Sunday, January 3, 2016

Honeymoon Memories

Day 1--12/19/2015 and 12/20/2015--Travel from Portland, OR to Orlando, FL.
-I hate airplane travel. The seats are so tiny and you're crouched over, breaking your back the whole way through.
-We were met with the Disney "Motorcoach" (I love that word) at the airport, which was welcomed, except for the 30 solid minutes of ads all the way to the resort.
 -The Port Orleans Riverside resort is beautiful with picturesque mansions from the plantation eras. The only awkward thing is that the mansions kinda remind me horribly of slavery in our American history and it doesn't help that 99% of the cleaning staff are black. I feel like it's a bad joke to them and us, even if the architecture of the time was gorgeous. Maybe it has a different meaning to those born and raised in the South. The rest of the resort was amazing though with no bad connotations whatsoever.


 
Source: https://assets.hipmunk.com/assets/hotel_image/v1/55b5f791cfcf1e1c7d23185d.jpg

Source: http://wcm.transat.com/getmedia/3c1529e6-f345-472c-afec-2f0148733aa5/Disney-Port-Orleans-Riverside-Room-003-Pool-View.jpg?width=2048

-Thanks to everyone's help, we got to spend a little more than we ever will again. It was frustrating that Disney's Honeymoon registry was set up to book our activities, and then they notified us a few days before we left that they didn't book anything and then they wired us our money and told us good luck. Good thing Kyle and his parents thought to book the room a while back separately. For the other things we wanted to do, they were all booked up, especially the horse-drawn carriage (which made me sad. The lady wouldn't even let me pet the horse). So we got souvenirs, not the original plan, but we're happy. We don't get to go shopping that often for fun.
-I should also add that Disney is the WORST at providing proper clothing sizes. I made the smart decision of not checking to see if my swimsuit from 3 years ago fit... it didn't. So I bought a new one at our resort's "General Store". They only had MEDIUMS. 10 swimsuits of the same kind and NO OTHER SIZES!!
...so I bought it. I was desperate. And the thing about a honeymoon is, you usually only wear white (or so the strange thought stuck with me). Most of what I had was white and would've scared the kids if I got in the pool with it on. It looks like the swimsuit below, but wraps around the back of the neck. The way Kyle and I strapped it on, it felt like the swimsuit had a vice grip around my neck (which was the goal, since I didn't want to flash any young kids and spur any awkward conversations about female anatomy).  It would have fit perfectly if I was 5'2". But we had SO much fun swimming! We haven't gone swimming in a long time!

-I also got a cute little pullover thingy for the pool so I wouldn't feel like I was stripping in front of people when getting down to my bathing suit.  
 

Day 2--12/21/2015--Magic Kingdom.
-NEVER ask the Disney Vacation Club for directions;

Disney Vacation Club (aka Disney timeshares)--
Us: Where's the bus stop?
DVC: It's outside, but let me tell you how you can save some money.
Us: ...by giving us some?
DVC: Not exactly, but in a way...yes.
Us: ...
DVC: You can vacation with us anytime, and it only costs half price to your normal costs!
Us: We can't even afford health insurance...
DVC: But you can afford this! It's only $16,500 over the course of 10 years!
Us: Let us think about it (not)...
DVC: Let us take you to the open house! We'll give you fast passes, drinks, and ice cream!
Us: Ummm... we've gotta go. We'll think about it.
*We hurry away.*
DVC (shouting behind us): We'll even drop you off at the park after!
Me to Kyle Stroud: I just wanted to know where the bus stop was... let's just ask someone outside.
*Facepalm.
-Kyle Stroud and I got spooned by a rather large Indian man in the line to Pirates of the Caribbean, who then proceeded to slip ahead of us (thank goodness) and take flash photography on the ride (argh!).

-A young girl wore a hot pink shirt that said "I love Jesus more than my shoes."

