MikeR & SuzyB's Courtship, Planning Journal, Wedding, and Disneymoon

[MikeR]

After lunch Mike and Suzy looked at their watches, and it was still too early to go home to their sweet sweet suite, so they went back to the Land to redeem their Fast passes that they got before lunch. Now, standing in line to get a ticket to stand in a line doesn’t seem like it should work, but it totally does and Mike and Suzy would end up strategizing like Sun Tzu on when and where to use Fast pass, and as a result despite going at an extremely busy time they ended up not waiting very much for the entire trip.

They got on the ride rather fast with there Fast-pass (hence the name);

The Animatronic portion of it was rather “meh” inducing, but once they got to the part featuring real, actual plants, it was rather interesting. They had never seen a Dragon Fruit plant before;

or a brussels sprout plant

or a nine pound lemon plant

And of course the pumpkins shaped like Mickey Mouse were totemo kawaii

Afterwards it was finally time for Mike and Suzy to check into their room so they walked past a waterup (it wasn’t a fall because the water wasn’t falling)

and they cooled off in a mist station

and finally they got back to the Polynesian and got into their room.

where they collapsed on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

 

[MikeR]

Mike and Suzy overslept a little bit and had to hurry through the dark to get to Epcot and make it to their reservation on time;

They arrived at Restaurant Marrakesh, and were shocked, shocked, that it was packed on New Year’s Eve;

They were about a half hour late for their reservation, but the receptionist didn’t even comment on it and just told them to wait over there. At least the architecture was pretty to look at;

It was loud and busy, but time passed as it has a tendency to do, and Mike and Suzy were soon seated and enjoyed a very tasty Moroccan tea;

The servers were dressed in beautiful Moroccan outfits and were quite helpful in making various recommendations;

Mike and Suzy decided to split an order of Couscous, seasonal vegetables, and a Lamb Shank

It was tasty and filling, but a little fatty. The couscous went especially well with the Moroccan wine.

As is their want, Mike and Suzy received a free desert of Bastilla - crispy leaves of pastry topped with vanilla cream and sprinkled with toasted almonds;

The restaurant had entertainment throughout Mike and Suzy’s. They had belly dancing;

Which Mike along with some other tourists tried to learn, failing miserably;

And they had some Moroccan music played on an instrument which the author cannot remember the name of. Does anyone know what this is?

After they left there was an impromptu dancing by a tourist out in the street

But Suzy refused to join in with that and instead preferred to save her dancing for the solemn dignity that only a stall selling bells can provide;

All in all, Mike and Suzy have eaten at better Moroccan restaurants. The scenery was very nice, but the food could have been improved upon. Still, it was a fun place to have their last meal of 2007.

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

We have a very high Arab population in Metro Detroit and therefore are very, very spoild with amazing arabic and middle eastern cusine!!! In fact when I was living in Florida for my CP at Disney, it's one of the things I missed most! That's why we've always pass Marocco to eat. How could it possible compare? Thank you for your fair, honest and entertaing review!!! As always, I can't wait to read more, More, MORE!

 

[MikeR]

The New Year was fast approaching, so Mike and Suzy began to get their drink on with a quick trip to the Rose & Crown Pub.

Mike got a Strongbow Hard Cider while Suzy got a Guinness. You may not be able to see it, but there is a “2008” printed on the foam in this drink;

The hard cider was the hit of the night, and both Mike and Suzy ordered a Woodpecker cider and some more Strongbow cider over the next few hours. They tried to keep their drinking under control as they passed by the Ghost of Hangovers yet to come being wheeled out in a kiddy-stroller;

For a while they watched “British Invasion” a Beatles cover band. There was just something nice about sitting in a (fake) British square listening to a (fake) Beatles song while breathing the (fake?) night air.

