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

[kaysmommie]

Subbing. Love your trip report so far! I think I need a 10 yr. anniversary trip to GF. My DH likes Disney slightly better than yours but not enough to go twice a year like me and the kids.

 

[Disneymooner07]

Coach81: Cheerio!!

TLC371: Tell me about it! I had a slight moment of almost breaking down in the store next to Philharmagic because I knew time was ticking and the park was just getting more and more crowded. Every minute spent traveling to the hotel was a minute more in line later on! Well, okay, that might be exaggerating, but such was the melodrama going on in my head for those few moments You'll see it was all totally worth it though!!!

kaysmommie: Thanks for dropping by! I think a 10 year anniversary trip sounds like a fabulous idea! How often can your DH handle Disney? I'm looking for clues here on how far I can push my DH if I work at it It would be good to know the limits so I don't push too far and end up with a rebellion on my hands!

 

[Coach81]

So are you an avid Tour Guide Mike fan? My wife swears by him, she always has a color coded itenerary from him when we go, and that thing becomes her Bible for our trips.

 

[TrueEeyore]

I don't think I could follow a schedule at Disney. I like to do things at the spur of the moment. All that greatness in one place and you can pick ANYWHERE you want to go...it's a great feeling lol.
And you got me wanting a turkey leg SO BAD!!! Yummm

Great update as usual. I would have picked the room with the view as well.

 

[kaysmommie]

Coach81: Cheerio!!

TLC371: Tell me about it! I had a slight moment of almost breaking down in the store next to Philharmagic because I knew time was ticking and the park was just getting more and more crowded. Every minute spent traveling to the hotel was a minute more in line later on! Well, okay, that might be exaggerating, but such was the melodrama going on in my head for those few moments You'll see it was all totally worth it though!!!

kaysmommie: Thanks for dropping by! I think a 10 year anniversary trip sounds like a fabulous idea! How often can your DH handle Disney? I'm looking for clues here on how far I can push my DH if I work at it It would be good to know the limits so I don't push too far and end up with a rebellion on my hands!

My DH doesn't really want to go more than every 2 because he says it's too much work. But we usually go ever year . Not sure about next year since we just did 2 years in a row. If it were me twice a year would be perfect.

 

[Disneymooner07]

So are you an avid Tour Guide Mike fan? My wife swears by him, she always has a color coded itenerary from him when we go, and that thing becomes her Bible for our trips.

I was definitely obsessed with Tour Guide Mike while I was planning, but it can definitely become a little too dominating if you let it! I tried to go with his suggestions of "green" and "red", but sometimes things just didn't work out right with the dining reservations and the freedom to just be able to go where we wanted to go! I guess it's useful to have the information, but we had days we didn't follow his advice and we still had a ton of fun - go figure, huh? That's the magic of Disney!

Plus, if I could do one thing differently about this trip, I think I would have liked to have gone to a morning EMH...oh well, maybe next time I'll be disobedient and go!

 

[Disneymooner07]

I don't think I could follow a schedule at Disney. I like to do things at the spur of the moment. All that greatness in one place and you can pick ANYWHERE you want to go...it's a great feeling lol.
And you got me wanting a turkey leg SO BAD!!! Yummm

Great update as usual. I would have picked the room with the view as well.

I think you're totally right to be spur of the moment! I think I may try to ease up on the scheduling next time because there were definitely times when I caught myself being so stressed about getting to the next ride that I forgot to enjoy the moment! Fortunately I caught myself most of the time and was able to just let the stress go and amble at a more reasonable pace, but every now and then... I feel like the most useful tip we picked up was how to use fastpasses. Next time, if we just do that but also wander whichever way we like, I think we'll still have a great time with less stress!

Yummmy, I could really go for a turkey leg now too! Oh, and I totally forgot to post the picture of me eating the turkey leg too! Here it is:

Yum!!!

 

[Disneymooner07]

My DH doesn't really want to go more than every 2 because he says it's too much work. But we usually go ever year . Not sure about next year since we just did 2 years in a row. If it were me twice a year would be perfect.

I like how you work it!! DH is currently saying once every two years, but I have this sneaking suspicion that we may work up to once a year as well! Twice a year does sound pretty good, but I sometimes worry that I'll wear off the "magic" if I go too frequently - do you think it's possible? Because I would be so sad if it started to lose that magical feeling for me! I dunno, but I'm a little scared to go too frequently!

