Day 8: August 25,
2001
Cinderella's Royal Table, Epcot, Dinner at Alfredo's,
Cirque du Soleil
Drat that alarm clock!!
The angry red letters of 6:30am glared at us from the alarm clock as John and I pulled ourselves away from our slumber and back into the waking world. We were really beginning to feel the wear and tear of the last few days, and desperately wanted a good night's sleep. I knew that I needed to get a full night's sleep - and then some! - soon, or I would have pushed myself too far. My body needed rest.
But this morning was our group breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table in the Magic Kingdom, and I had been looking forward to this breakfast for months! I was more than willing to pull myself out of bed for this.
We got up and got ready, and were heading down to the docks at the Wilderness Lodge by 7:30am. It was a beautiful morning, and mist was still rising from the water.
We took seats at the back of the ferry, and quite enjoyed our ride over to the Magic Kingdom. This was one of the reasons why we loved the Wilderness Lodge so much. This ferry ride was our favorite means of transportation in Disney.
We continued to get many congratulations as we made our way over, and lots of questions about our wedding. Why, you may ask? Well, on this day, John and I wore our Bride & Groom t-shirts. Mine was white with the word "Bride" written across the front in gold script letters. John's was black and said "Groom" in white formal block letters. And to match the ensemble, we were both wearing our Wedding Ears - mine white with a veil, and his black with a top hat.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and enjoyed a leisurely stroll down Main Street. When we arrived at the Castle, we found to our surprise that no one else was here! We were the first ones to arrive. How strange was that?
I told the CMs at the check-in stand that we had arrived but were waiting for the rest of our party. As I was doing so, Cynde, Chuck, and Tori showed up. A few moments later, AJ and Mike came walking in, and we were ushered into the waiting area.
The Fairy Godmother was sitting on the throne, posing for pictures with anyone who wanted it. I immediately felt like a kid again, and dragged everyone into line. I wanted my photo with the Fairy Godmother!!
When our turn came, we both walked up and gave her a hug, and John thanked her for watching over us and making our dreams come true. She was so touched by that. She then wished us a lifetime of happiness, and we took a picture together, like one big happy family.
After about twenty minutes, our name was called, and John frowned that it was under "Cook." I laughed and gave him a hug and a kiss, and then we were walking up the stairs. We were seated up on the left-hand side, at two tables across from one another. Our waiter promptly arrived to take our drink order. He was an absolute riot, and he had us laughing more often than not with the "airs" he put on. We were glad that we had the right kind of crowd with us, though, since we knew some of our friends would not have appreciated his humor. We all ate it up, however, and mocked him as much as he mocked us. But he did remember to call us ladies "princess." :-)
Breakfast was huge, very good and very filling, and as much as we wanted was served to us. We were able to have most of our meal before the first characters came. Jasmine was the first to come over to our table, and Tori jumped up to have her picture taken with her. Cinderella came next, and she was so delighted with our Wedding Ears that she declared that we needed a group photo - me and John, and she and her Prince. She was followed by Snow White, who was charming and sweet as Snow White is. At the table behind us was a little girl with curly black hair all dressed up in a Snow White costume. She looked so cute when she posed for a picture with Snow White that I just had to take a picture of her, too! Finally the Prince came up as well, and after a few photos with him, we did the promised group photo. Belle was the last character to make an appearance, and I made sure to get a photo of me with her. Belle is my favorite Disney "princess."
We had great fun at the breakfast, and realized when we left that we had spent far more time there than we had intended. As such, we needed to leave to make the planned meeting at EPCOT. We had arranged with everyone to meet at Canada at 11am.
Cynde, Chuck, and Tori decided to remain in the Magic Kingdom, and would meet up with us at 5pm at Alfredo's in Italy for the last group dinner. We bid them farewell, and then left with AJ and Mike to go to EPCOT. They had taken their car, so we hopped the monorail over to the TTC and then took their car to EPCOT.
AJ managed to hit every red light along the way, and EPCOT was apparently far more crowded than the Magic Kingdom this day, as we were parked way in the back. When we finally got through the gates, we had to zip through EPCOT to get there on time. We did make a brief stop at TestTrack to pick up Fast Passes. As it was, we were about 5 minutes late, though it turned out that many people were late.
