Yoohoo! Big summer blowout. Half off swimmingsuit, clogs, and a sun balm of my invention! Ya? - Oaken, from "Frozen"

Hello, it's Tan here again.

I'd like to start off by saying sorry for not updating this blog since March 30.  I have been (self) diagnosed with, "Acute Indolence Condition" (AIC).  It is commonly known as, "Extreme Laziness".

Since our last update, we have received a lot of questions from family, friends, work colleagues and the occasional stranger on the streets about the finer details of our wedding.  I thought that since we have so many questions that it would be a good idea to answer them in this blog entry.

I also thought that it would be cool to structure it as a kind of mailbag similar to what one of my favourite sports writers, Bill Simmons, does.  If you don't know who Bill Simmons is, he is the editor-in-chief of Grantland - a site that I read on a daily basis to kill time (remember, I have AIC).

Think of this mailbag as an FAQ except none of these questions are asked frequently (or at all).

Welcome to the mail bag!!!

Q. There are less than three months until you guys get married, why haven't we received our invitations yet?
 - All of our wedding guests
All around the world, Planet Earth

Wow, I thought you guys would ease me into this.  Tough question first up.  I guess it's been a while since we've given you any updates.

The wedding invitations have taken a lot longer than we thought they would.  We have been working with our invitation people since November to get them completed.

First there was the design (fonts, colours, text, envelopes, there's so many things to choose from - why can't we have them all??!!)

Then there was the licensing (why can't I have your Disney logos for free??), and then people went on leave, got sick, forgot about us amongst other things.

Finally, we had them sent to us from the states!  When we thought we had them sorted, we found out earlier this week that Australian Customs refuses to release them to us unless we pay import tax on them.

Apparently anything over $1,000 (yes, we experienced a budget blowout for these invitations - don't get me started) needs to be declared and tax paid before we can receive them.  We believe that we should be getting our invitations shortly after we get married...  Ugh.

So we're very sorry that you haven't received your invitations yet.  We will be sending them out the moment we receive them.  Be patient - they're awesome and worth the wait.

 Q. Tan, why haven't you sent out your wedding invitations yet?
 - Tung B
Melbourne, Australia

Mum!!  I just told you why.  Please stop asking me!

Our wedding invitations actually got lost at sea.  True story.

Q. When are you guys arriving?  What activities do you have planned for your wedding guests?
 - Kathy N
The Hague, Netherlands

I'm glad you asked, Kathy!  Jennie and I will be arriving in Orlando on September 10.  We will be spending those first few days doing crazy stuff like:
 - Organising our marriage certificate (I hear that is quite important if you want to get married)
 - Starving ourselves so we can fit into our wedding clothes.  Think of it as an elite athlete tapering their training before their event.  Then think of that same athlete completely binging on food and alcohol after their event.  That's us.
 - Getting hair, make-up, and nails done.  I think Jennie will be doing that too.

Our event calendar will be as follows:
 - Monday September 15 - Joint Stag & Doe party.  Watch as Tan and Jennie celebrate their final days of 'single life' ...together!!  Jack (the best man) and Corinne (matron of honour) are planning these shenanigans, so I can't wait to see what they have in store for us.  This date may not suit some people but unfortunately, that is the only time we can fit it in during that week (especially that close to the wedding).

 - Tuesday September 16 - No planned group activity other than an informal dinner/get together.  We have to finalise our wedding preparations on this day, so we have been unable to lock in a planned activity.

 - Wednesday September 17 - We will be having our welcome dinner this night as (hopefully) all of our guests would have arrived by this night.  Please, please, please, make sure you're here for this dinner.  It will be a great opportunity for everyone to meet everyone before the day.

 - Thursday September 18 - Our wedding day!  No need to say any more.

 - Friday September 19 - We will be having a thank-you lunch somewhere that serves hangover cures.  We'll let everyone know once we've locked in the venue.

AGGGGHHHHHH!!!! DIDNEY WORL!!!!

Q. What are you guys doing for the kids during your ceremony and reception?
 - Anh N
Fairfax, Virginia

Fantastic questions so far - keep them coming!

During the ceremony, any children will be looked after at the Grand Floridian (the hotel about 200 yards away from our ceremony pavilion) by Kids Nite Out, a company that comes highly recommended by Disney.  We have requested that no children be present for our ceremony only.

