I mean it's crazy - We finish each other's... (A Honeymoon PTR)

[belleincanada]

Obviously.


Hi! This is my very firstest first PTR everyone, so go easy on me!

I'm Esther. I just turned 30 last week, I'm from Toronto, and I'm fairly certain that I'm Belle IRL. Don't believe me? Ask the dishes!

Hah. Sorry. Couldn't resist. That's me as Belle! I've been doing cosplays of many of the Princesses for 11 years now, but Belle has been my favourite, and Beauty and the Beast is my favourite film of all time, ever since it was the first movie I saw in theatres when I was 5 years old.

And this handsome fellow, is all mine. His last name is Wright, so I'm literally marrying 'Mr. Wright'! We are both Musical Theatre actors and met when we got put together in a Valentines Day concert to sing a song together called the 'I Love You Song'. Right? I swear you can't make this stuff up. (He also does a version of 'If I Can't Love Her' from the Beauty and the Beast that will reduce you to a puddle of tears on the floor. Just saying.)

I'd been to WDW a handful of times, and then Arthur and I went on our first Disney trip five months into dating, in Feb. 2012. My Dad had unfortunately just passed away, and even though we hadn't been dating long, I told him I needed a few days to escape somewhere where I could be happy, and that he could join if he wanted to. He didn't hesitate, and he fell in love with the World just as much as I did!


We planned another trip in Feb 2015, in which he was planning to propose - and then figured I'd see it coming from a mile away (which I would have. I was totally expecting it). So, instead, he proposed just before we left for the trip, and we got a whole week of magical 'being engaged' time at WDW! And we brought back a couple little things to include in our engagement photos

And if you haven't guessed by now, our wedding is August 29th, 2016! The wedding will have many subtle nods to Disney, in particular, to Beauty and the Beast, surprise surprise More about our amazing HONEYMOON to come in the next post, but for now...

A wee bit more about Esther and Arthur!

Favorite Park: MK/MK
Favorite Restaurant: Be Our Guest/Narcoossee's
Favorite Magic Kingdom Ride: Splash Mountain/Splash Mountain
Favorite Epcot Ride: Sum of All Thrills/Soarin'
Favorite Hollywood Studios Ride: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster/Toy Story Mania
Favorite Animal Kingdom Ride: Expedition Everest/Expedition Everest
Favorite Show: Tied for MK Welcome Show and Beauty and the Beast Live/Wishes
Favorite Fireworks: Wishes/Wishes
Favorite Parade: FOF/He says they're all his favourite!
Favorite Disney Movie: I figure you guys know this one by now/Fantasia, Aladdin, Star Wars
Favorite Disney Character: Take a wild guess!/Goofy and Luke Skywalker


Next up - that time I dreamed my entire life of staying at the Grand Floridian...

​

 

[belleincanada]

CONTENTS

1. Introductions and Cast of Characters
2. Acommodations (THREE Deluxe Resorts!)
3. FOOOOD!
4. Tentative Itinerary - Day 1
5. Tentative Itinerary - Day 2
6. Tentative Itinerary - Days 3 and 4
7. Tentative Itinerary - Days 5 and 6
8. Tentative Itinerary - Day 7
9. Tentative Itinerary - Days 8 through 11​

 

[belleincanada]

HONEYMOON OF THE CENTURY - SEPT. 11-22 2016

Not kidding when I say I've dreamed of staying at the Grand Floridian my entire life.

We've only ever stayed at All-Star Music, but every trip I make a point of going to GF, just to walk the grounds, take in afternoon tea, listen to the piano, daydream, etc.

But NOT THIS TIME! The first four days of our Honeymoon are taking place at VGF (I still nearly faint just thinking about it)! After we leave VGF, we'll be spending our next four days at AKV, and then our last three days at BWV. We've never stayed in any Deluxe Resort before, and all of a sudden we get to stay in three!

VGF - Deluxe Studio with Lake View!: Sept. 11-15
AKV (Kidani) Deluxe Studio Standard View: Sept. 15-19
BWV - Deluxe Studio - Garden View: Sept. 19-22

Next up - FOOOOOOOD

​

 

[belleincanada]

FOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

I adore pretty much all food. My favourite part about vacationing anywhere is where we'll be eating. We're paying OOP, since this way we get more of want we want (read: more wine and less dessert )

Because we're staying in three different resorts, we have three different ADR days. The first of which was today! So we'll have to wake up again at 6am a couple more times, but in the name of good food - totally worth it! Here are the resos we have thus far, followed by other places we're hoping to get to on the trip!


