Just Engaged: An August 2010 Trip Report!

As the title suggests, this was an especially exciting trip for us and I can’t wait to share all of the fun details. Seeing as how I am lucky enough to write one of these every few months or so, I’m going to forego the normal introductions. Instead, why don’t I share five non-Disney things you might not already know about the two of us? Let’s see... non-Disney stuff?! This might be hard!

1 – We love live music! Seriously, aside from Disney, this is what we spend money on. Some of our favorite artists we’ve seen live include David Gray, Ben Folds, Brandi Carlile, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, KT Tunstall, She & Him, Jack Johnson, A Fine Frenzy, Counting Crows, Nickel Creek, and Jimmy Buffett to name a few.

2 – We name inanimate objects and refer to them as such... this is especially true for electronics, and oddly enough they really do take on personalities. No,seriously! For example, our laptops are Petunia (mine) and Frances (his); our Garmin’s are Neville and Navi; and my camera is more affectionately known as Ginger. Weird? Maybe just a little bit. :ROFLOL:

3 – As much as I hate to admit it, we are complete and utter TV junkies. We LOVE our TV. And if I had to pick the one show we are jointly most excited to see this fall season it would have to be Dexter. Bring on the creepy.

4 – We are totally one of those couples who met at a bar. It just so happened that we both worked there while in college. Ahhh... everyone loves a good cliché, right?! :lookaroun

5 – We have a standing tradition of buying one another a book to celebrate each holiday. And when I say holiday, I mean every holiday you can think of from St. Patrick’s Day to Christmas. Usually the only time we stray outside the lines is on birthdays. We’ve built quite an impressive collection so far ranging from popular fiction to non-fiction, children’s books to biographies and we throw in some Disney “coffee table” books and “Art of’s” for good measure every now and then. Amazon is our friend! As are the myriad of used book stores we come across in the different places we visit. We already have enough to fill our own library when we buy a house!

Of course, no introduction is complete without the requisite photo, but for the heck of it, let’s go “old school.” Here we are with the elusive Rescue Rangers in 2004:

We started planning this trip sometime after the Princess Half Marathon and eventually booked when the AP rates came out earlier in the summer. To be more precise, while I was in the midst of a quick weekend trip with my mom, Brett called and made the resort reservations, solidifying our stay at Caribbean Beach from August 13-August 17. And then, as per usual, we decided we would drive down after work on Thursday, so we booked a hotel through priceline for the night of the 12th.

Just the other day I realized that we haven’t repeated a resort since I began writing trip reports... so here’s a look back:
The Contemporary – September 2008
Old Key West – December 2008
Port Orleans Riverside – January 2009
Wilderness Lodge/Animal Kingdom Lodge – July 2009
The Beach Club – December 2009
Pop Century – March 2010
Coronado Springs – June 2010

We were both incredibly excited for this trip because we felt like it was our first truly “us” trip in a long while that spanned a decent amount of time and didn’t include some kind of endurance event to focus on. Okay, so I’m not gonna lie... I went into this trip “hoping” there’d be a little something special, but not really expecting it. There was one small detail that tipped me off ahead of time. I ALWAYS maintain the reservations and type up a minimal list of our dining plans/confirmation #s and before I could do it for this trip, Brett told me he typed it up at work one day when he had some free time. Hmmmm... interesting. I started wondering if he’d made some changes to the dining. And then I started thinking, why would he have any reason to mess with our dining?! I tried to dismiss this thought though, mostly because I didn’t want to be disappointed if it turned out he wasn’t planning on proposing. Thankfully, he did! So let’s get to it…

 

[HollyBelle]

Yay! You're really back! I'll be stalking the thread....

Totally random question of the day since: A. You (& Brett) are so creative, and B. you have more practice than me at naming your electronics. What female name would you imagine for a distant only somewhat related relative who tends to march to the beat of her own drum?
Can't wait for more! :sohappy:

My vote is for Scarlett. Brett says, Darla.

