A Surprise Disneymoon - Oct 2011

[brookelynpenguin]

I decided to try my hand at a PTR. This is my first attempt at anything like this so please bear with me.

My name is Brooke and my boyfriend and I got engaged last November (it was the perfect proposal except for the fact that I couldn't stop crying, I was so excited). We are getting married in September and then leaving for a Disneymoon two days later. I have decided to do things a little differently than the traditional groom plans honeymoon. I'm planning the honeymoon and am going to surprise him with it. I kept trying to think of nice tropical places to go with beaches and exotic locations then I realized we are not the beach type people. A day on the beach would be fun but after that we would be a little bored. I thought Hawaii might be fun: exploring volcanos, hiking up mountains, etc. but then I thought...what do I want to do and the answer seemed simple. I want to play at Disney World!

James and I had talked about going together a few months after we started dating but work or something came up. I knew he would enjoy Disney World and I don't think he has ever been to the most magical place on Earth. So that just makes our trip so much more special. We'll be honeymooning, it's gonna be his first time there, and the last time I went was when I was six or something. All I remember from my previous trip is waiting in line to ride Splash Mountain.

My hopes are high and since it's a surprise, the whole thing feels very cloak and dagger. I have guidebooks hidden underneath the couch and am making calls to a travel agent on the sly. It's actually very fun.

Sorry, I tend to ramble when I get excited. I hope I get a follower or two because I definitely need your help planning.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

Argh, I'm going crazy trying to figure out our ADR's. I know where I want to make reservations (save for one more slot) but I don't know how to work our schedule to do it. I'm just trying to decide which theme park to go to when and three of my restaurants aren't in a theme park so I'm trying to figure out how to schedule those in. If it's up to me to make plans then I like a nice itinerary so I'm just driving myself absolutely bonkers. I'm sure it will work itself all out. I'm just being a nutcase right now. I'm just so excited to be going to DW for my first time as a grownup and during the F&W festival, no less.

 

[mrssmith06]

Sounds like your going to have a great Disneymoon!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Great start - am looking forward to hearing more

Hope you manage to keep the surprise and plan on the sly! Good luck with the ADRs - think I have just about finalised ours

 

[brookelynpenguin]

Thank you to both of you. Anything Disney is crack to me right now. I'm reading The Unofficial Guide and note taking like crazy as well as spending hours on the Dis boards. I think I've spent more time on this trip than on the actual wedding. I was freaking out until I realized James and I would be in DW for seven whole days. If we spend a day in AK and one in DHS then that leaves five days for Epcot and the MK. That leaves us plenty of time for dinners and parades. Even if a dinner cuts into our theme park time we still have another day to go back and see whatever we missed and I splurged on parkhoppers as well so we can start in MK and finish in DHS.

I think the theme park I'm most excited for is DHS. It sounds just like my style. Whenever I think of it I always remember going to Disney Land five or so years ago and seeing the painted wall looking like a street. Isn't DHS supposed to be an old-timey, golden age of movies type of thing. Regardless I'm excited for Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, and one of my favorite rides...The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I love the story, the look, and the movie. Anyone remember the movie? The made for tv movie starring a young Kirsten Dunst?

The other ride I'm uber excited about is The Haunted Mansion. One of the other rides I remember from my long, long ago trip to DW. I went at Disney Land but was slightly disappointed because it was after Thanksgiving and it was all set up as a Christmas type thing. I want to go on the original ride where you see ghosts in the mirror at the end and not brightly wrapped Christmas presents. It would have been a nice makeover if I wasn't so highly anticipating the one I remembered.

I have no idea what James wants to do at DW besides meet Stitch so I'm hoping to fill that one expectation of his.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

So James and I have been doing wedding planning stuff lately. We've looked at our venue again and went on a cake tasting. The baker was really nice and gave us a great idea for cake decorating. Yay!

I found the cutest Disney t-shirt at Wal-Mart the other day. It's brown with Lady & the Tramp on the front. They're sitting on a checkered blanket with a plate of pasta in front of them staring soulfully into each others eyes. The cost was a measly 7.50; not too bad right. I think I've already got my wardrobe picked out for our trip. I just need to find some comfy shoes to go along.

Speaking of our trip, I'm still trying to plan out our ADR's. We are definitely going to do Jiko-The Eating Place, California Grill, and Spirit of Aloha dinner show. I also want to eat at Coral Reef Restaurant and the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. I'm trying to decide on one more place to eat at. I'm looking for something inside the parks though. My other activities include the Haunted Carriage Ride around Fort Wilderness and the segue tour around Epcot. Fun stuff! I was trying to plan more out until I realized that this is going to be our honeymoon and I should not jam pack it full of stuff. We need down time at the hotel for naps or pool time so we don't get too stressed out in the theme parks.

