"I brushed my teeth, and I don't have cooties." An August DFTW and Disneymoon TR

[SweetSerenity]

I have just read all 35 pages of your report. . . I've loved it! You and your husband remind me quite a bit of my husband and me, and reading about your wedding/honeymoon takes me back to our honeymoon at Disney in 2015 (we, unfortunately, had a "big" wedding at home instead.) Your pictures were beautiful!

I love your pixie cut. . . it's super cute!

Discovery Cove has always been a dream of mine, but we've never had the chance to go. Dolphins are my favorite animals while my husband is obsessed with otters. In fact, there is a stuffed otter staring me down to the left of my computer monitor as we speak (type.) My husband does not like "split stays," which means that once we are on Disney property we do not leave. Therefore, no Harry Potter or Discovery Cove for me. His compromise is that we can go other places, but not Disney and his response to me is "I just don't think you can go to Orlando without going to Disney World." He's probably right. Anyway, I'm so happy to have experienced that through you and your report as it looks amazing.

I can't wait to read more, and I do hope you write a February report!

 

[missjackiemcg]

(We have a "wedding wall" )

I think every married couple ends up with one of those at least for the first year or so

 

[KaSe]

Your trip report was keeping me company during some downtime at work (I work in design for a dinner theatre & we had just opened one show so I had a few weeks before I had to get things started for the next show). I started with your engagement report & really enjoyed it, so when I was finished, of course I had to jump into the wedding report as well! I was just reading along, sighing with all the romance and fun of it all, oohing at all the delicious food, reminiscing about our own perfect days at WDW, and enjoying the sunshine you were bringing me during the cold, depressing winter months here in the Midwest ... But now that I've caught up with you completely (wasn't expecting that! LOL), I felt like I should introduce myself and tell you how much I've enjoyed reading along.

Your wedding was absolutely gorgeous! My older daughter has always wanted the Snow White Alfred Angelo dress, so she was both completely jealous that was your dress and overwhelmingly depressed that it's been discontinued. LOL! I think she's started plotting to find a way to buy it from you at some point -- but since she's only a college sophomore (music major!) and not even dating anyone right now, you probably shouldn't be too worried about that anytime soon.

I love that you're from Halifax! My 16-year old daughter & I did a cruise from Boston up into Canada last fall. We had ports in Bar Harbor & Portland, Maine, with a side excursion to Kennebunkport; and Canadian ports in St. John, N.B., with an excursion to Bay of Fundy, and Halifax, N.S. Our excursion there included touring Halifax and then driving up to Acadian Maple and Peggy's Cove. I fell absolutely totally in love with that area of Canada. It was just beautiful and the food was amazing and I never wanted to leave. LOL! (I'm currently sitting here at work with my Nova Scotia tartan blanket on my lap. )

I realize none of that has anything to do with your amazing wedding and honeymoon, but we seem to have a lot in common and it's always nice to make new friends with people who totally get it. HaHa!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Taco Piñata!
Disney Day 7 - Part 3

I may have mentioned this once or twice, but in August Disney was HAWT. I decided that it was time for another frozen lemonade, the best of all August heat-busters. Then, on our way out, I made N humour me and take hub-grass-romping photos for days, which I then went ahead and posted on social media, because if I didn't, did it even really happen?

Then we made our way out of the park. And I had the opportunity to photograph a phenomenon that really weirds me out: when the annual pass line to enter the park is longer than all the other lines! These people are passholders, so it stands to reason that they've been to WDW before. Do they really not know that they can enter from any turnstile, and that the idea is that the AP line is just offered as a shorter line option? It's pointless to use that option when it's not actually shorter. Weird. This one wasn't super long, but I've seen the AP entrance have a winding line when all the other turnstiles are empty before.

We went up to wait for a monorail, and we took photos of our now-empty lemonade cups because Mickey straws are my jam.

We made it back to the Poly, and N had been eyeing the Hawaiian shirts after I'd bought my dress, so we went back into the gift shop. He looked at them all and decided that his favourite was actually the same print that was on my dress. He bought it. So we ended up being that couple. And I was very much okay with it.

We headed back to our room—the new one, in the Fiji building—and I took a few glamour shots of the Poly grounds on the way.

Back at the room, we were wiped. We turned on the tv and watched Friends, and I ate leftover GF teacakes from Be Our Guest. When Friends was over, N turned the tv to Animal Fight Night on the Discovery channel, and we sat, overtired, and enthralled by the dramatic lives of animals in the wild. At some point, this turned into a nap. Eventually, we awoke, a little more rested, and decided to take a run over to the Walmart in this little development area called "Hamlin," which was just a short drive away from the Poly in the Winter Garden area. This was the same magical location where we would later find the $5 wine on our Marathon Weekend trip...but another story for another time...

