Erhmahgerd, another Herneymern TR! A September 2012 TR! Update 11/18 x2!!!

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Hi everyone!! Welcome to my very first trip report! I’ve been a bit of a lurker on the boards since January; commenting here and there on TRs but following a ton of them. I am finally coming out of my shell and making my first attempt to write my own!

My husband and I have been to Disney World about 7 times together (several times separately when younger) before I discovered the wonder that is Disboards. When doing some research for planning a wonderful Disneymoon around January, I came across Disboards in a Google search…I immediately fell in love. A whole board of people that OBSESS over Disney as much as I do?!? Amazing. We get a lot of grief from people about how ridiculous our obsession with Disney World is. We always just shrug our shoulders and tell them, “it’s just our happy place.” This board proved me wrong into thinking I might be taking it overboard. I am so excited to get to know you all as I write this and share our amazing Disneymoon!!! I’m looking forward to reliving this trip!

Introductions:

Me (Erika) and Robert:

We have been together for 7 years before we got married. We got engaged 24 months ago; when the planning for this Disneymoon began. Yes, I planned this trip for about 2 years. We got married on September 1. It was an amazing day, and I would love to relive it again and again. We are so happy to FINALLY be married!!

Robert and I are 20-somethings from NY that work hard each day to fund our Disney obsession. I am a Registered Nurse and he works for a payroll company in Marketing. We both love what we do. Each time we come home from a trip, we just countdown to the next time we are going back!

This trip was 8-nights/9-days. We spent the first 7 nights at the Grand Floridian. Boy, we were dumped on with pixie dust there, but I will get to that later! A few months before, we decided to add on an extra night, but we didn’t really want to spend the money for another night at the Grand, so we headed over to Wilderness Lodge for our last night. I can’t complain, both were great! This was the first time we ever said at a Deluxe resort. Usually, when we go together, we have only stayed at Values. Robert has stayed at Moderate resorts when he was younger, but neither of us had ever experienced a Deluxe resort. So, this trip a bit of a splurge for us. But, hey, we figured we only Honeymoon once!

This trip took place September 2 - September 10, and we were definitely warned about leaving the day after our wedding. We left our hotel at 5:30 am the day after our wedding. I think this was the biggest mistake, because we did not realize how much a wedding takes out of you! We wanted to maximize our time the most as possible. We were pretty pooped out this trip, but it was nice and relaxing for sure!

Stay tuned for our first (EXHAUSTING) day!

 

[luckylady]

Congrats on the wedding. I hope you have many many happy years together. Can't wait to read about the trip.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Congratulations! I can't wait to read more about your Disneymoon! It's always been my dream to Disneymoon at the GF... but I guess I better find the right prince Charming first!

 

[Shaniyah]

Congratulations!! My BF just told me that we can have a Disneymoon when we get married!

It is very easy to lurk on the DIS. I am a lurker too. Well I am all in for following your TR AND commenting on it too! It is no fun talking to yourself! LOL! Come join me on my TR. It is in my sig. I can't wait to read more!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Congrats on the wedding. I hope you have many many happy years together. Can't wait to read about the trip.

Thanks for joining in!

Congratulations! I can't wait to read more about your Disneymoon! It's always been my dream to Disneymoon at the GF... but I guess I better find the right prince Charming first!

It was a dream come true for sure! We had always joked around about staying at the GF for our honeymoon long before we got engaged, but never thought we'd manage it! Little did we know it came true!

Thanks for joining in!

Congratulations!! My BF just told me that we can have a Disneymoon when we get married!

It is very easy to lurk on the DIS. I am a lurker too. Well I am all in for following your TR AND commenting on it too! It is no fun talking to yourself! LOL! Come join me on my TR. It is in my sig. I can't wait to read more!

I definitely will! Thanks for joining!

 

[rnbuda]

Tell them more about the pixie dust, wifey!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Day 1: Arriving at Disney World!

We went to bed the night before around 1 am. We didn’t sleep much before our alarms went off at 5 am. We had gathered our things together at the hotel where we had our wedding the night before quickly, so we just had to get dressed and throw our last minute things in the suitcases. We went to each of our parent’s rooms and bid farewell for the next 9 days!! We were ecstatic, but we still had a long hour to drive to get to the airport. We talked about the wedding and how much fun we had. We finally arrived at the airport, checked-in, grabbed some breakfast and had a pretty uneventful flight. Luckily it was a direct flight! We almost never get that option where we are from, so we got extra lucky!

