The Planning Phase
As I searched and scoured the world wide web for information regarding honeymoon planning at the Walt Disney World Resort, I found a common theme- "Just Do It". Being a person who can spend several days examining the details of a single car while care shopping, "Just Do It" was obviously a less than compelling reason for me to spend my honeymoon at the Walt Disney World Resort.
To begin, there were a few things that I did know; My wife and I love Disney. I had a limited budget. While we enjoy spending time with out nephew, we did not necessarily want to enjoy our honeymoon with screaming toddlers. Finally, that Disney was testing out these new things called magic bands- and there were mixed emotions from it's users.
Always up for a challenge, I began researching the day after our engagement (at the Napa Rose in the Grand Californian). As expected, I wanted to get the best room, for the least amount of money. I was quickly disappointed to realize that the deluxe hotels quickly brought me to my max budget with only $500 to spend on airfare and food- obviously that was a feat that was impossible to conquer.
So as many people suggested, I began looking at the value and moderate resorts. My eyes began to light up, as I saw a more reasonable price tag. After researching several value resorts, I realized that the target guest was one who was a park warrior and often families with younger children. Because this was going to be my one and only honeymoon, I felt compelled to do just a little bit better than a value. I wanted to woo my bride and make her feel special. I began the moderate resort hunt.
Once again I spent hours listening to podcasts, utilizing the 7 in 7 DIS Unplugged videos, and reading hotel reviews on the several unofficial Disney websites. Desiring an upscale resort feel at an economy price, I chose to book a room at the Coronado Springs Resort. Some of the things that made my heart race as I read reviews and looked at the pictures were the room designs and themeing of the grounds. Admittedly, my wife and I love to walk and enjoy scenery so I was not scared to have a longer walk to the bus area. The upscale rooms utilizing dark wood and mellow turquoise tones combined with crisp white sheets looked inviting and comfortable.
I soon after priced the trip, taking advantage of the off season room rates (i think 15 or 20%) combined with a 6 day magic your way ticket package, and was enthralled to see the price for our 7 day trip coming under $2000 for two people with park hoppers, coupons, and water park options.
After listening to several different podcasts, I used a travel agent to book my stay. There are several benefits to this:
-First off, it is 100% free. I was worried that I would be expected to tip, pay a percentage of the trip, or fill out copious amounts of surveys. This was not the case. When you hear the podcasts talk about concierge level service, they are not joking. I received a response back within the hour of inquiry, and the contact with my agent did not end until after our trip.
-They can book the rooms for you. Rather than spending extra time online, booking and re-booking your rooms as discounts arise, most travel agents will do this for you and simply send you an email letting you know of your new savings.
-They have great recommendations, and listen to what type of trip you desire. Obviously my wife and I were looking to have a certain type of experience during our stay. If I search the Disney website, it has several recommendations based on age, sex, and lifestyle. However, I was able to tell my travel agent that I was going on my honey moon, that we are in our mid 20's, we had a vegan/vegetarian diet, and that we wanted three upscale table service dinners during our trip. She also asked our interests and gave excellent recommendations on attractions and parks (despite my existing knowledge).
For an individual who loves Disney but is overwhelmed by the planning and copious amounts of options in building your vacation package, I strongly recommend a travel agent. It will keep the vacation fun. As you get emails from your agent, you still feel as if you are participating in the planning, but you will not feel stressed if a bump occurs in the road.
If you are a person like myself who memorizes the park layouts prior to the trip to optimize my enjoyment, I still recommend a travel agent. The reason why is that I have very little time to spend on the phone. Often times, when Disney releases a new discount, the computers go down, and the phone lines can be two hours or more. The travel agents will go above and beyond to fight for your discount, and they will do this for you. I was still able to research my trip as I enjoyed, and I was able to communicate that much better with my travel agent as an educated guest.
Now here is the good part. Because I used my travel agent, I was able to take advantage of the 35% off deluxe resort. While I had originally booked my stay at the Coronado Springs resort, I was constantly looking for a way to get into the wilderness lodge.