Anyway, at Walmart we had a couple of things to pick up, including more sunscreen, but we mostly just wandered around in the air conditioning and ogled stuff. The differences between our home in Canada and the places we visit in the USA are usually very slight, but one thing that's always fun to do is to see what different things we can find when we're out shopping. You guys just have cooler, weirder stuff than we do most of the time! We found a wall of mugs, all with weird pictures on them, including a poop emoji mug. Still regretting leaving that behind for sure! And the best thing we saw was a giant taco-shaped piñata! I quite literally exclaimed, "Taco piñata!!" when I saw it. It was quite striking. I was sure I'd taken a picture of it, but now I can't seem to find it, so just picture a giant cardboard piñata in the shape of a hard-shell taco, and you'll have conjured it in your mind.

When we got back to the Poly, it was still scorching, but somehow it seemed a little more manageable? I think we were also just starting to get used to the heat a bit more by this point, having been there for about a week at this point. N loves to swim, so we decided to hit the pool. The main pool at the Poly is themed nicely and has a cute little waterslide...which I definitely went down at least once. I usually hear people say that the pool is crowded, and that makes sense because it feels quite small, but we didn't find it too bad this day.

We went back and changed, and N and I decided to go full-blown matching couple mode, with our matching Hawaiian outfits, matching magicbands, wedding buttons, and bride/groom hats (not pictured.)

We made our way over to the Great Ceremonial House, and I couldn't help but take a few more pictures.

#nofilter, y'all!

Our first stop was the concierge desk because we'd noticed that our honeymoon celebration hadn't been appearing on most of our ADRs, even though I'd called and added it to all of them. The CM at the concierge desk told us that he only saw it on a few of the ADRs, which made no sense to me, but he said he'd added it to the rest of them.

Then, speaking of ADRs, we popped upstairs and checked in for our dinner at Kona Cafe. N and I ordered the same drink, but mine was without the alcohol. It was the same raspberry ginger vojito I'd been ordering lately.

N took a sip and was a bit put-off by the intensity of the ginger, so he waited a bit and let the ice water it down. (Ugh.) I asked the chef about allergy options, especially for sushi. He told me that the California roll had real crab in it, and hence, could easily be made gluten free! This is a treat, because even at decent sushi places at home, it's sometimes difficult to get GF sushi. And a lot of lesser places use fake crab in their sushi, or they deep fry a lot of things, or won't substitute GF soy sauce, etc. We split the California roll as an appetizer.

It was a lot of crab, so I thought it felt a little unbalanced, but if anything was going to be out of balance, I guess I'd rather it be too much crab. I thought the roll was pretty yummy and fresh. Then, for an entree, N got the pork duo, which had both pork tenderloin and pork belly. He'd never tried pork belly before, and I had another Masterchef moment where I explained to him about what to expect. He thought the meal was quite good. It wasn't the most stand-out meal we had at WDW or anything, but a solid well-priced dinner.

I got them to make me a modified version of the miso-buttered strip loin, since I can tolerate butter despite my aversion to dairy. The sides had to be changed, and the chef asked me if I had a preference for veggies, etc. I usually like most vegetables, so I told him just to do whatever he wanted, and he seemed thrilled at the prospect. I should have taken that as a warning sign.

The beef was quite good. The veg, however, ended up being an assortment of unfamiliar mushrooms. I'm not a huge mushroom fan, but I'll eat them without much complaining. But these mushrooms were strange, and super salty. N has a love affair with mushrooms, and when he tried them he thought they were gross. The other side item seemed to be some kind of turnip or other root vegetable...and it was just boiled and left to sit there sadly on the plate. Blech.

After our dinner at Kona, it was time to take a monorail back to the MK for the evening. I had FP booked that night, and I also had two other priorities: get PP photos of our adorable matching-ness, and fill our popcorn bucket with maple popcorn from the Frontierland cart.

Success!!

We also used a FP for Splash, but I can't seem to find the photo anymore. We did Big thunder with DAS. After that I was feeling a little shaken up, so we changed our FP for 7DMT to something a little more chill: Pirates. By this point we were both ready to call it a day, so we took the monorail back to the Poly, snacked on some Erin McKenna's, and hit the hay.

