An Awesomely Awesome Wedding Trip: Court & Janna 10/7/2011

[jshora]

Okay, so I know it's a bit early to be filling out a trip report. But if I don't start it now, I'll forget things!!! I'll have pictures up later to go with the stories.

Friday, Sept 30th: Day 1/2 - After work, we hopped on a plane from MSP to MCO. Everything went pretty smoothly. I carried my wedding dress on to the plane with me. My arms were crying by the time we reached our gate. Having never carried my dress for a long period of time, I didn't realize how heavy it is! When we boarded the plane the attendants were wonderful! My dress couldn't fit in their closet and they didnt want to roll it up and put it in an overhead. So, my dress had the honor of hanging in the cockpit with the pilot. It was pretty cool. The flight was uneventful. We got into MCO 30 min early at 11pm. Exhausted, we picked up our luggage and headed to the Airport Hyatt (the hotel located right inside MCO). We grabbed a bite to eat and then passed out.

Saturday, Oct 1st: Day 1 - We woke up that morning, got our stuff together and then headed to the Magical Express. We kinda lied about our flight coming and said it was this morning, not last night. We just didn't want to get to deal with the bus and everything last night at 11pm. Sleep is what we needed so we told them we were on a flight that got in at 7:20am. It was fun as we were the only ones on the bus. We were dropped off in front of the Polynesian and I started whispering a whine to DF that we didn't get lei'd. I was actually upset about this, but continued to follow the nice lady to our room. We checked in with our concierge, Maria, who was wonderful. Of course our room wasn't ready, we didn't expect it to be as we were really early. After much pleading with me and reassurance, she was able to loosen my grip on my dress and convince me to put it into storage. She invited us to check out the breakfast on the second level of the Hawaii building, the concierge lobby. Of course we had to take advantage of free breakfast. It was okay. They had bagels, pastries, cold cereal, and oatmeal. After that we were off to catch a cab to Packet Pick-up for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon. That went very smoothly and we were all set for our relay race. Deciding not to take a cab, we caught a bus from the World Wide of Sports to the Beach Club. From there we walked to guest relations at the International Gateway at EPCOT to get our Annual Passes. Then we wandered through EPCOT to get to the monorail. On our way through EPCOT we walked through Canada to check out the location for our EPCOT photo session on Thursday. I was just about ready to spit nails when I saw a huge, ugly construction tarp around the Canadian Pavilion. It was under construction!!!! This now made two places under construction!!!! I was pissed but decided Japan was our most favored location and we could easily do another spot. So I calmed down as we headed back to the Polynesian, where our room was still not ready. So, we headed to the Wedding Pavilion to check out the construction. There wasn't any noise!! Yay!! I have to admit that the walls aren't completely ugly, but they do come right up to the Pavilion. They just make me sick. I can't help it. Knowing, however, that I would be sick if I changed locations we just decided to stick with the plan of having the ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion. After that we headed back to the Polynesian, stopped by to grab some snacks, and then room was finally ready! We were placed in the Honeymoon room in the Tonga building. It was gorgeous!!!! We grabbed a quick bite to each from Captain Cooks, unpacked our things, and headed to the Magic Kingdom. It was the fortieth Anniversary of Disney World and I wanted to see the statue of Walt and Mickey. So, that's what we did. Right around 5pm we headed up to the Sushi Bar at the Kona Kafe for a light dinner. That was lovely and then we headed back to our room to get ready for our race. Everything for the race went great! We completed the relay in around 2.5 hours, finishing in EPCOT right around 12:45am. Taking advantage of the smaller crowds, we hit up Soarin' and grabbed a bit to eat before heading back to the room. At that point in time it hit us that we were cold, tired, and a bit sore. All we wanted was a hot shower. It's now about 2am and we turn on the shower only to find no hot water. After going back and forth with the front desk, we called it a night around 2:30am (still with no hot water).

 

[jshora]