We hope to have made up for this at the reception as we have organised to have a separate kids' party in a room adjacent to our reception area.  They will be looked after by Kids Nite Out as well - people who have done these types of kids' parties for Disney weddings hundreds of times.

There will also be special surprises for kids throughout the night.  After all, this IS Disney!

The kids will have a ball!

Q. Do you want to build a snowman?
 - Anna
Arendelle

Go away, Anna.

Q. Okay bye...
 - Anna
Arendelle

It doesn't have to be a snowman. - Anna

Q. I haven't booked my accommodation yet.  When is the cut-off to reserve my room at a Disney resort?
 - Linda & Carolyn T
Irvine, CA

If you are staying at a Disney Resort (and in case you missed it, here are the reasons why I think you should stay on property), you must reserve your room by July 19.  After that, you will miss out on the discounts provided by Disney as part of our wedding block allocation.

For what it's worth, Jennie and I will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside.  Jack and Natalie will be there as well.  That's where the party is at!!

Oh, and if anyone has already booked their accommodation at a Disney resort, please email us with your booking reference number.  We need it to fulfil one of our wedding obligation/requisite thingies.

#disneyproblems

Q. Are there any particular Disney movies I should watch so I get your hidden references during the ceremony and reception?
 - Jack L
Melbourne, Australia

All of them.

Okay fine, here are the, "must sees";
 - UP
 - Sleeping Beauty (and Maleficent just for good measure)
 - Cinderella (or at least read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia)
 - Tangled

If you really want to get EVERY reference, watch these;
 - Frozen
 - Wreck it Ralph
 - The Little Mermaid
 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
 - Aladdin
 - Beauty and the Beast
 - The Princess and the Frog
 - Toy Story
 - Brave
 - Lady and the Tramp
 - Hercules
 - The Lion King

No, really... watch ALL of them!!!

Q. What cake are you guys having?
 - Huong T
Arlington, VA

We have a three tiered cake.  Each tier has a different flavour and filling.  I won't give too much away - you will need to try all of them!

Q. Why did you give me the cake question?  Now people will think I'm some kind of cake fiend.
 - Huong T
Arlington, VA

I'm sorry, Huong.  Someone had to have the cake question.  I know that Kathy is the cupcake head of our family, but I already gave her a question.  If it makes you feel any better, I really enjoyed your cake and as a result, one of our tiers will be red velvet.  Please don't hate me.

After seeing this image, we've decided to tell Disney we want a cake similar to this..

Q. I hear that you guys will have a special surprise for all your guests at the end of the night.  What is it?
 - Jacqui M
Melbourne, Australia

We can't tell you what it is.  Just know that it will involve a lot of sugar and it will be awesome.  Actually, I think we mentioned what it was on our wedding invitations.  When (if) you receive them, all *may* be revealed.

Q. Have you guys been practising your wedding dance?
 - Corinne K
Melbourne, Australia

Yes we have!  We are excited to see what else we can put together for this dance.

For those who do not know, Corinne is a fantastic dance teacher, and is teaching us how to not embarrass ourselves on the dance floor.  We have been practising, but we need a lot more work!

Beasts ballroom almost looks as nice as our reception hall!

Q. What kind of music will you guys be having at your reception?
 - Natalie L
Melbourne, Australia

We have hired a DJ for the night.  We will be giving him a list of songs we like, and a list of, "DO NOT PLAY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES", songs.  Jennie has allowed me to have one Spice Girls song.  I was thinking it should be, "Wannabe".  Other than that, our DJ will be given a lot of creative license.  He's the expert, and he knows how to get crowds into it - we're going to leave it in his capable hands.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.

  
Q. Did you guys really invite Katy Perry to your wedding?
 - Khoi V H
Toronto, ON

Yes we did.  But we don't expect her to show up.  We have also sent out invitations to Mariah Carey, the Queen of England, the entire roster of the Golden State Warriors and some other random celebrities.  Apparently if you send out invitations to these people, you get a souvenir, "thanks, but no thanks" replies.

I'm looking forward to being rejected by these celebrities.  And if they decide to show up, then that'd be pretty amazing!!

Katy Perry almost looking as hot as Minnie in this picture!

Q. Are you guys doing anything wedding-related in Australia?
 - Australian Friends who cannot make it
Australia

Yes, we will be having a tea ceremony at my parents' house.  It will be a small affair, nothing like the awesomeness that is happening in Orlando.