Alright, folks! I have one more midterm this week, and then this Friday I'm off on our next WDW adventure! I've been starting to pack, and I found out something fun! Guess who gained a good 15-20lbs since their wedding and no longer can get into her summer clothes!? This girl!! I have about three pairs of summer shorts that still fit, so those were the ones that went in the bag! Oh well, life happens. I'll work on taking it back off after we get back from the trip. I'm not sweating it. We ebb and we flow. It's all about balance. I'm also just packing a carry-on, and I didn't really remember until I started packing how small those suckers are! I'm trying to only pack the necessities (i.e. only one pair of mouse ears ) but I'm very grateful that N will be down there with his truck and will be able to bring things back with him if I purchase souvenirs, etc.

I probably won't get another update in here until we get back, but once we do I'm going to try my best to get this TR moving! It feels like it's starting to drag a bit, and like I've been writing this TR FOREVER. And I kind of have. Next week marks 6 months since our wedding! There's another week's worth of TR-ing to do here, and there are a few experiences I'll want to talk about in-depth (like Wild Africa Trek, or our Busch Gardens day,) but a lot of it I can try to breeze through. The it'll be on to our Marathon Weekend TR, for which I've already done a little writing. I'll be back for replies at some point soon. ​

 

[missjackiemcg]

Glad I'm not the only adult with this issue!! I definitely asked for one when we got our first drink on the December trip.....even though it was an aluminum pint of Miller Lite LOL The bartender looked funny at me...then funnier still when I asked for a green one that he had to go in back to get LOL

Awwwwww!! I love all the matchedy matchiness of this XOXO

Have so much fun!!! I'll be following along online

 

[MeghanEmily]

I like giant photos! My eyes are getting old and I love huge font and huge photos now!

Haha this is great! My vision is kinda lousy, so I kinda appreciate large photos, too. The tiny font in my textbooks is killing me!

That came out great! You two could be sisters!

Thanks! That's a great compliment!

I love it! looks beautiful and such wonderful memories

Thank you! So nice to look back and remember all the time.

We sat in the West Wing on our first visit to BOG which was for dinner and I loved it. Since then we've eaten in all the rooms and while I kind of think the WW is still my favorite I do love the library/music box room also. The fact that the WW is dark would be the only negative. But either are better than the Ballroom IMO

Mmm, I agree about the ballroom! I'm not a fan. The "snow" effect is kinda neat the first time you see it, but I don't have any desire to sit there again.

This is the biggest perk of the BOG PPO! We've been able to ride it twice on one occasion before the crowds came in and then just once, but everyone was happy

Steve must have been thrilled!! I know how he loves his 7DMT.

Crap, have I ever offered to give you my kids
Seriously the whole story sucks since the kids were behaving. Even if they weren't she shouldn't be complaining to strangers. Maybe trying to make light of the situation with a comment like, "parenting takes patience!" and giving you a smile or something like that but not complaining.

I don't think so! lol

It would have been different if I should she was kidding. Or was light-heartedly warning us about the "joys" of parenthood, or whatever. This was different. People don't realize how that can affect their kids, and also how it can be super awkward for the strangers (us!) listening to them complaining. Ugh.

And I love all your M&G pics (well maybe not the Cindy one lol although you look adorable as always). And I love your dress! What a good morning/day so far.

Thanks!! Man...Cindy was having a crazy day it seems...

I am back!!!! And all caught up! Man you were busy while I was gone!

Welcome back! Sorry, I've been trying to keep myself up to date until I leave this week...I know how hard it is to catch up when you've been gone. The Dis never sleeps!

If it makes you feel any better Ariane and I didn't get to cross paths. Maybe one day! If we do, I won't try to give you my kids... I promise...

That's too bad! There's always the possibility of next time! It's easy to miss people when everyone is busy on vacation.

Ha! I was just going to say that none of that make any sense! What are your feelings on Spaceship Earth's "Thank the Phoenicians" line?

Hmmm...that it's not really a super accurate statement, but that I still love it and want a #ThankThePhoenicians t-shirt! The Phoenicians didn't invent the first alphabet, and whether they had any role in the invention of our alphabet is kinda a topic of interest with thoughts on each side, but they were instrumental in kinda spreading the alphabet around and making it more uniform. And I just love SE. Very much.

We have done this! We loved it. Especially Andy! He didn't know what to really expect and loved it. I think this is on my must do for our next trip. You know the one in my head. I have a feeling you guys will like it, too!

Nice! I'm really excited to do it! I think we'll really like it.

I love that is what you were doing during class... And gave up! too funny.

Very serious masters student here!

I always feel so bad for you. I love me some carbs... I had the open faced sandwich when it was still on brioche bread... Crossiant is probably easier to eat, but couldn't they cut it or something...

Mmmmm....I love me some carbs. I miss real bread, but I still manage to consumer copious amounts of carbs, so I'm doing okay. And I can't tell from the picture, but I feel like maybe he took the croissant from the pastry plate also and that's what that was? Not really sure.

