A December Disneymoon

[autkidd]

Hey everyone!

If you are part of the WDW December 2015 Planning Group on Facebook, you have seen most of these reports and pictures. Each day I took notes on my notepad app on my phone and posted it the next day. I wanted to create a trip report for posterity for Magan and I. I also learned so much helpful information from reading various trip reports here, that I hope some of you all can gain information for your future trips. I will post a new day every day or so and try to answer any questions you all have.

Now with that said, onto the report.
My name is Tommy and I have a story to tell you.

The main characters are myself and my now wonderful wife Magan.

We are newly weds and decided to go to Disney World for our Honeymoon. Magan is a 6th grade Science teacher and I provide business solutions in the trucking industry (aka Mack Truck Salesman).

I proposed in November of 2014 and with her being a school teacher, I couldn't think of a better way to pop the question than by using one of her classes to help me with it. So I got with her principal and a couple of co workers to set it in motion. I got posters made with "Will You Marry Me?" on them and had the kids hold them up as Magan came in from the office. She later told me that she was scared she was getting fired since she had been called to the principal's office and that isn't always a good thing.

After she said yes, there were two things we had to figure out. When to have the wedding and where to go for the honeymoon.

With us being from Alabama, wedding dates are extremely important when you decide to get married in the latter half of the year. We had originally decided on December 5th but saw that was the SEC Championship game, so we pushed it back one week to December 12th.

We then decided to go to Disney World for our honeymoon. Magan had never been and I had been a few times. Some of my favorite childhood memories are from there so that seemed like a great option. I started looking at options and in Febuary booked a 6 night stay at Port Orleans Riverside from December 13th through the 19th. At this point I start the discount hoping for free dining to pop up during our stay.

Well the day came that free dining was released. Unfortunately Riverside was not included and the dates were the 15th-21st, but I looked at the figures and found out that if we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort during those dates and stayed at Pop Century on the 13th and 14th that our price would be pretty even. So we decided to do that.

I spent many hours planning and researching where to eat and which days to go to the various parks. I wanted to make this as magical as possible for Magan. We are not patient people at all, so managing the days to visit each park due to crowd levels was of upmost importance.

I changed our adr's numerous times like a lot of people do.

But the basic plan was:
Arrival Day: MVMCP
Day 1: Hollywood Studios
Day 2: Magic Kingdom in the morning/check into CBR/Shutters/Disney Springs
Day 3: Epcot/Biergarten/Candlelight Processional
Day 4: Resort Tour/ O'hana
Day 5: Epcot/ Cape May Café
Day 6: Animal Kingdom/ Boma
Day 7: Wild Card Day/ Narcossee's
Departure Day: Magic Kingdom/ Be Our Guest/ Flight leaves at 9

Some of these plans will change as you will find out in the report. One of the things we learned most was to have a basic plan and be flexible. We basically had our fastpasses and adr's and scheduled everything around that.

I also hesitantly bought the memory maker and glad I actually did. We didn't get a whole lot of pictures from them, but got some great shots.

I will post the trip report from our Arrival Day later on today.

 

[autkidd]

Day one-

We got married on Saturday December 12th!



We then left out of Birmingham early Sunday morning. A couple of our friends returned the favor my beautiful bride gave them a couple of years ago by taking us to the airport at around 6:15 in the morning.


Of course she didn't heed my warning on how to pack and put her big hairspray can and other toiletries in her carry on. So she got flagged for a bag check and had to take her bag back to the counter and check it in for the flight.

While at the airport we got to see my grandfather Charles Pflueger as he was headed back to Fort Lauderdale.

Before long we were on our way to Disney and had a great couple of flights! We had the Delta Comfort seats from Atl to Mco. So much room, especially being on the front row.



After we got to Orlando we received her carryon that had to be checked from the bag drop and headed to the Disney Magical Express. We may have waited around 15 min and then went on our way.



On our way to POP (we are doing a split stay, two nights at POP and then 6 at Caribbean Beach) I got the text saying our room was ready. Building 7 in the 80's section. Which is awesome as we were both born in the 80's!

