Magical Honeymoon trip report w/ LOTS of PICS! (PhotoPass Pics Added) 4/26/09-5/3/09

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

Well we have been back for a month and I'm finally getting time to start this trip report. I think I'll post day by day.

So here is the background. So me, Todd, 34 and my wife, Brandi, 28 decided to go to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon. How could we not? I proposed to her last year June 2008 on our last trip to WDW. Our wedding was in our city of Lafayette, Louisiana on Friday 4/24/09 and our honeymoon started on Sunday 4/26/09 and ended on Sunday 5/3/09.

Ok so our first day of the WDW honeymoon was Sunday 4/26/09.
It started bright and early, we had to wake up at 3:30am! to make it to the airport in time. We flew Delta and our first flight left Lafayette, LA at 5:55am. We flew from Lafayette, LA to Altlanta, GA then after about 1hr layover we arrived in Orlando, FL 12:01pm. The flights was just fine, only one problem in Atlanta. Our flight changed gates so we had to make our way to another gate. We then proceeded to the Magical Express area at MCO to catch our bus to Disney Polynesian Resort.

After a brief wait in line we were magically wisked away to Walt Disney World. Luckily we were the first resort to be dropped off. This particular bus also dropped off at the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and I think Wilderness Lodge. I can't say for sure about the WL. Oh something else to mention, I have stayed at the Polynesian before but it was 21 years ago, and this was Brandi's first time staying at this resort.

So we arrived at the Poly, around 2pm. Upon check in I verified our requests. I had faxed some special request for our honeymoon. We originally booked garden view but we were very happily upgraded to Magic Kingdom View! So we found out our room was ready, Tahiti room 2035. I also requested turndown service for each night. Also since we had booked the 4/3 deal and my wife is an AP holder, we had the concierge separate our park tickets from our room key card. After a few minutes the process was complete. We got our bearings and headed to our room.

Upon arriving at our room, we found a great room with a spectacular view. We were very excited. the only negative thing about our room was it was so close to the Ticket and Transportation Center that we would hear the Ferry Boat horns at all hours of the night. After a day or so, we kind of got used to it. But the location of the room was very convenient to walk to the TTC. It was actually quicker to catch the monorail at the TTC than walking to the Great Ceremonial House to catch it.

And the view was just spectacular. We could see Cinderella's Castle and Seven Seas Lagoon with no plam trees in our view.

So by the time we settled down my wife, Brandi was tired from waking up so early. So she wanted to rest. REST? Not me! I let her take a nap for a hour while I explored the resort. After all this is Disney, and I haven't stayed at the Polynesian in 21 years! Let me say the resort is beautiful! We definitely want to stay there again.

Ok after I walked around for an hour it's was time for me to wake up the wife and head over to Magic Kingdom for a few hours before we had to go to Ft. Wilderness Campground for dinner at Hoop Dee Doo Revue at 7:15pm.
We took the monorail over to MK. We first got my new Annual Pass. (my old one expired) and we also purchased the Tables in Wonderland card (this saved us quite a bit of money.) We really didn't have anything in particular that we wanted to to in the MK today. We are big pin traders so we started checking cast member lanyards. We found a couple but the good ones we were looking for were hard to find the whole trip. We decided to take in a couple attractions. We toured the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Both were a walk on. Maybe a 5 minute wait in the line for POTC, just the time to walk through. Oh we also had to get a Mickey premium icecream bar!

We also got a quick photo with Mr. Smee and Captain Hook

After riding those rides and walking around a little bit we took the boat from MK to Ft. Wilderness Campground to dine at Pioneer Hall for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. This was the third or fouth time that I have been there, this was Brandi's first time. Before heading into the show I got a quick picture of the famous Lawnmower tree and a picture with a horse at the ranch.

We enjoyed it very much! The entertainment, the food, the service was all good!

After Hoop Dee Doo Revue was over we headed back to our room at the Poly.
When we arrived back into our room we notice the turn down service.

Just as we were entered our room, Wishes was starting!

Watching Wishes from our balcony was magical! Perfect way to end our first day of our honeymoon!

Tomorrow Day #2, Keys to the Kingdom Tour and Magic Kingdom!

 

[MA pigletfan]

yay! i love it! We are going on our disneymoon at the end of our honeymoon in october..this is getting me super excited for it! Great start!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hey there from a fellow Louisiana resident! West Monroe here. How in the world did your wife take a nap when you're at the Polynesian/Disney? There's no way I could have. Lookin' forward to reading more.

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

Hey there from a fellow Louisiana resident! West Monroe here. How in the world did your wife take a nap when you're at the Polynesian/Disney? There's no way I could have. Lookin' forward to reading more.

Yes there is no way I could sleep. I was to excited. Actually this is not the only time she went back to take a nap.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yes there is no way I could sleep. I was to excited. Actually this is not the only time she went back to take a nap.

