Day 5: August 22, 2001
Gown Steaming, Family Dinner, My Mom (sigh), Fantasmic

There is an incessant buzzing noise that pervades my sleep, and I know that the morning has come. Have I mentioned my hatred of alarm clocks? Especially at 7 o'clock in the morning?

No sooner do we drag ourselves out of bed than there is a knock at our door. Our food has arrived! John opens the curtains and the balcony, while I open the door and let the waiter in. We quickly clear off the table of my laptop, assorted wedding stuff, papers, and the like. The tray is huge, even though I really didn't think we ordered all that much. He sets everything up, makes sure is all right, and then is gone.

John and I select what foods we wish to start with, and then bring our starting plates out to the balcony. The balcony table is not nearly large enough for the tray, but we are able to arrange everything around us. We then settle in to eat our breakfast, and enjoy the glorious view.

This has got to be the most wonderful part of the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the reason why I know we will return again and again to this resort. The morning was quiet, and a few tendrils of morning mist were still rising over the savannah, blanketing the tops of some of the far parts of the resort. And the animals were out, eating their breakfast as well, strolling casually along the Savannah. Our friend the giraffe was nearby again, but he paid us no heed as he helped himself to the topmost branches. Gazelle, zebra, cranes, and other savannah animals can all be seen, near or far, from our balcony. John and I love to watch animals, and this was pure heaven to us.

Of course, the Animal Kingdom Lodge has Tonga Toast, so it definitely wins points in my book!

Finally I realize a lot of time has passed by, and I dash back into the room to take a shower before Paul from Carolyn Allens arrives to steam my gown. No sooner do I finish, and am drying my hair on the balcony (can't stop animal gazing!!), than does Paul knock on the door. I open the door, and he says hi in a big, friendly voice. He has a huge gown steamer with him, and I hold open the door while he comes in.

John has gathered up his stuff - consisting of a book and his little WDW 2001 fanny pack - and gives me a big hug and a kiss. "I'll be down at the pool," he tells me. "Come get me when you are done."

After he is gone, I pull out my gown, and Paul looks around a little bit to decide where to steam it from. The fact that it needs to be hung high, for the train, does not help. Eventually, he hooks it on the top of the rod for the balcony curtains. We shut the curtains so the sunlight doesn't backlight the gown, which makes it difficult for him to see the wrinkles. He then gets to work, and I plunk down on one of our beds to watch.

We chat the entire time. Paul is a really nice guy, and has been steaming gowns for his wife's business for years. He used to be in high tech years ago, and "I don't miss it that much," he tells me. He enjoys helping out his wife and all the brides, and enjoys talking to all of them. He tells me some stories of past steamings he's done, and the creative ways that they've had to hang gowns to get them steamed. "The worst are the All-Stars," he tells me. "There's no room in those rooms to hang a gown. Especially with a train."

It takes about an hour to steam my gown - it REALLY needed steaming!! - and when it is done, he asks me where I want to put it. "Well," I say, looking at the gown. "I was just going to put it in the closet, and drape the train along the floor. The closet is big, and there's nothing else in there. John knows not to look."

Well, Paul frowns and looks around, and then says that he has a better idea. He takes my gown and goes over to the second bed - the one we are not using - and hooks the clothes hanger over the top of the mosquito netting pole at the top near the ceiling. He then drapes the gown and the train over the bed. I frown at first, wondering what he is doing. John will surely see the gown there.

"Pull the sheets off the beds," he says, and I obediently do so. He then takes the sheets and hooks it over the mosquito netting, draping it over the gown so that it covers it, but does not put any pressure that would wrinkle it. He takes the second sheet and drapes it over the train. "Just leave a note on it for housekeeping, and let them know there's a wedding gown under here and not to move it." I smile. This will work perfectly!! I wrote a note on paper in large letters and place it over the sheets, and hold it down on either side with our wedding bears. It looks so cute, now.

I thank him, and help him pack up and move the steamer out of the room. He takes down my payment info, and I give him a nice little tip, and then he leaves. I look at the gown - or rather the sheets - for a few moments feeling happy and content, and then go in search of John.

