Jess & Ben's Wishes Wedding 11/18/14 Sea Breeze Point/Backstage Prop Shop

[edeneye]

Saturday November 8
10 days to go

We have a strange, unintended tradition. Whenever we go to Florida, for some reason our Saturdays are spent at Universal Studios (*gasp* - yep, I know; the dark side). And once again, that continued. Again we were up early, trying to get out and make the most of our time. Again, Jess' parents didn't see the rush and we didn't set off until around 9am. We drove, of course - in fact I think I drove on every day of this trip, including the wedding day - and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that drive. For some reason I always find myself in the wrong lane when it comes time to finding the parking entry - maybe I'm still on the wrong side of the road.

We have a further Universal tradition - Jess has scoliosis which at Universal entitles her to a disability pass. Once we entered the park, rather than making our planned mad dash for the new (to us) Diagon Alley expansion, Jess went to Guest Services while I applied enough sunscreen for our whole group. For some reason Jess has no troubles getting this pass at all but if she asks at Disney (Land or World, it doesn't matter) she just has no chance at all. We spoke to a CM about it and they essentially boiled it down to that unless you have an autistic child or are in a scooter, you're not getting one.

So anyway, off we went to check out the new expansion via the Simpsons expansion which was under construction last time we visited. While passing through, we saw a photo opportunity with Krusty and Sideshow Bob and despite Jess' hurry - Universal brings out a pace in Jess not even seen in Disney Parks - we couldn't pass up that pairing.

And then Diagon Alley. It. Was. PACKED. Absolutely wall to wall with muggles. It was astonishingly well done but just so busy. That was expected, of course, hence our failed attempt at getting in early. We walked straight to the Gringott's ride so that Jess could get a return time as we expected the wait to be over 30 minutes (the disability passes work as such - if the posted wait is under 30mins you can get straight in through the fastpass line, if it is greater than 30 you get a time when you can return and do the same). We turn around however and Jess' parents have completely disappeared in the crowd - as I said, they don't really share the manic pace that we do. Once we do gather them, it turns out we need to store anything we are carrying in lockers. Wow - this must be a pretty intense ride! This makes Jess' mum err on the side of caution - she's not a thrillseeker by any stretch when it comes to rides and though she adores Harry Potter she decided to sit this one out and mind the bags.

By the time we were ready to get on the ride, we were lucky that the wait was still exactly 30mins and we were allowed straight through. The trouble with this is that the queue areas are so well done that you kinda want to stop and take in the whole experience. It's pretty awesome not having to though. And now the ride itself. I had NO idea what to expect. I gathered that there might be some spinning and that it seems like it goes kinda fast. There were the usual motion sickness warnings which makes me apprehensive because I suffer just that. But there just isn't much out there that gave us a good indication of what happens inside so when it goes through its initial drop I was wondering what I'd got myself in to. But then the ride did what it does (I wont spoil it) and it was fun and all but as soon as it stopped Jess' dad involuntarily said exactly what we were all thinking 'was that it?'. We'd have a similar experience in the coming days with another new attraction, it was impressive, it was fun and surprised us at times, but we were glad we didn't just line up for hours for it.

Somehow, by the time we left Diagon Alley after a brief look at the wait time for the Hogwarts Express (over an hour already, NOPE), it was actually lunch time somehow. We had done ONE THING! Oh well, we doubled back to the new Simpsons area to check out their new food court. And we thought Diagon Alley was packed..

For those who haven't been, the new Simpsons area has numerous facades that look like an array of stores from the show but inside it is actually a unified food court with various action stations serving as the different 'stores'. All of these stations share a single line. If you want the I-never-saw-a-line-for-it-the-whole-trip salad bar - get in line. On the days we went, basically everyone is lining up for Krusty Burger and a few for Moe's. The other stations were always relatively unencumbered, not that it matters when its all one line. It is a strange setup but clearly one they've committed to. I'd hate to see it in summer. You cannot sit at a table and wait for your party either, if you're not eating then you better move along. Being a new 'attraction' this, like Diagon Alley, gets seriously overrun at peak periods. As for the food, I got a pizza from the consistently empty Luigi's station and while it doesn't say much I'd rate it above Disney pizza! Jess had a Krusty burger which I didn't mind but she really wasn't keen on the special sauce. It's basic quick service but without any of the quickness.

From there, honestly the day was a bit of a blur. Jess' parents and Jess & I have distinctly different philosophies when on holiday. They want to relax, shop, drink coffee and go at a slow pace in new surrounds. We want to go, go, go and get as much done as possible. We try not to do anything that we could do at home (and for me this pretty much extends as far as 'sit down' and 'sleep' - I'll do that when I get home!). So we essentially dragged Jess' poor parents around Universal trying to cover everything we thought we'd enjoy. We did Twister, Jess & her dad went on The Mummy, we roamed around a little and eventually wandered over to Islands of Adventure.

While at IoA, the Green Goblin visited us to talk about Harry Potter. Yep, I'm not even kidding.

Here the day turned a little. I'd mentioned that Jess' mum is quite skittish with rides but they somehow talked her in to going on Spiderman. It was definitely on the edge of what she can comfortably handle but you could tell she felt good about herself for braving it and coming out the other side. So we told her if she can do that she can definitely do a lot of other things. That day she went on the Forbidden Journey, Transformers, Minion Mayhem, The Cat in the Hat and at the end of the day we convinced her to come with us on Gringott's. That was definitely pushing it for her but it was fun to see her at a park and being free of the shackles of being scared to go on things, you could see she was enjoying it and was starting to ask what we were going to go on next!

But Universal days are always short days. Unfortunately this trip we didn't even get to ET at all and numerous other things we might normally ride or visit. Just ahead of closing time we headed back to the car. But instead of going back to WDW we went into town - we were off to the Amway Center to take in our second Orlando Solar Bears game.

Jess & I had been to Amway a couple of times before but it was Jess' parents first time. We had a good walk around the concourse while Jess' dad took pictures of the Magic walk of fame and the venue itself. We stopped at a merch stand and after loooooong deliberation we decided to get three jerseys; one in black for me and two white ones for my groomsmen. I already had a jersey from our first trip but in the madness of packing I totally forgot to bring the one item that should've been a foregone conclusion. Jess put on one of the boys' jerseys and I proudly wore mine and we wisely got hot dogs in our new apparel before settling in to our seats directly behind the Solar Bears' bench (we chose these as soon as they went on sale).

I took this on my phone. No zoom. That's how close we were.

