Day 10: August 27,
2001
Fairy Godmother remembers us, Sword Ceremony, Coronado
Springs, Planet Hollywood
This morning was the first morning, I think, that we had slept beyond 6:30am, at least in as long as I could remember. What a luxury, to sleep until 8:00am! Or so it felt. Of course, if we had gone to bed sooner than 1:00am, perhaps it would have felt truly luxurious! As it was, 8:00am was still far too early for us poor tired newlyweds. But it was Bryan and Sharon's last morning, and we wanted to spend it with them. We would have time enough to sleep when we were alone in Disney.
Bryan knocked on the door while I was still in the shower, but it turned out Sharon wasn't ready either; Bryan was just making sure we were up. We finished getting ready, and then walked over to their room, and then all four of us headed downstairs to Roaring Forks for breakfast. We helped ourselves to as much as we wanted, and then settled down for a good, comfortable breakfast. It was nice not to have anywhere to be.
Bryan and Sharon asked me how much a single day's admission to the Magic Kingdom cost, and I told them it was around $50. It turns out there were some things in the Magic Kingdom they had decided, last minute, to get their kids. Bryan still had one day left on his Wedding Park Hopper pass, having not gone into the park on Thursday, but Sharon did not. And even though they had to meet their limo at 1:00pm, they still wished to go into the park. So we quickly finished up breakfast, and headed upstairs again.
John asked them if they would take one of our suitcases home with them, and they agreed. We took the largest suitcase, and filled it with all sorts of wedding stuff from the ceremony and reception, for them to bring home with them. They had finished packing very quickly, and came to take the luggage. Sadly, we were still in the midst of packing and could not join them in their trek to the Magic Kingdom.
After they left, we finished packing up all of our stuff, and tried to make some order of the madness. I had some of our wedding cake while we doing so, realizing that it would not last till we went home. Disney had not only sent us the top layer of cake, but also a section of the cake that had strawberries, just for me. Yay! Sadly, I discovered when I opened the box that it had been dropped by someone, and was now a mess of cake. That's okay, the mess was still delicious, and the best cake I had EVER eaten. I helped myself, and then we sadly threw the rest away (though we kept the top layer).
We packed up all of our stuff, and then I packed my bouquet carefully into the box sent to me by FreezeFrame. John called Luggage Services, and they came to take our stuff. We were hopping over to Coronado Springs for our last three nights in Disney World. Our unity candle arrangement was mostly dead at this point, but there were a couple of blooms still alive, so I pulled them out to carry with me. John requested that they place our cake topper (the white chocolate replica of Cinderella's Castle) and the top layer of our cake (they were packaged separately) into the freezer so they would not melt or go bad. They took all of our stuff, and then we were heading down to the front desk so I could mail my bouquet to FreezeFrame to be preserved.
It was a quick, easy, and painless process to have it sent 2-Day Mail, and the CM at Guest Services was very helpful in taking care of everything. We then made our way down to the dock, to head on over to the Magic Kingdom.
If I haven't mentioned it before, I just have to say that the ferry rides are one of our favorite things about staying at the Magic Kingdom. We love the boat rides over the water to and from the resort every morning. No other form of travel on Disney property can beat a boat ride!
We arrived in the Magic Kingdom as people were beginning to line up for the Magical Moments Parade. I asked John if we could stay and watch it, as I had yet to see this parade. Since we still had some time, we went into the ice cream shop and braved the long lines for some ice cream. Mmm mmm!
We then went back outside and managed to get some seats right on the curb, and sat down to await the parade. We had great fun watching the parade and all of the characters, and danced along with them a couple of times. When the Cinderella float came by, we watched as it passed and saw the Fairy Godmother at the back. Both John and I waved to her. We were still wearing our Wedding Ears, as she turned towards our direction, we could see that she recognized us, and she waved at us and blew us a kiss. Then she pointed to herself, then to her head, and then to us, as if to say, "I remember you!" That made us smile and laugh, and we stood up and waved back to her. That one moment made our day for us.
After the parade was over, we fought our way through the crowds and through the castle, to the Carousel in Fantasyland. This was the real reason we were in the Magic Kingdom today. I wanted to see the Sword Ceremony.
A replica of King Arthur's Sword sits in a stone in front of the Carousel in Fantasyland, looking just like the Sword in the Stone. An inscription on the stone informs everyone that whomever pulls it shall be king of the Magic Kingdom for the day. I have a picture from our engagement trip back in 1997 of John trying to pull this sword. I had heard there was a ceremony involving it, but I had never seen it before.