I wind my way down to the pool, which is mostly empty. There are maybe three other people swimming in it. I find John near the deep end entry, almost completely submerged with his nose just barely over the surface of the water, and only his fingers sticking out of the water to hold up his book, as he reads in complete contentment. I feel a wave of envy. How I wish I were in that water! I seriously debate going swimming, but the rational part of me says I should finish what needs to be done for the day, and then go swimming. The pool is nice here at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Nothing fancy like the Volcano Pool at the Polynesian resort, but rather a more natural pool designed to fit into the "natural oasis" setting of this area of the lodge. The bottom of the pool is in natural shades, and there are rock croppings throughout. It looks like a natural pool, with a slide winding through the rocks, and a zero-level entry on one side. It also has the stream from the Arusha Volcano inside the lobby trickling down into it, and is made to look like it flows naturally in - however, we think the Wilderness Lodge pulled that effect off better. John was hoping for a more impressive slide, but we were still happy with the pool here.

John notices me approaching, and pops his head out of the pool. We smile at each other and enjoy a warm moment between us that requires no words. Our wedding is almost here, and our excitement is high. He can read the smug little expression on my face, too. I offer to get us soft drinks at Mara's with our mugs while he gets out of the pool, towels off, and prepares to return to the room - where Kinko's awaits us, yet again.

We head into the room, and I open the laptop and turn it on. Room Service arrives to take the trays from breakfast, and John helps them take everything out. Shortly after that, room service arrives. Feeling far more optimistic than we should, we tell her that we will be gone in an hour, and to return then.

So, again, I log onto Kinko's website. And again, it refuses to finish an upload. I have one of the four files uploaded, but it just will not finish the second. Or the third. Or the fourth. It just won't do it. I go from blessed contentment to seething frustration, and my bridal stress gets so high that I am near tears and just not having fun. John tries to make light of the situation, to try and ease my tension, but I am too wound up and too upset and feeling waspish instead. He suggests that we give up and not do the CDs, and I stubbornly refuse to let go. After all, I have lost many a nights sleep over this - giving up would mean not only admitting defeat, but conceding the point that my exhaustion (because I am indeed quite exhausted) is all for not. And the CDs are our place cards at our reception! We need to finish them. No, I will not give up, darn it!

Now, one thing about John and I is that the two of us are almost NEVER stressed out at the same time. One of us will be stressed, and the other will be fine and try to ease the stress of the other. Inevitably, that never works, until the person who was fine reaches their stress level (from trying to help the other) and begins stressing - at which pointed the one who was stressed finally is able to release their stress in the need to de-stress the other. LOL. It's a funny little cycle we had. So naturally John is now beginning to get stressed about this whole situation. He suggests that we call his friend, Chuck, who isn't scheduled to arrive until Thursday, and have him print out everything and bring it to us. That's a great idea! I don't know why I hadn't thought of it earlier. So now my stress begins to ease, especially in seeing that John is now beginning to get worked up and not having fun.

John calls Chuck to see if he can do this for us - to which he readily agrees to help out - and as he does so, housekeeping arrives again. We apologize, feeling as if we are in her way, but she tells us not to worry about. John asks he if she wishes to clean up regardless. "Just ignore us," he says. She shrugs and gets to work. She's very nice, and we chat with her as we go. Her name is Maria, which was the same name as our housekeeper at the Polynesian. She finishes very quickly, and darts out of the room - but not before John stops her to tip her!

John then takes to the computer to send the files to Chuck. He looks at me and tells me to go swimming, and relax a little. I feel bad, because I can see my stress has gotten to John. But a swim will probably do me good, and so I change and head to the pool. It certainly does feel nice to be swimming, and being in the warm water does much to ease my tension. But it does feel lonely in there without John, and I feel guilty about leaving him "at work" in our room. After about fifteen minutes, I get out and head back up, refilling our mugs again in the process.

He is just finishing when I get there - AOL has bumped him off twice - and I give him a big hug. We spend a few minutes just enjoying being together, before the phone rings and my dad calls. By now, it is around 1pm, and I realize that I have not yet heard from my mom. Hmmmm.

