The Many Adventures of an Aussie Disney Honeymooner

[pkondz]

I can’t leave Florida without doing an airboat ride!

I read that title and thought "Uh, oh!"
I'll explain as we go...

High on the list for me was an airboat ride, as something unique to that area of the world.

I did one on my second visit to Florida... which was my first visit as an adult.

We arrived to a very urban, very manicured looking but somewhat deserted lakefront. We wandered for a short while to make sure we weren’t missing anything, but Mr Google had definitely led us astray with that one!

Whoops!

we were excited to see several gators, a turtle and lots of bird life.

You did better than I did on my first (and only) airboat ride. I saw exactly zero of any of those.

Next, we were instructed to put on our ear muffs as we sped across the lake.

This is back in the 80s... No ear muffs. Just ear damage...

A little way in, I noticed that we had a bit of water coming into the front of the boat, and it seemed to be struggling a bit! Soon the captain stopped the boat, and asked a couple of the people in the front row to move to the back. Apparently we’d been too front-heavy to be able to plane properly, and after that it was all fine. Was a little nerve-wracking for a couple of minutes though!

I bet! Especially with all the gators around.

we sped through some of the little channels, which was a lot of fun, and amazing to see how the boat just went straight over the top of the vegetation.

We didn't "speed" anywhere. We mostly crawled at very low speed. And never ventured out of a water-filled canal.

It may not have been the best airboat ride we could have done, but we both really enjoyed the experience and I was pleased we’d made the effort.

Glad you enjoyed it. It sounds 1,000% better than the one I took!

Unfortunately both our first choices were unavailable, and what we did end up ordering took a long time to come out.

I guess it's not that surprising, given the location.

I can’t remember what Ben got, but I went with the tacos, so wouldn’t have expected to take that long!

Obviously something that took forever to cook. Perhaps he ordered the rack of lamb with accompanying Baked Alaska?

Ben finally decided to have a drive while we were out in the sticks with no traffic.

I take it he's a nervous driver.

We had one more scheduled stop on the way back at Vineland Outlets, hoping to find some good bargains on Disney merch. To say this was disappointing would be an understatement.

That's too bad. I haven't been in one of those outlet stores in decades.

I took over driving again as we were back in pretty serious traffic.

See earlier question: re Ben...

Ben found a couple of t-shirts though, which turned out to be a great buy as he was even getting compliments from CMs and wears them regularly.

Then I'd call that a success.

Walmart is a bit of a novelty for us. Our supermarkets pretty much just have groceries, with a much smaller variety on offer too. Walmart has everything!

Don't tell her about Super Targets, people...

it was starting to get pretty late, and traffic was an absolute nightmare.

Welcome to Florida.

We were just standing around trying to figure everything out, when one of the shuttle bus drivers approached us to say he would be happy to do one last run! We were super grateful not to have to bother with ubers etc and gave him a nice big tip (although he did have to wait for me to run up to our room to grab some cash!).

Nice little bit of pixie dust there.

Then set up our picnic dinner on the balcony for the show.

 

[zanzibar138]

Glad you enjoyed it. It sounds 1,000% better than the one I took!

Gosh, no wonder you were nervous for me when I mentioned it!

I guess it's not that surprising, given the location.

While it felt like we were in the sticks, it was actually only half an hour from Downtown Orlando and less than 20 minutes from Sanford. No helicopter required

Obviously something that took forever to cook. Perhaps he ordered the rack of lamb with accompanying Baked Alaska?

Must have been...

I take it he's a nervous driver.

Only when he's driving a Mustang on the 'wrong' side of the road

That's too bad. I haven't been in one of those outlet stores in decades.

I still remember going to the one in Vegas in 2011. It was AWESOME! There was so much great stuff in there. Sadly I was on a pretty low budget at the time, but I picked up an amazing POTC print for $5.

I actually think it's at least partly due to the rise in online selling. Anything that's half decent at a good price now gets snapped up by people hoping to make a buck.

