A Cancellation, A Proposal and A Lot of Food - Marathon Weekend 2017 COMPLETE!

[fallonkendra]

I love your picture of Sea Breeze Point ... it's like unconscious foreshadowing!!

Sounds like a nice day at Hollywood Studios! You got some great PhotoPass pictures ... you definitely got your money's worth from PhotoPass!

Thanks! Photopass is so worth it for us!

 

[fallonkendra]

I also just watched all the Star Wars movies not too long ago, but I'm afraid I just didn't quiet get hooked.

I'm definitely not a die-hard fan, but I enjoy them.

Yum!! And yes, I love these resorts, too. They're gorgeous. I'd love to stay at either of them someday if we can get a good enough deal or rent points. Either one, but especially Beach Club.

Same, but I have a hard time stomaching the cost of the deluxe resorts.

No way! That's cool to be able to look back on that moment, knowing what you know now!

It really is!

Before we had annual passes, I did the same thing. Photopass is awesome, but it is expensive, so I was always trying to make sure I got my money's worth! Also, you never know whether a photo is going to turn out great or terrible, so I would hedge my bets and take lots.

Exactly!

What great pictures! Chewie is such a loveable awesome meet and greet!

He's one of my favourite meets and greets

 

[MeghanEmily]

minus the Wild Africa Trek, we had cancelled that a few days earlier for a full refund - I've heard it's amazing, but we just weren't feeling like it

Wild Africa Trek IS amazing!!! But it's also a pretty serious investment of time and money on a trip, so if you weren't feeling it all that much it was definitely a good move to cancel!

But, don’t worry, I’m going to let Luke tell this part of the story. Anything in red writing is written by him:

I don’t recall the exact moment I realized I was going to marry Fallon. But I’ve known for a long long time.

I think you two are just grand.

Get help from a face character? Anna would be game. But Elsa would be all “See sis! These 2 have known each other for YEARS! That’s how you get engaged!” and then I’d feel awkward cause I’m way more Team Anna. #finisheachotherssandwiches

Agreed!

I said something along the line of “How about we get some photos with these? I showed it to Fallon and could tell she was processing what was happening slower than she should have. She had no idea somehow. I say this because while my fiancee (Luke wrote this over a year ago for our wedding website, we are now married) is a wonderful woman, she’s not much of an actress. She was shocked.

You've got a special guy there, Fallon! You're blessed to have each other! I love how much you appreciate each other for who you are, and build each other up. Your engagement story made me smile!

We began making phone calls, first calling our moms, then my grandmother who was in the hospital at the time (and passed away less than 2 months later)- who laughed and gleefully proclaimed“I knew!”. It turns out, instead of being traditional and asking my dad to marry me, Luke had snuck out of the house on our last trip to New Brunswick under the guise of ‘going for a run’, and instead ran to my grandma’s house to ask her permission for my hand in marriage. I consider myself a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need anyone’s permission to marry whomever I want to, but this gesture of asking my Nanny really meant a lot to me.

I love this!!

 

[SarahDisney]

I love that engagement story. As exciting as those "over the top" stories are, for most couples, something a little quieter is much better. I love that Luke chose to propose at your favorite park, and from what I know of you guys, the situation does feel very "you."
And I love that he asked your Nanny's permission! So sweet!

 

[pepperandchips]

Definitely *not* crying after reading the engagement story...

That is SO SWEET! I love how our guys are so funny and nervous and fumbley even though they know the answer is yes. I love how much Luke thought through everything and especially ordered the buttons! So so sweet. What a great AK morning! And of course your "then we got engaged" made me laugh

I am so glad you posted this story this weekend! One of our wedding showers is this afternoon. Love is in the air!

 

[Self_resqing_princz]

I'm not crying YOU'RE crying! That's so sweet that he had the fore-thought to get hte engagement buttons! Also I love your "and then we got engaged". That's how my husband would tell our story too.

 

[absolutmey]

What a great story. I loved reading it from both perspectives. Luke is hilarious, but you don't have to tell him that we all think so

 

[emilyhuff]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sitting at work right now with tears in my eyes! Your engagement story is just so perfect! What a dream come true!

 

[missjackiemcg]

First, now I am in a puddle of tears!!!!!!!!

No worries, we just went to the far left and entered Rainforest Cafe, cut through the gift shop and scanned our Magicbands with the cast member at that entrance – which never has a line! It’s one of my favourite Disney Park hacks

So smart!! I learned this from @MeghanEmily

I don’t recall the exact moment I realized I was going to marry Fallon. But I’ve known for a long long time.

