Love, Death and New Life through the lens of Disney

[spurk5532]

On Day 2 we decided to sleep in and let us rest up a little. We had been going strong for over quite awhile. The week before our wedding was just crazy. We had been planning our wedding from out of town so there were a lot of last minute things we had to accomplish before the wedding. We had left the day after the wedding so we didn’t have any time to rest. Ben and I always are super laid back while traveling. We always feel like if we miss out on something we want to do that just gives us an excuse to go back to wherever we are. This was exactly how we wanted this trip. We didn’t want to wear ourselves out staying up late and getting up early. We also didn’t want to follow a strict plan, because knowing my personality I would have gotten stressed out had we deviated from the plan. Ben has taught me a lot about going with the flow and being flexible. This trip to Disney is what convinced me of being this way on vacation. It totally changed how I viewed schedules and getting everything in.

Our hotel room wasn’t too far from the main building and the food court. We walked over there after we got up, got ready and I made our bride/groom t-shirts. The breakfast was actually pretty good at the Pepper Market. I was thankful we had the Gold Plan because the food seemed a little pricey to me. It was really the only place that I really noticed the prices. We headed out to the bus stop after finishing up and the first bus to arrive was for Magic Kingdom. Secretly that is really where I had wanted to go so I was happy to see that bus pull up. There was another couple on their honeymoon on the bus with us. They were wearing the bride and groom Mickey ears. They loved our shirts and wished they had thought of it too. It was fun to talk to newlyweds again.

I was so surprised to see how big the castle was in comparison to the castle at Disneyland. It was so much prettier to me. Of course we had to get a shot in front of it.

Just another random MK photo

Then we headed towards Splash Mountain. On the way I made Ben stop at the Tiki Room first. I was disappointed with the whole Iago take over. It just wasn’t the same. I have issues with change if you can’t tell, ha ha. Then we stopped off at the Jungle cruise, which of course is still the same as it has always been so I loved it. After the cruise we decided to go directly to Splash Mountain. Once again I cried while riding this ride. Seriously who cries while riding Splash Mountain? I guess only someone who dreamed about only one ride for 16 years of her life.

Here is the infamous ride.

Pirates of the Carribbean had been on our way to Splash Mountain but we had already stopped off at two rides on the way so we passed it up. Now it was time to go ride one of the best rides ever. Ben is a huge pirate fan and so this was one of the rides that he did not want to miss. We had some time to kill before our priority seating reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern so we decided to ride the riverboat. It was a nice relaxing trip and something that normally I would skip but actually really enjoyed.

This is my favorite shot from the Riverboat ride. Not that you can really tell we are on the Riverboat.

Once the boat ride was over we headed to Liberty Tree for lunch. The food was delicious.

Once again a picture of us with our already eaten desserts.

This time around we paced ourselves and only ate about half of everything. Whenever we were at a restaurant and mentioned that we had the Gold plan the waiter/waitress would always get excited. I think they knew we would order more and the tip would be bigger, since the tip was included with the plan.

 

[spurk5532]

I'm joining in too.

Welcome, thanks for reading.

Add me to the list of interested parties. And to agree that your dress was beautiful.

You have been added. Thanks for the compliment

Count me in..... I have a feeling I'm going to need some tissues, I love what you have written so far and it looks like you made some beautiful memories on that trip....we were married 2 weeks after you on August 27,2004! It was a beautiful summer to get married! I can't wait to read more!!

God Bless!

You may need some tissues but not till later so you can just sit back and enjoy the honeymoon. Everyone thought we were crazy for getting married in August because of the heat and humidity where we live. Turned out the day was in the mid 70s and perfect. I would have to agree that August 04 was the best time to get married. ha ha

 

[Trentmom]

I like your idea of deciding what park to go to by what bus shows up

Sounds like a fun vacation so far

 

[ireland_nicole]

Count me in- y'all look very happy

 

[Nancy F]

I'm already crying and I don't even know why. But your post are just so moving.
Nancy

 

[spurk5532]

I am at my parents for Thanksgiving so I am not going to be able to update till Saturday evening.

I like your idea of deciding what park to go to by what bus shows up

Sounds like a fun vacation so far

It was so much fun to do it that way. I don't think you could do it that way today considering you have to make your ADRs so far in advance.

Count me in- y'all look very happy

welcome! thanks

I'm already crying and I don't even know why. But your post are just so moving.
Nancy

Wow thank you that is a wonderful compliment.

 

[Mom2Brooke]

Just getting caught up. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, looking forward to more!

