"CONGRATULATIONS!" "THANK YOU!" A Bride & Groom Disneymoon! UPDATED: 1/19

[francis6306]

Awe!!! I would LOVE to try O'hana!! And WAY TO GO getting there in PLENTY of time! We can't gain back trip time like that anymore... but when we needed it, *I* was the driver in those cases!!!

Your wedding was BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

[B&WMickey]

Congrats!!!!!!!

Can't wait to hear more. We were at WDW over the same time period and staying over at POR. Look forward to hearing someone else's take on the same time period. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

 

[librarygeek]

* Yay! I didn't know that you had started your TR so I'm glad I found it!
* I love the pic at the Tomorrowland Speedway, I'm glad you got the special sign/pic too!
* The view from your room at POFQ is gorgeous!
* Ohanas looks fantastic! I've never been but I'm hoping to on our next trip. There is so much food on your table!

 

[Disneymoon23]

Hi! I'm joining in. We just went to disney for our honeymoon in September, so I'm excited to read all about yours. Your wedding was beautiful. All of the disney decorations were so cute. I'm glad you got to Disney quickly. Ohana looks really yummy. I've never been there, but now I really want to go try it out.

 

[Missyrose]

What a perfect first Disney meal! I know 'Ohana gets mixed reviews on these boards, but we really loved our dinner there in October. Everything was so yummy and the service was excellent. We weren't sure how we'd find room for the bread pudding and then they brought out two gigantic cupcakes for us for our anniversary.

We thanked them and then promptly asked for boxes to put them in because there was no way we could even think about touching them! We did end up eating our fair share of the bread pudding.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

I just don't know how we didn't see each other!! We were by the window with a castle view, and it looks like you were around there too Glad you liked it!! Our service was slooooowwwww that night!!

 

[sw33t_angel]

Yay! The room is gorgeous! Love it. I can't wait for our next trip so that I can start really researching where we're staying and plan hardcore for our trip. Because I definitely didn't before our last one. haha. Woops!

Yay for Ohana!! I want to do that so badly! I gotta talk to the family about it when we plan for our 2013 trip, which you should totally plan to go as well.. hehe. ;D

Yayay! You look gorgeous! Did you dye your hair?? ;D Loves it!

Can't wait to see more seees!

The research is half the fun! LOVED that room! Wish we were there to enjoy it more!

Mmmmm Ohana... it was SOOOO GOOD. You need to go! IMMEDIATELY! Book the ADR and I will be there!

Aww thanks! Nope haven't touched it since January.. it has lightened up a lot more to my natural shade!

Awe!!! I would LOVE to try O'hana!! And WAY TO GO getting there in PLENTY of time! We can't gain back trip time like that anymore... but when we needed it, *I* was the driver in those cases!!!

Your wedding was BEAUTIFUL!!!

Welcome!! Thank you!!

Yes I commend Thomas for his driving! Haha I am a scaredy-cat when it comes to speeding... I usually never go more than 10 over... although that day if I was driving I would have made an exception!

Congrats!!!!!!!

Can't wait to hear more. We were at WDW over the same time period and staying over at POR. Look forward to hearing someone else's take on the same time period. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Thank You!!!

Oh yeah? Our busses didn't stop by POR too much! It looks like a wonderful resort though! The weather was awesome wasn't it? Hot a few days- but quickly got cooler.. and NO RAIN! I loved it!! We had an awesome time!

* Yay! I didn't know that you had started your TR so I'm glad I found it!
* I love the pic at the Tomorrowland Speedway, I'm glad you got the special sign/pic too!
* The view from your room at POFQ is gorgeous!
* Ohanas looks fantastic! I've never been but I'm hoping to on our next trip. There is so much food on your table!

Hey!! Glad you could make it!!

I had no idea they did that!! Super cute! I wish more rides had those signs!
I LOVED our view! So romantic! Ooooooh Ohana! SO much food, but it was all so delicious! Definitely put it on your list, I can't say enough good things about it! And the Poly is gorgeous!

Hi! I'm joining in. We just went to disney for our honeymoon in September, so I'm excited to read all about yours. Your wedding was beautiful. All of the disney decorations were so cute. I'm glad you got to Disney quickly. Ohana looks really yummy. I've never been there, but now I really want to go try it out.

Welcome Welcome!!

Congrats on your wedding!! Glad to have you on board! I would love to go to Disney in the fall/Halloween months! I always just used to go in the summer, and this was our first time going that late in the year. I loved all the Christmas decorations! Fall is my favorite time of the year, so I definitely need to make another trip! Disney does such an incredible job at themeing! It was cool because all throughout the week we would see new decorations pop up at our resort and at the parks in preparation for Christmas!

