Our honeymoon trip to Orlando! (Updated 7/10, Day 14&15; going home...THE END!)

[Marjol]

Links to my TR posts:

Day 1, our trip to Orlando... well, that was the plan
Day 2, Will we finally make it to Orlando?
Day 3, Our Epcot day!
Day 3, Our Epcot day, continued!
Day 4, Getting soaked in Animal Kingdom
Day 4, Animal Kingdom continued
Day 5, Aquatica, Disney Quest and Cirque du Soleil
Day 6, Universal Studios and the best meal we had in Orlando!
Day 7, Blizzard Beach and Pirate & Princess Party
Day 7, Pirate & Princess Party continued
Day 8, Racing time at the Daytona 500 experience
Day 9, A short day in Universal IOA and Downtown Disney
Day 10, Sheikraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Day 11, Our encounter with Dolphin Rose at Discovery Cove
Day 12, Seeing Disney from "the other side"
Day 12, Late afternoon & evening at the Magic Kingdom
Day 13, Our last Disney day in the Studios
Day 13, Hollywood Studios continued
Day 14&15, Going home

Hi everyone,

As some of you might remember (and most of you won't ) I wrote a pre-trip & trip report about our first trip to Disneyworld/Orlando last year. I loved writing it and although I wasn't sure if I would ever write one again, I just can't resist... I'm driving my boyfriend nuts with my crazy planning... and out here everyone understands my idiocy

I waited with writing this pre-TR untill 2008, so I can say:

We're going to Disneyworld this year

For those of you who haven't read my previous TR, I'll introduce us to you.

My name is Marjol, I'm 27 (28 in february ) and I've been in love with everything Disney since my first trip to Disneyland Paris in 1997.
I work fulltime as a elementary school teacher. I currently teach 3rd grade (8-9 yr olds).
My boyfriend (or fiancee, but I hate that word!)'s name is Gerbert, he's 26 and works in the IT business.

We live in a very nice city in the south of a small country called the Netherlands. For those of you who have no idea where that is.. shame on you!
No, just kidding: Look it up on this map of Europe...

This trip will be our honeymoon!

Gerbert proposed to me in july and we're getting married on april 22. We'll be flying to Orlando four days after that, on april 26.
We're really looking forward to this trip! We had so much fun last year... something I never would have imagined. I knew I was going to have a blast, but since my boyfriend isn't a huge Disney fan and doesn't really like Disneyland Paris, I was sure this was going to be a once in a lifetime trip.

But boy, was I wrong! When we were back home for a couple of weeks, we began talking about how much fun we had and before we knew it we booked our flights to Orlando!

Some pictures from our trip from last year:

Click here to view a slide show from our last year's trip.

I'm really looking forward to our wedding and this trip more and more as it's coming closer.

Only 111 days to go
One thing that makes the waiting less worse, is a small trip to Disneyland Paris early march. I'll write something about that trip too!

One more thing: Please bear with me on my English writing skills. Out here, we speak Dutch and although I hear a lot of English on TV and learned it in High School, I barely ever speak it and I'll definately make a lot of mistakes

Up next: Our plans!

 

[earthfaries]

Hi. Love your PTR so far! Sounds like you have a fun trip planned.

That's neat you've been to DLP so often. Is it really great? Do you like WDW better?

Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

Great pictures BTW, looks like you guys had tons of fun

 

[ChevyNat]

Wow, I love your pre-trip report...and your English is fine.
My first language is French, went to French school, live in a small French town. But learned my English because my Dad comes from Ottawa and speaks English, and by watching English tv and reading English books... and now my kids go to the only English school in town... they will learn French, I guess just by being around it... Funny how things turned around to pure English at home ha! ha!

Nat

 

[punkin413]

hi, marjol! i'm definitely in for this trip, too! and no need to apologize about your english-writing skills. you write better than most people i've seen from the U.S.!

i can't wait to hear more details. you guys are there the same time as us again this year! and please fill us in on details from the wedding....i hope you post pictures. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

 

[Marjol]

Thanks everyone, for joining my pre-TR and your nice comments!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

I'm in too! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and honeymoon! Can't wait to hear all about your trip and hopefully the wedding also!

My family (grandparents on both sides) are from the Netherlands so it is great to read a report from there.

Looking forward to more!

 

[Marjol]

I'm in too! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and honeymoon! Can't wait to hear all about your trip and hopefully the wedding also!

My family (grandparents on both sides) are from the Netherlands so it is great to read a report from there.

Looking forward to more!

Thanks for joining!

I'll definately tell something about my wedding too! How cool you have grandparents from the Netherlands!

 

[planetcaravan19f]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding and honeymoon!!!!!

Have fun planning!!

 

[Marjol]

Our plans!

105 days left today, or 15 weeks... so time for an update!

So, after we decided we were heading back to Orlando in 2008, we started looking for flights. We planned on going in the 2 week holiday we have here in the Netherlands, starting april 26. We already heard of some people who were going to Orlando in the same period and they had already booked their flights, so we had no time to lose

After a week of looking for the best deal, we only saw the ticket prices rising, and we booked our flights before they really became expensive. We're paying more money than last year though! We're paying somewhere around 700 dollars each now in comparison to 620 dollars last year. But hey, we booked our flights, we're definately going.. so we're happy anyway!

We're flying with United. It leaves at 12.30 pm and after flying 8 hours and 36 minutes we'll be landing in Washington DC around 3.00 pm. After that, we're flying to Orlando at 5.00 and we'll arrive there at 7.13 pm. Flying total of 10 hours and 49 minutes, which isn't too bad.
We're flying back on may 9th and will be back in the Netherlands on may 10th, very early in the morning.

