Grace & Ethan's Home Wedding/ WDW Disneymoon PJ/PTR!~*Resort Question???*~

[disdancer]

Hey all! These look so fun, so I thought I'd start one of my own! We have set our wedding date for May 8th, 2010. Our Disneymoon is May 9-17! So i guess I'll start with us . . .

I'm Grace! I'm 25 and I'm a RN. I've been to DL many times, but never WDW. I have always loved all things disney. I'm a list person and tend to overplan! Lol, on to him.

My DF Ethan is the love of my life! He's 26 and an insurance agent. Like me, he's also been to DL but never WDW. When we started to talk about wedding locations and I suggested Disney . . . well, it didn't go over well . So after much convincing, I finally talked him into a WDW Honeymoon!

So more about us . . .

How We Met

I met Ethan my freshman year of high school. It was the first day of school and he was my assigned lab partner. We became friends and hung out a lot. We had mutual friends as well, so all the parties he went to I did too and vice versa. We started dating our Senior year. He asked me to the Homecoming dance . . . and I guess the rest is history! We have known each other roughly 10 years, dated 7!

The Proposal

We were out at our favorite Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We go there almost every week, so I wasn't suspecting a thing. We ate as always and towards the end I began to see more and more waiters walk by our table. But still, suspected nothing. When the waiter brought us our fortune cookies, I grabbed the one closest. He tried to take it away saying "No, thats mine! Take this one!" But i just kept that one! I barely cracked it open when he took it out of my hands and replaced it with the other cookie. I was a bit annoyed, but accepted the other cookie. I cracked it open and the fortune read:

Grace, Will You Marry Me?

I was SO surprised! I looked up all teary eyed to find him beside me on his knee with the most beautiful ring! Of course I said yes, and was pretty much bawling by them!

So, that's about it! Up next, where the heck are we gonna stay???

 

[PrincessShea]

Awww that's is such a great proposal story. I love reading about creative ones like that!

If you are a planner then you are in for a treat; because a Disney World vacation is like crack for the OCD planner. There is always researching to be done...

Can't wait to help you out! As far as places to stay, we really enjoyed staying at the Beach Club Villas for our honeymoon. I LOVE the Boardwalk and being walking distance to Epcot (and also walking distance to DHS, but it's a bit longer). However, we got the room with the buy 4 get 3 free promotion, otherwise it would have never been in the cards.

And a lot of people hate it, but I'll also recommend the Swan/Dolphin. You can't use Magical Express or the Dining Plan, but you get a basically deluxe quality room that is also on the Boardwalk for the price of a moderate. Example, I am going to Disney over Christmas. The first half of the trip the Dolphin is $140/night and the second half it's $180/night...Beach Club is currently $540/night. So yea....

If money is no object though I would stay at the Polynesian because every time I roam through that resort it seems so awesome! Bay Lake Towers looks like it's going to be amazing, so I would try for that as well.

 

[Ann117]

Welcome!!! Like the other bride said if you like to plan you will love planning your Disney vacation there is so much to do there. My favorite hotel is the Contemporary but my family has been staying there since I was in Kindergarten so I am kinda bias. There is always the Grand Floridian if you got the money. Even if you stay at a value resort it will be an amazing trip every hotel at WDW is nice.

 

[disdancer]

Thanks so much for the help! I talked to Dfi about resorts last night, I'll post a little later today! Does anyone know how to modify the title? I want to add something! Thanks again!

 

[Cleofish]

Yay!! Welcome - what a lovely story!! So beautiful.

To change the title go to edit the first post of the thread and it should let you change the title too. Looking forward to lots of updates!

 

[disdancer]

Yay!! Welcome - what a lovely story!! So beautiful.

To change the title go to edit the first post of the thread and it should let you change the title too. Looking forward to lots of updates!

Thanks, Cleofish!

Time for another update . . .

Where are we Going to Stay??

Well, when I first started browsing through resorts online, I fell in love with the GF. The beach, everything was perfect for us . . . . . until we saw the price. Unfortunately, money does matter. So that's when we got stuck. We looked for alternate Resorts with the same "charm" as GF, but it wasn't working out.

That's when I found this site!! Someone suggested a split stay, something I had never heard of nor considered before. Then we decided that we would stay 5 or 6 nights at POR or POFQ and 2 or 3 nights at the GF! (We considered Swan and Dolphin, but I understand that it doesn't have transportation, so that wouldn't work out since we're not renting a car.)

I was all prepared to do a split stay when I found another option. I looked at some pics of the Honeymoon Suite at WL and loved it! It was perfect for us, and the resort was breathtaking! Unfortuneately, it was a bit more.