We landed in Orlando around 1020, which was about 20 minutes before scheduled! Score!! We pranced our way over to grab our luggage and go to ME check-in. We were so excited, but so tired at this point! We ended up getting a pretty icky seat on the ME, so I didn’t get a picture of the welcome sign…boo . In fact, as pathetic as it is, we were almost falling sleep on the bus. WHAT?! I know, it’s really a sad thing to think about AS SOON AS YOU ARRIVE IN DISNEY WORLD! After several stops, we finally got to the Grand Floridian!! YAY! We walked off the bus and a Cast Member immediately greeted us! Wow, we had never gotten this kind of treatment before! The bellhop got our luggage off the bus and the CM walked us to our room. We had originally booked a Club-level standard room in the outer building. We were super excited about this. As we were walking to our room, I noticed we weren’t leaving the main building. The CM could tell I had a puzzled look on my face, and informed us that we had been upgraded to a Honeymoon suite club-level in the MAIN BUILDING! ARE…YOU..SERIOUS?! My jawed dropped and almost began crying. Robert was in just as much shock.

We were finally taken to our room, the CM opened the door, and I began tearing up. It was PERFECT!

(Sorry, I was in such shock I forgot to take pictures before throwing our luggage down, so these were taken the next day)

The CM told us to take a look at our view…O.M.G. I believe I was crying by this point!

It was a dream come true! After the CM chatted with us about information and details and the bellhop dropped off our luggage, we just stood there and took it all in. It was breath-taking and more than we could have ever imagined!

We were both starving at this point and I was ready for some Disney food!! So, we headed down to Gasparillas for some lunch. I’m sorry – I forgot pictures of our lunches!! But, it was delicious. Robert had the Italian sandwich and I had the black-diamond cheddar cheeseburger with peppered bacon…YUMMMM! 10/10 for sure!

We took a walk around the resort and took a few pictures

We headed back to our room to rest up before going into MK for EMH until 2 am. We had a dinner reservation at 7:15 pm, so we made the agreement to rest up a bit until dinner then head over to MK. When we got back to our room, I opened the door to a beautiful bouquet from the Disney florists!!

It was perfect!! Of course it was from Robert! It came with a note as well

I had an appointment at the Ivy Trellis Salon at 2 pm for a haircut. I had been growing my hair for the wedding for 2.5 years and I was ready to cut it!!! The woman who cut it did a decent job, not quite at the length I wanted it at (I wanted a bit shorter with more style), but that’s ok, it did the job for the week! The stylist was also a bit moody. Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t rude, but didn’t have the enthusiasm as many of the CMs have at Disney. It was fine, though!

Afterwards, I headed back to the room and Robert was sleeping like a rock. I crawled into bed and slept as well. We both slept until 6:30 before our dinner reservations!

Up Next: Dinner and a (short) night at MK!
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[scottny]

Hi,
Congrats on the wedding. great upgrade.

We always take early flights especially form JFK being it gets backed up very quickly.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Shaniyah]

Wow you really lucked out on that upgrade! Your room was beautiful. I have think I would have been a big bag of tears myself! Did you guys do the dining plan??

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Hi,
Congrats on the wedding. great upgrade.

We always take early flights especially form JFK being it gets backed up very quickly.

Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you! And thanks for reading along! Yeah, we're big on early flights getting in, and late flights going home!

Wow you really lucked out on that upgrade! Your room was beautiful. I have think I would have been a big bag of tears myself! Did you guys do the dining plan??

I held it together well, surprisingly!...or at least I tried We were on the deluxe dining plan...which ended up being WAY too much food. Especially since we also had the concierge lounge with free food all day. We don't plan on doing deluxe again.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Woooo hooo!!!! Not only a Disneymoon at the GF, but upgraded too! In the Main Building club level honeymoon suite!!! Talk about your pixie dust!

 

[luckylady]

What a beautiful flowers you got froma loving hubby. His fist present to you as his wife...ya he did good. Great room.

 

[Shaniyah]

I keep hearing that the DDP is way too much food. I have only been on the regular DP and that was PLENTY of food. But when I go on my disneymoon I wanna do the DDP just because! Lol

 

[catchmeifyoucan]

I'm along for the ride! Can't wait to hear more about your disneymoon!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Woooo hooo!!!! Not only a Disneymoon at the GF, but upgraded too! In the Main Building club level honeymoon suite!!! Talk about your pixie dust!

We still say we were "dumped on" with pixie dust!!!

What a beautiful flowers you got froma loving hubby. His fist present to you as his wife...ya he did good. Great room.

I agree, he did a great job!!

I keep hearing that the DDP is way too much food. I have only been on the regular DP and that was PLENTY of food. But when I go on my disneymoon I wanna do the DDP just because! Lol

We only did the deluxe dining plan because we wanted to do more signatures for our honeymoon. Little did we know how overwhelming it ended up being still!!

I'm along for the ride! Can't wait to hear more about your disneymoon!

Thanks for joining!!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

After we woke up from our naps, we got dressed at headed out for our 7:15 pm dinner reservations at Narcoossees! I was really curious about this dinner, as I've heard some mixed reviews here and there.

We made the short walk over and gave them our name. They congratulated us and told us they would call us when our table was ready. We barely stepped outside on the patio before they called our name! We were taken to our table and handed our menus!