Being someone who lived in Yosemite National Park for a summer, there is Nothing like the great outdoors... I love the theme of the resort from the hard wood floors, to the cow bells, to the tall grass. This resort took me back to that summer in 2012 as I looked at videos and pictures. I knew that this was my ultimate honeymoon resort.
So as the discounts dropped, almost simultaneously I received an email from my travel agent informing me of the discounts for the wilderness lodge. The same package that we had for Coronado springs cost about $8-900 more at the Wilderness lodge. This price difference was only about $90 per night. Once again, my travel agent made the changes. She called Disney and switched the reservation and let me know when it was complete. While this may seem as if it is not a huge deal, it put me at ease. I was able to go to work and check my emails and see what the progress was.
You can imagine my excitement. My wife (fiance at the time) was thinking that we were staying at Coronado Springs, and that the was no possible way we could ever afford to stay at the Wilderness Lodge. And I had to keep this secret! It was nearly impossible.
Next came booking our airfare. As I am sure you know by now, I searched high and low, utilizing every resources. My best rates were found using Kayak (no affiliation). From LAX I found airfare for $374 with all taxes and fees (minus a $25 baggage fee per bag). After watching the rates for a few weeks, I booked at this price as it was the lowest I had seen it. As many sites mention, 45 days prior to your trip seems to be the magic number for the best rate. Air fare is always tricky so be sure to do your own research using a site like airfarewatchdog.com (no affiliation) as a tool and always reading the fine prints for additional charges and restrictions on cancellations. I learned a lot while looking at several sights and it is scary how locked in you get once you book your airfare!
When we arrived at the Wilderness Lodge I was surprised to see that our standard view was upgraded to a lake view on the 6th floor! We are a view of the pool, the lake, and the electric water pageant at no extra cost! This was a special addition to our honeymoon.
Ramping UP
Everyone does this differently. Because I started planning in August for my January trip, I was able to binge on anything Disney for five months before my trip. I am fortunate to work near Disneyland and run 9-1-1 emergency calls into the park where I can get my Disney fix while proudly serving the citizens and visitors of Disneyland.
In addition I listened to approximately 10 different podcasts throughout the week. These podcasts help prepare you for what to expect at the WDWR at the time that you will be visiting. I made sure to purchase the WDW Official Album and play that repeatedly (I am a huge music person and my entire day is usually accompanied by some kind of music.) There are also several covers and musical renditions of the Disney tunes from bluegrass to pop to jazz to country. They do a great job of providing access for all music tastes.
Magic Bands
The Magic Bands.... dut dut duhhhhhhhhhh.... This seems to be one of the HOTTEST topics on any podcast or discussion board- and for a good reason. The magic band is the most diverse tool that Disney has ever created. I am not a Disney fan boy- Disney can do things wrong, and I have been victim to it as I was priced out of an Annual Pass at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. However I feel like the Magic Band is a phenomenal tool that will revolutionize the theme park industry.
Almost immediately after my stay was booked, I was excited to see that I would be participating in the Magic Band Beta testing. I was able to to pick my colors and have our names put on our bands. This is a nice touch, but ultimately has nothing to do with the band itself. I feel like it is a way to get people excited about the band. There are instructional videos online as well that utilize Edna from The Incredibles Movie. The online tutorial is helpful and gives tips and pointers on how to use the bands.
As a person who plans, my favorite aspect of the magic band was that I had our fastpasses picked out about a month before our trip. I was able to snag the best rides and change times to what I felt would benefit our trip the most. I loved that I could download an app and that I was able to have a countdown and access several resources including the maps, wait times, and reservations.
During our stay we had several days where we slept in. From my phone, while on bus or boat I was always able to re-schedule our fast passes for a new times, usually within an hour of our arrival at the park. The convenience of this was awesome.
Objectively, I can see the negatives of the band. Being that it requires smart phone access to use on the fly is limiting as a lot of people may not have a smart phone or may not have the app downloaded. At this point the option becomes waiting for a kiosk which will take at least 30 minutes during most of the day. If you are not a planner, I feel that you can still arrive at the park and head any direction while checking the times on your phone. There were several times where we had a fastpass for an attraction and never used it because the line was so reasonable we stood in stand by and then switched it for another time. While we did this we never had an issue.
