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!

Why look at you! Aren't you just as pretty as a magnolia in May? - Charlotte, from "The Princess and the Frog"

Hi everyone, we have some good news as some of you might have read on Facebook, we have found "the dress"!  So today's entry (written by Jennie) will be dedicated to the search for this dress and explaining the look I was trying to achieve.  There will also be some vital information at the end of this entry for those people that are wanting to book their accommodation at any of the Walt Disney World resorts, sooner than later, so this is one of the more important of our entries!

Today, you get two blog entries for the price of one!!

In the very beginning I decided that if I was to be a Disney bride, I should at least look the part!  Disney have a whole hoard of princesses and one of the main things they seem to have in common is the shape of their dresses.  Many of them sport either a ballgown or A-line silhouette, which is iconic and recognizable the world over as that "Disney Princess-look".

The ballgown silhouette is the princess look that just screams "DISNEY"!!!!!!

It so happens that there are a range of Disney licensed gowns made by Alfred Angelo.  I was eager to try on one of these gowns but didn't really know much about the designer and I wanted to check the quality before I decided on what I wanted.  The first excursion that Tan and I took to see the gowns was a disaster!  You can read all about it here!

The second trip we took, I made a booking at a place called "Bridal Revival".  We had a small entourage of six people - Tan, my mum, Tan's mum, my bridesmaids, and me.  It was also an opportunity for Natalie and Corinne to try on the bridesmaids dresses as there is a chance the gowns we will use for the girls will be Alfred Angelo gowns.  They also have a huge range of colours and we can colour match everything in the wedding perfectly since nearly all the vendors have the AA colour swatches.

The lady was extremely helpful and the boutique was small but nicely presented.  Unfortunately I can't share any photos of myself in the gowns I tried at this boutique or any other for that matter, as they all had a "no photos" policy.

The first gown I tried was Alfred Angelo's "Cinderella" style 205 gown.  Everyone loved it, it was very pretty, sparkly and beautiful but the bodice was quite short so it didn't look right on my body type so I felt I needed to keep looking.

The 205 Cinderella gown by Alfred Angelo was very sparkly!!

The second gown I tried was the "Belle" style 206 gown.  This was much, much better!  The bodice was longer and it showed my figure well while still keeping that ballgown silhouette I was looking for.  I adored all the beading on it and the way it sculpted around the bodice.  There were still things that were bugging me about it unfortunately..  The front of the dress where the bodice is joined onto the skirt looked like it was tacked on, it had no shape to it, and just had a straight line across.  The skirt had a strange uplift to it on the front which I felt looked odd.  So I tried on another two dresses at this boutique.

The beaded detailing on the 206 Belle bodice of this one was stunning!

One of the final dresses I tried was the "Snow White" style 207 gown.  I really loved this gown, but it had the same flaws as the Cinderella gown, the waist was just too short for my body.  The floral bodice also lacked the glitter I felt would be perfect for a Disney wedding.

I loved the floral detailing on the 207 Snow White, but this gown wasn't right for me.

Although I didn't find my own gown at Bridal Revival, I was able to get a good idea of what would look right on me and I could continue my search with a clearer mind.  The girls had much more success and we were able to narrow down their gowns to two possibilities and we were able to check their colours against their individual skin colour.

Tan suggested that the bridesmaids should wear those dresses. I thought about it, but decided against it...

My next appointment was at a place very close to where we live.  It is a place called, "Nifi Bridal".  This boutique was adorable, it was extremely well presented and clean.  I had decided to try this place and leave the idea of getting an Alfred Angelo gown behind because I hadn't really liked the quality of the Alfred Angelo gowns, and I hadn't had much success in finding many of the gowns I was interested in to be able to try them on.

Nifi Bridal - a great little boutique!

I tried on a few dresses and they were all lovely, but none of them really stood out, except for one.  This dress was absolutely beautiful, and I think in another dimension it could have been my dress.  It just didn't quite have the grandeur that I was looking for, it felt like it was more A-line than ballgown, it had no train at all and the lace detailing on the front was sticking up a little and it was bugging both Tan and I.

Before I saw the Wendy Sullivan dress, I started thinking that a burlap sack might be the way to go.  I think the shoes go perfectly with this look!

