My at home Wedding and Disneymoon Pre trip report!

[Ahhhhshley]

Hey Everyone! My name is Ashley (20) and I am engaged to the most amazing man in the world Chaz (21) we've been dating for 4 years and have been best friends for about 6 years. Hes the greatest! Anyway I'm pretty new to Disboards but once I started reading I couldnt stop. I finally worked up enough courage to write my own pre trip report. Hope you enjoy!

Well My wedding is October 13th 2007, Here in Oregon where I live. We've been planning like crazy and it sure is coming up quick! Im super excited! Ive already have pretty much everything done. All we have left is the last few final touches that we cant even do until the day before and the day of. Anyway ill give more details on the wedding later.

Last year for my birthday my fiance took me to Florida for a week. We decided we would hit Universal and come back sometime for Disney. Well we had one extra day and on a whim decided to go to Disney... Well we paid just about a million dollars for a one day park hopper. We decided we would have to come back and really enjoy it when we were running as fast as we could to get from one park to another all in one day. We never had a chance to really just sit back and enjoy it.

Ever since that day I had dreamed about going back and really just spending some real time there and enjoy every park. Well when Chaz (thats the fiance) purposed I knew it was the perfect chance to go have fun and really enjoy ourselves. I started right away at planning our trip to make sure it would be perfect. I was obsessed!

I finally decided on AKL the day after the wedding for 10days. We wanted the 8 day magic your way dining water park and more option. We booked that as soon as we could and registered for the Disney Honeymoon Registry.

I was telling everyone about how excited I was and started counting down the days. Well plans changed and we couldnt come up with all the money we needed for AKL so we had to change the resort to POP. No problem though I still get to go to DISNEY!

So we've made our ADR and I was hoping I could get some opinions on the places we chose and some others we should try. Keep in mind we both dont like Seafood, Chinese, or Japanese food haha.

Ok so far I have ADR for
Planet Hollywood
Sci Fi Dine in Theater
The Plaza Restraunt
50's Prime Time Cafe
Wolfgang pucks

we need a few more places and arent sure about the ones we chose. so any suggestions would be great!

Well Thanks for reading! Ill post more with more details on the wedding!

 

[miranda1979]

I will be having my wedding at home and my disneymoon.. next october

Remember you can always visit the AKL...and walk around. I look at it this way your only there to sleep anyway.

Have fun. Hope you have a great day.

 

[Ahhhhshley]

Im having problems getting my photos on the post can anyone help? I use photobucket if that helps, thanks!

 

[Ahhhhshley]

I will be having my wedding at home and my disneymoon.. next october

Remember you can always visit the AKL...and walk around. I look at it this way your only there to sleep anyway.

Have fun. Hope you have a great day.

That is so great! Im very happy for you! I will definitely walk around AKL! It looks like a really nice resort. If only... I will stay there someday though! Have you made any exciting plans for your Disneymoon yet?

 

[miranda1979]

I have been to disney many,many times...so My Parents are giving us there points for the boardwalk. I was very happy for that. And we will probably be dinning at the California Gill on top of the contemporary for the wishes fireworks one night for our fun night. Can't spend to much, we are saving for a house. You should look into it, its amazing up there. Also Le Celler in Canada is good to. They are both a little bit high on the pricing scale. but if you use 2 ADR'S you can go there.

 

[Ahhhhshley]

Well I figured out why it wont let me post pictures, Im so new to the site that i havent posted ten posts yet and disboards doesnt enable it until you have posted 10. well once i get there i will post pictures!

 

[Ahhhhshley]

Alright, now for the wedding details!
We will be getting married in the church Chaz grew up in.

it will be an evening wedding followed by a reception at a restaurant at a golf course.
Now for the good details...
My dress

I love it! It was only the second one I tried on at Davids Bridal and I had to have it! I will be carrying something very similar to this

My bridesmaids which I have 4 of
Maid of honor- My best friend
Bridesmaids-
Grooms sister
grooms sister
grooms sister
they will all be wearing this

It doesnt look as good in the picture as it did on them!
They will be holding an all red rose bouquet.
I have two Flower girls, I dont have a picture of what they will be wearing and I have two Ring bearers.
Well Ill post more about the wedding later thats if everyone is even still interested haha. im not so good at this posting thing!

 

[ITmickey]

First of all, congratulations on your wedding and disneymoon!!!

Regarding ADR, Califronia Grill has already been suggested, so let me sell you tea at the Grand Californian . I just can't remeber the name of the place, but there are afternoon tea packages, one of them includes tea, a glass of wine, and sandwiches or pastries. It is very romantic !!! Or at least it seemed romantic to us

BTW your dress is really nice!

 

[Ahhhhshley]

So I've made an Itinerary for our Disneymoon!

