KeyCon 2014 Trip: Day #6

Hey guys!  It's been a busy few days around here.  I'm back to finish my trip recaps! They're almost done!!!  KeyCon Day 6 did not begin with a great start.  I woke up around 6:00 am and was pretty sick in the morning.  Thankfully, I got it out of my system and got a bit more sleep before I had to get up.  Of course, since it was my second to last day, I was then greeted with this less than joyful site.  Ugh.

I got moving and joined everyone at the Magic Kingdom for our Social Media Scavenger Hunt.  That's where my day started to turn for the better.  My stomach was still a little queasy but Linda and I were determined to have a good time.  The scavenger hunt wasn't about winning, it was about FUN!

We were given the Social Media Scavenger Hunt sheet and we were off!  Linda and I completed all of the Main Street questions and then made our way over to Adventureland. We met up with Greg and Ryan and sat with them while Greg and Linda ate their Dole Whips.  Then we headed towards Frontierland and Liberty Square.

The best part of the hunt was when we were in Fantasyland and we had to solve the Rapunzel riddle, "She watched the lights float up on her birthday!  Find her tower and snap a picture of her color-changing friend if you can find him."  I'd never looked for Pascal before and didn't even realize he was even hidden in the scene.  Linda and I had no idea what to look for, but after a few minutes of intense observation, we found him! Can you find him in our picture?  (Apparently, he's in a few locations around Rapunzel's Tower.  I can't wait to find more Pascals this January!)

We continued on to Tomorrowland and met the rest of our group at the end of the scavenger hunt.  We all had lots of fun!  After, we decided that we'd grab something for lunch and hang out in the park together.  We decided to go to Sleepy Hollow and caught the Celebrate street party on the way over.

When we got to Sleepy Hollow and I saw the menu, all thoughts of my sensitive stomach went out the window.  I was starving at this point, and I LOVE waffles.  I couldn't help myself when I saw the Nutella with Fruit Waffle.  It was delicious.  (I'm very grateful that my stomach also enjoyed it.)

Cheryl, Stacey, Ryan, Linda, Greg and I decided to head to the Hall of Presidents next. It's definitely a classic show and I don't see it every trip so I'm glad we went this time!

Afterwards, we got caught in a downpour right as we left the show.  The group decided to split up; I wanted to go back to Pop before getting together with the gang later in the day. I decided last minute to try to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade.  The weather was questionable at best, and instead, I ended up seeing the Rain Parade.  I'd never seen it before so that was still alright with me!

After the rainy day parade, I slowly made my way back to Pop.  I stopped to watch a Magic Kingdom rabbit eating some food on the grass.  I walked through the Emporium and looked at a few more items I was planning to get.  Eventually, I made it back to Pop Century to rest up for that night.

When I got up, I went over to Epcot for some last minute shopping.  On the way into the park, I went on Spaceship Earth since there was no wait and I walked right onto the ride. I've never been on it by myself before, but I still had a lot of fun!

I went to MouseGears and grabbed the Food and Wine Festival merchandise I wanted.  I said my goodbyes to Epcot and hopped on the monorail over to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then switched over to go to the Contemporary Resort.

I've been inside the Contemporary Resort before, but I'd never been to Bay Lake Tower. Ryan has a DVC Membership and he offered to get a few of us into the private lounge at the top of the building.  I met Ryan, Greg and Linda in the lobby and we headed up to the Top of the World Lounge.  We enjoyed the modern architecture and design of the lounge, especially the really cool chandelier.  I was pretty excited when I opened the menu and found the two glowing drinks like Ohana had.  This time around, I ordered the Magical Star Cocktail.  It was delicious and changed colors!

The best part of the Top of the World Lounge was that we were able to go outside on the observation deck to watch Wishes.  We had a great view of the Magic Kingdom and Cinderella Castle.  The Wishes soundtrack was also piped into the speakers of the lounge and on the observation deck.  It was amazing.  