LOOOOOOOVE this!

So I ordered Just Engaged buttons off the internet and had them shipped to my work. Where they were hid in my desk drawer between some sauce packets and butterfly clips.

LOL

Luke had snuck out of the house on our last trip to New Brunswick under the guise of ‘going for a run’, and instead ran to my grandma’s house to ask her permission for my hand in marriage. I consider myself a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need anyone’s permission to marry whomever I want to, but this gesture of asking my Nanny really meant a lot to me.

This is amazing and incredible. As someone who was closer to my Grandmother than anyone else, I can imagine how much it meant to you for Luke to ask her. Awesome.

 

[fallonkendra]

Wild Africa Trek IS amazing!!! But it's also a pretty serious investment of time and money on a trip, so if you weren't feeling it all that much it was definitely a good move to cancel!

I’m sure we will do the Wild Africa Trek at some point, we were just wanting a more relaxed day at Animal Kingdom

I think you two are just grand.

Aww, I think the same of you and Nathan!

Agreed!

It’s so funny, but so true. Also, Luke really does love Anna haha.

You've got a special guy there, Fallon! You're blessed to have each other! I love how much you appreciate each other for who you are, and build each other up. Your engagement story made me smile!

Thank you so much Meghan!

I love this!!

Me too! It was so special

 

[fallonkendra]

I love that engagement story. As exciting as those "over the top" stories are, for most couples, something a little quieter is much better. I love that Luke chose to propose at your favorite park, and from what I know of you guys, the situation does feel very "you."
And I love that he asked your Nanny's permission! So sweet!

Thanks so much Sarah! Luke did a pretty great job with his proposal - as he mentioned, he’s the one in our relationship who cries a lot more than I do, so it’s really something that he made me cry haha.

 

[OhMari]

So sweet, loved your engagement story.
I think engagement rings are so expensive. Good for you to "want" to use your grandmothers.

 

[fallonkendra]

Definitely *not* crying after reading the engagement story...

That is SO SWEET! I love how our guys are so funny and nervous and fumbley even though they know the answer is yes. I love how much Luke thought through everything and especially ordered the buttons! So so sweet. What a great AK morning! And of course your "then we got engaged" made me laugh

I am so glad you posted this story this weekend! One of our wedding showers is this afternoon. Love is in the air!

I've been wondering how your wedding planning was going! How was your shower on the weekend?

I was so impressed by Luke ordering those buttons! And managing to sneak my ring out of the house - and he carried it everyday of the trip without me realizing it!

I'm so far behind on everyone's reports on here - did you do a trip report for the Disneyland/Hawaii trip where you got engaged?

 

[fallonkendra]

I'm not crying YOU'RE crying! That's so sweet that he had the fore-thought to get hte engagement buttons! Also I love your "and then we got engaged". That's how my husband would tell our story too.

Thank you so much! I think I married a pretty awesome guy

What a great story. I loved reading it from both perspectives. Luke is hilarious, but you don't have to tell him that we all think so

Haha, I've been trying to get him to write some of the report from our wedding trip, but he keeps making up excuses not to - I love the sense of humor that comes out in everything he writes!

Our engagement story isn't over the top or crazy, but it suited us so well

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sitting at work right now with tears in my eyes! Your engagement story is just so perfect! What a dream come true!

Aww, thanks Emily! I consider myself pretty lucky to have Luke in my life

 

[fallonkendra]

First, now I am in a puddle of tears!!!!!!!!

Haha, aww! Sorry about that!

So smart!! I learned this from @MeghanEmily

It's one of my favourite tricks! It makes getting into Animal Kingdom so much quicker and easier!

LOOOOOOOVE this!

I picked a pretty special one

This is amazing and incredible. As someone who was closer to my Grandmother than anyone else, I can imagine how much it meant to you for Luke to ask her. Awesome.

It did mean a lot! She was a little upset that I didn't have a "new" ring and wanted to use hers, she thought I should have one all my own though. I kept telling her how much this one meant to me, but I finally agreed with her that I might buy a new band and stack it on with hers for our 5 year anniversary.

 

[fallonkendra]

So sweet, loved your engagement story.
I think engagement rings are so expensive. Good for you to "want" to use your grandmothers.

Thank you so much!

I agree, engagement rings are so much money! I'm not a huge jewelry person, and I would have been okay with something from one of those quarter vending machines - as long as it meant I got to marry Luke! Having a ring with history just makes everything better

 

[pkondz]

The alarm went way too early this morning, I just wanted to keep sleeping (especially after all the drinks we had the night before).