Q. This blog entry/mailbag is over two thousand words long.  Was this really necessary?
 - Tan L
Melbourne, Australia

Yes it was.  Shut up, you handsome devil, you.

Thanks for reading!!

Honey! Where's my super-suit? - Frozone, from "The Incredibles"

We were nearing the end of our trip and suddenly it hit me...  I didn't have a suit to wear for my wedding.  That's right, through all of our wedding planning, dress shopping and cake selection, I hadn't figured out what on earth I was wearing on our big day!

I had come to this realisation when picking up the rental car to meet our officiant, Renee Silverman.  It was not particularly a warm Orlando's day but I started to sweat and panic about this oversight.  I turned to Jennie and sheepishly asked, "what were we doing about the suits for the boys and me?"

She responded quite calmly, "we're going to Carolyn Allen's.  You know, the tuxedo rental place..."

Once again, Jennie had it all under control.  What would I ever do without you, Jennie?

I'm so forgetful.
Dory and I have a lot in common.  I don't remember what...

It's Tan here (duh), and this post is about our excellent adventure to meet our officiant, as well as the tuxedo selection.

Jennie had arranged for us to meet our officiant in a part of Florida that was about a forty minute drive from Disney World.  I was surprised that there existed parts of Florida that were not part of Disney World!

It was a non-theme park (whose name I cannot recall) that Renee had described to us as, "the real Florida".  A place where you could sit down in open space and not hear the the shrill screams of people strapped to a metal contraption that flings them up and down at ridiculous speeds.

Our officiant, Renee Silverman.

Renee, I'm sorry I ripped this from your website without your consent.  Please do not sue me.

We arrived about ten minutes before Renee did, (I'd like to take a moment to give a shout out to Google Maps for getting us there on time), so while we were waiting, I started chasing squirrels, then found a swing set, so I abandoned my squirrel chase to swing, then I almost fell off, and then Renee arrived, so I jumped off the swing and almost broke my ankle.  True story - just ask Jennie.

I was chasing this little dude around for a while.  They really are rats with cuter outfits!!

Renee arrived and was probably asking herself, "what on earth have I agreed to??", when she saw us on the swing set.  If she was, she didn't let it show.  What a professional!  She also forgave me for calling her "Ren-ay", and not "Ree-nee" the whole time on Skype before we finally met her in person.  How embarrassing!

She then proceeded to take us for a tour around this park and I must admit, it was such a beautiful place.

How's the serenity?  So much serenity...

It was so quiet and peaceful, not a roller coaster in sight or within earshot.  Just the sound of birds, and the occasional hum of a plane flying overhead.  The centrepiece of the park was a huge lake.  It looked like it would be very inviting on a hot summer's day.  If it were ten degrees hotter, I wouldn't blame someone for wanting to jump in sans clothing.  I mentioned this to Renee (except for the sans clothing bit) and she told me it wouldn't be a good idea.  For beneath these calm and inviting waters, lurks an alligator.  A big one.  One that bites.  Yep, this was definitely the real Florida she had promised.

This sign is very, very necessary.

We all found a nice place to sit down and discuss the wedding ceremony.  Jennie had her ideas (good ones), I had mine (it seems like we cannot get Katy Perry to sing at our wedding, or have Batman as our security).  We discussed these with Renee and came up with what we feel will be a fun and whimsical ceremony that captures our personalities to the fullest.

Shameless plug:  For anyone looking to have a wedding in Orlando, may I suggest you contact Renee (click here).  She has been fantastic throughout this whole process, and I look forward to seeing what she has in store for us on our big day.

We chatted a bit longer about all kinds of things (I cannot disclose this, as it may give away some of the surprises we have planned), and then we left after I chased a few more squirrels.

Sadly, I can relate to this...

Next up was the tuxedo shopping/rental.  Jennie and I had heard of Carolyn Allen's Bridals and Tuxedos on one of the Disney Weddings podcasts we listen to.  They seemed quite friendly and professional, so we decided to give them a try.

We went in there with a few thoughts on what we'd like to have at our wedding, but didn't have our hearts set on anything in particular.  We walked in and were greeted by the owner of the shop, Keith.  He was a very friendly guy with a sense of humour not too dissimilar to mine.  I think Jennie sensed this, which explained her involuntary face palm almost as soon as we walked through the door.