Ryan, Greg, Linda and I all marveled at how far back the fireworks are set off compared to Cinderella Castle.  None of us realized how far away they were.  It was cool to see the show from an angle.  It really makes you realize how complex designing a fireworks show is!  It was a great experience that I never expected to have.  I'm incredibly grateful that Ryan invited us to go with him.  It was the perfect way to end the last night of my KeyCon trip- surrounded by my new friends enjoying the magic of Disney.

After the show, Linda drove me back to Pop Century.  (Getting out of the car was less eventful this time since there were only four of us.)  I gave Linda, Ryan and Greg big hugs and we said our goodbyes.  I went to my room and called Eliot to talk since I was feeling lonely.  While on the phone with him, I ended up spotting a Pop Century rabbit and that cheered me up.  After I got off the phone with Eliot, I started to pack everything in my room so getting ready the next morning wouldn't be as difficult.  Then, I went to bed.  °o°

WDW Honeymoon Recap- 3/29/13

Friday March 29th, we set out on a mission to cross things off of our honeymoon trip "to do" list.  We really wanted to eat at Be Our Guest for lunch.  I was also dying to go over to the Wedding Pavilion to take a few photos.  We wore our "Bride" and "Groom" shirts from our wedding week, I grabbed my custom headband and we were off!

We knew we'd need to know if there were any weddings or rehearsals going on at the Wedding Pavilion.  If there aren't any, Disney allows guests on the private island to look inside the pavilion.  Before anything else, we headed over to the the Grand Floridian so we could check the schedule for the day.

We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then hopped on the resort monorail.  I was pretty excited to go back to visit where we had our wedding festivities!  The Grand Floridian was a sight for sore eyes.  It was how we started our wedding day since we took photos there before the ceremony.   I stopped to reminisce at the staircase with Cinderella's coach where I had my pre-ceremony Bridal Portraits done.

While we were walking around the Grand Floridian lobby, we stumbled across the Easter Egg display.  It was incredible!  I couldn't believe it was all made with candy!

Eliot and I both took a ton of photos.

Then, we headed over to the Wedding Pavilion.  We passed where Cinderella's Coach picked me up to take me to my wedding.  On the walk over, we passed the construction of the new DVC location between the Grand Floridian and Wedding Pavilion.  We arrived at our destination and got the Wedding Pavilion's schedule.  We decided that we would go back that afternoon or evening.

Next up: crossing of getting lunch at Be Our Guest!  By the time we got to the restaurant, it was about a 30-40 minute wait for lunch.  Not too bad!

While we were in line, I took some photos with the gargoyles.  One of the cast members also gave us a lunch menu so we could decide what we wanted.  (This also helped everyone order faster when they finally reached that point.)

We finally got inside and were given our "enchanted rose" so the waiters knew what table we sat down at.  We ordered our steak sandwiches, drinks and dessert and then went to hunt down a table.  We had been told the West Wing was the best room to sit in. It was fun and interactive, but also hard to see your food because it was so dark in there!

While we waited for our food to arrive, we looked around at the Prince's (Beast's) Portrait and the Enchanted Rose.  The Enchanted Rose was beautiful and the petals actually drop!  We also enjoyed watching the Prince's Portrait when lightning strikes!

A few minutes later, our lunch was served.  We enjoyed our steak sandwiches with french fries.  Our desserts were delicious!  Eliot got the lemon raspberry cupcake and I tried the strawberry.  We loved the awesome souvenir goblets we splurged on. We hadn't bought any drinks on the trip- except for Eliot's slurpie at Downtown Disney.  We decided we would have spent at least that much on regular drinks anyways. It was more fun to get the awesome New Fantasyland goblets to take home.  They light up too!

After we finished lunch, we went to explore the rest of the restaurant.  The Ballroom was really beautiful!  It's just like you're walking through the movie!  The ceiling and chandeliers are breathtaking.  There's even snow "falling" through the windows at the end of the Ballroom.  We also went into the Rose Gallery to take a few photos.  It's a lot more quiet in there.  The walls are lined with paintings and tapestries of Beauty and the Beast. There's also a giant Music Box in the center of the Rose Gallery.

