Lindsay & Ryan's Wishes PJ 10/25/13 **Planning Session TR Pt 4! 5/21/13**

[CDsSleepingBeauty]

Great TR! I really hope you get the date & time that you want!! I'm also an AKL fan! Your pictures are getting me excited about eating at Beaches and Cream! It's been awhile since I've eaten there.

 

[Wshs0127]

Yay! Great site visit! I wanna go for one so bad, but have to save all that money for our DFTW! Thanks for all the pics, I love looking at anything Disney. I've never been to the AKL, guess I need to pay a visit to it when we go for our PS later this year. I hope you get your date. My wedding consultant never really explained the lottery to me, but I've heard of it. As far as I know, no one wants our date yet, so just another month to wait before we can seal our date!

 

[SammyB1027]

Just joining in...what a great TR! It looks like you guys had a blast (from reading everything so far!) and I think POR will be absolutely beautiful for your engagement pics!

Annnnd...go Noles! I graduated from FSU in '08, I miss Tally so much sometimes. I'm living in Daytona now, so ANYWHERE is better than there, but I miss the atmosphere and nightlife of Tally the most. I was in colorguard in high school, so I definitely feel ya on the whole band geek thing!

I LOVE your inspiration board, you've inspired me to make a similar one! We're having our planning session tomorrow, so it's kind of late for that, but it'll help me get my thoughts together and make things much clearer to the other DISbrides. I love your Sleeping Beauty theme, you don't see much of that on here.

Looking forward to reading about your plans

 

[lejen]

Omgoodness! I love the AKL, I've never stayed there, but resort hopping is my absolute favorite thing to do on a bored saturday!

POR/FQ is essentially my favorite resort area. I love the atmosphere. I hope that while you were there you went over to FQ and got some of those SCRUMPTIOUS beignets! I Can't get enough of them! It's so romantic there, and especially at night. <3 I just love it there.

How fun you saw a bride! Her dress looks gorg from afar! I alwas feel that every woman looks fab on their wedding. The happiness just shines through and just birghtens every picture taken! Le sigh.

The beeches and cream grilled cheese is phenomenal! I love all the cheeses on it. I'm sort of a cheese head. so much so my best friend's name is brie! JK, but seriously her name is brie and she loves cheese more than i do. LOL!

 

[tinydancr06]

Great TR! I really hope you get the date & time that you want!! I'm also an AKL fan! Your pictures are getting me excited about eating at Beaches and Cream! It's been awhile since I've eaten there.

Thank you! Isn't AKL awesome? I'm glad I got you excited about Beaches and Cream. I love nostalgic places like that and the CM uniforms are so cute! Oh, and the food! Duh.

Yay! Great site visit! I wanna go for one so bad, but have to save all that money for our DFTW! Thanks for all the pics, I love looking at anything Disney. I've never been to the AKL, guess I need to pay a visit to it when we go for our PS later this year. I hope you get your date. My wedding consultant never really explained the lottery to me, but I've heard of it. As far as I know, no one wants our date yet, so just another month to wait before we can seal our date!

I'm happy you liked all the pictures! I'm a very visual person and I love picture heavy TRs. People always apologize for having lots of pictures but I think it makes you feel like you're there!

I think our consultant only mentioned the lottery to us in detail because we are aiming for an October date and it is one of their very busy months. I SO hope we get our date, too! I hope getting your date is quick and easy!

Just joining in...what a great TR! It looks like you guys had a blast (from reading everything so far!) and I think POR will be absolutely beautiful for your engagement pics!

Annnnd...go Noles! I graduated from FSU in '08, I miss Tally so much sometimes. I'm living in Daytona now, so ANYWHERE is better than there, but I miss the atmosphere and nightlife of Tally the most. I was in colorguard in high school, so I definitely feel ya on the whole band geek thing!

I LOVE your inspiration board, you've inspired me to make a similar one! We're having our planning session tomorrow, so it's kind of late for that, but it'll help me get my thoughts together and make things much clearer to the other DISbrides. I love your Sleeping Beauty theme, you don't see much of that on here.

Looking forward to reading about your plans

Yay! Thanks for joining! I'm very excited about possibly doing our engagement photos at POR. It's so pretty!

YAY! ANOTHER NOLE! I guess I shouldn't be so surprised to find other FSU grads on the boards seeing as it is FLORIDA State University but it's still exciting! I miss Tally, too. It's very different from where I live in south FL. We have season tickets for football so we get up there as much as we can but it's a long drive for a weekend trip!

Thanks for your kind words about the inspiration board and theme. It definitely helps to communiate your overall vision to others. I even get more ideas just looking at mine! Maybe you could make one and email it to your planner if you really want to.

