The One Where We Got Engaged - Updated 6/14 (Be Our Guest)

[Belle83]

The One Where We Got Engaged


Welcome! We just returned from a wonderful trip to Florida and I'm very excited to re-live it through a trip report. I'm also excited about being able to refer to my fiancé as my fiancé!

Trip Dates: December 6, 2012 - December 18, 2012

Who: Me (29) & DF (35)

Where: Cocoa Beach, Kennedy Space Center, Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, Walt Disney World, and Sea World

Hotels: DoubleTree by Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, Loews Royal Pacific, and Disney's Port Orleans Riverside

Trip Background: When we returned from our first trip together to WDW in May 2011, our post-Disney depression was horrible. My trip report from that trip is here: May 2011 Trip Report. It was my fiancé's first trip to WDW and he couldn't wait to go back. We also hit some bumps during our first trip and sort of wanted a do-over trip. We have been saving for this trip ever since. Neither one of us had been during the holidays, and we were looking forward to cooler weather. Add free dining to the mix and we were set! This was my 5th trip to WDW, and my fiancé's 2nd.

This is us during our first trip:

Thanks for reading!​

 

[Belle83]

Table of Contents
​

Thursday, December 6, 2012
Part 1: Travel Day

Friday, December 7, 2012
Part 2: Cocoa Beach

Saturday, December 8, 2012
Part 3: The Proposal
Part 4: Kennedy Space Center
Part 5: Loews Royal Pacific

Sunday, December 9, 2012
Part 6: Universal Studios
Part 7: Lunch at Finnegan's
Part 8: Universal Studios
Part 9: Islands of Adventure
Part 10: Dinner at Bubba Gump's

Monday, December 10, 2012
Part 11: Islands of Adventure & Lunch at Mythos
Part 12: Islands of Adventure & Dinner at Margaritaville

Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Part 13: Loews Royal Pacific
Part 14: Lunch at Lombard's, Universal Studios, & Islands of Adventure
Part 15: Port Orleans Riverside
Part 16: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Part 17: POR & Lunch at Mama Melrose's
Part 18: Hollywood Studios
Part 19: Dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse

Thursday, December 13, 2012
Part 20: Animal Kingdom
Part 21: Dinner at Jiko
Part 22: Port Orleans Riverside

Friday, December 14, 2012
Part 23: Epcot
Part 24: More Epcot
Part 25: Dinner at Teppan Edo & Epcot

Saturday, December 15, 2012
Part 26: Port Orleans Riverside
Part 27: Sea World
Part 28: More Sea World

Sunday, December 16, 2012
Part 29: Port Orleans Riverside
Part 30: Hollywood Studios
Part 31: Downtown Disney


Monday, December 17, 2012
Part 32: Magic Kingdom
Part 33: Lunch at Be Our Guest

​

 

[Belle83]

Part 1: Travel Day - Thursday Dec. 6th


Even though I started packing a week before the trip, I still wasn't finished the night before. My cat decided to help.

On our last trip, we missed our flight. After missing a turn for the airport, I was afraid that would be our fate this time! Look at all of this luggage for just 2 people, lol. We brought an extra suitcase so we could bring back lots of stuff. This amount of luggage becomes more relevant later in our trip...

Thankfully, we didn't miss our flight. Here we are waiting to leave from DIA. Our flight left DIA around 1:25 p.m. We had the row to ourselves!

Since we booked our flights with airline miles, we didn't have a direct flight from Denver to Orlando. This was taken on our way to our layover in Minneapolis.

Our plane from Minneapolis to Orlando! Yay! Our layover was only about 1.5 hours, if that. Plane left Minneapolis at 5:35 p.m. We had the row to ourselves on this flight too, isn't that the best?

Time to get my Real Simple on That's a Parks & Rec reference, if anyone here is a fan of the show. That's my trip binder under the magazines.

We arrived in Orlando a little earlier than our scheduled arrival time of 9:50 p.m. Picked up our rental car from EZ Rental. The guy tried getting us to upgrade, which we didn't want to do. Finally he just gave us a free upgrade because they were out of the standard sized car we reserved. More on that later...

After picking up the car, we drove to Cocoa Beach and checked in at the Doubletree by Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront hotel. Here's our room:

It was dark and late by the time we arrived in Cocoa Beach, but we hadn't had dinner yet. Nothing was really open so we went to Steak 'n Shake! We don't have these in Colorado so I was kind of excited. It's cheap and pretty good food. I had the BLT, and I'm not sure what my fiancé had, but it was not bad for a 1 a.m. dinner.



Next Up: Cocoa Beach ​

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Is the title of this TR a Friends reference? If so, I love it! Congratulations on your engagement!

 

[marDgreen88]

I'm joining!!! Anyone who has a Friends reference as a TR title is automatically awesome in my book!

Congrats on your engagement! How precious! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[Belle83]

Is the title of this TR a Friends reference? If so, I love it! Congratulations on your engagement!

Yep! We are addicted to Friends.

I'm joining!!! Anyone who has a Friends reference as a TR title is automatically awesome in my book!

Congrats on your engagement! How precious! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

Friends is the best show, ever. Thanks for joining!

 

[heaven2dc]

Great start! So glad you didn't miss your flight - your first hotel room looks really nice and comfy. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Missyrose]

Great start! Can't wait to hear all about your engagement!