Sadly, that night wasn't the night for our Bears. They absolutely went down in flames to the tune of 2-5. It was a shame because the first game we went to was an amazing spectacle and ended in a multiple round shootout when the teams couldn't be split. We were hoping we could share that excitement with Jess' parents but this was a bit of an off night! Still, they appreciated the game and certainly enjoyed the experience even if it wasn't quite so intense and hotly contested this time around. If you're looking for something to do in town and are thinking about seeing the Magic - I say pfft, go see the Solar Bears! We've done both and as complete neutrals we enjoyed that so much more. We will see the Bears play any time we have an opportunity, it is a great time and so reasonably priced (especially compared to the NBA). We love it, we'll definitely be back.

Lets go Bears!

After the game we were headed back to WDW. Jess & I wanted to stop at World of Disney so we could finally get the plush favours for our guests (DFTW didn't offer much of a range so we decided to source them ourselves - and why not since we were passholders and thus entitled to a discount) but it was decided we needed to go to WalMart first. Somehow this WalMart excursion again lasted OVER AN HOUR. It was fruitful at least because in that time, Jess bought a verizon sim card for her phone so that she'd have a local number she could be reached on, but this was mostly time lost as we indulged Jess' parents pace. It had been a long day after all.

Once we dragged Jess' mum out, we rushed over to World of Disney to find we were too late and it had closed. We were delivering our favours to Franck's on Monday morning so that left us without an option, tomorrow was going to be a shopping day. We were getting increasingly frustrated being at WDW but being so busy with stuff that our days were just vanishing right before our eyes.

Not to mention that night included yet another trip to the concierge desk at Movies. These are all a blur to me because there was NUMEROUS but I'm pretty sure this was regarding our room block. We had been told to come back that evening as the room assignments would be done for the following day and the first of our guests were due to arrive. Despite having already visited twice, emailing our room block coordinator and having notes put on every reservation about everything, nothing was changed. Our two guests were going to be next to each other - on the other side of the building from us. We finally got to speak to a manager who could make no promises beyond that she'd see what she can do and she'll be in touch the next day.

Our dream trip was requiring far more maintenance than we'd imagined. Things we never imagined would be problems were somehow stealing valuable time from us. We were tired and frustrated. But we were at Disney. I still had my must-dos on TV (well, after a few days when the reception improved and that channel worked again) and our housekeeper had begun making towel animals having neglected to do so the first few days. We went to bed hoping for an efficient, productive day and a resolution to the room block troubles.

Beautiful photos!

They made us so happy! I'm not sure how wide the news got reported but when we received them was almost the instant the siege in Sydney came to its end. That was all over every tv station here and it was a perfect time to peek into a time capsule and look at some happy images after a long emotional day.

BEAUTIFUL photos!! They are absolutely stunning! Also... did I somehow miss the description of your cake design before? It looks amazing!

Thanks! I'd sortof mentioned it quite abstractly I think but there has certainly never been a picture of it before. Jess drew up the design based on a couple of things she'd seen and the chefs got back to us with their interpretation. The cake topper Wall-E & Eve are a couple of toys Jess bought on eBay and made a little hat and veil for (she had also made some glasses for Wall-E so that he'd resemble me even more but that didn't quite work out). It was such a crazy day we were really glad the Roots took pictures of the cake because we seriously didn't get a moment to look at it - I barely remembered what it looked like!

Forgive me Ben for falling behind!! I've got to stop reading posts unless I have time to properly respond to them, otherwise I forget

I'm so sad your time in Florida started off so unmagically, especially for Jess - my heart broke when you told us how upset she got. Thank Walt for Snow White; I'm so happy she was able to cheer her up and I'm so glad you guys got some real Disney magic finally - I think Walt would have been proud to see that.

Thank you for posting your Backstage Magic experience! I've never really looked into any of the tours (as Kevin's taken most of them and well, I basically LIVED in the utilidors for 7 months when I worked in Tomorrowland!) but I really think that's one I'd like to do someday, especially to see backstage at Studios and Animal Kingdom (as those are new to me!) I hope Jess knows you posted that picture of her - don't let your PJ get you in husband trouble!

Those photos are completely stunning. I'm so glad you used The Roots, they seem like the perfect fit for your day. I can't wait for you to get more!

Oh I do the same thing! I really need to allow a good hour or two if I'm going to be on the Dis because it takes so long to get a response or a post together and then all of a sudden the choice is 'Dis' or 'minimum acceptable amount of sleep'.

I think we're kinda jealous that you got to become so familiar with the utilidors! I'm sure they're anything but glamourous and exciting when you're there in a work capacity but I remember thinking at the time that if I worked at Disney World I'd feel like I was missing out if it wasn't in the Magic Kingdom just because I wouldn't get to go down there! Its such a silly thing to be drawn to but its almost legendary so it was really exciting to visit.

And thanks! We absolutely adored the Roots and the photos they've shared with us so far make us so happy we made that choice. We went to a wedding over the weekend where the photographer was in the middle of EVERYTHING. He was calling for poses and having people look as if they were doing certain things and we were just so happy that wasn't the style we chose. What we've seen so far from that wedding is lovely but it's just not what we were looking for at all, I love all the real moments and its so special looking back and seeing things captured exactly as they were.

Those pics are great! I love the big cracker on the cheese platter! And the cake! And Goofy! And everything! All is very well themed, but also so elegant! Can't wait to hear the whole story.

haha Thanks! We're so glad people took pictures of the cheese display because we never got to see it in person. Our wedding coordinator actually took one on her phone and showed it to us that night, knowing how curious about it we were! We didn't know until yesterday that the Roots got to see it at all. Goofy was so much fun, we loved having Mickey & Minnie arrive and dance and help us cut the cake but we were really looking forward to having fun with Donald and Goofy afterward because they're always such a good time to be around. Poor old Goof had some issues with his hat that he had to go fix at one point but everyone really enjoyed their visit.

 

[Aschenputtel]

Universal! It's definitely on my bucket list for our wedding trip since my MOH is the biggest HP fan ever (and a thrill seeker as well). I'm glad you got the pics in a time when you needed them the most - when I turned on the news Monday morning and heard about the siege I immediately thought of you both and then I looked and my phone and saw that you were online and posting which was a big relief for me.
We just wrote The Roots to book an engagement session for our first trip to WDW which makes me even more excited to see the pics of your wedding!!!

 

[elphie101]

The utilidors never stop being fascinating - unless you're walking by a particularly smelly part (ew, Cosmic Rays).

Our Best Man also commented on The Roots that they had made the day so stress free, more than any other wedding he had been a part of (5 to date!) That's just their magical touch.