I hope you have a fabulous planning session!

Omgoodness! I love the AKL, I've never stayed there, but resort hopping is my absolute favorite thing to do on a bored saturday!

POR/FQ is essentially my favorite resort area. I love the atmosphere. I hope that while you were there you went over to FQ and got some of those SCRUMPTIOUS beignets! I Can't get enough of them! It's so romantic there, and especially at night. <3 I just love it there.

How fun you saw a bride! Her dress looks gorg from afar! I alwas feel that every woman looks fab on their wedding. The happiness just shines through and just birghtens every picture taken! Le sigh.

The beeches and cream grilled cheese is phenomenal! I love all the cheeses on it. I'm sort of a cheese head. so much so my best friend's name is brie! JK, but seriously her name is brie and she loves cheese more than i do. LOL!

Resort hopping is the best! We had never really done it before and it feels like a free day at Disney! If you ever get the chance to stay at AKL take it because it is such a unique experience!

Ugh! We are lame and never made it over to French Quarter! They were showing a movie on the lawn at FQ while we were there and we considered going but went to River Roost instead. It sounds like we really missed out because we LOVE beignets! We will make a point to get over there the next time we're at POR. Thanks for the tip!

Is the Beaches and Cream grilled cheese dream worthy or what?! I LOVE cheese, too. I haven't tried all the fancy ones but pretty much anything with cheese sounds good to me! What an appropriate name for your friend, Brie!

 

[MrsRomance]

Just caught up! Looks like you two had a great SV! I really hope you get your date/time! I guess with all the extra events and the weather October is a perfect time to get married at WDW!

 

[Sizzle]

I have been glued to your report all morning! So much for work...

The visit with the planner seems so amazing! I am a bit jealous that I never got to do that, it looks to have been really special and fun. The lottery system is a bit crazy to me too!

All of the resort visits look great, I have only stayed at two properties so these pictures are really inspiring me to visit some on my next trip!

 

[tinydancr06]

Just caught up! Looks like you two had a great SV! I really hope you get your date/time! I guess with all the extra events and the weather October is a perfect time to get married at WDW!

You are so right! October is an amazing time for a Disney wedding with the weather, Food and Wine, and MNSSHP. That's part of why we want it (we always celebrate our anniversary at Disney!). Thanks so much for reading!

I have been glued to your report all morning! So much for work...

The visit with the planner seems so amazing! I am a bit jealous that I never got to do that, it looks to have been really special and fun. The lottery system is a bit crazy to me too!

All of the resort visits look great, I have only stayed at two properties so these pictures are really inspiring me to visit some on my next trip!

I'm so flattered that I entertained you! Seriously, I am.

It's too bad you didn't get to do a site visit but that just means you're closer to your wedding! It is a fun perk of a long engagement, though.

You should definitely spend sometime resort hopping the next time you visit the world if you can. It's free unless you shop or eat and you get to experience NEW things! It also gives you ideas for where you should choose to stay in the future.

 

[tinydancr06]

The next morning we were both a little groggy but we got up early because we wanted to take advantage of the EMH at DHS. Once we were ready we headed to Riverside Mill to grab some breakfast. It was so early only the bakery counter was open so I just got a bagel and some coffee. When we were done eating we waited at the south depot for the bus to DHS. We caught the first one and reached the studios pretty quickly. We got in line and waited.

I found some cute ears that reminded me of our school colors (garnet and gold) at POR so you’ll see them on and off throughout our pictures from this day. Those headbands hurt after a while! You will also see that the feathers on them liked to poke Ryan in the face whenever we took pictures!

Once EMH started we headed straight for Toy Story Midway Mania. No, we did not run like everyone else! We weren’t planning on getting fastpasses for it and most of the runners went straight for them so we walked on the ride. It felt like cheating but was so worth it because, as good of a ride as it is, it’s just not worth a 2 hour wait to me! We bit the bullet and waited in standby the first time we ever rode it and it was worth it then but not for repeat rides.

After finishing up at TSMM (I almost beat Ryan!) we decided to hit Star Tours. The New York area of the park was still totally dead at this point. We just HAD to get a picture of the empty street.

This was only our second time riding the new version of Star Tours and we had been hoping for the pod racing sequence and we got it! All of the segments we got were really good and we agreed that this ride was much better than our first. After that we headed to the other side of the park to do Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster. Side story: at the end of the video during the TV room portion of ToT when Rod Serling says “this elevator travels directly to…the Twilight Zone” some kid decided to yell out “THE GIFT SHOP!” during the dramatic pause. Now maybe I’m a bad sport but I found this really annoying. Way to ruin the moment! Almost everyone else in the room laughed though so the kid got the attention he was going for I guess.