The Brown Crowd - Dave, Hillary, Jaime, Kendra, Caleb, and Michelle - were already there, and Mish and Eric joined us a little later. Bryan and Sharon showed up shortly thereafter, as did Jake and Caitlin. Scott was suppose to meet us as well, but he was MIA. It was great meeting up with everyone, and we all talked and chatted till we decided we had waited long enough. Sadly, though, people wished to split up right away. Most had not eaten yet, and so many of them went to Le Cellier for lunch. Dave, Hillary, and Jaime went to Innoventions, and John and I went with Bryan, Sharon, Mike, and AJ to the Living Seas, mainly because it was brutally hot this day. We all agreed to meet again at 2pm at the China Pavilion to watch the acrobats.
The sun had come out with a vengeance, and the humidity was a wall that we had to fight against to move through. We were pleased to see that most people had brought the fans we had placed in their welcome bags, and were using them with a vengeance. We were also pleased to see that some people were using the fanny packs and the totebags. A few of our friends thanked us for the band-aids; they had already made good use of them!
The Living Seas was fairly crowded, mainly because people had the same idea as we: get out of the heat! We walked around for a little bit, watching the manatees and other sealife. After a little while, we decided to head over to Innoventions to see if we could find Dave, Hillary, and Jaime, but after some searching, we determined that they had already left. We hung out in Illuminations for a while, and played the Networking Game a few times. We then made our way over to Test Track and used our Fast Passes. Gotta love those FPs! Being able to go ahead of that long, long line was really nice. We waited no more than five minutes to get on the ride.
This ride had quite a bit of history with me, and I had been dying to ride it. It was originally scheduled to be opened in November 1997, during our first trip together to Disney (which became our engagement trip to my surprise). Sadly, it didn't open, but was delayed. The next date we were told was around New Years 1997. And then March 1998. We went back to Disney in October 1998 for Halloween, and to make good use of the Premium Annual Passes we had bought for the first trip. Again, Test Track was suppose to be opened... and again, it was delayed. In 1999, we went to Disneyland, and sadly didn't go to Disney at all in 2000.
At long, long last, however, I was back in Disney and Test Track was open, and I couldn't wait to ride it!
We all certainly enjoyed the ride, though given the heat of the day, the heat chamber was completely unnecessary in our opinion! The speed ride at the end was a blast, and all in all we enjoyed the ride. Though we did not think it was worth standing in the regular line, which was over an hour wait!
Finally it was nearing 2pm, and so we made our way over to China. The walk seemed unbearably long due to the heat, and we were constantly stopping at water fountains to guzzle water. I felt like I was made of lead, and I really had no desire to be walking. If I were younger, I would have been whining.
The Chinese Acrobats had already started performing when we arrived, and we found a bit of shade to sit in to get out of the sun. We found a good place to sit, and then I left to see if I could find anyone in the crowd. After a little bit, I came across Michelle, Kendra, and Caleb, and they followed me back to the shade. Kendra was trying some weird tea drink, and I went with her back inside to get some myself and give it a try. We watched the children perform, amazed at how they could bend their bodies, and waited for others to arrive. No one did.
Oh, well. Kendra, Caleb, and Michelle wanted to walk around the World Showcase, and as much as John and I wanted to spend time with them, we could not muster the energy to join them. That was an awful lot of walking, and this heat was killer. We had seen the Showcase many, many times and did not have the excitement of a new experience to give us the strength to fight this heat. Honestly, I don't know how they did it.
We retreated to AC again, this time to the Universe of Energy. I remembered this ride well from our trip in 1997... it was on this ride that I first began to feel ill, and came down with that horrible bug that wiped me out for two days of our trip. I also had memories of this ride back from when I was 9, and it had been one of my favorites. I was a dinosaur fanatic back then, convinced I was going to be a Paleontologist when I grew up. There was one thing different about this ride from when we rode it in 1998... the smell. Normally the area where you first enter the dinosaur swamp really smelled like a swamp full of dinosaurs! I wondered if a lot of people had complained. It didn't stink anymore.
Afterwards we went over to the Wonders of Life pavilion, and went on Cranium Command and Body Wars. We walked around the pavilion for a little bit as well, before leaving to head over to Italy for the group dinner.