How DARE you go to the Dark Side?! (Ok, we did too ) Look at Jess' mother going out on a limb and trying so many new things! I know exactly what you mean at moving at a GOGOGOGO pace - and how you can get sucked into the black hole of Wal Mart!

Never are there so many errands in a Disney trip as on a wedding trip, I hear ya! Eagerly here awaiting more

 

[edeneye]

Well here comes another epic pic dump - because WE GOT OUR PICTURES! Excuse the repeated break in proceedings but just yesterday while I was at work I got an email from the Roots to say that our full gallery was available. I sat down on my lunch break and smiled until my face hurt. That evening we had a Christmas Dinner at the home of one of Jess' Bridesmaids and we all sat together and looked at the photos for the first time.

But enough of that, on with the show:

Jess (in her Little Mermaid dressing gown) having her final makeup touches done.

I genuinely needed help with my tie tack, I was not going to let it sit anywhere but the absolute centre of my tie.

As Jensey would say; faaaaaaaaaaaaavourite. Look at my bride!

Jess & the girls sharing a moment - I'm told Jess was an absolute bundle of nerves all day until the moment she saw me.

The boys and I being posers. We had been to the Twister attraction at Universal and were quite inspired by Bill Paxton's intensity. Here we are recreating that to the best of our ability.

Just after she was escorted up the aisle, here I am trying to get a good look at my bride.

The Dans also presiding over our ceremony. They sang songs all throughout and we couldn't imagine having it any other way.

Well what can I say? It was a cold day, Jess' Maid of Honour was looking for some shelter!

We're not hams. No, no. We're the whole pig.

Having a bit of fun with our portrait session. As we did with everything else that day!

We had a quick talk to the Dans after they finished their set at our reception about how awesome they were. They said we should come by and see them at Magic Kingdom and they'll remember us but we never got time to do that and see what would've happened.

A closer look at our cake, Jess dressed up the toppers herself and the initial sketch was Jess' also, based on some other cakes she'd seen.

For those who haven't seen the Prop Shop - he's a nice overview taken from the stairs leading to the restrooms/back half of the venue (it looks as though it can hold two separate functions at once, the other half was curtained off but you could sneak peeks through as you passed by).

We just wish we could've afforded Pluto! ... and Daisy, Chip, Dale, Baloo, King Louie.......

Jess impressing Donald & Goof with her grand array of balloons. We somehow took all those (and possibly more) back to our room that night. We paid for them, we were gonna enjoy them!

Tower of Terror ride photo via Root Photography. Some of the terror is very real indeed. Jess' Bridesmaid and both my Groomsmen were more than a little scared by the idea of going through this particular ride again.

Nathan and Jensey Root you absolute GENIUSES! Nate commented that he felt like a kid in a candy store getting to run around the Hollywood Tower Hotel, even if it was ever so briefly.

Don't mind me, I'm looking for a garter. One of my friends gifted Jess a garter with Minnie Mouse on it but she liked it so much she wore two - one I could toss and that one which she kept on.

The famous Root selfie. We're so happy to have one of our very own.

Universal! It's definitely on my bucket list for our wedding trip since my MOH is the biggest HP fan ever (and a thrill seeker as well). I'm glad you got the pics in a time when you needed them the most - when I turned on the news Monday morning and heard about the siege I immediately thought of you both and then I looked and my phone and saw that you were online and posting which was a big relief for me.
We just wrote The Roots to book an engagement session for our first trip to WDW which makes me even more excited to see the pics of your wedding!!!

Yes! I think you'll really enjoy Universal then, I find it quite a change of pace from Disney. When I'm at Disney we can spend a whole afternoon lining up to meet characters or checking out the various stores/restaurants. At Universal it is GO GO GO from one ride to the next. The Harry Potter areas are just phenomenal, I'll go into some more detail about them soon because they had great effect on some of our guests. And that's so exciting that you're in contact with the Roots! You can rest assured that you will LOVE your photos.

The utilidors never stop being fascinating - unless you're walking by a particularly smelly part (ew, Cosmic Rays).

Our Best Man also commented on The Roots that they had made the day so stress free, more than any other wedding he had been a part of (5 to date!) That's just their magical touch.

How DARE you go to the Dark Side?! (Ok, we did too ) Look at Jess' mother going out on a limb and trying so many new things! I know exactly what you mean at moving at a GOGOGOGO pace - and how you can get sucked into the black hole of Wal Mart!

haha Cosmic Rays! I must say I do like to visit that place, I have a very simple palate and it satisfies that greatly. I can definitely imagine that it's not the most pleasant spot to be underneath though! Yes, the Roots are so great to be around and they do such a great job of knowing the schedule and doing their best to keep everything moving along without ever seeming like they're rushed or stressed.

We always visit Universal when we're in town, only ever for a day or two - I'm not sure I can take much more! I love Jurassic Park and we have a great time there in general but I'm not anywhere near as keen on rides as Jess is; especially monsters like Hulk or Rip Ride Rock-It! And prior to this trip I'd been to Wal Mart only once in the combined month that we'd spent in Orlando. This time however I don't even want to count how many hours I lost in there! All of our guests from Australia were so excited to see a Wal Mart in person and they weren't disappointed. Every time I parked and we took someone in for the first time they would be standing in the car park taking pictures of it. It really became a tourist attraction for us!

 

[LadyD]

AHHHH I love all the pictures!! What a gorgeous day! You and your guests look like you had so.much. fun!!!! That cake with the toppers is beautiful

I laughed at one of your previous posts where you mentioned how your version of vacation is basically go, go, go and rest when you're back home. That is exactly how we do vacations as well haha. I hope all your go, go, go didn't leave you too worn out once you got home though and you can enjoy being newlyweds!!

 

[Aschenputtel]

Your pics a so great (and you remind me that we have to write the Roots back). One can tell that you enjoyed every moment of the day (and how awesome is the wedding guest with a Slytherin sweater?).
And I have one thing to admit: I couldn't ride ToT as well - we did it in DLP and I love the theming, but I have kind of a problem with elevators and when there was the initial "ding" of the door, I freaked out completely… but I'm definitely going to go on the ride in WDW - and then take the chicken exit right before the service elevators.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

The photos are just magical!

 

[Seia]

Your photos are so stunning!! Your cake is awesome! Your ride photo is fabulous. I am traumatized by ToT myself and avoid it at all costs, but you all look like you're having a great time. Everything just looks perfect.