My dad is wondering what we are up to, as he has the stuff we asked him to bring from our home. We invite him and my stepmother, Celeste, on over to drop off the stuff, and so we can show them around a little. After I get off the phone with him, I call my mom's room at the All-Star Sports resort. She had said she would call me in the morning so we (her, John, my sisters, and I) could go to MGM Studios together. I get no answer in her room. I try Julie's room, but no answer as well. I call about my brother's room, but he has not arrived and checked in yet. I call my mom's room again, and leave a message. I wonder where they are?

John and I go down to the lobby to meet my dad, and we refill our mugs again (my, we're thirsty). We sit cuddled on a couch together, just enjoying the lobby and soaking in the sites. After a while, we begin to wonder where my dad is. We look around, and then John decides to go outside to look for him. We must have missed each other in that large lobby, because somehow my dad got to the front desk without us noticing and called my room, and then went back outside again. John saw Celeste outside, and then came in to get me, at which point I saw my dad, who had come in again.

My dad's friend, my "uncle" Ed, drove them over, and is now parking the car so we can all go up to the room. When we're all together, John and I take them on a mini-tour of the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and then we go to our room to drop off our stuff and show them our view. They really love the look of the resort, and we spend quite some time on the balcony animal-watching.

Finally we decide we should leave, as we will soon need to be meeting people for dinner at MGM studios, and it would be nice to have some time in the park before we should meet. I call my mom's room again, but still no answer. John calls the All-Star Music resort to see if his family has checked in yet, but they haven't. But at least now they recognize Chip & Chuck Mangio as having reservations! We still need to drop off their gift bags - we couldn't yesterday because there were no reservations on file for them - and my dad offered to drive us over there to drop them off. I change the message on our phone - "Hi everyone! You've reached John & Michelle's room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We're off to MGM Studios today, so hopefully we'll see you there. Remember, dinner is at 5:20 at the Hollywood & Vine restaurant in MGM. Try to arrive by 5:05. See you then! If you need to leave a message, you know what to do!" - and then we're off.

As we are pulling into the parking lot of the All-Star Music resort, John's sister Cynde, her husband Chuck, and daughter Tori are getting out of their van. We all say hi and give hugs and make introductions. She asks why we're here at the All-Stars, and we just tell her we're checking up on reservations, and then explain the fiasco with Chip and her dad's reservations. Since they haven't checked in yet, they haven't gotten their gift bag, and we didn't want to spoil the surprise.

John goes with them to check in, and I go to give the gift bags to someone else at the front desk for John's brother and dad. They take the gift bags, but inform us that the reservations (while in the system) are showing as cancelled. I groan, but assure them that they are both showing up today, and pray that everything is straightened out. I walk over to where Cynde is checking in, just in time to see them get their gift bag. Yay! The smiles make it so worth it!

We part ways - it is now nearly 4pm, and we need to stop at my dad's room at the Caribbean Beach before going to MGM studios. We remind Cynde of the dinner, and then take off. I go with my dad to his room - he is staying in Jamaica - as I am curious and wish to see it. And it gives me a chance to do a bathroom run! My dad picks up his diabetes medicine and new roll of film, and we are off. It isn't until we are half-way to MGM Studios that I realize I forgot my "I Am Never Growing Up" hat in my dad's room. Oh, well, I can get it later.

We get to MGM Studios but don't really have time to do any rides before we have to meet people, so we decide to wander around and sight see a little. It feels so nice to be in the parks with my dad - I was 9 the last time I was in Disney with him. And MGM Studios did not exist back then. We wander around, and my dad and I share some Disney memories, before finally arriving at the Hollywood & Vine restaurant shortly before 5pm.

This is when it all begins to feel "real," and the growing excitement for our wedding day truly begins to grow. As we are standing there with my dad and Celeste, our friends AJ and Mike show up amid loud hellos and huge hugs. And quickly following behind them are our friends, Eric and Mish. At this point, I check us in to let the restaurant know we have arrived, though I am told we must wait for everyone. When I return to the crowd is when John's family arrives - his sister, brother-in-law, and niece, followed by his dad, stepmother, and brother. Seems they have arrived safe-and-sound (yay!) and cleared the mixup with their reservations, though it was quite a tale to be told.

