Charise & Jordan's DCL Wedding!! Disney Dream Onboard - Dec 8 - Update: I'M BACK! Travel Day Part 2

Crunch, Crunch, Slap

Have you ever had one of those moments when you hate someone so much, you start a PROs and CONs list in your head that reassures you it would be worth it to slap them across the head? And even if your list turns out to have more CONs than PROs, you slyly adjust that list so it still comes out as more PROs for the slap than CONs? And then you stare at the back of that person's head for what seems like 15 minutes, considering where on their body the slap would be most effective, only to realize you'd have to get up out of your seat and walk 5 feet to their desk, and you've already had 2 donuts from the break room, so you begrudgingly let it slide, because you don't want to tarnish the euphoria of having replaced your healthy low-sugar oatmeal with 2 raspberry jelly filled angel halos...

This is the only thought I'm having right now, because my cubicle neighbor is chomping on pretzels (more like small animal bones). And I swear he's chomping so manically, I can feel bits of pretzel fly out of his mouth and flick me across the face. It's all in my head probably, but still.

Once I've cooled off (more like showered off), I'll come up with a better wedding-related blog, I promise.
 
Married, Party of 2, Please.

I'm back!!! BOOM BABY!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since DH and I got married. I'm already getting cold, shaky, hugging-my-knees-in-the-shower type Disney withdrawals, having spent 5 days on the Disney Dream and 6 days at the Wilderness Lodge at the World. Everything in life after Disney sucks. It sucks. No more Mickey waffles, no more Disney fireworks, no more foot long churros, no more "Holy sh** was that Baloo?! FOLLOW HIM!!!". Now I'm just a sad, angry little ball of whininess slapped back into the reality of not living in Orlando and owning an annual pass. Jordan's probably going to read this and question his marital choice. Haha, too late, suckah!!

So right, back to the Trip Report.... where to start.... where... to ... start....






 
Travel Day Part 1 - Abandon cats and When I was told to shove it

You literally have to pay me to get up early. The only reason I'm up at 6 AM Mon-Fri is because of work, and work means I get a paycheck. So unless you dangle a fiver above my bed, or you play the silent guilt trip card that DH has had 12 years of successful practice in, I will not get out of bed until my body reminds me that I'm not 2 and have no more excuses to wet the bed.

I think we got up around 4 AM to get to the airport for our flight at 6:50. Of course DH packed weeks ahead of time and had been so prepared I think I remember him smugly watching Netflix Saturday night while I anxiously crammed clothes into my suitcase. Maybe it's the pressure from procrastinating, but I always get a weird high every time I wait until the last minute to do something and then rush around crazily to do it before the deadline. Could be the endorphins. Or could be the alarmingly high pre-stroke blood pressure that's been known to take out members of my family... Either way, we were on the road on time, scooting the luggage and dress and tux out the door while our 2 cats stared off in that horrified "OH MY GOD THEY'RE LEAVING US FOREVER" look they give us every time we leave the house. Before I closed the front door I whispered, "Bye kiddies.... Foorreverrrr...." Which is pretty horrible because they're both adopted from the pound, and I'm sure that was what the 1st 8 weeks of their lives were like when they were abandoned by their owners. But it was funny, and honestly, they're cats, they don't speak English. I doubt my sense of humor will come in handy if DH and I decide to adopt human children.

In total, we had 1 suitcase each, 1 backpack each, his tux, my dress, and a duffle bag that we knew we'd need for extraneous purchases.

We drove to my parent's house and took one car to the airport- luckily my mom and dad were on the same flight. I squeezed my dress into a plastic Dillards garment bag before zipping it into the pink dress bag it came with, and I carried that bad mama jama all throughout the trip. A year ago, I saw a bride schlepping her dress onboard a Carnival cruise, and her dress was big so much so that she had to hold the hanger above her head, hunch over, and let her dress fall down her back. I thought, "Oh man, that's awesome, one day I'll totally be that girl!" And I was that girl! And I hated every ding dang dong minute of it! My dress was big and heavy and instead of getting out of the way, people would stop in their tracks, stare, and point, while I hunch-walked around them. I'll now need to wear those one long sleeve/one sleeveless shirts, because my right arm has bulked up to size Large.

After getting my dress successfully through TSA, we made it to the terminal. I'd heard many a strategy of getting your dress on the plane. Some girls get lucky and the excited attendants put their dress in a magic 1st class closet. Southwest Airlines has great honey roasted peanuts but no 1st class. So I went over to the desk and sweetly asked the lady if there were somewhere else ::cough the pilot's closet cough:: I could hang my dress. She couldn't have looked more bitter lovely even before I finished my question and bitterly lovingly told me I would just have to shove it in the overhead bin over peoples' suitcases.

She literally told me where to shove it.

