My wedding is just an excuse to have a Disneymoon-Aug '13 PTR (NEW!! 9/14)

[YukiPhnx]

Hello and to my 2nd PTR EVER!!!

This PTR will be a little more special than my other ones because I will now be referring to my previous DBF as my DF and will also be doing some WEDDING PLANNING with the planning of my Disneymoon.

If you are unfamiliar with me, here's a quick intro. I'm Yuki and I'm a super geek planner/organizer who is obsessed with traveling.

A recurring character on this PTR will be my DF, Andrew, a computer science engineer turned business consultant obsessed with gaming. He's also known as "The Board game guy" with about a dozen board games and counting.

Joining us will be my Duffy the Disney bear who Andrew has named McDuff. He likes to sit on things.

I bet you're DYING to know more about the details of this trip right? Well, here you go!

Dates: Aug 12- Aug 23, 2013. That's right, that's 12 days!!!
Accommodations: POP Century for the first 8 nights, then an undetermined moderate for our last 3 nights. The rest of my group will be in POP for the whole trip
Number of people: 13
Why: It's Disney, do I really need a reason?

The only things that are really confirmed right now are the dates and the 10 day + FUN tickets we bought a while ago. Everything else is still pretty much up in the air.

Please join me as I plan out my Disneymoon and my wedding!

Contents:
1.The Proposal
2. The (large) cast of characters
3. Proposal pictures
4. Special stuff I want to do
5. My plan of attack
6. The [WDW] Bible
7. Wedding Updates
8. It's all about the theming
9. I'm going to Disneyland!
10. Mini PTR for HKDL
11. The wedding that went without
12.ADRs are coming!
13. Pick a pearl, any pearl
14. Party through the parks
15. Tentative park days and ADRs
16.My ADRs are booked!
17. Flights are booked! And other updates
18. 3 more months!
19. Stuff I want

Side PTR:
Freedom pt.1
Freedom pt.2
Freedom pt.3
Freedom pt.4
Disneyland

Side TR
Freedom Day 1
Freedom Day 2
Freedom Day 3
Freedom Day 4
Freedom Day 5
Freedom Day 6
Freedom Day 7
Freedom Day 8
Freedom Day 9
WDW Day 10
​

​

 

[dizneeat]

Yuki, I am so in for this PTR!

I was just shocked, as we will miss you by just a day or two! We'll board the Fantasy on Aug 10 and return on Aug 24! What a shame to miss you!!!!!!!

 

[Teri1]

Hi Yuki, I am excited to hear about your plans. My DD had a "Disneymoon" last year and she and her DH had a great time!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Yuki, I am so in for this PTR!

I was just shocked, as we will miss you by just a day or two! We'll board the Fantasy on Aug 10 and return on Aug 24! What a shame to miss you!!!!!!!

Me too!!! I was SO looking forward to seeing you again on my next trip. It's been too long! I may be making a trip on the first week of March next year, but I can't remember whether you'll still be there from your Feb trip. Probably not huh?

Hi Yuki, I am excited to hear about your plans. My DD had a "Disneymoon" last year and she and her DH had a great time!

Hey Teri, It's great to have you here! Haha, it's hard NOT to have a great time when you're celebrating your marriage at DISNEYWORLD.

I just have to say, that when I see this PTR on my iPad, my green font looks lime green. It's so weird!

 

[__disneygirl]

Yay!!! SO EXCITED FOR YOU YUKI!!! This is definitely gonna be the trip of a lifetime! So happy for you and Andrew.

 

[dizneeat]

Me too!!! I was SO looking forward to seeing you again on my next trip. It's been too long! I may be making a trip on the first week of March next year, but I can't remember whether you'll still be there from your Feb trip. Probably not huh?

Our half term is the last week of February, Yuki. It's such a shame we keep missing each other.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Yay!!! SO EXCITED FOR YOU YUKI!!! This is definitely gonna be the trip of a lifetime! So happy for you and Andrew.

Yay, I'm so happy you're here!!! Yups, I'm planning to go REAL BIG on my Disneymoon.

Our half term is the last week of February, Yuki. It's such a shame we keep missing each other.

It is! I've been looking at a trip to Disneyland Paris in 2014, so maybe I can meet you there?

 

[YukiPhnx]

1.The proposal

So because I don't have access to my pictures for an introduction of the cast, I figure I can at least talk about my proposal.