Sunday, Oct 2nd: Day 2 - We woke up and it started out as a great day!!! We had hot water and $100 placed on our room key courtesy of the Polynesian for the hot water troubles. We got packed up our stuff (except my dress), called bell services to do a hotel transfer, grabbed more free breakfast, and headed to the Contemporary to check into the Bay Lake Towers. This is where the day really started. We get off the monorail, make our way to the lobby, and Court goes to check in. They were so sweet and let me drape my dress over some furniture so I didn't have to hold it. Now, at this time the fact that I didn't get to bed until 2:30am is starting to hit me and I'm getting tired. So, I just stand back with my dress as Court handles things. The next thing I know he is looking back at me with not a happy look. I go up there to figure out what is going on and that's when they drop the bomb on me. All of our DVC reservations have been cancelled. I couldn't help it, I lose it and just burst out into tears. The poor lady behind the desk felt aweful and she ran off as fast as she could to fix this. A senior Cast Member comes out with his laptop to figure out what happened. So, here is the low down. Court's parents are DVC member and they gifted us points to make our reservations. So, we used their member number to book our rooms. So, now the DVC system had two sets of reservations (one for Court and I and one for his parents) at different resorts all under their last name, Loeffler. It puked so they cancelled our reservation and re-booked under my name. We, of course, were never told this and would have never thought to look under my name. So, everything was good. We had our rooms and reservations. It was just a bit much for me at the time. Once again, I calmed down and we proceeded to our room. At that point in time we both recognized that there was definitely a need for a nap. So, nap we did and it was lovely. We woke up and headed over to Hollywood Studios to catch our 6:15pm reservations. We had it all figured out: 6:15pm reservations at the Brown Derby, get back to the BLT around 7:45pm, and hit Mickey's Not So Scary at 8pm (after the gate rush). We get to the Brown Derby and they inform us that they are running about an hour behind with their reservations. We look at each other and once again, I'm ready to spit nails. The Brown Derby is one of our favorite places to eat and this was the only night we could fit in reservations there. So, we get on the phone with Disney Dining and quickly change our reservation to Lunch on Tuesday (the only other time we could possibly fit it in). The we hoof it over to EPCOT because we are starving at this time and need food fast. We call Via Napoli on the way there, we get there, wait 10 min, and get in. Whew... Then we get the slowest server possible. During our 10 min wait, we decide what we want to eat so when she comes to introduce ourselves, we place our order. We take a deep breath and start to calm down a bit. We get our food pretty quickly and it was a lovely meal. Then we sit there for at least 15 - 20 min while she has a conversation with another table. Literally a conversation about Italy. Now, the clock is ticking and we need/want to get to Mickey's Not So Scary for the fireworks at 9:30pm. She finally comes over, we give her everything to pay, and she takes her time to process all of it and get back to us. We once again hoof it to the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom. It's now around 8:15pm. We get to the Transportation and Ticket Center to find out the monorail to the MK is closed and we have to catch a Ferry. Luckily, there was a ferry there waiting for us. Around 9pm, we finally get in the gate to Mickey's Not So Scary. We meet up with some of my family, watch the fireworks, watch the parade, hit a couple of rides, and get home around 12:30am. Another late night....

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

I'm here! I hope it gets much better from here!! How was MNSSHP?? I would have melted down over the hot water and reservations too--I'm glad it worked out!!

Have a great rest of the trip!!!

 

[roxysmum123]

So, my dress had the honor of hanging in the cockpit with the pilot. It was pretty cool.

Did your dress get frisked in order to sit in there??

Glad you're there and in one piece, thinking about you guys over the next few days!!

 

[roxysmum123]

Not sure if I'm going to get on here tomorrow, so I just wanted to say
HAPPY DAY BEFORE YOUR WEDDING DAY

and don't read the next part till tomorrow

..................


HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!

Hope it's everything you dreamed of!

 

[jshora]

Just a quick update..

I'm Married!!! Yay!!!

It was absolutely magical! I can't wait to write the trip report, but right now we just got into the hotel in Miami and we leave for our honeymoon cruise tomorrow. I will write it up as much as I can, but rest and relaxation come first!

Thank you so much everyone for your well wishes! I can't wait to see our pictures and then post them!!!

 

[Pinkgirl]

Congratulations.​

I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

 

[Chilly]

Congratulations!

Not the best start but i'm sure it got much better.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Were you having some pictures done at the Poly with Randy at about 8 or 8:30 a.m. on the 7th?

I am 99.9% sure that DMom and I saw you!

We were walking from the Hawaii longhouse to the Great Ceremonial House and you and your DH were too (then DF I suppose! lol).

I turned and congratulated you out front of the Great Ceremonial House and just realized now that it was you

Hope your wedding was fantastic!

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

I think I met your DH's sister at the last showing of Impressions de France on Saturday night, the 8th (if he has a sister that is!)! She was the only other one in the theater besides me and DH. She said she was from MN and her brother got married at the WP on Friday. I had to come check to see if there were any Disbrides with that date. If it was her, tell her the "non talking couple" from the movie says hi - she'll know what it means, haha!

Congrats on your wedding and hope you're having a fab honeymoon.

 

[brer rabbit 28]

I hope you had the most magical day and I can't believe you started you TR already!!! Enjoy your honeymoon and tell us everything when you get back xx

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

CONGRATS on being a MRS.!!!

