June 2013 - The Great Wedding Road Trip - Final thoughts

Whoo hooo! I feel like I finally have a handle on what we're doing on this trip and it's not all up in the air.

Day .5 - Thurs 6/6 - Pick up the rental car at Noon, take it home and pack it up. Possible evening departure, depending on DH's work schedule. I'm not sure I'll be able to stand it knowing that we can just leave for Disney and not doing it. Goal if we leave here is probably Effingham, IL. Thanks to everyone's input we're going to be flexible with the road hotels

Day 1 - Fri 6/7 - On the Road no later than 8am! (4am if we don't leave on Thursday)
Our goal for the day is Macon, GA. If we leave on Thursday we'll evaluate how my health is holding up and if we're going to spend the night here or head a couple more hours South.

Day 2 - Sat 6/8 - Arrive at WDW before Noon! Try to Check in, hit guest services for Park Tickets, send kids off to Epcot. DH and I will hang out at the hotel until we can get into our room, then we'll head to Epcot. The plan is to meet up with some local friends for dinner at Tutto Gusto, eat, drink and watch IllumiNations. I also want to be sure to get a ride on the new Test Track and stop by Le Halles. I think this will be our only day in Epcot.

Day 3 - Sun 6/9 - Magic Kingdom Day - The plan is to be there for rope drop (LOL, not holding my breath on rope drop) and head right to the New Fantasyland. Lunch at Be Our Guest is Tori's pick for a *must do* stop on this vacation. We have until about 4pm at the MK and then will take the boat back to the resort. 6pm - 8pm (Becks is that time right?) Wedding Welcome Dinner @ Silver Creek Springs Trout Pass Pool Bar. 9:30pm Cocktails at the Top of the World for Wishes. MK is open until 1am, so the kids might go back to the Park for awhile after dinner.

Day 4 - Mon 6/10 - It's Wedding Day!! - Three years in the making Becks534's big day is finally here! It's an early wake up as I kick DH out of bed and make him move into the studio room with the kids for another hour or two of sleep.
-- The beautiful bride and her sister, along with hair & make-up are expected to arrive in my Villa between 5:30 & 6am.
-- Breakfast will be ordered in (I'm leaning towards Earl of Sandwich but haven't ruled out traditional room service) to feed the masses sometime between 7-7:30am.
-- Photography arrives at some point. Everyone ready at out of the room by 9:15am. Limo to the Polynesian (?) The official wedding location is on Luau Beach at the Polynesian (believe it or not subject to change).
-- 11am Wedding!!! Celebrate!!! Hoorah!!!
-- Lunch at Kona Cafe (nom nom nom)

Back to our room to change, and then we're headed off to Hollywood Studios! Mom and Dad may need a nap by this point. This is Katie's *must do* stop for the vacation so that she can get her thrill ride on. I don't know where we'll be eating dinner at DHS, but it will be quick serve. Geordon, Tori & I will be watching Fantasmic! Kirk and Katie may just continue to ride. DHS is open until Midnight.

Day 5 - Tue 6/11 - Magic Kingdom - Breakfast Reservation at Kona Cafe. The plans for this day are entirely up in the air. I'm pretty sure that this is a Magic Kingdom Day, however it could possibly become an Epcot day depending on what everyone decides at breakfast.

Day 6 - Wed 6/12 - Departure Day - We have breakfast reservations with Becks' family at 10am at Whispering Canyon Cafe. After that we're on the road and heading home. I'm already sad about having to head home. I'm 100% sure that I'll be driving away in tears.

I totally haven't put any thought what so ever into our drive home. I guess I'll figure that as long as we're back & unpacked before I have to return the car on Friday at Noon, it's all good. I expect that we'll get home Thursday evening.

Okay! So that's it, the itinerary is finally done, two days before online check in. I'm not so sure that I'm going to check in 60 days ahead, I'm struggling with why I should do that so soon when it doesn't really give us any benefit at the moment.

I've started putting everyone's clothes aside for the trip, but I still don't have a great handle on what everyone is wearing. Becks says that I should just relax and embrace the rainbow. I know that she's right, as long as we all look great for the wedding. I'm really not even sure how much I'm going to see the kids on this trip, let alone have them around to take pictures of. I need to start making my lists, clothes packing, food packing, wedding specific packing, print off road maps, put money into envelopes for on the road expenses. I need to buy a cooler. I need to order flowers for the room. I need to get together all the camera equipment and decided what is making the trip.