"What did she do to her hair?!? She cut it?!? Why would you do that?"

Yes! She and my hairdresser were in cahoots together!

So, I have a duck story too.. We watched 2 kids literally chase 2 ducks around magic kingdom. Like meanly, trying to kick them and catch them! And the parents just watched. I felt bad for the ducks!

Oh man, that's so sad! I'd be angry if I saw that.

I always feels bad for the kids. It is going to scare them... It's like the parents that feel they can cut in line and do ruid things. It is just teaching those kids bad habits.

Absolutely. Kids learn what they live. It's super frustrating. Makes me grateful for my mom!

N is kind of hiding on the side. Not a bad idea... Just odd to INSIST.

I thought so too!

That's awesome! Little tin cans would have been awesome too. I won't tell you how many times we ended up on this ride...

I bet! The girls seem to love this one!

Love the set for Donald. And I am loving the dress.

Thanks!

The mat looks great with the photo! Perfect and looks like it was worth carrying the mat around. I don't think I could carry it without damaging it too much.

It was totally worth it in the end! I love how it came out!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Loving your trip report! I'm flying down to WDW from Vancouver on Feb 18th and reading this is making the time fly! Can't wait!

Thank you! I hope you have a great trip!

Hi there! I fell way behind but spent a lovely Sunday morning catching up!

I can't believe all the trouble you had at the Poly. For us we seem to get our request more often when we do book through a travel agent then when we don't. So who knows what was going on. Glad you got your king room though, even if it wasn't filled with pixie dust.

It was really weird! But fortunately everything worked out just fine in the end.

Have a great time on your February trip. How fun to get some solo time in. And when are you going in August? We just booked a trip a few weeks ago.

Thank you! Starting to get excited! I've been counting down the time by crossing the school assignments off my list. It looks like we're going Aug. 15-26th-ish. When are you down there? I was surprised how much I liked an August trip, despite the heat.

I have just read all 35 pages of your report. . . I've loved it! You and your husband remind me quite a bit of my husband and me, and reading about your wedding/honeymoon takes me back to our honeymoon at Disney in 2015 (we, unfortunately, had a "big" wedding at home instead.) Your pictures were beautiful!

Wow, you're a trooper to get through everything at this point! It's gotten really long! Disney honeymoons are so incredibly special.

I love your pixie cut. . . it's super cute!

Thanks! I really like it, and how light it is! I'm already starting to get a little bit of ponytail envy though, so I expect I'll start growing it out again eventually.

Discovery Cove has always been a dream of mine, but we've never had the chance to go. Dolphins are my favorite animals while my husband is obsessed with otters. In fact, there is a stuffed otter staring me down to the left of my computer monitor as we speak (type.) My husband does not like "split stays," which means that once we are on Disney property we do not leave. Therefore, no Harry Potter or Discovery Cove for me. His compromise is that we can go other places, but not Disney and his response to me is "I just don't think you can go to Orlando without going to Disney World." He's probably right. Anyway, I'm so happy to have experienced that through you and your report as it looks amazing.

It was really wonderful! Maybe you could convince your husband to take a cab/uber over there one day as long as you're staying on Disney property? But I kind of agree with your husband that it's so nice and convenient to stay in the Disney bubble. And after all the resort-hopping we did on our honeymoon, I'd be perfectly happy never to do another split stay again!

I can't wait to read more, and I do hope you write a February report!

Thanks! I'll definitely be writing a legit report for my Marathon Weekend trip from December/January, and I think I'll do some kind of reporting for February for sure, even if it's abbreviated.

Your trip report was keeping me company during some downtime at work (I work in design for a dinner theatre & we had just opened one show so I had a few weeks before I had to get things started for the next show). I started with your engagement report & really enjoyed it, so when I was finished, of course I had to jump into the wedding report as well! I was just reading along, sighing with all the romance and fun of it all, oohing at all the delicious food, reminiscing about our own perfect days at WDW, and enjoying the sunshine you were bringing me during the cold, depressing winter months here in the Midwest ... But now that I've caught up with you completely (wasn't expecting that! LOL), I felt like I should introduce myself and tell you how much I've enjoyed reading along.

Thanks so much for reading! I'm so glad you introduced yourself! I've read many a trip report to tide me over between trips, or during slow times at work and school.

Your wedding was absolutely gorgeous! My older daughter has always wanted the Snow White Alfred Angelo dress, so she was both completely jealous that was your dress and overwhelmingly depressed that it's been discontinued. LOL! I think she's started plotting to find a way to buy it from you at some point -- but since she's only a college sophomore (music major!) and not even dating anyone right now, you probably shouldn't be too worried about that anytime soon.