Another caveat is that we traveled in January between the marathon weekend and Martin Luther King Day. The crowd levels were down, and we didn't wait longer than 20-30 minutes for a ride. The weather was cool to cold and the humidity was very reasonable. It is my opinion that the Magic Band enjoyment factor is directly related to crow levels and a person's attitude. If you embrace the bands and try to use them to your advantage your experience will be much more enjoyable. While I have no idea if they are here to stay, for now, they are being utilized and you can't work around that. If you try to understand the system, I feel that it will be beneficial and allow you enjoy your trip that much more. I did not feel limited in my ride choice selections, because I come from the DLR. At the DLR it is not uncommon to average a 30 minute wait for a ride. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was typically the longest line during my stay.
The band is also rad because you only have to pull your wallet our if you want to. I loved getting to the room at night after visiting the Territory Lounge, and not having to fumble around with a key if things were, er... um, a bit blurry. I could make Mickey touch the door pad and head for bed! In addition, getting the parks was a breeze. While I did have one issue with my finger not reading on the scanner, we were able to get in no problem in a reasonable amount of time.
We made some purchases using the band as well. This part was effort less. They came to the table with an iphone encased scanner (it looked like) and scanned the band, then had me put in my pin. This took a mater of seconds, and once again, I didn't have to fiddle with my wallet. The waitress asked at the start of the meal what I would be paying with and she returned at the end of the meal with the scanner when we were ready to leave.
To clarify, I understand that not pulling out a wallet is not a huge deal, but it is a convenience. I didn't have to worry about losing a credit card, misplacing my tickets, or dropping cash while grabbing a snack. I am not prone to these things, but there is peace of mind for me in this.
Ultimately the Magic Band was a good addition to the trip. We made sure to be aware of it's use and made sure that we were realistic in our purchases so that we weren't shocked as we checked out on our final day.
My tips to a boyfriend/husband/fiance who is looking to plan a trip for your S.O.:
1.) It's never too soon to start! Take advantage of your time. While they tend to recommend a six month window, you will want to look at your finances and realistically understand what the overall cost will be.
Ask for Disney Gift cards for gifts for your wedding and for you birthdays/holidays. It will be a huge help!!
2.) If it financially doesn't make since, don't do it. While we enjoyed out stay very much and did not pass up on a trip to the California Grill or evenings at the bar, we also didn't do every excursion that Disney offers. As a doting husband, I wanted to have my wife experience every tour and every animal encounter that she could (because she loves animals). I realized that these weren't going to happen on this trip. I made it a point to spend extra time in the areas that I knew that she would enjoy. The time that you spend together is what will make the memory, not the activities that you do. Once again, while the most important part of the trip was the time we spent together, the fact that I took time to take her to Rafiki's Planet Watch meant the world to my wife.
3.) Evaluate the discounts. There were two promos running at the time of my booking- Hotel Discount and Disney Dining Package. When I looked at my savings on both sides, I realized that I would not fully take advantage of the Disney Dining Package. In order to get the most out of those packages you must use every credit and eat several times a day. Instead I saved almost a grand on my room using the room discount. We found that many snacks and meals we could share, and that table service restaurants can be a big chunk of times- especially when you don't have a car on property.
4.) Utilize the Magical Express Bus. If you are planning on staying only at the WDWR, the Magical Express Bus is the way to go. We saved so much money by not renting a car because we had no intention of leaving the property. The transition from our airline was flawless and our luggage ended up right in our room. The bus was comfortable and the video on the way get's you pumped for your adventure. It's a great, stress free way to start your trip.
5.) Make your reservations in advance and use the travel agent to make things special. You know your partner best! Plan small or large things and don't tell them about it. It can be something as simple as a mixed drink on the beach or something as big as playing with the dolphins at Epcot. Be aware that dining reservations cost $10 a person if you don't cancel them by 11 pm the night before.
6.) Talk about it with your S.O.- Maybe a Disney Honeymoon isn't for you. You can make it as relaxing or as busy as you would like. If you have the capacity to walk away from the parks without doing everything you will enjoy the trip. If you feel compelled to do each and every activity, you will most likely be stressed and/or frustrated. Be flexible. Things will change, and your S.O. may want to do something that you didn't plan for. It's ok, embrace the fun that they are having.