Our server was Amer. He was good, nothing spectacular. He didn't have quite as much "magic" as we sometimes like from many CMs at Disney, but that's ok. We ordered our drinks and settled in.

Being on the deluxe dining plan, we were each able to pick an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert.

I began with the Crispy Calamari - pepperoncini relish, tomato coulis

This was delicious! But I could have made a meal out of it. I tried to stop myself from filling up, but it was just too good

Robert began with the Hearts of Romaine - Shaved Aged Parmesan, Garlicky Pumpernickel Croutons, Serrano Ham “Cracklins”, and Creamy Caesar Dressing

He went in the right direction getting a less filling appetizer! This was delicious as well. A typical Caesar salad.

For an entree, I ordered the Wild Line-Caught Alaskan Halibut - Marble Potatoes, Arugula, Red Watercress, Shiitake Mushrooms, Sweet Corn Purée, and Summer Vegetables with warm Tomato-Pickled Mustard Seed Vinaigrette

YUM! This was wonderful. The fish was very light and flakey. The vegetables had a great flavor, as well. I would definitely order this again!

Robert ordered the Two-Pound Steamed Maine Lobster - Yukon Gold Potato, Onion, and Applewood-smoked Bacon Gratin with Organic Romano Beans

He LOVED it! He said he would definitely order it again!

By this point in our meal, we were STUFFED. We knew we had a looonnngg week of food ahead of us We still had to order dessert!!

For dessert, I ordered the infamous Almond-crusted Cheesecake
finished with Lambert Cherry Sauce

Holy Macaroni! This was phenomenal. Now, I was a bit unsure because I'm not a huge almond fan, but this blew me away. I ended up finishing the entire thing!! 10-

Robert ordered S'mores

He said they were very good, but he barely made a dent in them. He's not a huge dessert person, like me

Overall, we had a really great meal at Narcoossees. Aside from the bland service, we really enjoyed ourselves and the food. We would definitely do it again

Once we finished up dinner, we left like we put on 100 pounds. We moseyed out the door and some quick pictures from the restaurant.

The Grand Floridian property is just so beautiful at night

Continued in next post

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

We headed over to the MK boat. We were feeling a bit tired after dinner, and didn't think we would make it too far into EMH at MK. Both of us found ourselves drifting asleep on the boat. We have NEVER been this tired in Disney! This was completely unusual, but we were just exhausted. The week before was catching up to us fast.

We headed off the boat, half asleep, and made our way into the MK. When we looked up and saw Main Street, we quickly woke up and got a rush of energy!

LOVE!!!

We made our way into the park and took in all the beautiful fall decorations!!!

We just loved the detailing! I was back in my happy place!!

The first thing we did was head over to Adventureland to go on Pirates of the Carribean. We just love this ride. It's the perfect mid-day ride to just sit in the cool air-conditioning.

Afterwards, we went over to the Haunted Mansion. Another one of our classic favorites. We do this ride countless times when we are at the MK!

By the time we got off the Haunted Mansion, it was almost time for Wishes. We walked around a little bit and that's when we decided - to leave the park and miss out on EMH This is something we never do, but we decided it would be better to rest up in the beginning of the week rather than drag ourselves the rest of the week. So, we made our way out of the park...

...not before Wishes, though!!!

Wishes the first time as a married couple, and it was just magical!!

We left the park and headed back to our room and immediately fell asleep!

Up Next: EPCOT/DHS!!

 

[Shaniyah]

OMG that Lobster looked absolutely delicious. It was HUGE!!! My mouth watered just a little bit! LOL!! I am hoping to get to Disney next fall. I absolutely LOVE the decorations the decorations!! How was the weather while you were there?

 

[we3travellers]

Congratulations newlyweds! I'm following along! We stayed at CSR for a week in Aug. and I am currently in serious withdrawal. My DH is not the Disney fan I am and although we had a great time, he says he will not go back unless we can stay GF CL. I'm wondering what bank he is planning on robbing?

 

[reyasmommy]

First off CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
I’m loving your TR thus far! It’s giving me goose bumps because it’s reminding me my wedding and Disneymoon. ((Many years ago)) We were married at the Poly and honeymooned at Disney for almost 3 weeks. That was one of the best times of my life. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 years and 2 kids later. We’re hoping to renew our vows there for our 15th anniversary… Although I’d like to do it sooner… Just sounds weird to renew at 12,13,or 14 years? Doesn’t it? Lol.

Anyway……… I LOVE your photos and love how happy you and your new husband look.

Our friends give us a hard time for going to Disney all the time too…… “Why don’t you go someplace new” They ALWAYS say while rolling their eyes. We LOVE it and that’s all that matters.
So neat that you were upgraded….. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to afford to stay there. (At least NOT while we have our kids with us)) Which will be at least another 16 years.
I’m looking forward to reading more…