Thanks so much! Your daughter and I have that in common with the Snow White dress. It's soo beautiful! It was my dream dress, and I was really upset when I learned it was discontinued just a couple of months before I did my dress shopping. I was so glad to get it! Unless your daughter is short, though, she wouldn't want my dress! It had to be hemmed quite a bit since I'm only 5'2". I also did my first degree in Music, so she and I have lots in common!

I love that you're from Halifax! My 16-year old daughter & I did a cruise from Boston up into Canada last fall. We had ports in Bar Harbor & Portland, Maine, with a side excursion to Kennebunkport; and Canadian ports in St. John, N.B., with an excursion to Bay of Fundy, and Halifax, N.S. Our excursion there included touring Halifax and then driving up to Acadian Maple and Peggy's Cove. I fell absolutely totally in love with that area of Canada. It was just beautiful and the food was amazing and I never wanted to leave. LOL! (I'm currently sitting here at work with my Nova Scotia tartan blanket on my lap. )

It's such a beautiful little part of the world. I'm very proud of where we're from. Very cool that you've been to this area! Most people have no idea what's on the east coast of Canada. We're originally from N.B., and Nathan went to school for a bit in Saint John, and then we moved to Halifax a few years ago, and I love it here. Summers in Halifax are a special kind of bliss! I've been to all the places you mention, except Bar Harbour, or as my aunt from Maine calls it, "Bahh Hahhbahh." It's on my list. You came at the best time of the year, too. Maritime Canada really shines in the fall.

I realize none of that has anything to do with your amazing wedding and honeymoon, but we seem to have a lot in common and it's always nice to make new friends with people who totally get it. HaHa!!

I love that TRs are a way for the writer to get to know new online friends they'd never meet otherwise! Glad you posted!

Glad I'm not the only adult with this issue!! I definitely asked for one when we got our first drink on the December trip.....even though it was an aluminum pint of Miller Lite LOL The bartender looked funny at me...then funnier still when I asked for a green one that he had to go in back to get LOL

Oh my goodness, I'm a huge fan of the Mickey straw!! When we went back in December and they had PURPLE ones at the little Cheshire Cat place with frozen lemonade in MK, I was beside myself! Then when we were at the food court at the resort they had a bunch of different coloured ones that you could just buy, and I was very tempted to collect them all.

Awwwwww!! I love all the matchedy matchiness of this XOXO

Have so much fun!!! I'll be following along online

Thank you!! I'm getting really excited at this point! Almost there...

 

[amalone1013]

I love this lol

And I had the opportunity to photograph a phenomenon that really weirds me out: when the annual pass line to enter the park is longer than all the other lines! These people are passholders, so it stands to reason that they've been to WDW before. Do they really not know that they can enter from any turnstile, and that the idea is that the AP line is just offered as a shorter line option? It's pointless to use that option when it's not actually shorter. Weird. This one wasn't super long, but I've seen the AP entrance have a winding line when all the other turnstiles are empty before.

People are so weird! On the other hand, when we went for the MVMCP I tried to get to the Passholder line because it was about half an hour before park close, and they wouldn't let me! They were like, you'll have to check in for the part anyways! Yes, but there's no one using the PH line... instead we waited in a line of 20ish people to get in the other way, then visited someone with a magicband scanner to get our wristbands...

We went up to wait for a monorail, and we took photos of our now-empty lemonade cups because Mickey straws are my jam.

I want a Mickey straw, but they always seem to be in something I have no interest in drinking... I tried to push Zack really hard to get a Country Bears Jug last month Souvenir cups are hard for me unless they contain alcoholic drinks, because I'm not a soda fan.

We went back and changed, and N and I decided to go full-blown matching couple mode, with our matching Hawaiian outfits, matching magicbands, wedding buttons, and bride/groom hats (not pictured.)

I was with you until the hats weren't pictured, and now I'm disappointed.

#nofilter, y'all!

The Poly grounds are so pretty!

Our first stop was the concierge desk because we'd noticed that our honeymoon celebration hadn't been appearing on most of our ADRs, even though I'd called and added it to all of them.

I ran out of time to call and do this for our trip

Then, for an entree, N got the pork duo, which had both pork tenderloin and pork belly. He'd never tried pork belly before, and I had another Masterchef moment where I explained to him about what to expect.

I am very intrigued by pork belly and would like to try it sometime...