As we arrived at POP we went ahead to the check in counter so we could get our Happily Ever After pins and her 1st visit pin.

We meandered our way around the resort taking a couple of pictures along the way.



This a very neat resort and will be great for a couple of night, but I am glad we will be moving on to CBR on Tuesday.

After getting to our room we were exhausted. So we tried to lay down and take a quick power nap. We were going to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party tonight! I wanted her to experience Magic Kingdom on her first night down here. We set our alarm for 4:05 and laid down about 3:15. Of course I fell asleep at about 4 and my alarm was not a welcome sound after only five minutes of shut eye. But that was ok because we had a few fast passes to get to. I had set up three fp's starting at 3:30. First was buzz lightyear, then space mountain, and ending with big thunder mountain railroad. I knew we weren't going to make buzz, but I wanted her first ride to be space mountain. She is a 6th grade science teacher and space is her favorite part of the curriculum. We took the Disney bus to MK and I loved just watching her take everything in. I kept telling her before the trip that she really didn't have any idea how big and incredible this place is. She kept smiling and looking around in wonder at everything and it only got better as we got closer to MK. As we got there we went to guest relations to get our tickets activated early for Monday as our park tickets were on the second part of our split stay. That took no time at all and it didn't take us anytime to get into the park.

I tried to get a video of her reaction of turning the corner at Main St and seeing the castle for the first time, but she got a little anxious, and boy her short little legs took off and I couldn't keep up! As we turned the corner she looked over at me and said that it is soooo big!
We took a few photo pass pictures on our way down Main St to head to over to Space Mountain.

With our fp's it took us about 15 min to get through SM. This was my first roller coaster I had ever ridden way back in 3rd grade so it is a little sentimental to me as my dad and I had ridden it together. I had forgotten how jerky the ride was. She enjoyed it but it isn't her favorite.

We had a little time after that before our 5:30 fp for btmr so we hopped on the People Mover. I wished I had the camera really ready as we could have taken some really good shots of the surroundings, but I will know that for next time. She looked at me on this ride and said that was her favorite so far. After that we made our trek to btmr.

We got there around 6 or so and was in and out again in about 15 or 20 min. But between the time we checked in and when we got on the ride it had started raining. To be honest, the rain was welcome! It had been pretty hot so the rain helped cool things down quite a bit.

At this point we decided to wait out the rain and grab something to eat. I've heard some not so great reviews for Peco Bills but we decided to go there anyways as it was close to where we were. I got the spicy beef burrito and Magan got the southwest chicken salad. To be honest, I was impressed. I knew up front food would not be cheap at disney but the burrito had a lot of substance to it. We really could have split this and I'm a big eater. I loaded it up with guacamole and the chipotle ranch that was up at the bar. This was a very good meal. I was pleasantly surprised and suggest people and don't write Peco Bills off at all.

After we got a bite to eat we looked at the Disney app and check out the wait times. I have to say I utilized the app quite a bit as it was so dark the map really helped guide us around, especially using the locator function that shows us in real time where we were at.

We headed to the "Jingle" cruise. By this time it had stopped raining, though it kept starting and stopping all night. Jingle Cruise was fun and I really loved the jokes. I don't remember our skippers name, but she did a great job. She was very dry though but I love that kind of humor.



We decided to just make our way around and hit up Pirates in which we did get wet as we were in the front row, but it wasn't near as bad as people have been making out to be. We then proceeded to the Haunted Mansion which is my mom's favorite ride. Magan really enjoyed HM. We really didn't have much of a wait at any of these rides. The longest was Jingle Cruise, and that was maybe 10 min although the sign said 35 minutes.

At this point we wanted to make our way around for Holiday wishes. We hopped on Small World as there was no wait and got that ride out of the way. I think we both agreed once is enough for us. I did get a kick out of the little girl in front of us that kept jumping up and down, squealing at the animations in there. She was so cute and excited! Though she wasn't so sure at first!

