Now I need you to pay attention because we had a memorable day at Disney World today and it didn't cost a cent!
About 15 years ago I was at a conference in Miami and I tacked on a weeks vacation and we went up to New Smyrna to visit Chris' Mom & Dad. We told them we were going to take them somewhere special the next day and Ivan said "Well I hope it's not to Orlando!". Well it was Orlando and it was one of the greatest days he ever had ("FREE" was a big part of it!)
Today we got to the gate at Magic Kingdom and gave the attendant the $15 for parking and asked him how to get to the Wedding Pavilion. The first thing he did was give us our $15 back because "The Wedding Pavilion is the only place you can park free!". We made our way to the Wedding Pavilion which is located next to the Grand Floridian Hotel.
We discovered this "loophole" years ago when we came here to check it out as a possible location for Terry and Mandy's wedding.
Luckily today there were no weddings planned and we had the place to ourselves.
The view in the chapel is incredible! Dead centre in the window behind the alter is the Castle at the Magic kingdom across the lake. Done like only Disney can do!
360 of Wedding Chapel
Next we walked over to the Grand Floridian. This picture looks like it came from a postcard.
360 of GrandFloridian
Other than The Opryland hotel, it is the grandest hotel I have ever seen. The girls wanted to go for High Tea but we couldn't get in for an hour, so we took a boat ride around the lake, picking up and dropping off passengers at Polynesian Village and Magic Kingdom before returning to the Grand Floridian just in time for High Tea.
I guess you're not supposed to use your fingers! I'll have to bring up a set of tongs for the fishing trips.
Now as you can imagine, it was difficult for me to behave myself, but I did my best, even trying to hold the cup properly! Chris was impressed!
I traded the girls some of my hoyty toyty sandwiches for a couple of their Blood and Mud (peanut butter and jam). I kept these for myself though.
Next we got on the Monorail at the Grand Floridian and did the loop past Magic Kingdom, through the Contemporary Hotel (no time to get out and tour....next time) and got off at the Polynesian Resort. We all got presented with Lei's and arrived just in time for the Torch Lighting Ceremony!
We contemplated going to the Luau, but we'll do that next time. As we were leaving we asked one of the Bellhops how to get back to the Wedding Pavilion to get our car (it was now dark). He says "I can take you there". A couple of minutes later he shows up with a 6 passenger golf cart and started taking us. About halfway there is a slight incline and the cart can't make it up it (even with me and Terry off and pushing). He says there's a problem with the transmission and we return to Polynesian to get another one! We finally get back to the vehicle (YES, I tipped him).
Now on to our final stop for the evening at Fort Wilderness Lodge. After an initial miscue and showing up at Fort Wilderness "Campground", we finally got to the "Lodge". And what a lodge it is! It reminds me of the lodge Bud and I visited at Yellowstone.
The building was awesome!
Check out this 360.
360 of Fort Wilderness Lodge
We had a late dinner at CiCi's (cost significantly less than High Tea :) and returned to our unit to finally open the box of Star Wars Vinylmations.
The Girls and Nana took turns opening them. Chris opens her third one and there's pandemonium! It turns out to be the Super Chaser!!!
Obee One Kinobe's ghost!
It may not look like anything special to you, but this one is extremely rare and very collectible and is currently going for over $250 on E-Bay :)
A great finish to a very memorable day!
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