Poor Jennie...

One of my ideas was to wear a full top hat and tails ensemble.  Keith suggested that it wouldn't be a good idea given how hot it is in Orlando during September, but was kind enough to humour me as I tried on the outfit.

I look like a butler.  Call me, "Jeeves".  Then ask me anything you want...

This was the moment I knew that I shouldn't be wearing this outfit.

So there we were, changing jackets, pants, shoes, ties, underpants (okay, we didn't change underpants), and vests.  After about an hour of trying on all the things, I finally made up my mind (with a lot of help from Jennie).  I picked out a grey three piece tuxedo for my grooms men and I, with the tie being the differentiator.  I get ivory, Khoi gets fuchsia, and Jack gets purple.  This will mean that the ties match the outfit of the corresponding bride/bridesmaid - another nice touch by Jennie!

This is the look I'll be wearing on my wedding day (ignore my facial expression - I'll be smiling a lot more in September). 

It was such a busy day, but we got through it, and had a lot of fun along the way.

Thanks for reading!!

Take it from an old spectator. Life’s not a spectator sport. If watchin’ is all you’re gonna do, then you’re gonna watch your life go by without ya. - Laverne, from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

OMG a blog entry!

It's been a while since we last posted, and we're sorry about that.

Hi, I'm Tan Le, you may remember me from such things as this wedding blog and LAT VEGAT...

The last time I posted, it was from our lovely hotel room in Orlando and we were reflecting on an action-packed couple of days that included our planning day and accidental passing out at a bus terminal.

The remainder of our trip was just as action-packed and eventful.  So much so, that we ended up getting very sick as we chose to forsake sleep and warm clothes to ensure we could pack in as much as we could regardless of the torrential rain and horribly cold weather in Orlando.  That polar vortex was so cold that we felt some of its wrath in Central Florida!

This is just how we felt...

Our sickness manifested itself in the form of the flu which took me out of work for a whole week.  Under normal circumstances this would be good, but I had an Everest-sized mountain of work to get through.  I think I'm up to date now.

It took a little bit longer for Jennie's to kick in, but it really hit her hard.  As I post this, she is still recovering.  The scariest moment was when she collapsed in front of me after getting up too quickly (most likely due to low blood pressure).  Luckily I caught her so she didn't hurt herself, but it was quite worrying.  She's okay now and we're keeping an eye on her, but she's tough.

This is what she looked like passed out.  It's funny now because she's okay.

Back to the rest of our trip - I won't list everything we did, but will talk about the things that pertain specifically to our wedding.  After all, this is a blog about our big day!

We took some time out of our park visits and shopping at the outlet malls (Huong has already told me that the outlet malls are her theme parks - who am I to argue?  I love shopping!) to visit the rooms that were on our room block.

We were most impressed by the Grand Floridian - a Victorian themed hotel and spa.  It is known as Disney's flagship and most opulent resort, inspired by the late 19th and early 20th century America.  For those who watch the TV show, "Boardwalk Empire", it kinda reminded us of that, but without the gratuitous violence and coitus.

This vintage Rolls Royce was the same as what Walt Disney used to have.
It is on display in front of the Grand Floridian

We had a little spare time between the cake tasting and the food tasting, so we went over to the hotel to see if we could get a tour of the rooms.  The staff there were like normal Disney cast members, but with an extra 30% happiness and cheer.  They were happy to give us a tour of one of the rooms, and they didn't rub it in that we couldn't afford to stay there.  It's the little touches...

A chandelier in the lobby of the Grand Floridian 

Such a hotel comes with an equivalent price tag; rack rate for a standard room is in excess of US$600 plus tax.  If you want to experience this opulence for a night, our room block gives you the great price of US$342 plus tax.  I'm just glad that we get one night included as part of our wedding package, so we can experience what it's like.  If any of our guests are staying there, please let me know - I wanna crash there!

We also visited Animal Kingdom Lodge to eat at Boma, a highly rated African restaurant.  We also took the opportunity to have another look at a Savannah room.  We stayed in one the last time we went to WDW and it was still as great as how we remembered it.  It's a great place to relax and watch animals doing animal things.  I won't go into too much detail, but just know that it's great!