 

[Disneyducks12]

I am just loving your updates so this is going to be a long post I have been away for a while and I want to make sure I hit all the great points! So I love your guys “chariot” for the week! Patricia did such a great job on Jess, her makeup was fantastic and really went well with her whole look of the day. Also Wal-Mart is such a trap I go in for one thing and come out with 100 things two hours later. Also I love the dressed up look who says you can’t go all out for WDW it was your wedding week That really stinks that the rude people were able to get looked after and the polite people are not, I can understand Jess getting upset the stress of the wedding and it finally coming and just wanting some pixie dust not to much to ask for a bride! But I am so pleased to hear Snow White stepped in like that! And what good luck with getting to see Anna and Elsa in such a short time! Also the backstage access looks like such a good experience! I love your trip to the “dark side” I always make a stop at the Harry Potter world how was the new side I can’t wait to see it I have heard great things!? And your wedding photos look so amazing!!! Your day looked so amazing I have loved following your PJ can’t wait to hear more!

 

[edeneye]

AHHHH I love all the pictures!! What a gorgeous day! You and your guests look like you had so.much. fun!!!! That cake with the toppers is beautiful

I laughed at one of your previous posts where you mentioned how your version of vacation is basically go, go, go and rest when you're back home. That is exactly how we do vacations as well haha. I hope all your go, go, go didn't leave you too worn out once you got home though and you can enjoy being newlyweds!!

Thanks! We really did have such fun, we scarcely stopped laughing and smiling all day. The cake took so long to decide on, it was definitely one of the tougher choices we had to make but we were both really happy with it when we saw it. And the hard part about coming home was going back to normal life after a month away. Aaaargh I'm still adjusting!

Your pics a so great (and you remind me that we have to write the Roots back). One can tell that you enjoyed every moment of the day (and how awesome is the wedding guest with a Slytherin sweater?).
And I have one thing to admit: I couldn't ride ToT as well - we did it in DLP and I love the theming, but I have kind of a problem with elevators and when there was the initial "ding" of the door, I freaked out completely… but I'm definitely going to go on the ride in WDW - and then take the chicken exit right before the service elevators.

haha The guest in the Slytherin sweater is actually a good friend of mine! She is my oldest friend who attended, I've known her for about 15 years and asked her to be the ring bearer. She had picked a nice dress to wear and was expecting beautiful warm Florida weather and instead it was SO COLD THAT DAY. We'd been to Universal about a week before this and she'd bought that sweater for when she went back home to England but she ended up needing it earlier than she thought! And I don't blame you about ToT, while Jess and I enjoy it we have a few friends who were really into big rides like Hulk at Universal that I wouldn't go anywhere near - but they were scared on ToT and didn't want to go back on!

The photos are just magical!

We were so happy with them! We still can't stop staring at them. It was such a great choice to go with the Roots, not only were they great to be around and really helpful with scheduling and advice but we knew our photos would be amazing and sure enough, they delivered. There were so many people who couldn't make it who wanted to see pictures and we were so glad to have something of this quality that we could show off.

Your photos are so stunning!! Your cake is awesome! Your ride photo is fabulous. I am traumatized by ToT myself and avoid it at all costs, but you all look like you're having a great time. Everything just looks perfect.

Well most of us were having a great time on ToT! Some of the terror is real - my Groomsman in the back row and Jess' bridesmaid who is sitting right behind her are terrified! We'd all been on the ride a few days before this and Jess' bridesmaid Sarah said 'I'm never going on that again!'. Jess told her that unfortunately 'yes you are!' and though she really didn't have to, she steeled herself to do it again for the photo. Everyone was screaming and laughing and just having the best time, we warned people not to put their hands in the air so that they don't block each other's faces out and it was just an amazing experience having that ride all to ourselves - even if just once.

I am just loving your updates so this is going to be a long post I have been away for a while and I want to make sure I hit all the great points! So I love your guys “chariot” for the week! Patricia did such a great job on Jess, her makeup was fantastic and really went well with her whole look of the day. Also Wal-Mart is such a trap I go in for one thing and come out with 100 things two hours later. Also I love the dressed up look who says you can’t go all out for WDW it was your wedding week That really stinks that the rude people were able to get looked after and the polite people are not, I can understand Jess getting upset the stress of the wedding and it finally coming and just wanting some pixie dust not to much to ask for a bride! But I am so pleased to hear Snow White stepped in like that! And what good luck with getting to see Anna and Elsa in such a short time! Also the backstage access looks like such a good experience! I love your trip to the “dark side” I always make a stop at the Harry Potter world how was the new side I can’t wait to see it I have heard great things!? And your wedding photos look so amazing!!! Your day looked so amazing I have loved following your PJ can’t wait to hear more!

I totally understand that, I've been away myself so I have so much to catch up on now! We really liked the Jeep, it had fun little features that I really miss now like being able to remotely open the trunk and Jess was so excited to have a car with a sunroof. I kept wondering why it got so noisy all of a sudden and the answer would be that Jess has opened the sunroof again!

Jess was so glad she had the trial with Patricia. It took a lot of discussion and trials to sort out the look Jess wanted to go with and it came out perfectly! Then there was one less thing to worry about on the wedding day, she knew what it would end up looking like and could just relax - not that she did!

We spent so much time at Wal-Mart this trip! It was really helpful and saved us a lot of money on things but we lost so much time there. Generally our rule is; where reasonable, time is more valuable than money. Such as renting the car, we can get around by bus and cab but we pay a bit more and rent our own so there's no waiting around. I think that will be Wal-Mart next time, we'll pay more for food so we don't lose so much time there again! It costs us so much to get all the way to WDW it's just not worth making the most of our time.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was just amazing. I'll get to that in a few 'days' when all our guests went there with us but we had such an amazing day there and the big Potter fans among us were absolutely floored by it. There were (happy) tears. One of the things I was most excited about for this trip was visiting Universal with my friends and seeing their reactions to both Harry Potter areas and I was not disappointed at all.

 

[edeneye]

Excuse my absence, things have been crazy here over the holidays! Jess and I were so inspired by the Roots that we've stopped talking about starting a photography business and gone ahead and done it! So we've been setting up all the official stuff, getting together more photography gear and just getting out getting experience! We've done a couple of weddings and a couple of family shoots so far, around my normal work, so finding free time has been tricky! I've been dying to get back here and keep posting and catch up with everyone else's adventures so I'm gonna do my best!

Sunday, November 9
9 days to go

So when I left off we were counting down to the arrival of our guests and Sunday the 9th was the arrival of the very first of them. It was also a day we were looking forward to because that was when we booked our free night thanks to the room block - we chose the Grand Floridian and we were so excited to stay there! But as I mentioned in my last journal post, so much stuff was getting in the way. Our plan was to go to Animal Kingdom in the morning, then come back to All-Star Movies to grab a bag of some things, go check in to the GF, have a look around the resort and a relax in our room and maybe head over to Magic Kingdom for a little while in the evening. That was the plan. The lack of photos in this post will be the testament to how much fun we didn't get to have on this day.