Ohana was great! I have heard the earlier you go it is less chaotic and not as crazy. We didn't have anyone sitting by us for a good 20 minutes, but it did get very loud and packed in there quickly. We had a ressie right at 5:00, so I would recommend the earlier the better, and even though the food is probably fresh throughout the night, I would think first off it would be the freshest! And we got to watch the Sunset!

What a perfect first Disney meal! I know 'Ohana gets mixed reviews on these boards, but we really loved our dinner there in October. Everything was so yummy and the service was excellent. We weren't sure how we'd find room for the bread pudding and then they brought out two gigantic cupcakes for us for our anniversary.

We thanked them and then promptly asked for boxes to put them in because there was no way we could even think about touching them! We did end up eating our fair share of the bread pudding.

YES! LOVE Ohana! I had heard mixed reviews too, but decided to just make my own opinions! I do think having an earlier ADR made a difference for us. The servers were very friendly and efficient! The food was fresh, hot, delicious, and PLENTIFUL! I tried to save room for the bread pudding but I was so full, but then they put it on the table, and I just had to eat it! Not to mention the cupcake and extra ice cream! He just looked at my face and brought me a to-go box for the cupcake!

I just don't know how we didn't see each other!! We were by the window with a castle view, and it looks like you were around there too Glad you liked it!! Our service was slooooowwwww that night!!

I know!! I looked for you! I had my ears on and everything!! But by the time we left it was so crowded and dark in there! It seems like we should have been sitting back to back or something! Did your Ohana pants hold up? haha

Ours was actually pretty fast! Probably because we were one of the first ADRs and they wanted to push us out and make room for more! Although we never felt rushed or anything!

So sorry we missed each other!!

 

[Sam33]

What a beautiful wedding! I just got married in August and wanted teal but my best friend got married before me and used teal. Thought I'd mix it up! Loved the subtle Disney touches as well!

I love your title. We didn't get our pins until two days in. Attention from strangers makes me anxious so I wasn't sure I wanted them or not! So glad we got some, though. It really made the trip more special!

 

[sw33t_angel]

So after our food coma ensued we made it back to the French Quarter and parked the car in its new parking spot home for the next week.

I was wearing a skirt, (which Thomas always says I never have good outfit choices for the elements) I decided to take his advice and change into jeans since it was supposed to get a little chilly later, and I wanted to ride some rides!!

We left and made our way to the bus stop, which was less than a 5 minute walk, so convenient! I love FQ's small size! It was about 7:30-7:45 at this point and there was a small crowd of people waiting for the bus. We had a seat and waited maybe 5 minutes tops. Soon we saw the glorious marquee read "Magic Kingdom" and we quickly boarded and grabbed a seat in the back. YAY!!! I didn't want to tell Thomas but that bus (and almost every bus the entire trip) was FREEZING!!!!!!!!! So I am glad I changed!

The bus ride wasn't long at all (every park was less than 10 minutes, even AK.. so FQ is very close to everything it seems). Soon I was jumping off the bus, trying not to push over small children and touch my feet on MK ground. Ahhhh! I was already in heaven and we were just at the bus stop!

We walked to the entrance and went through the turnstiles quickly with no problems, from that moment on the "CONGRATULATIONS" and "THANK YOU" became the theme for our trip.

My brother had bought us the photopass CD for our wedding gift, and I was instructed to stop at every photographer I saw. Thomas had the good eye on this trip, every time he saw someone standing still with a camera in their hands he assumed they were a photopass person. We got a ton of pictures! I will update when I get my CD, but for now I will use our pictures!

We hit every photographer down Mainstreet and then made our way to Tomorrowland. The plan was to check in at the Fireworks Dessert party around 8:45 so we had about 45 minutes to kill. It was surprisingly really really crowded (granted it was Saturday night with EMH) but I was in shock of the crowds of people before us. Just following the loop, Stitch was a walk-on so we decided to hop on. Thomas had never been on Stitch since it was Alien Encounter which he loved, so he was interested to see how the ride would be now. Unfortunately Thomas was disappointed.. he thought it was horrible, and it became the butt of many jokes throughout the trip. (Man, that ride was no where near as good as Stitch...)