After the cover band finished their set it was time for Mike and Suzy to find a seat for the Fireworks of Illuminations. The viewing area was a _little_ crowded;

But Suzy saw a spot on a wall that was completely empty so she encouraged (I.E. told) Mike to get up there and about two seconds after they sat on the wall someone shouted, “You’re blocking the VIEW!” so Mike and Suzy sheepishly scooted east some only to have another voice shout, “Now you’re blocking MY view,” followed by more scooting and more shouting until Mike and Suzy just got off and hopped into the seats of a restaurant. They weren’t sure if they were allowed to do that or not, but no one complained and they ordered drinks so it seems to have worked out well until the area got _really_ crowded (including the wall area that Mike and Suzy were shouted off of!) and they couldn’t see anymore as Suzy is a short, short lady. So they sat on a garbage can which was higher and had a better view than the chairs. And that’s how they brought in the New Year, sitting on garbage and watching the . . .

Fireworks!

And kissing!

And watching more fireworks!

And more kissing!

Once 2008 had begun Mike and Suzy went back to the Rose and Crown and came across the coolest T-shirts in the World. This group was doing a Drink-Around-The-World-Tour of Epcot’s World Showcase and some of their members didn’t show up;

So Mike and Suzy talked to them for a while, and the group offered to sell them the two spare T-shirts they had for cost. The reason these T-shirts are so cool is that on the back they have eleven blank circles on the back with the name of all the eleven World Showcase countries on them so that you can write the name of each alcoholic drink you have in it’s corresponding nation’s circle with a black sharpie. That way, you have a record of your drunkitude, which is oh so very important. Mike and Suzy got stopped over five times on their vacation by various people asking where they could buy their T-shirts, but they were one of a kind artifacts so no go for anyone but Mike and Suzy!

Mike and Suzy went off to France to fill in one of their circles and got some tasty Pomegranate Glow-In-the-Dark Champaign.

It was a little unusual, and Mike couldn’t taste the fruit very well, but it was a nice change of pace from the Hard Ciders they had been drinking.

After they were done drinking, it was time to drink, so they went to the Yakitori House at the Japan pavilion and got some sake as well as some udon noodles.

The Sake would have been undrinkable if they had just started the night, but thankfully their taste buds had been pounded into submission by that point, so they managed to drink half of it. The Udon noodles were no different than you could get at any cheap and easy Japanese restaurant, but after a long night they went down perfectly. Soup is one of the world’s most perfect drinking foods.

It was then time to try and burn off the calories of the night (or perhaps .00001% of them) so it was lucky that Mike and Suzy stumbled across a Latin Dance Party at . . . uh . . . Latin Land!

They did not play any Waltz’s at the Latin Dance Party (what are the odds?) so they Mike and Suzy did not get a chance to show off their dance skills that they learned for their first dance at their wedding, but they would later on in the Honeymoon. Instead Mike and Suzy just got down and / or funky with the beat.

Soon though the party closed and the song “Closing Time” with it’s not so subtle message of “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here,” came over the speakers so Mike and Suzy made their way out of the park;

They got lucky and managed to use their Super-Honeymooning Powers to ride in the front of the Monorail, the only time they got a chance to do that on the trip;

They briefly hung out in their lobby;

before heading to their rooms to crash. It was a great first day of their Honeymoon and they were so happy to be together.

 

[KQAN]

You guys are so adorable! It looks like you had an awesome time!

 

[MikeR]

Day 2: Recuperation

Before he went to sleep Mike put a menu in the bathroom so that when he woke up he could order room service for breakfast without waking up Suzy,

and when the morning came that is exactly what he did;

From Ohana he order some sausage and eggs as well as Tonga Toast. The eggs and sausage were extremely edible and what you would expect from eggs and sausage. Tonga Toast, on the other hand, is basically French Toast stuffed with Bananas and it was extremely yummy-licious. It was so good and different from normal French Toast that Mike is considering cooking it himself next New Year’s Day as kind of a special Honeymoon-Anniversary-New-Year treat. It seems like it could be a fun tradition to start. On the other hand, he is deeply lazy and cooking with a lot of oil after a night known for the imbuement of alcohol might not be the best plan, so we shall see.

