Team Bricki's Super Secret Magical Wedding and Honeymoon Adventure- Travel Day- Friday 3rd May 2019

[princessnicki]

This will forever remain one of the most beautiful experiences of our lives, i still feel emotional thinking about it now!

The alarms went off at 3.30am and Brett was up to start the day, he takes a long time to get ready hence the early alarms. Brett has quite severe ADHD and he takes a long time to process things around him- a good example of this would be the flight, it takes off and is now thousands of feet in the air but his brain is still trying to process the take off from minutes before. Also too many choices overwhelm him, he struggles with the concept of time as he gets distracted easily, little things i take for granted are hard for him, he makes me so proud everyday though how he just cracks on with it, even though he feels frustrated deep down sometimes. So he gives himself a couple of hours to get ready (and he takes a long time doing his hair too ) i made sure he was feeling ok about the airport and the flight and he was all good so i got our clothes out for the day. We had matching tshirts from fellow dibber Tabz at Fairytale Sparkle for travel day- they said "on the way to the castle to marry my princess" and no that's not a typo, we both call each other princess, we have done since day one and we even have it tattooed on our hands

We headed down for breakfast at 5.20am and it was empty, we settled into one of the booths and Brett took a few pictures of the buffet before pouring me a Mimosa (i married the right man!). There was a cold buffet of cheeses, meats, smoked salmon, fresh fruit, pastries, cereals, yoghurts and granolas

At 5.30am they started serving the hot buffet of traditional breakfast.

They also had an unlimited Bloody Mary bar and Mimosa bar (woohoo, i was sensible and had two though).

Honestly i was so impressed, it was gorgeous and so well presented! If you prebook its only £13 per person which i would have happily paid as the airport would have cost that without the alcohol! The staff were so lovely, we had a great chat with Paulo who was genuinely interested to hear everyones holiday stories.

Nicely full we headed back for our luggage and to head down to Terminal 2. The queue for Economy was quite big but there was nobody at Premium (and that's us already convinced we can't fly any other way in the future). I had booked Fasttrack security to be on the safe side and i think it was worth it, we cut a big chunk of the queue out. The lady who was giving the trays out was super keen and made us take off every piece of jewellery we had, i managed to sneak my engagement ring past her though, there was no way that was going in the tray! She was loving our tshirts but said we were crazy to do it in secret! Brett got pulled over as he forgot to take his belt off- he took it well and was having a laugh with the security guy (what else can you do when he has to put his hands down your shorts?!). He called Brett back when he was done to have a proper look at his tattoos- this was to become a common occurance in the next few weeks for both of us. We headed down to duty free and i was gutted to see all the Jo Malone available as i had just bought my wedding perfume the previous month for full price! Brett got himself the only Molton Brown deodrant scent he doesn't have (Vetiver and Grapefruit) and the old lady that served him was mesmorised by our wedding plans (i think she wanted to marry him).

With time to kill we headed to Spinning Jennies and was so glad we didnt eat there! £15 for a breakfast and £11 for a cocktail! We will always eat at the hotel on future trips, as mentioned £13 for unlimited hot and cold buffet, teas coffee, juices and did i mention unlimited Mimosas? Much better quality food too! Against our better judgement we ordered a cocktail, 20 minutes later still no cocktail, Brett went to ask about them, they had forgotten to make them! If we hadnt already paid for them i would have left. After 35 minutes we got the worst Mojitos i have ever had in my life and i am pretty sure they forgot the rum! Oh well lesson learned, never again!

It was soon time to board, our plane was Pretty Woman, an elderly man walked past and said "oo its pretty woman", his wife said "i beg your pardon", the man said "the plane", his wife said "oh i thought you meant this young lady here, i mean you are love but it's not his place to say". Brett was nearly on the floor howling with laughter. We sat on the window ledge waiting for our gate to open when a young couple with two young children came over and basically plonked them where i was sitting so they could watch the plane- i'm guessing you want us to move then! She kept telling her husband how much she hated him, it was all very awkward so we moved.

Our gate opened and all the economy passengers blocked the queue so we couldnt get on, we had a laugh about this with the couple behind us (who i now know was a fellow dibber, hello there). We were greeted by the most friendly crew, who noticed our tshirts straight away and were so excited, especially when we told them that it was a secret and just the two of us. They brought round the champagne prior to take off and i had a little moment, we were finally setting off to the magic for our special day and honeymoon, our first holiday after 3 years together.

I was impressed by Premium from the start, the little touches like the champagne served in proper glasses and the comfy leather seats with the extra leg room (not that i need it at 5ft).

The flight took off on time and Brett watched the entire process glued to the window- i asked if he was ok and he was, he just wanted to see it all happen. It was soon time for the drinks service and pretzels (my favourite snack both the crispy form and the bread, you will see a lot of pretzel bread in this report). The flight attendant gave us two bottles of spirits each and winked at us.

