Something Borrowed, Blue, COLD & New - A Disney Wedding Extravaganza! Update: 11/15 (pg. 15)

Oh wow, July 4th must have been an interesting experience!

It was. So many people in Epcot. Plus, it rained, so ... overall, not my favorite. But the post-Illuminations 4th of July fireworks were really cool.

Very cool that you got to meet Richard! I've read so many stories about him and how special he was, so I'm sad that I never got to meet him. And I love all of your pictures from the Grand Floridian!

I'm excited to read about your experience at GKTW. That's such an incredible place, and I'm sure volunteering there must have been a really special and fulfilling experience.
 
We actually haven't taken it out of the box yet :sad2: - that's how we tend to be though haha. We bought a pressure cooker a few years ago, and it sat in the box for over a year - now we use it a few times every week haha.

Well, unbox that bad boy!

I love the warmth!

How about now?

And all the US readers are missing out.

::yes::

We had the VIP transportation pass :thumbsup2

Always a good one to have. :)

It's expensive, but we did two Disneyland trip plus this wedding trip while my pass was valid, so I actually did come out ahead by purchasing it!

Good!

The back row is definitely the best row on Big Thunder!

Okay! I'll get on that..... someday.
 
We got ready for the day, and headed towards the main building to call an Uber to take us to the Grand Floridian.

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Why? You've got transportation right there. Just take one of those.

As soon as we walked in the door, I spotted Richard! For those who don’t know, Richard is a long-time cast member at the Grand who was still working a few days each week as a greeter, despite being in his early 90’s. He’s a bit of a celebrity among the Disney Wedding groups, so of course I had to stop to talk to him, and get a picture with him!

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Nice that you got to meet him. I never did. :sad1:

He’s known for helping Wedding Pavilion brides with the train on their dress while pictures are being taken on the staircase in the Grand Floridian.

I didn't know that!

The Christmas decorations were all still up at the Grand, and I naturally had to take pictures of the tree (and of course, the lobby itself)!

Naturally.

We were starting to get close to our dining reservation, so we headed outside and made our way over to Narcoossee’s for their brunch.

One place I'd love to go. Maybe some day. :)

While we were eating, we received a push-notification that Magic Kingdom had reached capacity

Ugh. C R O W D E D.


Nope.

(This was the view from our table at brunch - so nice!)

Nice view!

I had to take a picture of the Franck's door,

I'd never heard of that.

if you are having a Wishes wedding you actually have an in-person planning session which is held at Franck's (including cake tasting!).

And now I know.

We finally arrived at GKTW around 2:50, so at least we weren’t late for our shift to start.

Not too bad. Only 20 minutes late. :)

For those who don't know, GKTW Village is a non-profit resort in Kissimmee which provides week long vacations for the families of children with life-threatening illnesses.

Wonderful idea.
 
Following along as I was reading your dining review. Hi! Excited to read details of two weeks at Disney. Very sorry to hear you lost someone though. It’s never easy no matter how older you get. Back to lurking for me :tiptoe:
 


I'm glad I didn't fall too far behind here while I was MIA from the DIS this summer!! I really enjoyed our Memories package, perfect for the vow renewal, but boy would I have LOVED to have the excess money to bump it up to a Wishes package! I NEED to get inside Franck's LOL
 
Such a great idea for crazy park day! I had never heard of GKTW before, that's so cool. Its almost bad that there's not a back road to just the MK resorts tho.
 
Okay!! I'm here! :)

And even all caught up. ;) The beginning of your trip sounds like a fantastic one so far. It's always nice to shave off minutes, or even hours, from the trip to the resort and then to your first "thing". You made great time. :cool1:

Looking forward to all the wedding happenings and honeymoon fun! I can't guarantee a keeping up as much as I'd like to, but I certainly am reading along and will chime in as I can. :hug:
 


We were in Disney the first week of January. I couldn't believe how cold it was. I cannot wait to hear about your GKTW volunteering experience. I would love to be able to do that when we go back next year. Looking forward to reading more!
 
Hi Fallon tagging along. I've only got through your intro but looking forward to all your pictures and your TR. Awesome that Luke enjoys Disney too, I'm fortunate that my husband Mark does too. I'm sure we'll get them something cool planned for next May while us gals are at girls only dis meet.
 
party:YAY WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYparty:
wait what we're not going well just guess I'm gonna pee on your stuff so you think of us while your living it up. :cat:
Oh heck no.....I'd be moving south ASAP.

ketchup chips for dayzz! Seriously though, USA – you are missing out by not selling ketchup chips
Never heard if these, but reminds me of my cousin who won't eat potato chips w/o ketchup.

We walked around, revelling in the fact that after months of insane planning for this trip and wedding, there was nothing left we could do and our vacation had begun! It was a bit surreal, and I was very excited for the next two weeks.
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I don’t consider myself a huge fan of fireworks (don’t let the number of times I watched Happily Ever After on this trip fool you haha), but this show – whoa. Just, whoa. Incredible.
Love me some FW's, seeing these and July 4'th are now won my list of dreams.

