Our Honeymoon trip report

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

I guess it is time that I relive that amazing vacation in Walt Disney World before I start to forget things...can't let that happen!

Husband and I got married on November 29, 2008. By 6:00 am on the 30th we were headed to the airport to board our first flight to Walt Disney World!!

I have been planning this vacation since we got engaged in October of 2007. We acutally planned our wedding around our honeymoon. We both wanted to go to Walt Disney World, no Hawaii, no Jamaica, just Disney. And what is odd, is people thought that we were crazy for going to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon! Even people that we met while in Walt Disney World....are these people crazy? Anyway, I did a lot of research on the best times to go to Walt Disney World and it turned out that the first week of December is always a good bet. Nice weather, short lines, and of course...during the Chirstmas season. So it was a no brainer that we scheduled our wedding the last weekend in November so we could jet to florida right away.
Oh...and by the way, my name is Sydney and I am a teacher-in-training. School takes forever I love hanging out at home, going on vacation, playing the piano, architecture, and of course...anything to do with Disney especially Snow White and The Little Mermaid! The Husband is Jared. Jared is a farmer, loves, motorcycles, dirtbikes, machinery, and Disney too

Jared (far right) and his groomsmen

Me and my Nana

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

Ok how do I post a picture on here? I have so many!

 

[CharityLynn]

You just put

after link

 

[DARuss]

What a great way to spend a honeymoon. We are going to a wedding on valentines day where the couple will be spending their honeymoon @ WL.
Congrats and I can't wait to read about the trip.

I use photobucket for my pics but the way CharityLynn said is probably easier.

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

Alright! Thanks for the help!

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

We booked our 7 night/7 day trip last December. We were staying at the Contemporary, got the 7 day park hopper pass as well as the dining plan with the snack, quick service meal, and table service meal (Great choice on our part by the way). We were set. I did a ton of research, watched all of the travel channel specials on Walt Disney World and even prepared an itenerary with 14 pages of info that would give us all the tips that we needed while we were there. I heard you had to go there with a plan!

Sunday morning was the day our trip started. It was a little hard preparing for a wedding and a huge trip at the same time, it is a little overwhelming. I think I would have liked a day inbetween for a little recovery time, but going the morning after we got married, even if we only slept for 3 hours, was super exciting!

We left California and had a 4 hour layover in Vegas. Its amazing that the first thing you hear as soon as you enter into Las Vegas is slot machines.
We made it to Orlando at 11:00 pm. Even the airport was filled with Disney, I couldn't wait to get there!
We boarded the Magical Express bus. It was only us and another couple, awesome! I had heard that it took a long time to get around when riding that bus, not in the middle of the night!

We were the second stop, our first stop was at the Wilderness Lodge to drop of the other two. Wow, Christmas garland and lights everywhere, poinsettias in the flower beds, it looked amazing. Then I saw it, the castle. Lit up, with bright blue lights, it was huge. That castle is waaaay bigger than the castle at Disneyland. I think that it was at that point that I went from 26 to 6 again. It felt great.
We made it to the Contemporary and we were the only guests in sight. I had called the week before we left for Orlando to tell the cast members that we were "honeymooners" and would LOVE a good room if possible. The lady said, "well it looks like we might have a suite available, I will place you in a nice room if one is available". Woo-hoo! We're getting a suite! Right? Wrong. They didn't even have it noted that we were honeymooners and they put us in a room with 2 little beds. Come on!
BUT...they called us in the morning and told us that they had a new room for us. Same garden wing, long walk to the monorail, room but atleast this room had a nice big (single) bed and a great view over bay lake.

 

[noahdove]

Can't wait to read more

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

Its Monday, December 1st, our first full day of vacation. We started the day by hopping on the monorail toward the Magic Kingdom. The first person to congratulate us (we wore the "Just Married" buttons the whole trip) was a very nice and talkative cast member. She took this picture of us.

We walked in through the entrance of Magic Kingdom and hopped on the train to Frontierland. Thunder Mountain was the first ride of our trip. The line for that ride was the longest line we waited on the whole trip. It took about 45 minutes to get on. After the long wait we went to Pecos Bills for a scrumptuous pork sandwich, a soda, and a cookie. Already lovin' the dining plan.

Next was Tom Sawyer Island. From the island we were able to catch a few good shots of the Dreams parade.

Then we got back on the train, took the full tour of the Magic Kingdom and got off just in time to catch the last half of the parade from the second story of the train station, a great view by the way!

