The Disneymoon of My Dreams! **UPDATED 8/30/08!**

[Disneymooner07]

Hello all and welcome to my first ever trip report! Thank you for stopping by and I hope you will enjoy my efforts at entertaining you. I will gladly take credit for any chuckles and giggles, but blame all cringes and groans due to failed humor attempts on your poor sensibilities!

This trip report chronicles the life and times of one crazy woman and one tolerant man who decided to spend their honeymoon in Disney World, the place of aforementioned crazy woman’s dream honeymoon since the age of 5. Additionally, they had the bright idea to venture on this trip in the middle of August. Needless to say, many adventures ensued

A little bit about the cast:

Me (Belle, because he’s a Beast!): 30 year old attorney who has loved Disney since her first trip at the age of 4. It’s hard to believe I’m old enough to have a job and have to pay bills because most of the time, I still feel like the child that first visited with her family way back when. I can be stubborn and dictatorial, but I also like to think that my enthusiasm can be charming and contagious. Well, one can hope, right?

Tigger: 29 year old medical resident who thought I was joking the first time I said I wanted to go to Disney World for our honeymoon. He wanted to go to Hawaii or St. Lucia…I told him there are nice pools at the Disney resorts. Once on board the Disney train, though, he was a total sweetie about it and very tolerant of my Disboards obsession. He loves good food and wine, hates the heat, and can also be very stubborn at times. When he’s not too busy trying to seem like he knows what he’s doing, however, he is a total child at heart who does silly dances if he thinks nobody is looking.

This is us at our rehearsal dinner:

So the wheels of planning started moving last December. I already knew the basics:
Who: Belle and Tigger
What: Disneymoon!
Where: Disney’s Grand Floridian (also part of the dream from when I was 5)
When: Sunday, August 12 – Monday, August 20, 2007
Why: If you’re reading this, you know why

Before Tigger even knew it, we had reservations for a Magic Kingdom room view at the Grand Floridian for 7 days/8 nights with the Disney Dining Package and Parkhopper Passes. Woohoo, we were going to do it up right! But first, we had a wedding to plan and get through. Up next, do we make it through the wedding and get to the airport on time? You’ll have to keep reading to find out, but here’s a teaser photo (What’s going on? Where are we? This isn't the Grand Floridian!)

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

You two are too cute! I am so glad that you got to go on your dream honeymoon!

 

[Disneymooner07]

Thanks! Although we haven't gotten to the pictures yet of us sweating our butts off in the parks - we're not very cute then at all! In fact, I was just looking at the photos yesterday and wondering what happened to us that we got so ugly! I'm blaming the heat and sweat for our puffy, shiny faces in all the upcoming pictures

And it really was a fantastic week! We went on almost everything *and* even got to fit in a Pirates and Princess Party which was the most amazing and unforgettable night ever!!! For anyone trying to plan a trip who's wavering on whether to splurge for one of these ticketed events, I have to say 100% go for it!

Thanks for reading and check back in!

 

[scottishduffy]

I'm signing up! Looks like a cute trip report!

 

[Disneymooner07]

Yay! Readers! I'll be putting up the travel day segment either tonight or tomorrow and I have already uploaded 100 photos for this trip report (out of the 900+ photos I took!).

Thanks for reading!

 

[HappyTrouble]

Disneymooner, myself, my Mom and my 2 DD's were at the Poly Aug. 15 - 22 (actually my Mom had to leave the 20th) but I am waiting to see if we are in any of your pictures. I know I saw you guys because I thought to myself what an adorable couple and I did wonder if you guys were on your honeymoon. I don't think you two are in any of our pictures but I will double check. I am so glad you had fun. Wasn't the Poly great!!!

 

[Ratpack]

Signing up and patiently waiting!!

 

[Poohbear67]

 

[BriarRosie]

Yes, do tell us why you're at the Polynesian!

And you need to change your DIS sig. He's no longer "DF" now, is he?

 

[lindakmonty]

great start so far Congratulations and I can't wait to see your pix!

 

[OhMari]

I'm wondering why you are at the Poly?

 

[MA pigletfan]

Sign me up for this one...From Boston AND staying at the GF...sounds like a fun TR to me!

 

[DisneyMissy318]

Count me in! We had our DisneyMoon at WDW too! December 1996! WOW - that was a long time ago! Can't wait to hear the rest of the story

 

[Disneymooner07]

Happy Trouble - You probably did see us wandering around the Polynesian a bit. We went exploring and absolutely loooved it! I think I definitely see a Polynesian stay in our future!

