I could see vessels I didn’t know where even there, pop out all over his head. I grabbed his hand and he squeezed mine really tightly, I squeezed his right back, even tighter.

We eventually came across this long awaited CM and my mom briefed her on her mission. She accepted the red card and my mom seemed pleased she had performed her duty. Thank god!

We were told to move to row B on the first glider and we were way over to the left hand side. I was happy enough with our row but had hoped to be positioned in the center glider. Never mind, we would ride this again so hopefully we would have a better seat next time. The dude from Family Guy appeared on our screens and explained the procedure. This was the best pre show I saw before any other attraction. It helped that I love Family Guy but it was also entertaining.

We were ushered in, we found our seats and I removed my flip-flops as requested. Within minutes we lifted off and the screen began showing California in all its beauty. I loved this ride in California and it didn’t disappoint. I can’t seem to remember Disney appearing in it, the castle, fireworks and of course Tinkerbell, but if it wasn’t there originally then it was a good addition to have. My favorite part is over the ocean and then the valleys. When you first come out over that beautiful scenery, the fall colors are stunning. The only down side is when you are positioned where we were you could see feet above you and you can see where the screen stops. To truly be immersed you must be in Row A and in the center glider. That aside though it was still an amazing ride and by far one of my favorites of all time. I wish it were longer cause it all seems over so quickly. We quickly descended and I collected my flip-flops, and as promised by Joe, they were exactly where I had left them.

My mom loved this ride and spoke about for a while after. I knew she would like it so was glad to hear her praise.

As most of you know I researched everything before we left. As my mom had had a heart bypass several years before I knew there would be many restrictions on the rides she could go on. Steven and I had decided in advance that we would only go on the rides my mom would like during her stay. We had 2 weeks alone when she departed so any other rides that would be too much for her would be left until then. It seemed a good idea as it meant she was never left standing on her own. The first week of our trip, as I think you may have already gathered is not very ride orientated. Steven and I did do loads more when my mom left.

Coming up...

Sunshine Seasons

[Summer-Caitlin]

Sunshine Seasons Review

We moved on to ‘Living with the Land’, the queue was small so I thought ‘why not?’ We boarded in 5 minutes and I was pleasantly surprised with this ride. It was much longer than I thought it would be and actually very informative. I loved seeing the huge vegetables but unfortunately there were no Mickey pumpkins on display, all were earning their ears!
We were hungry by the end of this ride and I had thought it best to eat at Sunshine Seasons:


I had read about the huge selection here so hoped there would be something for us all to enjoy.

We all wanted a sandwich so Steven and I decided on Salami on Rye with onions and a sauce. My mom liked the look of a Cuban vegetable sandwich. For dessert my mom chose a fruit cup as did Steven and I wanted the Peanut Butter Brownie Mousse. We all got diet cokes.
We paid for this using our CS credits and sat down to enjoy.
My sandwich looked really nice, it was a bit big, and so I cut it in half. I bit into it but immediately didn’t like it. I had no idea what sauce was on the onions, but the sandwich tasted wet, the salami was wet, the bread was wet and it dripped down my arms as I held it, eeewww! Steven agreed and only ate half of his. I tried to scrape off the onions, but the bread was still soggy so I gave up

My mom tried her Cuban sandwich and said that she didn’t like Cuban Veg, I asked her why she ordered it and she said that she thought it was normal veg. She looked at it and said that she couldn’t recognize any of it. I told her that there was zucchini and avocados in there and she told me she disliked all of that. It had been clear from the picture that this is what the sandwich consisted of yet she ordered it anyway. I told her she needs to look more closely before she orders things or this would happen all the time. I offered her the second half of my sandwich; this is the way the conversation went:angry:

“Here, have the other half of my sandwich, I don’t want it”
“No, you want it, I’m fine”
“I don’t want it, I will throw it out if you don’t want it”
“No you want it, you ordered it, and you’re hungry”
“No, I have my dessert to have and I don’t even like it, but you might, take it”
“No, you do want it”
“I… do…not…want…it…honestly, TAKE IT”
“Are you sure you don’t want it? I am hungry”
“Do you want it?”
She nods her head quickly
“Here then, I really don’t want it”
“Well if you’re sure, are you sure?”
I sigh
“Yes”

She dives into the sandwich as if I might change my mind and exclaims it’s beautiful through muffled speech. Oh well then at least it’s not wasted.

I continue on to my brownie, which is gorgeous, peanut butter and chocolate, what a combination I am aware that I am getting married in a couple of days and worry overcomes me and I put down half of my brownie. I push it away and announce I won’t eat any more of it because of my wedding dress. I ask Steven if he thinks I could take it back to the resort and maybe have it later, you know, spread out the calories, but he says that it would melt during the day. I pout but know that he’s right and do actually leave it, although send it longing looks as we leave the table.

Coming up…

Trekking round World Showcase, loads of pics, and my favorite flip flops break in Mexico

[kaboomba]

i'm very much enjoying this!cant wait for the next installment!

[Summer-Caitlin]

Originally Posted by kaboomba

i'm very much enjoying this!cant wait for the next installment!

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Thank you, glad to hear you are enjoying it. I am putting up a couple of instalments just now.