Our Honeymoon Redo - Trip Report 11/14-11/20! Final Update 4/4/16

We parked, caught the tram and then took the Resort Monorail over to the Polynesian! OH MY!! We were early (4:20) but I didn’t mind because I was looking forward to people watching and taking in the ambience of the Poly.

I never consciously considered myself a Poly fan, but I feel like I fall a little more in love with it each time I visit. :lovestruc

THESE PICTURES ARE MAKING ME SO HUNGRY!!! Fortunately, my lunch break is in 7 minutes. Unfortunately, it's just a chicken salad from Subway. :laughing:

Soooooooooooo good, right?? :goodvibes

As we were leaving we went over to the table that had the 2 girls that had the incident during the coconut race and gave them our leis. They were so sweet and the entire table thanked us so much. Honestly, it was no big deal and the girls loved them.
Awww, that was super thoughtful and kind of ya'll! (I'm totally selfish and kept my lei! :rotfl: )

ADORABLE!!! :lovestruc

24049671385_dfaa8d3ab6_c.jpg
Bahahaa! Love it!

What a gorgeous photo!

After the ride, the usual debate took place…do we go check out the trail or continue on rides. As always the rides won out. I’m determined to check out these trails with the kids in March!!!!
Noooo! You missed the baby gorilla! The walking trails at AK are wonderful!

Keith took advantage of the single rider line (3 times).
3 TIMES. Bahahahaaa! :rotfl2:


TOO FUNNY! :lmao:

I'm telling you, the midday break is severly underrated! Especially if you like to ope AND close the parks, a rest in between goes a long way towards replenishing your energy, right? :goodvibes
 
I just stumbled back over to your TR today thinking I was way behind and how could I have been missing your updates...oops, I guess you haven't been here either!! Phew! At least I'm all caught up :fish:I'll be waiting for your next update :)
 
Aww, I love that you and your husband took this trip to reconnect. I totally get that. I really want to plan a re-do for our Honeymoon, well a take 2 maybe :) Ours was wonderful, but I just really want to go again! We did 3 days in the parks and then a 4 day cruise. It was SOOOO awesome. We're renewing our vows this December for our 10 year anniversary, but I think the next trip we take will be just the two of us!

Love your "drive by" hug with Mo! Darn those CMs for not understanding picture proof is a DIS-must!

This is so sweet! I hope to have a bit of this magic on our trip too.

Thanks! :)

Great start of the day picture! I also love your shirt!

As you will probably notice we have a bunch of selfies this trip..LOL. Thanks...I got it from Torrid. I always had trouble finding Pooh-sized friendly Disney shirts, but they have a Disney line. Now my problem is trying not to buy everything they have!

I think that will be my plan too - let DH take pictures if he is willing to bring his camera. I enjoy sometimes being fully in the moment - just you and the magic!

It was the first time I just sat back and enjoyed the ride...it was a nice change!

Fan of the mid-day break - I've never tried the up early and break plan, but you never know, maybe I'll learn this trick too!

I never was either, but I'm really becoming a fan of it now. It started on our April 2014 trip with the Grandmas...I had little ones and Grandmas that needed an afternoon rest. Then I realized that I kinda liked having the rest as well. I had not planned on working in so may Resort rests on this trip...just happened that way and it really worked for us. I'm planning on doing the same thing for our upcoming trip next month. We will have a group of 6 on some days, but that is one of the perks about staying onsite...if some want to stay at the Parks while others go back for a rest...then so be it! :)

Hi! I'm late joining in but your trip sounds great so far!

The castle is so beautiful! Loved your pictures of Ohana. I can't wait to try it when we're there in August. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Flame Tree, that's another one that I was looking forward to trying.

I was obsessed with the Castle during this trip...LOVED IT!! Ohana was definitely my favorite dining experience during the trip. Fun environment and the food was YUMMY! As far as Flame Tree I don't think it helped that I'm not a big BBQ fan to start off with and then to top it off with the heat and everything...it just didn't work out for the best.

I never consciously considered myself a Poly fan, but I feel like I fall a little more in love with it each time I visit. :lovestruc

My Mom told me we have stayed here before when I was younger, but I don't remember so I think I need to try this again at some point in my life!!