Brett was buzzing at how much nice attention we had received in the space of 24 hours. We intended to watch a few films but we got talking and time seemed to fly by. The food came round and it was actually quite good for aeroplane food- Brett had the Beef Lasagne and i had Chicken Terryaki, the dessert was a Caramel and Hazlenut Cake. We then had an Amarula shot (a South African favourite) and i listened to some music for a bit while Brett watched Creed II. The crew brought us another two bottles of spirits each as we had declined the wine with lunch.

The flight seemed to fly by (probably because i was feeling a bit fresh now from four doubles of vodka and diet coke!) and i just seemed to listen to music and chat to Brett rather than watch anything. It was soon time for afternoon tea but the Flight Manager said she wanted us to have ours at the Upper Class Bar with a glass of champagne. I was completely overwhelmed and couldnt believe it. A really nice American guy started talking to us and was telling us about Orlando and asking about our wedding. We were asked if we wanted to sample the Upper Class Bar food and were brought some Sliders for us to enjoy. Brett ate mine as i was so full and he said they were amazing. As if that wasnt enough, we were then presented with a hamper of a bottle of champagne, sweets, card and a flight map of the journey to our wedding signed by the Captain and all the crew.

The tears were very much flowing at this point, i think Brett was in shock as well. We returned to our seats for landing and i tried to pull myself together so the Immigration Officers in Orlando didnt think i was crazy and not let me in. As the plane landed and we got off (first- another PE perk) i gave our Flight Manager a hug and said thank you for everything- she was so lovely and made our experience so wonderful. We walked into an empty immigration hall and i laughed at the good luck we were getting and wondering when it would stop. We had a friendly officer and were straight through to collect our bags, which came through so quickly. We got on the Magical Express and arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge before 5.00pm. I was completely in awe of the lobby, Disney hotels all really do have their own smells when you walk in.

We checked into room 1030, we had asked for a partial Savannah view on Kudu Trail but was given bottom floor on Giraffe Trail. We were next door to the gym and the entrance to the pool. We had a pool view bunkbed room so we must have been upgraded as we only paid for a Standard room. I felt really bad about this as i know from The Dibb how highly sought after bunkbed rooms are but with us staying a long time, they couldnt move us for the whole stay so we stayed. We unpacked all our cases and headed out to Magic Kingdom.

The heat, the smells, the buses, the cast members, it was all just an instant reminder that we were finally here. I took a minute when we got in to stand at the end of Main Street and take in the first view of the castle. Brett was in awe of everything and totally got the feeling when you see the castle. We had pictures in front of the castle, complete with a little magic shot of Tinkerbell.

We got some corn dog nuggets from Casey's Corner for Brett to try his first ever corn dog and they didnt disappoint! He was loving the American service already.

I took him to Gaston's Tavern for a La Fou's Brew and he fell in love with this too (this becomes a common theme).

We couldnt believe how quiet it was and decided to hit a few small rides before Happily Ever After. We rode Buzz (not a Galactic Hero) and Peoplemover, Brett totally got it, he said thats a really cool clever ride, i was so happy he was getting the magic of Disney. We watched one of my favs, Philharmagic and i filled up watching Brett singing along and trying to grab the pie. It was time for Happily Ever After and we decided to watch it by Be Our Guest in the calm away from Main Street and it was perfect, there was hardly anybody there. We had never seen the show before and it totally blew us away, the soundtrack is just everything! The bit with Robin Williams gets me everytime, i loved how they played How Far Ill Go from Moana (Brett's favourite song), i love the lyrics and they relate so much as i have found my happily ever after. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. We headed back to the hotel after taking a long walk back to the entrance through all the different lands. Tomorrow's plans are Kennedy Space Centre and Boma for dinner.

[GezzasGem]

Amazing first day! Fabulous pre wedding treats! 😊👌

[Disneynut23]

What a fabulous start to your Disney adventure, amazing service from Virgin. I love hearing great stories like yours.

[JenD1]

Fabulous day 🥰

[macy]

What an amazing flight, Virgin certainly do look after people. You will have some lovely memories and what a special way to start your married life as well. Good Luck for the future to both of you.

[Manyin]

Fantastic first day, looking forward to reading along

[Mel49]

Fabulous first day from breakfast to your flight to ending your travel day watching the fireworks

[walt4it]

What a lovely flight day- great photos again and good to see you made the most of not having a hire car at the other end

Lovely touch by Virgin and nothing better than those arrival smells

[KarenG]

Magical!

[Goldia]

Wow, you did really well to keep going from your early start and see happily ever after. We never normally make it to a park on travel day! It does sound like a fantastic start to your trip, what a brilliant flight crew. A really special flight. The photos of your room at AKL look lovely. The photopass shots of you on Main Street are great, what a magical start!