I talked to DF about all of our options. He said a split stay would be great, just maybe a little stressful around the split part. If we did that, we would obviously have to take some theme park time away. If we did the WL, we would obviously be splurging a little. His thoughts on this were that it's our honeymoon, we have a right to splurge. We wouldn't get to stay in GF, but is it worth it to stay in the amazing WL?

So my final question for you is:

Should we spurge on the WL Honeymoon Suite that we both like, or be practical and do a split stay?

More later!

 

[disneygal922]

Hi Grace! Welcome to the boards! I say go for the splurge for your HM. DF and I are trying to be very budget friendly and considered staying at a moderate or value for the honeymoon. We decided that b/c this is our wedding we are going to go for the splurge and stay at the Contemporary. We stayed at a value on our engagement trip and are staying at a value for our planning session so a deluxe will be an awesome gift to ourselves!

Can't wait to hear more of your plans!

 

[disdancer]

Hi Grace! Welcome to the boards! I say go for the splurge for your HM. DF and I are trying to be very budget friendly and considered staying at a moderate or value for the honeymoon. We decided that b/c this is our wedding we are going to go for the splurge and stay at the Contemporary. We stayed at a value on our engagement trip and are staying at a value for our planning session so a deluxe will be an awesome gift to ourselves!

Can't wait to hear more of your plans!

Thanks! Congrats on your engagement! We looked at the contemporary as well, it looked really nice! I'm hoping to stay at WL, just don't know if it's worth the money. (Or if DF will approve of the price tag!)

 

[pezaddict231]

I've never stayed at POFQ, but I have stayed at the GF and WL. The GF is awesome, and a split stay is not that hard. You can have bell services take your luggage over and just go there whenever you want to check in. I would recommend buying tickets for your full stay on the first package so that you can head right to the park on your move day if you want, and cheaper that way too since tix are good for 14 days after first use. The only problem may be if you decide to get the dining plan on both parts of the trip, then you may need to check in to get your room key if you have an ADR at the park. I would try to make your move day a MK day since that's closest to the GF.

The WL is a great resort too, really romantic and we really enjoyed it. Plus it's your honeymoon and if there's ever a time to splurge this is it!

 

[trudy88]

Congratulations and can't wait to hear all of your plans! I'm kind of a list maker too.

 

[ghoulish delight]

Welcome and congrats Grace! Can't wait to read more as your plans unfold!

Now... as for where to stay for your honeymoon! My DF and I are in the same boat as you and your DF on having never been to WDW. After testing out our options for our potential WDW honeymoon, we realized there was no way we could afford to stay at the deluxe hotels and stay within our budget.

I'm not sure what sort of funds you two are working with, but there is hope!! Another amazingly helpful and sweet Disbride (ahem, LLLBelle ) filled me in on renting DVC points! I'm not sure if you're familiar or not, but it is a Godsend!

The Disney Vacation Club has these villas at the different resorts. Granted, not all have them, but many of the deluxe hotels do. The people who are members of it often pay a certain amount per year and are given a number of points for the price. With the points, they call and make reservations and instead of paying a fee for them each time, they cost points instead. So in a sense... the points are pre-paid. Often enough, many DVC owners will not be able to use up all their allotted points. So as not to lose money, they'll sell them for non-DVC members to "rent". Phew. I hope I explained that well enough and it makes sense! Lol!

Needless to say there's quite a few websites that can tell you more about it if you google it.

My point is, my DF and I are renting DVC points from a very nice couple that we actually found on the Disboards here! We got 5 nights at a BWV studio for $780!

Anyway, just thought I'd pass it on since it was literally a miracle for us! Good luck with everything!

 

[disdancer]

I've never stayed at POFQ, but I have stayed at the GF and WL. The GF is awesome, and a split stay is not that hard. You can have bell services take your luggage over and just go there whenever you want to check in. I would recommend buying tickets for your full stay on the first package so that you can head right to the park on your move day if you want, and cheaper that way too since tix are good for 14 days after first use. The only problem may be if you decide to get the dining plan on both parts of the trip, then you may need to check in to get your room key if you have an ADR at the park. I would try to make your move day a MK day since that's closest to the GF.

The WL is a great resort too, really romantic and we really enjoyed it. Plus it's your honeymoon and if there's ever a time to splurge this is it!

Thanks! Good to hear the split stay isn't hectic! Sounds like they do most of the work. Thank you for the tips on tickets and dining plans. I've neer been and can use all the help I can get!!

Congratulations and can't wait to hear all of your plans! I'm kind of a list maker too.

Yes, lists are my life. I couldn't function in daily life without them, let lome in disneyworld! There will be MANY for this trip . . .