THESE PICTURES ARE MAKING ME SO HUNGRY!!! Fortunately, my lunch break is in 7 minutes. Unfortunately, it's just a chicken salad from Subway. :laughing:

Soooooooooooo good, right?? :goodvibes

All the food was sooooo good...I enjoyed this meal so much (not just the food but the dining experience as well).

Awww, that was super thoughtful and kind of ya'll! (I'm totally selfish and kept my lei! :rotfl: )

you are too funny!!

ADORABLE!!! :lovestruc

Showed this picture to my daughter, her response....EW!!!! GROSS!

Bahahaa! Love it!

Keith has deemed this his favorite ride now! :)

What a gorgeous photo!

I loved how this picture came out...and it was taken with just my phone camera...pretty impressive if I do say so myself

Noooo! You missed the baby gorilla! The walking trails at AK are wonderful!

I know!!!!! I have told everyone that is going with on our trip next month (I love saying that...next month) that we MUST see the animals this time!!

3 TIMES. Bahahahaaa!

I so hate that I get oozy on this ride now because I would have loved riding it with him, but not worth feeling bad for the remainder of the day

TOO FUNNY!

I'm telling you this ride scares the crap out of me!! Good thing I have Joey to use as an excuse not to go on it next month (yay...got to say it again...next month).

I'm telling you, the midday break is severly underrated! Especially if you like to ope AND close the parks, a rest in between goes a long way towards replenishing your energy, right? :goodvibes

I'm now an official fan of the mid-day nap/recharge!!
 
I just stumbled back over to your TR today thinking I was way behind and how could I have been missing your updates...oops, I guess you haven't been here either!! Phew! At least I'm all caught up :fish:I'll be waiting for your next update :)

So sorry...I'm hoping to have an update soon...very soon! Thanks for hanging our :)
 


First, let me start by apologizing for the delay in updates. Life has been crazy and my focus has been on my trip Spring Break Pre-Trip Report (link in my signature), but I’m at the less than 60 days point before the trip so there is a bit of a lull! So, what better timing then to jump back to this report and update!

11/17/15 – Part II: Epcot

We were quickly becoming big fans of the mid-day rest/recharge. We got up and headed back out and made our way to Epcot. We took the car again, though I did try to convince Keith to ride the bus but he wanted to take the car instead. So, off we went and soon we were seeing this!



We parked and we actually got a spot close enough we didn’t have to catch the tram. I love Epcot, and it is easily my 2nd favorite park. If I ever take a solo trip I would really like to spend more time there!

Our first stop was Spaceship Earth…a must do for me every trip. This is one of my favorites!





After looking into our future we went over to the Art of Disney store to look around for a bit…again something we would have skipped if the kiddos were in tow.

I fell in love with this piece:




Keith liked this one:



As you can see our tastes are very different…LOL!

Once we enjoyed looking around there we started to make our way over to the World Showcase to check in for our ADR at San Angel Inn!

We arrived at Mexico and of course I had to point out the newly appointed sign that instructed people not to climb the building, and informed Keith that a guy had recently did just that!

This was Keith's first time seeing inside the Mexico Pavilion and to say he loved it would be an understatement. We headed over to the Gran Fiesta Tour and Keith really got a kick out of it. He had asked me why we had never ridden it before, I had to remind him I tried to get him to go in when we were there on the last trip but he wanted to skip it. I took this opportunity to remind him it is always in his best interest to listen to me. :)

After the ride it was close to our check in time for our ADR, but honestly neither of us were really that hungry. So, I went up and spoke to a very nice CM and let her know we were checking in but were willing to wait for a water front seat if possible. She let me know if would be about a 45 minute wait which worked for us. We looked around the Pavilion a bit and then grabbed a seat to wait for our table.




It wasn’t too much longer before we were being escorted to our table…at the water front!! YAY!! It was a great table and the view was great as well.




I ordered the Carne Asada, and though it wasn’t on the menu Keith asked for 3 tacos, rice and beans and they happily obliged.