Saturday is the wedding the reception will be over around 11pm
Sunday- Our flight leaves at 6am and the airport is an hour away so we will be leaving home at about 4am. So we are pretty much planning on just sleeping on the plane ride! We should arrive in Orlando at 4:30pm which is when we will go straight to POP check in and then go eat dinner!
Monday- we will go to MK and play around a bit and eat dinner at The Plaza. I havent really found many reviews about the plaza, is it not very good? Where would you suggest we go to dinner at MK?
Tuesday- Typhoon Lagoon! Im excited about going to the water parks. I love water and everything looks like it will be a lot of fun! For dinner we will be eating at Planet Hollywood
Wednesday- We will be going to AK. Now when I went to WDW before we only got to go on one ride at AK and didnt get to look around very much but it sure looks like it will be neat! After AK we will head to DTD and eat at Wolfgang Pucks
Thursday- Blizzard Beach! We will have some fun there and then head to MGM for dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe
Friday- We will go to Epcot and hang around there. For dinner I havent decided. we wanted to eat at Le Original Alfredo Di Roma but we have been told it will be changing names and they are not taking reservations for it yet. Any ideas?? Most of the food places at epcot look to foreign to me. Im not good with exotic foods.
Saturday- MGM! We will eat dinner at Sci Fi Dine in Theater.
Sunday- Its DTD day and any other park we feel we want to go to. We havent really planned on where to eat so I just put Planet Hollywood. Once again anyone have any suggestions?
Monday- Another free day same situation
Tuesday- Head home our flight leaves at 12pm and we will be arriving home at about 7:30pm

So far thats what I have planned for our trip. If anyone knows of something we just have to do or some where we should eat let us know! We are looking for tons of ideas it will be our first real trip to WDW!

 

[miranda1979]

sounds great! I love your dress you look beautiful in it! Looks like you will have a lot of fun.

 

[DisneySweetie]

Great wedding dress! You look great.

I am also someone who is getting married at home but honeymooning in WDW. Congrats on having most of it done. I still have quite a bit left to do.

For your plans...

I would add Earl of Sandwich on one of your DTD days. So yummy. And then you can split dessert at Ghirardelli's. Double yummy.

Also, I would want more than one day for Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Either make your last two days include each of those. Or, do you have park hopper tix? You could spend half a day more in each park for a total of 1.5 days at MK and 1.5 days at Epcot. For me, MK is my favorite and always will be. But Epcot is fantastic. And it really is quite romantic walking around the World Showcase at dusk with your hunny.

Other than that, your plans look great. We will be there in December on our Disneymoon, so no waterparks for us. I'm a little sad about that. I'm a fish out of water. I love to swim and waterparks are the best. I'm glad to see that you planned a whole day for each one.

Good luck with everything.

 

[Ahhhhshley]

Great wedding dress! You look great.

I am also someone who is getting married at home but honeymooning in WDW. Congrats on having most of it done. I still have quite a bit left to do.

For your plans...

I would add Earl of Sandwich on one of your DTD days. So yummy. And then you can split dessert at Ghirardelli's. Double yummy.

Also, I would want more than one day for Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Either make your last two days include each of those. Or, do you have park hopper tix? You could spend half a day more in each park for a total of 1.5 days at MK and 1.5 days at Epcot. For me, MK is my favorite and always will be. But Epcot is fantastic. And it really is quite romantic walking around the World Showcase at dusk with your hunny.

Other than that, your plans look great. We will be there in December on our Disneymoon, so no waterparks for us. I'm a little sad about that. I'm a fish out of water. I love to swim and waterparks are the best. I'm glad to see that you planned a whole day for each one.

Good luck with everything.

Thank you very much!

Earl of Sandwhich... Ill remember that thanks. Dessert at Ghirardelli's sounds delicious!

See I wasnt sure how many days to plan for each park thats why i made sure to have extra days just in case. Ill keep that in mind though about planning some extra time in both of those parks.

Congratulations! I bet you will have a great time on your disneymoon in December. I would love to take a trip there during all the mickey christmas stuff! Someday... Sorry you will miss out on the water parks! I bet it will be worth it though!

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

Hi Ashley! Congragulations and welcome to the boards!!!

Your dress is beautiful!! It kinda reminds me of one of the 2 I'm looking at! And we actually looked at that same bridesmaids dress, in the same color! And you're right, it is so much prettier in person, gorgeous dress. Sounds like everything is coming together beautifully!!

And your trip plans sound great!! You've got some good restaurants on there! I didn't see that you had any "romantic" type things planned...although to me Disney is romantic in itself! But you can do carriage rides at both Port Orleans and Ft. Wilderness, which are very romantic, we are planning on doing one of those. And the Polynesian is very romantic as well, sitting on the beach watching Wishes@ MK. There are quite a few boards around here w/some other ideas that I've gotten for our hm as well.

Can't wait to read more, and read your TR when you get back!

 

[shasess]

Great to see another Disneymooner!!! Your dress is sooo pretty. It's one of my favorites from DB. Your plans sound great and I'm sure you will love POP. You guys can always go to AKL on your anniversary!!!

