I met up with Steph, Lauren and Ryan after they used their third Fastpass for Haunted Mansion, and we set off to see some of Magic Kingdom. I don’t have many pictures from this evening, but we did wave to some Country Bears as they passed by –

We just walked around the park, enjoying each other’s company. I hadn’t seen Steph and Lauren in a few years – they live on the other side of the country of me. They live in different provinces from each other, so they don’t even see each other very often (and actually – at this point Steph and Ryan were living in different provinces from each other). We spent quite awhile just taking in the ambiance of Magic Kingdom, walking around the different lands. At one point, we stopped at Peco’s Bills so they could grab a quick bite to eat – I don’t remember what was ordered, but I think all three of them shared one meal – we had a late reservation coming up and no one wanted to ruin their dinner. Eventually we decided to actually do more than just walk around.

The first Fastpass the three of them had earlier in the day was for Peter Pan’s Flight, but due to a flight delay they had missed their window. However, the ride just so happened to be down during part of their window, so their Fastpass had changed to an unlimited experience pass – which meant they could use it for any ride in MK they wanted to that day. They decided to stick to their original plan, and used it for Peter Pan (which still had a huge standby line). I didn’t have a Fastpass for it, so I told them to enjoy and I’d wait for them by the exit. During this time, my Mom had texted that she had finally arrived at Old Key West – without any luggage. It was lost, and the airline had no idea where it was.

I lost it. Here I was, standing alone by the exit to Peter Pan’s Flight bawling my head off – like I’m talking giant tears streaming down my face, sobbing, the whole nine yards. A concerned cast member came over and asked if I was ok – that poor man. I think he was expecting a generic I’m fine, or I’m just so happy to be here or I’m just overwhelmed. Yeah… that’s not what he got from me. In between sobs I told him my Mom had no luggage, my uncle was in a coma, I was getting married in 3 days, I was happy to see two of my best friends for the first time in 2+ years, and I had realized that morning I didn’t pack enough underwear for the trip (yup, I told this poor cast member that). He just looked at me with wide eyes, gave me a little pat on my shoulder, said “there there” while he backed away slowly haha. It’s been almost 4 years since this happened, but in the moment it was a lot to handle. I definitely needed that cry.

My friends gave me a hug when they got off, which helped a lot. I pulled myself together, and got onto the app. I was able to grab a Buzz Lightyear fastpass, and the window opened in 10 minutes. So off to Tomorrowland!

When we arrived, the ride was a walk-on – so we decided to enter the standby line first, and then circled around and used our Fastpass. We waved to animatronic Buzz, and Lauren and I got on together…and of course my gun didn’t work. I’m not amazing at Buzz, but I’m definitely not this bad! Luckily the gun did work the second time around haha.

Our on-ride photos for this make me laugh so much! I was looking super pleased with my broken gun, and my face was still all blotchy from crying, my hair was all disheveled from a busy day – and Lauren was living her best life haha. We have so many photos together over the years with Lauren giving me bunny ears – always “gettin’ me good!” And Ryan was so intense haha.

The castle was looking very pretty – I love the Christmas lights they put on it –

By this point, it was time for us to head out. We said good night to the park, and headed out to catch the monorail. While we were riding the monorail, we actually saw the Electrical Water Pageant, which was a really unique viewpoint. We exited the monorail at the Polynesian, where we met up with 9 others from our group – and the 13 of us had a great meal at ‘Ohana!

We all Uber’d back to our hotels and crashed – it was almost midnight by this point..

I also need to show this screenshot from Luke’s FitBit haha – he actually took this right after he finished his marathon – he had even more steps by the end of the day haha.

Fitbit Steps: 20,849

After reaching the Ticket and Transportation Center on the monorail, we got off. I asked the group if they wanted to catch the other monorail to get us to Magic Kingdom, or if they wanted to take the boat – group consensus was boat. This was something I’d never actually done, so I was looking forward to it. It was really busy, and had a huge line (which was a bit surprising since it was early afternoon by this point) – but we still got on the first boat that came by. It was my first time on the boat from the TTC – and I took zero photos. Oops.

We entered the park, and… I don’t remember what we did. I have terrible notes from this afternoon, and not many pictures. I think Laura and Cathy were hungry, and Jill went with them (I think they ended up eating at Tortuga Tavern?). I do have this picture of the Adventureland sign?

I do remember I had been texting my Dad, and he was on his way to MK to meet up with me. I seem to recall I found a bench close to the front of the park, and just sat there by myself people watching for quite awhile. It was nice, and sometimes you just need some alone time. Eventually I realized that Dad’s phone wasn’t receiving my texts, and I had no way of getting in touch with him to let him know where I was. As I was sitting there trying to figure out how I’d find him, I heard my name – I looked up and Lisa was standing there! She let me know that her and Trevor had ran into my Dad at the MK entrance (lucky bounce!).

It was close to time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade, so Main Street was getting pretty busy. We were able to weave our way along the sidewalk and reach the Hub. We walked past a few people holding giant foot-long hotdogs – and Lisa, Trevor and my Dad decided they wanted one too. So off to Casey’s Corner! Read about it here.

