berryinDC
in the garden
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2010
- Messages
- 188
My wife and I had a fantastic 2nd honeymoon from April 16th through 20th. We got legally married in March and decided to take a last minute trip to celebrate. It was my wife's first trip to WDW ever and my first as an adult. She was a disney skeptic who was totally converted after this trip.
Traveling to WDW and Our First Evening
We had a hilarious flight to Florida, US Air didn't seat anyone together, including us so we were each surrounded by kids w/o parents and a manic mom wearing a foot-high hairdo. I was more entertained than DW, who probably wanted to punch someone. When we checked into Magical Express (totally awesome), the staffer called us both beautiful princesses, looked at ultra-tomboyish DW's face, and then they both cracked up. We had a cranky CM at check-in, who just seemed miserable and unhappy but a fabulous concierge who made us feel very comfortable. We ended up with a parking lot view, but the room was much cuter than I expected. I also loved the "natural" landscaping in the alligator bayou area...it was very soothing. Perfect for city girls wanting an escape.
After we checked into Port Orleans-Riverside we took the boat, I mean "river cruise" to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Paradiso 37 with my DW's adorable aunt. The food was so-so but it was a great atmosphere, especially earlier in the evening before getting too busy. Perhaps this is TMI, but we also had the first of my really funny "bathroom incidents", where crazy things happened everytime I went to the bathroom in disney (including men trying to get me to leave the men's room I'd accidentally visited, me falling into the toilet, kids crawling into the stall w/ me, and women breaking the door down).
When we got back to our room we had a message on the phone--mickey and minnie saying congratulations on getting married!
AK and MK
We woke up at 6:30am Saturday, had some hot-tub time, narrowly avoided a riot at the bus stop (wow, people take their Epcot seriously) and spent the morning at Animal Kingdom. This was my moment of vindication. DW didn't want to go to AK originally b/c "we have a zoo in DC" but this ended up being her favorite part of the trip. We never waited more than 10 minutes for any ride, she took a million pictures of the animals and when CM saw our just married buttons they were sooo excited for us. We felt a little silly about them, so we wore the buttons on our bags (read that suggestion on disboards somewhere). It was nice having a public display of our newlywed status that still allowed us to be our usual shy selves.
In AK we headed to Everest for a FP, then rode the water rafting first, so then we had wet bottoms the rest of the trip, but as a bonus, we never got hot. We took a stroll around the train and then it was time to ride EE. DW was really nervous (she hates roller coasters) but looooved it. She kept talking about it for the rest of the trip. We walked over to Africa and got a FP for Kilamanjaro Safaris and then walked the trail. The gorilla were so beautiful. It was really hectic in the observation area, but once we walked outside we had an unobstructed (and uncrowded) view. Then we rode KS (so amazing, except for the baobab trees, which looked really fake to me). We took a million pictures...it was my first time seeing a lion during the day and I was really excited. We finished with a really great lunch at Tusker House and then went home for a nap and swim and found a card from Mickey and Minnie.
We spent the evening at Magic Kingdom. There were so many people there that we were both a bit overwhelmed and the lines were super-long. We had our first dole whip, rode a few rides and did a lot of people watching. We tried to follow the evening touring plan, but the lines were just too long until late in the evening and by then we were really flagging. We never made it to SM.
We also forgot to eat dinner which made us a bit cranky. I wish I would have made a reservation or more specific plan for where to eat. That's definitely something I'd change. But we had a great time at Philharmagic, mad tea party and the haunted mansion. The best part was watching the fireworks from Splash Mountain. We both agreed that we should hit MK in the morning on our next trip.
Rainy Days and Epcot
Sunday it poured most of the day. We slept in, played in downtown disney, had some more hot tub time, did some laundry and went to Animal Kingdom lodge for an amazing dinner at Jiko. They were so sweet to us and the hostess was from the same neighborhood in Pretoria where did a study aboard in college lived. The food was so. so. so. good. Transcendentally good. We had the trip of dips (bliss). DW had the vegetarian dish w/ edamame and I had chicken with goat cheese mashed potatoes and preserved lemon. They gave us a free dessert--creme brulee and a card. The only bad thing about this meal was that it highlighted how not good our meals at POR were the rest of the trip.
Monday we had a marathon day at Epcot. The flower festival made for some great photo ops. Mission Space was so intense that it took us the rest of the day to recover! Our fantasies of being astronauts are officially over. But all the other rides were super fun. We had a great meal at Sunshine Seasons. Lot's of yummy veggies. I was relieved to see my childhood memory of Monsanto's sponsorship of the Land pavilion had been replaced by USDA. We ate and drank our way around the World Showcase until we were too tired and full to move. France was my favorite, because it actually reminded me of my trip to France, years ago. DW loved the drummers in Japan. We planned to stay the whole day, but pooped out in the early evening.
That's it. We spent our last morning at French Quarter, eating beignets and shopping. We were both grinning and in a great mood on our way home.
Everything good comes from disboards
One thing I definitely learned from reading this board was to not try to do everything on your first trip. Thank you for hammering that into my little head, b/c that's what kept our trip relaxing and down to earth. I also learned about the magic of moleskin, which gave us a blister-free vacation. After this trip, I learned that I should have made more meal reservations. I didn't want us our schedule to feel too constricted, so I only made 3 reservations our whole trip thinking we'd have fun counter-service hopping. Uh, no. First, counter-service restaurants are generally not remotely romantic, 2nd, we were so excited that we kept pushing ourselves and not noticing that we were hungry until we were back home at night, eating crap from the food court again and Third, my DW is a vegetarian, and she needed more variety. For us, meal reservations made us slow down and take breaks. Next time, I'll definitely make lunch and dinner reservations knowing that we can always cancel them.