7.) Tell people that it is your honeymoon. Get those pins that may look dumb. It is fun when people tell you Congratulations. Some tables had confetti. One restaurant gave us a free desert. Don't expect much though. It is more about people recognizing that you have started a new chapter in your life, and their encouragement is what makes you feel special.
8.) With all my financial cautions, remember you only get to honeymoon once. The worst thing you can tell your spouse is "No we can't afford that," over and over again. Go into the trip knowing that you may have a little credit card debt afterwards. While I was always aware of what we were spending, it felt good to say to my wife "let's get you a sweatshirt," or "do you want that purse that you were looking at?" Now, every time she wears the Scarf or sweatshirt we got her she say "I can't wait to go back, I had so much fun with you! It was the best trip we could have taken together" Looking back, some of the experiences that we had dining or while having drinks weren't planned, but added to our day because we had time to sit down away from the action.
9.) Finally, don't be discouraged. There are so many posts and blogs that just bash and demolish the WDWR. Attitude is everything. Think about why you are going there. If it is because you want it all to be perfect, then stay at home. There are so many factors that will influence your day. You may wake up late, or need to head back to the resort and enjoy your nap. Just enjoy Disney for what it is. It is a series of parks that allow you to have experiences that you may never be able to have again in your life. Whether it is visiting Germany, watching an animal undergo a vet examination, seeing great movie classics brought to life, or visiting your favorite characters in their village settings, Disney will do their best to make it an experience that you will never forget. Enjoy the unique cuisine and try something new each day. Expect quality. Most importantly, recognize that you are on your trip to learn and grow and experience your new significant other. Disney is a great tool for this. Because it is not perfect, you will learn how to work together and will get to problem solve and see each other's personalities as a newly wed couple.
Enjoy it, it will be the time of your life. Don't be surprised if you are the first one to shed a tear as you leave. Partially because you are leaving Disney, but mostly because of the joy that spending an entire vacation with your spouse will bring you!
As I searched and scoured the world wide web for information regarding honeymoon planning at the Walt Disney World Resort, I found a common theme- "Just Do It". Being a person who can spend several days examining the details of a single car while care shopping, "Just Do It" was obviously a less than compelling reason for me to spend my honeymoon at the Walt Disney World Resort.
To begin, there were a few things that I did know; My wife and I love Disney. I had a limited budget. While we enjoy spending time with out nephew, we did not necessarily want to enjoy our honeymoon with screaming toddlers. Finally, that Disney was testing out these new things called magic bands- and there were mixed emotions from it's users.
Always up for a challenge, I began researching the day after our engagement (at the Napa Rose in the Grand Californian). As expected, I wanted to get the best room, for the least amount of money. I was quickly disappointed to realize that the deluxe hotels quickly brought me to my max budget with only $500 to spend on airfare and food- obviously that was a feat that was impossible to conquer.
So as many people suggested, I began looking at the value and moderate resorts. My eyes began to light up, as I saw a more reasonable price tag. After researching several value resorts, I realized that the target guest was one who was a park warrior and often families with younger children. Because this was going to be my one and only honeymoon, I felt compelled to do just a little bit better than a value. I wanted to woo my bride and make her feel special. I began the moderate resort hunt.
Once again I spent hours listening to podcasts, utilizing the 7 in 7 DIS Unplugged videos, and reading hotel reviews on the several unofficial Disney websites. Desiring an upscale resort feel at an economy price, I chose to book a room at the Coronado Springs Resort. Some of the things that made my heart race as I read reviews and looked at the pictures were the room designs and themeing of the grounds. Admittedly, my wife and I love to walk and enjoy scenery so I was not scared to have a longer walk to the bus area. The upscale rooms utilizing dark wood and mellow turquoise tones combined with crisp white sheets looked inviting and comfortable.
I soon after priced the trip, taking advantage of the off season room rates (i think 15 or 20%) combined with a 6 day magic your way ticket package, and was enthralled to see the price for our 7 day trip coming under $2000 for two people with park hoppers, coupons, and water park options.