Yeah!!!! So glad Petunia is working again!!! I bet you felt absolutely lost without her!

Absolutely lost may be an understatement! :lol: Sad, I know.

 

[HollyBelle]

PETUNIA IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!! For those who may not remember, we left off at the end of Day 3 after a fantastic evening wining and dining!


Day 4: MK/Resort Time/Epcot

Through the blurry fog, I could hear Stitch. Why is Stitch yelling at me?! Oh wait, that’s our wake up call. Lemme just tell you, in case you didn’t already know... lots o beer and wine creates for a bit of a haze the next morning, especially when that morning comes at 6:30 am!

Anyhoo, we were back at the Grand Floridian by 7:30 that morning and ready for our breakfast at the Grand Floridian Café. I think we just may have opened the place up (as we do with breakfast on most mornings).

Breakfast was good, but not great, which is evident because I didn’t even take a picture of our meal. It only received two NOMS due to its average-ness. We split the French toast and it was just your run of the mill average French toast, nothing too special about it. I think we’re going to have to try GFC for lunch one day.

Initially, the plan was to go to Epcot for morning EMH; however, it was about 8 am when we left breakfast so we figured by the time we got over there, the whole point of EMH would be lost on us and we’d just find ourselves in a busy park. So we switched it up and headed to the Magic Kingdom instead. This meant we were at the entrance gates before they even had the turnstiles going. We were SUPER early and spent much of our time talking to the friendly CMs out front.

Oh how I wanted to storm past the CM and onto an empty Main Street!

 

[HollyBelle]

Soon enough it was time for the morning show… what a way to start the day off!

A swoon-worthy Jasmine (this one’s for the boys!):

And this one just cracks me up… Snow with Frontierland Donald Duck. It was even funnier at the end of the show when Donald escorted her off the platform.

Seriously, for a park that was designed so characters and cast members representing certain lands didn’t look out of place by walking through a foreign land, the morning show always makes me chuckle. Looks like all bets are off at rope drop.

Bert was my favorite during the countdown, he was so animated!

Finally… we were walking right down the middle of Main Street USA!

 

[HollyBelle]

First stop… Splash Mountain for some fastpasses. Then it was on to Big Thunder for the wildest ride in the wilderness. We picked our seats (the back of course) and after the first run we were allowed to stay on for a second ride because no one was in line. Too bad the family right in front of us opted to do the same thing, because taking pictures would’ve been so much fun otherwise!

Standing in line for the Haunted Mansion there was a HUGE group of new recruits. I’m pretty sure they were the new college program kids. I don’t know anything about it so I could be wrong, but it appeared that they get to ride all the rides in the park. What a fun first day at work... sure beats those training videos most people have to watch on the first day of work. :lol:

 

[HollyBelle]

Kind of like our afternoon at Epcot, we really just took our time wandering about Adventureland and doing a whole lot of nothing. It was fabulous!

Welcome to Ventureland! :lol:

We caught Ariel and Eric as their day was about to begin; therefore, the line was super short. Ariel was gorgeous, as always. I have yet to come across her when she’s not looking quite like herself, which I can’t say for some of the other princesses.

 

[disneygirl1]

Great update Hol!!! Glad Petunia is back up and running!!! I know the LOST feeling you had!!! It's amazing how we have come to rely so much on a computer! :lol:

 

[HollyBelle]

Pirate Goofy was doing a great job of hiding out near the Pirate’s Bazaar. He was already halfway through his set when we approached and there was next to no line. He really was tucked away pretty good.

It was time for Splash Mountain, a definite favorite of ours, but first I wanted to get a merchandise bag to throw my camera bag in. So we headed into the Briar Patch where some confusion ensued. I simply asked for a merch bag, but the CM wouldn’t give me one, she was set on finding a specific clear plastic bag instead. It was a bit sturdier than the other bags, so maybe she was concerned with water leaking through the regular recycled bag, I’m not sure. Anyone know anything about this?