You know how there's a People of Walmart site? There NEEDS to be a People of Disney site. Kyle and I saw some of the WORST fashion choices we've ever seen. It was simultaneously entertaining and painful.
-We made it on 3 rides in the Magic Kingdom; The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Space Mountain.
-We're having tons of fun.

-When we got back, we celebrated with some dinner at the resort's restaurant, Boatwright's Dining Hall, and took our red velvet cake to go and got a bottle of champagne and toasted later.
Day 3--12/22/2015--Animal Kingdom and Disney Springs.

-I've decided that I hate people when they're in large crowds.

-Animal Kingdom is a bit of a zoo... of people.
 
-I've never been so close to a rhino... it was SO cool! I was sitting by the window and there was a baby rhino next to me. I was too tired to take a picture (it was SUPER hot out), but I wish I would have. He was so cute!
-I bought a colored pencil set for kids. I lost my pencils... I was desperate. It worked okay, but for the price we paid, they should've been MUCH better quality.

-I thought I was good at chopsticks... until I tried to eat a large piece of Mahi-mahi on rice. Boy, was I wrong. But the restaurant was FANTASTIC. It was the Yak and Yeti. We had a really great waitress from Portland, OR, and we nerded out about Portland the entire time. It was fun!

-Oh, and I also read to some dinos when we went on the dinosaur ride.

-We also found a Santasaurus Rex!
-We went back for a nap and then took a boat ride.
-We went to dinner at Portobello Country Italian Trattoria. The dinner was pretty good.
-Christmas at Disney is like combining the dreaded Christmas shopping crowd with the dreaded Disney crowd and multiplying it by 10. Going to Disney Springs was so stressful that we could barely get through the stores, much less the crowds outside.
 
Day 4--12/23/2015--Epcot.
-I love how understated and elegant the Christmas decor and music is. That mixed with Disney music and decor makes me happy.


-We went on the Land ride. We were a but sad that we couldn't find the Ellen ride, but enjoyed this one nonetheless. It's really cool what Disney's doing with agriculture and it was fun to see the greenhouses and fish tanks decorated with holiday baubles and garlands.



-I need to learn to live in the moment more. The day was lovely and there weren't many crowds. We got there before the World Showcase opened (opened at 11am) and went on a few rides and enjoyed the lack of people.

-Everything in Epcot Japan is SO CUTE. Kyle was in charge of the wallet because I just ran rampant.
 ALL OF THE MIYAZAKI STUFF, AND THE CUTE KITTIES, AND THE INCENSE HOLDERS, AND THE ART SUPPLIES!! AHHH!!
-I'm really upset that they replaced the armory exhibit in Norway with a Frozen exhibit. That movie is HORRIBLE.
-We also saw a really adorable miniature town with a train track! I love miniature worlds! So cute!
 -Today was really nice and I loved getting to speak a little french in Epcot France. Although, I miss the real thing. We also had delicious Lobster Bisque.

-We also went to Epcot England to get a beer at the pub where Kyle and I split our first beer together.

-Apparently the only busier time of the year than Christmas is New Years, and on that eve, there are over 90,000 people at Disney World. @_@
-I love that Epcot has a Holidays Around the World celebration that shows off all of the different cultures' and religions' celebrations.

Day 5--12/24/2015--Hollywood Studios and Disney Springs.
-I hate the sun, but I'd love to live in golden age Hollywood.
-The Great Movie Ride had ALL the nostalgia. I loved going through all the old movie scenes.
-There should be more bookshops in all of the Disney parks rather than just a few books in each store.
-We went to Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano for lunch. It was delicious, but a long wait, even for reservations. It's a good thing we made reservations or we never would have gotten in.
-The Tower of Terror is SO MUCH FUN and reaffirms my fear of sketchy hotels.
-The Aerosmith ride makes me feel like a rocker in the 70s and I love it!
-We went to the House of Blues restaurant and had the BEST FOOD EVER. Their bread pudding had banana, white chocolate, and caramel in it. It was AMAZING.