BriarRosie - Thanks for pointing out that DF is now DH! I got so used to thinking of him as DF all year - even now I'm still trying to get used to calling him my husband

Ratpack, Poohbear67, lindakmonty, OhMari, MA pigletfan, and DisneyMissy318 - Thanks for signing up! I'm working on the next installment and it should be up soon! I promise to solve the mystery of the Polynesian picture too

 

[Disneymooner07]

So the wedding went absolutely perfectly – it was everything I had ever dreamed of for my wedding day! I will post more pictures once I get them back from the photographer, but here are a few to give you a feel for the day. I wish every day felt as lovely as your wedding day!

As you can imagine, with all the festivities and after-party feasting (after all, who eats at their own wedding?!?), we didn’t actually get to bed until almost 4:00am and we had to be up by 8:00am for the bon voyage breakfast! But lo and behold, the alarm clock went off and who bounded out of bed? That would be Tigger! I know, who knew he’d be so excited?!? But up he got and dragged me out of bed with promises of Disney World and the Grand Floridian.

After a bit of gathering our belongings from all four corners of the hotel suite (how is it possible to get so spread out in one night?!?), we rolled down to the breakfast. I, of course, had gone crazy a few months earlier and planned out my entire wardrobe for the breakfast so that it included the proper amount of Disney I ordered the bridal Mickey ears online, Mickey earrings from QVC, and an adorable tank top with Mickey from the online Disney store. Nobody knew I was up to such foolishness, so I got such a rise from seeing everyone laugh their butts off as I pranced in with my ears and everything!

We chatted with all our family and friends, gnoshed on some croissants and orange juice and plenty of coffee, and we were off to Newark Airport to catch our flight to the happiest airport in the world – Orlando! My sister and brother-in-law were nice enough to drive us to the airport and we got there with plenty of time to spare. Nothing of much importance happened at the airport – we boarded and the weather was fine so we were off to Disney World!!!

A giddy two and a half hours later, the entire duration of which I spent harassing Tigger with relived moments from the wedding, we arrived at Orlando. We practically sprinted off the plane and raced to the first ride, the airport monorail! I had been looking forward to this ride for a looong time! Here we are all smiles and excitement on the monorail:

We bounced down to the Magical Express counter and finally made it onto the bus. Yay!

While we were waiting to take off, we entertained ourselves with some pictures:

On the bus, we met another newly married couple. I was so impressed because they were wearing matching t-shirts with stick figures, hearts and something like “Mike & Gina” and the date of their wedding. I would literally have to drug Tigger and tie his arms to get him to wear a t-shirt like that!

Anyways, so the bus finally took off and we made our way first to Pop Century and then the Polynesian. That’s where I took this photo!

The Polynesian looked incredible and we would definitely like to stay there in the future, probably when we have kids – it just seems like such a happy friendly atmosphere!

But it wasn’t long until we reached…The Grand Floridian! Yay!!!! I had never been there and I had dreamt of that moment for years, so when we pulled up, I was practically falling out of my seat! I kept frantically trying to take a photo and I think the bus driver thought I was too pitiful so he stopped and I got a couple great photos as we pulled up:

Soon we were unloaded and we were walking up to the front entrance of the hotel. There was the antique car, as well as the antique gentleman who was greeting all the guests

We got checked in and roamed around a little, mostly with our mouths open. We had dreamt about this day and arriving to the Grand Floridian for so many days that it was hard to believe we were finally there! The lobby really is incredibly grand. I had looked at tons of pictures on the DisBoards, but it really is such a different experience when you’re actually there, isn’t it? Here we are in the lobby, where a nice cast member offered to take our photo:

We finally made our way to the room. We had booked a Magic Kingdom view room, and I had further requested a king bed and a dormer room. We got to the room and were excited to see that our requests were honored, but really disappointed with the view! So here’s the room:

Very pretty, but the view was pretty much of the Contemporary and…a tree! If we went out onto the balcony and turned to the left, we could just make out Cinderella’s Castle:

Well, we didn’t really think that much more about the view because we got distracted with the little surprise I had planned for Tigger!

To be continued in Day 1 - Part II!

 

[Honeymooner04]

Great trip report so far! Brings back fond memories of my own Disneymoon!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The Grand Floridian really is a beautiful hotel.

You are so cute in your brides ears. You must have been a riot showing up at your breakfast wearing them and all decked out for Disney.

 

[BriarRosie]

Oh, a wonderful installment! And I think your camera works pretty well from inside a Magical Express bus. I can see the look of excitement (and exhaustion!) on your faces.

 

[Poohbear67]

Congrates to both of you and I know that the rest of your TR will be as great as this one is. I can't wait to read it.

 

[cathy0124]

Congrats! WDW Disneymoons are WONDERFUL!