We got to Wishes around 8:50 and got a great spot along the railing. Though we had a lamp post in front of us, I figured that would be a good spot for Magan as she is kind of short. I figured one lamppost in her way instead 200 hundred people would give her a much better sight line. While there it started raining again. It wasn't too hard though, just a pain trying to keep the camera lens dry.


I'm starting to run out of momentum typing this out but I just want to say that seeing Magan's smile at the end of Wishes was worth all the money that has been spent on this trip. She looked back at me with about the biggest smile I have ever seen.

We also stayed for the parade and had a really good spot at Main Street just as they come out of the curve down by the recently completed area in front of the castle.




As we left the park, we were able to hop on the first bus back to POP. And in no time we were in the bed soundly asleep.

Today we are going to Hollwoood Stuios. I have afternoon fp's for ToT, RRC, and Star Tours.

 

[autkidd]

Day 2-

What an eventful two days! We've been told your wedding day will be a blur and for me it was and I keep trying to relive it in my mind. Magan says she remember most of the details throughout the day. And then yesterday was such a long day going from 5:20 in the morning till after midnight with those hours containing travel and eight miles of walking around Magic Kingdom. So obviously sleeping in was a welcome event. Unfortunately for me I'm a pretty early riser so I had woken up pretty early and couldn't get back to sleep. Magan slept like a rock and I had to wake her up to get ready. While she was getting ready I went to grab breakfast from the food court. I got her a sparkly chocolate muffin and I got a chocolate croissant. Hers was delicious and mind was pretty good.

We left the room to head to Hollywood Studios for the day. I had our fp's set up for Tower of Terror at 1:10, Rockin Roller Coaster at 2:10, and Star Tours at 4:10. Also in the plans were the Osborne Family Lights which is one of the things I've been looking forward to most.

On our way to the park we saw Tower of Terror on the bus and Magan said, "Oh crap". I just proceeded to smile at her.

We got a picture at the Christmas tree right outside of the entrance and the photo pass guy added in the Sven to the picture. After we entered the park (which didn't take long getting through bag check) we shopped a little bit before making our way to the dreaded Tower of Terror. I got Magan the sorcerer's hat charm for her Pandora bracelet. We are going to get one charm from each park for her.



After looking at a few of the stores we still had a little time left before the fast pass so we found a little spot in front of Rockin' Roller Coaster to sit and people watch. I love to people watch and this was a great spot to do that. We decided to see if we could get into our fast pass a little early and we were able to. The entire walk there Magan was grabbing my arm and extremely hesitant, but she was a trooper and got on the ride. We were able to get in early and was out of the ride in about 20 minutes. Magan was not a huge fan of this ride at all, as evidenced by the ride photo. Her lips were quivering for a good 5 minutes after the ride.



By this point lunch was sounding pretty good so we stopped at Rosie's All American Grill. Magan can be a pretty plain eater and got the chicken nuggets but I like to live a little on the wild side. I saw that they had a fried green tomato sandwich. It was a couple of fried green tomatoes on a ciabatta bun with arugula, and jalapeño ranch and cheese. I really enjoyed it. The sandwich was a little different from any of the other theme park food I have had. We hurried up to eat as Beauty and the Beast started at 2 and the time was around 1:35.

Beauty and the Beast was a little underwhelming. The guy playing Gaston was the best part of the show. He was a very talented singer and seemed to have that "it" factor a performer needs. Belle just was eh.



After the performance we made our way to Rockin' Roller Coaster for our 2:10 fp. I believe it was around 2:35 or so when we got there. It took us about 29 minutes to get through this ride. I love this roller coaster and had ridden it back in high school. I love the science behind the take off of it with the linear induction motors which is essentially magnets. It is such a smooth ride and Magan really enjoyed this one. I could tell by her smile that this is something to do again.

We had some time to kill so we decided to tone it down a little bit and hop on the Great Movie Ride. It was humorous and a great way to unwind just a little bit.