1. V&A - CHEF'S TABLE, September 17th!
My credit card is sweating like a sinner in church just thinking about this one. But, what better occasion to go than a honeymoon?! This will likely be our first and last time at V&A. Highly unlikely that on two working actors' salaries we'll be able to go back


2. Citricos, Sept. 11th
I've been once in 2006, but Arthur has not eaten here yet. I remember loving it last time! We have dinner reservations here on our first night after arriving at VGF!


3. Artist Point, Sept. 12
Never been to the restaurant or to WL! So excited for both.


4. Be Our Guest, Sept. 13th (lunch)
We won't talk about the ugly crying that ensued when I went for the first time last year... when a world I'd dreamed of since I was five had come to life in front of my eyes. ...The VERY idealistic dream is that we get a dinner ADR here on a MNSSHP night, and I can wear my Belle dress to the restaurant (if they are bending the grown ups in costume rule for the party). Even though I was up at 6am and ready to go, no dinner ADRs available for the first portion of our trip ...So, we have a lunch scheduled for now.


5. Afternoon Tea in the Garden Tea Lounge, Sept. 14th
We never miss this. Never. Always the most wonderful experience and a well deserved little break from the hustle and bustle of the parks. Plus I don't know what they do to their strawberries they serve for dessert but I have never eaten strawberries as 'melt in your mouth' as they have at GF.


6. Cinderella's Royal Table, Sept. 15th
Wasn't THRILLED about my credit card being charged this morning..... but dinner with the Princesses for this gal? SO excited. Going in with low expectations for the food!

-------------------------

SO! That's what's booked so far.... Here are other honeymoon spots we want to hit, and ADRs we're thinking of making!

7. Hoop Dee Doo
Gonna bring in the truth salad here and say we probably won't end up going for our honeymoon. We've never been to HDD before, but doesn't seem like a real 'honeymoon' type thing to do. Although unlimited sangria DOES sound appealing!

8. Monsieur Paul
Because France and romance rhyme. Literally and figuratively (another one we've never been to!).

9. Via Napoli
Another place we've never been - we'll probably hit the Epcot restaurants when we stay at BWV

10. Yachtsman Steakhouse
Thinking of this one for our last night!

11. Jiko
Another one we've never been to! We'll probably go for dinner after we check into AKV. Although I'm torn between just going to Jiko or doing the Wanyama Safari Trek which would include dinner at Jiko (but then again I'm also torn between the Wanyama Safari and the Wild Africa Trek)

12. Tiffins
Lol. Cause that's supposed to open some time. Of course in an ideal world we'd be getting a ROL dining package with this restaurant. We'll see.

13. Beaches and Cream
Never been. Someone told me we need to try the Kitchen Sink. I don't know if between the two of us we can eat $30 of ice cream...

14. Narcoossee's
We went on our last trip and the service, food, and view were just divine. We were lucky enough to have a window seat right when Wishes started. We may not get there this trip, which is fine - we want to try new stuff! But, if we end up going, we wouldn't be too upset either.

15. 1900 Park Fare
We've never been. We've always wanted to go. We met the Tremaines in at MK last trip and they were some of the greatest characters we've ever met. However with CRT we've already got a character meal in place, and we only have so many dinners we can fit it. I wish those characters did breakfast and lunch too, cause the cast of characters for B and L at 1900 Park doesn't really interest me too much.

16. Epcot F&W Festival!
SO SO SO excited! Again, we've never been to F&W but we've always wanted to go. However, I don't even know exactly what events are offered and if we should be making some kind of dinner ADR here? Not too sure.

That's about it for now! Did I miss anything? Any romantic, must do honeymoon restaurants?! And seeing as I've not been to most of these restaurants, would love some menu suggestions!​

​

 

[belleincanada]

ITINERARY IDEAS

OOOOF. So much typing. Itineraries are going to have to come later. #carpaltunnel
​

 

[LindseyJo22]

Woo hoo! This looks like an epic and wonderful trip

To link stuff, you copy the link for the little number at the bottom of your post and link the table of contents text to it with the link button. It took a little looking for me to find it the first time!

 

[gwynne]

I saw a post of yours on the Theme Park board and clicked over. I'm looking forward to following along.
Wishing you happy planning on your very special honeymoon!

 

[kpearl]

To get a link to a post you're trying to direct people to you click on the post # in the lower right hand corner (I put a square around it)

A box will pop up and you will select the link that I put a green square around.

Take that link and post it wherever you want the link to go.

What I underlined is the part that you can take out of the HTML code and change to say something else, like Next Post: ABC or ADR'S

I hope this helps!

 

[kpearl]

As you already know we will be there during the same exact time!! Maybe we'll run into one another?