The beef was quite good. The veg, however, ended up being an assortment of unfamiliar mushrooms. I'm not a huge mushroom fan, but I'll eat them without much complaining. But these mushrooms were strange, and super salty. N has a love affair with mushrooms, and when he tried them he thought they were gross. The other side item seemed to be some kind of turnip or other root vegetable...and it was just boiled and left to sit there sadly on the plate. Blech.

Oh no! I can eat mushrooms when they are cut up tiny and in things, like pasta. But not if they're too big... and those look too big and strange! Red flag if N was not a fan!

and fill our popcorn bucket with maple popcorn from the Frontierland cart.

I have failed to do this on three trips now

Alright, folks! I have one more midterm this week, and then this Friday I'm off on our next WDW adventure! I've been starting to pack, and I found out something fun! Guess who gained a good 15-20lbs since their wedding and no longer can get into her summer clothes!? This girl!! I have about three pairs of summer shorts that still fit, so those were the ones that went in the bag! Oh well, life happens. I'll work on taking it back off after we get back from the trip. I'm not sweating it. We ebb and we flow. It's all about balance. I'm also just packing a carry-on, and I didn't really remember until I started packing how small those suckers are! I'm trying to only pack the necessities (i.e. only one pair of mouse ears ) but I'm very grateful that N will be down there with his truck and will be able to bring things back with him if I purchase souvenirs, etc.

I swear whenever I must transition between shorts and jeans they don't fit right... so frustrating! It's very hard to pack for Disney in a carry-on... I went to London and Paris for two weeks in the winter and took two carry-on sized bags, but our trip last month was 5 days and we took a carry-on suitcase, two backpacks, and I packed a giant tote bag for souvenirs to bring back...

 

[missangelalexis]

Your hub grass pic is just too adorable!!

You both look so cute in your matching outfits! Sounds like a nice evening!

Have so much fun on your upcoming trip!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

People are so weird! On the other hand, when we went for the MVMCP I tried to get to the Passholder line because it was about half an hour before park close, and they wouldn't let me! They were like, you'll have to check in for the part anyways! Yes, but there's no one using the PH line... instead we waited in a line of 20ish people to get in the other way, then visited someone with a magicband scanner to get our wristbands...

So weird!! Why would they be like that? There was nobody there.

I want a Mickey straw, but they always seem to be in something I have no interest in drinking... I tried to push Zack really hard to get a Country Bears Jug last month Souvenir cups are hard for me unless they contain alcoholic drinks, because I'm not a soda fan.

Hmmm...that's hard. I'm sad you miss out on the commemorative drink merchandise. When we were at All Star Music last month, they had Mickey straws sitting at the cash register that you could just buy separately, and that would have been perfect for you!

I was with you until the hats weren't pictured, and now I'm disappointed.

Sorry. If it helps, we wore them at the MK that night, and there was some photographic evidence of that.

Oh no! I can eat mushrooms when they are cut up tiny and in things, like pasta. But not if they're too big... and those look too big and strange! Red flag if N was not a fan!

Yeah, the fact that Nathan, the guy who always makes me put mushrooms on my pizza, didn't like them...I knew it wasn't just a thing where I was being picky. They were actually gross. Blech.

I have failed to do this on three trips now

Mmmmm maple popcorn! And I don't know if it's still a thing, but they didn't have it at the Frontierland cart anymore when we were last there. Someone in line told us they'd discontinued it the week before. But they still had it in Epcot at the Canada pavilion cart, so there's still hope!

I swear whenever I must transition between shorts and jeans they don't fit right... so frustrating! It's very hard to pack for Disney in a carry-on... I went to London and Paris for two weeks in the winter and took two carry-on sized bags, but our trip last month was 5 days and we took a carry-on suitcase, two backpacks, and I packed a giant tote bag for souvenirs to bring back...

Transitioning to a new season is hard! I definitely gain a little winter weight most years, too. I eat heartier things in winter, like soups, stews, winter squashes, etc. And even though I still go to the gym, I don't get as much activity outdoors. So my summer clothes were a bit of a stretch for this trip...literally.

I can't imagine living for two weeks in Europe out of carry-ons! I'm perfectly happy packing in a carry-on for a weekend trip, but I'm finding it a bit of a stretch for a week. I know I could always do it with, like, 2-3 outfits that I mix-and-match and wash repeatedly. That's how we did it last spring when Nathan and I travelled with just one carry-on between us. But I always want to be more high maintenance and take that one extra thing here, and one extra thing there, etc. It adds up.

Your hub grass pic is just too adorable!!

You both look so cute in your matching outfits! Sounds like a nice evening!

Have so much fun on your upcoming trip!!

Thank you!! We're getting excited! (Me just to get there, and Nathan for me to finally join him so we can have some fun together!)