Then we did the Backlot Tour because we hadn’t in a while. It’s always a good time!

After the Tour we had wanted to do Little Mermaid but it was down. We were planning on doing the 11 o’clock Lights, Motors, Action! show and had some time so we got some snacks and had a seat on a bench near The Great Movie Ride. We thought about riding but check out this line!

Every once in a while it’s nice to take a break and just relax in the parks. It’s not something I do often!

When it was time we made our way over to Lights, Motors, Action! Ryan LOVES this show and almost always gets jipped out of seeing it for some reason or other so we made it a priority on this trip. We got decent seats and it wasn’t too crowded. Everyone in the cast was in rare form because it was St. Patrick’s Day. Every time they introduced someone they had some kind of ridiculously Irish sounding name like Shamus O’Malley and Patrick O’Brien. Even when they didn’t think of brand new names they just added O’ to each person’s last name. I found this pretty amusing. The show was awesome as usual but I had no idea they added the Cars section of the show! It was interesting seeing a “real” Lightning McQueen car driving around a chasing a bad guy. Although, Lightning never drove even half as fast as the stunt cars so the chase scene was kind of awkwardly slow. Still cool, though!

After the show we still had some time before our lunch ADR so we hit Star Tours one more time. We didn’t get pod racing again but it was still fun. We left Star Tours and had to hurry over to 50’s Prime Time for lunch. Ryan had never been there before so I was really excited for him. When we got there he immediately commented on how cool it was and I even heard the grandfather from another party talking about how “Disney’s attention to detail is just incredible.” I love hearing stuff like that from other guests. It’s like a warm fuzzy to me.

We didn’t have to wait too long before we were seated and our waitress’s (cousin’s?) name was Mandi. She was GREAT. She had this air about her like she was fed up with us already and I loved it! She even sat down at our table to take our order and made us set our own table. We had a really nice corner booth/table that gave us a perfect view of the TV (even though it looked like we were staring at the people closest to it). I took my phone out to check the wait times at the other parks and Mandi told me to put away my “fancy walky talky.” I kept forgetting and took it out a few more times later on and she was not pleased!

Our comfy corner table.

Ryan awaiting his first 50’s Prime Time meal!

Ryan was torn between the fried chicken and the pork loin but ended up going for the pork. I got the pot roast. Both were deeeeeelicious. I even finished my veggies (I’m not a big vegetable person) so we could order dessert. We shared the Boston Cream Parfait per Mandi’s suggestion and it was A.MA.ZING! For some reason we didn’t take a picture of it but maybe that’s a good thing because my mouth would be watering!

The pork loin.

The pot roast.

After lunch we had pretty much done everything we wanted in DHS so it was time to start the journey over to EPCOT!

 

[Wshs0127]

We got so excited when we found out they added McQueen to the LMA show but then we saw it and were kind of disappointed that he didn't go fast like the other stunt cars. Sound like getting up early gave you guys a productive day at HS. You did a lot in what seemed like a short time.

 

[Fay]

Looks like you had a fab time! I love your photos!

Wont be long now! hehe

XXX

 

[tinydancr06]

We got so excited when we found out they added McQueen to the LMA show but then we saw it and were kind of disappointed that he didn't go fast like the other stunt cars. Sound like getting up early gave you guys a productive day at HS. You did a lot in what seemed like a short time.

.

We felt the same way. In general, the idea of seeing a "live" Lightning McQueen is very cool but when the other cars show him up it's kind of a let down.

Getting up early was definitely worth it. You have to make the most of it when you only have a day in the parks!

Looks like you had a fab time! I love your photos!

Wont be long now! hehe

XXX

We did! Glad you enjoyed the pics!

 

[tinydancr06]

We grabbed the first bus from DHS to EPCOT and were on our way. We were 2 of like 5 passengers on the whole bus so the ride was quiet and relaxing. We arrived and headed straight through the “no bag” line. TIP FOR THE LADIES: bring a wristlet to the parks! Ryan and I don’t carry much other than our cards and such so a wristlet holds my iPhone and pretty much any other small thing I need. I got one of the D & B princess wristlets (along with the purse) as a graduation gift so I always make a point of bringing it to the parks. When you go through the “no bag” line they will ask to look in it quickly but there’s no line and it takes about a second to look. Anyway…

Of course, it was the Flower and Garden Festival and while it’s no Food and Wine it really makes EPCOT an even more beautiful place! Ryan had a field day taking pictures of all the topiaries.