John's eyes find mine in the crowd, and a warm, contented smile lights us both up. Suddenly the excitement hits us. Here we are, surrounded by twelve of our friends and family in the happiest place on earth, their love and happiness and excitement to be here charging the air around us. We both want to shout for joy. It's real. It's really real. We're all here!

At about 5:30, I begin to wonder where my mother and my sisters are. Tonight was supposed to be a family dinner, for John's family and my family to spend time together. As some of our friends were arriving today, our families invited them to join us. But where was my mom and sisters? My brother wouldn't be arriving till later, so I knew he would miss the dinner.

We were all hungry at this point, and so I went up and checked us in. The manager was very nice, and agreed to sit us and hold the places for my missing family, even though that was not normally done. We were seated promptly, and the manager came out to make sure all was well. She was so nice, and so accommodating throughout the entire meal.

Shortly after we sit down and order meals, I get a call on my cellphone. I look down at the caller ID and see that it is my mother. I answer the phone, but the static inside is so loud I cannot hear her. I walk outside to finish the call, and pass our friends Jake and Caitlin as they are walking in. I wave to them as the join our group at dinner.

My mom tells me that they are leaving the All-Star Sports resort now, and wanted to make sure what park they should go to. "MGM Studios," I tell her. "It's at the Hollywood and Vine. We've already been seated, but if you get here fast enough, you can still enjoy dinner with us. Remember, we have the passes for Fantasmic," I tell her. She assures me they will be here ASAP, and we hang up. I walk back into the restaurant, feeling a little down because my mom and sisters aren't here and because I hadn't seen them all day. I didn't bother asking where they had been, because I didn't want to dwell on it, and hoped they would arrive soon.

But walking in and seeing my Dad there, and seeing John's family and all our friends in one big large crowd, laughing and smiling, my good mood returned. I walked over and spent some time at each of the tables - we were sat at 4 tables in one low row - talking with everyone for a little bit, though I did take time to eat.

Dinner was a lot of fun, and I feel bad that we held three places that could have gone to eating customers. The manager checked back periodically to make sure everything was okay, and really made sure we had a great time. A little bit of Disney touch there! Our waiter was also great, and kept up with all 16 or so of us. He even got all the checks right, since we all had separate checks - 7 checks in all. When dinner was over, we received our voucher for the VIP seats at Fantasmic. We were told to meet at the gate near the entrance to MGM studios between 7pm and 7:30pm - 7:30 would be the last time they seated people. It was about 20 minutes to 7pm now. My mom and sisters still had not shown up. I tried calling her, but received no reply. Oh, well, what could I do?

We didn't have much time before we needed to meet for Fantasmic, but we decided we wanted to go to the Star Tours ride, which was right near us. My dad & Celeste, along with John's dad and Charlette, went their own way, but the rest of us all headed right on over to Star Tours. There was practically no line, and we were able to walk right in.

It was so much fun! When you go onto Star Tours with 10 of your closest friends, and all of you are in a happy high, you're guaranteed to have a great time. It started with our Star Tours guide, Kirk. He introduced himself and began the introduction to the ride, and then looked at all of us as the doors were opening and said, "And no Captain Kirk jokes." We all burst into laughter and one of our friends said, "Why do you think we would make Captain Kirk jokes? This is a Star Wars ride after all!" And he just said, "All of you have this look to you. I can see the joke in your eyes." And we just laughed harder.

We sat down in the Star Tours ride and buckled in. Kirk gave his spiel again, and then left the room, the doors closing behind him. Eric, buckled into his seat, tried reaching for the emergency exit wheel (he was the closest seat to it) and making faces like "Please save me." Suddenly over the speakers we heard, "I can see you, you know." And we all started laughing again.

The ride was so much fun. I don't ever remember it being so much fun. But we are all Star Wars fans - though not die-hard - and we were all on a happy high and feeling silly, and we just loved the ride. Afterwards, we spent a lot of time in the gift shop, ogling over toys, before making our way to where we were suppose to meet for Fantasmic!.