Day 6--12/25/2015--Magic Kingdom. 
-We opened the door that morning and I shook my head and closed it. It had to be about 95 degrees with a TON of humidity. We decided to stay in and go to the park that night.
-I cannot do puzzles as fast as I think I can. I bought a 1,000 piece Pirates of the Caribbean puzzle to do in the hotel (since there's no dog or cat to mess it up), and only finished putting together the border pieces and some of the lettering.

-The Disney hats are super small. We bought Mickey and Minnie Christmas hats and they barely fit on our heads. I took them back the next day after wearing mine while doing the puzzle. It stuck straight up the whole time. I felt like a wizard... a puzzle wizard. WORTH IT.
-It's nice going to and from Disney Springs in a nice little boat. It's soothing.
-Although the crowds weren't so fun.
-I love ALL THE IRISH THINGS!! Kyle had to stop me from buying everything at the store at Raglan Road that night. -Raglan Road is the BEST Irish pub ever and the Irish dancers (who were all actually Irish except for one from Virginia) were AWESOME! Although, I wouldn't want to be sitting behind them... this one lady stared wide-eyed, hoping not to get hit in the face behind the lead dancer.
-We sat next to this awesome couple from Scotland with their daughter (around 9 years old) who went up to step dance with the dancers. We each exchanged stories about our weddings (they got married in Florida in 90 degree weather and we got married in Oregon in the snow. We showed them our snowy picture and they loved it! I show everyone.:P). We told them we're looking at jobs in Canada, England, and Ireland... they told us to just skip them all because Scotland is better. Lol. They said that there's a relatively big video game industry over there, so here's to hoping!
-I also got Kyle an "Irish Drinking Team" cap with a bottle opener on the rim. I think he looks dashing in it, does he not?
-Magic Kingdom was SO UNCROWDED!! There were lots of people leaving by the time we got there, which was around 9:30 pm.
-The castle was dressed up in lights so much that it looked like an ice castle. It's so beautiful.
-It was super cool, around 70 degrees, which was the coolest it had been our whole vacation.
-We waited in line for 40 minutes for the 7 Dwarves ride while a 9 or 10 year old girl dubbed us evil and not evil the whole time with her Mickey Mouse light saber. It was awesome. It is difficult to read in the lines at night though... there's very little light. Kyle squished his balls on the ride because the seat was so small and yelled, "MY BALLS!" in front of little kids. I felt bad for how much I was cracking up at his expense. He did a dance to fix himself when he got off the ride while the ride person laughed. It was pretty funny.

-We waited only about 10 minutes for the Peter Pan ride and found Ariel! Yes, you read that correctly.
-We went on Mickey's Philharmagic and got splashed by the magic brooms (spoilers!).
-We literally walked straight through Pirates of the Caribbean to the ride. There was not a single person in the boat ahead of us, which was cool, cuz we got to pretend they were dead when Barbossa said "dead men tell no tales". It added an extra cool creepy factor.
-We got ice cream before we left, went home, and then crashed.
  
Days 7-9.5--12/26/2015 to 12/28/2015--Read "Honeymoon Hellride Back Home" to Read What Happened On Our Way Back.
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Friday, January 1, 2016

Honeymoon Hellride Back Home

The trip from Disney's Port Orleans Riverside resort to the airport was smooth. They checked us on our flight, delivered our boarding passes to our room and checked in our bag from the hotel. Our shuttle to the airport left 3 hours before the flight. Although, you should know, whenever you go to/from the airport on their shuttles, they pump you full of Disney ads the whole trip. It's annoying. 

Anyways, when we got to the airport, it was just as smooth going to the gate. This was especially true since security didn't make us take our computers out, our jackets off, our jewelry off, or our shoes off. We basically just put our bags down and walked right through.

That's where the smoothness stopped though. After that, the universe decided that we had too good of a time on our honeymoon and decided to make our lives hell.