Can't wait to hear about your magical wedding

 

[jshora]

Not sure if I'm going to get on here tomorrow, so I just wanted to say
HAPPY DAY BEFORE YOUR WEDDING DAY

and don't read the next part till tomorrow

..................


HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!

Hope it's everything you dreamed of!

Congratulations.​

I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

Congratulations!

Not the best start but i'm sure it got much better.

Thank you so much!!

Were you having some pictures done at the Poly with Randy at about 8 or 8:30 a.m. on the 7th?

I am 99.9% sure that DMom and I saw you!

We were walking from the Hawaii longhouse to the Great Ceremonial House and you and your DH were too (then DF I suppose! lol).

I turned and congratulated you out front of the Great Ceremonial House and just realized now that it was you

Hope your wedding was fantastic!

Yes! That was us!

I think I met your DH's sister at the last showing of Impressions de France on Saturday night, the 8th (if he has a sister that is!)! She was the only other one in the theater besides me and DH. She said she was from MN and her brother got married at the WP on Friday. I had to come check to see if there were any Disbrides with that date. If it was her, tell her the "non talking couple" from the movie says hi - she'll know what it means, haha!

Congrats on your wedding and hope you're having a fab honeymoon.

I just asked.. It was her! Too funny! She says hi and told me the story. How fun!!

I hope you had the most magical day and I can't believe you started you TR already!!! Enjoy your honeymoon and tell us everything when you get back xx

CONGRATS on being a MRS.!!!

Can't wait to hear about your magical wedding

Thank you so much everyone!!! The wedding and the honeymoon were absolutely magical! I'll get started on the rest of our trip report tonight and add some pictures!

 

[jshora]

Okay, so I'm just going to throw this in here before writing about Day 3. I'm sorry if my trip report is a bit bare right now. Life has just been a bit chaotic for us. We got back from our honeymoon last Sunday, both of us with horrible colds. On Monday I turned in my two week resignation notice as I have officially been hired by Disney! Wahoo! So, on Nov 1st we get to move from Minnesota to Seattle (Walt Disney Parks and Resort's Online). As you may also recall, our at home reception is today. So, this week I have had to deal with a cold, resign from my job, tell my parents that we are moving, get everything ready for the at home reception today, hire movers, and try and find a place to live in Seattle. If you can't tell, we've been a bit busy! I promise to try and get some pictures up over the weekend!!!

 

[jshora]

Monday, Oct 3rd: Well, we wanted to have a day where we could sleep in, but that just wasn't going to happen. Today was marriage license day. We needed to get from BLT to Pop Century around 8am to meet up with my aunt and her DF. They had gotten a rental car so all of us were going to go to the courthouse together to get our marriage licenses (they asked us earlier and we told them that it was okay if they eloped during our wedding week). So, we get on a bus outside of BLT to go to somewhere to grab a bus to go to PC. The first bus that comes along at 7am is for Hollywood Studios. We jump on it and away we go. We get there and the park is not open yet (still not sure why they were running buses) but we figured since we got there on a bus there had to be a bus to come pick us up, right? Not so much. So, there we stood at the bus stop for 15 - 20 min before a bus pulled up and said, "We're not running back to the resorts yet, but they noticed you were standing there so a bus will be sent soon.". Okay, cool. 10 min later a bus comes and brings us to PC. We grab a bite to eat with my aunt and her DF and off we go. We're all happily riding in the car when she tells us that we are going to the Osceola Courthouse and not the Orange County Courthouse, fine not big deal I'll just fill out another app when I get there, and asks us if we have our passports. The Orange County Courthouse website said that we only needed our driver's license, so that's all we brought. So the rest of the car ride was spent trying to be pleasant and not act like we are totally nervous about getting there and being able to get our license.

We get there, drive around forever to try and find a place to park, walk up to the building and there is a line wrapped around the front of the building. Now we are all nervous about how long this is going to take us. Turns out the line was moving quickly as it was just a line to get through security to get into the building. We get up to the second floor where the marriage license office is and there is no one in line. My aunt and her DF step right up and get started, we read the rules and see we only need our driver's license (big sigh of relief), fill out an application, and hop in line. Shortly thereafter we are all walking out with our licenses! Wahoo!!!

Once we get back we decide we are starving, luckily we had a Food & Wine Festival not too far from us. So we hop the monorail and head to EPCOT. Our first stop was the main convention center (I can't remember what it is called, I think Wonder's of Life Pavilion or something) and we hit the Festival shops in there to pick up gifts for people back home. Then we proceed to start our journey eating around the world. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but just enough to get our bellies full.