For dessert I had the cheesecake and I believe Keith had the ice cream, but I’m not 100% sure and I have no photographic proof. L

We left Mexico and took a left and took our time walking through the World Showcase. It’s just so pretty there at night!



Of course my goofball DH had to stop and take the obligatory hat picture.



We stopped at the American Pavilion and watch The American Adventure. I had not seen this since I was a little girl so thought this would be a good time to check it out. It was a great way to continue our relaxing evening together.

After the show we video chatted with my Mom and Joey for a bit, and then we called Emma as well. We were definitely missing the kids but we knew we would be back in a few months with them.

We headed to a required stop at the England Pavilion. Emma recently decided to decorate her room at her Mommy’s house in London décor (to my Mom’s delight since she is British). So, we grabbed her a few things to put up in her room. We also grabbed a couple of items for my Mom as a way to thank her for watching Joey for us.

By this time it was time to try and secure a spot for Illuminations. It had been so long since I had seen this and I was looking forward to it. We ran into a very nice CM and he recommended a few spots…one in particular caught our attention…the Canada stairs. We made our way over there and found a spot and waited for the show to begin.

https://flic.kr/p/DJKmpE
Illuminations was great and I’m glad we got to see it. I don’t think Keith enjoyed it as much as I did, but it was a great way to end our evening. We started exiting with the masses, but thought it best to just sit for a bit and let the crowd thin out. So, we found a bench and just sat and people watched. I got comfy and decided to take off my shoes. A bit of a back story….a few months before my trip I took a tumble down our stairs at our house. Though my foot was feeling much better before we left for the trip and I was wearing my brace, all the walking was starting to take its toll. I was honestly considering walking out of the park in just my socks, but thought that might not be the best idea.

We sat at that bench for a good 30-45 minutes and decided it was time to make our way out of the park. We stopped off at Mouse Gears first for a quick look around, but not too long because my foot was really starting to bother me.

Keith could see I was in some pain so he grabbed one of the complimentary wheelchairs that are available to use to get out to the parking lot. I hated that we had to do this, but I was starting to really hurt. We made it back to our car and then back to CSR. We both crashed pretty quickly as we had a busy but wonderful day!
 
I reserved a Fast Pass for this one for DH - he looks at me like I have two heads, but how many times can I say to him "You just don't understand..."

This is always on our FP list for Epcot as well. I just really enjoy the ride, it's a Disney Classic!

I forgot to look into this attraction the last time that I was there, so hopefully I don't get all Disney-fuzz brained again and I hope to remember to go on this with DH this time. I will remind him that it is in his best interest to listen to me too!

I've heard this described as the Mexican version of It's a Small World...it's very similar concept. Just a cute ride that usually never has a wait (always a plus).

Awww, look at you all purdy! I will promise basic hair combing and teeth brushing on vacation, and maaaayybeeee lip gloss. I'll see how the weather is too, if it's really hot, au naturale it is!

Awwww....thanks! Another perk of the mid-afternoon break...make-up touch up for afternoon pictures. :) I work from home so I don't have the chore of putting on make-up every day, so putting it on for vacation doesn't bother me as much. :)

I almost booked a Fast Pass for Illuminations, but thought that there are many good places to watch from. Plus I bet DH leaves the park early anyways. But I will be watching for sure!

I would like to try out the Illuminations FP section at some point. This upcoming trip we are using the Wishes FP so I think next trip I will try for the Illuminations FP.
 


It wasn’t too much longer before we were being escorted to our table…at the water front!! YAY!! It was a great table and the view was great as well.

That is so cool! And how nice that you were able to wait for the perfect table!! When you are there with kids that would never be possible lol. It looks so pretty inside there!
 
No apologies necessary! But I didn't know you had a PTR up, I'll have to check it out!

The ADR at San Angel looks fantastic, great pictures. Sorry about your foot bothering you but sweet of hubby to grab the wheelchair.
 
We were quickly becoming big fans of the mid-day rest/recharge.
It helps soooo much, right?! :faint:

I love Epcot, and it is easily my 2nd favorite park. If I ever take a solo trip I would really like to spend more time there!
Yaaasss! Epcot is so near and dear to my heart! :lovestruc

Our first stop was Spaceship Earth…a must do for me every trip. This is one of my favorites!
Wow, you got GREAT pics inside of it! Mine never turn out that well!