We hadn't been to Disney in 8 years, that being a College Band trip for a single day, so a lot was new to Thomas, and he looked to me as the Disney guru, but so much was new and different for me too, so I was trying to salvage our first ride of Stitch and the huge amount of crowds, which left Thomas not too pleased so far. I had to redeem what little time we had left! Space Mt. had a 60 minute wait so no go there, and Buzz was sitting at 40 minutes. There were still some FPs left for Space Mt. so we grabbed a few of those and then headed to the people mover, which Thomas I believe had never been on. It was a nice ride, and I enjoyed it.

We walked around TomorrowLand and walked by FantasyLand and then made a loop back around to head to the Terrace for the Dessert Party. I looked at Thomas and asked the million dollar question, "Are you hungry for Desserts?" to which Thomas' face said it all.... His expression matched my own appetite for the party. This is what I was afraid of!
I knew I had a little room in my tummy, and Thomas said he was just really thirsty.. so at least we would get our money's worth in drinks! Why the dessert party after Ohana's? It was the only date available for the days we were staying, and November 12th held special meaning to us, and being the first night on our honeymoon in Disney to watch the fireworks from a terrace, it just seemed like such a great plan! (on an empty stomach! )

So we find a line wrapped around some railing and do what any park goer does... we stood in it. Soon before 9:00 they began walking down the line with a clipboard, wristbands, and table numbers. After we got checked in the line started moving forward. We got table 300!

Once we reached the front of the line, after many CONGRATULATIONS & THANK YOUS the CM at the front of the line winked at us and said we had the best seat in the house. We had another CM take our table number and walk us to our table to which he replied, "Wow you got some of the best seats!" We had a two person table right by the railing just slightly to the left of the castle.

We perused the desserts and Thomas grabbed two glasses of lemonade and we made our way back to the table. We were so stuffed! But we trooped on and tried a little bit of each dessert. I don't know if it was because we were so full, but not many of them were that appetizing... they looked beautiful, but for me lacked flavor and weren't appealing to my taste buds at all, even Thomas had to push some of them away. We did have about 10+ drinks so I think that made up for the desserts.

We peeked over the railing and could see the top of the Electric Parade and soon the announcement for the pre-show and Wishes was upon us! Because of our awesome seats I was hoping that we would get lucky with a good crowd that would stay in their seats... but unfortunately no... no pixie dust here.. Right after that announcement people began to swarm the railing and our table, making it impossible to see, so Thomas quickly jumped up and squeezed himself between people and pulled me in front of him. I was not pleased. WHY??????????? If I wanted to be elbow to elbow with people and stand all night for the fireworks I would have been better off on Mainstreet. I know its allowed to be at the railings, and not everyone has seats on the lower level, but if you can see you are blocking people sitting, wouldn't you have the courtesy to not stand there? I was slightly annoyed, but it melted away quickly after my husband wrapped his arms around me in the happiest place on earth and whispered in my ear that he was happy to be here with his wife. How can you be mad after that?

The Magic, Memories, and You Castle show was amazing, it was so cool to see the castle lit up like that, as well as I had never seen the Christmas lights on the Castle, so that was so beautiful! Wishes always makes me a little teary, and it was so amazing, especially watching it from the terrace. I didn't take any pictures of the fireworks, but they were awesome!

After the show, there was a PP opportunity which we gladly took, before departing. The CMs were begging people to go to the buffet one more time and take some for the road, but we passed and headed out to the rest of the park!

 

[sw33t_angel]

It cleared out a little bit after Wishes but was still congested in some areas. We went back towards TomorrowLand and used our FP for Space Mt.- but it was closed!! So we turned back and made our way to FantasyLand to check out the construction and work off our desserts!

We walked around for a bit and took some pictures of the Castle.

The closer to 12am it was starting to thin out. I had never been to EMH, so was not entirely sure how it worked, but soon figured out we needed to show our Room Key before getting on any rides. Thomas asked how long they were open to which I replied casually 3 am... REALLY?!? He was a little excited!

He had suggested the Haunted Mansion so we did that, we missed the new que, but said we would get it again later! We made our way to Adventure Land but The Jungle Cruise was closed! BOO! So we hopped on Aladdin's Magic Carpet and Pirates. We headed to my favorite Big Thunder Mountain, which was closed So we decided to do Splash Mountain which only had a 10 min wait. We soon figured out why it was 10 minutes! The temperature had plummeted and being wet is apparently not as comfortable in cold weather. But I still loved it! Big Thunder Mountain was back up so we took a ride on the wildest ride in the west! I LOVE that ride! It is probably still my favorite.