After everyone was full, we continued into the park. We decided to stop at the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the four of us went to see the show.

Earlier in the day, I had grabbed a Fastpass for Splash Mountain for a few of us – it was the last day to ride it, as it was going down for a refurbishment beginning in the morning. We were now in the window, so my Dad and I headed in that direction. I have no idea where Lisa and Trevor went after the Tiki Room – they might have come with to say hi to Luke’s family?

It’s probably a good thing there weren’t any children in our boat on Splash haha – my Dad was yelling a few obscenities as we made our way down the big hill hahaha. He was white-knuckling that bar in front of us, and told me I was so brave for putting my arms up haha. (Spoiler alert – at the end of the week he declared Splash Mountain his favourite ride so I guess he wasn’t that scared of it). Despite the look on Jill’s face, she also enjoyed it. Laura hates heights, so she wasn’t a huge fan – but I’m happy she tried it! Cathy had been on it before.

Around the exact same time, Larissa and Devin were over in Hollywood Studios braving the Tower of Terror. I have no idea if they made it to their other two Fastpasses, or exactly what they did after we split from them, but I do have this Photopass picture of them on the ride –

After Splash, we went for a snack at Aloha Isle. There was talk about going on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride, but the line was too long (??) so we headed over to Fantasyland so Cathy could go on the Carousel (apparently they are her favourite). I was a huge grump and refused to go on it with everyone – I think even my Dad might have even gone on it? I took zero pictures. The group decided to head back to OKW and take a bit of a break before our super later diner reservation, so they all headed out to catch a bus together. I have no idea if they went straight to the buses, or if they stopped along the way – it was probably for the best that they left, I don’t think I was the best company at that point. Sorry to those around me that evening!

I spent a few minutes alone, trying to shake the miserable mood I was in. I was texting my two bridesmaids, they had arrived today and after checking in to their room at OKW, they had come straight to Magic Kingdom. Their flight was a bit late, so they were later than they thought they’d be getting to the park and had missed their first fastpass – but they had made it in time for their Splash Mountain one –

In the very front is Lauren, who I met in 2007. She is one of the funniest people I know, and always makes me laugh – we’ve had some adventures over the years haha. She was one of the few who had been to Disney before, but it had been years prior – and she hadn’t stayed on property before. This trip renewed her love for Disney, and she actually booked another trip shortly after getting home – she went in 2019 with her Mom and one of her sisters, and had another trip booked for 2020 (which obviously she had to cancel due to the pandemic). She’s been asking me when my next trip to WDW is, so I know she’ll be joining us the next time we go 🙂

In the second row is Steph, who I met in 2006 during our freshman week in university. Beside her is her boyfriend at the time, Ryan (they are now married). Steph has always been the responsible, smart one of our friend group – but she was always willing to join us on our crazy shenanigans’! This was the first time to a Disney Park for both her and Ryan, and I’m sure they will join us again one day (when we take our children together)!

After Test Track, Laura and Cathy decided it was time for a coffee. They found a Joffrey’s stand close by and found a spot to sit down to enjoy. The other four of us – Jill, Devin, Larissa and I – went and jumped into the standby line for Mission Space: Green side.

After our trip to Space, we went and watched marathoners for awhile, cheering them on. We were predicting Luke to finish sometime between noon-1pm, so we still had time before he’d be making his way into Epcot, so we decided to grab some food and headed over to Sunshine Seasons. When we got down there, Cathy made a comment about Soarin’, and how it was one of her favourites from her previous trip years ago – I had intentionally not scheduled a Fastpass for that for anyone, as we had a special surprise planned involving that ride so I just made a nonchalant comment about the long wait time haha.

After checking out the menu, Laura and Cathy decided they weren’t hungry, and left to go wander around. The rest of us ate though – Larissa is a vegan and Sunshine Seasons had decent options for her, which is why I suggested it. You can read about my meal over here.

Once we finished eating, we noticed that Living With the Land was a walk-on. I knew that Larissa would love this, so I led the way over. Laura and Cathy had rejoined us, so all 6 of us went on this.

While we were riding, Luke texted me. He was unfortunately not going to finish the marathon, and been swept from the course around the 32km mark for not maintaining the minimum speed required. He was currently being loaded onto a bus which would take him to the finish line (just past Epcot). While training, he had a knee injury that set him back (he was actually diagnosed in 2021 with severe arthritis and a torn meniscus in his knee – which I’m sure dates back years), and he was sick in December which derailed his final month of training – so he knew this would be a possibility. However – he still ran 32km that morning! 32! I was so proud of him! There’s no way I could have accomplished something like that today.

The 6 of us set off to go meet him by the finish line. Once we exited Epcot we were basically walking just beside the actual race route, so we watched dozens of people in the final km of their full marathon. By this point all of the true athletes had long since finished, so these were just regular, everyday people accomplishing one of the greatest achievements – I always find it very motivational to be near the finish line of an event like this!

The walk was actually farther than I thought it was going to be – but there was no way I was about to complain while seeing all these people who were about to finish a full marathon!