Welcome and congrats Grace! Can't wait to read more as your plans unfold!

Now... as for where to stay for your honeymoon! My DF and I are in the same boat as you and your DF on having never been to WDW. After testing out our options for our potential WDW honeymoon, we realized there was no way we could afford to stay at the deluxe hotels and stay within our budget.

I'm not sure what sort of funds you two are working with, but there is hope!! Another amazingly helpful and sweet Disbride (ahem, LLLBelle ) filled me in on renting DVC points! I'm not sure if you're familiar or not, but it is a Godsend!

The Disney Vacation Club has these villas at the different resorts. Granted, not all have them, but many of the deluxe hotels do. The people who are members of it often pay a certain amount per year and are given a number of points for the price. With the points, they call and make reservations and instead of paying a fee for them each time, they cost points instead. So in a sense... the points are pre-paid. Often enough, many DVC owners will not be able to use up all their allotted points. So as not to lose money, they'll sell them for non-DVC members to "rent". Phew. I hope I explained that well enough and it makes sense! Lol!

Needless to say there's quite a few websites that can tell you more about it if you google it.

My point is, my DF and I are renting DVC points from a very nice couple that we actually found on the Disboards here! We got 5 nights at a BWV studio for $780!

Anyway, just thought I'd pass it on since it was literally a miracle for us! Good luck with everything!

Thank you so much for the explnation! If that works, it'll be a lifesaver! Hmmmmmmmm . . . . I'll have to get some more info, but thank you ery much. A deluxe for 5 days for $780 sounds amazing! Congrts on the deal and your upcoming wedding! P.S.- Anjanette is a beautiful name!

 

[disdancer]

Resort Update!

So I talked to DF last night, we are pretty sure that we will probably splurge and stay at WL. We figured it's our honeymoon, we're going to go for it! Or if it works out, we may end up renting DVC points to cut the cost a little. Just going to see how it folds out. I think I'm going to purchase our plane tickets toight, before it gets too late. More later!

 

[ghoulish delight]

Resort Update!

So I talked to DF last night, we are pretty sure that we will probably splurge and stay at WL. We figured it's our honeymoon, we're going to go for it! Or if it works out, we may end up renting DVC points to cut the cost a little. Just going to see how it folds out. I think I'm going to purchase our plane tickets toight, before it gets too late. More later!

Yay! How exciting!!

If you choose to check out the DVC stuff, there's a section of the Disboards dedicated to DVC rentals where you can post something like a wanted ad of what you're looking for. Example being: WL studio for [insert dates you want to stay].

Anyhoo, keep us posted on whatever you decide!

 

[disneygal922]

YAY so glad you guys decided to treat yourselves to a deluxe stay! It is your honeymoon and will be very memorable! When you book definitely let them know you will be on your HM.

 

[disdancer]

Hi everyone, thank you so much for the helpful feedback, you're all so sweet to this newbie!

So, I booked our flights yesterday!! Can you tell I'm a bit excited? It just makes it that more real for me. I really wanted a direct flight, but we didn't get one. We're changing in Denver on the way there. I guess it was a little much to expect a decently priced flight from one side of the country to the other! Our flight leaves at 6 am and we get to Orlando at around 4 in the afternoon. This is better I guess, by the time we get to the hotel (still don't know which one yet) and get settled in, it will be dinner time. We'll relax at the hotel for the first night and rest up for a full theme park day the next day!

Resorts:

As I mentioned before, we are severely leaning towards WL. For those of you who have stayed in a honeymoon suite at a WDW resort, is it worth it paying for a Honeymoon suite? Or should I just book a regular room? We are the type of people who like to nap/relax, so it would be used for more than sleeping. Thanks again for the help, you disney brides are all so sweet!

 

[disdancer]

Okay, so we've decided to scratch the whole split stay thing. So our three options are now to either: book the honeymoon suite at the WL, book a regular room at the WL, or try to rent points to stay at VWL. Again, does anyone who has stayed in a Honeymoon suite think it's worth the extra money?? Thanks in advance!!

 

[disneygal922]

Hi Grace! I've never stayed in a honeymoon suite but from what I have heard, the suites are all very nice and big but I've seen many reviews saying, people would have rathered saved the extra $$$ and used it for something else like a couple nice dinners, tours, etc. The standard rooms are very nice. Also, what I've noticed in my review reading adventures, is that the people who stayed in the suites who said it was completely worth it, were staying for a long trip approx. 2wks+. I know if we were staying a long time I would probably like a suite but for only a week or so I wouldn't have enough time to spread out and thoroughly enjoy it! Hope this helps a little! Good Luck!