A Honeymoon trip to conquer the World! A PTR...

[michellem1118]

Hello, and welcome to my PTR!

First, let me introduce the cast:
me - Michelle, 29... the BRIDE
DF - John, 25... the GROOM

This is us, on our very first vacation together!

The backstory - everything you need to know about us!
DF & I met at work, and began dating a month or so after we met. By Christmas of that year, we had planned our first real vacation together (because meeting my family was not a vacation! Last April, we went to WDW for a week, and had a great time. We even joked about possibly getting married at WDW in the future...

Fast forward a few months, to July 11, 2007. DF proposed to me one afternoon at the Bronx Zoo. I was expecting the proposal, but not on that day or time, so he did a good job of surprising me. We talked a bit about a Disney wedding, but both families were against the idea... so we decided that Disney had to be the honeymoon!

Now, we're about 4.5 months from the wedding, and finally have enough "wedding stuff" done that I can move on to the fun part.... planning the honeymoon!!!

Up Next... preliminary plans!

 

[michellem1118]

More of the backstory...

When we went to WDW last April, we sat through the spiel for Disney Vacation Club in order to get the free fastpasses (3 each, good for any ride at any park!). After thinking about it for a while - I think we had a week before our special offer expired - we decided to buy our first property together... Disney property! We became proud owners at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa last May.

Originally, we wanted to use our DVC points to go to a Caribbean island for our honeymoon, using the exchange privileges. We called and called, and there was never any availability for the dates we needed... silly us, setting our wedding date first, instead of working around honeymoon dates!

One of the nice CM's at DVC member services finally suggested a Disney cruise, and we were sold... 7 days in the Caribbean, multiple island destinations... I said I needed to talk to DF, and I'd call them back that evening to make the reservations.

DF loved the idea, so I called back that night, and our dream honeymoon was shattered again, sort of. It turns out that the Magic, the DCL ship that does 7 day cruises, is spending summer '08 cruising the Mexican Riviera, and we didn't have enough points for that. After a long conversation with member services, we finally found a compromise....

Three days at Old Key West, a DVC resort, followed by a 4-night DCL cruise to the Bahamas & Disney's private island! We confirmed our reservations exactly 7 months out (the earliest we could book OKW, since its not our home DVC resort), and I started itching to plan. I held off until the 180-day mark, when I had to make ADR's, though.

Next up... the preliminary plans, for real this time!

 

[michellem1118]

Our Preliminary Itinerary

Our wedding is scheduled for 7/26/08, in my hometown of Dallas, TX. Because DF's family is all traveling to TX, we decided we couldn't leave right away for the honeymoon since we'll need to entertain people for at least an extra day or two.

The 4-night cruises sail on Sundays, so our cruise departure date is 8/3... we have 3 days left on some non-expiring park hoppers from a trip in October, so we wanted to have 3 days in the parks... so we made our arrival day at WDW as Thursday, July 31 (only 145 days away!).

The plan so far...
7/31....

• Arrive @ MCO, 10:00am
• Arrive @ OKW, 11:30am
• Head to EPCOT
• Lunch ressie @ Le Cellier (DF's favorite Disney restaurant), 1:30pm
• Afternoon @ EPCOT
• Dinner ressie @ Jiko, 8:30pm I think

8/1.... (we'll probably end up kind of dressed up all day, LOL)

• Honeymoon photo shoot @ Animal Kingdom, 10-11am
• Lunch ressie @ Yak & Yeti, 11:30am
• Afternoon @ Animal Kingdom
• Dinner ressie @ Wolfgang Puck Cafe, 7:00pm
• Evening @ DTD, planning the Comedy Club & maybe Adventurer's Club

8/2....

• Morning @ Hollywood Studios
• Lunch ressie @ 50s Prime Time Cafe, 11:30am
• Afternoon visit to either Magic Kingdom or a water park
• Dinner ressie @ Citrico's, 7:45pm
• EMH hours somewhere

8/3....

• Breakfast ressie @ Olivia's, 9:30am
• DCL bus transfer to Port Canaveral, 12:00pm-1:30pm
• Check in for cruise, find stateroom, unpack
• Relax on the ship & enjoy the sail away activities

8/4.... First stop at Castaway Cay

• Beach - snorkeling, maybe the stingray excursion
• Ship time - maybe the spa?

8/5.... Nassau stop

• Swimming w/ the Dolphins!!!
• Pirate party!!!

8/6.... Second stop at Castaway Cay

• Just relaxing on the beach and/or on the ship

8/7.... Time to go home

So, that's our plan so far! We've got the DxDDP to allow for the two signature restaurants on this trip, and squeezing in all of our favorites into just 3 days!

 

[BrittBritt]

Your itinerary sounds great. I love how you'll be able to do both the land and sea portions of Disney. DH and I (really just me) have been thinking about a Disney cruise, so it will be wonderful to read about your experiences.
Looking forward to more!

 

[michellem1118]

Your itinerary sounds great. I love how you'll be able to do both the land and sea portions of Disney. DH and I (really just me) have been thinking about a Disney cruise, so it will be wonderful to read about your experiences.
Looking forward to more!

Thanks for reading, Britt! I was up til 11 last night reading all of your pre-trippie, and nearly fell asleep on the couch. DF was a bit annoyed with me... I think I'll add some pics from our last two WDW trips in here, to help set the mood. I'll work on that this afternoon!

 

[michellem1118]

Is 143 days out too early to start shopping??? I found some really cute, sort of dressy Crocs online last night (sassari), and thought they'd be great for the day we do the Honeymoon Photo Shoot, since I'll be wearing a sundress, and we likely won't change right away. Here's the dress I'll most likely be wearing (I still need to buy it though...)