The dress is the "Briony" by Wendy Sullivan, who is an Australian designer, and is Australian made.  The quality was exceptional.  It had the long waist I was looking for, it had the sparkle, and it was different to many gowns I've seen.  To be perfectly honest, I don't think the photo does the gown justice at all!  I could have finished then and still been happy, but I had an appointment at another boutique the following day and I felt like I could find better!

The Briony gown was extremely flattering and I felt for the first time like I could actually find a gown that would be perfect for me!

The next place I tried was the same place that my sister got her gown from.  It's a place called, "Fairytale Bridal Boutique", and they are one of the largest bridal boutiques in Melbourne.  They sell a stunning range of gowns and their boutique is amazing!  This is where I found my gown, but I'm not going to share that here.  I will share all about the experience at Fairytales in another blog post that will be published after the wedding!

My bridal boutique experiences went from horrible to amazing!  How nice is this boutique?!

As I mentioned earlier, this entry is a double update.  I'll be sharing the information for the room block for the Disney Resort locations that we have reserved in this update, so please feel free to bookmark this post as you may need it later!

We have set up four different hotels that have rooms already reserved for you to book.  These rooms are all available at a discounted rate and hopefully everyone will find them extremely convenient especially on the night before and the night of the wedding!

These rates are are exclusive of taxes, included taxes in brackets:

• Disney's Pop Century Resort (standard room) 
• $97 per room per night ($109.13 inc tax subject to change)
• Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside (standard room)
• $154 per room per night ($173.25 inc tax subject to change)
• Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (savannah view room) 
• $309 per room per night ($347.63 inc tax subject to change)
• Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (garden view room) 
• $342 per room per night ($384.75 inc tax subject to change)

This is the type of view you can expect if you decide to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Savannah View room.

To get these rates and ensure we also meet our minimum you need to book through Disney by calling them on 407-827-6799 then state that you're with the Knoll/Le wedding.  Otherwise you can book online or outside the room block, but the discount will not apply.  If you'd prefer to do it that way, but still wish to stay on Disney property, please pass on your reservation number to Tan or I so we're able to get those rooms counted towards our contracted minimums.

Don't risk staying here! Stay on property!

If you need more information on staying on Disney property, please refer to our previous blog post at:
http://jenandtanwedding.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/i-was-hiding-under-your-porch-because-i.html 
 

And Disney also have information on room allowances such as how many people can fit in various rooms and so on: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/

Please feel free to ask if you have any questions at all, Tan and I have stayed on property (and off) a couple of times so we have quite a bit of knowledge we can share.

Disney turns these drunkards into, "magically themed decorations"

Again, thank you for reading!  Our next update will hopefully be soon so we can get back on track.  We're very far behind!  Next blog update will be on the other awesome theme parks in the Orlando area, so much to do in Orlando and so very little time!!!!!

To your left is Hercules' villa. Next stop, the Pecs and Flex gift shop, where you can buy the great hero's new 30-minute workout scroll, "Buns of Bronze." - Tour Guide, from "Hercules"

Hi all,

Tan here.  Apologies for the lack of updates recently.  I was busily studying for my FINAL EXAM in my uni course.  That's right, after four years of going to class, writing assignments, studying for and sitting exams, I've finished!!

At least I hope I've finished.  Nothing is certain until I get my results, but I'm quite confident that I passed with flying colours.  Then I will be able to graduate, and not have to think about assignments for a long time.

Woo Hoo?

I will now also have more time to help Jennie with the wedding planning and of course, write blog entries!

I hope to have some help from my dog with future blogs (kinda looks like my dog, Merlin)

I think the Disney quote that I've used for the title of this blog entry captures what I am planning to do both short term and long term.

The, "Buns of Bronze", part of it is what I'm trying to accomplish short term so I can look great in a wedding dress, er I mean suit.  I am currently about eight kilos overweight since I haven't really exercised (or gotten out of my chair) since I started my course.

If I took a selfie right now, this is what it'd look like

That's me on the right (number 4).  I'm trying to be as active as I can!

Okay enough about my battle with books and flab.  The "shop", part is really what this entry is about.  Our last entry was about the places we like to eat when visiting Orlando.  This time, I'm writing about the places we like to shop at when in Orlando because let's face it...  I love to shop.  I blame my mother, who used to take me shopping every Friday after school as our family activity because we didn't live near anything fun.