My DF, Andrew and I have known each other for 9 years now. We only started dating a little over 5 years ago and it has been 5 wonderful years. We had always talked about getting married but recent events kind of propelled us to get married next year. More on this later.

He proposed to me at the end of July this year. He knew I only wanted a few things for my proposal. I wanted to be surprised. I wanted it to be PUBLIC. I wanted my friends to be there. Sure it was a tall glass to order and somehow, he was able to pull it off!

I had been planning to go to the beach with a group of my friends for a long time now. In fact. I've been wanting to go since last summer! Fortunately, all of our free days synced up and we were able to organize a beach day for the last weekend in July. This was a beach day that took about a month to plan. We were going to BBQ too so we had a lot to coordinate.

When the day finally came, it was a beautifully sunny and slightly windy day. Perfect for the beach! We had little hiccups here and there such as missing our exit on the highway, remebering last min items, and running out of coals but overall, it was turning out to be a pretty perfect day. The water was warm, the sand was soft and the sun was shining. We had so much fun grilling up our food, playing in the water and building sandcastles. I was having a great time. The best was that my best friends were there with me, all 10 of us.

Before we got this all planned out, DF was very insistent on having a big group there. I thought it was kind of weird because he usually cares very little about hanging out with my friends. He kept saying, "The more the merrier right?" and I just couldn't argue with that logic. Another thing he insisted on was having a watermelon and a bat to smash it. He insisted that he wanted an Anime-beach-episode day which included smashing a watermelon. We got the bat at the very last minute before the store closed the night before the beach!

Back to the beach, we were having a pretty good Anime-beach-episode day with the splashing in the water, bouncing a beach ball around and his face "accidentally" planting into my chest when the waves were too strong in the water (and the subsequent punch in his face. He didn't fly out of the water though). Then when it was time to smash the watermelon, DF had us all draw for who would go first. I got the stick with the coal on it, so I had the pleasure of being the one to smash the watermelon.

I picked up the bat and waited for my friend to tie the blindfold. It took her FOREVER to do this. I was getting so agitated because she kept "having trouble" with the knot and it was pretty frustating to stand there and be blindfolded for 5 minutes. When it was finally "tight enough", I had to be spun around a couple of times to get me nice and dizzy and boy, was I! My friends gave me some instructions and I took my first hit. According to my friends, it was right in the middle! I hit it again and BAM, the watermelon split in half and my friends cheered in disbelief. I'm gooood.

I took my blindfold off to admire the perfectly split watermelon when my friends told me to turn around. There he was, in a SUIT (sans jacket), saying something I can't remember (it went along the lines of, "Everyday I wake up, I smile because of you", or something). All I could register in my head was "Oh my gawd!" and "Holy ****!" I started crying as he got down on one knee and took out the ring. I couldn't even say yes, I just nodded. I was being blinded my tears and couldn't even see the ring. He reached for my right hand before I gave him my left. All of my friends clapped, along with everyone else on the beach that just witnessed that. It was AWESOME.

 

[YukiPhnx]

2. The (large)cast of characters

Of course, the stars of this Disneymoon are going to be Andrew and I!

This will be the 3rd trip to the World for us. Our 1st trip together was back in 2010 when we celebrated Andrew's graduation from university, his birthday, and our 3rd anniversary. It was a fabulous trip where Andrew finally "got it". Sure he wasn't DYING to go back like I was, but he finally got why I loved Disney so much and was definitely looking forward to going back. To read about this trip, the link is in my signature!

Our 2nd time was just this February. Most people won't count this as much of a trip, but it counted for me. We took a cruise that departed from Tampa Bay. I found out we were ONLY a short 1.5 hr drive away from DISNEY WORLD so we rented a car after our cruise and spent the evening in Downtown Disney and had dinner at Cape May Cafe. Sure, we were only there for about 5 hours, but they were wonderful.

So if this is a honeymoon, why are there so many people coming along? Well naturally, after our 2010 trip, I was already planning our next trip. My 2 younger cousins really wanted to go to Disney and my siblings really wanted to return, so I started planning a trip for when my youngest cousin graduated from Gr.8, which is in 2013.

Then my best friend wanted to come along too because she missed out a lot on HER first trip in 2010 (she went to Disney 2 months after I returned) so I said, "Sure, the more the merrier!" Are you keeping count? So far that's 7 people.

Not long after that, my aunt started telling all our family friends what I was doing. A light bulb went off in all their heads and they saw it as the perfect opportunity for their kids to go to Disney without having to take them there. These are the kids that I grew up baby-sitting. I mean, I knew some as these kids as baby bumps!

