Wednesday - 1/19/11 - Last day-
We woke up early and packed up everything in our room. We had breakfast reservations at the Crystal Palace, which I was very excited about. I've always wanted to eat there and see the Winnie characters.
We packed up the car and then walked over to the Magic Kingdom. When we got to our table, the waitress had made a heart out of mickey confetti, it was very sweet. The food wasn't anything special, but the characters were awesome! We took pictures with all of them, and then our waitress brought out a celebration card that was signed by all of the characters!
I thought that was so sweet.
After breakfast, we decided to just go to Downtown Disney to meet up with my dad one last time, and then we were just going to leave. We were both kind of depressed that our wedding was already over and we didn't really see any need to just stick around all day.
As we were making our way out of the park, we realized that we didn't go on any rides except for on Saturday, and we didn't get a chance to ride Pirates, so we decided to turn around and do a quick trip on the ride. We were talking about how nothing especially magical had happened, and we wished we had a couple more days to roam the parks with our bride & groom ears on.
Eddie had gotten ahead of me while we were walking down Main St. When I caught up with him, I noticed he was talking to some official looking man. I thought, OK either he did something bad, or this man is trying to sell something to Eddie.
I don't trust anybody, even in Disney World. Well, as I got closer I realized the man (Dean) worked for Disney, and he was asking us about our wedding and he asked us how much longer we were going to be in the park for. When we said we weren't sure, he said "I think you better be here at 2:45". When we asked why, he said that we were going to be the Grand Marshal's of the 3:00 parade!
We were so shocked and excited! He told us to make sure we were wearing our bridal hats and to meet outside the firehouse on Main St. at 2:40.
I immediately called my mom and sister who were both back at work, and then I called the vet to ask them to hold our dogs for one more day. We went to Downtown Disney to meet up with my dad, and he really wanted to get into the MK to see the parade, but unfortunately they didn't have tickets. After saying our good byes, I bought a Disney tee to wear during the parade and then we went back to the MK and shopped around until we were ready for the parade. At 2:40 we met up with Dean and 2 other people that were going to be riding in Mickey's Coach with us. We got to go backstage and boarded the car. Woody came over and had some fun with us, and a dancer also came and talked for a bit.
The announcer of the parade came on the loud speaker, and announced us all by name, hometown and that we had just been married. As we went around the parade route, everyone was yelling congratulations at us, some people were yelling the name of our hometown and one person even said "Where's your sister Kristyl?!?!"
guess this person worked with my sister and recognized me. I never saw who it was.
The parade was amazing. Everyone was waving and we were waving A LOT. We were all laughing because we felt awkward at fist, our hands were tired from waving and our faces were KILLING us from smiling so much. I know one thing for sure, I will ALWAYS wave to the people in the parade. It was so uncomfortable when we waved to people and they just stared back at us.
When we got to Frontierland, they stopped our car and we got out and had a prime viewing location to watch the rest of the parade.
We got to pick out a free picture from the parade. We didn't have the best pictures to choose from, but we still wanted to get one to remember the day by. After the parade, we headed home and prepared for our honeymoon cruise, which was absolutely wonderful and amazing.
I'm so glad we decided to turn around that morning and go ride Pirates. We never actually got around to riding it, but I wouldn't change a minute of anything. It was the perfect, most magical way to end our Disney wedding adventure. We couldn't have asked for anything better.
At the Crystal Palace -
A photopass photographer spotted us after talking with Dean. He decided to have some fun with us. Everyone laughed and cheered at us!
During the parade -
Thank you, everyone who has read my journal and everyone who has helped me along the way. I would have been so lost without these boards and the wonderful people that contribute to them every day. I know it's taken me a while to finish this, but I'm glad I followed it through to the end. I hope to write up some reviews and maybe a glad I did list, but it may take some time, so I wanted to make sure to show my gratitude to all of you. Thanks again!