What?!?! Give that girl some vitamins!

 

[Laurabearz]

Woot!

Bout time your writing this

Can't wait to see the coming days

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

Day #2 Monday 4/27/09 Weather was sunny and warm, like every day during our trip.

So for our second day we had scheduled the Keys to the Kingdom tour at 8:30am. The reason I chose this time for the tour so that we would get into the parks early before everyone else.

We woke up at 6:30am to get to MK on time for the tour. Well Brandi was tired from the traveling the day before and was a little grumpy we were getting up so early for this tour. I told her it was already paid for and we needed to go. We ended up not having time for breakfast. Thank goodness there was at least coffee and water at the check in desk. We arrived at the MK around 8am and entered the park early. We were to meet at City Hall. After a few minutes the rest of the people that were taking the tour arrived and we met our tour guide Claire. She was great. Full of knowledge and asked us questions throughout the tour.

If any of you haven't heard about the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, it includes lunch at the Columbia harbor house. So before starting the tour we had to choose on a menu what we wanted to eat for lunch. The first thing that was discussed in the tour was the attention to detail and the little things about Main Street that were unique, especially the windows marking the accomplishments of the imagineers and designers of the park. Great detail was taken to explain these. After Main Street we walked over to Adventureland for more secrets. Now let me say this almost 95% of the trivia she asked, I knew the answers to. I had to control my excitement to answer all the questions and let other answer them. I talked to Claire and she said there is usually one or two people on her tours like me that are really trivia buffs. Next we rode the Jungle Cruise but instead the the normal speil, they told us the secrets that make the Jungle cruise tick.

After Jungle Cruise we made our way backstage near Splash Mountain where the parade enters and exits. We were show where the parade floats are kept. We were also show the water resevoir for Splash Mountain and explained how the water was pumped into the attraction. We also got to see some of the trash evac system. Next on the tour was lunch at the Columbia Harbor house. They had a section upstairs roped off for us with name tags set on the tables next to the food we had chosen earlier in the morning. Our name tags had a special collectors Keys to the Kingdom pin attached. What a great souvineer. After eating we headed to the Haunted Mansion and entered via the Servants Entrance. Also something to note is that certain details were brought up for us to look for and notice. Lots of interesting things you might not know about why things are done the way they are or why they look a certain way. Everything at the MK was done on purpose. Once we rode Haunted Masion we headed back to the hub and back to Main Street. We went into a shop and headed backstage once again. This time we were shown some of the shipping and receiving and parking lots. Then it was time to go into the utilidors the highlight of the tour. The areas are pretty small compared to what I was thinking. Lots of stuff craming the corridors. Small carts coming and going. We had to move out the way several times to let them pass. You ever wonder why you never se an ambulance in the MK when someone gets hurt or need medical attention. That's because they have small medical carts that go underneath in the utilidors. We were running a little behind so we headed to the main level and made our way back to City Hall to conclude the tour. It was a great tour and would do it again. It's a lot of walking you don't stop much. Only once for a bathroom break and once for lunch. The tour ended approximately 2pm. So it was like a 6-7 hour tour. You could tell our tour guide wanted to go longer but we were pressed for time.

After the tour Brandi and I continued to tour MK on our own.

We rode Buzz Light year, Stitch's Great Escape (this was Brandi's first time doing Stitch, she couldn't get that discusting Chili dog smell out of her nose. Never again she said ) We also toured Country Bear Jamboree and Big thunder mountain.

By that time we had to get to Liberty Tree Tavern for our 6:10pm ADR. We had eaten here before and even though there were no characters we still enjoyed the meal. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the main course. As you will see this is a continuing theme for me. I must just forget about the picture and concentrate on the food once the main course comes out.

So after dinner Brandi was really tired from the walking and getting up early, even though I wanted to stay to watch Wishes inside the park we left to go back to the Polynesian. We did end up catching the fireworks from our balcony as we were going to bed.

So that's the end of day #2, Day #3 Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ooooh! I love the flower and garden festival. Anxiously awaiting pictures.

 

[Girldreamer02]

Sounds like your off to a good start on your trip! Can't wait to hear more! I'd love to do a tour...we always talk about it and then never follow through because we'd rather be able to tour the parks at our leisure than be tied down to a tour. Maybe someday!

 

[lspst8]

Looks like you had a great honeymoon. I'll be closely following your trip report, as my Disneymoon is at the beginning of September. Your pictures are really nice too.

 

[Maxwell42]

Signing up...

 

[crocko]

Remembering the fun Disneymoon we went on back in 2001. That was a great trip....looks like your first 2 days went well.

Great pics, look forward to seeing the rest.

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

Day #3, Tuesday 4/28/09 Weather Sunny and warm

Today is scheduled for Epcot and the Flower and Garden Festival. This is the second time I have seen this event. Last time was back in May of 2003. This was Brandi's first time at this event. This was one of the major things that she was looking forward to.