Don't tell her about Super Targets, people...

Honestly, your supermarkets are definitely part of the sightseeing experience for us Aussies! We have Target, but they don't sell groceries, only clothing and homewares.

 

[pkondz]

Gosh, no wonder you were nervous for me when I mentioned it!

While it felt like we were in the sticks, it was actually only half an hour from Downtown Orlando and less than 20 minutes from Sanford. No helicopter required

It’s amazing how much wilderness is just outside of built up areas in Florida.

Only when he's driving a Mustang on the 'wrong' side of the road

Ok!

still remember going to the one in Vegas in 2011. It was AWESOME! There was so much great stuff in there. Sadly I was on a pretty low budget at the time, but I picked up an amazing POTC print for $5.

Not bad!

actually think it's at least partly due to the rise in online selling. Anything that's half decent at a good price now gets snapped up by people hoping to make a buck.

Could be.

 

[Steppesister]

A little way in, I noticed that we had a bit of water coming into the front of the boat, and it seemed to be struggling a bit! Soon the captain stopped the boat, and asked a couple of the people in the front row to move to the back. Apparently we’d been too front-heavy to be able to plane properly, and after that it was all fine. Was a little nerve-wracking for a couple of minutes though!

Oh dear! This does sound a little nerve-wracking. Yikes!

It may not have been the best airboat ride we could have done, but we both really enjoyed the experience and I was pleased we’d made the effort.

Sounds really nice though. This is something I've never done in all my times in FL.

Ben finally decided to have a drive while we were out in the sticks with no traffic.

It's not that hard, honestly. If I can do it in Aus and Italy, I'll bet he could too.

We decided to do one more stop at Walmart to get some things for a ‘picnic’ style dinner. We were amused to find that we’d accidentally parked right next to another red sporty car.

Twinsies (fraternal, not identical)

We were still able to do the key drop in the box, so that wasn’t an issue, but we would have to get an uber back to our hotel instead of having a free shuttle.

Well, poop!

We were just standing around trying to figure everything out, when one of the shuttle bus drivers approached us to say he would be happy to do one last run! We were super grateful not to have to bother with ubers etc and gave him a nice big tip (although he did have to wait for me to run up to our room to grab some cash!).

Oops, SCORE! Nice timing and Disney Magic!

And with that, we called it a night.

WOW! What a nice photo!

 

[zanzibar138]

Sounds really nice though. This is something I've never done in all my times in FL.

Definitely worth putting on the list if you're ever looking for a non-Disney thing to do!

It's not that hard, honestly. If I can do it in Aus and Italy, I'll bet he could too.

Haha he was fine with all the other driving we did (except the time he nearly pulled out on the wrong side of the road ). He was just insanely nervous about driving an expensive high-powered car.

WOW! What a nice photo!

Thank you! I love that one

 

[Steppesister]

Haha he was fine with all the other driving we did (except the time he nearly pulled out on the wrong side of the road ). He was just insanely nervous about driving an expensive high-powered car.

That I definitely understand!

 

[zanzibar138]

Chapter 6: In which we get two rooms and nearly see a parade

6.11. Princess in the Magic Kingdom​

This was the day we were originally going to get married! I’d wanted to do something a bit special – we’d initially had our photo shoot booked in, and I’d booked us in for dinner at CRT during the fireworks. When our photo shoot got rescheduled just before our trip, I decided to go ahead and book in a Capture Your Moment shoot. I’d read mixed reviews, but thought it would at least help us to mark the occasion. I’d managed to get a booking for 3:45pm.

We had a leisurely morning, had some leftover picnic stuff for breakfast, did some laundry (for the record, although there was nothing wrong with the laundry at BLT, the one at the Poly was a bit nicer with a more comfortable seating area). I spent a while getting ready, doing my hair and makeup. I’d decided to wear my wedding after party dress for the photo shoot, and had customised a pair of ears with a matching veil bow.