After listening to several different podcasts, I used a travel agent to book my stay. There are several benefits to this:
-First off, it is 100% free. I was worried that I would be expected to tip, pay a percentage of the trip, or fill out copious amounts of surveys. This was not the case. When you hear the podcasts talk about concierge level service, they are not joking. I received a response back within the hour of inquiry, and the contact with my agent did not end until after our trip.
-They can book the rooms for you. Rather than spending extra time online, booking and re-booking your rooms as discounts arise, most travel agents will do this for you and simply send you an email letting you know of your new savings.
-They have great recommendations, and listen to what type of trip you desire. Obviously my wife and I were looking to have a certain type of experience during our stay. If I search the Disney website, it has several recommendations based on age, sex, and lifestyle. However, I was able to tell my travel agent that I was going on my honey moon, that we are in our mid 20's, we had a vegan/vegetarian diet, and that we wanted three upscale table service dinners during our trip. She also asked our interests and gave excellent recommendations on attractions and parks (despite my existing knowledge).
For an individual who loves Disney but is overwhelmed by the planning and copious amounts of options in building your vacation package, I strongly recommend a travel agent. It will keep the vacation fun. As you get emails from your agent, you still feel as if you are participating in the planning, but you will not feel stressed if a bump occurs in the road.
If you are a person like myself who memorizes the park layouts prior to the trip to optimize my enjoyment, I still recommend a travel agent. The reason why is that I have very little time to spend on the phone. Often times, when Disney releases a new discount, the computers go down, and the phone lines can be two hours or more. The travel agents will go above and beyond to fight for your discount, and they will do this for you. I was still able to research my trip as I enjoyed, and I was able to communicate that much better with my travel agent as an educated guest.
Now here is the good part. Because I used my travel agent, I was able to take advantage of the 35% off deluxe resort. While I had originally booked my stay at the Coronado Springs resort, I was constantly looking for a way to get into the wilderness lodge.
Being someone who lived in Yosemite National Park for a summer, there is Nothing like the great outdoors... I love the theme of the resort from the hard wood floors, to the cow bells, to the tall grass. This resort took me back to that summer in 2012 as I looked at videos and pictures. I knew that this was my ultimate honeymoon resort.
So as the discounts dropped, almost simultaneously I received an email from my travel agent informing me of the discounts for the wilderness lodge. The same package that we had for Coronado springs cost about $8-900 more at the Wilderness lodge. This price difference was only about $90 per night. Once again, my travel agent made the changes. She called Disney and switched the reservation and let me know when it was complete. While this may seem as if it is not a huge deal, it put me at ease. I was able to go to work and check my emails and see what the progress was.
You can imagine my excitement. My wife (fiance at the time) was thinking that we were staying at Coronado Springs, and that the was no possible way we could ever afford to stay at the Wilderness Lodge. And I had to keep this secret! It was nearly impossible.
Next came booking our airfare. As I am sure you know by now, I searched high and low, utilizing every resources. My best rates were found using Kayak (no affiliation). From LAX I found airfare for $374 with all taxes and fees (minus a $25 baggage fee per bag). After watching the rates for a few weeks, I booked at this price as it was the lowest I had seen it. As many sites mention, 45 days prior to your trip seems to be the magic number for the best rate. Air fare is always tricky so be sure to do your own research using a site like airfarewatchdog.com (no affiliation) as a tool and always reading the fine prints for additional charges and restrictions on cancellations. I learned a lot while looking at several sights and it is scary how locked in you get once you book your airfare!
When we arrived at the Wilderness Lodge I was surprised to see that our standard view was upgraded to a lake view on the 6th floor! We are a view of the pool, the lake, and the electric water pageant at no extra cost! This was a special addition to our honeymoon.
Ramping UP
Everyone does this differently. Because I started planning in August for my January trip, I was able to binge on anything Disney for five months before my trip. I am fortunate to work near Disneyland and run 9-1-1 emergency calls into the park where I can get my Disney fix while proudly serving the citizens and visitors of Disneyland.