As we arrive at the meeting spot, promptly at 7pm, I get a phone call on my cellphone - it's my Mom's. She tells me that they couldn't remember which restaurant it was at, and that she couldn't access her voicemail to find my message as to where it was. I feel a great big sadness in my chest at hearing this - she's missed my family dinner for my wedding. I know some people would be angry or upset. But right now I was sad. This was my pre-wedding stuff, and she was missing it. I wanted her to be there. I didn't bother telling her that she could have looked on the itinerary I gave her - everyone got an itinerary in their gift bags - or that she could have called my hotel room to hear the message or that she could have called me back on my cellphone. Instead, I just told her I understood and asked where she was. I explained that we were meeting for Fantasmic. "Well, I couldn't find the restaurant," she says, "but we saw this cute little place called the 50s Prime Time. We just got seated and ordered food." I didn't have the heart to mention that the 50s Prime Time Café was right next to the Hollywood & Vine Restaurant.

"We have until 7:30pm to meet for Fantasmic," I tell her, and then explain how and where to meet us. She says they are not certain they will make it in time, but they will try. I tell her I will find out if we can get seated, and then have one of us meet them at the gate and still get them in. She says she will call back, and we hang up. By this point, everyone else has arrived. A few had gone to make use of their Fast Passes on the Rock'n'Roller Coaster. It was now about 10 minutes past seven. I explain the situation to them. A few jokes were made at my mom's expense, but people were beginning to see how this was bothering me, and let off on the joking. So we all waited. A couple of people dashed off to gift shops to buy some stuff, while we waited to see if my mom would show. John and I had gone to the gate, and were basically told that we had to all get seated together. If we went in, then my mom and sisters couldn't join us.

Time passed. I was having fun talking with everyone, but at the same time I began to feel stressy and sad that my sisters and mom weren't there. My dad and I talked for a bit, and I took great comfort in him being there. My dad is a steady fixture in my life, the solid rock upon which I stand, the gentle river the flows ever onward around me. A lot of who I am can be found in my dad - my quiet acceptance of life and people, my tolerance, my open-heartedness and unconditional love... they are qualities I learned from my dad. He isn't loud and boisterous, and sometimes he is so quiet you may not notice him there, but his love fills all, and whenever I need him, whenever something important in my life is happening, my dad is always there.

Finally, I am watching all the crowds entering the VIP area for Fantasmic. Now, while we are still guaranteed seats in the VIP seating, it is still first-come, first-serve in that area. And I am beginning to get afraid we won't get good views. And as 7:30 arrives, I grow tired of waiting. So we round up everyone, and get in line.

We get through the gate and are walking towards the stadium when I get a call from my mom. Our connection is very bad, however. I try to tell her that we are already seated, but that they can see Fantasmic through the general seating. I try to tell her to meet us at the front entrance after Fantasmic. We get disconnected twice, and on the third try I am told that her service is not available. Finally I give up, and hope she got the message. I believe she was telling me that they were not going to make it, but I am not sure because of the connection.

We sit down, and get good seats in our section - lower middle area, and middle of the rows, of the lower right section. We have a clear view of the stage. We begin waiting, as we have until 8:30pm before the show begins. We tell jokes and stories to pass the time, and then someone starts a wave. We all join in, and have great fun doing the wave to pass the time. Both the right and left sides of the stadium really get into the wave, though the middle area is only partly into it. We do fast waves, slow waves, double waves, triple waves, and reverse waves. We all have a blast!!

Finally, the show begins! John and I, and a couple of John's family, had seen Fantasmic! before, but otherwise everyone else was a first-timer to this truly wondrous show - and they were completely blown away by it. I won't spoil it for those who have never seen it, but it is truly amazing. Maleficent was just incredible! Everyone oo'ed and ah'ed their way through it. And when the show ended, a large hubbub arose from our friends and family as they tumbled over each in their excitement to talk about the show and share their favorite parts. We walked out the exit in a frenzy of after-excitement.

We got to the gates and waited a little while for my mom and sisters, but they never showed up. Some of our friends decided they were going to Pleasure Island for the evening, and we wished them well. This was our last night together before the wedding - we were going to be at separate resorts the night before our wedding - and our last chance to get some sleep before the big day - and we needed to be at the Magic Kingdom by 7:30am the next morning for breakfast.