Our busy busy schedule to this point meant we were delivering our favours to Franck's in one more day and we didn't actually have half of them! We'd got to DTD too late the night before and missed the stores so we had to go back there again that morning to look around for the plush toys that would become favours for our guests. While we were walking around Downtown, visiting the stores and trying to decide which toy for which guest (which was hard, lucky we didn't have many guests!), Jess' phone rang. It was one of the managers at All-Star Movies who had promised us the night before that she would see what she could do about our room block situation. For those who don't recall, we had been upgraded - even though we made the odd request of this not happening - and all of our rooms were blocked in the Toy Story section. We specifically wanted Mighty Ducks so over numerous nights and conversations with various cast members we were trying to work this out. At this point, Jess' parents were staying on another floor in another area of the building to us, we had none of the things we'd requested (quite the opposite) and our guests were starting to arrive and they were going to be all over the place. So the manager had been seeing what she could do and what she ended up getting worked out was that our guests arriving that day would have to move rooms the next day, Jess' parents would stay where they are and the rest of us will be in a slightly interrupted line from that Monday. It obviously wasn't quite ideal but in the system as it works that was really all we could hope for and we were grateful that it was, with some compromises, mostly worked out.

Jess and I spent a bit longer than we expected looking for the plushes, we'd parked over near House of Blues due to the construction so just the walking itself took some time! We ended up looking for lunch somewhere, we quite enjoyed Earl of Sandwich last time so we went there first. Bad idea! Free dining! The line was not just out the door - it snaked through the whole place and was out the door on the far side of the restaurant! Nope! Unfortunately I don't honestly remember where we ended up, we looked around a few places but our timing meant there was a wait to be seated anywhere - if at all. It was just that sort of day!

Eventually we did end up getting the plushes together and headed straight back to ASM to get our things together to check in to GF. It was mid afternoon by the time we got there - Disney time, am I right?! At check-in we mentioned we were there for our Disney Wedding blah blah blah and asked if there was any chance of an upgrade but there was no luck. When we got to our room though I said to Jess I'm not surprised - the room was already kindof amazing! We had a lake view and were very close to the monorail terminal, the food court and the ferry. It was such a nice place, I love the fun theming of the lower resorts but it is really special being so close to Magic Kingdom and being somewhere with it's own nighttime show.

As the day wore on we were in contact with Jess' bridesmaid Sarah who had arrived in LA that morning and had a connecting flight to Orlando due in the afternoon. She and her husband Adam arrived on schedule and when they got to Orlando we could update them on the room situation and we agreed to meet up that night - even though they were pretty tired from the trip! Jess and I took the ferry over to Magic Kingdom and tried to decide where to take them for dinner. Jess was on the phone to the reservation line while on the ferry trying to find somewhere we could make a booking. Sarah and Adam weren't crazy about using a theme park entry just for dinner so in the end they met us at the MK ferry terminal (which was surreal, we were with them as normal - but we were at Walt Disney World!) and we went back over to the Grand Floridian and dined with them in the food court. From there we could see the fireworks and the lighting of the castle and it was a nice preview for them of what WDW is like and what they could expect in the next 10 days or so.

Once we were finished we drove them back to ASM. It was the least we could do - they were so tired and we had them bus and ferry all the way to us! They showed us their room and we saw that they hadn't got their welcome message on their phone that we thought we'd organised. Jess and I went back to our room to see if there was any messages there at all and there was one surprise. Unfortunately it wasn't meant for us! Jess had bought one of the in-room surprises for both of her bridesmaids and Sarah's had been delivered to our room! Jess delivered the 'surprise' herself and off we went to the concierge desk. Again. Because numerous requests - reasonable requests like a welcome message for our guests and the in-room surprise to actually be in our guests' room as booked - that we'd made numerous times had not been accommodated. Again. A trend had truly developed by this point, we were spending way too much time in that lobby going over the same points, giving the same information and making the same requests to people who were evidently not actually making any notes at all. By this point I had all the information in my phone's 'notepad' app because I've had to look it up that many times I just wanted to have it ready for the next one. We ended up giving up on the welcome messages, no matter how often they said they were making notes on the bookings, nothing ended up happening.

Late that night we went back to our room at the GF. After midnight by this point, we were parking and getting ready to go straight to bed on our special celebration reservation. This day just completely disappeared and if not for our first guest arrivals we really wouldn't have much reason to remember it.

Not to worry though - in a day or two things start really looking up!...

 

[elphie101]

Ben!! You're back! You've been missed

I realize I never commented on it before but your wedding pictures are extraordinary. I wouldn't expect anything less from The Roots, but you and Jess make them fantastic! How lovely that you both are exploring photography back home - I hope you'll share some of your work with us someday!

I can't believe the lack of results from ASM, after numerous times speaking with them and (as you said) about perfectly reasonable requests! It's so disappointing to me that you had to deal with this much repeated stress during such a magical and special trip. That being said, I eagerly look forward to things looking up - don't leave us hanging!

 

[Disneyducks12]

I am so happy your back!!! I have been checking for updates but how exciting that you started a photography company! Hopefully you and Jess get to go on many amazing travels and shoot many weddings (maybe even Disney ) ! That is really horrible that you were not accommodated with such simple request a phone call and bag delivery but at least it gets better I can not wait to hear about Harry Potter World we will be there in t-minus 100 days and we only have one day so we are going to try to see so much so I can't wait to see pictures and a full report from another HP lover also looking forward to the rest of your TR don't leave anything out it seems like it was such a magical trip!

Melissa

 

[Seia]

Yay! You're back! Congratulations on starting your own photography company. That's so exciting!

And that is so frustrating about the lack of "pixie dust" at ASM... especially after the CRT incident. But I'm optimistic and eager to read about things getting better for you as the wedding day approaches.

 

[Aschenputtel]

You're back and you two became photographers?! I think it's so sweet that you're wedding day inspired you to follow your dreams and began a new profession (especially because your wedding day has been celebrated in the spirit of Walt himself).
Can't wait to here more and see more pics from you! Fingers crossed everything works out the way you planned!!!

 

[edeneye]

Ben!! You're back! You've been missed

I realize I never commented on it before but your wedding pictures are extraordinary. I wouldn't expect anything less from The Roots, but you and Jess make them fantastic! How lovely that you both are exploring photography back home - I hope you'll share some of your work with us someday!