We sat down next to the sword and waited. We watched one family stop by when the saw the sword, and a little boy tried to pull it out. I told his mom about the ceremony, and they decided to stick around. Finally, about five minutes after it was suppose to begin, I spied Merlin coming towards us. I jumped to my feet and excitedly pointed him out to John. Both of us would classify ourselves as "King Arthur buffs." We love the legend of King Arthur, and have read as many of the tales and myths - both modern and ancient - concerning King Arthur and Camelot. And thus, naturally, Disney's The Sword In The Stone is one of our favorite Disney movies. And seeing Merlin made us very excited!
He congratulated us as he came up to the stone, and apologized for being late. He was very absentminded as Merlin should be, and the show was very funny. He made everyone back off the platform, except for John and I, and instead had John hold the end of the "rope" (it was invisible, naturally) to block off the little stage area. We got the best seats in the house!
He pulled out a dove and cast a spell on it to find the true king, and then tossed it into the air. It flew off towards the castle, and disappeared from sight. He scratched his head for a moment. "Oh, dear," he said. "That just won't do." So he then pulled out a tuning stick, the kind you see in movies being used to find water, and cast a spell on it. It then dragged him towards one of the men standing in the audience. He then had the man come to pull the sword out of the stone, but try as he might, he could not budge it. After a big to-do, Merlin realized he had held the stick wrong, and tried again. This time it pointed to a little boy, who came and in a grand flourish, pulled the sword from the stone. He was then crowned King of the Magic Kingdom, given a crown and a cape, and we all cheered him and did a little parade. The man who had tried to pull the sword out first was named his bodyguard. John and I clapped and laughed along with everyone. It was a lot of fun!
After it was over, as we were right next to Merlin, we asked him if we could take a picture of us with him, and he quickly obliged us. Yay!! Our day was now complete.
Afterwards, we wandered around the Magic Kingdom for a little bit, going on a few rides, before deciding that we were too hot and too tired, and we wanted to go swimming. So we left and went to the buses, to go to Coronado Springs to check in.
Again, we had great luck with the buses, and the bus was right there as if waiting for us. We hopped aboard, and soon arrived at our last resort.
We had never been to Coronado Springs before, not even to look at it, so it was a very new experience for us, and we were giddy as children when we arrived. We walked into the lobby and spent some time staring at the fountain and at the fresco on the ceiling above us. We then got into line to check in. One of the things we noticed here at CS - everyone was smiling. Certainly Disney cheer still existed at all the other resorts and parks we had been at so far, but it seemed as if the heat and everything had begun to wear on everyone. But not here. There was a real festive atmosphere to the place, and the CMs still had a bounce in their step and a genuine smile on their face. You really felt they meant it when they did something for you, and all the CMs here went out of their way to make our stay magical. It was John who pointed this out to me, when I couldn't place my finger on what was so different - they still had the genuine Disney smile. For that reason, Coronado Springs ranked as one of our favorites during our stay.
And Coronado Springs was the only resort to truly display Disney magic in all its finery, and really made us feel truly special as newlyweds.
It began with checking in. When I gave the CM my name and reservation info, she pulled up our info on her computer and then smiled a happy smile at me. "I like the ears," she said to us. "Newlyweds?" We said yes, and she took a moment to look at our info again, and then smiled once more. "In celebration of your honeymoon, we're giving you a special upgrade to a Junior Suite. How's that sound?" John and I were floored, and exclaimed our happiness at this. She called Guest Services to get our luggage and then finished checking us in, handing us a sealed letter when she was done. "This is for you as well," she said, "with our compliments." We thanked her wholeheartedly, and then went to the Luggage Services window to meet our bellhop.
He came over in a cart with all of our baggage, and then we left. He drove us right up to our room, in the Casitas section, and helped us in. We were astounded when he opened the door to our room. The Junior Suite was two large rooms. The bedroom was master-sized, with a king-sized bed dominating the center of the room. A table with chairs and a fax machine sat by the window, a large bureau sat in the center of the wall, containing a large tv and vcr, as well as shelves for clothes. Night tables sat on either side of the bed, and there was a large comfy chair on the other side of the bureau. A large walk-in closet, with ironing board & iron, a large vanity area, with coffee machine, and separate bathroom and shower areas completed the first room. The bedroom opened to the second room, which also had a walk-in closet, vanity area, and bathroom and showers as well. A large desk with chairs and fax machine sat by the large bay windows, and a small living-room setup - a loveseat, large comfy chair, foot stool, lamp, and little table, took up the center of the room, facing the bureau that held another large tv and vcr. Against the opposite wall was what looked like a second bureau, but was actually a pull-down queen bed. This place was huge!! We were so astounded by it, and so glad we had decided to stay here. The bellhop was smiling at our happiness.