 

[Disneymooner07]

Day 2, Part IIa – August 13, 2007

I forgot to include a couple of pictures that should have gone in earlier, so I’ll add them in here. Sorry they’re a bit out of order now, but just bear with me

This was first thing in the morning on our way to Crystal Palace for breakfast. Can you believe how empty it is?!? I had never seen Disney World with nobody in it!

Here are a couple of shots while we climbed around the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House:

The neat water-bucket system:

I couldn’t get my head around how lush it was all around the tree house – it really felt like we were in the middle of a tropical island somewhere!

This was me while I was on hold with the Grand Floridian front desk folks for about 30 minutes. DH kept telling me to squat lower and lower and then I see the picture he’s trying to take – I don’t think I really blend in with the stuffed animals, but he seemed to think it was hilarious to play “Where’s Belle?” with me! Can you spot me?

Here was one of the signs while we were waiting to go on Jungle Cruise. The line was actually going so fast that I wished it were a little slower so I could take in some of the really fun details in the waiting area!

We encountered some giant butterflies on the Jungle Cruise as well:

And here’s proof that we really did run through Toon Town, even if it was just for a few minutes!

Oh, before I forget – I have to put in a plug for two items that made my experience in Disney World possible. I worried for months and months about two things: my shoes and my bag. I scoured these boards for any and all tips which resulted in me ordering and returning quite a few items before I was able to settle on my final finds! And I was so excited about them that I want to share my finds in case it helps anyone else out!

So the first thing was the shoes – I am a fan of Crocs and got myself a pair of Mary Jane Crocs in anticipation of the trip. Unfortunately, I didn’t find them quite comfortable enough on my feet and I sort of wanted something less close-toed since we were going at the absolute height of summer heat! So I looked around some more and stumbled across the Cleo shoe by Crocs. It’s made of the same material as other Crocs, but the cut of it was just much more comfortable to me and provided surprisingly better support. If you go to the Crocs website and search for the Cleo shoe, you’ll find it. I ordered two pairs and wore them not just to Disney World, but all summer! I got them in a brown/pink combo and the black/grey combo. I talked my mom into getting the black/lavender pair and she loves them as well! The shoes were super comfy and you’ll see that I’m wearing them in every single picture!

The second thing that I was super excited about finding was my bag. I know there are a lot of Baggallini fans out there, but I tried 4 separate Baggallini models and wasn’t that happy with any of them – I found them to be a bit bigger than I needed and the material was a little stiffer and heavier than I wanted. All I wanted to carry with me was: camera and batteries, a bottle of water, a light sweater (you never know about the A/C in the summers!), my cellphone, sunglasses, a hat, and a poncho for the rain. Well, after searching high and low for a suitable bag, I came across the LeSportsac Cargo Camera bag. I loooove this bag for Disney World – it’s extremely lightweight yet durable, fairly waterproof, it expands to fit a lot of stuff, the strap is super comfy, and it has two magnetic-closure pockets on the front that make access to things like tickets or a camera really easy. You can find it on the LeSportsac website if you go to the LeSportsac Classic section, and then under Handbags if you scroll to the right you’ll find the Cargo Camera bag. I love it and again, you’ll see it in pretty much all of our pictures!

I’m working on the next installment and it’ll be up soon!

 

[kaysmommie]

I like how you work it!! DH is currently saying once every two years, but I have this sneaking suspicion that we may work up to once a year as well! Twice a year does sound pretty good, but I sometimes worry that I'll wear off the "magic" if I go too frequently - do you think it's possible? Because I would be so sad if it started to lose that magical feeling for me! I dunno, but I'm a little scared to go too frequently!

It never loses any magic IMO. But for most once a year is perfect. I'm trying to convince DH that we need to go again soon, but it's not working. I may have to be more persuasive . Or I might just have to wait until next fall. Waiting for more of your trip report.

 

[TrueEeyore]

Great pictures! Thanks for the info on the bag. I don't usually carry one, that's where my DH and his baggy pants come in handy! JK
Can't wait for the update!