I can't believe the lack of results from ASM, after numerous times speaking with them and (as you said) about perfectly reasonable requests! It's so disappointing to me that you had to deal with this much repeated stress during such a magical and special trip. That being said, I eagerly look forward to things looking up - don't leave us hanging!

Well I appreciate it! And yep, we love our wedding pictures so much. We have some hung up around the house and we stare at them on a daily basis. It was so inspiring meeting the Roots and seeing how they work, we couldn't bare to go any longer without working towards being like them. We've done a few weddings and family shoots in the last few weeks and things are hopefully only going to pick up even more. Jess has even been asked to style a 21st (it is Disney themed) and we're going to shoot that too so we've got a lot to look forward to there.

Yeah ASM was pretty frustrating this time. It's mainly because we had such an amazing time on our first trip and all these magical things just happened for us. We tried so hard to get them to also happen for our guests but we just wasted so much time in the end as almost noone got their welcome phone call or even the 1st visit and I'm celebrating buttons (Jess kept asking for them herself and handing them to our guests).

I am so happy your back!!! I have been checking for updates but how exciting that you started a photography company! Hopefully you and Jess get to go on many amazing travels and shoot many weddings (maybe even Disney ) ! That is really horrible that you were not accommodated with such simple request a phone call and bag delivery but at least it gets better I can not wait to hear about Harry Potter World we will be there in t-minus 100 days and we only have one day so we are going to try to see so much so I can't wait to see pictures and a full report from another HP lover also looking forward to the rest of your TR don't leave anything out it seems like it was such a magical trip!

Yes! We'd LOVE to do some Disney Weddings! We were saying that next time we do a trip to Disney we hope we can find some brides who'll let us come shoot their weddings, we'll have loads of experience by then so hopefully we can convince people (and Disney) to let us!

Yeah it was amazing that our guests couldn't even get 1st visit badges on check-in. We got them on our first trip and we didn't even know they existed or how they knew to give them to us! Ohhh well, eventually once everyone arrived we could stop worrying about planning things for them and just start having fun together! And yep, we're getting to the big Universal day with everyone in a couple of posts time, they absolutely loved it so I've been looking forward to writing up that one.

Yay! You're back! Congratulations on starting your own photography company. That's so exciting!

And that is so frustrating about the lack of "pixie dust" at ASM... especially after the CRT incident. But I'm optimistic and eager to read about things getting better for you as the wedding day approaches.

Thanks! We're really enjoying it so far and I cannot wait until we have enough business lined up that I can quit my day job and commit myself fully to photography. I worked a big wedding yesterday with someone who has been in the business for 13 years and she was saying I'll go far with it, she was really impressed with my work. And yep, while there's a few more hiccups to report on (I'd be remiss leaving them out, it's part of the experience) it's mostly smooth, fun sailing from here! Except for the first day on the Disney Cruise, that was quite literally very rough sailing indeed.

You're back and you two became photographers?! I think it's so sweet that you're wedding day inspired you to follow your dreams and began a new profession (especially because your wedding day has been celebrated in the spirit of Walt himself).
Can't wait to here more and see more pics from you! Fingers crossed everything works out the way you planned!!!

Yep! It was SO hard coming back to our day jobs having had that little glimpse of what we've known for years that we should be doing. We did back to back weddings this past weekend and have some more bookings coming in so it's exciting times ahead! I've been preparing most of the rest of my holiday images so I can hopefully get to my reports a bit quicker than I have been lately

 

[edeneye]

Once again I'm sorry this has taken so long! I've been so busy working my day job around photography bookings. Jess and I are also on a detox/body transformation challenge trying to get good and fit and healthy so that 'as long as we both shall live' be as long as possible.

A couple of stray thoughts before I start - one of the biggest joys to have come out of this trip for me is seeing people who are all my friends become friends with one another. On facebook ever since the trip I've seen people I met in High School interacting with people I've worked with or Jess' bridesmaids etc, wishing each other happy birthday and sharing pictures etc. It really warmed my heart to see everyone get along so well and it helped make our wedding day as fun as it was, because by that point everyone had basically been on the best summer (well, Fall disguised as winter) camp ever for a whole week. Everyone was so comfortable and laughed and had a great time and I'm reminded of that every time I see someone 'like' the status of someone else who lives half the world away.

Also, we got a package from DFTW a few weeks ago. It seemed kinda odd, I hadn't seen other couples receiving a further package after. I'd seen the one that comes before with the pass voucher and the other one with the shoe bag and collar stays etc but this was unexpected. What was inside? A plush wedding Mickey and Minnie and a lovely note from our planner. The story here is that we'd requested the plushes Jess and I bought on the previous TR post to this one be given to our guests as favours. We'd also requested a few through DFTW including Wedding Mickey & Minnie for ourselves. We hadn't heard a lot about how this was going until the morning of the ceremony when we got an email from our Floral & Gifts consultant who had tried EVERYTHING including rushing out to DTD the night before in the rain to scour the stores there with no luck. Instead they gave us the cake topper version which we loved!

But then a couple of weeks later our planner and that same consultant were aboard a Disney cruise on a holiday of their own and lo & behold they spied the plush we'd asked for. Our planner bought it for us and posted it out to us as a surprise. We couldn't believe she had thought of us like that, weeks after the wedding and while on a vacation of her own! We were so touched, we absolutely love all the Cast Members who worked on our day and still periodically email them because we miss them so much!

Hi Michelle!

Monday, November 10.
8 days to go

So when I left off we'd had a late night getting back to our room at the Grand Floridian. Knowing that we'd be in the area we planned two things - breakfast at 1900 Park Faire followed by a quick visit to Franck's to finally meet our Wedding Planner in person. Oh & some fastpasses at Magic Kingdom just in case we got time to head over there.

First up was our visit to Franck's. We packed all the favours, signed agreements, seating chart, list of people and corresponding plushes and a couple of gift baskets into the car and drove the 30 seconds or so from the GF lot to Franck's (it was slightly too much to carry). We'd arrived at the start of the day as our planner had a tasting to go to so we knew we didn't have too long. By this point basically everything was organised anyhow! When Pamela met us we talked briefly about the trip so far and how things were coming along for the wedding. We communicated quite frequently over email so there was nothing major to go over at all but it was great to put a face to all the emails and the periodic phone calls. We gave her one of the gift baskets we'd prepared and were on our way back to GF again for our breakfast reservation.

We've never been to 1900 Park Faire before but on this trip we must've tried just about every character breakfast on both coasts! We weren't especially impressed with this one, not that it wasn't good at all of course - it just didn't do anything in particular that knocked our socks off. Jess had her autograph book on hand though, we bought one this trip for the first time ever, so it was nice to meet Mary Poppins and the Mad Hatter whom we'd never met before. And Pooh Bear! I've mentioned it before, we love Pooh and have SO MANY PHOTOS with him from this trip.