In addition I listened to approximately 10 different podcasts throughout the week. These podcasts help prepare you for what to expect at the WDWR at the time that you will be visiting. I made sure to purchase the WDW Official Album and play that repeatedly (I am a huge music person and my entire day is usually accompanied by some kind of music.) There are also several covers and musical renditions of the Disney tunes from bluegrass to pop to jazz to country. They do a great job of providing access for all music tastes.
Magic Bands
The Magic Bands.... dut dut duhhhhhhhhhh.... This seems to be one of the HOTTEST topics on any podcast or discussion board- and for a good reason. The magic band is the most diverse tool that Disney has ever created. I am not a Disney fan boy- Disney can do things wrong, and I have been victim to it as I was priced out of an Annual Pass at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. However I feel like the Magic Band is a phenomenal tool that will revolutionize the theme park industry.
Almost immediately after my stay was booked, I was excited to see that I would be participating in the Magic Band Beta testing. I was able to to pick my colors and have our names put on our bands. This is a nice touch, but ultimately has nothing to do with the band itself. I feel like it is a way to get people excited about the band. There are instructional videos online as well that utilize Edna from The Incredibles Movie. The online tutorial is helpful and gives tips and pointers on how to use the bands.
As a person who plans, my favorite aspect of the magic band was that I had our fastpasses picked out about a month before our trip. I was able to snag the best rides and change times to what I felt would benefit our trip the most. I loved that I could download an app and that I was able to have a countdown and access several resources including the maps, wait times, and reservations.
During our stay we had several days where we slept in. From my phone, while on bus or boat I was always able to re-schedule our fast passes for a new times, usually within an hour of our arrival at the park. The convenience of this was awesome.
Objectively, I can see the negatives of the band. Being that it requires smart phone access to use on the fly is limiting as a lot of people may not have a smart phone or may not have the app downloaded. At this point the option becomes waiting for a kiosk which will take at least 30 minutes during most of the day. If you are not a planner, I feel that you can still arrive at the park and head any direction while checking the times on your phone. There were several times where we had a fastpass for an attraction and never used it because the line was so reasonable we stood in stand by and then switched it for another time. While we did this we never had an issue.
Another caveat is that we traveled in January between the marathon weekend and Martin Luther King Day. The crowd levels were down, and we didn't wait longer than 20-30 minutes for a ride. The weather was cool to cold and the humidity was very reasonable. It is my opinion that the Magic Band enjoyment factor is directly related to crow levels and a person's attitude. If you embrace the bands and try to use them to your advantage your experience will be much more enjoyable. While I have no idea if they are here to stay, for now, they are being utilized and you can't work around that. If you try to understand the system, I feel that it will be beneficial and allow you enjoy your trip that much more. I did not feel limited in my ride choice selections, because I come from the DLR. At the DLR it is not uncommon to average a 30 minute wait for a ride. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was typically the longest line during my stay.
The band is also rad because you only have to pull your wallet our if you want to. I loved getting to the room at night after visiting the Territory Lounge, and not having to fumble around with a key if things were, er... um, a bit blurry. I could make Mickey touch the door pad and head for bed! In addition, getting the parks was a breeze. While I did have one issue with my finger not reading on the scanner, we were able to get in no problem in a reasonable amount of time.
We made some purchases using the band as well. This part was effort less. They came to the table with an iphone encased scanner (it looked like) and scanned the band, then had me put in my pin. This took a mater of seconds, and once again, I didn't have to fiddle with my wallet. The waitress asked at the start of the meal what I would be paying with and she returned at the end of the meal with the scanner when we were ready to leave.
To clarify, I understand that not pulling out a wallet is not a huge deal, but it is a convenience. I didn't have to worry about losing a credit card, misplacing my tickets, or dropping cash while grabbing a snack. I am not prone to these things, but there is peace of mind for me in this.
Ultimately the Magic Band was a good addition to the trip. We made sure to be aware of it's use and made sure that we were realistic in our purchases so that we weren't shocked as we checked out on our final day.
My tips to a boyfriend/husband/fiance who is looking to plan a trip for your S.O.:
1.) It's never too soon to start! Take advantage of your time. While they tend to recommend a six month window, you will want to look at your finances and realistically understand what the overall cost will be.