We decided to go to the Muppets 3D next. I have really enjoyed the new episodes on ABC and have laughed out loud numerous times during the episodes. This one had some good one liners, but is very outdated. I can understand why they would close this show next year.

We then had our 4:10 Star Tours fast pass to get to. I loved how they have already incorporated a couple of characters from the new movie into it. Magan is not a Star Wars fan at all but she enjoyed this ride, hopefully that can nudge her to at least sit down and watch all of them with me.





Afterwards we shopped for a little bit and tried to get an idea of some Christmas presents for friends and family and then realized Indiana Jones was starting in about 10 minutes so we rushed over as fast as we (*read* her little legs) could go. We got an ok view on left side and had some pretty entertaining extras. It always amazes how quickly it gets hot when the fire starts up from the explosions even when you are a good distance from it.

We browsed through some shops on the way back towards the amphitheater for Fantasmic. One of her favorite snacks is a giant soft pretzel and she has been talking about a Mickey pretzel for months, this was a perfect moment for us to fulfill that wish for her. I stopped to get one of those giant turkey legs. I think we could have left Disney after that pretzel of hers and she be happy. The turkey leg was one of the best I have had. It seemed to be freshly made.



We got to the Fantasmic amphitheater around 40 min early. So we got a decent spot up near the top so we could make the great escape to get to the Osborne Lights. Fantasmic is a great show. Being the band nerd I was, I always enjoyed Fantasia and it's awesome seeing some of the scenes from that along with all the Villians. The music to it is phenomenal. Disney sure does know how to impress.



Which brings me to the final part of the night. The Osborne Family Lights. This was one of the things I have been looking forward to since we first decided to do Disney and especially since we were getting married in December.

I really can't put into words just how incredible this really is. It was pretty crowded but it was worth it. I don't really know what else to say about it so I'll just stop trying and let a few pictures attempt to do it justice with the key word being attempt.


For those that watch Once Upon a Time.




After that we headed back to the hotel and grabbed dinner. Magan had a bacon cheeseburger with fries. Disney may be a little pricey, but they do load you up with fries. She said it was good. I had the Southwest burger with pasta salad. It was decent and the portion of pasta salad was generous.

We have an early day tomorrow as we say goodbye to POP Century and will make our way to the Caribbean Beach Resort and our dining plan will be activated.

We will first go to Magic Kingdom for the first part of the day for fast passes at Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Buzz Lightyear. Around noon we will head to CBR and if our room isn't ready try and find a couple hammock to lay back and relax. Our first dining reservation is at Shutters, which is at CBR and then will head to Disney Springs after for a little shopping and Disney Quest.[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

 

[autkidd]

Day 3

Today was an early wake up call. We woke up around 6:30 to get packed up as we were leaving POP Century and headed to our new home for the rest of the honeymoon... Caribbean Beach Resort! After I got ready I went and got us breakfast again while Magan finished getting ready. I got her some mini POP waffles and bacon as I got the chicken fried chicken. Hers was pretty good but I would pass on mine again as it was pretty salty.

Disney makes things pretty easy to do a split stay. All we had to do was take our bags to luggage services and have them do a transfer. After we dropped off our bags we got on the bus to Magic Kingdom.


It is so much different during the day than at night. We got there just in time to miss rope drop but easily got in the park in no time at all. Since we had roughly an hour to complete our fast pass for Peter Pan we hopped on the Walt Disney World Railroad. We rode it all the way around back to the front. We both agreed it was pretty cool to get a semi behind the scenes look at the park.

After we hopped off the train we made our way up Main Street stopping at a few stores along the way to peruse any items we might want later on.

We got to Peter Pan around 9:45 and within 10 min we were back out into the crowds. We had a 10:15 fast pass for the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We decided to take our time over there and got into Mickeys Philharmagic. Like Muppets it was a little outdated but there were a couple of surprises that Magan wasn't expecting.

