WDW Wedding Planning & Star Wars Weekends 5.2011 Day 1: The Arrival

We got to BWI around 5am and it took until 6 to get the shuttle, check our bag, and get through security. This was our first full body scan experience. What a hassle. After going through the scanner i had to stand there while the agent described me over a walkie. He said i was short and of normal size. Normal! Thank you 65 lb weight loss :) Anyone who read my previous TRs knows I’ve been trying very hard to lose weight. On our last trip I had lost about 40 lbs and since then I’ve lost another 25 which brings my total to 65lbs!

We had a nice breakfast at McDonald's which is a tradition for us. We rarely eat fast food and it was time to indulge!




We landed at MCO and went to the magical express. We weren’t even in line 5 minutes before we got on the bus. I have never had a bad Magical Express driver before. They always play up the excitement and this time our driver told us to have a magical time! The Caribbean Beach Resort is the first stop!!!



We checked in and I asked for just engaged buttons and the Cast Member gave us happily ever after buttons too! She was really sweet and congratulated us. We never ended up wearing our buttons but it was nice to have them! Our room was ready too! It was a very nice room in Aruba. Overall we were pleased with it because you couldn’t beat the free Annual Passes we got with our Disney Fairytale Wedding package and the PIN code for the room. This was the cheapest trip EVER!







I loved this picture because we just booked the WDW Radio 2.0 cruise in November 2012 on the Disney Dream!



Me in my “very fine hat” #FireflyReference



We made our way to EPCOT and exchanged our vouchers for annual passes! The Cast Member was very nice and we told her all about our plans. We're now Annual Passholders!



I had to take a picture of F&G Lotso! He actually smelled like strawberries, I don’t know why I didn’t expect it, it’s Disney after all :)






Wedding Goodies!

I made an absolute beeline for UK Lochside which is where we are having our Illuminations Dessert Party the night of our wedding. I am SO happy we picked this location. It’s perfect for 20 people and I like that it’s off the beaten path a bit so it’s more private. We made good use of our GorillaPod here!










From across the bridge:



We took a leisurely stroll and stopped in France for a picture with Marie.

Then we stopped for our favorite grey goose lemon slush. While we were sitting there enjoying ourselves, a guest from the UK came over to me and told me she likes my hat. She said they used to have hats like that "back in the day". I took that as the ultimate compliment because the Brits are wild over hats. I think anyone who watched The Royal Wedding knows what I’m talkin’ bout. Then her husband started up a conversation with us about how awesome EPCOT is and how they’re hooked on Soarin. They rode it 3 times that day! I love meeting nice people in WDW and sharing experiences. That happened a lot on this trip.




We walked casually a bit more and spotted Aurora so we absolutely had to get a picture.



Then we walked to Japan and saw Miyuki!



And we had sushi. We sat outside Yakitori house and watched the ducks near the waterfall. Happy place! I’m ¼ Japanese and my maternal Grandmother is from Japan. I can’t wait to bring her here for our wedding. She hasn’t been to WDW in over 10 years.




We took it pretty easy and just walked around World Showcase for a bit. We rode Maelstrom and Grand Fiesta Tour with hardly any wait.

Mmm noms



I thought this photo opp was too hilarious to pass up! Ageless Beauty…



My sisters are planning an Akershus Princess Breakfast for me as a Bachelorette Party the day before the wedding. It’s sure to be magical!




Mexico Donald liked my hat! I had to keep it on for this picture.



When we reached the end of WS we talked for a bit about our plans for Star Wars Weekends because I had seen a tweet that people were already lining up around 2pm. We decided to stay at EPCOT for a bit and stick with our plan to take a cab to Hollywood Studios early Friday morning. So we went and got a fastpass for Mission Space and then rode Ellen's Energy Adventure. After that we went to see what time the fastpasses were for Soarin but they were for 8pm and we knew we weren’t going to make it that long. Oh well, we'll do that another day.

We ate at Sunshine Seasons and it was unbelievably disappointing :( They've changed it so much. They removed the salmon! Our dinners were very underwhelming and expensive. I don’t think we'll eat there again :(




We decided to go back to the room and get a good night's sleep for Star Wars Weekends on Friday. Jason called and scheduled a cab pick up for 4am to DHS. Yep that’s right. 4AM. We’re hardcore!

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