Yowza! These 62 days are going to fly buy so quickly. I am so excited!!

Okay... so yesterday I went ahead on pulled the trigger. We'll officially be leaving on Thursday night around 8PM.

We have to get about 4 hours down the road to southern Illinois where I pre-booked/paid a hotel. I got a really good rate ($105) and there are three beds in the room so my son won't have to sleep on an air-matress. Leaving early has the potential to get us to WDW around 10am on Saturday. I also joined AAA, I figured it couldn't hurt.

I think that either location is going to be spectacular, but I would really love it if you got the alternate, since that was in the original plan.

I'm still deciding what I want/need as far as the cooler goes. I will let you know if I need the loaner.

I'm so excited about the "head start" we're getting. As long as my body holds out I'm hoping to make it to Lake City Florida on Friday. If we can do that, we can make it to WDW by about 10am. I can valet the car, take the kids over to MK to get the tickets and let them head to Epcot. Then head back to the hotel to wait for my camera to be delivered. I think I've decided to rent a camera. I'm crossing my fingers on being able to get into our room before 4pm.

Awesome! I will make it so!

60 Days to Go Just Checked In Online

I didn't notice too many differences with the new system. It still asked to confirm out guests, address, credit card, arrival & departure times. It did asked me to pick a pin number for RFID room key charging. It also gave me a couple of very limited options for special requests.

I think that as long as your TA has given you your reservation number you should be able to check in online now. When I used a TA in October I didn't have an issue with online check in. That being said, there's nothing wrong with checking in when you arrive.

Okay, I think I'm finally ready to talk about this.

David's Bridal sent me an email last week saying that my bridesmaid dress was in. So, I go in and take the right bra to try it on and it's WAY too big. HUGE, GIANORMOUS, whole handfuls of fabric on the sides on my body too big. The saleswomen were trying to convince me that it fit. That it looked fine and if I went down a size it would be too tight around my hips. WHAT!? I knew that I didn't have the money for alterations (that would have cost more than the actual dress did) my daughter was with me and she was trying to calm me down. I was hysteric. Completely beside myself. The girl then passed me off to three other women all who told me that the dress was fine, that the measurements matched mine. However none of them seemed to notice that this dress was hanging off my body. Now I admit that I've got a lot of body to cover, but that does not mean things should fit me like a paper sack.

My memory gets really fuzzy about what was going on, I was angry and crying, and the girls working there were more stupid than a rock. My teenage son could have been a bigger help. Anyhow, someone grabbed me a size smaller in a different color and I put it on. It fit perfectly. They decided to order me the smaller size and that I could exchange them. *sigh* So now I'm waiting for my dress again. 48 days let before we leave for the wedding. Becks keeps telling me that it's okay and we have plenty of time. The hyper planner OCD girl in me is completely freaked out that I don't have anything to wear.

I'll be the fat girl on the beach in her skivvies standing next to the bride.
I know... breathe... Just breathe.

So, I decided to put everything together and take pictures of what I will be wearing. Oh... I bought a hat, it's a gigantic peach flowery sunhat and I am completely in love with it. I would LOVE another new sundress, but I'm not so sure it's going to happen.

It's going to be the most beautiful, joyous, crazy wonderful day ever and I'm CRAZY excited that it's happening!! Because over my dead body were they canceling it. Less than two months to go LoL... I just need something to wear.

I believe that, I totally do! My girls have needed many a special occasion dress and they've tried to sell us something that doesn't fit more than once. It's a total scam and I'm still really mad at them. It's not right to pray on women in emotional states like that, and let's face it when you're dealing with weddings, even if it's not your own there's a lot of emotion flying around. Sadly, where I live there aren't that many other places I can go for a cocktail dress that I don't have to drive 1.5 hours to get to.

Don't mind at all! Mickey mail is a wonderful thing!! Short "To Do" lists are a wonderful thing!

I was thinking this morning that it was about time for me to pull out the suitcases and start packing up. I'm headed back to David's Bridal today for round two on my dress.

Thanks Diana! I have it and it fits! They offered to press it for me, but said I would have to leave it there another week. No way, I'm pretty sure I can handle that part myself.