Boma was a fantastic restaurant, serving "authentic" African meals (I know nothing about African food, all I know is what I like, and I liked this!) in an African themed setting.  We made sure we dined at as many Disney restaurants as we could so that if we found a food we liked, we could add it to our wedding menu.  In Boma, we found a wonderful dessert called, "Zebra domes".  They are coffee-kahlua flavoured parcels of happiness.  They're now part of our dessert menu!

Zebra Domes.  OM NOM NOM NOM NOM

The last resort we visited (intentionally) was Port Orleans Riverside.  It is a resort that captures the Louisiana Bayou.  At least that's what we've been led to believe.  What would I know?  I've never been to Louisiana, let alone the Bayou.  The main thing was that we like it.  So much so, we decided that we will be staying here for the duration of our visit to Orlando (except for the nights we'll be staying near our wedding venue).

It is close to the parks, has excellent facilities (the most important a very good bar and restaurant in the lobby).  Why do these blog entries always invariably come back to being about food and alcohol?  I think we have a problem that needs to be addressed!

UPDATE FOR ALL OUR GUESTS:  The wedding invitations have been ordered and will be sent out in May.

Thanks for reading!

The most fantastic, magical things can happen, and it all starts with a wish. - Jiminy Cricket, from "Pinocchio"

Whoa...  What an action packed few days we've had!

It's Tan again, just in case you were wondering...

Since we last left you, we've managed to jam in as much as humanly possible in the space of three days.  We've had a grand total of sixteen hours sleep in three nights (Anh, if you're reading this, I know that you consider that too much sleep, but we're not all superhuman like you are!).  We've gone shopping, gone to theme parks, gotten drunk and of course, the reason why we're here...  Planned our wedding!

These Mickey Ears will be event appropriate in September

After getting back from IHOP on Saturday morning (at about 4am), we crashed for four hours before getting up to go shopping for SIM cards and some essentials.  What we had originally planned to be a quick two hour trip somehow turned into four hours.  We went to Florida Mall only to end up astounded and disappointed.

Astounded because there was a huge line of people in front of the mall.  We took a closer look to see that the majority of people in the queue were teenage girls and some poor parents they dragged there.  We assumed that they were there to see some singer or try out for American Idol.  What is it with a large group of teenage girls?  When one screams, it sets off the others in their vicinity, who then set off more teenage girls who then... etc.  They seemed to scream every time a semi-decent car drove past as well as when I walked near them.

Yep, I've still got it...

No-one could resist this!!

We asked some poor mother what they were there for and to my surprise, she told us that they were all there to see Bethany Mota.  Apparently she is some YouTube sensation who has gained fame by providing fashion advice and designing clothes.  I'm quite impressed that she has been able to establish such a strong following via YouTube.  This does not mean that I didn't want to douse everyone in gasoline and give them each a box of matches to play with.  Maybe next time...

These teeny boppers queued up to see WHO?!?!

Why were we disappointed?  We were disappointed because we were there at 9:30, but the mall opened at midday.  What kind of mall opens at midday??

Anyway, we still needed to get the things we had set out to purchase.  I proceeded to drive around in random directions (remember, we don't have a GPS unit and we needed SIM cards to take advantage of Google Maps) trying to find a T-Mobile, Verizon or telecommunications provider.

It seemed like all stores were closed on this day!  We ended up going to Walmart to find what we needed and as much as I wanted to get a six-pack of shotguns, I didn't want to waste time getting a gun license.

We put that unhappiness behind us, dumped the car back to the car rental place, and proceeded to make our way to Magic Kingdom to hang out and do fun stuff.

I won't go into detail here as I wanted to focus on the wedding planning for this entry.  Just know that we had a great time as usual, and it felt so good just to be back in Magic Kingdom again.  I'm pretty sure I would live here if I could.

After we went to MK, we headed to Downtown Disney where we proceeded to eat bad food and accidentally get drunk.  Yes, accidentally.  We forgot that we hadn't had much sleep so those two margaritas a PB&J (Frangelico, Chambord and Baileys) shot each really messed us up.  We stumbled our way to the bus terminal where we promptly fell asleep waiting for our bus.  We were lucky that we woke up at 1:30am just as our bus was pulling in!

This was me at Downtown Disney after a few drinks...

So it seems like I've written a fair bit in this entry thus far.  Jennie has told me that I should start talking about our wedding planning session.  Here goes...

