June 4th, 2008
Monday night we got to Orlando and got checked in to our room. After a little lounging around, we headed over to Epcot to eat dinner. Part of our master plan was to eat at all the nations of Epcot that we could. We got there and realized that most of the restaurants require a reservation at least half a day or a day in advance. We managed to get a spot in Morocco and ate some wonderful chicken, couscous, and a lamb shank while enjoying a gorgeous belly dancer. Afterward we walked over to the Japanese restaurant and made a reservation, and ended the night by watching the fireworks over the lake. That was really something awesome to see.
Corbit got us a wonderful gift. He called the GM of a Garden Inn in Orlando, one that he knows pretty well, and arranged for our stay to be completely complimentary. In addition, she promised to get us free entry to all of the Universal affiliated parks that we wanted to go to. So Tuesday we woke up, met the GM at Sea World, and she swiped her VIP access card and got us in for free. Right when we entered, I got a craving for crab cakes, so we wandered all over the place for a while, until we found a nice restaurant called Sharks Underwater Grill. It is nestled inside the shark exhibit. The wait time was about an hour for a table of two, so we put our names in and went off to do something. We came back to eat in a dining room that shared a huge wall with one of the big shark tanks. It was really cool, and the food was superb(I finally got my crab cakes). We missed seeing the Shamu show because neither of us thought to go there early to get a seat. We ended up going to feed the dolphins, instead, which was a lot of fun. That night we went back to Epcot for Japanese food. That was some of the best teppan yaki I’ve ever eaten. We also picked up our “Just Married” badges that night, which in addition to getting us congratulations from every other employee we saw got us free desserts at most of the restaurants we ate at.
Wednesday we were starting to get a little tired from the sun and walking(which we both weren’t used to), which worked out because we ended up going to Universal, which is a few rides and not a ton of walking. We started off with the Mummy ride which was an absolute blast. At one point they lit the whole ceiling on fire, it was neat. We also rode Jaws, which we both got a big kick out of. I put Michelle on the outside so she could get wet 
We rode the MIB ride(I got the high score!) and finished off the day with the Simpsons. That night we went back to Sea World for the Makahiki Luau, which had some really good food and some great entertainment. The fire jugglers were really awesome. I got a picture of Michelle with her $50 manicure covered in bbq sauce as she ate some ribs 
Thursday was the big day. We got up early and ate a quick McDonald’s breakfast on the way over to… the Magic Kingdom! We started with Space Mountain because the lines for that can get huge. We had almost no wait at all. We also went over to the Lilo and Stitch ride, which was a redesign of the Alien Encounter ride to make it a little less scary. After that we went to get a picture with Ariel, and I made Michelle ride It’s a Small World. Mostly just because the line was much smaller than the Peter Pan ride. The Haunted Mansion came next, and it was a ton of fun, and the cold, dank atmosphere of the ride was a relief from the Florida sun. We wandered around Tom Sawyer Island for a bit and then got hungry, so we shot back over to the entrance to eat at Tony’s, which we soon realized was the Lady and the Tramp restaurant. When we were seated, they had put some ribbon and Mikey Mouse confetti all over the table for the newlyweds. We saved the confetti. I had some really good calimari, and a nummy calzone, and she ate a tasty panini. After lunch, we caught the parade, and it was like being a kid again watching all the characters dance and sing. One of the dancing brooms wandered over and gave us a thumbs up for being newlyweds, and Prince Eric from the Little Mermaid and the Fairy Godmother each saw our “Just Married” badges from their floats and actually waved congrats to us! We finished off Magic Kingdom with a ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean and a romp through the gift shops, lusting over things far too expensive for me to afford.
That night saw us at Downtown Disney. We were hungry so we found a place called Fulton’s Crab House. Turns out it was a really nice and somewhat expensive seafood place. We split an order of crab claws and lobster tails, which were awesomely good. They gave us a free dessert, too, which was delicious.
Friday we went to Animal Kingdom. The Tree of Life is incredible. It’s a ginormous man-made tree with over 300 carvings of animals. We took a bunch of pictures of it(they’re on the pictures site) We rode the African Safari ride, which was made so much better by a very amusing “guide” driving the car we were in. We even managed to see the baby elephant. Later, in the conservation area, we were told by one of the employees there that the baby doesn’t come out very often. Then she offered to let us hold a shellacked and preserved hunk of elephant poo. She was an odd one… Before the conservation area, though, we rode the Kali River Rapids ride, and Michelle and I both got far more soaked than she had expected we would. It was a little uncomfortable walking around in that heat with the soaked clothes, but it got better after a while. We finished off the park with the Dinosaur ride, which was a ton of fun.
Afterward we went back to Downtown Disney for a bit of shopping. I got to see an assembled LEGO Millennium Falcon(the $500, 5100 piece set). I teased Chris by sending him a pic with the message “Should I buy it?” I bought a little lego Darth Vader keychain, and Michelle got a lego keychain of Indy’s Dad(Sean Connery on a keychain!!!). I also picked up one of the Indiana Jones playsets. We wandered around through a few more stores, but didn’t find a whole lot. We left there and headed back to Epcot for some wandering and some real shopping, and then over to the French restaurant for some very good wine, cheese, and beef tenderloin. We finished the night watching the same fireworks performance that we saw Monday.
Saturday we got up early to go ship all the stuff we bought back home, since I didn’t leave much room in my suitcase(which isn’t large) and someone packed her suitcase so full that it barely fit within the weight requirements. Actually, it didn’t, but it was only 1 pound over, so the guy let it slide. After we shipped the nifties back(they should be here today! squee!) we went back to Epcot one last time to finish shopping around the world. I bought Michelle a really nice robe from the China shop. We tasted some excellent Sake at the Japan shop, and I got a black wall scroll with cherry blossoms and cranes on it, and a pair of chopsticks with dragonflies on them. We finished off our honeymoon with a trip to Akershus Dining Hall in Norway, for lunch with the Disney Princesses. We saw Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Jasmine, and Cinderella. They were all very pretty(except Jasmine, who was just kinda weird looking). The girl playing Ariel was the same from Ariel’s Grotto at Magic Kingdom a few days before, and she actually remembered us! After some awesome lamb stew and roasted chicken with bean soup, we left the world of Disney behind and went to the airport.
After returning our car, we were politely informed that our flight had been cancelled back in January(WTF?!) and we were going to have to get a connecting flight through Atlanta, that after a few delays, wound up seeing us home at 2 am instead of about 7 or 8pm. A call to Orbitz resulted in them telling us more or less “Well, we sent you an email telling you it had changed. The airline got you a flight home. What more do you want?” Not in those words, obviously, but that was the sentiment. I checked that email, and it pretty much just said “Here’s your updated itinerary” and showed the flight out, but no return flight. It didn’t call attention to the fact that our flight home had been cancelled at all, nor did it make clear that despite the fact we paid for a flight home, we would have to call them to schedule us on to a new flight. We eventually did get home, however, and that’s all that mattered in the end. (Fuck you, Orbitz)
Travel difficulties aside, we had an incredibly great honeymoon. We’ve got lots of pictures and memories to keep with us. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate our marriage.