OMG. That would be PERFECT hanging over my couch. Do I even want to know how much it cost? :scared:

This would be perfect in my guest room! I want them BOTH! :rotfl:

We arrived at Mexico and of course I had to point out the newly appointed sign that instructed people not to climb the building, and informed Keith that a guy had recently did just that!
Bahaha! I remember seeing that on YouTube! :rotfl2:

I took this opportunity to remind him it is always in his best interest to listen to me. :)
:thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2

Cuties! Ya'll are just too cute! :cutie:

and though it wasn’t on the menu Keith asked for 3 tacos, rice and beans and they happily obliged.
Ooooooh, this is VERY good to know, since I'm really picky about Mexican food and I've never been to San Angel Inn because nothing on the menu appeals to me, but I would love to be able to cross it off my list one day!

That looks PERFECT! Yep, I know what I'm ordering now whenever I make it there! YAY! :hyper:

We left Mexico and took a left and took our time walking through the World Showcase. It’s just so pretty there at night!
It's GORGEOUS, isn't it?! So lovely!

BAHAHAHA! I love this! :rotfl:

We started exiting with the masses, but thought it best to just sit for a bit and let the crowd thin out.
This is almost always my approach! I rarely exit with the masses! I love to just kick back at night and people watch!

Keith could see I was in some pain so he grabbed one of the complimentary wheelchairs that are available to use to get out to the parking lot. I hated that we had to do this, but I was starting to really hurt.
Don't hate it, girl! That's what they're there for! Ain't no sense in being in pain on your vacation. If you needs it, you needs it! I'm glad they had the accommodation available to save you a few steps on a previously injured footsie! :thumbsup2
 
The midday break is something I always read about and shook my head thinking, why?! but once we started doing it for our son, we found we ALL benefited from it SOOOO much!!!

Awesome you got to have a waterfront table for dinner--I think that's the only way to go!

Love the pic of you and your hubby waiting for Illuminations :) So sweet!!
 
My apologies that I have not done better on this TR, but my focus has been on the PTR...we leave in 19 days!!!!! My goal was to have this TR done before this trip...here's to hoping that still happens!

That is so cool! And how nice that you were able to wait for the perfect table!! When you are there with kids that would never be possible lol. It looks so pretty inside there!

You are absolutely right, this would not have happened if the kiddos had been with us. Keith and I both really enjoyed this meal and the atmosphere is so fun! It was definitely one of our favorites during the trip!

No apologies necessary! But I didn't know you had a PTR up, I'll have to check it out!

Thanks for checking it out...it has definitely been a roller coaster of changes. When planning for 6 people at some points of the trip can be a bit challenging, but I know will be well worth it when we are there.

The ADR at San Angel looks fantastic, great pictures. Sorry about your foot bothering you but sweet of hubby to grab the wheelchair.

San Angel was awesome!! I hate being a bother for anyone, and I will suffer in silence just to avoid asking for help (I'm silly that way). Luckily the Hubby knows that about me and will just ignore me and help! :)
 
It helps soooo much, right?! :faint:

I LOVE IT! I'm trying desperately to work these in on our next trip!!

Yaaasss! Epcot is so near and dear to my heart! :lovestruc

I love Epcot, but I feel like the only way I will really get to tour it the way I want to is by taking a solo trip.....hmmmmm might have to look into that a bit more! :)

Wow, you got GREAT pics inside of it! Mine never turn out that well!

And this is with my phone, we didn't bring any other camera at all. Just used my phone the entire trip!

OMG. That would be PERFECT hanging over my couch. Do I even want to know how much it cost? :scared:

Over $2K! :(

This would be perfect in my guest room! I want them BOTH!

I literally had to pull my husband away from this one!

Bahaha! I remember seeing that on YouTube!

I got so tickled when I saw the sign in person!

Cuties! Ya'll are just too cute! :cutie:

One of my favorites from the trip!