 

[michellem1118]

Since this is a honeymoon PTR, wedding plans are still on topic, right?

I've actually got a pretty extensive planning bio set up through googlepages with wedding information, so if anyone is interested in my wedding plans, I'll just provide the link...
http://michelleandjohn726.googlepages.com
... that way, I'm not accused of being

We're planning our wedding long-distance, as we currently live in NYC and our wedding is in Dallas. We're heading down in about a month to finalize our wedding plans, do our tasting (yay, the fun stuff!!!), and do my dress fittings.

We're also in the process of packing, because we're moving back to Dallas as soon as the school year ends... (did I mention we're both teachers? ) That's 3 weeks or so before the wedding!

We really *need* our Disneymoon at this point, the stress is really starting to get to me. Gotta look into a massage on the cruise!

 

[misscmac]

Subscribing I really want to take a Disney cruise in the not-so-distant future, so I'm looking forward to reading about your land and sea honeymoon!

It must be so tough planning a wedding (and a move) long distance - you will deserve this vacation by then!

 

[michellem1118]

Subscribing I really want to take a Disney cruise in the not-so-distant future, so I'm looking forward to reading about your land and sea honeymoon!

It must be so tough planning a wedding (and a move) long distance - you will deserve this vacation by then!

Welcome! We're really looking forward to the trip. I wish I had more to report right now, but unfortunately, we're at a standstill for the moment...

 

[michellem1118]

Hmm, I don't seem to have many readers.... I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong before I write the actual TR!

Anyway, I got some good news today... it's not exactly trip-related though... in fact, its not at all trip related. But it is related to my move back to Texas, which is somewhat wedding-related, which then makes it somewhat honeymoon related... so I can justify putting it into my trip report!

I PASSED MY TEACHER CERTIFICATION EXAMS IN TEXAS!!!
I'm already a teacher in NYC (high school social studies), but to get reciprocity on my certificate, I had to take & pass the Texas exams. I took them 3 weeks ago, and got the email today that I had passed the exams!!! This makes it more likely that I'll be able to get a job for next fall before the wedding/honeymoon, so that relieves a TON of stress.

Only 138 (I think) days till the honeymoon.... so that means 133 days until the wedding...

 

[misscmac]

Hmm, I don't seem to have many readers.... I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong before I write the actual TR!

Anyway, I got some good news today... it's not exactly trip-related though... in fact, its not at all trip related. But it is related to my move back to Texas, which is somewhat wedding-related, which then makes it somewhat honeymoon related... so I can justify putting it into my trip report!

I PASSED MY TEACHER CERTIFICATION EXAMS IN TEXAS!!!
I'm already a teacher in NYC (high school social studies), but to get reciprocity on my certificate, I had to take & pass the Texas exams. I took them 3 weeks ago, and got the email today that I had passed the exams!!! This makes it more likely that I'll be able to get a job for next fall before the wedding/honeymoon, so that relieves a TON of stress.

Only 138 (I think) days till the honeymoon.... so that means 133 days until the wedding...

Congrats on passing the exam!

 

[dizziedupbaby0127]

Congratulations on your wedding!

I'm jumping on to your Pre-trippie.

My fiance and I are also doing a Disneymoon land/sea in December, we can't wait! I'm sure you will be so happy, theres no better place then Disney!

 

[BrittBritt]

Congrats on passing! Anything to help ease wedding stress is a good thing!!!
When will you start looking for a job in TX?

 

[pajules]

I just started my first Pre-trip report too and am hoping people read it as well....Let's make a deal, I'll read yours and you read mine and then we're guaranteed to have at least one faithful fan....

Good luck with the wedding planning!

 

[michellem1118]

Congrats on passing! Anything to help ease wedding stress is a good thing!!!
When will you start looking for a job in TX?

We're flying down in April to finalize wedding stuff & look for an apartment, we're hoping to at least be able to interview for jobs while we're there...

I just started my first Pre-trip report too and am hoping people read it as well....Let's make a deal, I'll read yours and you read mine and then we're guaranteed to have at least one faithful fan....

Good luck with the wedding planning!

Sounds like a deal.... now I'm off to find your pre-trippie!

 

[michellem1118]

So, this post is going to be almost totally but.... DF & I bought a new car yesterday!!!! I could almost justify this as honeymoon-related, in a really long, convoluted way, but I won't waste anyone's time. We get to pick it up after work tomorrow (our salesperson had today off, and the financial guys were already gone for the night when we went yesterday). I'll post some pictures after we get it home.

On an on-topic note, I'm still waiting to get confirmation from Disney Photography services about our honeymoon photo shoot. They're actually starting to annoy me a bit. If they don't confirm by the end of next week, I may just scrap the whole idea... it is a little bit expensive for what you get.

 

[pajules]

Congrats on the car!

Don't you just love that new car smell....

 

[michellem1118]

Congrats on the car!

Don't you just love that new car smell....

I do, and I can't wait! Just a bit over 3 hours til pick-up time!!!

I also love the dancing banana, and post things just to have an excuse to use him.

 

[DISNEYmooner2008]

I'm hopping on board!! I was just married a few months ago and honeymooned at Disney - we had the best time!! If you are interested there is a link to my TR in my siggy!! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[michellem1118]

I'm hopping on board!! I was just married a few months ago and honeymooned at Disney - we had the best time!! If you are interested there is a link to my TR in my siggy!! Looking forward to reading more!

Welcome!

I actually subbed to your dining review report right after I joined the boards here, because you had ADRs at many of the same places that we've chosen, and found your TR very recently (but, the link in your siggy doesn't work, at least not for me ). I think I might've posted there, but maybe not. I'll go check now.