Your engagement pictures are adorable. I love the hints of Disney in them

Super jelly you're staying at GFV. One day, some day I will make sure I get there! I've never done afternoon tea. I may have to look into it.

Your dining choices match a lot of mine. I'm dying to try Narcoossee's 1900 (I think we may do this Sunday 9/18 right before MNSSHP), BOG (Lunch 1 or 2x during the trip), and Beaches n' Cream maybe for dessert one night.

We want to do the Wild Africa Trek! I actually put that on our Disney Fairytale Wedding Registry You'll love AKL. I can't voice my opinion on Jiko or Boma, but I did eat at Sanaa. It was okay. I enjoyed the naan with all the different sauces and spreads... and that was about it.

Also while you're at AKL and have time one night, go to the lobby of Kidani village and ask to use the military grade night time binoculars. They were SO cool. I didn't see to many animals but I looked up at the sky and the amount of stars you can see that you can't view with the naked eye literally blew me away.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Hello! I love that you love Belle - I love Belle too! You look GORGEOUS as Belle.

We are going to be at AKV the same time you are...for a day! And the we have to leave

We've done the Wild Africa Trek and we absolutely loved it. It's expensive but well worth it. The tour itself was awesome, the tour guides were phenomenal. AND we got to eat in a Boma (safe place) overlooking the Savannah inside Kilimanjaro Safaris. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the money!

Here are some of the many many pics from the tour (you also get a whole bunch taken by the tour guides as part of the tour):

 

[belleincanada]

I SWEAR I'm going to finish this PTR, haha! Life is a wee bit crazy busy... planning a wedding and working and auditioning and planning our honeymoon! I updated the FOOOOOOOOD section last night now that we've got some ADR's made including...... The V&A Chef's Table!!!

​

Hello! I love that you love Belle - I love Belle too! You look GORGEOUS as Belle.

We've done the Wild Africa Trek and we absolutely loved it. It's expensive but well worth it. The tour itself was awesome, the tour guides were phenomenal. AND we got to eat in a Boma (safe place) overlooking the Savannah inside Kilimanjaro Safaris. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the money!

Awww, thank you so much!! Question for you - how much food was there? Did you feel REALLY full? Or was it more kind of a light snack? I'm kind of thinking maybe we could do the Wild Africa Trek in the morning, skip lunch, and then do our Chef's Table dinner at V&A because it's like 104 courses and we aren't going to want to eat too much beforehand. So let me know what you thought about the food portions on WAT

Maybe we'll run into one another?

Your engagement pictures are adorable. I love the hints of Disney in them

Super jelly you're staying at GFV. One day, some day I will make sure I get there! I've never done afternoon tea. I may have to look into it.

We want to do the Wild Africa Trek! I actually put that on our Disney Fairytale Wedding Registry You'll love AKL. I can't voice my opinion on Jiko or Boma, but I did eat at Sanaa. It was okay. I enjoyed the naan with all the different sauces and spreads... and that was about it.

Also while you're at AKL and have time one night, go to the lobby of Kidani village and ask to use the military grade night time binoculars. They were SO cool. I didn't see to many animals but I looked up at the sky and the amount of stars you can see that you can't view with the naked eye literally blew me away.

Looking forward to reading more!

Maybe we will! Maybe we'll end up on the Wild Africa Trek together Also. GIRL. Do Afternoon Tea. Like immediately. It is TO. DIE. FOR. And like I said, perfect time in the middle of the day just to slow down for a few hours and enjoy each other's company and the views at GF. Plus, you can walk over from Poly!

Also... That sounds amazing! We're actually in Kidani Village for our stay at AKL. Does it cost any money to use the binoculars?!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Awww, thank you so much!! Question for you - how much food was there? Did you feel REALLY full? Or was it more kind of a light snack? I'm kind of thinking maybe we could do the Wild Africa Trek in the morning, skip lunch, and then do our Chef's Table dinner at V&A because it's like 104 courses and we aren't going to want to eat too much beforehand. So let me know what you thought about the food portions on WAT



Maybe we will! Maybe we'll end up on the Wild Africa Trek together Also. GIRL. Do Afternoon Tea. Like immediately. It is TO. DIE. FOR. And like I said, perfect time in the middle of the day just to slow down for a few hours and enjoy each other's company and the views at GF. Plus, you can walk over from Poly!

Also... That sounds amazing! We're actually in Kidani Village for our stay at AKL. Does it cost any money to use the binoculars?!

There wasn't a lot of food but it wasn't really a snack, either. We did the 9am or 10am Wild Africa Trek. We were filled but not REALLY full. We also skipped lunch but I did get a little hungry around 2pm-ish. I shared a counter service chicken nuggets and fries with my sister and my mom. That was good until our 7pm dinner. I would say that it would be a good thing to do before V&A since you won't be too full and if you did get hungry in the afternoon, you could have a light snack to just get through to dinner.