But... It's Disney! Get up!!!!!!!

breakfast at Boma!

Very nice. Heard good things. And after reading your review, it sounds like I should have this on my list.

This was our first time seeing AKL, what a beautiful hotel!

It's gorgeous. And your first time!

we caught a bus to Animal Kingdom- such a quick drive from the hotel!

That is a plus.... but.

It's also why I'm quite leery of staying there. It is close to AK, but... so far from everything else!

Pandora – I had not seen the movie Avatar at this point, but I was still excited about the new land being built, it sounded amazing.

It is amazing.

No worries, we just went to the far left and entered Rainforest Cafe, cut through the gift shop and scanned our Magicbands with the cast member at that entrance – which never has a line!

I know of this shortcut... and have never used it. Never had the need. Maybe someday I will. But not yet.

Cute shot! Don't think I've see that one before.

I was pointing out to Baloo that he was on the record we were getting the characters to sign.

good thing. Otherwise he'd probably just go tell you to get lost. They do that at Disney you know.

And then, we got engaged.

Sure. Done. The end.

I know, you were expecting a big lead up to it, if you’ve read my trip report this far you know I can be wordy. But, don’t worry, I’m going to let Luke tell this part of the story.

And I read it all.
I won't break it all down and comment, but...
Reminds me in some parts of my own proposal. Thanks for sharing with us.

See? Wouldn’t you marry this woman?

Well, when he puts it like that.... minus the wrong NHL team of course.

 

[pkondz]

Haha, after our last trip with a lot of non-Disney people, I've realized how much of a go-go-go person I am. There were so many complaints, and "I'm going back to the hotel now".

I broke my DW that way.
But the kids got to see.......... everything.

We definitely did not feel we gave Hollywood Studios enough time on this trip after cutting this day short...

I call a do-over!

...for the first time (hangs head in shame)

Isn't that... sacrilegious?

I know, I know. Millennials, am I right?

The food gets a thumbs up from me! I love their grilled cheese and tomato soup!

I know!
And I'm switching my "want" to that.

I also love getting all of our on-ride photos. I figure those are ~$15/each, so I only need 10 of them to break even

And there you have it. I'm only interested in getting a very few shots. So I'd never break even.

If I was an inch or two taller, it would be a much more enjoyable experience for me.

Can you sit on a jacket or sweater?

Which is fine, Guardians is a fantastic ride!

Yes it is.

 

[cinderaimee]

Aww great engagement story!!

 

[fallonkendra]

January 10th - Engagement Day, Part Two!​

We actually had a Fastpass for the Safari that we wanted to use, so we headed over there and used that at the very end of our fastpass window.​

After our Safari, I kept checking the MDE app but our pictures of Luke proposing had not shown up yet, so we headed out to the Photopass store located by the main gate. Once we explained what the pictures were of that we were missing, the Cast Members assured us that they would find them. It only took them a few minutes to locate our missing pictures, and then they even printed one off as a 5×7 for us free of charge - pixie dust!

We had called our immediate family, but we decided to start texting extended family and our friends to let them know we were engaged. We found a spot on a bench and sat there for the next hour and a bit just letting the world know our happy news – our phones were going crazy with text messages of congratulations. It was a really amazing experience, sitting beside my fiancé in one of our favourite places in the world, feeling such an outpouring of love from all the important people in our lives.

We had purchased a FuelRod at the beginning of this trip, and we definitely got our money’s worth out of that thing just on this day! I think by the end of the day, we had swapped it out 4 times because we spent so much time on our phones haha. We typically only swapped it once/day, and only because I tend to take a lot of pictures - but it was a unique day!

We decided we still wanted to do a few more things in the park, so we put our phones away and headed over to catch the train out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We’d never been out there before, and wanted to check it out. There isn’t a lot out there, but I loved the goats and the sheep haha

Rafiki was also out there doing character meets, so of course we had to jump into that line!

After saying goodbye to the goats, we headed back to the main park on the train. As we were walking by, we realized a Birds of Wonder show was just about to start, so we headed in and watched. I didn’t take many pictures, and instead just enjoyed the show (although I did get this one)

We decided to head over to Dinoland.

We jumped in the stand-by line for Primeval Whirl, which was only about a 20 minute wait.

I don’t love this ride, but I don’t hate it either. Crazy Mouse coasters are kind of all the same…


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