Day 3: It's Always Calmest Right Before the Storm

This post is part of a series of journal posts meant to chronicle what actually happened on our Disney wedding and honeymoon trip. Did all of our planning pay off? Read on, and find out!

I wanted to start off the Disney portion of our trip right, so I scheduled breakfast on the first morning after Universal at Chef Mickey's. Yes, I know, we checked into our Disney resort two days ago, but the first day was just about getting settled in, and the next day was at the rival park, so I feel like I'm justified in talking about this being the first day of the full-on Disney experience. I knew going into it that Chef Mickey's wasn't going to be an amazing culinary treat (and I was correct, though in all fairness it was perfectly acceptable), but I knew that Girl Scout Wife needed to start off her wedding trip, nay, her first trip to Disney World, by meeting Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. We had a nice, relaxed breakfast; the characters were great to interact with, and even though we were two adults with no kids each of the characters were so friendly and emotive that they put us quickly at easy. There were cute kids to laugh at, carbs and sugars to be consumed, and Minnie Mouse even brought us a special cupcake as a little pixie dust for our breakfast.

The only place you're OK with seeing a mouse in the kitchen.

After a filling and fun breakfast, we hopped on the monorail (Yay! First monorail ride of the trip!) and headed over to the Magic Kingdom, where we were going to meet her family. While we waited, we decided to hop over to Guest Services and buy a Tables in Wonderland membership. We had tried to do this twice already; once, on the day we arrived, we forgot our Annual Pass vouchers, and the second time we tried they told us we had to actually activate an Annual Pass in order to buy the membership. While we didn't want to activate my AP that early, this morning we decided to go ahead and do it anyways, because our activities later in the day would give us chances to use the Tables in Wonderland membership. I highly, highly recommend this for anyone getting married and spending their honeymoon at Disney World. The membership pays for itself very quickly (especially if you're eating at lots of sit-down restaurants like we did), and it basically covers your gratuity anywhere it is accepted.

Soon, Girl Scout Wife's family arrived on the ferry from the Transportation and Ticket Center, and while her immediate family went into the Magic Kingdom for the day, Girl Scout Wife and I took her aunt and her grandmother over to the Grand Floridian to do some exploring. We enjoyed a lovely boat ride from the Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian, looked all around the grounds and the lobby, did a little shopping up on the second floor, and stopped by the pool bar to grab a drink and chat. A few hours later, my family began arriving for the main activity for the afternoon: tea at the Garden View Tea Room. I knew Girl Scout Wife was really looking forward to this, and my mom and my sister-in-law were both very enthusiastic about it. We ended up having ten people, which put us at two adjacent tables, and I can honestly say it was a fantastic experience. I'm typically more of a beer-and-baseball kind of guy, but I actually really enjoyed the tea service. It was quiet and elegant, but at the same time the staff was always putting us at ease and offering suggestions. I had delicious tea, and a great...meal? I guess? It was something between a snack and a meal, consisting of pate and cheeses, and a small dessert. We spent the entire time chatting and lounging, and by the end our family members that had gone seemed to have really gotten to know each other a lot better.

"Spot of tea, guvnah?"-selfie

After tea, we took some photos in the Grand Floridian, then Girl Scout Wife, her aunt, her grandmother, and I headed back to the Magic Kingdom to catch a bus for the Boardwalk. As we were getting off of the monorail, we could see the gray clouds rolling in fast, and the first heavy droplets were starting to fall even as we descended to the entrance of the park. With a long walk over to the buses, I just knew we were going to get drenched. I stuck close to Girl Scout Wife's aunt and grandmother, making sure they got to the bus stop OK, but somehow Girl Scout Wife and I got separated and I had to go back for her. The storm was rolling in fast, and the two of us started running for cover. Just as we got under the bus stop awning, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour drenched everything in sight. While followed was a mildly nerve-wracking bus trip (full of heavy rain and lots of driving through standing water on the roads) back to the Boardwalk, but we made it back safely and managed to stay dry.

Even though we had only recently finished our tea, the time was soon coming for a dinner reservation I'd put in at Kouzzina. Our officiant had arrived early in the day and, though he had declined to join us for tea, he decided that dinner was in the cards. So, after relaxing for a bit in our room (and discovering, coincidentally, that he had been placed in a room two doors down from our own), the five of us headed down to the Boardwalk, dodging the still-blowing (though not as intense) rain and scooting into Kouzzina. We then proceeded to have an absolutely delicious meal that began with, "Oh, we'll just have some appetizers" and then evolved into, "Well, maybe we should get some entrees." The food was great, and our officiant (who is a vegetarian with Celiac disease) found a dish that was not only safe for him to eat, but also surprised him with how good it was. I was glad we got to try Kouzzina for dinner, and am now kind of sad that it's going to be gone next time we go. The atmosphere was OK (it was very, very dark inside, largely thanks to the fact that the skies outside looked like the Apocalypse was on the horizon) and our waitress was...sassy, would be the only way I can describe her. Nice, but a little fiery.

Plus, Girl Scout Wife's grandmother got a drink with a glowing Tinkerbell in it!

After dinner, our families started to convene at the Boardwalk, and it was time for Girl Scout Wife and I to say goodnight. We'd decided that I would go stay with my parents that night, so that she could share the room with her sister and cousin (though it ended up being just her and her cousin). That way, we would see each other for the first time on our wedding day when she walked down the aisle...

Takeaways

Here's what I learned that could potentially help other folks planning Disney weddings:

• Go to Character Meals, If You Want To. Even if you don't have kids, even if it's just the two of you adults, go to a character meal. It's a lot of fun, and though I was worried it would be weird being a childless couple there, the Disney staff all made us feel right at home. Plus, if you're not going to embrace your inner kid, what's the point? Character meals were just fine with the two of us.
• Get Tables in Wonderland. If you're going to be spending any length of time at Disney World and plan on eating well, buy the membership. It paid for itself within the first few days, and then some. It's a great way to save a little bit on the food, especially if you're eating well.
• Plan a Relaxing Family Activity. We chose tea at the Garden View Tea Room, but there are plenty of other such activities at Disney World. A more relaxed activity like this gives everyone a chance to chat, mingle, and actually have a conversation, something that can be important when two families are getting together (especially, in our case: it was the first time either family had met!). Plus, doing an activity like this gives the people in attendance something to do, and doing something special or unusual provides the perfect icebreaker for getting conversations started.