Shortly after he left, our phone rang. It was AJ, asking us about dinner plans. John and I immediately started babbling about the room, and told them they HAD to see it. It was amazing! They had just gotten back from the parks and wanted to shower, so we made plans to meet around 6pm here at Coronado Springs and go to Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney for dinner.
I took a moment to open the letter we had been given at check-in, and then proudly showed it to John. It was a letter congratulating us on our marriage and entitling us to a free champagne toast at the resort lounge at any point during our stay. Yay!!
We had a yellow Newlyweds "street sign" that was meant to be hung in a car. We took it out and stuck it into the window of our room, to tell the world we had just gotten married. It was a cute addition to our room - and made it easy to identify which one was ours.
John and I decided to take that time to get our resort mugs - we were thirsty - and to walk around the resort to check it out. We headed first to the little market store next to the Pepper Market to purchase the mugs, and then headed into the Market to get our drinks before going back outside.
The sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon at this point, and splashed brilliant reds on the lake that was the central focus of the resort. We spent a few moments just standing there watching the sunset, enjoying the beauty of it. I took a few pictures, and then we continued on.
The section of the resort we were staying at was called the Casitas, and they were the "city" area of the resort. Very refined in a Southern/Mexican flavor, and very reminiscent of the desert buildings pictured in old paintings. We began our walk by heading towards the giant Mayan Pyramid pool that we could see directly across from us, walking over the bridge to get to that section. The buildings on the other side of the bridge were the "Pueblos", and we liked the theming here. We slowly strolled along, finally reaching the pool. By this point we had finished our sodas, and noted that the pool bar was still open and dashed over to see if we could get refills.
They were actually just closing down when we arrived, but they stopped when we showed up. One of the CMs asked if we were newlyweds and John, jokingly, asked him why everyone keeps asking us that. The CM laughed, and said that maybe it had to do with our hats. He wished us well and then said that we should take his advice and remain faithful. Turns out he had been married, and divorced, three times and was not exactly the most...committed... person in the world. But we had fun talking to him, and in the end, he gave us free margueritas in celebration of us being newly married. John got a Lime Marguerita, but I got one called a "Fiesta" which was a blend of three different kinds. We were then off to continue our walk of the resort.
We walked around the pyramid, admiring it. We really liked it a lot. There was a playground off to the side and to the back, and so naturally we had to go on the slides and play on the swings.
We then continued around the lake and came into the "Ranchos." We especially loved the theming here, meant to look like the rustic dwellings of the desert, complete with cacti and dry river beds. It was really amazing.
Finally we completed our walk around the lake, arriving back just as AJ and Mike were coming into the area to look for our resort room. We said hello, and then dragged them to our room to show it off. They laughed at the Newlyweds sign, and then were in as much awe as we regarding the room.
We rinsed out our mugs and got ready, and then all four of us headed to Downtown Disney for dinner.
I had earned a $25 gift certificate to Planet Hollywood through Click Rewards (an online rewards program), which I had brought with me. It came with a VIP pass to Planet Hollywood which allowed us priority seating, and put us in front of all the regular people who were waiting for seats. We checked in at Planet Hollywood, and were seated within ten minutes, despite the restaurant being fairly crowded.
We were seated in the main dining area, which was the only bummer. We wanted to sit in the Sci Fi section. But we were all so hungry that, in truth, we really didn't mind. Our waitress was very nice, and quickly took our orders. While we were seated, a CM came by with a camera to take our picture. She chatted with us for some time, and John happened to mention that AJ had sung for us at our wedding. When she discovered that AJ was a talented singer, she gave her all sorts of advice on how to launch a singing career. Apparently two of her children were into music, and had just signed record deals.
After a while, our meals arrived, and we dove in with a vengeance. The food was good, and we enjoyed the meal thoroughly. We took our time, and just enjoyed being there, with no need to be anywhere else afterwards. When we finally finished our meals, we decided to walk around and look at all of the memorabilia on the walls. We went up to the Sci Fi section, and were especially pleased to see stuff from the movie, Legend, hanging on the wall. Yay!
When we were done, we headed outside, and stood around trying to make up our minds as to what we wanted to do. The original plan had been to go to Pleasure Island, but we were all noticing how tired we were. It was about 11:00pm now, and finally we decided to call it a night. Ah, sleep!!
AJ and Mike brought us back to our resort, and we said our goodbyes. We made plans to meet at the front of the Magic Kingdom at 7:00pm for the E-Ride Night tomorrow.
Eventually, we went to sleep...
NEXT: Blizzard Beach, Taking the Plummet, E-Ride Night, Congratulations on Space Mountain
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