Ooooooh, this is VERY good to know, since I'm really picky about Mexican food and I've never been to San Angel Inn because nothing on the menu appeals to me, but I would love to be able to cross it off my list one day!

I was so stressed about this before our trip because I know he is so picky, but of course I should've known better and that Disney would deliver!!

That looks PERFECT! Yep, I know what I'm ordering now whenever I make it there! YAY! :hyper:

Keith gave it 2 thumbs up!

It's GORGEOUS, isn't it?! So lovely!

SO PRETTY!!!

BAHAHAHA! I love this! :rotfl:

Such a goofball!

This is almost always my approach! I rarely exit with the masses! I love to just kick back at night and people watch!

It was a much needed break for my foot and it was a much more pleasant walk out of the park as well, when we finally did remove our rears from the bench!

Don't hate it, girl! That's what they're there for! Ain't no sense in being in pain on your vacation. If you needs it, you needs it! I'm glad they had the accommodation available to save you a few steps on a previously injured footsie! :thumbsup2

I'm so stubborn when it comes to things like that which is just silly, so I'm glad Keith was there to help!
 
I'm late to the party but just got caught up! I'm so excited that you guys were able to take this trip...I remember you mentioned wanting to do a honeymoon-redo back on my honeymoon PTR from early 2014! Loving your report so far. :)
 
I'm late to the party but just got caught up! I'm so excited that you guys were able to take this trip...I remember you mentioned wanting to do a honeymoon-redo back on my honeymoon PTR from early 2014! Loving your report so far. :)

:welcome: I'm so glad you came across my report!!! :)
 
11/18/15 – Hollywood Studios

The original plan for this day was to head back to Animal Kingdom for the morning, and then head to Hollywood Studios for our Lunch ADR. However, we were both tired so we decided to sleep in for a bit. We eventually got up and got ready, and decided to just head over to Hollywood Studios.



We arrived at Hollywood Studios and headed to Guest Services….and why would that be?? To buy our Annual Passes!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prior to this trip I had crunched the numbers and did the Disney Math and discovered that it would be cheaper for Keith and I to buy APs instead of buy separate tickets for this trip and again for our March Trip. A huge perk was also getting the Memory Maker and they set it up so that all the pictures we had taken up to this point would be available to us!! I may or may not have shed a tear when we got our AP’s!!


This pic was taken later back at the resort, but thought I would share here.

We made our way over to the Great Movie Ride, I was curious to see this ride since the new changes. The wait for this ride always seemed so long every time we went by but we decided to go ahead and wait it out. The posted wait time was about 30 minutes. The ladies in front of us were sharing a Mickey Pretzel and it looked so good…I was getting so hungry!!

<Spoiler Alert…don’t read the next paragraph if don’t want to know about the change>




We made it through the line and we got the Cowboy Scene! Now onto the changes, I’m not a big fan of the recording and miss the interaction that took place with the CM. I’m glad they kept the main piece of that interaction with the CM. I did like the updates to the film at the end as well, but overall miss the old ride.


After the ride I was so hungry and didn’t think I could make it to our lunch ADR. Keith and I decided to share a pretzel and drink. We found a quiet seat outside of the ABC Commissary and enjoyed just sitting back and taking it easy for a bit. While we sat I checked out the wait times for Star Tours, and the stand-by line wasn’t too bad. So, off we went in that direction.


We had heard rumors that starting on this day there were going to be playing the new sequence that included the “new” planet. So, let me be very clear I don’t know anything about Star Wars, my husband is the big Star Wars fan so he was curious to see what the new sequence would be like. We went through the stand-by line which was only about 20 minutes.



https://flic.kr/p/E5EfwV
As the ride started, Keith confirmed they were showing the new sequence with the new planet. I just had to take his word for it because again I don’t know anything about Star Wars. L We looked around the shop after the ride for a bit, and then made our way over to our Lunch ADR at Sci-Fi. We arrived a bit ahead of our reservation time.