You know, I should really check when I need to make my ADR's...gotta get cracking on those since I am pretty set on them. So excited!

 

[athenna]

I'm in! Congrats!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Am glad you got some cake decorating tips for your upcoming wedding

I love Lady and The Tramp so would love to see your top - will you be posting pictures?

What are your thoughts on 50s Prime Time Cafe or Les Chefs de France? We are looking forward to eating at both these places. Are you looking to eat in a specific park - there's also Liberty Tree Tavern and Tony's at MK. Have you had a look at All Ears website at menus - it may give you more of an idea.

Good luck with booking the ADRs - can't wait to get mine done and tick another thing off the list!

 

[knewton64]

I'm in! Congrats!

SUBBIN'



T.T.F.N.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

Am glad you got some cake decorating tips for your upcoming wedding

I love Lady and The Tramp so would love to see your top - will you be posting pictures?

What are your thoughts on 50s Prime Time Cafe or Les Chefs de France? We are looking forward to eating at both these places. Are you looking to eat in a specific park - there's also Liberty Tree Tavern and Tony's at MK. Have you had a look at All Ears website at menus - it may give you more of an idea.

Good luck with booking the ADRs - can't wait to get mine done and tick another thing off the list!

Yes, I will post pictures of my shirt. I've been meaning to get all the pictures off my camera for ages. Just haven't got around to it yet. I actually was debating Coral Reef and Les Chefs for lunch but had a friend who just absolutely raved about Coral Reef. Thank you for the menu info. That will give me something to do since I hit a planning dead spot.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

Hi and thank you for all my new followers. I appreciate you all jumping on board my disneymoon planning.

So the surprise was almost ruined yesterday. I had my WDW planning guide out on the couch and was getting ready to boot up my computer when I heard a key hit the lock. I jumped up, tripped over my feet, and just managed to grab the book and shove it behind my back when James came in. He gave me a really strange look and laughed at me while I slowly backed away to hide the evidence. I wasn't expecting him home for another two hours.

Everything else is going to plan though (assuming I can keep the secret for another four months). Right now I'm looking at airline flights and flying is expensive. I always knew it was but when you are actually looking at the numbers it really hits you. James wants to leave on a early flight. He said it's because he likes flying but I know the truth. If we leave at 6:30 in the morning and run into major delays on one of our connecting flights then we can still reach our destination on the same day as opposed to leaving in the afternoon and having a delay until the next day. We'll still have a full seven days in the parks. I was moaning loudly one night about how there's no direct flights. It looks like we'll be paying about 750 for the both of us. I was asking him if that's a good price and he said it's good for California and not so much for Arkansas (we live in Oklahoma). So I think we're getting a good price. Here's to hoping anyway.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

I'm so excited. This trip is getting more real every day. It seemed like just a dream until I booked the hotel, then when that feeling started to slip away from me I booked my flight. By the time that fades it'll be time to make ADR's. As you probably all noticed, I booked my flight last night. First, I looked at Delta and Southwest (I think) but they were super expensive. One thousand dollars for the two of us to fly coach to Orlando? Are you serious? Not going to happen. We should be arriving in Florida at 12:17 in the afternoon. I don't know how long the magical express thing takes but I'm going with two hours. I don't know if that's over or under shooting it but I'm sticking with my guess. I'm going to search the boards to see if anyone has anything to say about how long it took them.

Oh goody, my photographer emailed me! She wants to know if I want to do a bride only shoot. It sounds like fun and it'll give me a chance to become more comfortable with her but more on that later. I'm tired.

 

[TanzUnited99]

on booking your flights - need to get on with mine but am hoping for the prices to drop

Think the ME should take less then 2 hours - am hoping for within an hour but it depends how long you are waiting before it takes off. Have never been though so am just going off what I have read on here and other sites

 

[brookelynpenguin]

I don't think I've mentioned where James and I will be staying yet. We're staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I didn't splurge for a savanna view but I did pay just a tiny bit extra for the pool view (I'm not going to be staring at a parking lot during our honeymoon). There was really no question when I booked about where I'd be staying. James and I were planning on staying there last time we planned our never happened trip. We're a little bit away from the theme parks and I'm a little worried but we'll make it work. The reason I didn't splurge on the savanna view was so that I could use that little bit of money saved for other things.