We got back on the monorail and stopped off at our room to get some warmer clothes for the night ahead. Next stop: Epcot

 

[DARuss]

I'm glad you were able to get your room taken care of. I bet that first night was a little crowded. But not too crowded, after all you are on your honeymoon.

Those are some great pictures. You two make a beautiful couple. I stayed at the Contemporary when I was a kid with my grandparents and still can remember how cool it was to stay there.

We've gone on the DDP for the last 2 years and are using it again this year.

Waiting for more.

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

Thank you!!! I was very impressed by the dining plan. Its so great that you think "there has to be be some carch, right"?" but no! It was great! Have fun on your trip this year, I am so jealous of everyone that gets to go more than I do!

 

[RachelNinja]

I'm already planning my Disneymoon and I'm not even engaged yet! I love being able to live vicariously through yours. Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

I had heard mixed things about epcot - its an adult park, its boring, its amazing. My opinion: I LOVED it
We walked into the park around 5:30 pm. According to my itenerary we had a tree lighting ceremony to watch.

Ahhh...the lights of winter. The glorious pathway leading to the huge tree is filled with beautiful archways of lights, hundreds of colored lights. The lighting of the tree is spectacular, one of those moments that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy! I dropped the ball on getting a picture of this but I got a lot of footage on our camcorder
Next we had to race over to Japan for our dinner reservation at Teppan Edo. The restaurant was packed (well, after all it is 2 restaurants in 1 big building) but totally worth the wait. The long wait. We walked around Japan and scoped out the shops, the drum players and a demonstration by the japanese candy artist, She is good! "I want a candy minnie mouse" She ignored me. Dangit!

Dinner was fabulous. Jared (the Husband) said it was the best filet mignon he has ever had. I ate the steak and shrimp. Just perfect. The bill - $67.85. I just loved handing over our key to the world and saying "dining plan!"

Then we made our way past the amazing candlelight processional, I really wish I would have scheduled time to see that. Dougie Houser was the speaker. Then we walked through the American Pavillion, Italy, Germany, China, Norway and Mexico. We picked out our spot for Illuminations. WOW that was the best firework show I have ever seen, they even added a special Christmas theme toward the end of the show. Wow. Day 1 is over - 6 more to go.

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

I'm already planning my Disneymoon and I'm not even engaged yet! I love being able to live vicariously through yours. Can't wait for the next installment!

Honeymooning in Disney World was just awesome. There is no where else in the world that I would have rather gone, even though I would LOVE to go to Europe. It would have never amounted to what our honeymoon with Disney was. I just hope that when we go back (probably with our kids) I will have as much fun. You will have a blast. Hey, I planned out our honeymoon before the engagement as well, its a very important part of the wedding

 

[DARuss]

First! Oooops. second. Hey, you can't be first on your own update.

I'm glad to hear that you loved Tappen Edo. We have ressies there too. I have never been to a place like that. We have 10 in our party so we will have a table to ourselves.

Glad to see that you liked Epcot. We too love it. One reason why we like to stay at the BWV.

Illuminations is our favorite too. You can't really go wrong with wishes either. Must have been cool to have it with a Christmas theme to it.

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

First! Oooops. second. Hey, you can't be first on your own update.

I'm glad to hear that you loved Tappen Edo. We have ressies there too. I have never been to a place like that. We have 10 in our party so we will have a table to ourselves.

Glad to see that you liked Epcot. We too love it. One reason why we like to stay at the BWV.

Illuminations is our favorite too. You can't really go wrong with wishes either. Must have been cool to have it with a Christmas theme to it.

Oh, sorry about that! I won't comment on any of my own comments, hey I'm still learning
Christmas time was beautiful, it was decked out everywhere you went. It would be hard to be there at any other time of the year after seeing Disney World at Christmas. But, I mean, if I had a chance to go any other time of the year I guess I would do it.

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

We made our way to the ticket and transportation center to wait for a bus to Hollywood Studios. I would really love if the monorail went to every park and not just Epcot and Magic Kingdom, it really bums me out when I have to wait for a bus....boring! We finally made it to the park. Once inside we were entertained a couple of actors (who looked like they were from the 40's or 50's). It all started when they grabbed the map of Hollywood Studios right out of my hand. And boy do they make a scene. I had some customized maps made that had our last name and all of the places within the park that we wanted to see or dine at. They started to make fun of our last name And this is coming from a guy who was standing on a suitcase the entire conversation. Then they moved onto the Just Married buttons that we were wearing "So you brought the ol' ball and chain with you huh" one of them said to my husband. I just love all the jokes that people make right before you are about to get married. Funny guys.
First we went on Star Tours. I always loved the Star wars movies growing up and I really like the ride, its a Disney classic. Then we ate some lunch and toured the park a little. We went on the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Rollercoaster. Whoa that ride is awesome!