Splash was great, as usual. You know it’s a hot day when the jets pointed out over the bridge are turned on and folks are waiting to the deluge of murky water. :lol:

On our way out of Frontierland we happened across Donald’s empty line and you know Brett and I can’t pass up an empty character line!

 

[HollyBelle]

In Tomorrowland we rode Space Mountain and then hit up the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. This really is such a fun show. My favorite skit this time around was the one with Sam and Ella, mostly because Ella made a map of the world out of dole whips, and then she kept constantly saying Sam better hurry it up with his questions because the map was going to melt. :ROFLOL:

We had a reservation at the Plaza for lunch, but from past experiences we knew it was likely we’d have to wait awhile after checking in so we decided to cancel it instead and head back to Kona at the Polynesian. Normally we wouldn’t care too much about being delayed, but we had big plans for the afternoon: wrecking folks at Disney trivia!!

 

[HollyBelle]

Mixing it up a bit, we took the boat back to the Polynesian. Throughout the whole trip we kept marveling at our accommodations. We were going back to “our resort” instead of just going to the Poly for lunch… it was a totally different feeling. One I’m desperately trying to bottle up and keep forever, I might add.

I love these boats; every time we take one I always wonder why we don’t do it more often.

Tuvalu! Be still my beating heart.

We had no problem getting a walk up reservation at Kona right at noon when they switched everything over to lunch. Actually, when we arrived we could see folks finishing up breakfast. This seemed so foreign to me considering we had eaten breakfast, like, 5 hours earlier. We each went with old favorites for lunch, Brett had the burger, and I ordered the delicious club sandwich that I knew, for the life of me, I could never finish. Seriously, where is my mom when I need her… she’s the perfect meal splitting partner.

Hey, looky there… more cupcakes! OM NOM NOM NOM! Because I’m the sweetest ever, I let Brett have the one with more sprinkles this time around. Granted there wasn’t nearly as much disparity in these two as the ones we’d had the other night.

I love the chocolate art on this plate:

And up next... we try our hand at Disney trivia!!!

 

[diddy_mouse]

WOO! Welcome back! :wave:

The pictures of the Good Morning Show made me smile, caught me off guard actually. :lol: And I never thought about the mixing of different characters from different lands of the park. Too funny!

Aren't the resort boats lovely? Such a great way to arrive at the MK.

And speaking of the MK...Jasmine and Ariel looked gorgeous! I didn't know that Ariel and Eric hung out in Adventureland. Very cool indeed.

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

Congratulations on your engagement! So glad your computer is up and running so we can hear more trip details. Is it just me or does Brett look like Bert from the Good Morning Show?

 

[LeafsFanNL]

Nice pics.

One of the positives of our WL stay last April was the boat to the MK. We found it was a great way to go back to the resort when we were done at the end of the day. One evening we boat hopped from the WL to the GF and back for our dinner at Narcoosees. it was fun.

 

[HollyBelle]

:lol:

WOO! Welcome back! :wave:

The pictures of the Good Morning Show made me smile, caught me off guard actually. :lol: And I never thought about the mixing of different characters from different lands of the park. Too funny!

Aren't the resort boats lovely? Such a great way to arrive at the MK.

And speaking of the MK...Jasmine and Ariel looked gorgeous! I didn't know that Ariel and Eric hung out in Adventureland. Very cool indeed.

There's always a sense of calmness on the boats (even when they're packed) in comparison to the monorail. Like I said, I don't know why we don't choose them more often.

I think they moved Ariel and Eric to Adventureland back when they shut down Ariel's grotto. And you're so right... she and Jasmine were each PERFECT for their roles.

Congratulations on your engagement! So glad your computer is up and running so we can hear more trip details. Is it just me or does Brett look like Bert from the Good Morning Show?

Thanks! You know, I never thought about it, but Brett can definitely master the "cheesy" Bert faces!

Nice pics.