He unfortunately passed away in June 2018, so I am very glad I stopped to talk to him for a few minutes during this trip <3
I was fortunate to get to meet him in December. :sad:

We were heading to Give Kids the World for a volunteer shift
How sweet of you guys to volunteer your time. This is something I think MArk would like to do. How did you go about volunteering?


Not sure if you realize the pictures in your last post aren't showing.
 
Following along! I think I read your PJ over on the wedding board! I am so sorry you had to deal with the loss of a family member during your wedding week. My cousin passed the day after Christmas this year, so I know how rough it can be at a special time. Looking forward to hearing your story!

I LOVE the GF at Christmas time! The gingerbread house is my favorite thing ever! I am really hoping it is up when we stay there in November, but I think we miss it by a week :(

I love that you volunteered at GKTW! My cousin was granted a wish through the Starlight Foundation and i think that is where she stayed many years ago. She is 25 now and thriving! How did you get involved with the volunteering? It is something I would definitely be interested in.
 
Finally caught back up. So glad you got to see Richard and enjoy some exciting views of the Wedding Pavilion and Franck's. It's still a little hard to believe Richard won't be there smiling at the door each time we visit the Grand anymore. Sounds like a wonderful NYE so far!
 
Love that you all supported GKTW! One of m favorite charities! I need to uncover my sewing machine and make more pillow cases for them (assuming they even give those out still these days). I can't wait to hear about your experience here!

It was such a great experience, I can't wait to share everything about it in my next post!

It was. So many people in Epcot. Plus, it rained, so ... overall, not my favorite. But the post-Illuminations 4th of July fireworks were really cool.

I don't think I realized Epcot did fireworks for July 4th as well!

Very cool that you got to meet Richard! I've read so many stories about him and how special he was, so I'm sad that I never got to meet him. And I love all of your pictures from the Grand Floridian!

I'm so happy he was there that day, he was just the sweetest man. It was very obvious that he loved his job, and genuinely cared about each and every person that passed through the doors of the Grand.

I'm excited to read about your experience at GKTW. That's such an incredible place, and I'm sure volunteering there must have been a really special and fulfilling experience.

It was a really great experience (and we went back the next day too!)
 
Nice that you got to meet him. I never did. :sad1:

He was so sweet!


One place I'd love to go. Maybe some day. :)

I'd like to go for an actual supper there (we only tried the brunch, which was removed as an option a few weeks after we were there)

Ugh. C R O W D E D.

Yep! Not for me!


Nice view!

It really was!

Wonderful idea.

It's a very impressive place!
 
Following along as I was reading your dining review. Hi! Excited to read details of two weeks at Disney. Very sorry to hear you lost someone though. It’s never easy no matter how older you get. Back to lurking for me :tiptoe:

Thanks for following along (even though I've been terrible at responding..and updating...and just being on the Dis in general lately...)

Thank you for the condolences. We just placed my uncle's urn in a Memorial Garden a few weeks ago, so it finally feels like a bit of closure (it took so long because it's in a different city than where he lived, his wife found it too difficult to be in the house they bought together so she's in the process of moving to the same city as her sister and niece - which is where his urn is now resting).

I'm glad I didn't fall too far behind here while I was MIA from the DIS this summer!! I really enjoyed our Memories package, perfect for the vow renewal, but boy would I have LOVED to have the excess money to bump it up to a Wishes package! I NEED to get inside Franck's LOL

What a summer you guys had! I loved seeing all your pictures! Jimmy looked so excited about seeing the Harry Potter lands at Universal - what a cutie he is!

I actually wanted to go with the Memories package, but we had way too much trouble trying to decide on only 4 people that could be there, so we realized Escape was a better option for us. I'd love to maybe do a vow renewal on a Disney Cruise one day...

Such a great idea for crazy park day! I had never heard of GKTW before, that's so cool. Its almost bad that there's not a back road to just the MK resorts tho.

There was no way I was going to Magic Kingdom on NYE, I would have been miserable in those crowds, so GKTW was a great way to spend the day! That traffic though, yuck!
 
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Okay!! I'm here! :)

And even all caught up. ;) The beginning of your trip sounds like a fantastic one so far. It's always nice to shave off minutes, or even hours, from the trip to the resort and then to your first "thing". You made great time. :cool1:

Looking forward to all the wedding happenings and honeymoon fun! I can't guarantee a keeping up as much as I'd like to, but I certainly am reading along and will chime in as I can. :hug:

Welcome! Thanks for joining in! Don't worry about keeping up, it only took me almost a month to get around to responding to these comments haha :sad2:. I'm pretty sure I'm more than a few pages behind on your report now too...

We were in Disney the first week of January. I couldn't believe how cold it was. I cannot wait to hear about your GKTW volunteering experience. I would love to be able to do that when we go back next year. Looking forward to reading more!

It was cold that week, and that's coming from a Canadian who is supposed to be able to handle the cold!
 