 

[mom of princess]

I second the Earl of Sandwich at DTD. If you guys want breakfasts, try Crystal Palace with Pooh & friends (no kids needed) or the Princess breakfast in Norway (again, no kids needed). Both are buffets and if you plan your day right you won't be hungry until later in the evening. DH & I used to breakfast with Pooh before our DD came along - the characters will leave you alone if you don't acknowledge they are there.
We ate at Sci-Fi this last time and found that it had lost a little something from our previous visit. It is worth a visit but try to get a time when they are not super busy or you may be waiting for a long time for your food.
You can always eat at your hotel food court, most have a wide variety of food that is good. Hope that helps.

 

[alltvseries]

 

[Ahhhhshley]

Hi Ashley! Congragulations and welcome to the boards!!!

Your dress is beautiful!! It kinda reminds me of one of the 2 I'm looking at! And we actually looked at that same bridesmaids dress, in the same color! And you're right, it is so much prettier in person, gorgeous dress. Sounds like everything is coming together beautifully!!

And your trip plans sound great!! You've got some good restaurants on there! I didn't see that you had any "romantic" type things planned...although to me Disney is romantic in itself! But you can do carriage rides at both Port Orleans and Ft. Wilderness, which are very romantic, we are planning on doing one of those. And the Polynesian is very romantic as well, sitting on the beach watching Wishes@ MK. There are quite a few boards around here w/some other ideas that I've gotten for our hm as well.

Can't wait to read more, and read your TR when you get back!

Thanks so much! Im glad someone else on here has seen the bridesmaids dress in person! The picture doesnt do it justice.

We havent really planned any romantic things other than just being there yet because of money. Just about everything I could find that sounded like something we would want to do I realized it was kind of costly. We are waiting to see how much money we will get from the money dance and wedding presents and hopefully we will be able to do something special. If you know any free ideas make sure and let me know! haha thanks!

 

[Ahhhhshley]

Great to see another Disneymooner!!! Your dress is sooo pretty. It's one of my favorites from DB. Your plans sound great and I'm sure you will love POP. You guys can always go to AKL on your anniversary!!!

Thanks!!
I bet we will enjoy POP. I figure we will be a the parks most of the time and yes its our HM but we will find a way to make it special.

I second the Earl of Sandwich at DTD. If you guys want breakfasts, try Crystal Palace with Pooh & friends (no kids needed) or the Princess breakfast in Norway (again, no kids needed). Both are buffets and if you plan your day right you won't be hungry until later in the evening. DH & I used to breakfast with Pooh before our DD came along - the characters will leave you alone if you don't acknowledge they are there.
We ate at Sci-Fi this last time and found that it had lost a little something from our previous visit. It is worth a visit but try to get a time when they are not super busy or you may be waiting for a long time for your food.
You can always eat at your hotel food court, most have a wide variety of food that is good. Hope that helps.

Wow a second on the Earl of Sandwich, I better get on that. We were interested in having breakfast somewhere one of the days but all I could find where character breakfasts and I was thinking they were pretty much only for kids. If thats not the case then that sounds like a great idea!

Ive heard very mixed reviews on Sci Fi... Ive read that the food isnt amazing but the atmosphere is great. Im pretty big on atmosphere. I mean dont get me wrong I love food and I want it to taste good but as long as it isnt disgusting it might be a neat experience. Now if I start getting told its really gross I might change my mind but so far I think it might be worth a one time trip. Thanks for all your tips!

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

I COMPLETELY understand the money thing. We are the same way, we WISH we could do some other stuff, but just can't. And as far as some of those things go, we're not booking anything until we get there (like carriage rides and such), if we have extra money we may do them, but we just have to wait and see.
One FREE thing I KNOW we'll do is go to either the GF or Poly beach and watch Wishes and the Electrical Water Parade. I've done it at the Poly before, and they have hammocks and stuff, and it's soooo romantic. If you've never done it before DEF look into it. It's FREE! Also I've read if you time it right, riding the ferry from MK to the hotels/TTC or from Epcot to the resorts, you get a "free" fireworks cruise. I've never tried that but it could be cool. Another thing we like to do is just ride the monorail or buses to the different resorts and just walk around and look, sit outside and relax, etc. It can be very romantic too!

 

[Ahhhhshley]

I COMPLETELY understand the money thing. We are the same way, we WISH we could do some other stuff, but just can't. And as far as some of those things go, we're not booking anything until we get there (like carriage rides and such), if we have extra money we may do them, but we just have to wait and see.
One FREE thing I KNOW we'll do is go to either the GF or Poly beach and watch Wishes and the Electrical Water Parade. I've done it at the Poly before, and they have hammocks and stuff, and it's soooo romantic. If you've never done it before DEF look into it. It's FREE! Also I've read if you time it right, riding the ferry from MK to the hotels/TTC or from Epcot to the resorts, you get a "free" fireworks cruise. I've never tried that but it could be cool. Another thing we like to do is just ride the monorail or buses to the different resorts and just walk around and look, sit outside and relax, etc. It can be very romantic too!

Thanks for the great ideas! I really like the idea of relaxing in a hammock and watching Wishes and the Electrical Water Parade! They sound like perfect free activities!