It was hard to say no...So practically overnight, our group of 7 grew to a group of 13.

So I started planning a trip for 13 people for August 2013 for 11 nights. Why are we going for 12 days? Well after our first trip to the World, Andrew and I agreed Disney NEEDED MORE DAYS. I calculated just how many days I felt we needed to enjoy the parks and resorts and came up with 12. I also wanted to make it a spectacular trip for my cousins who may not be able to return until much later in life.

Fast forward to this July when Andrew proposed to me! As my engagement sank in, so did my ideas for when I wanted my wedding. I have always loved August as a month. I love summer and August to me has always been a good time to travel. But wait....I'm planning a trip to the World with 11 other people, so how will that work?

And that's how our big group trip turned into a big DISNEYMOON. I am even MORE excited to plan for this! Because it's a honeymoon, I'll have an excuse to really go all out. We'll be going on tours, eating with Characters, and going to dessert parties! IT'S GOING TO BE EPIC!!!

 

[glennbo123]

Signing up Yuki! I'll have to go back to read.

The proposal story sounds awesome! Congratulations to you and Andrew. Do you have any pictures of it?

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Yuki!

Sorry I haven't responded earlier, but it has been quite a week.
I just LOVE the story of your proposal. How fun that Andrew and your friends were able to pull that off on you!
And this is so you, adding people to your travel party. But I am sure this is going such a fun trip ..... I am just so sad we will miss each other!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Signing up Yuki! I'll have to go back to read.

The proposal story sounds awesome! Congratulations to you and Andrew. Do you have any pictures of it?

Thanks Glen! And I DO have pictures of it. I just need to be on my computer at home to upload. My photo hosting sites are blocked at work and my iPad can't support flash (which sucks)

Hi Yuki!

Sorry I haven't responded earlier, but it has been quite a week.
I just LOVE the story of your proposal. How fun that Andrew and your friends were able to pull that off on you!
And this is so you, adding people to your travel party. But I am sure this is going such a fun trip ..... I am just so sad we will miss each other!

No worries about responding Karin! I wish I could be more caught up in your TRs, but your pictures are blocked at work.

Haha, it's definitely going to be ONE BIG PARTY. I'm trying to convince one of my bridesmaids to come along. 2 of them are already coming.

 

[YukiPhnx]

3. Proposal pictures

As requested, here are some pictures from my beach proposal.

Me and my Maid of Awesome in the middle and another bridesmaid.

My Maid of Awesome, Anndrea, will be coming on the honeymoon. I think we also convinced my bridesmaid to come along to I guess the title has to be updated! I should change it to 14 people and counting, haha.

I'm still holding the bat I smashed the melon with!

In this picture, Andrew is reaching for my right hand.

I gave him my left one instead.

See how beautifully cut that melon was!

This was taken right after the proposal.

I was still really shocked at what just happened.

It was really weird after too. Everyone was waiting for a speech like I had something prepared! All I could say was "Oh my gawd!" over and over again until my friends were sick of it. And then I kept saying it.

And here's the ring!

It's made with 1 round cut diamond in the middle and two oval cut diamonds on the side. I'll have to take a better picture next time. Like my nails?

We ended the day with a great big group shot.

Classic.

 

[YukiPhnx]

4. Special stuff I want to do

I've been thinking about this trip for a long time now so naturally, I have a list of all the stuff I want to do on it!

1. Wishes dessert party.

Ever since I saw those dessert party pictures on Karin (dizneeat)'s TR, I knew I wanted to be there. It's going to be a great way to watch Wishes too!

2. Storybook dining at Akershus.

I thought this would be a great thing for us girls to do. The food also looks pretty good. I'm excited to try new foods! This is something Anndrea and I had planned to do when we thought we were going to Disney together back in 2010.

3. Keys to the Kingdom tour (I couldn't find a better picture)

I love the idea of going on these tours to learn more about Disney. Well....for my group to learn more about Disney, I already know everything they tell you (Cause I'm a DISer!). These little details are what makes Disney so special to me. Plus, we're going to have 12 days there, it'll be a nice way to spice up the Magic Kingdom!

4. The Pirates League

I had SOOO much fun becoming a pirate on my last trip! A couple of the group members have expressed an interest in it too. I've definitely learned not to go with the whole face make-up this time...

5. Illuminations Cruise

I've heard mixed things about this cruise. Some good some bad. My boss had a really good experience so I'm going to give it a try. I've been to Disney twice and still haven't seen Illuminations!