One of the positives of our WL stay last April was the boat to the MK. We found it was a great way to go back to the resort when we were done at the end of the day. One evening we boat hopped from the WL to the GF and back for our dinner at Narcoosees. it was fun.

Thanks. I can see where boat hopping to Narcoossee's would be perfect. It really sets the ambience and romantic tone of the evening, especially when it drops you off right at the restaurant!!

 

[HollyBelle]

After lunch we changed quickly and ran down to the pool to sign up for the beat down scheduled to begin at 1:30. Over lunch we had a VERY serious discussion concerning our Disney trivia strategy, approach, and most importantly, our team name. We threw a few decent ideas around before settling on a great one; I wanted to “honor” the Polynesian with the name, and Brett wanted there to be some randomness to it, so we went with... drum roll, please... TEAM COBRA BUBBLES!!

You tell me, who wouldn’t take this guy seriously?!

Or this guy for that matter:

We were able to get a feel for our competition right from the beginning with the first question, “What is the name of Cinderella’s dog?” That one was followed up with some pretty easy throwaway questions, like “What other names does Sleeping Beauty go by?” At one point we were asked who the main characters were in “The Fox and the Hound.” And the CM gave Brett a hard time, telling him she’d let us have the points even though we’d left a “d” off of Tod’s name. Brett just smiled and said thanks, knowing full well he’d spelled it right. :lol:

As we were racking up the points, we were sitting in complete fear, waiting for an inevitable downfall... we were almost certain they were going to start throwing out Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers/Disney Channel questions and we knew for a fact we’d bomb those. Lucky for us though, there weren’t any and Cobra Bubbles stayed strong.

We missed a few towards the end, like, “How many animals are carved into the tree of life?” and “What is Boo’s real name from Monster’s Inc.?” For anyone else who didn’t already know these, 325 and Mary are the respective answers. There was one question that had everyone stumped, including Brett, at first. It was, “Which Disney movie was the first feature to be released simultaneously in regular and IMAX theaters?” The CM hinted that it had something to do with pirates and like everyone else all I could think of were Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean... neither of which could possibly be the answer. And then all of a sudden before we were out of time, Brett jots down “Treasure Planet!” Smarty-pants... he was the only one who got it right!

 

[HollyBelle]

And with that, Team Cobra Bubbles won! Woohooo... here I am, all excited to have bragging rights and the CM calls us up to receive our prize. What?!? We get a real prize? This is too good to be true! And it really was a great prize; we received a complimentary sea raycer voucher for 30 minutes. It was good through the end of the year, but we decided to nix whatever park plans we initially had for the afternoon and go play on Seven Seas Lagoon, instead.

Getting our instructions:

And we’re off:

The fakety fake speedometer sticker cracked me up!

A picture of our future ceremony location from the water:

Anyone out there willing to rent a sea raycer on our wedding day to capture some photographs from this angle?! :lol:


The term “raycer” is a bit deceiving, seeing as how we couldn’t move more than, like, 10 miles per hour. Nonetheless, we still had a good time.

 

[tiaragirl]

Can I just take a moment to LOVE that you Cobra Bubbles'd it up?

"Did you ever kill anyone?"

LOVE Lilo and Stitch. And you guys. You're my favourite couple, officially.

 

[HollyBelle]

We returned our raycer around 4 pm and headed back to Tuvalu to relax and get ready for our dinner reservations at my most favorite restaurant EVER... Ohana! Brett was smart because once he decided he was going to propose, he checked the system tirelessly until he was able to secure an Ohana dinner reservation for us. We ate at Ohana on our very first trip, and we always go back when we have something exciting to celebrate. I’d say our engagement certainly calls for a celebration!!

We checked in at 5:45 and only had to wait about 5 minutes for our table.

Shortly after our cousin took our drink orders, someone approached our table and apologized for interrupting, but wanted to know if I was Hollybelle! Why, yes, yes I am. Woohooooo! This must be a WDW Magic friend. I know you don’t post much, but if you’re out there Jeanine, I’m so glad you took a moment to say hi! Brett and I enjoyed meeting you and I hope your family had a fantastic vacation.