 

[Heluvsme]

You got me, what a sweet love story!

~Dawn

 

[MaryAz]

I am in too. From your description and siggy I can see this is going to be a journey of laughter and tears. I am so glad you have happy memories and pics to look back on.

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I'm joining you as well.

 

[spurk5532]

Sorry I didn't get an update in before I left for Disney. I am currently at Disney World so won't be able to update till I get back.

Today was our first day and we headed to MK. The crowds were small and the magic was big. It has been so much fun seeing my ds light up when spotting the characters. He is in heaven.

Greetings to all the new followers!!

 

[Trentmom]

Sorry I didn't get an update in before I left for Disney. I am currently at Disney World so won't be able to update till I get back.

Today was our first day and we headed to MK. The crowds were small and the magic was big. It has been so much fun seeing my ds light up when spotting the characters. He is in heaven.

Greetings to all the new followers!!

Aww.....Hope you and your ds have a magical time

We will be here when you get back

 

[RigLee]

Hi Kirsten, I hope you are having a great time. I was so happy to find your report. I am sad because I know, but happy because I know. It's great that you are writing about your trip and all your memories.

 

[basketlacey]

Just looking for an update. I hope you continue to share you story with us after the holiday!

 

[spurk5532]

So sorry I haven't updated. I have just been so busy since I got back from Disney. I will get an update up after This weekend once everything has slowed down. My trip in December was great. I can't wait to write the trip report for it so I have got to finishmy first two. Ha ha.

 

[spurk5532]

After lunch we headed to Haunted Mansion.

I really liked the look of the mansion. It was completely different looking from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I think I like the brick better than the white house look. I love that ride. When I went as a kid my dad wouldn’t let me ride it because he thought I would get scared. I wouldn’t have but always was mad that my dad didn’t take me on it. I will never go to the Magic Kingdom again without riding it.

We couldn't pass this photo op up.

Fantasyland was calling our names, well just Peter Pan. Peter Pan is Ben’s favorite ride of all time. I think this is what he was looking forward to most throughout the whole trip. It is such a great ride. I love miniature things so I love looking down on everything.

The first time I went to Disneyland my dad did not take us on It’s a Small World. I don’t really know the reason behind it but I think it was just because he didn’t like it. When I went back in January with my friend it was closed for refurbishment. This time it was definitely open but I had no desire to go on it. It is funny how most of the rides I missed out on when I was in second grade I had been dreaming of riding my whole life but for some reason IASW was not one of them. Ben also didn’t really have a desire to go on it so we skipped it and headed on over to Toon Town. Barnstormer was on my list of rides so we waited in line and had a great time on the ride. Barnstormer is surprisingly fun. We rode it again after we got off because the line was so short.

a horrible picture of me while we were waiting in line. My sister is a huge Daisy fan so we took this for her.

We explored Minnie and Mickey’s House and then took off for Tomorrowland.

Once in Tomorrowland we stopped of at Space Mountain. This ride was my favorite ride when I was a kid. When I visited Disneyland with my friend it was closed so I was super excited to get to ride it this time. I was very disappointed. It actually was a painful ride. I don’t know if I will ever ride it again, but you never know. Ben had been to Disney World for one day when he was a freshman in college. One of his friends had an audition to play saxophone at the jazz club I believe and asked Ben if he wanted to tag along to Disney. Ben of course agreed. The one thing from that trip that he continually talked about was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. We were not going to leave the Magic Kingdom without going on it. Ben had hyped up the ride so much that I just believed there was no way it could live up to his description. But guess what it totally did. I was horrible, but I still had a ton of fun. Also it was Toy Story themed so of course I gave it extra points.

It was getting late and we wanted to get over to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations. We left the Magic Kingdom and hopped on the monorail and headed to Epcot. We got there with the perfect amount of time to eat and then head to Illuminations. We decided to go to Coral Reef for dinner. We thought the ambiance would be really cool. We didn’t get a table by the aquarium but we could still see it and it was so fun to feel like you were eating under water. By this point Ben was making his meal choices based on what the most expensive item on the menu was. So he got surf and turf. I also got the surf and turf but only because that is what sounded good. We almost had a sprinkling of Pixie Dust but I didn’t have my ID on me. The waitress said she would like to give us a free bottle of champagne since we were newlyweds but she needed to see ID. I had forgotten mine in the room. I felt so bad. She offered to give us free dessert instead but that didn’t really matter because we were already on the Gold Plan and getting free dessert. Oh well it was the thought that counted.

another picture of us after we ate dinner.