We wandered over to MK when we were ready, at about 2pm. I got flagged at the security check and made Ben laugh getting scanned in my wedding dress lol! It turned out to be a tin of mints that was the culprit.

It was a warm day, so our first stop at MK was the candy shop for a slushie.



Given the timing, I’d been thinking we could hang out in the entrance area and catch the parade. We got some photos while we were waiting, and then found a good bit of curb to claim for the parade.



Oops! I suddenly realised that if we hung out there to watch the parade, by the time the parade actually reached that spot, went through, and then we had to fight the crowds to get back through to Liberty Square, we’d be late for our CYM check in I figured it would be safer to watch the parade from the Liberty Square area, so we hustled over that way, catching the marching band on the way through.



As you may have expected, by that time, Liberty Square was a bit of a mad house, with crowds several rows deep along the curb. We managed to completely fluke it and find a slightly elevated spot just outside Liberty Tree Tavern, just far enough from the entrance that we weren’t getting moved on. It certainly wasn’t the best view of a parade I’ve ever had, but was enough to see most of the floats, even if we couldn’t see much at ground level!















It was still early when the parade finished, and we only had to go across the road to the ticket office, but we went to check in anyway. With the day warming up, we actually enjoyed just hanging out with the CMs in the air-con.

Continued in next post…

 

[zanzibar138]

Eventually of course, we were introduced to our photographer for the session and her assistant. I’m no good with names and promptly forgot their names after the session We were asked about what kind of photos we wanted, whether we wanted to use any props etc. We confirmed we really just wanted some shots around the castle. And with that, we headed out.

We were led to various points around the castle and put into different poses. The assistant was kept pretty busy warding off onlookers who started lining up for their photos lol! Having said that, most of the places she took us were quieter spots where she could get the view of the castle with minimal people in the way. It was a fun little shoot and we ended up with some nice photos. Was it worth the $100? The jury’s still out on that one. Mostly we were happy with the photos we got with the regular PP photogs, but I’m also happy that we got the few photos in different spots around the castle, so no regrets.













You may have noticed the castle stage show happening in the background of those last couple of photos. The photographer left us there and we took the opportunity to stay and watch the rest of the show – we’d only missed the first 5 minutes.









Continued in next post…

 

[zanzibar138]

It was quite a busy day at MK - we were definitely noticing the influx of cheerleaders! Wait times for any rides we were interested in were too long for us to consider. We wandered around the area for a bit, noticing some of the details.











I always remember one of my favourite memories from DLR as sitting at Refreshment Corner watching the pianist and the Mary Poppins meet and greet, so I suggested we go check out Casey’s Corner.



Neither of us really wanted hot dogs, but we would have got drinks and sat down, but there was no seating available, so we moved on.

It was Ben’s bright idea to go to the ice-cream parlour, with the romantic idea of sitting with a relaxing drink as the sun went down. The line itself wasn’t so much of a problem, however after we ordered and paid for our shakes, we were left standing there puzzled, watching everyone who ordered after us walk away with their purchases, and wondering if there was something else we were supposed to do. We observed probably 30% of people handing their receipts to the CMs behind the counter, so we decided to try that. What came next was a hurried and haphazard flurry of activity to make our shakes, which was appreciated, but resulted in way overfilled cups, which immediately started overflowing everywhere. Then of course there was nowhere to sit, so we found a bit of fence to lean up against while we tackled our drinks. In the chaos, I hadn’t thought to get any napkins, so had to run back in to get a couple of handfuls of them. When we were finished, we both needed to find to the nearest bathroom to wash off the last of the sticky mess. And the shakes weren’t even that great. Unfortunately, it was a massive fail.

Checking the ride times again, we saw the People Mover was finally down to 15 minutes, so we made our way over.



Such a great ride to do at sunset.



We considered hanging around Tomorrowland for more rides, but there was nothing particularly appealing that had a wait time that was anywhere close to reasonable. As much as Ben really wanted a photo of me wearing my wedding outfit on Tron, with a 90 minute wait, that was NOT going to happen!