I used to do this.  Jack still does it.

Up until early 2007, Jennie and I used to buy our clothes from Australia.  This was mainly because we live here.  We did this for all of our adult lives until we went to the US in 2007/08.  That's when we realised that clothes over in the US are about half the price of the EXACT SAME ITEM in Australia.

It costs a bit more in Australia (sorry about the formatting, the text was too small)

So now we don't bother buying any clothes in Australia (aside from the bare essentials and some bits and pieces here and there).  We prefer to wait until we're in the US or order stuff online.

There are three places we generally go to in the US.

1. The Orlando Premium Outlets (on Vineland) - This is where we get all of our clothes.  If you click on the link, you'll see the store listing.

My favourites are Nike (so much basketball gear, so little time), Adidas (I prefer their tracksuit pants), Burberry (last time Jennie picked up a beautiful coat for 10% of the ticketed price.  That's 90% off!!), Hugo Boss (so many suits, so little cost) and Coach (because we love getting people handbags).  The last time we were there, we had to buy additional suitcases just so we could carry home our purchases.

This is me outside the outlet malls

2. Walmart - Now our US based readers are probably reading this wondering why on earth we would list Walmart as a place of interest.  Well...

First and foremost, we don't have Walmart in Australia.  Secondly, it is very convenient.  It's a one-stop shop for everything from breakfast cereals to gaming consoles.  Whenever we're in the US and staying in a city for longer than a few days, we'll go there first to stock up on food and booze.  It's also very well priced as their business model is all about lean operations so they can pass on the savings to their customers (I wrote a paper on this and got a very good mark, so shut up).

Lastly, YOU CAN BUY FREAKING GUNS THERE!!  Us Australians aren't used to seeing guns apart from little handguns that our police carry around (and when I wear a sleeveless top).  Not that I condone firearms, it is more the novelty factor of being able to pick up some milk, cereal and a high powered rifle without having to move your vehicle.  VERY CONVENIENT!!

Two tickets to the gun show, baby!

Pampers? Check
Bread? Check
Shotgun...?

3. The Florida Mall - Okay, I'll admit it.  The only reason we decided to go here was because they have an M&M's shop there.  One of the fun things that Jennie and I like to do whenever we go overseas is get an M&M's dispenser.  It really is not practical given how fragile they are and how we need to be very careful when transporting them back home!  We've been quite lucky thus far - all of our dispensers are in tact!!

We love M&Ms.  This was taken in Vegas.
Jennie is trying to feed the poor M&M a packet of its friends.  That's really sick.

We quickly found that Florida Mall was more than just a place to get chocolate covered in a candy shell that melts in your mouth, not in your hand.  Florida Mall has more places to shop than the outlets and has more variety given that they're not trying to sell factory seconds.

It might be a little on the expensive side to our US readers, but the prices are still so much cheaper than that of Australia!

Jennie and I will be taking a day or two to go shopping when we're in Orlando in February and maybe (if time permits) after our wedding.

Speaking of our wedding, we've gone a little off-topic recently, but next week, we'll be writing about our latest trip to a bridal salon.  This time, it wasn't a complete fail!

Thanks for reading!!

If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff. - Remy, from "Ratatoullie"

Hi guys, it's Jennie again this time!

Last week in Tan's blog update he started discussing the many, many, many things there are to do in Orlando besides going to Walt Disney World.  In the coming weeks we'll be expanding on that, and today I'll be discussing the best part.. FOOD!

Anyone that knows Tan and I well know that we both love our food... sometimes a little too much.  There are plenty of great places to eat in and around WDW, that are in short "AMAZING"!  But we'll get to that soon.  Firstly I want to share some of our experiences on eating "off property", for a couple of reasons but mainly because it's so gosh darn expensive to eat within the park.

One of our favourite places to go and let me be clear on this.. it's not because the food is good, it's not because it's cheap, it's not because it's even clean or unhealthy.  It's for all of those reasons and so much more.. it's IHOP!

True story.  Sure the pancakes are great, but so is everything else!  Grab a steak!