One nice touch however was that as we'd mentioned our celebration, they brought us some cupcakes! This would actually happen a few times at WDW and I'm entirely happy with that. As usual after a breakfast buffet we were pretty well stuffed but I am never gonna let a cupcake go to waste! I don't remember for sure but it's entirely likely that I ate all of mine and at least half of Jess'.

After that it was off on the monorail to Magic Kingdom! We'd set up our fastpasses there knowing we wouldn't be far away and Jess' Bridesmaid Sarah was going to drive over in the car she and her husband had rented and meet us there. The one problem? The cardinal rule; never go to Magic Kingdom on a Monday. It was so busy! It probably started Sarah and Adam off on the wrong foot with Disney, they must've thought it was always this crowded. This plus the new (to us) fastpass system had us wandering around a lot more than usual. Lines lines lines everywhere, it was one of the busier days I've ever seen (because I've never been during Summer or Christmas). Even Small World had an hour posted. We did manage to make it to our fastpass time for Big Thunder at least.

Following that, we went to Columbia Harbor House. I'd heard it can be a nice, quieter out of the way place to find a table on busy days. That part was true, once we'd got through the packed line to order our food anyhow. Sure enough, upstairs we had no trouble finding a table and after we'd sat for a while we were joined by Jess' parents who had also been wandering the park. Jess' Mum - whom I've mentioned is not a big fan of rides - had been on Splash Mountain that morning! Jess was so disappointed she missed out on that, she'd been trying to convince her mum to go on that for so long and she'd been looking forward to being the one to drag her onto it! Jess made her promise that she would go on it again and then off we all went once more into the park. We decided to give up on MK for the day, everything was just so busy. Jess and I headed back to GF to retrieve our bags and move back in to ASM. But not before meeting one VERY Important Person.

Seeing Richard in person was very much akin to seeing a celebrity. I was so excited and though Jess didn't quite understand, I told her she HAD to get a photo with him. Naturally he was lovely and I'm so glad we spotted him while we were in the area. Jess also had a quick peek at where the Garden View Tea Room was as she was having her Bachelorette (Hen's as we'd call it) Party there the coming Wednesday.

Jess and I settled our things back in to ASM and checked in on Sarah & Adam who had moved rooms that day. They were now right near us and our other guests would be arriving in the next day or two and would also be only a few rooms down. It wasn't absolutely perfect but it was going to be great fun and on the bright side, though we were far from the pool, laundry and reception - we were really close to the car park which we certainly used a lot more. Things were looking up.

That afternoon we drove Sarah & Adam to EPCOT as the four of us had a reservation at Beaches & Cream for dinner and we'd managed to get a fastpass for Test Track! Both of these things are very exciting, I'm sure I don't need to tell you.

Jess and I made an absolute monstrosity as always. I think our efficiency rating was actually in the negative. After TT we walked through the park, showing our guests around and finally ended up out on the boardwalk, as usual lost trying to figure out exactly where Beaches & Cream is and how you get there. We'll never get it right.

Once at Beaches, Jess & I had a revelation. We could order one meal between us and they'll just prepare it accordingly. So many times we've both been unable to finish our food and in this case the waitress just suggested we order a burger and she can cut it in half for us. WHY DIDNT WE THINK OF THAT! We wanted to keep it relatively small because, naturally, we were getting ice cream. Sarah & Adam skipped dinner all together and were talked into tackling the Kitchen Sink, Jess & I were more sensible and got the Mini Sink. We finished ours and while they gave it a really good go, Sarah & Adam couldn't get through alllll that ice cream (and whipped cream - 'a whole can?!?')

Suffering heavily from food exhaustion (and probably all the other kinds of exhaustion) we headed back to ASM. Jess' Maid of Honor had arrived while we were out so we said a brief hello to her and her husband and asked after the Flower Girl/Junior Bridesmaid (she's just turned 21) who had traveled with them. Everyone was super tired from the long trip but it was just amazing that our group had grown again, as it would the next couple of days. We were at Disney and now our friends were starting to pop up in numbers. Does it get any better than that?

 

[Aschenputtel]

Great update!
How cool that Jess was able to get a picture with Richard!
And I didn't know about Monday's at the Magic Kingdom (it's going to be our first trip in October - and I'm definitely considering that!).
I'm really looking forward to Beaches and Cream - everything looks so good, but I think we're going to share a burger as well ;-)
And great to hear everything with your new job turns out like you planned!!!

 

[edeneye]

Great update!
How cool that Jess was able to get a picture with Richard!
And I didn't know about Monday's at the Magic Kingdom (it's going to be our first trip in October - and I'm definitely considering that!).
I'm really looking forward to Beaches and Cream - everything looks so good, but I think we're going to share a burger as well ;-)
And great to hear everything with your new job turns out like you planned!!!

Yep, two of the best tips I heard were never go to MK on a Monday and try and stick to the park that had Extra Magic Hours the day before. On our first trip we planned everything around EMH, both the trips since we've planned to be anywhere else! And absolutely don't miss Beaches & Cream, we went there twice on this trip and I'll never let a Disney trip happen now without stopping there at least once!

Tuesday, November 11
7 days to go

One week out from our wedding and our guests were really starting to roll in. As I mentioned, Jess' Maid of Honour and Flower Girl arrived the evening before and during the night the first of my groomsmen landed in FL after having spent a week around Portland on his way. While he rested up, the rest of us were up early and piling into our cars - we were off to the Kennedy Space Center.

I always bring my own GPS so taking trips into town - and in this case, well beyond - is easy enough. Not that Port Canaveral is too hard to find anyhow, or it shouldn't be. While we made the drive out there pretty effortlessly, the other car that was to follow us ended up overtaking us on the freeway and we didn't see them again for probably two hours. We could tell when they finally arrived at Kennedy that they weren't in the mood to discuss their little detour so I don't really know where they ended up but we all got there in one piece at least!

Kennedy was something a few of our guests wanted to do and something Jess' dad was really interested in seeing again. We were sortof along for the ride and honestly it didn't really interest us greatly. Naturally, it's quite incredible the things they have there and the history of the site but when you take Jess & I alllll the way to Florida and then drag us away from Disney to go learn about rocket science, we're gonna sorta be over it in a hurry.