Eventually we found the area just past the finish line, where Luke had been dropped off. Even though he didn’t finish, he still received the medal and the special marathon ears, and we made him pose while we all took pictures of him haha

Also – I can’t seem to find any of Luke’s Photopass pictures from the marathon, and now I’m questioning if I ever downloaded them – major fail on my part. I feel terrible if that’s the case… He didn’t really stop for any of the characters though because he felt like his pace was off right from the beginning, and he wanted to make it as far as possible, but there should have been photos of him actually running. The only picture he has on his phone is this one – Richard was out cheering on the racers so Luke stopped for a selfie. For those who don’t know, Richard was a long-time greeter at the Grand Floridian, and he was a very well-known man in the Disney Wedding community. He sadly passed away a few months after this trip, at the age of 92.

After congratulating Luke, we all split up. Luke went alone to catch a bus back to Old Key West so he could shower, eat and have a nap. Devin and Larissa headed back into Epcot, walked over to the International Gateway and exited the park. From there, they caught a boat over to Hollywood Studios (this was their only real option to see that park, so I had set up their fastpasses for that park). Laura, Cathy, Jill and I went in a different direction, and hopped on the monorail. It was time for us to park hop, and introduce Luke’s family to their second Disney park!

January 7, 2018 – Part Three

I woke up briefly as Luke was getting ready at some insane hour (I think he was out the door by 4am to catch a bus?) – but I quickly went back to sleep after wishing him luck and telling him how proud I was of him.

I didn’t sleep too long though – my alarm went off and I was out the door around 8:30. At the bus stop, I met up with the three members of Luke’s family who had already arrived in Florida – his mom, Laura, sister Jill and Aunt Cathy. My Dad had decided he wanted to sleep in and hang around the resort for a bit this morning, so he did not join us at this time.

Introduction time! Laura, Jill and Cathy were all sharing a room at Old Key West from Saturday-Saturday (we had walked them through renting points). Laura had a 5-day park hopper ticket, while Jill and Cathy each had a 4-day hopper (they spent a day at Universal together to check out the Harry Potter sections). This was the first trip to a Disney Park for Laura and Jill – Cathy had been before but it was years ago when her now-adult son was still young. They had spent time the day before checking out Disney Springs, so I was excited to take them into their first park of the trip!

Our destination this morning was Epcot! After getting through security, we stopped at guest services to activate their Canadian discount tickets. I was messaging two of Luke’s friends who had arrived the day before as well, and were also meeting us at Epcot – and then we realized we were standing less than 10 feet apart haha. They were also in line to activate their tickets – when you purchased tickets using the Canadian discount, you had to show proof of citizenship at guest services in order to activate them.

Time for another introduction! Devin is one of Luke’s long-time friends, and a groomsman in the wedding party. He and his wife, Larissa, had booked a room at All Star Music from Saturday-Thursday using the discounted room block we had set up through our Disney wedding planner (it was a crazy good deal – like $101/night or something!). Neither of them had ever been to a Disney Park before, but they were very excited about it!

After everyone was all set, we entered the park!

After stopping for a few pictures, we headed off for our first Fastpass of the day – Spaceship Earth! Devin and Larissa had their Fastpasses set for Hollywood Studios later in the day, so they were just going to use the standby line – but when we arrived there wasn’t a wait at all! We decided to drop our Fastpass and just use the regular line so we could all enter the ride together. Devin and Larissa sat together, Jill and Cathy sat together and I went with Laura (my Mother-in-Law). I don’t think we planned on making similar faces, but this turned out hilarious haha –

After we exited, I checked the app and encouraged Devin and Larissa to run over to Test Track – the standby time was listed as 20 minutes which is excellent for that ride, so they took my advice and started heading over there. Jill, Cathy, Laura and I actually had a Fastpass for Test Track, so we went in that direction as well, but we did stop to cheer on some of the marathon runners making their way through the park (I love being in Epcot on marathon day – we were there in 2016 and it’s what inspired Luke to even attempt a full marathon).

The Jamitors were also out this morning, so we stopped to enjoy them for a few minutes –

And then it was Test Track time! I think Laura and Cathy had the same reservations as my Dad the day before as they approached the ride, but they both ended up really enjoying themselves. Since there were four of us, they split us into two pairs for the design portion of the queue line. Laura and Cathy designed one car, and I let Jill take control of the second one (I’ve been on this ride a few times, I wanted to let the first-timers truly enjoy it!). Here’s the creations haha –

And our on-ride photo – I’m the one in the front with the sunglasses, Luke’s sister Jill is directly beside me, Luke’s mom Laura is directly behind me and Luke’s aunt Cathy is in the middle seat in the back row. The other two were single riders.

We hung out in the post-ride area and waited for Devin and Larissa to exit (we had beat them, thanks Fastpass (and also RIP Fastpass). We didn’t have to wait long until we were all back together again.

I had everyone from our group linked to me as Friends and Family through the Disney account. I also had the super fancy Annual Pass for this trip that was valid in both Disneyland and WDW, so I was able to download the Photopass pictures for every single person – Devin and Larissa are in the front row of this Test Track car, facing away from the camera haha –