It was definitely worth the 30-40 minute wait to have this experience.  Before we left, Eliot and I stopped to take a picture with the Beauty and the Beast mosaic.

On the way out, we took a few more photos of the beautiful waterfall and stream.  I also snapped a few close ups of one of the gargoyles!

We decided to go back to Pop Century to prepare for our Wedding Pavilion photo shoot! On our way out, we stopped at Cinderella Castle for another photo.  I really wanted a few photos with my custom ear headband!

We also stopped at the Train Station.  Cheers!

We got back to Pop Century and took a break.  Eliot napped and I worked on project ear hat until both of the hats were completed!

Back to the Wedding Pavilion we go!  We took a few photos over on the pathway while the last rehearsal of the day finished up in the Pavilion.  

On our wedding day, we didn't have time to take pictures with the pavilion in the background so I wanted to get a few for our album.  We also took some fun shots with our wedding rings and handprints in the sand.

We headed over the bridge to the private island and Disney's Wedding Pavilion!  The space is absolutely beautiful.  I got shivers when entering it.  We're SO lucky to have gotten married here!!!  We took a few photos of the architectural design details.  I love the hearts on the end of the pews and the hidden Mickeys in the air vents.  (My inner designer got the best of me yet again!)

We set our hats up at the altar and took a few photos with them.  I had brought one of our invitations and a small Cinderella slipper as photo props.  (I also wanted photos of the hats for Happily Ever Hatter.)

It was a nice to be back at the place where "Happily Ever After" started!  It was a great experience during our honeymoon trip.  We even got to talk to another Disney bride and groom while we were there.  They were so excited about our custom t-shirts that they insisted taking pictures of us.  (It was a little bit awkward, but flattering!)

We finished up with our hat photos and took a quick "selfie" together before heading out. Goodbye until next time Wedding Pavilion!

Back at the Grand Floridian, we passed by the windows where I had the rest of my bridal portraits taken.  I took a quick picture of it, but it was getting dark out at that point.

We went back to Pop Century to drop off Eliot's nice camera and our hats.  While we were there, we caught some of the fireworks from IllumiNations from our hotel room.  

We grabbed our sweatshirts and headed back over to the Magic Kingdom.  In the Pop elevator, our little mascot friend decided he was hungry and wanted a sandwich! (Eliot leaned up against the wall and this was the result.)  It was pretty funny.

Then we went back to the Magic Kingdom to see Wishes!  (And I channeled my inner Katy Perry and made a creative status for Facebook.)

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight.  
I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish, I wish tonight.  
We'll make a wish, and do as dreamers do, and all our wishes, will come true.

We wanted to have a good view for Celebrate the Magic- the nighttime spectacular that replaced the The Magic, the Memories and You.  So when Wishes was over, we pushed ahead through the crowds leaving to grab a good spot near the Partners Statue.  We took a PhotoPass picture on the way over.

We got a place to sit right at the statue.  I was pretty pumped.  Eliot got his camera ready to record the show and we made sure our stow away was secure in his bag.

The show was beautiful.  The castle was transformed into a paper canvas as Walt Disney appears sketching Mickey Mouse in his iconic Steamboat Willie appearance.  It shows scenes from many Disney films.  My favorite part was the Tangled lanterns being released!  And I got major chills at the end when Walt Disney says "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse".

After Celebrate the Magic, Eliot, Eeyore and I made our way over to Dumbo.  Eeyore was so cute in the bag that I had to take a picture of him.

I love the Dumbo ride at night.  The lights and fountains are beautiful.  My favorite part is when they light up like a rainbow.

We decided to go on it since there wasn't a line.  Eliot and Eeyore rode together and I had the pink elephant behind them!

After, we went to browse through the new Big Top Circus store.  We took a photo with our little stow away.

Of course, I had to stop to admire the treats.  Yum!

At that point, we were completely exhausted to we decided we better go back to the hotel to get some sleep.  Before we the left the Magic Kingdom, we took one more photo with Cinderella Castle at lit up!

And that's the end of Honeymoon Day 7!  °o°