Mike and Suzy puttered around the room some more after eating, took a short nap (all that waking up and eating was exhausting) puttered around some more, showered, got dressed and looked into the concierge room to see what type of free goodies they were getting;

Well, not exactly “free.” In fact, if you do the math these are some of the most expensive cupcakes you will ever eat. The concierge room was nice, but Mike and Suzy didn’t actually use it that much. They got so much food on the trip, that they didn’t really need any extra food, but what they most got from concierge service was, unsurprisingly, the concierge service; all the help in making reservations, questions answered, etc.

However, Suzy did quite enjoy the chocolate covered Mickey Mouse Shaped Rice Crispy Treats;

She took a half-dozen of them when we left the room and was very reluctant to throw them away at the end of the trip when they had grown new life forms that evolved into a miniature civilization in the midst of developing masonry.

After that they walked around to explore the Polynesian Hotel and were mooned by a couple wooden statues;

Rather than suffer further abuse at the hands of timber figurines, they took this as a sign that they should get out of the Polynesian. They didn’t want to fight the crowds on New Year’s Day, so they decided to have a nice easy time of it and explore some of the other hotels on the monorail track.

First they went to the Grand Floridian;

Which has some truly wonderful scenery and an atmosphere of a turn of the century (20th, not 21st) Floridian retreat;

as well as having the largest Gingerbread House Mike had ever seen;

While there Suzy also took a peak into Victoria & Albert’s as a preview of credit card debt yet to come;

They also hung out in a hammock for a bit;

And engaged in a little cross dressing fun;

Next up was the Contemporary Resort;

Which was honestly a bit of a disappointment. It was essentially a very boxy old architectural building that was supposed to inspire images of the future but left Mike feeling like he had been transported to the far future, all the way to the year 1983!

Also, they used to have a huge arcade that got moved and seriously downgraded. Mike actually had fond memories of making his first move on a girl in that arcade back in the early 90’s. That move failed miserably of course, but at least it was made. Does anyone have any pictures of that old arcade anywhere?

About the most interesting thing in the Contemporary was its life sized chocolate diorama of Pinocchio. This took 280 pounds of sugar, 255 pounds of Chocolate, 63 pounds of flour, 40 pounds of honey, and 2 pounds of cinnamon to make;

The monorail then took them back to the Polynesians

Where they hung out in their room for a bit. This might be a good time to show off the Honeymoon suite. It honestly was not that big, but it was nice and comfortable;

And it had a great bathtub;

And a pretty bathroom floor pattern that Suzy wants to copy someday in their house;

 

[MikeR]

Soon enough it was time for the favorite part of any honeymoon, getting leid;

Mike and Suzy had tickets for the Hawaiian Luau. Mike ordered the best tickets they offered, and while it was closer to the stage than the back row tickets, it honestly did not feel that the tickets were that special as they were still a few rows back.

The first round of food was appetizers consisting of sweet bread, pineapple, and salad;

And the main course was pork spare ribs, chicken, and rice;

With a desert of a chocolate mousse shaped like a volcano;

This food OK, but as was often the case if you are used to eating ethnic food in your home town you might find Disney’s version of it to be a bit watered downed and low grade in comparison to what you are used to. At Mike’s old college they had a huge luau every year in which an entire pig was roasted underground, real poi was served, and other Polynesian dishes were prepared. That was all put on by volunteer college students in their spare time and it was fantastic. You’d think that Disney could match that, but it wasn’t even close. That’s not to say the food was bad or not enjoyable, just that it could have been better and it wasn’t really Polynesian food.

The show itself was cute and funny at times;

It stared and island girl who came back from the mainland and told of her journey to rediscover her island roots by shaking her moneymakers;

Also it guest-stared fire!