Speaking of other things, I think we might do the Halloween party while we're there. I was unsure about it at first but then heard so much about all the different characters that are out and about the theme parks. If we do it, we'll definitely try for a week night as opposed to the weekend. I've heard that lines are shorter for the rides and that there are rarer characters out in addition to the regular ones in their own Halloween costumes. Naturally I can't go without having my own costume. I was thinking what could I do without having to buy a new one then I realized...I can go as Esmerelda. I have a long purple skirt in my closet that I can pair with a lighter colored purple belly dancers belt with silver jingly coins. All I need to do is add a scarf around my hair then buy some cheap silver bangles to line up my arms. I'll have to get James to pack his Jack Skellington tee just to get him to get into the swing of things. He won't mind, he just goes with the flow. I hate that we have to pay extra to get into the party but I'm hoping the park will be a little bit emptier; plus I've heard that the special Halloween fireworks and parade is amazing!

Sorry about any odd sentence structures. My cat Rajah is insisting on trying to get my attention by sitting on the keyboard. I think I caught all the odd words that she erased or added but just in case something doesn't make sense she's the reason. I'll also try to post some pictures of her, my costume, and other things once I figure out how.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

Woo hoo, October hours are out! It took me about ten minutes to figure out where we are going when. It will probably change some though but here it is...arrival day we are doing the spirit of aloha show
day 1 Magic Kingdom
day 2 Epcot
day 3 Disney's Hollywood Studios
day 4 Animal Kingdom
day 5 Magic Kingdom
day 6 Disney's Hollywood Studios
day 7 Epcot

If we do MNSSHP (day 5) then we're probably going to Epcot or something else for a little, go back to the hotel to nap, do dinner at Jiko, then off to the party. I also really want to see Fantasmic but heard that it is so crowded. Instead of going to DHS on Fantasmic night, we'll just use our park hopper to jump over to DHS like an hour before showtime.

I haven't figured out where our meals will fit in but I'll probably do that a day or two before ADR time. In other news, work is stupid. We're shorthanded at work so in order to cover open spots James in going in on his day off to help cover. It was supposed to be our day off together to do wedding stuff (more cake tastings, flowers, tuxes). Since our day off now is gone, I decided to go in to cover the other open spot that day. Basically I turned my 39 hour week into a 51 hour week. I don't mind though as planning a wedding and honeymoon means I could use the extra money. I'm paying for the honeymoon and James is covering tips for restaurants and activities (he's so trusting, paying for things he knows nothing about). Every time I start to get frustrated with work I just remind myself...Haunted Mansion, Haunted Mansion, I love the Haunted Mansion OR Stitch, we'll see Stitch and get pictures with princesses OR Tower of Terror is awesome, we'll ride Tower of Terror. It always works; I become all perky and happy again just thinking of different activities, sights, and rides over and over...speaking of work I need to get ready. Where did the time go?

 

[dtr_angel]

Argh, I'm going crazy trying to figure out our ADR's. I know where I want to make reservations (save for one more slot) but I don't know how to work our schedule to do it. I'm just trying to decide which theme park to go to when and three of my restaurants aren't in a theme park so I'm trying to figure out how to schedule those in. If it's up to me to make plans then I like a nice itinerary so I'm just driving myself absolutely bonkers. I'm sure it will work itself all out. I'm just being a nutcase right now. I'm just so excited to be going to DW for my first time as a grownup and during the F&W festival, no less.

What my DH & I usually do is make a list of the places we have to eat at on our trip. Since we do the DDP and usually go for 7 nights, that is 7 CS meals. Then, I try to schedule them based on where there are evening EMH that night, so that we don't have to go go to a park just to eat, and we can stay there afterwards. Good luck! I love planning Disney trips!

 

[dtr_angel]

Ooh Animal Kingdom Lodge! We're staying there in less than 2 months for the first time and we can't wait! We also didn't splurge for the Savannah view. I really wanted to, but it was a big chunk of change that I couldn't justify since we're already going to spending 4k on our trip by the time it's all said and done

I saw that shirt you're talking about at Walmart the other day. They had a bunch of cute ones! If we were going to eat dinner at Tony's, I would've bought it to wear to the MK that night... but we changed our ADR to the Grand Floridian Cafe instead. DH & I have a bunch of Disney shirts, and they really only get worn in Disney World. I have them all in a space bag, and I just got them out this week so I can start to plan outfits and make sure we don't clash. I've never done that before, but since this is our 4th trip together I want to make sure we're not wearing the same things we've been wearing in our photopass pictures from our last 3 trips. I'm actually going to try my hand at making a few shirts, I'm not that crafty but I think I can pull it off.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

Ooh Animal Kingdom Lodge! We're staying there in less than 2 months for the first time and we can't wait! We also didn't splurge for the Savannah view. I really wanted to, but it was a big chunk of change that I couldn't justify since we're already going to spending 4k on our trip by the time it's all said and done

I saw that shirt you're talking about at Walmart the other day. They had a bunch of cute ones! If we were going to eat dinner at Tony's, I would've bought it to wear to the MK that night... but we changed our ADR to the Grand Floridian Cafe instead. DH & I have a bunch of Disney shirts, and they really only get worn in Disney World. I have them all in a space bag, and I just got them out this week so I can start to plan outfits and make sure we don't clash. I've never done that before, but since this is our 4th trip together I want to make sure we're not wearing the same things we've been wearing in our photopass pictures from our last 3 trips. I'm actually going to try my hand at making a few shirts, I'm not that crafty but I think I can pull it off.