I've stayed at AKL Kidani before and done the binoculars too. It's free and it's one pair of binoculars per family for just a little bit. Though because there weren't any other families when we were there we got to use two! It was great.

 

[belleincanada]

There wasn't a lot of food but it wasn't really a snack, either. We did the 9am or 10am Wild Africa Trek. We were filled but not REALLY full. We also skipped lunch but I did get a little hungry around 2pm-ish. I shared a counter service chicken nuggets and fries with my sister and my mom. That was good until our 7pm dinner. I would say that it would be a good thing to do before V&A since you won't be too full and if you did get hungry in the afternoon, you could have a light snack to just get through to dinner.

I've stayed at AKL Kidani before and done the binoculars too. It's free and it's one pair of binoculars per family for just a little bit. Though because there weren't any other families when we were there we got to use two! It was great.

Amazing, thank you for the info! Also, I love that you have a cat named Sirius Black. We have a cat named Gandalf

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Amazing, thank you for the info! Also, I love that you have a cat named Sirius Black. We have a cat named Gandalf

Awesome! Do you have a pic of your cat?

 

[belleincanada]

OOOOOOOOF. That time I miscalculated and woke up at 5:45am for the last of our three ADR days this morning, and not tomorrow, when it actually is.

Awesome! Do you have a pic of your cat?

I probably have a ridiculous number of pictures of Gandalf. He's just the greatest.

 

[belleincanada]

UPDATED ITINERARY DAY 1
September 11th, 2016

Our flight is at 8:15am. Normally it's two hours before for flights to the US for us Canadian folk, but I think we're going to get there earlier, cause last time we left two hours and we still almost didn't make it. So, we'll probably be at the airport at 5:30am. I may not even need coffee because I'll be running SO high on adrenaline. GRAND FLORIDIAN!!!

Should all go according to plan (knock on wood), we should get to the hotel just after 1pm. Then we have Fastpasses at the Magic Kingdom (all Fastpass selections on the Fastpass page!) and we'll probably play some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

Then, we have our first ADR of the evening at Citricos at 7:25pm.

So excited! I haven't been since 2006, and Arthur has never been. I hope it's as good as I remember. Because it's tentatively a MNSSHP night, the plan is to catch the HalloWishes fireworks from the Poly beach. If it is Wishes, we'll go to MK and watch.

That's it for now! Any suggestions? We'd love to hear them.

Next up - Day 2 Itinerary​

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I probably have a ridiculous number of pictures of Gandalf. He's just the greatest.

He is adorable!! I love the bowtie - Bowties are cool And I love his fur - the texture looks awesome. I bet he's fun to pet!

Here is my baby doing his Toothless impression:

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

If we DO decide to go to MK for a little bit that day, I'm guessing we'll be FP+ing:

1. Splash
2. Space
3. Enchanted Tales with Belle or BTM
​

Sadly, BTMRR is going to be down for refurb during our Sept trips (8/8/2016- 11/18/2016)

We always like to do DTD (Disney Springs) on our arrival day for a bit of Disney fun without using a park day.

 

[belleincanada]

UPDATED ITINERARY DAY 2

September 12th

Heading to Epcot for rope drop, and have Fastpasses intermittently scheduled throughout the day. At rope drop, we'll either run to Test Track or Soarin', then after that we'll hit up Sum of All Thrills which is one of my personal faves!

For lunch we're thinking splitting an entree at Via Napoli. Neither of us have been here yet, but reviews seem fairly solid! I'm a GIANT sucker for margherita pizza, but does anyone have any menu reccomendations?

After lunch, I think we'll stroll the World Showcase, do the A&E meet and greet, and catch Voices of Liberty. Our Frozen Ever After Fastpass is not until 4:15pm, so we'll see that and then head to Wilderness Lodge, and walk the grounds a little bit.

Then, it's DINNER TIME! We have ADRs for ARTIST POINT at 6pm.

Another exciting one for us! We've never even seen WL before.

After dinner - don't know yet. If we're tired we'll go back to the resort, if we're not we'll find a place for a carriage ride or go catch Fantasmic!

Next up - Days 3 and 4​

 

[belleincanada]

Sadly, BTMRR is going to be down for refurb during our Sept trips (8/8/2016- 11/18/2016)

We always like to do DTD (Disney Springs) on our arrival day for a bit of Disney fun without using a park day.

That's right, I had heard that but forgot! Meh, over it. It's a fun ride but ain't my fave either.

And, that's a great idea! Maybe we'll do that.