Disney Honeymoon!

[ChefBuffalo]

Hello, I'm new here and have not been to disney since I was a little boy. That was before Animal Kingdom was even built. Anyways my fiance and I will be heading down to Disney/Universal/Florida in just under 2 weeks after our wedding. We gave ourself a few days between the actual wedding and the honeymoon to catch our breaths and prepare for our trip. We will be staying for 10 days. 3 Of those days will be at the French Quarter Resort, and the other 7 will be at her parents time share between Disney and Universal.

We have our park hopper passes, and as a Chef I am especially excited for the Epcot Food, Wine and Beer festival! Our first day in we arrive at noon and won't be hitting up the parks but will be having lunch and spending some time at the boardwalk and downtown disney. For dinner we made Reservations at Boma that first night.

Anyways I am just looking for any advice or tips on our trip. Things you think we should do? eat? Also we planned a day off from the parks to head to the beaches maybe Coco, or Daytona. So anything we have to see or do while we are there? I'm just getting super excited like a kid again! Thanks.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Hello Fellow Buffalonian!! The biggest advice is chill out and get it into your head that you can't do everything. Too many people go into it thinking they need to get everything they can done and they end up hating it because they get tired and crabby. Do some research, figure out what are really priorities for you (particular rides or shows) and if there's a restaurant you REALLY want to eat at you need to make reservations. Don't rely on walkups.

 

[Sparrow624]

We went on our honeymoon as well. Congratulations. Here are a couple of things we enjoyed:

- Get the just married pins! Castmembers (Disney workers) have all sorts of cool things they can do. We got a backstage "tour" of the Haunted mansion just because we had the pins on.

- I would not go to Daytona again (we did). It was dirty, very congested, and "touristy." Maybe I am spoiled with our beaches here in NC, but we were both very let down.

- Like the poster above said, take your time! You can't do everything, so just enjoy what you can.

 

[smurphs719]

We got married in Disney and then spent a few days after there before our honeymoon. We did what we call "grown up Disney". We went to boardwalk in the evening and had drinks, we went to DTD and casually shopped. We watched country bear jamboree and did the carousel of progress. I stood and watched so many street performers in DHS. All things that 4 years later our toddler isn't into. We went back for our first anniversary and did the same thing, and it was the greatest ten days. Have fun, and do things that aren't just rides and TS full meals.
And congratulations!

 

[ChefBuffalo]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Very helpful information. My fiance and i will be getting the pins for sure and also the mickey ears. I've heard some places go that extra step just to make you feel special because its your honeymoon!

We also decided to just hit up cocoa beach and not Daytona. I was in daytona a few years ago but i have never been to cocoa beach. Anyone know of good places for food and drinks there?

We will def take our time and have fun. We roughly planned out what we want to do each day but also made it very flexible.

Our first day will most likely be spent at the boardwalk and downtown disney for sure. Just trying to decide on a lunch spot, dinner is at 6:00 at Boma that night.

 

[noahdove]

I would suggest a carriage ride. You can make a reservation or just hope for the best, you pick it up near Boatwrite restaurant. My daughter and her husband loved it. A must see is Wishes, maybe even from the Poly beach..it is so magical. I love sitting at the railroad station as you enter MK, and it is awesome viewing the fireworks from there. Enjoy your resort and all the wonderful things it has to offer. Maybe too get a ice cream sundae at the Boardwalk...

 

[Lori1960]

Makse sure you buy te bride and groom hats.You can also go to downtown disney market place and go to design a t-shirt and get matches shirts made up saying Just Married

 

[ChefBuffalo]

Makse sure you buy te bride and groom hats.You can also go to downtown disney market place and go to design a t-shirt and get matches shirts made up saying Just Married

Great idea! I think we will do that for sure. Where can you get the hats and pins?

 

[LockShockBarrel]

You can get the Just Married buttons from pretty much any guest services location and I believe the front desk of the hotels. There's Disney pins (like the ones people collect) that have bride and groom Mickey and Minnie.

 

[DisneyDanielle85]

YAY! Another Buffalonian! We're also taking our Honeymoon at Disney, in less than 5 weeks actually! We're also staying at POFQ! The Similarities! First, Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Where are you getting married? Second! AS many of the others have pointed out the Bride and Groom Hats and the pins! Another fun thing if you can afford it is call up the Disney Florist and get the "Toast to Happily Ever After" It comes with two champagne glasses etched w/ Mickey, Sparkling Juice or you can upgrade to champagne and I believe some small romantic snacks. Have a Photopass photographer take your photos and ask for some fun and creative romantic poses! The list goes on and on!

 

[ChefBuffalo]

Sounds like an awesome idea! I will be checking that out for sure.

Also i have another question. We will have a rental car our entire trip but are not sure if we need a florida sunpass? We will be in or near disney the whole trip except for the day we go to cocoa beach. Do the tolls still take cash/ coins or are they sunpass only? Thank you.

 

[jamala]

The last time we were there one couple we saw had the just married pins on and the groom wanted to "re-create" his proposal and had the photo pass photographer take pics of him down on one knee in the Mexico building. It was very sweet and the photographer took alot of time with them.

 

[Sparrow624]

Make sure the CM at the front desk knows it is your honeymoon. We had this on our original booking information and the CM smiled and said congratulations, stepped aside, and placed a phone call at the Grand Floridian.