We had a bit of a wait, and something happened here that just didn’t sit with me too well. A young male CM was asking trivia questions to the people that were waiting which I thought was a great way to keep them entertained while waiting for their tables. Well, you could tell the young lady CMs in the background were not very happy with him and any time he would approach them they were not very nice to him, as if he was just a big pain. I personally thought he was doing a great job keeping people entertained, especially the kids that were waiting. I just felt bad for him because he was trying to engage the other CMs (that were honestly just standing around), and the look of utter irritation was just plain obvious and in my opinion mean. I later sent an email to guest services to let them know what a good job I thought this young man was doing, and expressed my disappointment with the other CMs attitude and treatment of this young man.

We were called to our table and we were hitchhikers in the back of a shared car…toward the back of the drive-in. We both decided to get burgers (which I forgot to get pics of…fail!).




Then we got dessert…Keith got the donut dessert and I got the homemade candy bar dessert. The pictures are a bit dark, but oh well going to share anyway!





WOW!!! That homemade candy bar sooooooo good! Keith enjoyed his donut dessert as well. After we were full we walked around a bit to walk off some of our lunch. We stopped and called Joey for a bit. He was having a great time with his Nanny and all was fine.

We made our way over to RnR to use our FP.



Even with a FP we had to wait a bit, but this is one of Keith’s favorite so it was worth the wait. I was just happy we got on it because I noticed it was down quite a bit during our visit. This ride also resulted in one of the funniest MM photos ever. Let me present……



From there we headed over to Tower of Terror to you use our FP there. I have to say this is the ride I’m most scared of!! I tried to distract myself by taking pics.




There were times I thought I was going to chicken out, but made it on the ride. Here is the pic to prove it. We are in the last row in the back left hand corner.


we are in the back left corner

Keith wanted to ride RnR again, but I had reached my limit…RnR and ToT back to back was enough for me!!!! He headed to the single rider line and I found a nice comfy bench and just sat back and enjoyed people watching.

Once Keith had had his fill of RnR, we decided to make our way out of the park and as we did so it started to rain! We ducked into a shop to see if the rain would pass.

I swear Keith takes a picture of this every trip!


The rain didn’t seem like it was going to let up any time soon, so we decided to head toward the parking lot.





We made it back to the car and arrived back at CSR about 4:30. Keith wanted to lay down for a bit, and I decided to take a walk over to the pool and refill our mugs. It was a pretty good walk from our room to the pool, and on my way back my foot was really starting to bother me. By the time I got back to the room I was close to tears. I talked with Keith and we decided to forgo our plans of heading to MK for EMH, and thought it best for me to just rest and stay off my foot.


We both rested for awhile and decided to go over to the food court around 7:30 to have some dinner. We drove over there so I would not have to walk all the way over there. We were pretty hungry so we made our way over to the food court. I got the chicken and Keith got the grilled chicken sandwich.



https://flic.kr/p/E5EdzP
 
I know I keep saying this, but it was so nice to just sit and eat just the two of us. There was no juggling the kiddos and keeping them entertained while we tried to swallow our food whole. We could take our time and just talk.

OMG I totally get this. It's so different when you get to just enjoy a meal...while it's still warm...and no cajoling the kids into eating or referee the fighting or listening to them whine for whatever reason...but the funny thing is...I find it's still so hard to get out of the habit of inhaling your food that I'm still done in 5 mins flat even when it's just us lol....
 
I am loving your TR!! You guys are so cute! I love how this trip is a time for you both to reconnect, you guys act like newlyweds! Also I love your outfits! Your shirts especially - they are so cute!

Sorry your foot was hurting so much, but it happens, especially when walking so much. I've had issues walking around WDW a lot, knee, back, hip etc. Although this past trip I was ok, thank goodness.

All your meals look really yummy! I'm so glad you enjoyed Ohana! That bread pudding is special, isn't it?

And your ride pictures...I LOVE them, they should be in an album! You guys have the best expressions!

I'm glad your DH managed to catch the new scenes on Star Tours. We loved them and kept going back on to see them again!

Congrats on becoming AP holders! One day I'd like to do that when we plan on going down more than once a year!
 
Those ride photos! They.Made.My.Day. Seriously. Thank you for sharing them, and your wonderful Disney trip, with us! Some day I would love to take an "adults only" WDW trip, but it is hard to imagine going anywhere without the kiddo. You are an inspiration. :)
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top