The Masquerade had just ended when we arrived, and John and I were bummed to have missed it. We had seen it before, and it was one of our favorite Epcot performances. Many people had already arrived, and we all crowded into the AC foyer of Alfredo's to await everyone else's arrival.
Aside from wedding-related meals - such as the Rehearsal/Welcome Dinner, the Reception, and Illuminations - this was the largest turnout of our wedding guests so far. And the last one which would occur, sadly.
My mom and sisters were already gone. My mom left for her conference in Prague today and so, sadly to me, would not be at the wedding weekend at all. I was glad that she had come to my wedding and been a part of my special day, but I was sad that she had not spent any real time with us here in Disney. As my mom had purchased Julie's ticket, Julie flew home with her as well. I had already known about this, but was sad that Julie was leaving soon as well. We used to be so close growing up, me the eldest and she the baby, and I had hoped to spend time in the parks with her. She had only been 2 the last time we were in Disney! Jackie was suppose to fly home with Dad, and I had made reservations for her to eat with us at Alfredo's. I had actually been looking forward to spending the day with my sister, because the original plan had been that Jackie would meet up with us in the morning and she and I would spend the day together. But apparently Jackie didn't want to remain alone, and so paid $300 to change her flight to that of my mom's, and had left with her this morning. Again, I was sad for this. But I determined not to let it get me down.
John's friends Chuck, Cathy, and Mike had also already left. They had only come down for the wedding, and we had known that. Chuck and Cathy had left their kids at home so they could enjoy the wedding, and, while Chuck had never been Disney before and really wanted to go into the parks, Cathy felt guilty about leaving the kids behind. So they had only planned the two nights they were down here, and did not intend to go into the parks on this trip. In Mike's case, he had left behind his wife and kids. His wife could not fly due to Chronic back problems, and so he did not want to be away for long.
And Jake and Caitlin were also gone, back to Massachusetts to a 1pm Wedding of one of Caitlin's friends.
Everyone else, however, was still in Disney, and with the exception of my brother Steven and Kevin (who were at Universal Studios today), they were all meeting together for one last group dinner at Alfredo's.
The "Brown Crowd" were the ones who actually selected Alfredo's as a restaurant. To be honest, it would not have been my choice, because it is very expensive. Many of our friends fall into the category of "poor starving college students" and some of our family are a little tight on money as well. Thus, I would have chosen a more responsible cost restaurant. But when the plan was first made to eat at Alfredo's, it was originally only for the Brown Crowd, John, and I. It was to be our dinner before going to see Cirque du Soleil in Downtown Disney. I had decided to mention it to everyone else, posting it on our email list and on our website, as well as the costs of the food, and before I knew it, everyone wanted in. We were very pleased about that, and glad to have this one last opportunity with everyone!
As always, there were some stragglers, and we waited for almost twenty minutes beyond our reservations before everyone showed up, and we were able to check in. Surprisingly, John's family (this time) was one of the latest! Once we checked in, it took us almost a half hour before we were seated. They placed us in three tables in the back room, all next to each other.
John and I were amused at how much everyone scrambled to sit near us, and we sat amidst most of our friends this time, having reserved "premium seating" near us for our family previously. We especially wanted to sit near the "Brown Crowd" as we had not see much of them, and we had especially looked forward to spending time with them in Disney. John and I were tucked into a corner, surrounded by everyone, and furthest away from the waitstaff. Which is why we didn't notice half the things that bugged people, until we heard about them later. We found out later that a lot of people were not found of Alfredo's as a restaurant, though they had a blast eating together. Apparently our waiter was slow to get drinks, and talked down to a lot of people when they asked questions regarding the menu. He also pushed wine and expensive dishes on our guests, making them feel uncomfortable, and sometimes wasn't forthright of the additional expense they would incur for what he was suggested. And finally, all three checks were inaccurate. Thankfully for John and I, however, our guests shielded from this, taking care of all matters in an effort to let us have the time of our lives, and it wasn't until we returned home from our trip and talked to people that we learned otherwise.
But aside from the waiter, everyone had a lot of fun at the restaurant. We were very loud, I had to say, with all the talking and laughing we were doing. We really lived it up, and probably spent about two hours at dinner. It was so great being together with everyone, here in Disney, that we didn't want it to end.