After the show was over Mike and Suzy looked at some paintings for sale in the lobby;

They were pretty, but not worth the cost. Besides, Mike has already bought enough art work for their house anyways (according to Suzy, Mike begs to differ).

They then went to downtown Disney on a quest to find a very specific gift for Mike’s Mom (A Mickey Mouse watch with an American flag on it. She works at Veteran’s Affairs).

It was a long and arduous quest lasting all of five minutes at the biggest Disney store in the world,

but they were successful and also had time to check out Goofy’s Candy Co

Look at some more artwork that Mike was forbidden to buy;

and have Mike pull Suzy aside and point out this sign;

so that he could make the joke of wanting a smoothie flavored like roast beef. It might have been funnier if he had not so obviously showing the sign to her to just to make the joke.

With that they returned home and went to sleep.

 

[hope1826]

so funny. we are planning our honeymoon for May and we love your restaurant reviews! I LOVE hot roast beef smoothies!!

 

[Lisella]

I love your journal. What a great story you have and what a great storyteller you are. Thank you so much for sharing.

I cannot wait to read more.

 

[shezfrombermuda]

Mike,

I just wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying your trip report and all your pictures. Keep it coming!

 

[MikeR]

Day 3: The Magic Kingdom

Mike and Suzy arrived at the Magic Kingdom before the park opened

because they had a reservation to eat breakfast at Cinderella’s Palace. It was a little bizarre to be at a theme park and have it be almost completely empty of people, but they did get a picture of just them and the castle, and how often does that happen?

Mike and Suzy waited in line and got their picture taken with Cinderella;

Then climbed the staircase (NO part of this Honeymoon must be undocumented!);

to attend the breakfast ball. The food . . . was nothing special, just standard breakfast fair. Mike even forgot to take a picture of it (Part of the Honeymoon is undocumented! Horrors! Shock! Alarm!). But people don’t go to character dinning for the food, do they? They mainly go for the princesses and there were plenty of those. First up was Snow White who asked Mike who his favorite princess was. He didn’t really have one so he thought it would be polite to say that Snow White was his favorite princess, but as soon as he started to answer Snow pointed at Suzy, so Mike quickly said that Suzy was his favorite princess, and she truly is.

Next was Belle;

Then Princess Aurora

And finally Jasmine:

After breakfast was over Mike and Suzy went down but found themselves trapped in the castle because the park had not opened yet so they explored the Bibbity-Bobbity-Boutique

where Mike’s attempts to have them dress Suzy up in a Jessica Rabbit costume were completely unsuccessful so they basically just sat around being cold for a while until it was finally time for the park to open, Mike and Suzy were in a great spot and got to rush ahead of everyone and be the first people to get to various areas of the Magic Kingdom;

Video Clip.

Mike and Suzy dogged one way, then went another, and finally decided upon going to Pirates of the Caribbean;

Mike thought that the addition of Jack Sparrow and company to the ride worked rather well. The newly added parts don’t detract from the ride so much as they add another element to it.

After Pirates they rushed over to Splash Mountain, and the lines were still short enough (and the weather cold enough) that they had an entire log to themselves;

In Mike’s Opinion, Splash Mountain has the best animatronics in all of Disneyworld.

And some great scenery too;

The ride is just a lot of fun, even if you do get a little wet on the coldest day of the year;

Next they went to Big Thunder Mountain;

which Mike has always liked because he gets to pretend that he is Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom.

Perhaps he screamed too much because he soon found himself in the stocks;

But he got out in time to go to the Haunted Manssion;

With its eerie paintings that go up;

or is it the floor that goes down?

 

[MikeR]

Despite Mike’s many protestations that the song would be stuck in their heads for the next 11.5 days, Suzy wanted to go on It’s a Small World,

so off they went;

The line wasn’t too long, and the ride was a lot more fun than Mike remembered it being from when he last went on it as a teenager;

Sometimes you just have to grow old in order to be able to put away childish things, like the fear that you might be enjoying something childish.