There was a huge storm in Dallas that we happened to fly over. There were huge tornadoes and a lightning storm so intense that the lightning strikes weren't even a second apart (someone was counting them). So we circled over the storm for 2 hours trying to get to Dallas. The total flight time was 4 hours instead of 2 and we ended up getting diverted to Houston.

                                                      Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/death-toll-reaches-severe-storms-south/story?id=35955662
I didn't have a problem with American Airlines keeping us safe, but I had a problem with how they handled the delays.

First of all, we ended up sitting on the runway for around 2 hours while every 20 minutes or so they'd tell us "5 more minutes" or "almost done". Meanwhile, there was a baby screaming and crying the whole time (saying what we all felt) and a cute, small fluffy service dog named Cupcake had to go to the bathroom. She was shy in front of people (apparently one time she crawled all the way into some bushes to pee to avoid being seen), trained to go on grass, and she would yip every so often to announce that she had to pee (a single yip every 20 to 30 minutes). She looked something like the picture below.
The pilots then got off the plane a half hour before we did and left the stewardesses to deal with us. Apparently they'd been flying for 9 hours straight starting in Los Angeles that morning. They would be illegally flying if they stayed longer. But one of those stewardesses had apparently been on the plane just as long and was freaking out, yelling at people to be quiet and cutting them off when they tried to ask her questions.

Then Kyle did impersonations of Milton from the movie Office Space trying to deal with our situation. It was pretty hilarious.



We were then told  a crew from Miami would be showing up soon to take us back to Dallas. Then they finally let us get off the plane, but only to wait in a line to find out what to do next.

We waited in that line for 2 hours. We were told to get food 10 min before that 2 hours was up. The line did not move the entire time. They just let us stand there and didn't help anyone. So everybody got out of the line to get food. The only place open for food was a small sandwich shop with refrigerated sandwiches. We all got food, came back, and then were told the crew wasn't coming and that the next flight was at 8:38 am the next morning. We were told that there would be no boarding passes and we would just need our IDs, it would be the same flight number, and we all just needed to come back in the morning whether we liked it or not. They then told us that if we tried to stay in the airport, they would call security on us. They were shutting down the airport for the night and would not cover anyone's hotel costs.

 

Our luggage was then sent out downstairs (or so we were told) around 10:15 pm. They said it would be 3-5 minutes, but it took 45 minutes. Then as soon as the first 4 bags came out, the luggage carrier jammed and we had to wait another 5 minutes.

Kyle then booked a reservation at the Hampton while we waited. The Hampton told us that their shuttle closed at 11pm, but they would pick us up anyways. They said it would take about 5 minutes or so. We called the hotel every 20 minutes and waited about an hour. The guy at the front desk said the shuttle was full, but it never got to us until the end of that hour, so that was a lie.

The shuttle lady was AMAZING though. We found out that she was told the wrong terminals for everyone's rides and wasn't warned about handicapped customers so had to switch shuttles after seeing them. She dropped us off with a grumpy couple, some bros and a girl trying to get to Mexico for a friend's wedding, and a scared young teen girl traveling alone.

There was one guy (new employee) working the counter with a THICK Indian accent who had trouble with English and would ignore people every time something went wrong (the worst thing you could do is ignore an angry customer). Apparently the server crashed, there were no rooms, and they had lost everyone's reservations and were still booking rooms. We were there for another hour, two other groups left, the Mexico group gave us their room (the last room) because we were honeymooners with bad luck, but not before we offered them the floor (or hopefully some cots) if they just wanted to crash. Kyle called American Airlines a half hour into this and was on hold.

The front desk said he had the room, but no keys, so he would let us up. I wanted to go to the bar for a shot of tequila and never made it. He gave our room away right in front of us to a group of people who had just walked in, whose reservations were lost also.

