Mail from Disney

Thanks to a camping trip that Girl Scout Fiancée arranged for her troop, I had a weekend (or, at least, a Friday and Saturday) of flying solo. It was a weekend filled with gaming, a journey to our local Oktoberfest, and mediocre-to-bad football (my teams are determined to make me feel sad this year), but on Saturday something magical happened: I received not one, but two pieces of mail from Disney.

Disney mail is almost as good as kitty mail.

The first came when, during a game of Legend of the Five Rings, the doorbell rang, hailing the arrival of our local mail delivery person. I had to sign (two signatures! Apparently they really, really needed to make sure that I received it) for a large envelope from Disney's Fairytale Weddings. Inside was a copy of our contract, plus a small envelope addressed to us from our Wedding Consultant, Dianne. This smaller envelope also contained our Annual Pass vouchers, which we will redeem for our actual Annual Passes when we reach Disney World. That's exciting, but, at the same time, now I have these voucher cards that I have to remember to bring with us to Disney World, otherwise our honeymoon is going to be far, far less exciting. Is it too early to start a packing list for the trip to Florida?

Additionally, I fired up My Disney Experience and was prompted as I did so to link my tickets to my account. I suppose that when Diane sent us our vouchers she must have also flagged us in Disney's system as having tickets, otherwise I have no idea how the system would know that we'd received our vouchers. When prompted to enter the "12-digit ticket number" I was a bit confused, as our Annual Pass vouchers didn't have a 12-digit number. On the back, though, was a barcode with a much longer number, so I tried that....and it worked! I successfully linked our AP vouchers to our accounts, assigning one to Girl Scout Fiancée and one to myself. With that done, it looks like we'll eventually be able to get our MagicBands (the still-in-testing wristband technology that should be fully in place come April) and schedule our FastPasses in advance.

The future is now!

The other piece of mail arrived more conventionally in our mailbox, and contained the Disney trip planning DVD I'd requested. This one I requested through the normal vacation planning website, not through Disney's Fairytale Weddings, and it took all of my willpower not to watch the video without Girl Scout Fiancée. I steeled myself against the temptation, each time thinking about poor Girl Scout Fiancée out in the woods enduring Pacific Northwest cold and surprisingly heavy rain, and managed to make it through most of the weekend without watching it. Today, after watching my beloved Falcons lose to the hated Patriots, I needed a pick-me-up badly, so I cajoled and wheedled until Girl Scout Fiancée acquiesced and allowed me to put in the DVD.

Since this is part of Disney's normal promotional materials, and not something from the wedding department, the DVD was definitely geared more toward families with kids. I knew that we wouldn't be getting a lot of important information out of it, but I wanted to watch it for two reasons, both of which ended up being justified. First, I am insane, and need to see Disney stuff in motion to satiate my anticipation for our upcoming trip. Second, I figured the more general overview might reveal some things that Girl Scout Fiancée is interested in that I hadn't taken into consideration yet. As I mentioned, it was a success on both counts, as I now feel better and also figured out at least three important items for our honeymoon.

Girl Scout Fiancée surprised me by showing a lot of excitement about Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom. I've never been a huge fan of the sit-in-a-round-thing-and-get-wet rides (there was one at Six Flags Over Georgia, which left me nonplussed) and I've ridden Kali River Rapids before without it leaving a huge impression on me. Girl Scout Fiancée, on the other hand, was VERY excited about the possibility of doing this ride, so that's one more thing to mark down for our Animal Kingdom itinerary.

Gotta love a ride that feels the need to spray you with water before you hit the rapids.

I wasn't too surprised when Girl Scout Fiancée got excited seeing the very colorful and splashy Value Resorts in the hotels section of the DVD. They're bright, colorful, and, in Girl Scout Fiancée's own words, "Seem like the most fun." It's true, their décor is definitely more in-your-face and vibrant. I think they're a great option for families, since kids will really get a lot more excited about something like the Value Resorts appearance than they would the more elegant and understated environment of the Deluxe Resorts. I'm glad I've set aside time on our honeymoon to wander around and visit other hotels on our relaxation days, as this will be a good chance for Girl Scout Fiancée to see the other resorts and figure out which ones she likes. That way, when we come back the next time, she'll know which one she likes, and we can plan accordingly.

I was a little surprised when we watched the segments on the water parks wasn't immediately dismissed. I may have underestimated Girl Scout Fiancée's interest in Typhoon Lagoon/Blizzard Beach. I'll need to remain flexible on our days off down there, as heading to one of the water parks might be a good way to spend some of our relaxation days, if we're really feeling like going and doing something. Alternately, if it's really hot, we could hit one up the day after the wedding, after we've said goodbye to our families, if we're not feeling too wiped out from the day before.

You're allowed to just sleep on the tubes, right?

Even though the DVD wasn't really geared toward us, I'm glad I ordered it, because a lot of times Girl Scout Fiancée doesn't know what she's going to be excited about, or uninterested in, until it's right in front of her. I wonder if I should start hunting down some more in-depth videos about Disney World to see what piques her interest elsewhere. Anyone know of a good place to find some videos I can show to Girl Scout Fiancée to help prep her for the trip?