On the way to Seven Dwarfs there was only a ten minute wait for The Little Mermaid so we decided to hit this ride up. The Little Mermaid was extremely colorful and well done. This is Magan's favorite Disney movie and was our first Disney movie we watched together. She really enjoyed this ride and it was a great use of our time. We spent more time walking through the ride queue than waiting in line.

We then made our way to 7dmt. We arrived around 10:36 and was out at 10:46. I loved the swinging cars but wish it was a little longer. I think we have agreed that this was our favorite so far.

We had a little time to kill before our next fast pass at Buzz Lightyear so we got in line for Winnie The Pooh. The wait time said it would be around 30 min and we were in and out in 27 min. Obviously we don't have kids but I liked how the queue was interactive for the kids. The ride itself was underwhelming. Mr Toads Wild Ride was so much better.

We also made a stop at the Mad Hatters Tea Party on our way to Buzz Lightyear. I think I spun the cup too fast as Magan just about fell getting off the ride.

We trekked over to Buzz and defeated the evil what ever it's called. I had a much higher score, but unfortunately wasn't able to get a picture of the proof.

By this point we both were getting a little hungry so we went to Aloha Isle for the famous Dole Whip. Magan's favorite fruit is pineapple and she has been talking about this for months. I got the float and she got just the whip. It was extremely good and just as good as advertised. The couple next to us had gotten an orange vanilla swirl that we may have to try before we leave.

After getting our snacks and devouring them we made our way back to the front, stopping in a couple of shops. Magan has been wanting to do a Disney pandora bracelet so she got the bracelet and a couple of charms: Cinderella's Castle and the Walt Disney World charm. I got her the 2015 blue charm to go on it to add to the sorcerers hat I got her the other night.

We made our way to the busses to get to Caribbean beach to check in. So we had a new bus stop number at MK. 32.

As we got to Caribbean beach I figured the bus would take us by the custom house where you check in. But I was sadly mistaken. We ended up getting off at the last stop and didn't realize the internal shuttle was one of the actual busses. I figured it was one of the bigger golf cars. So we wondered around a little bit and finally found our way.

By this point we still hadn't gotten the text that our room was ready but we went to the check-in anyways. Well sure enough as I was standing there I got the text so we checked in and are in the Jamaica section in building 42.

We rode the bus there and boy this room is nice. I told Magan after being in the room for less than 20 min that I'm not so sure I could go back to POP. It is just so much nicer, though more costly for sure. We took a little nap and had a dining reservation at 5:15 for Shutters.

Shutters was great. I had the ancho beef ribeye with sweet potato hash and broccolini. She had the 10oz New York strip with mashed potatoes and chorizo mac and cheese. I was impressed with the steaks. Much better quality then any Outback or Logan's I've been to and the sweet potato hash has probably been the best thing I've eaten down here so far.

For dessert I had the pumpkin creme brûlée and she is had the chocolate orange cake. She won the dessert.

After dinner we got our resort cups and looked in the shop for a little bit.

After dropping off our cups we headed to Disney Springs. We went straight for the Christmas store and got a personalized ornament with our wedding date on it and she got a couple of presents. Downtown Disney is much more active now than when I had come here before.

We made our way to a few other shops and I got a shirt and couple of gifts at World of Disney and she got a couple of clips for her pandora bracelet at the co-op. We also made our way into the Lego store and I got a little Garbage Truck set as Mack holds a huge edge on that portion of the market and it looked pretty close to a Mack. This will go great on my desk at work.

We were going to try and utilize the free tickets to Disney Quest but we got there a little late. So as we decided to head back to the resort.

On the way back I made a bad call and ended up leading us in the wrong direction. We ended walking a little bit longer than expected to the ire of Magan. It is tough for her to keep up with me. For about every one of my streps it takes her about 1.25 steps.

Tomorrow is our first day at Epcot with fast passes for Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and Mission Space. I'm really looking forward to walking around the world as well as seeing the different holiday traditions.

Today we walked just over 9 miles.

 

[dmea10]

I just cam e across your trip report. Congratulations on the wedding! What better place than WDW to spend your honeymoon. Sounds like a great time so far.