We got into our room at 2:00am after the bus terminal incident.  Then we woke up four hours later to get ready for our planning session.  We got a taxi to Franck's Studio (the place where you plan the wedding), which is next to the pavilion where Jennie and I are to be married (it still feels weird saying/typing that) where we met the wonderful Joe DeMatei.

We had been in constant communication with Joe for the last six months and it was great to finally put a face to the voice.  I thought Joe would be much taller, but that didn't change my mind about having a Disney Wedding.  Other than that, Joe was as awesome in person as he had been over the phone and over email.  Joe drove us to see our wedding reception location at Epcot and we were taken to the "behind the scenes" entrance!

I would have taken photos of behind the scenes, but this is what would have happened to me.

This entrance gave me an added appreciation for how much time and effort goes into making everything such a great experience.  There were so many people running around!  The sheer volume was such an eye-opening experience.  Everyone knew their roles and executed to perfection.  I was in awe.

For our guests attending the wedding, it is located at Epcot, but the general public is not able to access this venue so you'll be taken there by motor coach and personally escorted to this venue!

We were previously unsure about the location because we didn't think it suited what we were trying to achieve.  I can't speak for Jennie, but the moment we entered the venue, it erased all doubt in my mind.  I think everyone is going to love this venue (or else *shakes fist*).

Our venue.  Don't pay any attention to that horrible, horrible green tablecloth!

Now that we were comfortable with the venue, it was back to Franck's to work on the details of the wedding.  We were assigned our very own wedding planner, Pamela, and her assistant, Nicole (Nicole was filling in for Pamela's regular assistant).  Jennie and I spent the next three hours with Pamela and Nicole picking out linen, cutlery, napkins, flowers, decorations, cake flavours and fillings, table decor, ceremony decor, underwear, baby names, and much much more!

Okay, we didn't pick any baby names - but "Mickey" has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

I thought I should spend a bit of time talking about the wedding cake tasting.  They brought out a tray full of cake flavours and fillings for us to mix and match and try.  It was a tough decision, but we finally decided on the flavour and filling combination.

CAKE!!!  And fillings...

So many personal touches.  You gotta love Disney's attention to detail

After that, we had a personal tour through the Grand Floridian (the hotel where Jennie and I will be staying for our wedding night), and then got to see the inside of the Wedding Pavilion.  It really validated our decision to have our wedding at Disney World.  I am grateful for this as I had already paid a non-refundable deposit!

We were then driven back to Epcot for our tasting session!  We now know what everyone will be eating at our wedding.  I don't want to give away too much, but here's a little taste of what to expect...

One is eye filet, the other is lobster.  Can you guess which is which?

Our tasting session was held in the catering kitchen at Epcot and was served to us by the head chef, Tony.  We had our very own waiter/server who gave us exceptional service.  We were given seven courses to taste - an appetiser, a salad, three mains (called entrees in the US), and two desserts.

We had to give our approval before they would lock in the menu.  We only changed the food slightly - to cater for our tastes, and to also give our vegan guests plenty of options to eat.  I'm pretty sure that our guests are not going to leave hungry or disappointed.

This was the team that cooked and served our tasting meals.  Sous Chef Tom, Server Todd and Head Chef Tony

At the conclusion of our tasting, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios to catch the Fantasmic show to wind down after such an awesome night.  It was a great end to such an awesome day.

Thanks for reading again!  I checked our readership numbers before writing this post and it seems like we've got a great following (well, more than I had ever expected - almost 250 readers for our last post!)

Jennie and I are so humbled that you're all reading our blog.  Thank you all!

Thank you for choosing Magic Carpet for all your travel needs. Don't stand till the rug has come to a complete stop. - Genie from "Aladdin"

Hi all, it’s Tan here.  I’m currently writing this blog entry from about 20,000 feet in the air over somewhere between Dallas and Orlando.  I was going to jump online to do the usual things I do to waste time, but I’m not paying $14 for 30 minutes of wifi.

I’ve been trying to get to sleep with limited success.  Each time I fall asleep, something random happens and I’m awake again.  Random things like a woman falling over her husband and landing on me because she didn’t want to wake him.  Seriously, leave the ninja-ing to real ninjas.