 

[pooh'smate]

Have a magical trip

 

[MeghanEmily]

Have a magical trip

Thank you!

 

[Smilelea]

Then we made our way out of the park. And I had the opportunity to photograph a phenomenon that really weirds me out: when the annual pass line to enter the park is longer than all the other lines! These people are passholders, so it stands to reason that they've been to WDW before. Do they really not know that they can enter from any turnstile, and that the idea is that the AP line is just offered as a shorter line option? It's pointless to use that option when it's not actually shorter. Weird. This one wasn't super long, but I've seen the AP entrance have a winding line when all the other turnstiles are empty before.

This is just crazy! Clint just informed me that there's actually nothing different about that turnstile either. They put that sign there in hopes that only APs will use it. But in all actuality, if anyone else with a ticket walks through it will let them in and no one knows the difference.

Our first stop was the concierge desk because we'd noticed that our honeymoon celebration hadn't been appearing on most of our ADRs, even though I'd called and added it to all of them. The CM at the concierge desk told us that he only saw it on a few of the ADRs, which made no sense to me, but he said he'd added it to the rest of them.

You can do this? Do you have to do it when you first make the ADR? We need to do this for our May trip.

 

[MeghanEmily]

This is just crazy! Clint just informed me that there's actually nothing different about that turnstile either. They put that sign there in hopes that only APs will use it. But in all actuality, if anyone else with a ticket walks through it will let them in and no one knows the difference.

No way! That's wild! I've had CMs ask me before if we were APs when we got in that line, but if we hadn't been we always could have lied I suppose, and then they'd never know the difference if we scanned in without being AP holders! Who woulda' thought...

You can do this? Do you have to do it when you first make the ADR? We need to do this for our May trip.

Yep. I mean, my experience wasn't the best since I added it to existing reservations and then it didn't end up showing up, but I'm pretty sure that was just due to one CM in the call center who just happened to not do it properly. You should be able to add celebrations to existing ADRs at any time, over the phone with the reservation department, or in person at the concierge desk like we did.

 

[Smilelea]

Yep. I mean, my experience wasn't the best since I added it to existing reservations and then it didn't end up showing up, but I'm pretty sure that was just due to one CM in the call center who just happened to not do it properly. You should be able to add celebrations to existing ADRs at any time, over the phone with the reservation department, or in person at the concierge desk like we did.

Awesome! Thanks! I'll get Clint to try that. We plan on celebrating Griffin turning 2.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Awesome! Thanks! I'll get Clint to try that. We plan on celebrating Griffin turning 2.

I love that!! Hopefully he'll get lots of CM attention and pixie dust.

 

[Raeven]

This was the same magical location where we would later find the $5 wine on our Marathon Weekend trip...but another story for another time...

I guess I shouldn't mention the $3 wine then

And the best thing we saw was a giant taco-shaped piñata! I quite literally exclaimed, "Taco piñata!!" when I saw it.

I can picture it now! And it doesn't seem weird to me at all so I guess I'm just used to seeing food shaped pinatas at Walmart.

Alright, folks! I have one more midterm this week, and then this Friday I'm off on our next WDW adventure!

Have fun!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I guess I shouldn't mention the $3 wine then

That's wild! I think @fallonkendra and Luke found wine at Walmart that was like $2-3. It was just exciting because a "cheap" bottle of wine at home usually runs at least $10, unless you're buying, like, boxed wine or something. The same bottle we got for $5 typically runs $10-15 in our liquor stores.

I can picture it now! And it doesn't seem weird to me at all so I guess I'm just used to seeing food shaped pinatas at Walmart.

Who doesn't need a food-shaped piñata!?

Have fun!

Thank you!!

 

[pkondz]

I may have mentioned this once or twice, but in August Disney was HAWT.

I may or may not have experienced that... in August....

I decided that it was time for another frozen lemonade, the best of all August heat-busters.

Those things are so good. I'm not sure why I keep forgetting to get one!

Then, on our way out, I made N humour me and take hub-grass-romping photos for days, which I then went ahead and posted on social media, because if I didn't, did it even really happen?

Correct.
And.... super cute photo!

And I had the opportunity to photograph a phenomenon that really weirds me out: when the annual pass line to enter the park is longer than all the other lines! These people are passholders, so it stands to reason that they've been to WDW before. Do they really not know that they can enter from any turnstile, and that the idea is that the AP line is just offered as a shorter line option?

I wonder.... Is it a prestige thing? "I'm an AP holder and you're not. Stand in awe."
Or do they really just not know?

Mickey straws are my jam.