Overall, it was a really wonderful trip and I can't wait to plan another.
Traveling to WDW and Our First Evening
We had a hilarious flight to Florida, US Air didn't seat anyone together, including us so we were each surrounded by kids w/o parents and a manic mom wearing a foot-high hairdo. I was more entertained than DW, who probably wanted to punch someone. When we checked into Magical Express (totally awesome), the staffer called us both beautiful princesses, looked at ultra-tomboyish DW's face, and then they both cracked up. We had a cranky CM at check-in, who just seemed miserable and unhappy but a fabulous concierge who made us feel very comfortable. We ended up with a parking lot view, but the room was much cuter than I expected. I also loved the "natural" landscaping in the alligator bayou area...it was very soothing. Perfect for city girls wanting an escape.
After we checked into Port Orleans-Riverside we took the boat, I mean "river cruise" to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Paradiso 37 with my DW's adorable aunt. The food was so-so but it was a great atmosphere, especially earlier in the evening before getting too busy. Perhaps this is TMI, but we also had the first of my really funny "bathroom incidents", where crazy things happened everytime I went to the bathroom in disney (including men trying to get me to leave the men's room I'd accidentally visited, me falling into the toilet, kids crawling into the stall w/ me, and women breaking the door down).
When we got back to our room we had a message on the phone--mickey and minnie saying congratulations on getting married!
AK and MK
We woke up at 6:30am Saturday, had some hot-tub time, narrowly avoided a riot at the bus stop (wow, people take their Epcot seriously) and spent the morning at Animal Kingdom. This was my moment of vindication. DW didn't want to go to AK originally b/c "we have a zoo in DC" but this ended up being her favorite part of the trip. We never waited more than 10 minutes for any ride, she took a million pictures of the animals and when CM saw our just married buttons they were sooo excited for us. We felt a little silly about them, so we wore the buttons on our bags (read that suggestion on disboards somewhere). It was nice having a public display of our newlywed status that still allowed us to be our usual shy selves.
In AK we headed to Everest for a FP, then rode the water rafting first, so then we had wet bottoms the rest of the trip, but as a bonus, we never got hot. We took a stroll around the train and then it was time to ride EE. DW was really nervous (she hates roller coasters) but looooved it. She kept talking about it for the rest of the trip. We walked over to Africa and got a FP for Kilamanjaro Safaris and then walked the trail. The gorilla were so beautiful. It was really hectic in the observation area, but once we walked outside we had an unobstructed (and uncrowded) view. Then we rode KS (so amazing, except for the baobab trees, which looked really fake to me). We took a million pictures...it was my first time seeing a lion during the day and I was really excited. We finished with a really great lunch at Tusker House and then went home for a nap and swim and found a card from Mickey and Minnie.
We spent the evening at Magic Kingdom. There were so many people there that we were both a bit overwhelmed and the lines were super-long. We had our first dole whip, rode a few rides and did a lot of people watching. We tried to follow the evening touring plan, but the lines were just too long until late in the evening and by then we were really flagging. We never made it to SM.
We also forgot to eat dinner which made us a bit cranky. I wish I would have made a reservation or more specific plan for where to eat. That's definitely something I'd change. But we had a great time at Philharmagic, mad tea party and the haunted mansion. The best part was watching the fireworks from Splash Mountain. We both agreed that we should hit MK in the morning on our next trip. Rainy Days and Epcot
Sunday it poured most of the day. We slept in, played in downtown disney, had some more hot tub time, did some laundry and went to Animal Kingdom lodge for an amazing dinner at Jiko. They were so sweet to us and the hostess was from the same neighborhood in Pretoria where did a study aboard in college lived. The food was so. so. so. good. Transcendentally good. We had the trip of dips (bliss). DW had the vegetarian dish w/ edamame and I had chicken with goat cheese mashed potatoes and preserved lemon. They gave us a free dessert--creme brulee and a card. The only bad thing about this meal was that it highlighted how not good our meals at POR were the rest of the trip.
Monday we had a marathon day at Epcot. The flower festival made for some great photo ops. Mission Space was so intense that it took us the rest of the day to recover! Our fantasies of being astronauts are officially over. But all the other rides were super fun. We had a great meal at Sunshine Seasons. Lot's of yummy veggies. I was relieved to see my childhood memory of Monsanto's sponsorship of the Land pavilion had been replaced by USDA. We ate and drank our way around the World Showcase until we were too tired and full to move. France was my favorite, because it actually reminded me of my trip to France, years ago. DW loved the drummers in Japan. We planned to stay the whole day, but pooped out in the early evening.
That's it. We spent our last morning at French Quarter, eating beignets and shopping. We were both grinning and in a great mood on our way home.
Everything good comes from disboards
One thing I definitely learned from reading this board was to not try to do everything on your first trip. Thank you for hammering that into my little head, b/c that's what kept our trip relaxing and down to earth. I also learned about the magic of moleskin, which gave us a blister-free vacation. After this trip, I learned that I should have made more meal reservations. I didn't want us our schedule to feel too constricted, so I only made 3 reservations our whole trip thinking we'd have fun counter-service hopping. Uh, no. First, counter-service restaurants are generally not remotely romantic, 2nd, we were so excited that we kept pushing ourselves and not noticing that we were hungry until we were back home at night, eating crap from the food court again and Third, my DW is a vegetarian, and she needed more variety. For us, meal reservations made us slow down and take breaks. Next time, I'll definitely make lunch and dinner reservations knowing that we can always cancel them.
Overall, it was a really wonderful trip and I can't wait to plan another.