We did end up spending much of the day there, we took a good look around and made sure not to miss anything our guests wanted to see. We were all pretty tired so by the end of the afternoon I remember us being bussed around the site and many of us (myself included) drifting off to sleep. So needless to say, the car trip back to Disney was pretty quiet while everyone except the unlucky drivers (I was being followed all the way this time, lesson learned) had their naps.

While we'd been out, Jess' flower girl Ebony & my groomsman Figgers had been taking it easy after their long travel days. They'd slept in and wandered over to the Magic Kingdom in the afternoon for their first WDW park experience. Once we got back, we met them there. We'd set up fastpasses for that evening knowing we'd probably hit the parks after Kennedy. While we missed our first, we got there in time for Space Mountain.

Figgers went back to ASM to meet my other groomsman, Robbie, who was flying in that night and the rest of us wandered MK and went on Space Ranger Spin, Mad Tea Party, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea and we also fluked a fastpass glitch - our app was telling us we had 7 Dwarves Mine Train so we showed the CM at the queue and they let us on.

While we watched the fireworks (from Tomorrowland, we never actually managed to get everyone in the one place long enough to watch from the hub), Robbie & Figgers rejoined us. Robbie was pretty well exhausted from the trip but was running on excitement at this point. We walked around and around, keen to have something to eat but Jess kept looking for just one more ride first. We ended up settling for some of those massive cinnamon rolls at Gaston's (mmmmmmmmmm) before we all went on Dumbo! It was fun looking back and seeing our friends behind us, it's gonna be hard going to WDW again as just the two of us.

Our group began to disperse, it had been a really really long day for basically everyone and most of us were brand new to this timezone (Robbie had been in Australia about 20 hours before). A few of us braved our final fastpass for the night - Splash Mountain - before leaving. Jess asked Robbie & Figgers if they'd got their Universal tickets yet as we were going on the Thursday, they hadn't yet and Figgers was worried he couldn't afford it so he was going to just have another quiet day. I wasn't having that, one of the things I was most excited about for this trip was seeing his face when we get to WWOHP (he's the biggest HP fan I know) so I told him we'll take care of it, no way he was missing out.

As it was nearing midnight, it was time to go whether we liked it or not! Jess & I stopped at the McDonalds near ASM on the way back to our room and eventually got to bed. Long, tiring day and we still had many more long ones to come.

Sarah (Jess' Bridesmaid), Adam (her husband), Ebony (flower girl) and.. well us obviously!

 

[Disneyducks12]

Yep, two of the best tips I heard were never go to MK on a Monday and try and stick to the park that had Extra Magic Hours the day before. On our first trip we planned everything around EMH, both the trips since we've planned to be anywhere else! And absolutely don't miss Beaches & Cream, we went there twice on this trip and I'll never let a Disney trip happen now without stopping there at least once!

Tuesday, November 11
7 days to go

One week out from our wedding and our guests were really starting to roll in. As I mentioned, Jess' Maid of Honour and Flower Girl arrived the evening before and during the night the first of my groomsmen landed in FL after having spent a week around Portland on his way. While he rested up, the rest of us were up early and piling into our cars - we were off to the Kennedy Space Center.

I always bring my own GPS so taking trips into town - and in this case, well beyond - is easy enough. Not that Port Canaveral is too hard to find anyhow, or it shouldn't be. While we made the drive out there pretty effortlessly, the other car that was to follow us ended up overtaking us on the freeway and we didn't see them again for probably two hours. We could tell when they finally arrived at Kennedy that they weren't in the mood to discuss their little detour so I don't really know where they ended up but we all got there in one piece at least!

Kennedy was something a few of our guests wanted to do and something Jess' dad was really interested in seeing again. We were sortof along for the ride and honestly it didn't really interest us greatly. Naturally, it's quite incredible the things they have there and the history of the site but when you take Jess & I alllll the way to Florida and then drag us away from Disney to go learn about rocket science, we're gonna sorta be over it in a hurry.

We did end up spending much of the day there, we took a good look around and made sure not to miss anything our guests wanted to see. We were all pretty tired so by the end of the afternoon I remember us being bussed around the site and many of us (myself included) drifting off to sleep. So needless to say, the car trip back to Disney was pretty quiet while everyone except the unlucky drivers (I was being followed all the way this time, lesson learned) had their naps.

While we'd been out, Jess' flower girl Ebony & my groomsman Figgers had been taking it easy after their long travel days. They'd slept in and wandered over to the Magic Kingdom in the afternoon for their first WDW park experience. Once we got back, we met them there. We'd set up fastpasses for that evening knowing we'd probably hit the parks after Kennedy. While we missed our first, we got there in time for Space Mountain.

Figgers went back to ASM to meet my other groomsman, Robbie, who was flying in that night and the rest of us wandered MK and went on Space Ranger Spin, Mad Tea Party, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea and we also fluked a fastpass glitch - our app was telling us we had 7 Dwarves Mine Train so we showed the CM at the queue and they let us on.

While we watched the fireworks (from Tomorrowland, we never actually managed to get everyone in the one place long enough to watch from the hub), Robbie & Figgers rejoined us. Robbie was pretty well exhausted from the trip but was running on excitement at this point. We walked around and around, keen to have something to eat but Jess kept looking for just one more ride first. We ended up settling for some of those massive cinnamon rolls at Gaston's (mmmmmmmmmm) before we all went on Dumbo! It was fun looking back and seeing our friends behind us, it's gonna be hard going to WDW again as just the two of us.

Our group began to disperse, it had been a really really long day for basically everyone and most of us were brand new to this timezone (Robbie had been in Australia about 20 hours before). A few of us braved our final fastpass for the night - Splash Mountain - before leaving. Jess asked Robbie & Figgers if they'd got their Universal tickets yet as we were going on the Thursday, they hadn't yet and Figgers was worried he couldn't afford it so he was going to just have another quiet day. I wasn't having that, one of the things I was most excited about for this trip was seeing his face when we get to WWOHP (he's the biggest HP fan I know) so I told him we'll take care of it, no way he was missing out.

As it was nearing midnight, it was time to go whether we liked it or not! Jess & I stopped at the McDonalds near ASM on the way back to our room and eventually got to bed. Long, tiring day and we still had many more long ones to come.

Sarah (Jess' Bridesmaid), Adam (her husband), Ebony (flower girl) and.. well us obviously!

Great Updates!!!! I honestly the many times I have been to Florida have never made it over to the NASA center! The slide thing looked fun but glad you were able to catch some fast passes back at WDW and how was the seven dwarf ride? I haven't been since their latest updates with new rides??? and it seems like so much fun having so many friends with you on vacation I was telling my DF how are we going to cruise again after we do it with so many people really a once in a life time experience! Can't wait for HP day!

Melissa