It was at this point that Mike and Suzy’s Fast-Pass planning and early morning attendance began to run out of steam. Their next Fast-pass wasn’t for two hours and the lines for all the good rides had grown long enough that they couldn’t just walk into whatever ride they wanted too - oh the travails of vacation.

So they decided to just wait in Space Mountain’s line for however long it took. “However long” turned out to be around 45 minutes, which was the longest they waited for anything on their vacation. During that time they tried to watch a TV show (Mad Men) on their I-Pod, but their surroundings were quite noisy and the sound on their split headphones wasn’t loud enough and the screen wasn’t bright enough. So all in all, Mike’s bright idea to make waiting in line a breeze didn’t work out very well. Oh well. In the future they learned to just bring magazines with them which were easily foldable and usually readable anywhere anytime.

Space Mountain itself was pretty fun. They sat in the back

and it was exciting mainly because the ride was in the dark so they were unsure of what would happen next. Years ago, Mike was on it one time when there was some type of problem and they had to turn the lights on, and that made Space Mountain just a humdrum rollercoaster to tell the truth.

After the ride Mike was pretty happy to get his picture taken with the creature from Lillo and Stitch as that was the most enjoyable Disney film he’s seen in a while;

Then they went and cashed in their Fast Passes for the Winnie the Pooh ride which Mike was happy about as he is a big fan;

It was set up as if you were passing through the book itself;

But outside of the ride was still cold so Suzy was all bundled up, so much so that perhaps she looked a little like Pooh herself. Any resemblance?

Suzy

Pooh

It was lunch time so Mike and Suzy went to their reservation at the Liberty Tree Inn;

The place was not jam-packed because if you take out a package of jam there is still enough room to stick a spoon in and scoop out the jam, but good luck trying to do that at the Liberty Tree Inn a day after New Year’s Day because there was not an millimeter to spare. Not to worry though, because Mike made reservations and had them confirmed in his handy print-out that he was given by concierge when they checked in, right?

Wrong. The lady up front explained that Mike did not in fact have a reservation. Mike pointed at his paper saying, “No, really. He does have a reservation.” But it was to no avail. The receptionist said that Mike’s reservation had been canceled months ago. Mike asked why it showed up on his reservation list that he had been given two days ago. The lady said she didn’t know, but that somebody must have made a mistake. Mike said that he was very sorry that someone in her company had made a mistake, but he had reservation for lunch and as it would be impossible to get new ones given how busy the park was, he intended to keep them. The lady said that she was sorry but there was no room. Mike said that as someone had made a mistake that was effecting him, she should make room. She said that wasn’t possible and seemed to be hinting that Mike should just leave. Mike went into 2001 mode and kept saying, effectively, “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.” over and over again to her various subtle and not-so-subtle hints to go away. Eventually the receptionist gave up and said she’d find Mike and Suzy a table as soon as she could but that it would probably be a half hour to an hour. Mike said that would be fine and thanked her for her help (always be gracious in victory, it doesn’t cost anything).

In about 35 minutes or so, Mike and Suzy were shown to their table and were greeted by a waitress decked in festive attire;

They were both pretty full from breakfast so Mike just had some chili and Suzy just had some clam chowder and they both split a pot of tea;

The clam chowder and chili was soup. Just regular soup. Nothing incredible, nothing bad, just average ordinary bowl of soup of the type you could find in any chain restaurant like Applebee’s or the Olive Garden or Newport Bay. It was however, hot, and I can not emphasize enough how important that was on this very cold day.

The tea was also hot, and Mike and Suzy got some cups to go to help them brave the harsh frigid tundra that central Florida had become;

 

[MikeR]

While braving the frosty Florida winter wonderland to get to their next destination, Mike and Suzy passed some thatch huts in Adventure Land.