6. A foot massage

I've decided that I will probably need one in the middle of my trip. Since it's my honeymoon, why not? Also, Lia (_disneygirl)'s mom had a massage and she really enjoyed it.

7. Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba

I have loved Cirque ever since it came out of Montreal. Unfortunately, I've never been able to make it to a show.

Even though this list contains some food experiences, I'll be talking about my dining plans separately. We all know how that deserves a post of it's own, right?

Do you have any recommendations for special experiences you really enjoyed?

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

What a sweet proposal! I love to read about Disney Wedding and Disneymoons...

That's a great list of things that you want to do on your trip... I'd like to several of those as well...

Congratulations...

 

[*Seanaci*]

Oh. My. Gawd!

Congrats to you and Andrew! What an awesome proposal!!

Also...a trip for 14...you've got an overflowing plate! Good luck! But, I am along for the ride.

 

[YukiPhnx]

What a sweet proposal! I love to read about Disney Wedding and Disneymoons...

That's a great list of things that you want to do on your trip... I'd like to several of those as well...

Congratulations...

Hi Patricia!!! to my PTR! Yes, I'm really excited about doing many or even all of those things! And thank upi

Oh. My. Gawd!

Congrats to you and Andrew! What an awesome proposal!!

Also...a trip for 14...you've got an overflowing plate! Good luck! But, I am along for the ride.

Thank you so much! Haha, yes that's a really big group.... Great to have you here

 

[YukiPhnx]

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone. My work has gotten stricter about surfing the net so it's making it a little difficult for me to update.

I will be back soon with more details about my group and how I plan to handle them, haha.

 

[YukiPhnx]

5. My plan of attack

I've actually had a lot of time to think of how this large group is going to work. So far I've come up with who will go in each room. We actually lucked out and have just enough adults in the group to spread out amongst the minors! There needs to be at least 1 adult in each room, so I'm glad it worked out this way.

Room 1-Yuki and Andrew
Room 2-my sister Frances(22), my cousin Tracey(14), and family friend Daphne(17)
Room 3-my brother Kelvin(21), my cousin Jeffrey(16), and family friend Vinson(15)
Room 4-family friend Catherine(19), her sister Jessie(17), and family friend Tina(16)
Room 5-bffs Anndrea and Amanda

My bffs may or may not stay in POP with us. Anndrea has expressed some interest in staying at a Moderate.

As you can see, the youngest in our group will be 14. Which means she's the perfect age to be left alone. Just as planned! She's just old enough to not need any baby-sitting, which is just the kind of trip I wanted.

My basic plan so far is for the group to at least visit the same parks together on the first few days so they can all get used to each of the parks. Once they learn how to take the bus, I'm sure they'll all want to go their separate ways.

People that first heard of my big group asked me how I planned to go through the parks with 12 other people! I just simply told them that I won't be. I'll be planning meals for all or most of us to attend, but I'm hoping for my group to just spread about and do their thing. They're all teenagers/adults that can take care of themselves.

So if our group is so split up, how will we communicate? I'm actually working on a little info book to go into each room with all the details of our trip such as park hours and ADRs and special events so that everyone will know what's going on. Also, thanks to the fact that WDW will have free wifi by the time we're there, we can communicate on a msg-ing app! I was very worried about how we would actually keep in touch with each other. I was thinking of walkie-talkies or dry-erase boards on our doors. We couldn't just easily text each other because of the CRAZY roaming charges.

I still plan to make some use of the UG's touring plans or at least for the first few days. The plans pretty much ensures we get all the rides in at the beginning of the trip so we can relax for the rest of it. I'm going to have to teach my group how to take it slow. We'll have 12 days there after all!

Do you have any more tips on how to handle such a large group?

 

[YukiPhnx]

6. The [WDW] Bible

And by Bible, I am of course referring to The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World! On my last trip when I was drinking up every little bit of info about WDW, I read this guide cover to cover.

Sure, it doesn't change much from year to year but I knew I HAD to get the 2013 one. I know it's already out but I was waiting for a discount to come out on the book.

Then the other night while surfing on my Pad, I saw that the iBook version is ONLY $11!!!!!! So I bought it. I mean, it's SO much easier to tote around than the book version. (I might still buy the book, just to lend out to friends and stuff)

I'm starting all over from the beginning. I love the "first time" feeling it's giving me. Re-reading it, it brings me back to when I was so excited to learn any and everything about The World.