Next step was booking a hotel. Because my BF does't want to be surrounded with the Disney magic 24/7, we're staying offsite again, which we really liked last year (before you say anything.. I know onsite must be very cool too... but since we never did it, we can't miss it ).
Our travel agent booked the Country Inn & Suites for us for 13 nights. We're paying only 60 dollars a night, which is a great deal I think. This is what the hotel looks like:

We also booked a rental car. We're renting an economy car at Alamo. They don't have economy cars though, so we'll probably get an update to a comfort car again. No, we really don't mind

After booking the most impotant things and waiting anxiously for TourGuide Mike to release his "least crowded parks" charts for april and may, I started working on our itinerary.
Because this is our honeymoon, we decided to plan a couple of special activities. I'd always wanted to swim with dolphins, but I also always thought it was too expensive. But for a honeymoon... I guess it's OK.
So we booked Discovery Cove, including a 14 day pass to Seaworld (where we probably won't go this year), Busch Gardens and the new waterpark Aquatica!

We're also really interested in everything that happens backstage at Disney, so we started looking at the tours they offer. I instantly fell in love with the backstage magic tour.. but oh, the price! 199 dollars each! I though Gerbert would declare me insane when I told him, but instead of that, he was really into it too! And so we booked our Backstage Magic Tour. With a 15 % AAA discount, which really saves us some money!

With those activities planned, I could really start on my itinerary! So, here it is. We're really hoping for a Pirate & Princess Party on april 29... if there isn't going to be a party, I definately have to make some changes.

Sat April 26: Flying to Orlando
Sun April 27: Universal Studios
Mon April 28: Epcot
Tue April 29: Blizzard Beach and party in the Magic Kingdom (we hope!)
Wed April 30: Trip to Daytona (BF really loves cars)
Thu May 1: Universal's Islands of Adventure
Fri May 2: Aquatica
Sat May 3: Animal Kingdom
Sun May 4: Typhoon Lagoon
Mon May 5: Busch Gardens
Tue May 6: Discovery Cove
Wed May 7: Backstage Magic Tour & Evening at Magic Kingdom
Thu May 8: Hollywood Studios
Fri May 9: Flying back home
Sat May 10: Arriving back home

So, what do you think?
We have a couple of "free" evenings in which we will relax or visit a Disney park again. We also hope to fit in Disney Quest somewhere. We're planning on buying 7 day base tickets with waterpark & fun option.
We haven't booked our Disney and Universal tickets yet. I'm hoping Disney will release the april dates for the P&PP soon, so I can book both tickets together and save on shipping

Well, that's enough for now. I'll let you know when I have more news.. or just something else to share

 

[punkin413]

your itinerary looks good! i can't wait to hear about discovery cove...i've always been curious about it. darn it....we're not gonna be ANYWHERE at the same time this year! i'm hoping for a P&PP on may 2nd. but if there's not one on may 2nd and there is one on april 29th, i'm changing my plans around to go to the april 29th one. so that could be a possibility. i'm really hoping for may 2nd though because we're leaving may 3rd and i'd love it if the P&PP is the last thing we do on our vacation to go out with a bang!

 

[Marjol]

your itinerary looks good! i can't wait to hear about discovery cove...i've always been curious about it. darn it....we're not gonna be ANYWHERE at the same time this year! i'm hoping for a P&PP on may 2nd. but if there's not one on may 2nd and there is one on april 29th, i'm changing my plans around to go to the april 29th one. so that could be a possibility. i'm really hoping for may 2nd though because we're leaving may 3rd and i'd love it if the P&PP is the last thing we do on our vacation to go out with a bang!

Yeah, that's a shame we won't be anywhere together this year! I already figured that out, reading your itinerary!

We're really looking forward to DC too, it must be great!

I would have loved to do the P&PP on my last evening as well, but there isn't one planned on that day. We had to choose between apr 29, may 2nd and may 6th. Because we are doing DC on May 6th and are expecting heavier crowds on may 2 compared to april 29 (because it's on a friday!), we chose april 29. But nothing has been officialy released... I'm starting to wonder if they have second thoughts about these parties!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Your plans look great! How awesome to be there for 13 nights! The hotel looks nice too.

 

[Marjol]

Only 49 days left until my trip to Disneyland Paris
Only 96 days left until our wedding
Only 100 days until our trip to Orlando

I can't believe it's only 100 days away now.. I can remember the times when it was 300 days away...

I ordered my Universal en Disney tickets this week... and now I can only wait....100 long days!

 

[Villainess]

Your itinerary sounds great! Congrats on your wedding!

 

[Marjol]

Your itinerary sounds great! Congrats on your wedding!

thanks!

 

[ChevyNat]

You will LOVE Discovery Cove... I've done it last Jan 2007 for my DD birthday and we had a blast there... it's really relaxing and beautiful... have fun!!!

My DD getting her gift by Scarlet, our dolphin

Ray Lagoon, (if I remember the name corectly), it was really fun.

Beautiful scenery

Amazing snorkling

 

[Marjol]

Great pictures!

I'm sure we'll have a blast!

 

[planetcaravan19f]

Discovery Cove sounds sooooo awesome!!!! Hope you DO have a blast!!

Those pictures are very cool, Chevynat!!

 

[Villainess]

Those pics look great - I'm sure you will enjoy it!

 

[carissanboys]

What a great PTR! A honeymoon trip

I can't wait to read all about it (and all the good stuff leading up to it ).

And I would NEVER have guessed that English isn't your first language. You write beautifully!