After that we headed back to our room to get ready for my Aunt's elopement. We got spiffied up a bit, walked to the Magic Kingdom, and hopped a bus to Pop Century (so totally should have done that earlier in the morning). Everyone was all excited and we all packed into rental cars and headed to Celebration. At 4pm in the afternoon in a little park in Celebration, FL my aunt and her DF (now DH) were married! It was a beautiful little ceremony.

After that we headed back to Pop Century, grabbed a bus, went back to the BLT and changed clothes real quick, and headed to the Kona Cafe. That night all of us had a mini-reception dinner at the Kona Cafe for my Aunt and her husband (thank you LurkyLoo for filling me in on the Celebrate cakes! They personalized one for them!!). We all had a lovely dinner together before everyone parted and went their own way.

Since we were DVC members staying at the BLT, we HAD to go check out the Top of the World Lounge! OMG! It's gorgeous up there! Both Court and I were like, "And why didn't we have our reception up here?!". It was just about time for Wishes, so we stood outside and watched. I have to admit, it was nice but Wishes is 10 times better from the ground. The fireworks were waaay off of the castle in the sky and it just wasn't the same. It was still cool, but not the same.

After all was said and done, we went back to the room and crashed for our first real night of good, long sleep!

 

[roxysmum123]

Sounds like your life has been "go go go" for the past few weeks! Thanks for thinking of us and giving us a few updates when you can, but no pressure to get the rest done we'll just wait patiently! Have SO much fun at your at home reception today!!

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

I just asked.. It was her! Too funny! She says hi and told me the story. How fun!!

How cool! What a small world!

 

[jshora]

Day 4 - Wednesday, October 4th:

The morning started by checking out of Bay Lake Towers and checking into the Beach Club Villas. Well, actually it started by making a run over to Franck's where we dropped off everything for our wedding (and took a quick picture of the Wedding Pavilion sign for Ruth). Then I made my way over to the Beach Club Villas while Court took care of calling Bell Services and the moving our stuff. I met up with my sister and my sister-in-law and we grabbed a taxi to head to Reflections Day Spa for nails and toes. First of all, we get lost getting there. The taxi driver has no clue where he is going. Secondly, we get there and the person that does their acrylic nails had quit, so there was no one to do a fill for my nails. It was just crazy. We got our toes done and my sister and sister-in-law got their nails done. Then we headed back to the Boardwalk where my sister-in-law went off to meet her family for lunch. My sister and I scurried over to the Swan for a quick bite to eat and to hopefully get me into the spa there for my nails, no luck. They were full. So, then I called Perwig's in desperation. Luckily, they were able to get me in so I could get my nails done before the wedding. So, my sister dropped me off there and went to get some errands done. She came back to pick me up around 3pm and then we had to head to the front desk of the Beach Club as the room was finally ready. We waited for Bell Services to bring up the transferred luggage and we were off to EPCOT for my bachelorette party. We meet up with my sister-in-law and two of my dearest friends (they live in Ft. Lauderdale and drove up for this and the wedding).

The party was a blast! They made me a "Future Mrs. Loeffler" sash, I wore a pretty pink tiara, and they set up a scavenger hunt for me! We also each got personalize shot glasses. The scavenger hunt was too much fun! She put together a clue book full of quotes from different Disney movies. It was the "Sexy Disney Heroes Scavenger Hunt". Her husband stayed ahead of us and placed enveloped with pictures of "Sexy Disney Heroes" that I had to find. Then I had to match the Hero with Disney quotes which would give me the clue to the next location. The first stop was Mexico where we went to the Tequila Bar and I had to do a flight of Tequila before the bartender would give me my clue. Then we just worked our way around the world, drinking and having fun. If you are curious about the "Sexy Disney Heroes" pictures, they are PG-13 and located at: http://davidkawena.deviantart.com/gallery/89102. The party ended at Morocco where we had a great dinner. The whole night was just a blast!

After that I met up with Court and we headed to the Magic Kingdom for "the Magic, the Memories, and You" show! Oh my gosh!! That is like the best show ever!!! If you are at the Magic Kingdom and it's playing on the castle, GO SEE IT! Of course, we stayed for Wishes after that. Then we took a deep breath, headed back to our room, and crashed.

 

[jshora]

In more exciting news.... We got our pictures from Randy yesterday. I had to bring it down to 1000 picture (out of 1600) as Picasa only allows albums of up to 1000 pictures. Here you go!

Court & Janna - 10/7/2011

 

[Chilly]

Founds like a really fun night!