Journal - August 18, 2001 - (The Wedding

Day 1: August 18, 2001
We Arrive in Disney World

To call the last few weeks before we left for Disney "crazy" would certainly be an understatement. All my careful planning, and careful alotment of time, to ensure that everything was completed and taken care of before we left, was blown to the wind, and the storm that ensued left me more than a little frazzled.

First, it seemed every and anything got in the way of everything I needed to do. Errands that should have taken only an hour took three, due to many unforseen things: traffic, long lines, stores being out of stock, etc. I found myself wasting a lot of time. But it wasn't until the last week that I really began to panic.

To make matters even more insane, an electric storm took out my cable modem, and it was a week before I had internet access again. And then, the week before we left, ANOTHER electric storm took out the wiring in our phone box, and it was only 2 days before we left that we regained phone service. This was not a good thing to have happen when you are planning a destination wedding a week before you left. I couldn't get in touch with anyone!

So the last few days before we left saw me in a panicked frenzy of motion, wondering where all the time had disappeared, desperately trying to finish all of our last minute details. Most of you will remember that I wanted to do custom CDs for each of our wedding guests for placecards at our reception - remember this, because these CDs caused me no end of angst! :)

Saturday morning, the day we were leaving, saw a very tired (I had gotten 6 hours sleep in the last two nights combined), very frazzled Michelle finishing up the burning of the last of the CDs. We were burning 2 different CDs - one a compilation of music played during the ceremony and the special dances during the reception, and the other a compilation of music that we both loved and felt reflected the two of us. Since most of our guests were couples, we were giving one CD to each of them, so effectively everyone got both.

John's mom arrived while we were printing the CD labels, and she offered to finish that while John and I packed. Yup, that's right... we hadn't packed yet. Where had all my careful organization gone? LOL!

So we pack quickly, then check, double-check, and triple-check everything, and I am convinced we have everything we need. And by now, we're running late. All the CD labels are printed, but we haven't printed the inserts... no problem, I think. I will send them to Kinkos via internet when we arrive, and have Kinkos deliver them to our hotel. No problem.

My dad has shown up at this point to wish us well, and see us off, and we shove everything into John's mother's car (a very nice red corvette) and head towards the airport. I am panicking, afraid we are going to miss our flight, afraid we will hit traffic. We whizz through Braintree, and then Quincy, and then John's mom speaks the dreadful words... "See, there isn't much traffic today."

And less than a minute later, we hit the wall that is Boston traffic as a result of the Big Dig. And there we sit, eeking along to the highway.

As a result, we pull into Logan Airport with only 20 minutes till our flight is suppose to leave... and we hit the next stumbling block. A line a mile long in front of the Delta Counter. I look at John and feel ready to cry. I am exhausted, and above all BRIDAL, and I know we are not going to make the flight.

We end up standing in two long lines (directed to a second long line after we sit through one long line), but thankfully we were placed on Stand-By for the next flight (at 4:25pm), and a guarantee of seats on the following flight if we don't get stand-by (they will issue new
tickets).

So we check in our luggage, and go to the Gate to await the flight. And at about 3:55pm, they issue John and I tickets for the 4:25pm flight. Yay! No standby, and we are assured of getting to Disney. Which is a relief to me, because I planned a special dinner for John at the California Grill through Carol, our Disney FTW coordinator, at 9pm.

But naturally, nothing can go RIGHT this first day. LOL! At 4:00pm, an announcement is made... there are severe thunderstorms in Orlando, and our flight has been delayed. They will give us an update at 5pm.

I throw up my hands in frustration, and go in search of food. When I come back to where John is waiting with my dress and our carry-on luggage, it is to hear that the thunderstorms are still going strong, and they will give us an update at 5:30pm.

This goes on for quite some time. I kept eyeing the internet access kiosk and wondering if I should go online to get some of the wedding stuff done... but the rational part of me says I shouldn't spend the money. I call Limocar in Orlando to let them know about the delay,
and we keep on waiting. 5:30...6:00...6:30...7:00...

Finally, near 7:30pm, we are given the A-OK!! Yay, we are going to Disney!!!

Delta placed my gown in the pilot's closet for safekeeping during the flight, and John and I settled down in our roomy exit aisle seats (always do exit row... can't beat the leg room when flying coach ;) ), and try to get some shut eye.

Three hours later, we have arrived in Orlando, where the poor guy from Limocar was waiting for us. We found out that he had been waiting for hours for us! I felt bad.

He took our many, many bags of luggage... we brought down a lot of stuff, clothes not withstanding. We did ship a lot of stuff down, but we brought down a lot too on the flight... and brought them out to the limo.

I have nothing but wonderful, good, and amazing things to say about Limocar!! Not only did they have among the least expensive rates, but they increased their rates this summer (as did all of the transportation companies, including Tiffany's) but honored our reservations at the rate that was in effect when we made our reservations. The limo was huge!! And it was immaculate, and comfortable. I had never been in a limo before, and I felt rather
decadent in this one. Leather seating, tv and vcr, and a stereo system, there was a bar stocked with soda, and a bottle of champagne and toasting flutes (all provided at no additional charge). There was also mood lighting in the ceiling, and white lights like stars on some of the paneling. It's hard to describe, and hard to do it justice, but it was beautiful. I loved this limo so much more than the one Disney provided! LOL! I *highly* recommend Limocar. Our limo with them was $80 + gratuity (I think it's now $90 + gratuity).

John opened the champagne, and we toasted our way to Disney in true high style. At last, we were here!!!

We got to the Polynesian Resort at about 11:30pm. I had long since missed our dinner reservations, and we really didn't have any choice for food - the restaurants were all closed. We checked in, and I asked for a Lagoon view room (hoping against hope for a nice upgrade
for the honeymooners), but there were none available. Oh, well.

So we get our room, in Fiji, and we make our way over. John and I practically run up the stairs, despite our exhaustion, eager like children on Christmas morning to see our room. And the room is huge! I have never stayed at the Polynesian Resort, and the room is just gorgeous and huge. I rush to the balcony, push open the curtains, and my disappointment at not getting a view of the Castle is eased by the view that greets me... that of Francks and the Wedding Pavilion. Okay, if I cannot have the Castle, then the Wedding Pavilion is certainly a great thing to gaze at each morning!!

We then make our way down to Captain Cook's for some late night food to munch on, and naturally have to buy our resort mugs in the process. We enjoy a nice dinner, and take a brief walk around the resort grounds at night (we just HAD to look at the Volcano pool),
before making our way back to our room for some much needed sleep...

NEXT: Tonga Toast, Ice Cream, and DisneyDollarless

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