Aaaaaaand we're back! I was waiting to post about the trip till the BEO arrived and it just arrived this morning! We're still waiting on the floral but I can't wait anymore.
The trip was amazing and it was nice to be back in America after so long away. The two days we were home before the Disney part of the trip we ran around getting errands done and had no time to rest. I was exhausted on the flight and glad to get to the Yacht Club. We had to get our Magic Band situation fixed because my parents arranged the trip on their account and we had our magic bands set up on a different account. The concierge were super helpful and nice while we waited. Club level is great but we shouldn't have done a meal plan with it. We spent most of the trip stuffed and not taking advantage enough of the club level free food and drinks.
The first night we wandered around Disney Springs and enjoyed the refurbishment that happened since we last visited in 2014. Kevin was on a shorts quest because he bought the wrong size shorts the day before the trip because I wasn't with him to check the tags. Thank goodness for Columbia Sportswear having his size! We also looked at the jewelry stores some for wedding band ideas. We saw neat things but they ended up being way out of our price range.
Tuesday was our rainy day at Epcot, and it was pouring rain off and off all morning but we didn't let it stop us. The World Showcase paths were practically rivers and I just gave up at one point and splashed my way through kicking up water. The good things is the rain kept most people out of the areas so we got to really look at the Japan pavilion in a semi-empty state. I practiced walking down the "aisle" to see about how long it is. We also went to Italy Isola to see the dessert area in a practically empty state. Lunch was at Sommerfest and they really need to have some more indoor seating, with the rain we ate using the condiments counter backside as a table. We also ran into a Japanese couple in Tokyo Disney shirts there; a reminder of home.
We had a very relaxed day and did a drinking around the world challenge, which ended with dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco. My favorite was the ice wine in Canada, and Kevin really loved the horchata in Mexico. It's really not too bad if you start early and spread the drinks out with plenty of water in between.
Wednesday started out great but unfortunately ended badly. I had my hair and makeup trial in the morning with Fairytale Hair and Makeup. They did a nice natural makeup look and a rough version of my hairstyle so we could take it down quickly after and style it for a more casual look. I'm so excited for the real thing in September.
It was a Magic Kingdom Day with extra magic hours in the evening. We went to Space Mountain a few times and I was starting to feel anxious about wedding things and having to travel back to Japan in a few days. Kevin was comforting me but on our 2nd time on Space Mountain, he got too pumped from the adrenaline and he knocked his glasses off in the end tunnel. He was (of course) very upset by this, and we switched modes with me comforting him instead. We never ended up getting the glasses back even with reporting it immediately and checking lost and found every day we were there and leaving our phone information. His glasses company really didn't want to give us the prescription either and it was just a huge mess. He struggled through for the last two days without glasses (he's nearsighted so we held stuff up close for him.) I felt really bad for him the whole time. He has his backup glasses now that we are home at least.
Thursday was THE DAY!
We headed over to Franck's Studio after some guidance from the nice folks at the Grand Floridian. We got there early but forgot to take a picture outside of the door, so we have to remember to get one next time we visit.
My parents joined us for this day. I was glad they were there to support me and help remember things but I also did get annoyed with my mom a few times as she has a tendency to over share and talk over me; typical Mom stuff.
Vita was super nice and helpful and great for working with us and our requests. I gave her some snacks from Yamaguchi-ken as a gift before we started talking about everything. It was about 2 or 3 hours of talking and going through numbers and most things stayed according to my plan. I was out-voted on not having a DJ, so now that's happening. I'm nervous about it because I am picky on music, but Mom, Dad, and Kevin tried to reassure me. We also asked Vita about the KH outfits for Donald and Goofy and she got us the info, its a good deal more because of shipping so we probably won't use them, but its so tempting.
As part of the planning session, we got to do our cake tasting. All of the fillings were so tempting and we were torn between the orange and lemon cake bases, but we eventually decided on lemon cake with blackberry mousse filling. Kevin and my mom, in typical sweet-tooth fashion, fought over who got to eat the rest of the fillings when we were done.
During our short break, instead of going for a light lunch, Kevin and I ran over to Lost and Found services and failed to get his glasses, so we were very hungry for the tasting session. We rode over with Vita to the Epcot kitchens and got a small view of behind the scenes. I tried not to look too much since I didn't want to ruin the magic or make Kevin jealous, since he was still unable to see. Everything was so delicious and Chef Carlos and Sever Greg were very informative. We casually mentioned we loved to make risotto sometimes on weekends, and they offered to make our mashed potato bar a triple combo bar for Risotto, truffle Mac and Cheese, and Smashed Potatoes
We loved all the food but ended up changing a few things around, like not going with the chicken Parmesan, or the potato and bacon crispy cups. We left super full and were still full when it was time for our late dinner at Chefs de France so we couldn't finish our food.
This is the napkin fold we chose out of a variety that were on display at the table.
The potato and bacon crispy cup things we ended up axing due to bacon overload.
The delectable beef skewers with homemade teriyaki sauce that we forgot we requested but ended up loving. (Beef is really expensive in Japan so this was a rare delicacy for us)
Yukon gold, pancetta, cheddar chowder soup with chive and Maui onion crouton. Kevin liked it so much he asked for a second helping.
A sampler of entree choices including chicken Parmesan, pasta with wild mushrooms/roasted tomato confit/spinach/asiago cream sauce, maple glazed seasonal root vegetables, and truffle scented mashed potatoes. The vegetables were to die for and the pasta was amazing. The chicken Parmesan was what you'd expect, and Kevin was in love with the truffle mashed potatoes, but I could go either way with them, so I'm glad we ended up swapping it for the risotto/mac and cheese/smashed potato station.
The only breakfast-y option we had at our brunch tasting session, brioche French toast with caramelized bananas foster. SO GOOD *drool*
Friday was Animal Kingdom, starting with breakfast at Tusker House with my family. We enjoyed the morning together but then split off so Kevin and I could go back to Disney Springs to get a few shopping things done, including getting some wedding bands. We returned to the first shop we visited at the beginning of our trip, Na Hoku. We eventually got a great deal, considering that the veteran salesman the first visit tried to get us to buy the super expensive rings, and this time we got someone who was probably a newer employee, so he quickly showed us rings that were actually in our price range.
The next morning we had to wake up SUPER early (I'm talking 2 AM here) to catch our flight back to Japan (with a "brief" layover in Canada before we reached Japan, where I found this new friend).