We saw the Lights, motors action, stunt show. That was ok, it was pretty neat how the cars and motorcycles had such control of their vehicles, Jared was alot more impressed than I was, for obvious reasons.
Then we saw the backlot tour, that was also just ok.
The thing that I was really anticipating was the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights.
About 15 minutes before susnet we made our way to the Streets of America. 5 minutes before the big show it started to snow. We made sure to have some hot chocolate with us because it was getting pretty cold by that point. Then we heard an announcer come over the speakers. They explained the story behind the Osbourne Spectacle and then....the whole TOWN (the Streets of America town) was lit with the most amazing display of lights I have ever seen in my life. The streets were filled with people with cameras, camcorders, cell phones taking pictures of the lights. Joy to the World was the song that was playing along with the lights. The lights actually dance to the music, completely in sync. Then they played The Carol of the Bells by Transiberian Orchestra, amazing!

Then we made our way to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheatre to see Fantasmic
This was another favorite of mine. Actually all of the firework, light shows,and parades were superb! Fantasmic is a show with some of the actual characters. Most of the show takes place in the water. They spray the water and project images on the water that is beign sprayed. Very cool. Very cool!

Unfortunately, we had to leave the show about 5 minutes early so we could make our reservations at Kona at the Polynesian.
But the food made up for it. We both had Tuna Ocar - Served with fried green tomatoes, tempura-fried jumbo lump crab, and wasabi hollandaise. Mmmm... good. Really good. I ate some of the best food I have ever ate while in Disney World. The Polynesian was a very neat Resort also. I love the tropical feel.

 

[DARuss]

First. for real this time.

Ok going back to read now.

 

[LMO429]

great tr! subscribing! congratulations on the wedding!

 

[bluechic03]

Great TR! Congrats on the marriage! You guys are a cute couple

 

[DARuss]

Oh, sorry about that! I won't comment on any of my own comments, hey I'm still learning
Christmas time was beautiful, it was decked out everywhere you went. It would be hard to be there at any other time of the year after seeing Disney World at Christmas. But, I mean, if I had a chance to go any other time of the year I guess I would do it.

Thanks for the info. We do Jan mainly for the small crowds. Dec is really tough for me. I can't take vacation after Nov 15 but with my work schedule we might be able to make a quick visit that time of year in the future.

We made our way to the ticket and transportation center to wait for a bus to Hollywood Studios. I would really love if the monorail went to every park and not just Epcot and Magic Kingdom, it really bums me out when I have to wait for a bus....boring! We finally made it to the park. Once inside we were entertained a couple of actors (who looked like they were from the 40's or 50's). It all started when they grabbed the map of Hollywood Studios right out of my hand. And boy do they make a scene. I had some customized maps made that had our last name and all of the places within the park that we wanted to see or dine at. They started to make fun of our last name And this is coming from a guy who was standing on a suitcase the entire conversation. Then they moved onto the Just Married buttons that we were wearing "So you brought the ol' ball and chain with you huh" one of them said to my husband. I just love all the jokes that people make right before you are about to get married. Funny guys.

Those guys are great. I hope they didn't mess up your maps. Last year we saw "Officer Duncan Donut" take a gun (air gun) from a kid, after the officer chased him around his dad a couple of times, the he announced to the crowd that he(the kid) was only a stunt man and the gun was a prop.

First we went on Star Tours. I always loved the Star wars movies growing up and I really like the ride, its a Disney classic. Then we ate some lunch and toured the park a little. We went on the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Rollercoaster. Whoa that ride is awesome!

Yes it is.

I really like your pics. the lights are beautiful. It must be a guy think cuz I also liked the LMA show but DW was not so impressed and didn't even go with DD9 & I the second year.

That is a great pic at the fantasmic show. Sorry you had to leave early but at least you got to beat the crowds and you know how that can be after the show. I have to agree with you about the transportation. I'd love to be able to ride the monorail to all of the parks.