They didn’t learn this at the time, but Disney hired authentic tribal thatch makers to create the Thatch Huts at DW and Disney asked those craftsmen to make the thatch less neat and tidy to make it look more “authentic. However, the craftsmen refused saying that “neat and tidy” was exactly how you had to make thatch roofs and that if you make it all messy it wouldn’t work and hence it wouldn’t be “authentic.” Then they told Disney to put that in their four-fingered glove and smoke it. Or maybe I made up that last part. Who can tell? We live in a world of uncertainty.

Soon Mike and Suzy’s Fast-passes for the Jungle Cruise were up so they walked past all the people waiting over an hour to look at plastic hippos and tried not to smirk. (Smirk, smirk, smirk.)

The jokes were just as corny as Mike remembered them being, ditto for the scenery;

But some of the animatronics were a little naughtier than he remembered. Suzy just thinks that he has a dirty mind;

After the ride it was still cold and the weather just refused to change even though it was Mike and Suzy’s Honeymoon and they had specifically requested good weather for their entire trip (Did Disney not get that memo?), so since they were getting tired they decided to walk back to their hotel and take a nap so they would be rested for the night. They passed some lovely scenery;

And even though Christmas had been over for a week there were still plenty of decorations about;

Mike and Suzy also passed some characters and is it just Mike or is this evil Step-daughter way more hot in real life than she is in the movies?

Come nightfall they were ready to celebrate the three biggest contributions to world Civilization that Ireland has given the world, drinking, drinking, and the author can’t remember the third because the author got drunk.

It was time for Mike and Suzy to party at Raglan Road;

They placed was packed as usual:

Good thing that Mike had ADRs, but even with those there was still a wait so Mike and Suzy got another one of those handy buzzer devices and they looked around the Irish shop for a while. The change from looking at Disney junk that they didn’t need to looking at Irish junk they didn’t need was a fascinating experience, but eventually the buzzer went off and their server greeted them and showed them to their seats:

She was a nice gal and made some excellent suggestions. The seats were in a rather good location with a good view of the dance floor and an even better view of the upside down Christmas Tree which is apparently some type of Irish tradition;

Mike ordered the Scallop Forest appetizer, which is forks of scallops served with a lime dipping sauce. While it is not that many scallops it is fun to look at and very tasty. The scallops melt in the mouth;

Suzy got a side of creamed corn which she loved:

For the main course Mike got Keen Eye for the Shepherds Pie. Mike had never had Shepherds Pie before and while it was OK he is not sure if he’ll feel the need to order it again. Even with it’s modernized look, it still seemed a little plain for his tastes;

Suzy got It's Not Bleedin' Chowder; which is potatoes, mussels, prawns, scallops in a cream sauce – tasty but again not something they’ll order again;

They ended with the truly wonderful Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding. This was a fantastic desert that really made the meal;

The band, Tuskar Rock, was in great form that night and played a number of good old Irish songs as well as a couple of new ones. Mike got their CD and added it to his driving to work collection:

The band invented all the Newlyweds up to dance, and Mike and Suzy were very happy that it was a slow-ish number so they got to show off their waltzing moves that they learned for their wedding.

Raglan also had traditional Irish dancing:

and it was very fast and entertaining. Unfortunately Suzy had the bad luck to be in the bathroom each time the dancer came out for her short performance so she never saw it;

The mood of the pub was just really boisterous and excited (and filled with drunk people – I wonder if there could be a connection?). A cute little girl even got up and (seemingly spontaneously) did a little Irish dance which the crowd loved;

Raglan Road was a fantastic and fun dinning experience for Mike and Suzy. They considered going back during their trip but with all the other places to go to they just didn’t have time, but if it was in their home town they definitely would have been back by now.

 

[kramer222]

No Photos?

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

This is great! I'm loving your report!

 

[MikeR]

No Photos?

Photos should be fixed.