SO sidenote on that: My parents at taken us to Disney when I was younger and one trip, I remember I fell asleep and my Dad was holding me, and I woke up in line, and had asked what ride is this? Is it scary? To which my Dad replied, "it is the train"- DAD!!! Not the scary fast train right?? "Nope, the slow train" WELL...I am pretty sure I made some people deaf on that day from screaming at the top of my lungs. So me and BTM have a love/hate relationship.

The park was getting emptier and emptier which Thomas absolutely LOVED. We passed by the Laugh Floor- which I had never done, so we decided why not. It was pretty funny! I submitted a joke- but I guess even being that late, it wasn't chosen! Buzz still had 30 minutes, so we passed. We made our way back to Space Mt. which was open again! There was hardly a wait, so we breezed by the new interactive que, but it looked pretty cool. I was in shock on how rough and fast Space Mt. was! I almost flew out of my seat several times! I didn't remember it being like that! Thomas found my screams comical on the ride.

We were slowly loosing steam and questioned whether we would stay the entire night, but being on a honeymoon high, the beautiful night, and so UNCROWDED, we decided to push on! We used our first snack credit on a large Rootbeer, which must have had something in it, because we felt renewed and made another loop around the park and hit every ride we had ridden one more time. We decided to go back and hit the rides we missed.

We walked back through TomorrowLand and decided to hit the Astro Orbiter, which I had never been on, because the line was always so long. Thomas remembered riding it with his Dad and being terrified to make it go up higher than the standard setting. We both squeezed into the tiny rocket and Thomas was the commander! It was FREEZING up there, and surprisingly pretty terrifying as the wind blew as we soared higher and higher and leaned to one side with every turn. The view made up for it though!

We made our way to the TomorrowLand SpeedWay, which had a small wait but didn't take long. We did have a rowdy group in front of us though! We decided to share a car and were handed our driver's licenses! Thomas steered and I hit the gas! It was seriously one of the most memorable parts of the trip, it was hilarious! Thomas was horrible! I had never hit those metal barriers so much, and between laughing and hitting the gas on and off we must have looked ridiculous. About halfway around the track the rowdy group in front of us had their lead car stopped. So there was about 8 cars just stopped in front of each other, bumping like crazy. Luckily we were the last car in the back so we just edged forward and let them get ahead before continuing our leisurely drive. I took Thomas' license away from him the rest of the trip!

At this point it was about 2:15, the park was a ghost town. We headed into FantasyLand and basically hit every single ride there. Dumbo, Pooh, Small World, SnowWhite (which is still scary!), and I had never been on Mickey's Philharmagic! SO I was excited! We were one of two groups waiting for the show! The CM started singing the wedding march for us as we walked down the ramp and wished she had rice to throw at us. The show started quickly after we arrived and we pretty much had a private showing. The CM joked and said we still had to go all the way down to the end of the row. As for the show I really enjoyed it!!'!

At this point it was about 2:55, and we were passing by Peter Pan, the only one we hadn't done, I started to feel bad, and we were going to skip it, but I didn't want to, cause Thomas had mentioned Peter Pan earlier in the day, so I ran up the CM and said "Can we still go?" He smiled, said sure! knock yourself out! It was so funny to have the CMs just standing by themselves with no guests. We started a trend because about 10 more people hopped on after us, Thomas blamed me for starting it!

We exited right at 2:59, thanked the CMs and headed towards the exit. We walked through the castle and decided to have our own photo shoot with an empty MK. We mostly got by taking some individual shots, but some of the few lone guests left offered to take our pictures!

It was by far the most memorable part of the trip to be in the MK like that, it just felt so magical, like our own fairytale! We hopped on the bus which only took about 10 minutes. On the way back to the FQ I casually reminded Thomas that we had a breakfast ressie for Epcot at 8:15.. and we should allow at least an hour in the morning, so we needed to be at the bus stop by 7:15, which means we had to get up no later than 6. Once we got "home" we got ready for bed and finally pulled the covers over our heads around 3:50.

UP NEXT!

* Two hours of sleep..will we hit the snooze?

* Did we make our Princess Breakfast?

 

[sw33t_angel]

What a beautiful wedding! I just got married in August and wanted teal but my best friend got married before me and used teal. Thought I'd mix it up! Loved the subtle Disney touches as well!

I love your title. We didn't get our pins until two days in. Attention from strangers makes me anxious so I wasn't sure I wanted them or not! So glad we got some, though. It really made the trip more special!

Aww thank you!!

Congratulations to you!! Awwww I love teal! It is a shame you couldn't use it in your wedding!!