The place also known as the "International House of Pancakes" is most likely well known among our US readers.  It's where you go to get cheap decent food, your money buys you huge servings and you can get it any time of the day or night.  Want a 2am steak?  IHOP will provide!  Want a 4am breakfast?  IHOP is your answer!

It's disgustingly decadent, heart-stoppingly good, wholesome western cuisine at it's best (or worst).  It's one of those places where you're either greeted by someone that had their soul sucked out of them working there for the past 5 years or someone that reminds you of an old family friend.

I'm not kidding.  IHOP quite possibly boasts the title for the most "wrong" food ever with its "Horton Hears a Who pancakes".

The last time we went to Orlando and stopped there for breakfast right after getting off the plane we were lucky enough to have a lovely old "very southern" lady greet us with the warmth that only a southerner could!  She loved the fact we were Australian, and it seemed to make her even more passionate about making our experience a memorable one!

We ordered ridiculous amounts of food and ate almost all of it!  We both ordered a Breakfast Sampler each, not only does it come with two eggs, two crispy bacon strips, two pork sausages, two pieces of ham, and two hash browns, it also comes with two buttermilk pancakes!  We also had two bottomless orange juices and something else, I don't remember because I have food amnesia.. after all that we walked out with food babies.

After searching for IHOP images, I'm kinda hungry again and I only just ate dinner!

What is a food baby?  A food baby is when you eat so much food in one sitting that you have a baby bump that wasn't there before you started eating.  You start going rosy in the cheeks and get that "expecting" look about you.  Sometimes you get so emotional you even start coming up with names for the little one.

This guy clearly has a food baby.  He probably ate at IHOP.

One of our personal favourite places to eat while in Orlando is a place we fell in love with first in Australia, the place I'm talking about is Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon!  Why do we love Lone Star so much?  Mainly because of the steak!  The steak there is pretty good and they generally cook it to your likeness, but we don't only love it because of the steak I'm sure you can get much better steak elsewhere.

At Lone Star they serve all round good wholesome "home-style" food, you can get side servings of good backyard style garden salads, baked sweet potatoes or beer chips.  I personally love to have a mudslide (so yummy!) before my meal is served while munching on the famous Lone Star peanuts and watching the line dancing done by the waiters every half-hour.

Steak glorious, steak!  Hot potatoes and peanuts!

The main reason we eat Lone Star in the US rather than Australia is because even though we supported Lone Star, apparently no one else in Australia did and they shut their doors about 10 years ago, and we miss it so very much.. :'(

There are so many places to eat outside the park area, and so many various cuisines as well!  If you're after some good ideas on eating out I'd suggest trying TripAdvisor or Urbanspoon.  If you're more interested in cooking your own food, probably one of the better places to buy your produce from is the Whole Foods Market, which is a little more expensive than your regular supermarket but the quality is fantastic!

At the Whole Foods Market, you can put your diet back on track.  Such good looking and healthy food!

While I'm sure there are some great places to eat around the Orlando area, traveling outside the park to eat every day can take quite a while, so we didn't get to explore as much as we really wanted to.  We love eating at Downtown Disney because it's close to where we stay and we can generally find a good meal at Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe or T-Rex.

Rainforest Cafe is so awesome for kids!  Even better for the slightly larger, more immature kids..

There are so many food options at DTD it's nuts!  DTD and other Disney food options as well as saving time and money are something I want to expand on, but there is so much tell you its really something that will have to wait until another time.

One place we've been meaning to go to each time we go to Orlando is the Medieval Times Dinner Show, which apparently is pretty fun!  I mean, how can you go wrong with Medieval style dining and jousting and swordplay?!  You can't, that's how!!  The camp value alone makes this place a clear winner!

Medieval Times is your standard dinner show, you get fed and while you eat you watch a show.  It's apparently hugely popular among tourists, and a great place to take a big crowd of people.  Which brings me to an idea I had, I want to know how many of our guests would be interested in coming with us to Medieval Times as one of our nights out???  It would be fun, we get fed, we get a show and we can have a chat and a few drinks!

If you're interested in Medieval Times, please go ahead and let Tan or myself know so we can add as part of our optional itinerary!

How awesome does this place look?!  I can't believe we haven't been here yet...

I hope that gives you some ideas on where to eat if you're outside the Disney area and you have the munchies.  Next week, shopping!