Hi Fallon tagging along. I've only got through your intro but looking forward to all your pictures and your TR. Awesome that Luke enjoys Disney too, I'm fortunate that my husband Mark does too. I'm sure we'll get them something cool planned for next May while us gals are at girls only dis meet.

Welcome! Thanks for joining in! It's so awesome having a husband that loves Disney - it makes planning a trip that much easier!

party:YAY WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYparty:
wait what we're not going well just guess I'm gonna pee on your stuff so you think of us while your living it up. :cat:

Haha, those two are my kittens, and they definitely missed us! I wish I could bring all my furbabies with me to Disney though, I miss them all when I'm on vacation :cat::cat::cat::cat::dog::dog:

Oh heck no.....I'd be moving south ASAP.

Haha, it gets to be so miserably cold here sometimes. One of my life goals is to become a SnowBird haha (it's what they call Canadians who spend the winter months in a warmer climate)

Never heard if these, but reminds me of my cousin who won't eat potato chips w/o ketchup.

Remind me, and I'll try to bring ketchup chips with me next May!


Love me some FW's, seeing these and July 4'th are now won my list of dreams.

The NYE fireworks (on December 30th) were so impressive! I loved them!

I was fortunate to get to meet him in December. :sad:

Wasn't he the sweetest!

How sweet of you guys to volunteer your time. This is something I think MArk would like to do. How did you go about volunteering?

It's such a great place! To volunteer, just go to their website and there's an online application. Once it's been reviewed, someone will reach out to you via email (at least, that's how it was for us - they might call you if you're an American)


Not sure if you realize the pictures in your last post aren't showing.

Weird. I can see them? Are they still missing for you?
 
Following along! I think I read your PJ over on the wedding board! I am so sorry you had to deal with the loss of a family member during your wedding week. My cousin passed the day after Christmas this year, so I know how rough it can be at a special time. Looking forward to hearing your story!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in!

Sorry to hear about your cousin :hug:. It makes for such a rollercoaster when a death occurs at a time that should be happy.


I LOVE the GF at Christmas time! The gingerbread house is my favorite thing ever! I am really hoping it is up when we stay there in November, but I think we miss it by a week :(

It smells so amazing! Hopefully you'll get to see it!


I love that you volunteered at GKTW! My cousin was granted a wish through the Starlight Foundation and i think that is where she stayed many years ago. She is 25 now and thriving! How did you get involved with the volunteering? It is something I would definitely be interested in.

To volunteer, we just applied through their website!

Following along!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in!

Finally caught back up. So glad you got to see Richard and enjoy some exciting views of the Wedding Pavilion and Franck's. It's still a little hard to believe Richard won't be there smiling at the door each time we visit the Grand anymore. Sounds like a wonderful NYE so far!

I need to go get caught up on your report, I'm so far behind on everyone's!

I only had a chance to meet Richard the once, but what a sweet old man!
 
December 31, 2017 - Part Two
Give Kids the World

We checked in at Give Kids the World and were led to the Ice Cream Palace where a supervisor gave us a quick run-down of what we needed to do. Our shift began at 3, and lasted until 6:30pm.

There were eight kinds of ice cream available, plus non-dairy options were kept in a freezer in the back room to avoid cross-contamination. The families staying at the Village had no limit on what/how much they could order – or when! The ice cream palace opened every day for breakfast! There was hot fudge and hot caramel for sundaes, bananas for banana splits, milk and mixers for milkshakes, sprinkles, Oreo bits, etc for toppings and a Coke freestyle machine for drinks (or floats!).​

The ice cream shop itself was decorated with a CandyLand theme, and was very bright, colourful and fun!​

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Our 3.5 hour shift wasn’t overly busy, but it did stay steady. Even when we had downtime, we kept busy by wiping down tables, restocking ice cream, making sure the napkin dispensers were full, etc. Creativity was encouraged, and I made some crazy concoctions during our time there! A banana split with hot fudge and Oreo crumbs and a dozen cherries on top? Done! A milkshake with cherries and sprinkles blended into it? Done!

It was a really fun way to spend an afternoon, and all too soon our shift was over. It was dark out by this point, and we took our time walking through the village and seeing it all lit up. They actually celebrate Christmas one day every week, Halloween one day a week and have a birthday party for the children once a week, so I believe it stays decorated year round.

I’ve been asked a few times already how we went about even setting up this volunteer shift. It was actually very easy, you just need to fill out an application on their website, http://www.gktw.org/volunteer/

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After we signed out, we called an Uber to take us back to Disney property. We were dropped off at Disney Springs and the driver dropped us off on the east side. I believe they are supposed to do drop offs on the west side by the old Cirque du Solieil building now, so I don’t know if this driver didn’t know that or if it was just easier with the NYE traffic. I prefer being dropped off on the east side, and it worked out perfectly for checking out the Christmas Tree Trail. Enjoy my million pictures from this!​

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*continued in next post*​
 

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