 

[Sparkly]

Good start!

Phew, good that you got your flight this time. I'm always worried about missing it!

The hotel looks nice We haven't eaten in Steak And Shake yet, but we keep meaning to try it.

Subscribing!

 

[brandihead2012]

Love, It is my dream to get engaged at WDW

 

[Lcaemom]

Joining in!! Can't wait to hear about your engagement...and hopefully hear about your wedding plans! Will you be planning a Disney wedding?
We just got engaged there, too! So magical!!!

 

[holleypie]

Congratulations on your engagement!

The guy tried getting us to upgrade, which we didn't want to do. Finally he just gave us a free upgrade because they were out of the standard sized car we reserved.

Ugh, that's so shady!

 

[Belle83]

Great start! So glad you didn't miss your flight - your first hotel room looks really nice and comfy. Can't wait to read more!

I'm soo glad we didn't too!

Great start! Can't wait to hear all about your engagement!

Thanks!

Good start!

Phew, good that you got your flight this time. I'm always worried about missing it!

The hotel looks nice We haven't eaten in Steak And Shake yet, but we keep meaning to try it.

Subscribing!

The hotel was nice, and it was pretty reasonably priced. With taxes and everything, it was about $250-ish for 2 nights.

Love, It is my dream to get engaged at WDW

Mine too!

Joining in!! Can't wait to hear about your engagement...and hopefully hear about your wedding plans! Will you be planning a Disney wedding?
We just got engaged there, too! So magical!!!

Yay! Not planning Disney wedding, but probably a Disneymoon! No wedding date yet but I think it will be in October 2013, with a Disneymoon in January 2014.

I'm not completely on board with the idea of going to WDW for a honeymoon, because we are planning a lot of Disney trips this year. We were planning to go to Disneyland with my family in September 2013 to celebrate my 30th birthday. And as oaf a few hours ago, we might go to WDW in April 2013 for a quick trip to use some unused airline tickets that are about to expire.

Congratulations on your engagement!

Ugh, that's so shady!

Thank you! I agree about the car rental place. They are such a pain to deal with.

 

[Belle83]

Part 2: Cocoa Beach - Friday Dec. 7th

I love the ocean, so we made a point to visit Cocoa Beach this trip. It was really nice to have a relaxing day after flying, before beginning the hectic theme park part of the vacation! This is the view from our hotel room balcony. We didn't want to pay for an ocean front room, so this is our "partial ocean view" room.

First stop of the morning was the Starbucks at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel. We almost stayed at this hotel, but changed at the last minute so that we could be on the beach. They have a pretty decent shopping area inside (too large to be considered a gift shop), and my fiancé needed shirts so we spent some time in here for a while. It's a little difficult to find warm-weather clothing in Colorado in December! I then proceeded to spill coffee all over my white shirt, so I had to buy a new shirt too

Remember all of that luggage? Try fitting it in THIS rental car. When the rental car place gave us the option of the free upgrade, I asked my fiancé if he was sure the luggage would fit. He loves Camaros so of course his answer was "we'll make it work!". So practical

All I really knew about Cocoa Beach before this trip was that it had a Ron Jon Surf Shop.

After buying some souvenirs at Ron Jon's, we went here to grab lunch (deli sandwiches), bottled water, etc.

And finally, the beach!

Our hotel:

Love!

We decided to head back to the hotel pool for some drinks. I wanted something fruity with an umbrella.

The pool wasn't very large, but it was right by the beach.

Palm trees just make me happy.

No umbrella, but good enough!

After sitting by the pool, we went up to the room and took a nap. We ended up sleeping for several hours, waking up around 8:30 p.m. (oops)! I didn't know this, but this ruined my fiancé's initial proposal plan. We went to the Cocoa Beach pier to find dinner, but the restaurants were full with holiday parties so we went back to our hotel and had very delicious wood-fired pizza at the hotel restaurant.

Next Up: The Proposal ​

 

[marDgreen88]

I must say, your partial ocean view is still pretty awesome! Don't you just love the ocean?

Oh my goodness, all these pictures are so pretty! Can't wait to hear about the proposal!!!

 

[jecskc]

Ooooo ...... I love good proposal TR !! I'm in !!

 

[librarymouse]

Subbing!! Sounds like a great first day of vacation ...can't wait to hear about the proposal!

 

[Disneychix]

oh just getting good! I was waiting for the proposal on the beach!
Was the beach warm in December?

Don't you just love a vacation nap though?

 

[NMW]

Subscribing

 

[Belle83]

I must say, your partial ocean view is still pretty awesome! Don't you just love the ocean?

Oh my goodness, all these pictures are so pretty! Can't wait to hear about the proposal!!!

I love the ocean! That's one downside of living in Colorado (no ocean nearby).

Ooooo ...... I love good proposal TR !! I'm in !!

Yay!

Subbing!! Sounds like a great first day of vacation ...can't wait to hear about the proposal!

It really was a great day at the beach. We ran into a lot of people at the hotel who had just finished their Disney trips, but I'm glad we went to the beach first.

oh just getting good! I was waiting for the proposal on the beach!
Was the beach warm in December?

Don't you just love a vacation nap though?

Vacation naps are awesome! I was waiting for a proposal on the beach too...

It was warm enough to go swimming, but not unbearably hot. Can't remember the exact temperature.

Subscribing

Welcome!