However, it was slowly approaching "that time," and Cirque du Soleil was looming near. Finally we cleared the last from our plates, and people dealt with the bills.
Hillary wanted to go back to the All Star resorts first to change, and to drop off all the stuff she and Dave had bought. I looked at my watch and was dubious that they would make it to Cirque du Soleil on time, and told Hillary this. She was confident that they would, however, and she, Dave, and Jaime quickly left to return to their rooms.
John and I stayed with Michelle, Kendra, and Caleb, and bade goodbye to the rest of our friends who were leaving. We all made plans for the morning, though some people were undecided where they wished to be. Originally, John and I had planned to go to the Animal Kingdom with people. But the Brown Crowd decided they wanted to do MGM Studios instead, and so we told them that we would go there. We wanted to spend more time in the parks with them. And Bryan and Sharon also said they wished to go to MGM Studios, and John especially wanted to spend some time with them.
I gave a very heartfelt goodbye to my Dad, as this was his last night here at Disney. I would see him briefly in the morning - he was taking my gown home with him - but otherwise he was leaving. I didn't want him to go. I had so loved our time here together at Disney.
Mish, Eric, Scott, Jane, and Randy all said they would be at DisneyQuest at 11pm, after Cirque du Soleil was over, and asked if we would join them. John and I said we would try, but made no promises. We were really, really tired. But we both should have realized, deep in our hearts, that we would go - we didn't want to miss a moment of Disney with our friends!
Finally everyone else is gone, and we spend some time walking through the World Showcase with Michelle, Kendra, and Caleb. Finally it is time to leave, and we go catch the bus to Downtown Disney.
It does not take us long to get there, and we sit in front of the Cirque du Soleil building for a little bit, waiting for Dave, Hillary, and Jaime. The tickets said to be seated an hour before the show, and it was now a half-hour prior. Finally, we determined that the three of them could check in on their own, and went to get our seats. They were going to be seated next to us, anyway, so it's not like we wouldn't see them. And we had all heard about the clown pre-show, and didn't want to miss it.
Sadly, it had already begun when we took our seats, but it wasn't far into it and we got to enjoy it. Our seats were right above an exit, which was perfect - no one sitting in front of us, no heads blocking tiny little me's view!! We were looking fairly dead-on to the stage, though we weren't quite center. We thanked Michelle repeatedly, as this had been her wedding gift to us.
The clowns were hysterically, and had us rolling at times. I won't spoil it for any who hasn't seen it yet, though. :-)
About twenty minutes later, we see Chip, John's Dad, and Charlette walk through the exit. When we had first planned this night back in March, we had asked everyone then if they wanted to join us. After three weeks of no responses from anyone, I gave Michelle the go-ahead to buy the tickets since no one had expressed interested. And then, about three weeks after that, Chip told us that he, John's Dad, and Charlette wanted to join us for Cirque du Soleil. Well, what could we do? The tickets had already been bought. We told them to go ahead and purchase tickets. We could all meet up, but we wouldn't be seated near each other.
Well, we see Chip walk in, and I point him out to John. We watch Chip look up at his and then talk to the CM at the bottom of the stairs. John's Dad waves to us. They then walk up the stairs to where we are sitting, and Chip sits down in the three empty seats next to John - the seats we assumed were for Dave, Hillary, and Jaime. John says hi, and both of us just assume that Chip is stopping by to say hello as well. John's Dad and Charlette then sit next to him. Chip looks down at his ticket, up at John again, down at his ticket once more, and says, "I have no idea how this happened."
John and I stare at him blankly for a moment, before I blurt out, "Are you serious? Are your seats really next to us."
He says yes in a matter of fact way, and then hands me his ticket stub. And, indeed, his seat is right next to John. How's that for coincidence!! We were all amazed at how this worked out, given that the tickets were purchased almost two months apart!
Finally the show begins, and there is still no sign of Hillary, Dave, and Jaime. I feel bad, since I knew they would not make it in time. I love Disney transportation, and use it religiously, but I know it well enough to be able to gauge the time it takes to get from point A to point B, and Epcot to the All Star Music, and the ASMu to Downtown Disney is not a quick trip by any stretch of the imagination by Disney bus. Twenty minutes after the show begins, Dave, Hillary, and Jaime show up, out of breath, and take their seats at the other end of the aisle, next to Kendra & Caleb.