 
The shuttle lady had just gotten off her shift, walked in, and asked us what was happening. She served us all fresh fruit, did the guy's job, and got the manager in. The manager (30 min later) got to us from out of his warm bed and sent us to sister hotels after booking rooms for us there. The shuttle lady drove us after I told the manager she deserved a hell of a raise (which is most definitely the truth). She stayed with us to make sure we had a room at the Hampton North. By now, Kyle finally got off hold. AA kept booking us flights from Dallas to Portland and didn't seem to understand that we needed to get to Dallas first. They then put us on hold... AGAIN.

As soon as Kyle and I got to the hotel, we thanked the shuttle lady, booked a morning shuttle with this location, and went to our room. Kyle and I then took turns staying on hold while the other ate a sandwich and showered (sandwiches were from that 10 min time after we got off the plane). We were on hold for another hour before the phone disconnected. He called them back and they promised to call in 2 hours. We got 2-3 hours of sleep. they never called.

Our Houston room was AMAZING. Their showers had the perfect water pressure, they gave us really nice soaps, there was a huge TV, A/C, and the pillows and bed felt like sleeping in a cloud. I didn't want to leave and deal with reality anymore (and I don't like Texas, so that says something).

Kyle called AA again at 5:30 am. The wait time, they said, was 7 hours for a callback. He called the airport and they just connected us to the airline. nobody was answering the phones except automated voices. At this point, we called his mom since we weren't thinking clearly. She said to go to the airport. It was 5:51am. Our shuttle was supposed to leave at 6am. We ran.

We made it, but we didn't check out in case we had to come back. We got their number and told them we'd check out over the phone once we knew we'd have a flight. I told them about the delays the night before, so they understood.

We told our shuttle guy what happened once we got in the car. He said he never flies because of how bad this airport is. Apparently he hears horror stories all the time. He also said the huge storm from Dallas would be coming to Houston at 7pm that night. I'm terrified of tornadoes so I was not happy to hear about that.

Once we got to the airport, he told us to call him if we were coming back.

We then waited in a super long line for over an hour. AA kept trying to cut the line off with rope, but we and the huge crowds didn't let them. We found out other people were able to stay in the airport, no problem, which frustrated us. We then found out the plane we were scheduled on would leave at 10:30am, if it did leave, and that there were no flights to or near Portland, OR for the next few days. There was a lady at the front on 2 phones at once with wide eyes and shaking her head. We thought we'd stay in Houston another night from that alone.

When we finally got to the front, another lady gladly snuck us onto a United flight and told us to get our tickets from the computers and not to tell them that AA sent us (they were kicking AA customers off because of all the people who got delayed/diverted). The flight would go to Seattle. She told us to come back to her if we couldn't get on. We thanked her profusely.

After we got through security and got our tickets. they took our bag before we realized we were on standby and there were only 2 seats left. I ran after the person who took our bag and she said it was gone. I started crying due to lack of sleep and a huge amount of frustration. If we were to stay another night, we wouldn't have any clothes or anything. The manager, seeing this, came over and helped us. She gave us the last 2 seats (upgraded and in an exit row) and some hugs (which were both very much needed).

We found a bookstore and coffee shop next to each other. We got ourselves books and coffee to make ourselves feel better. It worked for the most part.


 
We got on the plane after talking to a finance student on her way home. I told her the best way to watch movies and she told us about how school was going.

Kyle and I got separated on the plane, but we were happy to be on. We were in the same row with SUPER tiny seats. Kyle tried to take out the fold out tray and it squashed his lap. I switched with someone and gave Kyle the aisle seat.

They then proceeded to show us the weirdest safety video ever.

We waited on the runway for 2.5 hours. The delay was first because of weather, then because we were in a line of planes that each had to take off 20 miles apart.

We had the worst turbulence EVER. I was seriously terrified.

They gave us free wine and beer (Kyle and I). They didn't advertise, but they didn't charge us. They advertised food, but were out of 90% of it. I hadn't eaten all day and the wine and turbulence combo were making me nauseous. plus we were sitting directly behind the restrooms and were hit with horrible smells each time people came out (which was every 5 min or so). The flight was 4.5 hours.

