So I am finally getting a moment to sit down and share my wedding/Disneymoon with everyone. It seemed so to fly by! I was afraid I was going to have a little post-wedding, post-Disney depression when I returned, but I've been busy with a move and finishing up with our last month of school! If you want to see the pre-trip report you can catch it here http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/honeymoon-pre-trip-report-updated.889780/
So the cast in this magical Disney filled journey are myself (Melissa) and my husband (Andrew). We met at the University of Alabama Birmingham while working on our Master's of Arts in History in 2012. Andrew proposed at Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee in August 2014. Since then we have been planning our wedding in Springville, Alabama and no place else would do for a honeymoon other than WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!
I work as a History teacher in a very, very small rural town in South Alabama these days, while Andrew teaches History at a community college not far from where we live. The plan was to leave for Birmingham, which is approximately 2 1/2 hours north of us, on Thursday afternoon after I got off work so that we would have all day Friday to make last minute preparations, enjoy our family, have our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and rest up a bit for the big day on Saturday. The plan was to have our wedding in the gardens of our beautiful venue on Saturday, and follow it up with a reception in the ballroom. Sunday morning we planned to leave early and embark on our journey to The World (about 9 to 9 1/2 hours, shorter when he drives though
), you know what they say however about "best laid plans."
So here was our schedule breakdown:
Thursday: Leave for Birmingham
Friday: Rehearsal/Dinner
Saturday: The Royal Wedding
Sunday: Leave for Disney, check in to Port Orleans French Quarter, Magic Kingdom
Monday: Typhoon Lagoon, Hollywood Studio, Sci Fi Dine-In
Tuesday: Boma breakfast, Animal Kingdom, O'hana
Wednesday: Epcot, Coral Reef
Thursday: Hollywood Studios, Narcoosee's
Friday: Magic Kingdom, Be Our Guest
Saturday: Leave Disney
Of course there are some snafus a long the way, and I learned some very important lessons on this special, wonderful adventure with my handsome new husband. So on with the story.... Once upon a time...
Thursday, April 16, 2015
I made it to work this day, and I managed to concentrate on all of my classes. I don't know how because I woke up so excited and scatterbrained that morning that I barely made it out of the door with all of my papers and necessities! My biggest concern that morning was really centered around our car. A little secret about me...I'm an awful driver. I always have been, and I don't seem to be getting any better with age. Andrew had just bought a new car back in November because my old one, which had 215,000 miles on it finally died. Rather than pay more than the car was worth to fix a broken transmission, Andrew went ahead and purchased a new one. The plan was to take this car, which has much fewer miles on it than his car, on the trip to Disney. Good plan, except for the fact that he wanted me to drive this new car around because it was more reliable. Now where we live, as I said, is VERY rural. It's all country roads, few shops, few restaurants, very different from where we were in Birmingham. If I want to go see a movie I have to drive 45 minutes away. I used to watch some of these shows that made fun of Alabama and think, that is nothing like what Alabama is like, however I had never spent much time in the some of the less developed southern parts of the state. It takes some getting used to, but I am starting to grow accustomed.
Anyway, as I said, Andrew made the mistake of allowing me to be the one to drive this new car around. Well within two months of having it I ran over a deer, not just a deer, but a dead deer. Yes, you would think I could have avoided it, but I didn't. We had a local mechanic look over it to make sure it was okay and he didn't find anything wrong with it. Well, March comes, and so does warmer weather. On one of these warmer Sundays, on our way home from church, we turned on the air conditioner and bam, nothing but warm air came back out. With the car being under warranty, we weren't to concerned so we planned to take the car up the weekend we went to Birmingham for Easter. Unfortunately, the dealership mechanics reported that there was a hole in the condenser and so warranty wouldn't cover it. Of course, Andrew bitterly pointed out that there was probably an antler stuck inside it causing the problem. The cost was going to be over $1000. Not something in the budget just weeks before the wedding. Luckily we were able to have insurance cover it, but it took some time to get everything worked out. We weren't able to get the car taken car of at a local mechanic until the day we were supposed to leave for Birmingham. Alabama and Florida are both very hot in April, so I was nervous about the possibility that the air would not be working!