 

[MikeR]

The next day Mike and Suzy had to get up extra early because Mike had arranged a special surprise. They packed up their swimsuits and took off for Epcot;

When they arrived there they sat in an area off to the side and some other guests came and joined them. It didn’t take Suzy long to figure out why they were there – the Dolphins in Depth tour!

Their tour guides were very knowledgeable and friendly. However, because this was a backstage show, Disney forbid the taking of pictures less it spoil the image of a magical land, this remains the most undocumented part of their Honeymoon. As they were walking to the big tank they passed big pipes, and blocky buildings, and other non-Disney things. Mike pointed to a big pile of black bags and refuse and said, “Look, garbage!” One of the tour guides replied, “Yes, but it’s magical garbage!”

When they arrived at the tank, the sheer size of it was truly amazing. They got a brief lesson about dolphins, Disney’s conservation efforts, and how the various animals and fishes in the aquarium are taken care of. It was all quite interesting and fascinating, as was the point in which they had to run through a very cold shaft of the building in their swimsuits to get to another area of the building.

Eventually the main purpose of the tour came, and Mike and Suzy got to get into the dolphin pool. The water was cold at first but pretty manageable after a while, and soon they didn’t notice it, mainly because they got to play with and interact with (but not swim with) a dolphin! It was so much fun and a definite high point of the honeymoon.

Afterwards, when the tour was all wound up and they were walking out, did Mike slip out his camera and surreptitiously take a picture of the forbidden underbelly of Disney? Of course not. That would have been wrong.

Once out of Epcot they caught a ride to MGM-Studios (as it was called way back then);

They had time to watch a brief Jedi show;

And talk with some of the street performers, who were a lot of fun and enjoyable to joke around with;

And whose name Mike can’t remember. If only he had some type of red box with his name written on it in white letters that would let people know who he was, but sadly no such thing exists.

They arrived on time for their reservations at the 50’s Prime Time Café, but still had to wait a while because the place was very busy again. It was OK though as Mike got to relax in a cool ‘50’s chair;

and check out the 1950’s bar;

Mike had previously had some memorable experiences with the wait-staff interacting with him, and he was looking forward to sharing that with Suzy, but perhaps because they were so busy there really wasn’t anything memorable or zany that happened. She was nice enough to pose for a picture though:

And the décor really set the mood;

The food was also quite good. They were still quite full from all the food they had been eating that they split the pot roast which was fantastic. Each bite was so juicy and moist that the meat just fell apart in his mouth;

They also split a Peanut-Butter and Jelly Milkshake;

Mike found it to be very tasty and worth the 27.3 miles he would have to run to work it off, Suzy though . . . she had another experience. Mike and Suzy split the milkshake by just pouring the top half of it into Mike’s portion, and Suzy ate the bottom half. However, in that bottom half Suzy found . . . bits of plastic. Lots of bits of plastic. She pulled it out and looked through them and as far as they could tell it was some type of plastic wrapper. Needless to say this wigged them out a little and they told the waitress who told the manager who came over and apologized and explained that it was probably a wrapper for some of the food and they were most sorry that it got in their and might we please accept the meal on the house and some free desert in way of an apology?

Mike and Suzy agreed and Suzy got the make your own desert which she had a lot of fun with;

Mike, for desert mind you, got some chicken soup;

The waitress gave him a strange look and interrogated him for a while if he really wanted that, but Mike just wasn’t in the mood for desert so he stuck with his guns and got the chicken soup which was filling and relaxing on this cold day.

 

[keenercam]

still really enjoying your trippie, Mike! I am so sorry you guys had that experience with your milkshake. I had that happen at a restaurant once, but it was broken glass along the rim of the glass. I am so glad yours was plastic, but yuck! Oh, and I am so with you on that dessert -- i'd have chosen chicken soup, too. It looks great!