My friend asked me how much I was spending on my honeymoon and her jaw dropped when I told her. WDW may be expensive but we're staying at a deluxe resort, have park hoppers, and are on the dining plan. I don't think she quite understood the allure of Disney. I'm not big on character tees but I think it's cute wearing them in the parks. I bought another Disney tee at Old Navy. It's gray and has Belle in her big yellow ballgown with Cogsworth, Lumiere, and Mrs. Potts around her. I walked around for twenty minutes debating whether or not I should buy it but finally caved in. To get James in the spirit I think I'm going to find a Rescue Rangers tee for him.

I'm waffling on whether or not we should do California Grill. I'm just worried about not having enough time in the parks and spending too much time eating. Another WDW trip is not going to happen until Mr. Ian is old enough to enjoy the parks. I'm thinking when he's eight which will be about six years after our honeymoon. I want to get maximum enjoyment out of this. I'm also waffling on whether or not we should really do the haunted carriage ride. How will we fit it in with eating and napping and roaming the theme parks. I don't want to cut anything short. What is the maximum amount of time needed to enjoy the parks? Argh, I'm driving myself crazy by overthinking everything. Actually you can't book the carriage ride until 90 days out right? My 90 day deadline is the day before James birthday. Do the carriage rides fill up fast? If not then James and I can discuss doing it before we actually book it.

 

[brookelynpenguin]

I keep forgetting that James and I are doing the halloween party. I was looking at my schedule and realized that I was going back to the MK and then MNSSHP that night. We don't need that much MK. We can do one of the other parks and then explore the MK at night. I really wish I could find a Stitch t-shirt for James. My never fail method of finding items (the internet) has failed me. I can't find any men's tees with Stitch , I'm just so confused by this.

I have two days off this week; the manager said that I've been working a lot lately so he managed to swing me two days off to relax and get wedding stuff done. Monday I'm heading to The Disney Store to browse for a mini Stitch to take with us to WDW. James and I have Tuesday off together so we're going to do two cake tastings and hopefully book a baker. I need to browse cake pics online to show her what we want. I know for sure though that the middle layer of our cake is going to be pink with purple tiger stripes down the side. We're having an Alice in Wonderland themed wedding and think a cheshire cat layer would be adorable.

I like to think of our wedding as romantic whimsy...or geek chic depending on how I'm feeling. At first I was thinking traditional all-white wedding with red roses but then realized that's not who I am. When we first started looking at venues for our wedding we looked at some amazingly gorgeous gardens. One of our choices was a box with ten foot high hedge walls. She told us that roses were going to be planted inside the perimeter of the walls. Three days later I watched Tim Burton's AIW and it hit me that AIW would make a great theme for a wedding. Whimsical, romantic, playful...it fit what I wanted. We didn't book the gardens because they were expensive. We finally settled on something else with a gorgeous garden that was much, much cheaper with the same perks as the more expensive one. So exciting...now that I think of it the animated movie always scared me. It was the caterpillar that really freaked me out. I don't even know why I bought the blu-ray. I still haven't been brave enough to watch it; it's just weird and trippy. I don't know, if I give it a chance I might like it...or not.

Edit: Woo hoo! I think I figured out how to post photos so I will give it a shot tomorrow. It's late and I need to go to bed right now so good night.

 

[blairbear]

Hi Brookelynpenguin,

Congratulations on your wedding and honeymoon!

I just read through your PTR so far and am enjoying it. I think that AIW is a fun theme for a wedding. Do you ever watch Weddings with David Tuterra on WE? He did a AIW themed wedding for one of his brides and I thought that it was really fun. If you get a chance you should check it out

DH and I love AKL!! You are lucky to be staying there! It is on one of our must do's for Disney in the future. I can't wait to read about your experiences there. We have visited and it always seems really romantic to me, with the lighting and ambiance.

MNSSHP is a lot of fun! It is one of our favorite things from our previous trips. The MK is really cool at night and they do fun lighting effects for the party. The fireworks and parade are my favorite that Disney puts on.

I can't wait to read more