But I digress.  We’ve been in transit since 7AM AEST (5PM EST on January 31).  We’ve flown from Melbourne to Sydney to Dallas with layovers of four hours in each city.  By the time we land, it will be 9PM EST on February 1 – a grand total of 28 hours in transit.  OMG – it’s been February 1 for the last 35 hours!! 

You just gotta love traveling halfway across the planet (Jennie nods in agreement).

The trip has not been without incident thus far.  We have managed to misplace a pair of reading glasses and only discovered this thirty minutes before boarding the flight from Dallas to Orlando.  We think it was left on the plane in our haste to get off.  We tried to contact the QANTAS service desk, but they won’t be able to do anything for at least another 24 hours.  So now we play the waiting game…

We are undecided on whether to go to a theme park as soon as we check in, but I think common sense is going to prevail here (as much as we’d love to go to Magical Kingdom for thirty minutes, I just don’t think that’s wise!)

We will most likely go shopping to get supplies for the next two weeks and have dinner at Downtown Disney!  We’re not addicted to all things Disney…

UPDATE: We have arrived safely in Orlando.  Everything was going so well until I realised that I didn’t bring my navigation unit and none of our phones had a mobile data connection active.  This means that there was no real way of navigating to the hotel other than some hand scribbled notes that the car rental chick wrote for us.

The result?  We followed the notes to the letter, got into the general vicinity of the hotel, but kept making the wrong turn at crucial times.  The bad part was that each time we took a wrong turn, it would mean that we’d get stuck on some turnpike that took us miles away from where we needed to be.  One time, we got so lost that we had to pay a toll to get back to where we needed to go.  I guess we were fortunate to have been able to find a Target during our (mis)adventures so we stopped there to pick up supplies.

We eventually got to our hotel after a great team effort.  We checked in, got our awesome magic bands, and then headed out to get some food at IHOP. 

Not one of our best ideas, but at least we are now full.  I’m going to go shower now.  I smell like the feet of a thousand tennis players after a 45 degree (Celsius) day on centre court…  I will post some pictures as soon as I can!

Tomorrow we will get paint chips to help with the wedding planning and commence our shopping adventures!!  We have a rental car for the next day, so we intend on filling it up with lots of goodies from the outlet malls.  Jennie was smart enough to pack light, but spread it across our maximum baggage allowance.  At this stage, we have an additional 60 (SIXTY!) kilograms (132 pounds) of allowance left.

Hopefully we finish everything in time for the Superbowl.  Not so we can watch the game rather, so we can take advantage of the fact that everyone else will be watching the game so we get the whole park to ourselves.  That’s the plan…  I’m not sure if it is going to work.  For what it’s worth, Go Broncos!

One handy hint we’ve discovered for our Australian guests coming to the wedding; don’t exchange AUD for USD here.  There is an eight cent difference.  In Australia, you can buy USD for 85 cents.  Here, it was 77 cents.  I’m glad we exchanged the bulk of our money in Australia.

Well that’s enough from me.  As always, thanks a lot for reading!

Note: Apologies for the lack of visual aid to help you through this blog edition, it's currently 4am in Orlando and we're desperate for some sleep!  Oddly enough our sleep won't last long as we're hoping to wake at 7-8am so we can make the most of our day.. Yes.. we're slightly insane, but sleep is for the weak!  Plus we can sleep at home, but we can't Disney at home. - Jennie

Oh look at me, I'm gonna go touch the butt. - Sheldon from, "Finding Nemo"

Hello all, it's Tan here.

It's been a pretty crazy month for us both, which is why we haven't been able to write an update.  So if we've ruined your Christmas because you were looking forward to a blog entry, we're sorry.  If it was me, I would have re-read our previous posts and pretended I was reading them for the first time.

Now that we've got that out of the way...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to our wonderful readers!  We hope you had a great festive season and that 2014 will bring you more joy and happiness than ever.  Jennie and I are quite excited about this year for obvious reasons...  I don't think I've ever looked forward to a year ahead as much as I have this one.

Happy New Year!  I'm looking forward to seeing this again!

I was originally going to write about what my groomsmen and I will be wearing for the wedding, but I realised that Jennie had demanded, threatened me with physical violence if I didn't comply, asked me to write about other theme parks in the Orlando area.

This is something that we are not very familiar with as outside of the Disney World parks, we've only been to Universal Studios - and that was only because we wanted to see Harry Potter world.