Yeah I wasn't sure how much I would like all the attention but it actually was the most amazing thing ever! And I can't count how many great conversations started up because of being newlyweds with complete strangers!

 

[Sam33]

Aww thank you!!

Congratulations to you!! Awwww I love teal! It is a shame you couldn't use it in your wedding!!

Yeah I wasn't sure how much I would like all the attention but it actually was the most amazing thing ever! And I can't count how many great conversations started up because of being newlyweds with complete strangers!

Congrats to you to!
We were already using the same venue as her so we felt the same colors would be overkill! Haha

Can't wait to read the rest. Been using honeymoon TRs to get over post-honeymoon blues!

 

[sw33t_angel]

Congrats to you to!
We were already using the same venue as her so we felt the same colors would be overkill! Haha

Can't wait to read the rest. Been using honeymoon TRs to get over post-honeymoon blues!

Hahaha.. yeah I could see how that could be a little problem..

Awww I totally have been stalking all the wedding/honeymoon TRs too... haha I have the disneymoon blues as well!

 

[Sam33]

Hahaha.. yeah I could see how that could be a little problem..

Awww I totally have been stalking all the wedding/honeymoon TRs too... haha I have the disneymoon blues as well!

Married life is great, but after the best party ever and the best vacation ever you just want to do it all over again! We keep joking we should have another wedding but I don't think he realizes how much work they are. Haha.

Isn't it crazy to be done with wedding stuff? It's so time consuming and then all of a sudden your days off work are actually boring!

 

[B&WMickey]

We went to DHS the same night you were at MK. On the bus ride back from DHS to POR that night the bus driver informed everyone that MK had EMH till 3 AM. DW and were wondering who could have the stamina to pull that off. Now we know. Great job you two.

 

[vikkii19]

We did the dessert party on the 19th and had the same table. I also was annoyed at everyone in our way at the railing. This one guy set up a videocamera on a tripod and basically had his behind in our faces. We won't be doing the dessert party again.

 

[librarygeek]

Looks like a great day!!

* So I was also surprised at how crowded the park was the second day we were in MK (which was also EMH). Every other day the parks had been almost deserted, and this was pretty crowded!
* We had dinner at 4:00 the day of our dessert party and I still ate so much dessert that I made myself sick that night! If we do it again I think we will just have desserts for dinner
* I'm surprised so many of the rides were closed during EMH! I think all of the ones you mentioned were open when we were there.
* I also thought Space Mountain was more intense than the last time I was on it! I think they refurbished it somewhat recently, though I'm not sure what they would have done to cause that sort of difference!
* I steered on the Tomorrowland Terrace and my driving was awful too! I hit that barrier sooo many times.
* Wow, I cannot imagine being in MK until 3 am! We thought we were doing pretty well staying there til midnight. I'm curious to see how you were feeling the next day!
* Your pics in front of the castle with the Christmas decorations are gorgeous. I really want to be able to go during this time of year eventually.

 

[Merida]

I've fallen a bit behind! Your Ohana meal looks like it was great. I think the lapu lapus are so adorable; is there a lot of pulp (? I guess? I don't eat a lot of pineapple) in the drink? Or do they carve it out really well?

Love the Port Orleans rooms. Just the right mix of fancy and cozy. Even though they kept up the borders - that's sooooo 90s!

Yay for 3AM closing!! That may be the thing I'm looking forward to the most for our upcoming trip. I'm glad to hear that most people don't stick around past midnight; what's the point of staying up so late if it's not almost empty? Minus the super pretty castle, that is. Did they do the Goodnight Kiss?

How lucky to get right on Peter Pan. That queue seems to be never-ending sometimes, I don't understand. Philharmagic really is the best

 

[jenneth79]

So glad I found this report, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun!

First off, congratulations! You two are a lovely couple and it looks like you had an amazing wedding, so close to my own second home! (just outside of Charleston)

I had to laugh at your "appropriate dressing" comments. My husband says that to me all the time, and he's usually right, but I never tell him that.

Isn't it just amazing to have the park almost to yourself? We were able to have that experience one morning on our last trip, but WOW, it's even extra magical at night, isn't it?

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[lilsqueakrr]

Ah, girl! I'm so so so excited to read the rest! Just reading about it all gives me the warm fuzzies! hehe.

I definitely stalked out those photopass people the whole trip! Dave was kinda getting annoyed with it all? haha.

I can't wait to see your photos!

I've never done the late Magic Hours.. always the early. Perhaps next trip?? ;D