Ask for Disney Gift cards for gifts for your wedding and for you birthdays/holidays. It will be a huge help!!
2.) If it financially doesn't make since, don't do it. While we enjoyed out stay very much and did not pass up on a trip to the California Grill or evenings at the bar, we also didn't do every excursion that Disney offers. As a doting husband, I wanted to have my wife experience every tour and every animal encounter that she could (because she loves animals). I realized that these weren't going to happen on this trip. I made it a point to spend extra time in the areas that I knew that she would enjoy. The time that you spend together is what will make the memory, not the activities that you do. Once again, while the most important part of the trip was the time we spent together, the fact that I took time to take her to Rafiki's Planet Watch meant the world to my wife.
3.) Evaluate the discounts. There were two promos running at the time of my booking- Hotel Discount and Disney Dining Package. When I looked at my savings on both sides, I realized that I would not fully take advantage of the Disney Dining Package. In order to get the most out of those packages you must use every credit and eat several times a day. Instead I saved almost a grand on my room using the room discount. We found that many snacks and meals we could share, and that table service restaurants can be a big chunk of times- especially when you don't have a car on property.
4.) Utilize the Magical Express Bus. If you are planning on staying only at the WDWR, the Magical Express Bus is the way to go. We saved so much money by not renting a car because we had no intention of leaving the property. The transition from our airline was flawless and our luggage ended up right in our room. The bus was comfortable and the video on the way get's you pumped for your adventure. It's a great, stress free way to start your trip.
5.) Make your reservations in advance and use the travel agent to make things special. You know your partner best! Plan small or large things and don't tell them about it. It can be something as simple as a mixed drink on the beach or something as big as playing with the dolphins at Epcot. Be aware that dining reservations cost $10 a person if you don't cancel them by 11 pm the night before.
6.) Talk about it with your S.O.- Maybe a Disney Honeymoon isn't for you. You can make it as relaxing or as busy as you would like. If you have the capacity to walk away from the parks without doing everything you will enjoy the trip. If you feel compelled to do each and every activity, you will most likely be stressed and/or frustrated. Be flexible. Things will change, and your S.O. may want to do something that you didn't plan for. It's ok, embrace the fun that they are having.
7.) Tell people that it is your honeymoon. Get those pins that may look dumb. It is fun when people tell you Congratulations. Some tables had confetti. One restaurant gave us a free desert. Don't expect much though. It is more about people recognizing that you have started a new chapter in your life, and their encouragement is what makes you feel special.
8.) With all my financial cautions, remember you only get to honeymoon once. The worst thing you can tell your spouse is "No we can't afford that," over and over again. Go into the trip knowing that you may have a little credit card debt afterwards. While I was always aware of what we were spending, it felt good to say to my wife "let's get you a sweatshirt," or "do you want that purse that you were looking at?" Now, every time she wears the Scarf or sweatshirt we got her she say "I can't wait to go back, I had so much fun with you! It was the best trip we could have taken together" Looking back, some of the experiences that we had dining or while having drinks weren't planned, but added to our day because we had time to sit down away from the action.
9.) Finally, don't be discouraged. There are so many posts and blogs that just bash and demolish the WDWR. Attitude is everything. Think about why you are going there. If it is because you want it all to be perfect, then stay at home. There are so many factors that will influence your day. You may wake up late, or need to head back to the resort and enjoy your nap. Just enjoy Disney for what it is. It is a series of parks that allow you to have experiences that you may never be able to have again in your life. Whether it is visiting Germany, watching an animal undergo a vet examination, seeing great movie classics brought to life, or visiting your favorite characters in their village settings, Disney will do their best to make it an experience that you will never forget. Enjoy the unique cuisine and try something new each day. Expect quality. Most importantly, recognize that you are on your trip to learn and grow and experience your new significant other. Disney is a great tool for this. Because it is not perfect, you will learn how to work together and will get to problem solve and see each other's personalities as a newly wed couple.
Enjoy it, it will be the time of your life. Don't be surprised if you are the first one to shed a tear as you leave. Partially because you are leaving Disney, but mostly because of the joy that spending an entire vacation with your spouse will bring you!