I’m a sucker for the ukulele, so I always enjoy the entertainment. The entertainer noticed our buttons as he was walking by our table, so he went and grabbed us some leis. LOVE this place, it has such a great energy! Next thing I knew, there was a round of coconut races going by our table.

I don’t really know what to say about Ohana that I haven’t already said in previous reports. The food is simply delicious (although I do still miss those scalloped potatoes)! We did much better pacing ourselves this time. Usually we stuff ourselves on the appetizers (wontons for me, wings for Brett) and then we hardly have room for the main course.

Brett gives the dipping sauces two enthusiastic thumbs up!

I was a huge fan of the former pineapple/caramel dessert that Ohana served, but I’ve gotta say, the bread pudding seems to taste better and better every time we have it. I think my reaction says it all.

Need I even mention that Ohana also maxed out the ratings scale at 4 NOMS! We were batting 1.000 with our dinners so far this trip!

 

[cdunbar]

We returned our raycer around 4 pm and headed back to Tuvalu to relax and get ready for our dinner reservations at my most favorite restaurant EVER... Ohana! Brett was smart because once he decided he was going to propose, he checked the system tirelessly until he was able to secure an Ohana dinner reservation for us. We ate at Ohana on our very first trip, and we always go back when we have something exciting to celebrate. I’d say our engagement certainly calls for a celebration!!

We checked in at 5:45 and only had to wait about 5 minutes for our table.

Shortly after our cousin took our drink orders, someone approached our table and apologized for interrupting, but wanted to know if I was Hollybelle! Why, yes, yes I am. Woohooooo! This must be a WDW Magic friend. I know you don’t post much, but if you’re out there Jeanine, I’m so glad you took a moment to say hi! Brett and I enjoyed meeting you and I hope your family had a fantastic vacation.

I’m a sucker for the ukulele, so I always enjoy the entertainment. The entertainer noticed our buttons as he was walking by our table, so he went and grabbed us some leis. LOVE this place, it has such a great energy! Next thing I knew, there was a round of coconut races going by our table.

I don’t really know what to say about Ohana that I haven’t already said in previous reports. The food is simply delicious (although I do still miss those scalloped potatoes)! We did much better pacing ourselves this time. Usually we stuff ourselves on the appetizers (wontons for me, wings for Brett) and then we hardly have room for the main course.

Brett gives the dipping sauces two enthusiastic thumbs up!

I was a huge fan of the former pineapple/caramel dessert that Ohana served, but I’ve gotta say, the bread pudding seems to taste better and better every time we have it. I think my reaction says it all.

Need I even mention that Ohana also maxed out the ratings scale at 4 NOMS! We were batting 1.000 with our dinners so far this trip!

Ok I have 2 things to say:
1) Brett is so amazingly awesome for getting a ressie where you ate on your first trip.
2) The noms-noms thing is pretty adorable!:lol:

 

[HollyBelle]

Nothing beats the ambience on the grounds of the Polynesian, especially in the early evening around sunset. The landscaping is just so lush and embodies such serenity at this time of day. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE THIS PLACE!?

 

[HollyBelle]

We found ourselves headed towards the TTC and over to Epcot for the evening.

I’m so not a fan of the Tronorail… I mean seriously, look at it in comparison to the classic clean lines of the monorail.

We noticed a rainbow upon arrival at Epcot.

We headed off to the Test Track single rider line. I truly can’t remember the last time we waited in standby for this one. I was in a car with the most adorable family. The ride was going kinda slow and creating this weird disconnect between the jerking motions of the car and the high speed audio when it finally just came to a sudden halt in the darkness leading down the hill to the truck. We ended up sitting for quite a while, so long that I thought we might end up getting an escort outta there. Brett was a car or two ahead of us and said he was sitting still right in front of the crash test and was caught off guard when they went barreling through it all of a sudden. He claimed it was the best ride ever!