We headed straight for Soarin’, taking pictures along the way. I just love Soarin’! I know it has somewhat mixed reviews (Ryan doesn’t even love it) but it’s one of the things I imagine when I’m getting excited for a trip. I also LOVE the music. I listen to it in the car all the time! After Soarin’ we made our way over to Test Track. The wait wasn’t awful but, of course, as soon as we got on it broke down! Here’s how Ryan made good use of our 5 or so minutes waiting for TT to start up again.

Once it started working again we had a great ride on Test Track. Then it was time to head into the World Showcase. On our way, we saw this entire family on scooters…

Now, not to judge, but I am almost positive none of this family NEEDED the scooter. Of course, anyone can rent them I guess but it was interesting seeing two able-bodied teenagers (one in shorts, a bikini, and no shoes sipping a drink) riding around EPCOT on scooters. We saw them multiple times throughout the day and, yes, they used them all day. Moving on!

Since it was St. Patrick’s Day our first stop in the WS was the stand outside of Rose and Crown for some green beer! The line was long for a drink but we usually visit during Food and Wine so it was nothing new to us.

While waiting, we saw this fun chalk art being finished by some CMs. How cute!

We then got our refreshments!

Happy St. Pat’s!!!

After we got our drinks we decided to catch some of Off Kilter’s show in Canada. They were AWESOME but it was getting so hot at this point that we decided to keep moving after 3 or so songs. We headed towards France and I got my first picture with Mary Poppins! She asked how our “holiday” was going and I just loved her!

And then, right as we entered France, we found my favorite topiary!

Big surprise, I’m sure! After that I had to get my perfume fix. We went through 2 of the shops and I, of course, smelled way too many. Thank God for coffee beans! Then more topiaries…

I found Japan to be an interesting choice for the Cars characters but I guess Cars 2 had the international theme?

I loved the one of Snow White and the dwarves following her and how sweet are Lady and the Tramp?!

Sorry about all the pictures but it’s hard to resist!

After spending some time wandering the WS we figured we’d grab a margarita in Mexico and head out. We got sidetracked by the deliciousness in the caramel shop in Germany. Yum! On our way to Mexico we stopped for a bathroom break in Norway and I saw the absolute cutest thing ever! There was an older couple in front of us on their way to the bathrooms as well. They were wearing matching black t-shirts with Disney font writing on the back. The man’s shirt read, “Her Mickey for 45 years!” while the woman’s said, “His Minnie for 45 years!” How precious are they?! I literally had tears in my eyes just seeing them! Luckily, they were in front of us so they weren’t creeped out by my sappiness.

After I had my moment, we grabbed a frozen margarita and finished it on our way out. We hopped on the monorail and were on our way to our last stop: the Magic Kingdom!

 

[SammyB1027]

Oo, what a fun day at EPCOT! I'm sad we missed it on our trip over there, but I can live vicariously through your photos! The topiaries are always great, I try to get a pic of each of them, which doesn't always bode well with the people I'm with!

That old couple sounds so cute! I would've teared up too, what a sweet thing for them to do. Does it ever make you wonder what you'll be like in 45 years?? That's a crazy long time, but I'm sure it's worth it if you're with the man of your dreams!

 

[tinydancr06]

Oo, what a fun day at EPCOT! I'm sad we missed it on our trip over there, but I can live vicariously through your photos! The topiaries are always great, I try to get a pic of each of them, which doesn't always bode well with the people I'm with!

That old couple sounds so cute! I would've teared up too, what a sweet thing for them to do. Does it ever make you wonder what you'll be like in 45 years?? That's a crazy long time, but I'm sure it's worth it if you're with the man of your dreams!

Feel free to live vicariously, I do it all the time! Ryan tried to get pictures of each topiary but I'm sure he missed some. So much pretty in one place!

Seeing that cute couple definitely made me think that I hope we are like that one day. I even asked Ryan if we could do that for our 45th and he said yes! Lol. Oh, will he be surprised when I get the shirts made and hold him to his promise! Lol.

 

[tinydancr06]

We rode the monorail from EPCOT over to MK and were happy to find that the MK monorail WAS running even though it wasn’t 6:30 yet! Once we arrived at the gates we could already tell how crowded it was. It wasn’t unbearable but still lots of people. When we got to Mainstreet USA the first thing I noticed was a huge construction façade jutting out into the street and blocking a portion of the view of the right side of the castle. Usually the facades don’t bother me, especially when they match the building they are covering so well, but this one went out into the street and just looked weird to me. I believe you even had to walk through it to get to the ice cream shop and other stuff in that area. It kind of reminded me of NYC! Anyway…

We headed straight for the castle to get some pictures while it was still light outside. We couldn’t have asked for a prettier day!