It's Hogwarts!  Did you know that there's a pretty sweet ride inside?

Universal Studios have divided their resort into two different theme parks;

• Islands of Adventure - Book Themed.  Harry Potter, Dr. Seuss, Jurassic Park (it was a book before it was a movie, okay??) and Marvel Comics
• Universal Studios - Movie and TV Themed.  Transformers, The Simpsons, The Mummy, Terminator and more

Jennie and I have only been to the Islands of Adventure Park, but were very impressed with the quality of attractions.  Universal have really done an excellent job here.  I think it is much better than their California resort (which is quite good in its own right)

It's more than just a theme park - it also has shops, restaurants, and fight clubs (it does not have fight clubs)

The Harry Potter world is the best attraction in my opinion.  Not just because we're big Harry Potter fans.  The makers have really emphasised attention to detail, making it a very immersive experience for visitors.  It is the closest a muggle can get to being a wizard/witch/dark lord.

You can even hatch a dragon!!

Jennie is the Queen of Dragons.  Wait, wrong book series...

Try the butterbeer (it's non-alcoholic!) even if you're not a fan of the books.  It's loaded with sugar, cream and God knows what else.  But it tastes awesome, and you're going to be on holidays, so those calories don't count...

Butterbeer!  It's not butter, it's not beer.  Don't ask me what it is, just drink it.

Okay, that's enough about Universal.  Go and find out for yourself and tell me what you think of it.

Next up...

Legoland!!

Luke, I am your LEGO...

Up until about twenty minutes ago, I didn't know this place existed.  Now all I want to do is go here and assemble bricks until my fingers bleed.  Kinda like Bryan Adams did in that fateful summer of '69.  

He wants you to think it was from playing his guitar, but in the 80's, "playing the guitar" was code for assembling lego bricks.  True story.  Google it if you don't believe me.  Here, I'll wait...

...waiting...

...still waiting.  Are you done yet?

...OMG I can't believe you googled that.  You must be more gullible than I am!!

Back on topic - Legoland.  I've never been to any of the Legolands.  All I know is I want to go because I love Lego.  Who's coming with me??

Our Lego R2D2.  Yes, that's a Tie Fighter in the background, and an X-Wing on the shelf above.

Other parks:

• Busch Gardens - We haven't really heard much about Busch Gardens.  All that we know is that it was originally opened in the late 50's to help the owners market their beers.  These days, it is an African-themed park with animals and stuff.  It's in Tampa, so if you're in Orlando, it'll be a one hour drive.
• Dinosaur World - we saw it on the way to Tampa.  We know nothing about it other than it has dinosaurs.  Go here for more information: OMG!!! Dinosaur World!!!
• Seaworld - Has fish and stuff.  If you want to see happy dolphins, orcas, eels, and fish, get a boat and sail out to sea.  If you want to see an unhappy version of the aforementioned animals, go to Seaworld!  Sorry, that was uncalled for.  They're treated quite well, but I do think the bigger fish/mammals should not be confined to such a small area.  Here's a photo of seals to lighten the mood...

Seals!  Lots of kisses from a rose here.  Geddit??

• Wet 'n' Wild - The theme park, not the *ahem* video...  It's a water park.  It has massive waterslides, fun multi-person slides, and relaxing pools if you just want to chill.  I'm not sure if the weather in September is conducive to enjoying a water park but if time permits, I'm going to give it a go!

This looks like fun.  Who's with me??

• Kennedy Space Center - Not really a park, but an attraction well worth visiting.  The last time Jennie and I were here, we saw the second-to-last ever shuttle launch!
  
  Seeing the launch in person is up there in the top ten highlights of my life.  The Space Center is more than just a place to watch rockets and shuttles get launched into space, it is also quite educational.  There is a shuttle simulator, a guided tour, interactive displays and a whole bunch of other cool space stuff.
  
  We've always said that when we have kids, we'll take them to the Space Center just cause it's both fun and educational

Pre-launch

We have lift-off!  The sonic boom that comes off that thing is incredible!

Rockets and other cool stuff!

So those are some of the other parks you can go to in Orlando if you have time.  The more I write about these activities, the more I realise that it'll be tough to fit in even half of the things we have written about in this blog.

We hope it has given you some ideas if you're attending our wedding.  We also hope that it has generated additional excitement for later this year!

Thanks for reading!