Partway into the flight, I saw a steward bring Pringles to the back, so I snuck back after him. The guy gave it to me, came back to scan my card, but decided against it and gave it to me for free. We had turbulence the entire way there. The skies were so crowded that air traffic control wouldn't let our pilots move out of it.

*(side note) a pregnant mom who looked like a bird was doing the pee dance (even though she didn't have to pee), was holding her 2 year old kid, and feeding him chewed up ice.

We finally landed and sat in the plane for a good 30 min. Kyle and I then got our bags and booked a cab to the train. Luckily, Kyle's mom booked us a late ticket. It was 5:15 pm by this time and the train would leave at 6:05pm. We took a cab and got there 20 min early.

We skipped the huge lines due to business class and checked our bag in too. The Seattle Seahawks game just got out and the train station was right across the street from the stadium. We got on the train and waited in a HUGE line for food. The food guy waited til the train took off to start. I got a pack of cards, 2 hot dogs, 2 chips, and 2 beers for $37.

The train got delayed to wait for freight trains every so often, which would make Kyle and I super paranoid.

I was sleeping an hour and a half in on Kyle's shoulder when the most OBNOXIOUS 2 girls walked in to join a couple of guys. they all were SUPER loud and drunk as soon as the girls sat down. One guy started swearing and talking about stealing back his girl's hat from whoever stole it from her even though she was wearing it. She said nobody stole it. The other girl was bragging about her taco salad and how she knows how to cook better than anyone. She also told her whole life story, even the part where she gave some guy head at her little boy's wrestling tournament. she also bragged about her work and how clients waited up to 6 months to a year to see her (even though I'm pretty sure she works at a restaurant). She's also about to get married to the belligerant drunk guy who wanted to pick a fight with the imaginary hat stealer. They luckily got off 2 stops before ours, but we still had to listen to them for another hour and a half. i was wearing noise-cancelling headphones and could still hear all this. When they finally got off the train, they left all of their beer cans (Coors Light) and a trail of smashed popcorn on the ground. It was horrible. But Kyle, I, and the guy sitting across from us all celebrated our newfound quiet time once they left.

 

We got back to Portland at 9:45pm and walked to the lightrail (which was outside of the greyhound station where all the homeless people are). 2 homeless people got in a fight right next to us over a coat, and another 2 got in a fight over the payphone. We got on our train about 10 min after waiting, but then it delayed for another 10 minutes to wait for other lightrail cars to move. We never got to find out how the fights ended.

It finally moved and we got home and cuddled our cat a lot, showered, and crashed.

We now both have bugs from the trip. Kyle got a cold bug, and I got a stomach and his cold bug. Fun stuff, but happy to be home.

 

Happy New Year!
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Saturday, December 12, 2015

I Got Hitched!!

Hey guys,

I know I've been going on and off hiatus, but I want to get regular with this again. I really do love blogging. Anyways, I got hitched my best friend/love! There's a photo below...


Our photographer was Eric Holland of Holland Studios who did an AMAZING job! I'm so happy that it snowed for us! I've pretty much been deprived of snow most of my life, so I was in heaven up at Mount Hood.

The post is done for now, but I will put more posts up soon. Gotta get through finals and then HONEYMOON!

-S

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Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Just One Thing...

For tonight, I leave you all with one of my favorite quotes, with comes from Banksy.


Night all! Have a great one!

-S
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Friday, February 27, 2015

"Gesture Drawing" by Walt Stanchfield

So I just read this entire 214 page pdf today (quick, but amazing read) and it has completely opened my mind to all of the ins and outs of gesture drawing. There isn't a published book version and the editor has cleared it to be spread on the Internet, so consider this my gift to you. This brilliant book is by one of the Disney greats, Walt Stanchfield, and is composed of notes from his gesture drawing classes and compiled in this amazing reference. The link to the pdf is below. I HIGHLY recommend reading it. Enjoy!

http://www.floobynooby.com/pdfs/gesturedrawingforanimation.pdf

-S
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