When we finally got up to our room (the room location and view was changed to something we could NEVER afford), there was a bottle of champagne, 2 glasses, and a congratulations card signed by Mickey and Minnie. A few minutes later the phone rang, my wife answered, and Minnie Mouse wished us Happy Anniversary and told us to enjoy the "gifts" on them.

People give Disney a hard time sometimes for prices and other issues, but sometimes they do amazing things.

We have been back twice since then, but our "memory" of Disney will always be the amazing CM at the desk and everything she did for us.

I went back to thank the CM a few times, but she had left for a few days off.

 

[princess-rn]

We had a WONDERFUL honeymoon there 12 years ago this month! Congrats!! My number 1 piece of advice is tell EVERYONE it's your anniversary. We got tons of little "surprises". Wear those bride/groom ears! Take your time and just soak it all in. Enjoy the little things and the adult side of things that you won't get a chance to visit/do if you come back with kids.

 

[khakismum]

On your reservation info (either through your TA or online or at guest services when you check in) make sure it is noted you are celebrating your honeymoon. This will follow you to your resort and table service dining locations. We have done those for birthdays and anniversaries and have always had a little extra pixie dust sprinkled around to help is celebrate.

As far as eating....pick a place! ;-) We enjoy, California Grill at the Contemporary and Yachtman Steakhouse at The Yacht Club - aged steak cooked to perfection. Another yummy dining location we like is Artists Point in the Wilderness Lodge - salmon to die for! If you can drop some serious $$$ there is always Victoria and Albert's or Queen Victoria's Table. QVT is more than dining, it is an experience. We have only done it once, for our 20th, and I hope we can do it again for our 25th. It is in intimate dining room with only 8 people seated a night. You are served a 10 course meal with very attentive servers. It is pricey but sooooo worth it. In DTD we have eaten at Fulton's and Wolfgang Puck's. We have also eaten at Captain Jack's, T-Rex and Rainforest Cafe. There are others we'd like to try just haven't gotten to it yet. Of all the ones in DTD, only Fulton's really stands out in my mind. The others are good but not memorable as far as the cuisine goes. PLENTY of atmosphere in most them if that is what you want. In parks, our go to restaurants are, 50's Prime Time or The Brown Derby in HS, Chefs de France or Le Cellier in Epcot, and Tony's in MK. Tony's is our go to because we can usually get an ADR easily or walk up there. We love Cinderella's Table but getting into there is a nightmare. Last couple times we ate at Liberty Tree we were underwhelmed with service and food quality. We have stopped going there. We are looking forward to eating TS at Be Our Guest in December! Oh, as a special treat to your bride (if she goes for this sort of thing) take in an afternoon tea at Grand Floridan. You can actually get a pretty good nosh there and you can even get a tea blended just for you and your taste. Can you tell dining is a big part of why we go to WDW?

I HTH and, congratulations!!

 

[ChefBuffalo]

Well we are officially married! The wedding was absolutely amazing! Cannot believe how fast time flys. I am very glad we decided to wait a few days until we head out on our honeymoon. We are still recovering after 5 days of wedding festivites between out of town guests, family, rehersal, weather, dancing, eating, and all the emotions. We are heading out wednesday and we both need it! Cannot wait for this trip! Thanks for all the great input and advice.

 

[Alice1386]

Congratulations!

I don't want to be a debbie downer, but don't get your hopes up for anything extra or special to happen... I did, and it put a bit of a damper on our Honeymoon (we were there last week). We had it marked on all of our reservations, wore the just married buttons and bride and groom ears every day and didn't have anything happen that the PPs have mentioned. So I was kind of disappointed... Regardless of whether something happens or not, you will have a terrific time! After all, it is WDW and is still the happiest place on earth!

 

[RyMacJ]

Congratulations on your weddings and Disneymoon! We spent out honeymoon at POFQ 5 1/2 years ago and had a wonderful time. We did not receive any perks (other than a surprise fastpass our last night at MK)

One thing I wanted to mention that I haven't seen anyone say yet--Disney is an awesome place to get a personalized "Just Married" Christmas ornament. We got ours at the Christmas store at DTD. It is white with a Mickey and Minnie bride and groom on top and "Just Married 2007". Both of our little girls now love to look at it and always ask where they were when we got the ornament from Minnie and Mickey.

 

[brewhome]

Congratulations from another Buffalonian! My hubby and I also spent our honeymoon at Disney, 17 years ago! That was long before they had celebration pins and all that jazz... but we had a great time.

We basically ate and drank our way around and had a blast. We didn't go in expecting cast members to treat us special, so when they did, it was even better! We told lots of bartenders that we were on our honeymoon and I must say, we did get some free drinks... which was fun.

My suggestion is to do your favorite rides, but don't be park commando's. Take some time to just relax and watch shows or the street performers, and have some good food and cocktails and chill out. We loved hanging out at Downtown Disney and at several places in EPCOT - especially the Mexican pavillion, the German pavillion, and the Rose & Crown, where we spent a couple of hours at the bar chatting with people from all over the world!

Have fun, and I wish you many, many years of happiness together!

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

Congratulations! My honeymoon and pretty much every vacation since I was a child has been to Disney. Honestly, I did not get any special treatment on my honeymoon but I was also 5 months pregnant so I think that had something to do with it? We even stayed at the Polynesian and had it on our reservation. Whenever someone saw the just married pins and looked at my belly, they just made a confused face lol. But we had a great time. Like a PP mentioned, V&A's is amazing. We went there on our honeymoon and it was our favorite part of the trip. It was very romantic and we still have our menus as our keepsake!