On a brighter note, my sweet 8th graders secretly got together and planned a surprise shower for me during our Basic Skills (extra practice) class. They had decorated using my colors (lavender and rose), made a veil out of Minnie ears and lace, decorated in Disney themes, and bought me a little necklace. It was the perfect way to end my last day of work before the wedding!
So the cast in this magical Disney filled journey are myself (Melissa) and my husband (Andrew). We met at the University of Alabama Birmingham while working on our Master's of Arts in History in 2012. Andrew proposed at Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee in August 2014. Since then we have been planning our wedding in Springville, Alabama and no place else would do for a honeymoon other than WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!
I work as a History teacher in a very, very small rural town in South Alabama these days, while Andrew teaches History at a community college not far from where we live. The plan was to leave for Birmingham, which is approximately 2 1/2 hours north of us, on Thursday afternoon after I got off work so that we would have all day Friday to make last minute preparations, enjoy our family, have our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and rest up a bit for the big day on Saturday. The plan was to have our wedding in the gardens of our beautiful venue on Saturday, and follow it up with a reception in the ballroom. Sunday morning we planned to leave early and embark on our journey to The World (about 9 to 9 1/2 hours, shorter when he drives though
), you know what they say however about "best laid plans."So here was our schedule breakdown:
Thursday: Leave for Birmingham
Friday: Rehearsal/Dinner
Saturday: The Royal Wedding
Sunday: Leave for Disney, check in to Port Orleans French Quarter, Magic Kingdom
Monday: Typhoon Lagoon, Hollywood Studio, Sci Fi Dine-In
Tuesday: Boma breakfast, Animal Kingdom, O'hana
Wednesday: Epcot, Coral Reef
Thursday: Hollywood Studios, Narcoosee's
Friday: Magic Kingdom, Be Our Guest
Saturday: Leave Disney
Of course there are some snafus a long the way, and I learned some very important lessons on this special, wonderful adventure with my handsome new husband. So on with the story.... Once upon a time...
Thursday, April 16, 2015
I made it to work this day, and I managed to concentrate on all of my classes. I don't know how because I woke up so excited and scatterbrained that morning that I barely made it out of the door with all of my papers and necessities! My biggest concern that morning was really centered around our car. A little secret about me...I'm an awful driver. I always have been, and I don't seem to be getting any better with age. Andrew had just bought a new car back in November because my old one, which had 215,000 miles on it finally died. Rather than pay more than the car was worth to fix a broken transmission, Andrew went ahead and purchased a new one. The plan was to take this car, which has much fewer miles on it than his car, on the trip to Disney. Good plan, except for the fact that he wanted me to drive this new car around because it was more reliable. Now where we live, as I said, is VERY rural. It's all country roads, few shops, few restaurants, very different from where we were in Birmingham. If I want to go see a movie I have to drive 45 minutes away. I used to watch some of these shows that made fun of Alabama and think, that is nothing like what Alabama is like, however I had never spent much time in the some of the less developed southern parts of the state. It takes some getting used to, but I am starting to grow accustomed.
Anyway, as I said, Andrew made the mistake of allowing me to be the one to drive this new car around. Well within two months of having it I ran over a deer, not just a deer, but a dead deer. Yes, you would think I could have avoided it, but I didn't. We had a local mechanic look over it to make sure it was okay and he didn't find anything wrong with it. Well, March comes, and so does warmer weather. On one of these warmer Sundays, on our way home from church, we turned on the air conditioner and bam, nothing but warm air came back out. With the car being under warranty, we weren't to concerned so we planned to take the car up the weekend we went to Birmingham for Easter. Unfortunately, the dealership mechanics reported that there was a hole in the condenser and so warranty wouldn't cover it. Of course, Andrew bitterly pointed out that there was probably an antler stuck inside it causing the problem. The cost was going to be over $1000. Not something in the budget just weeks before the wedding. Luckily we were able to have insurance cover it, but it took some time to get everything worked out. We weren't able to get the car taken car of at a local mechanic until the day we were supposed to leave for Birmingham. Alabama and Florida are both very hot in April, so I was nervous about the possibility that the air would not be working!
On a brighter note, my sweet 8th graders secretly got together and planned a surprise shower for me during our Basic Skills (extra practice) class. They had decorated using my colors (lavender and rose), made a veil out of Minnie ears and lace, decorated in Disney themes, and bought me a little necklace. It was the perfect way to end my last day of work before the wedding!
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