What can I say about this show? It is truly amazing! Beautiful! Astounding! It will leave you in tears and in awe. Words cannot do it justice. You really must see it for yourself. My favorite part was the "flying" using the cloth. It was absolutely beautiful, and truly did leave me with tears. John leaned over to me while we were watching it and said, "That's how an angel would fly." And he was so right.
Sadly for me, however, my lack of good sleep for the last week and a half caught up to me during the show, as I watched sitting still in the darkness, and I spent a good portion of the show struggling to stay awake. Which angered me greatly, because the show was AMAZING!! It was a sign of how tired I was that the desire to see it, and the sheer mesmerizing power of the show, was not enough to fight off impending sleep. I did catch most of it, and loved every moment that I saw, and John promised to take me back again some day to see it once more, when I had gotten a good night's sleep. :-)
The show is called "La Nouba" - The Dream - and the pull it off wonderfully. It truly does make you think, at times, as if you are watching a dream. There are so many little, random things going on, and so many performers in the background, up above, off to the sides, that you always have something to watch, and always something to see. There was so much, in fact, that I don't think any of us in our little group saw exactly the same show.
When the show was over, we all rushed out to buy the soundtrack, and Chip bought it for John. We stood around in a little gaggle raving about the show, and John was so in awe over it that was I pleased - because for his upcoming birthday on September 7th, unbeknownst yet to him, I had bought him tickets to see Dralion in Boston!
The Brown Crowd determined that they were too tired to go on to DisneyQuest, and they wanted to make an early start in the morning to MGM Studios. They were leaving on Sunday as well, though Tiffany's TownCar was not picking them up until 2pm. We told them that we would meet them in MGM, but they did not seem certain of their morning plans. I told Jaime and Michelle to call us in the morning - we would go wherever they were going. But just in case we did not get a chance to say goodbye, we made our goodbyes now. It was very emotional for all of us. Dave and John shook hands, and then shared a half hug. I hugged everyone, and thanked them so much for being here with us and helping to make our day so magical. I didn't want them to leave; I didn't want this time to end.
Finally we said goodbye, and they went to get their bus back to the All-Stars. John's Dad, Charlette, and Chip decided that they wanted to wander Downtown Disney, rather than go to DisneyQuest, so we spent a few moments talking with them outside of DisneyQuest, waiting to meet up with people, before they continued on. They were leaving tomorrow morning as well, and so this was also an emotional goodbye.
John and I stood waiting outside DisneyQuest for everyone who was suppose to meet us. Finally, when no one showed up, we went into the building, in case they had already gone inside. Disney had changed the hours for DQ - it was now closing at midnight, rather than at 2am, and so we did not have much time left. Just as we were going inside, Mish showed up. We gave her a big hug, and she asked us where everyone was. We told her we had no idea, and then we all went inside to see if we could find people.
Mish, John and I split up and combed the levels, looking for people, but didn't find anyone. Near the top levels, John discovered the Stars Wars video game, and became instantly addicted. I was tired, and wanted only to go back to our room, and sat down next to him, torn between wanting to let him have his fun and being whiney because I wanted to go home and sleep.
As I was sitting there, Scott walked up and said hi, and I gave him a big hug. He, too, asked where people were, and I pointed to John and then to Mish, who was over at the other Stars Wars game. Scott went on to play "Ride the Comix," a virtual reality SuperHero game, before the call was made that DisneyQuest was closing. The four of us finished up what we were doing, and then left.
We said goodbye to Mish and Scott. They promised to meet up with us at MGM tomorrow before they left as well, but we made our goodbyes just in case. They then went to catch their own buses, and John and I went to get the Wilderness Lodge bus.
I don't remember much of the ride back. I think I slept through half of it, I was so tired. I do know that the walk from the bus to our room was long and dream-like, with that slow heaviness to it that comes with exhaustion. I was asleep before I even hit the pillow, and my wonderful, sweet husband put me to bed.
What a wonderful day it had been!
NEXT: Disney MGM Studios, Nap Time, DisneyDollarless Meet at Boma's
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