Fortunately, we found another Southwest lady who told us that the plane isn't full, and we should go straight to the back of the plane and put it in one of the last bins, since people rarely use the back bins first. Who knew? So we got on the plane and went straight to the back and got a primo bin that fit my dress and Jordan's tux perfectly! Didn't even have to fold the dress! And the attendants on the plane were super nice and congratulated us, and got really excited when we said we were getting married on the Dream. Relief.
 


Ahh! I have been thinking about you! Congratulations! I hope everything was just as wonderful as you hoped it be! Can't wait to hear all about it!
Before I closed the front door I whispered, "Bye kiddies.... Foorreverrrr...."

Hahahaha YES. This is too funny. Also have said this before.

I'll now need to wear those one long sleeve/one sleeveless shirts, because my right arm has bulked up to size Large

Gurl, I hope you had your right arm flexing in those wedding photos. I am sure that hard-earned dress carrying muscle looked fabulous!

Also that flight attendant. RUDE. C'mon, lady.

How is your life? Are y'all still considering the move to Carolina? Hope all is well!:)
 
Ahh! I have been thinking about you! Congratulations! I hope everything was just as wonderful as you hoped it be! Can't wait to hear all about it!


Hahahaha YES. This is too funny. Also have said this before.



Gurl, I hope you had your right arm flexing in those wedding photos. I am sure that hard-earned dress carrying muscle looked fabulous!

Also that flight attendant. RUDE. C'mon, lady.

How is your life? Are y'all still considering the move to Carolina? Hope all is well!:)

Girl, I've been insane running around at work this week, so life's been good and bad and weird all at the same time. Like when you have a fever and you hallucinate and you swear your cat just flicked you off. That promotion I got and then didn't get - they ended up giving it to me! Which means more $, and that means I'm going to splurge on this bonsai tree I've been eyeing at Ikea. Oh yeah... but all week I've been coming home and passing OUT. The work is different now, and I have to remind people I'm their supervisor and not a 12 yr old kid walking around with her mommy for Bring Your Child To Work Day - apparently I look like a child.

How you been?! How was the holidays?! Carolina may still be in the near future. Unless a coworker is reading this, then no, I'm not going anywhere... lol
 


HAHA! Love it. Your story is great. Can't wait to read the rest of it. Congrats on being newly married!
HI Bridget! Thanks so much for the shout out! Glad you're reading! I really need to post again - keeping active on this blog makes me so happy. The peeps on here are hella awesome. :cheer2:
 
That promotion I got and then didn't get - they ended up giving it to me!

YAY! Congratulations! That is awesome!

I have to remind people I'm their supervisor and not a 12 yr old kid walking around with her mommy for Bring Your Child To Work Day - apparently I look like a child.

FO REAL. I have this problem all the time. At my last job I had a problem with that. Once during a presentation someone actually asked during the Q&A portion how old I was. I had some choice sassy words that came up in my head, but luckily professional Erica stifled it haha

I'm good! I finished my Masters program (!) and started a full time job about a month ago. So I totally get being super exhausted after work. The holidays were good and a nice break. But then I caught a cold from my niece and somehow developed an ear infection and sinus infection. Happy New Year to me! haha But we finally got our Save the Dates out which was good! How was your holiday? Hope all is well!
 
YAY! Congratulations! That is awesome!



FO REAL. I have this problem all the time. At my last job I had a problem with that. Once during a presentation someone actually asked during the Q&A portion how old I was. I had some choice sassy words that came up in my head, but luckily professional Erica stifled it haha

I'm good! I finished my Masters program (!) and started a full time job about a month ago. So I totally get being super exhausted after work. The holidays were good and a nice break. But then I caught a cold from my niece and somehow developed an ear infection and sinus infection. Happy New Year to me! haha But we finally got our Save the Dates out which was good! How was your holiday? Hope all is well!

TXMnie, I PMed you my long and unnecessarily verbose response. LOL :D
 
The last time I posted on this was over a year ago.

Apparently, my commitment to writing this blog is as forgotten as the other toys locked up in Andy's attic that weren't jolly enough to be cast in Toy Story 1, 2, or 3.

Maybe that comment is a bit dark for my return to blogging...

Apparently, my commitment to writing this blog is as stale as the crackers the mice left back at Cinderella's old digs are being forced to eat now that she upgraded.

Still too dark...

Apparently, my commitment to writing this blog is as sad as those monkeys who lost their home in The Jungle Book just because King Louie couldn't power through the tickle...

See, people, this is what happens when you stop writing.
 
Haha, I know exactly what you mean. I went over a year in between posts. :)
Oh good, it's not just me then?! I was imagining people on this board looking at my posts and thinking "Oh yeah... she posted here once... right after she disembarked... from the SS Harriet Tubman in 1944."
 