We said goodbye to everyone and gave hugs all around. We made sure that AJ and Mike, who were joining us for breakfast at the Crystal Palace and going on the Family Magic Tour in the morning, knew where and when to meet us. At this point, Eric, Mish, Cynde, Chuck, and Tori all chimed in and said they wished to join us as well, as did Jake and Caitlin. We said it was too late to add them to our PS reservations, but if they came in the morning, we should be able to get seated together. Hopefully.

Everyone then went to await their buses, and John and I had perfect timing again, and caught our bus immediately. We snuggled up against one another in the bus, and rode back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge in a half-awake state.

When we got back to our room, we had a message from my mom. I called her back, and my mom told me that they had not finished dinner in time, and that they were tired and decided to just go back to the room. Okay, I can understand that. They had gotten in late the night before. And then my mom said that they had decided not to go into the Magic Kingdom tomorrow - they had decided to go parasailing. A part of me was a little sad at that - I had been looking forward to spending some park time with my mom, sisters, and brother (Steve and Kevin had now arrived), and I knew that tomorrow would be my last chance to do so. My mom, Julie, and Ryan were flying out early Saturday morning. Jackie would be joining us in Epcot on Saturday, and Steve would be in Disney till next Wednesday - though I knew I wouldn't likely see much of him or Kevin. I also felt a little miffed at the cost involved in Parasailing - many of you will remember that we had to move our wedding date back from August 27 to August 24 because my mom decided she wanted to go to a science conference in Prague. That had bumped us back from Value to Regular Season, and changed our wedding from a week day to a weekend day, and thus raised the cost of our wedding by about $4500. My mom had agreed to pay for the difference, but then had backed out of that agreement, putting a great deal of financial strain on John and I. But I was good, and didn't say anything - if anything, I felt guilty for the thought.

I had never been parasailing and it sounded like great fun. "Have a blast!" I told her, "And take some pictures for me. I wish we could join you." I then reminded her of the important events tomorrow: Steve had a tux fitting with all the guys at the Wilderness Lodge at 12:30pm. Then all of us had the Rehearsal at the Wedding Pavilion at 2pm. And then the Rehearsal / Welcome Dinner at O'hana's at the Polynesian Resort at 5pm. "Don't worry, we'll be there," she told me. "Where is the Wedding Pavilion again?"

"It's near the Magic Kingdom," I reminded her. "Right between the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Resorts. Just take the ferry or monorail over to the Grand Floridian from the Magic Kingdom, and walk from there. You'll see it, and there are signs. It's also written on the itinerary for you guys, and we'll change our voicemail too." She said okay, we said we loved each other, and then we hung up.

We also had a message from Chuck - telling us that one of the files John had sent over had not come through, and that he couldn't finish it. And that he was leaving, and wouldn't be able to get to it tomorrow.

My bridal stress went right through the roof again, and finally I did cry. John got upset that I got upset at Chuck - I wasn't really upset at Chuck, I was just stressed - and then John came through with the perfect solution. We had these little beautiful pearlized frames with little roses and vines in the corners, that we were using at the Pre-Reception (they were going to have the guest's name and table number on them), and then at the Reception we were going to have the CDs on each table setting with the guests names on them. John suggested we take the frames and forget about place cards at the Pre-Reception, and just use them at the Reception. We can then finish the CDs at home, and send them out with our thank you cards as thank yous and reminders of the wedding.

What a wedding idea!! See why I am marrying him! I was still bummed about not having them at the reception, but our time had run out and there was nothing more we could do, and this seemed like a wonderful solution. I gave him a big hug.

We then realized that we had a lot of stuff we needed to bring over to the wedding pavilion to give to Carol at the rehearsal, and no easy way of getting it there. We could take it onto the bus, but then we would have to take it over to the pavilion before park opening, or we would need to rent a locker. So we called AJ and Mike, who had a car, and asked them if they would drive us tomorrow morning. AJ needed to go to the Rehearsal anyway, as she was the soloist. They agreed, and said they would call us at 7am.

We thought briefly of going swimming - but it was now approaching midnight, and the walk was long, and we were tired. We went onto the balcony to see "our" animals and to say goodnight, and then crawled into bed. It had been a good day.

NEXT: Breaking A Spell, Rehearsal, Where is my Mom?, Welcome Party, and the Adventurer's Club

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