We woke up early so we would have time to eat breakfast and have time to get to Epcot at park opening to get fastpasses to Soarin. We woke up to a great view of the Magic Kingdom. (We are loving this room more and more!)

After getting dressed it's off to Captain Cook's for breakfast.
The food there is your typical Disney Fast food breakfast. Nothing special but very tasty!

Now that we have eaten and I've had my coffee, time to catch the monorail to Epcot. Here comes monorail gold. We requested the front with the driver and there was a spot for us! We've done this several times in the past so it's nothing new for us but it's always something fun to do, especially on the long ride to Epcot.

Side note about riding on the monorail. Don't ride when they are training a new pilot! Our pilot was training, and ran the monorail jerky. He would speed up too fast and the console would beep, then he'd slow down too much then speed up again. He needed a cruise control or something!

So we finally arrive at Epcot. The Flower and Garden Festival is in full effect. Check out the princess topiaries at the entrance.

On our way to get our Soarin Fastpasses had to take a pic of my wife.

After getting the fastpasses for Soarin we headed over to The Seas with Nemo and friends to check out Turtle Talk with Crush. We had just a few minutes wait until the next show. Next we headed back to the Land to ride Soarin. Once it was done we decided to get something to eat at the Sunshine Season. This was the first time we had eaten here. Heard lots of good things and we found that to be true. Brandi got a turkey sandwich and I got the rotisserie chicken. Very good both of them.

Once we ate we rode Spaceship earth. Only had a 5-10 minute wait. Then we walked over to Test Track where there was a 20 minute wait, so we waited Enjoyed both rides. Oh by the way, the new Chevy Camaro was on display at Test Track! Very nice!

So now it's time to so some Flower and Garden Festival stuff. We checked out the Butterfly garden. Very neat to see the butterflies around us.

Here are some various pictures of the flower and garden displays.

Now it was time to head towards World Showcase. We decide to head to Norway to ride Maelstrom. On the way towards Norway we spoted Mariachi Cobre at Mexico which we love very much.

We also did the Kim Possible mission in Mexico. I really enjoyed the interactive things planted around the pavillion. I'd recommend anyone trying them. We didn't have time to do any of the others but I've heard they are all fun.

So we get to Norway, the wait time for Maelstrom was 20 minutes so we decide to wait. We get on the ride and just as we get to the polar bear area where you're going backwards the ride stops! They try to restart the ride but it's no good. The lights come on and we get to see the backstage magic.

So a couple cast members come over and walk us all off the ride. This was the first time any ride we were on went 101 and we had to walk off.

We then left Norway and made our way around world Showcase. We had dinner reservations for Le Cellier at 6:55pm so our goal was to make it around the lagoon in time.

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

In Germany we stopped quickly for Brandi to take a picture with Snow White.

Around 3:30pm we were getting hungry so we got a snack at the American Adventure. I got the new buffalo wing nuggets and Brandi got a mickey rice crispy treat. Both were good. Continuing on we stopped at Japan to check out the drummers. Great performance!

Up next we stopped in France to take pictures of the flowers and with Aurora.

It was getting close to our ADR at Le Cellier so we checked in and waited maybe 5 minutes for our seats. I have eaten here before, this was Brandi's first time.

We ordered our drinks. I ordered a blackberry mojito.

We recieved the great bread and ordered the Cheddar Cheese soup for an appetizer.

Brandi ordered the filet and I ordered the "Scopa Special" the New York Strip Steak.

After dinner we made our way to our favorite spot around World Showcase Lagoon to watch Illuminations! it was great as ever. Although I did notice some of the big perimeter projectile fireworks were missing. Don't know why the weather wasn't bad at all.

After the fireworks were over we walked to the monorail to catch a ride back to the Polynesian.

The Flower and Garden festival was great. I would recommend it to anyone.

Next up Day #4 Animal Kingdom! and Ohana Dinner!

 

[thptrek]

Great pics. Really sounds like you all had a great time. It is kind of neat to see rides all lit up when something goes wrong.

 

[mickeystoontown]

The Flower & Garden Festival pictures are absolutely gorgeous! I sooooo miss going to Epcot during the festival. The LeCellier food looks very good.

 

[Girldreamer02]

Love the pics from the f&g festival! Have never been, but would love to go! Where do you watch illuminations from if you don't mind sharing? We're always looking for a better spot...although the spot we had this past time wasn't half bad. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Laurabearz]

Great Pictures! I can't wait to see Ohana!!

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

Love the pics from the f&g festival! Have never been, but would love to go! Where do you watch illuminations from if you don't mind sharing? We're always looking for a better spot...although the spot we had this past time wasn't half bad. Can't wait to hear more!

We watch Illuminations from Mexico.
Here is a couple picture from there.

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

I might not have time to post day #4 today. It might have to wait till tomorrow.