From now on, I'll reference my now-husband as Mr. J. Because sometimes I type DH, then I type DF, then I forget which one to use. And because my now-husband's name starts with "J". And because he loves Batman, and if he sees in my post that I call him Mr. J, maybe he'll buy me something pretty. Like some new earrings. Or a puppy. (To Mr. J, if you buy me earrings with puppies on them in an attempt to be funny, I'll get you a puppy house to sleep in.)

Travel Day Part 2 - Southwest bouncers, MCO Hyatt strategery, and Miss J purchases her pretty pink toiletries.

Once Mr. J and I had successfully snuggled our dress and tux into the overhead bin, we took our seats in the back of the plane and sighed a mutual sigh of relief.

This was funny - the flight attendants let us lay our dress and tux flat in the back most overhead bin, and they shut it so other passengers wouldn't try to cram their bags on top of them. Several passengers would open the bin and try to shove their bags in, but the flight attendants would slap the door back down and tell them to use another bin… it was like we had a bald dance club bouncer with his muscle-clad arms crossed over his chest, denying entrance to the hippest club in Florida… except that club was an overhead bin on a 747, and the bouncer was a fiery, well-groomed woman with sensible heels and bucket of "hell no, put your bags somewhere else".

The plane wasn't full, and Mr. J and I had the seat between us to spread out on. Mr. J pulled out his creepy ghost vampire book (The Winter People), and I pulled out my nook (yes, I'm one of the 10 people left on Earth who still thinks the Nook is a magical being) to continue a hilarious memoir written by a blogger who deals with her clinical depression and anxiety disorder by strapping taxidermied raccoons to her cats and orchestrating her own cat rodeos (Furiously Happy).

Two hours on the tarmac, one plane phalange malfunction, one chapter on death by swans, and one chapter on sexy skeletons later, we were finally in the air headed to Orlando. We landed 2 hours later than planned, but the rest of the day was easy - we were booked for the Hyatt inside the airport and simply schlepped our bags straight from baggage claim up to our room.

To anyone who's planning a DCL wedding or who's just planning a Disney cruise out of Cape Canaveral, flying in the day before and staying at the MCO Hyatt Regency is the easiest and most stress free way to handle Travel Day. If you can divvy up the funds to travel a day before, I recommend you do so that you're not stressed about plane delays, or missing your transfer bus, or leaving Aunt Ethel at the baggage claim. The concierge desk also gives you a map to follow when you walk from the hotel to the bus area the next morning. They also give you tags to put on your bags that you leave in your room, which they pick up the next morning and bring straight to your bus. We left our main luggage in the room and took our backpacks and dress/tux with us. That small convenience makes a huge difference when you're anxious and sleep deprived, and you're already one size larger in your right arm from deadlifting your dress above your head the day before.

We recommended our parents stay in the same hotel, so we could all simply walk downstairs to the DCL transfer bus the next morning. Jordan's mom booked another hotel, assuming it was the airport Hyatt, and ended up having to take her hotel bus back to the airport the next morning. No big deal - hearding 5 cats is easier than hearding 150…

Orlando International airport is easy to navigate, and for the rest of the day, we spent time catching up with family and exploring the little touristy shops. I didn't even bother to wait until we were on the boat, and started buying Disney trinkets from the airport Disney store. Mom and I went to the Starbucks to chat and people watch. Mr. J went to his dad's and stepmom's room to catch up. Later on that night, Mr. J and I went strolling through the airport shops, ate a gourmet meal of Quizno's, and bought some luxury shower jellies at the Lush bath and body store. I won't mention here that Mr. J has a very ladylike- I mean - manly zeal for all things Lush and practically squealed with delight - I mean - harrumphed in indifference at the sight of the store.


Mr. J smells minty fresh with a hint of rose water - thanks, Lush!

The rest of the night, I think we shifted between relaxed, happy, and anxious at the pending on-boarding day. We had a restful ZzzQuil-induced sleep and woke up early in order to schlepp our things down to the pickup area for the Disney Transfer bus to Cape Canaveral.


MCO Hyatt Regency
 
Can't wait to hear more! That book sounds interesting - I may have to look into it. I love funny memoirs - I am reading Anna Kendrick's right now. That is too funny about your hubs loving Lush. Can't say I blame him! My hubs is very smell averse and gags any time we pass a Bath and Body Works or Lush, so I do not get to try out all the fun stuff as much!
 
Can't wait to hear more! That book sounds interesting - I may have to look into it. I love funny memoirs - I am reading Anna Kendrick's right now. That is too funny about your hubs loving Lush. Can't say I blame him! My hubs is very smell averse and gags any time we pass a Bath and Body Works or Lush, so I do not get to try out all the fun stuff as much!
I needa read that one - Anna Kendrick is FUNNY! Ouch, that sucks that he's super sensitive to smell. But that gives you even more reason to replace lack of crazy smells with lots of crazy funky looking bath stuff, right?
 

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