Strawberry rhubarb.

He looked at them all and decided that his favourite was actually the same print that was on my dress. He bought it. So we ended up being that couple. And I was very much okay with it.

That's allowed.

Do those stairs lead to the slide?

Back at the room, we were wiped.

Wow! I've never stayed Deluxe, but that's incredible service! I usually just have to jump in the shower to get the sweat off. They wipe you down at a Deluxe!
Now I understand the price difference.

mostly just wandered around in the air conditioning and ogled stuff.

Oh, sure. But when I ogle, I get slapped.
This is patently unfair.

The differences between our home in Canada and the places we visit in the USA are usually very slight, but one thing that's always fun to do is to see what different things we can find when we're out shopping.

We found a wall of mugs, all with weird pictures on them, including a poop emoji mug. Still regretting leaving that behind for sure!

Left the poop emoji "behind"...

so just picture a giant cardboard piñata in the shape of a hard-shell taco, and you'll have conjured it in your mind.

I did! That thing is amazing! I'm shocked you didn't buy it!

When we got back to the Poly, it was still scorching,

Wait... Is this the reason they wipe you down? First they scorch you, then wipe you down?
Is this some sort of spa treatment reserved for the hoi polloi?

N loves to swim, so we decided to hit the pool.

What did that poor pool ever do to you to deserve that?

The main pool at the Poly is themed nicely and has a cute little waterslide...which I definitely went down at least once.

Good for you!

and bride/groom hats (not pictured.)

Then it didn't happen.

Our first stop was the concierge desk because we'd noticed that our honeymoon celebration hadn't been appearing on most of our ADRs, even though I'd called and added it to all of them. The CM at the concierge desk told us that he only saw it on a few of the ADRs, which made no sense to me, but he said he'd added it to the rest of them.

That is odd. Huh.

This is a treat, because even at decent sushi places at home, it's sometimes difficult to get GF sushi. And a lot of lesser places use fake crab in their sushi

I had no idea that fake crab has gluten in it. The things you learn.

It was a lot of crab, so I thought it felt a little unbalanced, but if anything was going to be out of balance, I guess I'd rather it be too much crab.

Agreed.

The veg, however, ended up being an assortment of unfamiliar mushrooms. I'm not a huge mushroom fan, but I'll eat them without much complaining. But these mushrooms were strange, and super salty. N has a love affair with mushrooms, and when he tried them he thought they were gross. The other side item seemed to be some kind of turnip or other root vegetable...and it was just boiled and left to sit there sadly on the plate. Blech.

You'd think, given the chance to show a little flair and creativity.... he'd do something a bit more... elegant.

maple popcorn from the Frontierland cart

Why am I only hearing about this now?????????????????

Added to the wish list.

Ah. I see the hats. Okay. It did happen.

Alright, folks! I have one more midterm this week,

Good luck!

and then this Friday I'm off on our next WDW adventure!

Woot! Have a great time!

Guess who gained a good 15-20lbs since their wedding and no longer can get into her summer clothes!? This girl!!

Oh well, life happens.

Yes it does. I'm still trying to take off the lbs put on over Disney and Christmas.

I'll want to talk about in-depth (like Wild Africa Trek, or our Busch Gardens day,)

Looking forward to it!

 

[amazingact21]

The differences between our home in Canada and the places we visit in the USA are usually very slight, but one thing that's always fun to do is to see what different things we can find when we're out shopping. You guys just have cooler, weirder stuff than we do most of the time!

Haha! This was one of my favorite things I did when I went home last summer. I just wandered around Target, looking at all the crazy stuff for sale. Stores are definitely different in Germany, too.

We went back and changed, and N and I decided to go full-blown matching couple mode, with our matching Hawaiian outfits, matching magicbands, wedding buttons, and bride/groom hats (not pictured.)

I love it! You guys looked super adorable in your matching gear.

I'm also just packing a carry-on, and I didn't really remember until I started packing how small those suckers are!

They really are! There's an airline over here that travels to various European countries, and they allow you one carry on for free. So everyone tries to avoid paying for a checked bag (since that's where they try to hit you with the costs) by just bringing a carry on. And I don't see how they can do it! I'm not a minimalist traveler.

I'm going to try my best to get this TR moving! It feels like it's starting to drag a bit, and like I've been writing this TR FOREVER

I don't feel like it's dragging at all. I've been enjoying every update, and my life has been very hectic lately, so I like that I never fall too far behind on the report. However, I understand you wanting to get through with the trip while it's still fresh on your mind and move on to your next vacation. It's always a good feeling to get ahead.


Mushrooms as the veggie? I feel like there could have been better alternatives...