 

[MikeR]

Mike and Suzy left the Prime Time Café just in time to catch a parade. The Army men from Toy Story were out in fine force;

And Luke Skywalker decided to show off his “O” face;

Which inspired the newlyweds to go off and check out Star Tours. While walking to the line they happened to pass a pair of metallic vultures who were no doubt trying to get the last bit of gold out of the Star Wars franchise;

The attendant showed them the door to their star ship;

and Mike and Suzy entered and were transported to a galaxy far, far away;

Or they went on a first generation motion ride. One of the two. Because honestly, Star Tours was one of the first motion rides out there and it shows. Mike thinks that if you’ve been on three motion rides, you’ve pretty much been on them all and if the ride in question is almost old enough to drink, well . . . The only thing that makes it a cool ride is that it allows you to remember how you used to imagine yourself in an X-wing fighter.

After the ride Mike started geeking out.

He geeked here;

He geeked there;

He geeked everywhere;

He even got into a trivia contest with this guy at the Star Wars gift shop;

Who, Mike is ashamed to admit, stumped him with the question, “What is the difference between a Darth and a Dark Lord?” Does anyone know the answer to that?

Afterwards they went to the Muppets 3-D adventure;

The show was very funny, but Mike might have seen it too many times at this point, because he knew every single joke. He can’t remember the name of someone he meets five minutes later, but he can spout off Statler & Waldorf lines that he hasn’t heard in seven years. Where is the justice in that?

On the way out of the park they passed a pretty cool bird too. Anyone know what this is?

At this point it was time to check into their new hotel. They enjoyed staying at the Polynesian very much, but it they didn’t really mind moving to the All-Star Movie hotel. The hotel room was primarily a place to sleep after all, and they were quite busy during the day.

Suzy was still wearing her ears as they entered the hotel;

Check in took a few minutes but was relatively painless;

And soon they were in their new hotel room;

And Mike picked up a very special gift. Mike had begged and pleaded and used the “It’s our Honeymoon!” on two or three difference concierge people, but finally he had worked his mojo well enough that he was given two passes to skip to the front of any ride, not just those with fast-pass lanes, but any ride;

VICTORY!

 

[MikeR]

After a nap that went a little longer than expected Mike and Suzy decided to just take a taxi to save time instead of waiting for the busses. However, the taxis driver told them that MGM Studios was going to close at the time of our reservation at the Sci-Fi Dine in Theatre. They hemmed and hawed and weren’t sure what they should do, remembering their reservation earlier mix-up, but in the end they decided to just risk it and go. Mike and Suzy made the right choice because as it turns out the Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre is open later than the rest of the park. Good info to know.

The décor was very attention-grabbing, and it is a bit of a hoot to sit in the old cars;

While watching some cheesy clips from the ‘50’s;

Mike and Suzy split a Reuben sandwich:

Which really hit the spot. Nothing fancy, and nothing you couldn’t eat at a million sandwich shops the world over, but it was satisfying and served in an entertaining environment. Like many other restaurants at Disney, it’s the mood, not the food.

They also got their now customary free desert;

Which they also split in as cute of a manner as they could;

One of the coolest parts of the night was that after they got out of the restaurant, most of MGM was completely empty. The Christmas lights were still up so it was very festive;

Some things landed on Mike and Suzy as they were walking around and they were shocked to see that it was snow. They knew it was cold, but they didn’t have any idea that it was that cold. They marveled at how this was probably the first time snow had fallen here for decades. Then they looked up and saw a snow machine. Oops. At least it was a memorable moment.

Finally with night at an end the couple stumbled into the arcade at the All Star Movies and dinked around with the games for a while. They were on their honeymoon so they felt comfortable spending enough money to feed a family in Zimbabwe for a month in order to win tickets for crap that they didn’t want. The funnest (grammar be damned) game was one where you adjusted the flow of air at a ball and tried to keep it within a green series of lights;

Games capable of doing millions of calculations and what really wowed them was flashing lights and a small air cannon. Technology is a beautiful thing.