After dinner we were exhausted. We decided we would just head back to the hotel and watch Illuminations another night. The bed felt so good that night, we had been gone all day and gotten so much in.

 

[IMissEd]

This is such a sweet and romantic TR. Thanks for sharing.

 

[KatMark]

Welcome back; enjoyed the last update.

 

[spurk5532]

In the morning we got up early got ready ate breakfast and headed to Boulder Beach.

I had really wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon but it was closed. Boulder Beach was a lot of fun though. I loved the theme. It was fun to ride the chairlift to the top. We went on the family ride and ended up in a tube with only one other guy. He actually was with another group but they jump in a tube and took off without him so he went with us. The tube felt pretty empty with just three of us but it was still a lot of fun. I think my favorite part was definitely the lazy river. We loved to just sit in our tubes and float around. We only spent a couple hours there and then headed back to Coronado Springs to get ready to spend the rest of the day at Epcot. I was looking forward to going back since the day before we had just jumped in and out to eat.

The one ride I wanted to do at Epcot was the Norway ride. I had heard so much about it from all my friends. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew it would be good. We were starving when we got there so we went straight to World Showcase. We went left so ended up in Mexico first. We decided to eat lunch there. The food was terrible. It was the only bad meal we had the entire time we were there. We didn’t want Mexico to be a total bust so we went on the ride. Once again our shirts brought us some pixie dust. We were moved up and given front row seats. The ride was okay. Nothing to spectacular. I wanted to go on Maelstrom and since Norway was right there we went there next. It was fantastic. I loved that ride. We went on it twice. It was better the first time though.

So this boat is no longer in Norway. Does anyone know why they took it out. It was a fun play place for kids.

We continued around the world and explored each country. In Italy some actors came out and were about to do a performance so we stopped and sat down to watch. They were performing The Taming of the Shrew. They called up people from the audience to be part of it and Ben was chosen. They called up a male to play Kate and Ben was the guy that loved her. (sorry I don’t know my Shakespeare all that well) Anyway it was really funny, the actors were great. At the end they told Ben that at this point he was to kiss Kate. Ben is so quick on his toes and immediately looked out at the audience and said “Is there anybody else named Kate out there?” The actors burst out laughing along with everybody else. It was just so perfect. They gave Ben a little pin that said that he had participated in a production in Italy. It was a lot of fun.

This picture is my favorite and has always stuck in my head. The guy in maroon was the main leader of the production and I he just had a strong impression on me. I had a strange thing happen on my most recent trip that has to do with this experience so just remember this guy.

We stopped and watched some performers in Japan and then headed on to Morroco. We were wandering around Morrocco and ran into the Genie. I believe he was actually leaving but he stopped and we got our picture with him. Genie was the only character we ever got our picture with the whole trip. We just didn’t feel like waiting in line.

We had to stop in the UK and take the typical phone booth picture.

Ben thought it was so incredibly funny that in between the two phone booths was just a regular telephone so he insisted getting a picture of him on that phone. It is such a typical Ben photo.

Being that I am from Washington State I have been to Canada quite a bit. I have been to Victoria quite a bit and visited Butchart Gardens as well. I loved Canada. I felt like it was the culture almost that I grew up in with the Pacific Northwest Tribal art and buildings along with the miniature replica of the gardens.

We had finished the world showcase but we still had some time to kill before Illuminations. So we headed over to Living with the Land. That was a fascinating ride. It is so crazy to see all that they are doing to research new ways to produce food. I really enjoyed the ride but felt bad for all the little kids that seemed bored out of their minds. After the ride it was time to go find some seats for Illuminations. We ended up finding seating at the Cantina (I believe that is what it was called, it was the outdoor counter service restaurant in Mexico) we had perfect seats. Illuminations was truly amazing.

We still had not eaten dinner so we quickly headed out of the park and to Downtown Disney. We knew we would find somewhere to eat. We ended up at Fulton’s Crab House. The food was amazing. I believe it was my favorite meal. I had crab legs and lobster. It was delicious.

We were so tired after dinner so we headed back to the hotel and straight to bed.

 

[spurk5532]

Hi Kirsten, I hope you are having a great time. I was so happy to find your report. I am sad because I know, but happy because I know. It's great that you are writing about your trip and all your memories.

So glad you found it. Thanks for suggesting I do this. It has really been a great experience for me to look back.

This is such a sweet and romantic TR. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Disney is just so romantic in and of itself you don't have to try to hard to find romance.

Welcome back; enjoyed the last update.

Thanks. I should be updating with more regularity now that December is over. December is always such a busy time for me.