Then Ryan got some pictures of the beautiful roses by the castle. I think he thought we were still at the Flower and Garden Festival!

We then headed from the castle to Space Mountain. I got to ride in the front and I really have to say that sitting up front is scary! In a fun way.  We both “pretended” to sleep for the picture. We were starting to get a little tired!

After SM we walked over to Fantasyland to see what had opened and the progress of the construction. I couldn’t get over how many construction walls there were! Some areas were almost unrecognizable. The portion of Storybook Circus that has opened is really great, though! I love the new water feature under Dumbo and the train station is beautiful. If the rest a Fantasyland is as well themed as what was open then all the construction will definitely be worth it! We could even see the top of the castle from the Little Mermaid over the construction wall and it looks perfect! We didn’t take any photos of the Fantasyland construction but here’s one we took of the HUGE concept art they have displayed on one of the walls…

While walking around Fantasyland, we stumbled upon one of the Magic Portals for the new Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game. It was very cool in that the screen was made to look like the bricks from the wall it is on. It’s also a not-so-subtle hidden Mickey! This game looks so cool. We definitely want to do it when we get a full day at MK.

By this point we were getting really hungry so we found some corn dogs in Frontierland and people-watched as we ate. Sometimes going to MK isn’t about doing things all the time, it’s about just BEING there. MK is my favorite park by far. After eating we made a game plan to get on some rides. We planned to hit Splash Mountain first but the wait was too ridiculous. It was kind of sad not to do anything in Frontierland since Thunder Mountain was down for refurb. We decided to go do Pirates which is always fun.

After that, we attempted to get on a few more rides but just weren’t in the mood to wait for too long so we decided to do the Laugh Floor. I’m not sure about other people but Ryan and I just LOVE the Laugh Floor. We really never get sick of it! After we got our laughs in we realized just how tired we were starting to get. We circled around to Fantasyland again and found some really good iced coffee at the Chesher Café window. It did the trick for a little while but not as long as I thought! At some point while wandering Fantasyland I dragged Ryan into Castle Couture and found that they have Cinderella’s pink dress on display there now! This hadn’t been there the last time I visited so I was super excited! I feel like you don’t often see that dress but I love it.

When we finished the coffees we breezed through the queue for a ride on the Haunted Mansion. The parade was starting at this point so there wasn’t much of a wait.

After HM we headed to the hub and ended up staying there through the end of wishes. We had a good spot but I really hated having to stand. Has anyone else ever thought to themself “if everyone just sat down everyone would have a good view and no one’s feet would hurt”?! Anyway, Wishes was fabulous as always. It’s just a perfect way to end a day in the parks. Nothing beats MK at night for me!

Our view for Wishes!

And then we just knew it was time to head out. We still had a couple of hours until park closing but our feet were done so we headed back towards the gates. This pic shows just how much that construction façade I was talking about juts out into Mainstreet. I know the crowd looks ridiculous but it wasn’t quite that bad, this was just right after the fireworks.

From there, we hopped (using that term loosely, our sore feet would not have allowed actual hopping) on the bus back to POR. We stayed awake long enough to soak our feet in the bathtub and then passed out.

 

[tinydancr06]

The next day we “slept in” until around 8. We got dressed and headed back over to Riverside Mill for breakfast. Since it wasn’t as ungodly of an hour as the day before we got real breakfast! It was getting pretty crowded inside so we decided to eat at the tables just outside the doors. There were plenty of available tables and it was so pretty out there in the morning. I would definitely suggest eating out there instead of inside if the weather is right!

When we finished breakfast we went into Fulton’s General Store to do a bit of last minute shopping. I love love love shopping at the resort shops, especially on going home days. It’s my way of extending the magic a little longer. I got a Mickey charm for my Pandora bracelet (yay!) and a few other things and then it was time to head back to the room.

We got all of our stuff together and got ready to hit the road. Here I am pouting about having to leave my happy place.

We got in the car and headed home. It was an absolutely amazing weekend trip that felt so much longer than a weekend. The site visit was great and now we are just that much more excited for our Disney wedding!

*Now we will return to our not-so-regularly scheduled wedding planning posts. Thanks for reading about our trip!

 

[Fay]

Looks like you guys had a blast!

Love the sad face at the end!

XXX

 

[CinderALLIE]

Ha Ha, loving the pouting cause I have to leave face.

 

[luvvwl]

What a fun trip! I've never seen that pink dress before! I'll have to look for it!