 

[Disneymooner07]

Day 2, Part IV – August 13, 2007

So off we went back to the Grand Floridian to claim our new room. We went via boat and it was so strange to arrive back at the hotel when everyone was heading out! The hotel grounds were oddly quiet and serene and it was a bit of a downer to leave all the excitement of the parks only to meet such calm silence. But we made our way to our room, got the bags which we had fortunately packed that morning, and headed down to the front desk. We got the same lady who had originally checked us in and she gave us a new room in Sago Cay…yay!!! I was hopeful this was all going to turn out well. We waited quite a while and this young guy in a suit came over to the lady helping us to see what was going on and we explained that we just weren’t that happy with the view from our room because it was supposed to be a Magic Kingdom View room, but all we could see was the Contemporary Resort and a big tree. This fellow must have been the manager or something because he was super sweet and nice to us and said not to worry, they would find us a room with a better view. We sat down in one of those little seating areas in the lobby to wait…and wait…the manager came by another time to let us know they were still working on it and we said no problem, we’re just enjoying the air-conditioning! Soon, another lady came over and said if we followed her, she would take us to our new room personally. I was so impressed with the service!!! We weren’t mad or anything and we didn’t blame them at all for our view the whole time – we just asked if they had a better room and they were so nice about it! I definitely love Disney service!

Anyways, so we claimed our bags from the valet stand and started rolling toward Sago Cay. We chatted with the lady walking us and she was very sweet – I was telling her how we were just melting in the heat and how we didn’t understand how people in Florida dealt with it! She replied that she had been living in Florida for ten years or something but still couldn’t cope with the heat! Maybe Florida is just too hot for human occupation! Well, we finally arrived at the room and when we walked in, my breath was simply taken away. I think I bounced into the room! It was an amaaaazing view and the room was simply gorgeous!!! Now THIS was the room I had been dreaming of! Here’s what we saw:

And once we stepped out onto the balcony:

Yay!!! Well, Tigger immediately flopped onto the bed and made himself happily and contentedly at home:

I was so happy and excited I jumped up and down clapping my hands like a clown and then I actually hugged the poor lady who had walked us there! I just didn’t even know who to thank and she was there soo…oh well! Luckily she didn’t seem to mind and told us to enjoy our new room. Well, we sure did! I think these photos are just hilarious. This was me when we got to our new room with the amazing view – I wasn’t lying when I said I was excited!! I was literally jumping up and down like a little kid and DH was kind enough to document the craziness! If you look carefully, you can just make out Cinderella’s Castle in the background…

Now if that’s not excitement at having a room with a view, I don’t know what is! I was so happy to unpack everything knowing that we were going to be there for the next 7 nights – it was such a fun feeling to have that much vacation still to look forward to! We also took some quick showers to regroup a little from all the intense heat and sweating so far…it sure felt nice to be a bit cleaner and less sticky

We took our time because at this point, it was about 4:00pm and we were clearly going to be spending the rest of the day and evening at Magic Kingdom in order to go on all the rides. I hadn’t made any dinner reservations for this night so that we would have some flexibility in our schedule. Plus, I really wanted to try Columbia Harbour House because I had never been there and everyone says it’s so yummy! Anyways, so we cleaned up and chilled out a little in the room and headed back over to the Magic Kingdom via monorail.

You know, I just really really love entering the Magic Kingdom – whether it’s morning, afternoon or evening, it’s always such a happy feeling to be headed there and to know you have hours ahead of pure fun! So we walked in and were greeted with a much busier main street than we saw in the morning, although it seemed to maybe be emptying out a little for dinner and afternoon nap time:

I also grabbed this photo:

We walked straight toward Space Mountain where we had some fastpasses burning a whole in my purse pocket! Off to Tomorrowland!

It was great to have the fastpasses because the line was sooooo long and it took probably a good 10 minutes just to walk to the front – I can’t imagine how long it would have taken if we waited! It was, of course, awesome and tons of fun and I totally screamed my head off as we whipped around every turn. DH was laughing so hard at the end of the ride because he said I was practically more entertaining than the ride This was Tigger dancing away after Space Mountain:

Well, after that whirlwind, I wanted something a little calmer, so we went on the TTA. I can’t remember ever going on this ride actually – we may have gone on it when I was much younger, but I can’t remember it at all. I thought it was pretty nice and relaxing, but Tigger complained that he was bored and really hot. Oh well, different strokes for different folks!

After the TTA, I dragged Tigger over to the Carousel of Progress. I had really vague memories of having gone on this years ago so I was curious to see if I still liked it. Good news – I did! I thought the little sets and animatronics were so quaint and I liked how innocent it was. It made me feel like I could understand the magic once again as Walt Disney himself must have seen it. Bad news – Tigger got a little bored. Oh well! At least he was willing to give it a try! After two strikeouts for ride choices, I let Tigger pick the next ride. He wanted to go see the new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and I was definitely keen on seeing this too since it was new since the last time I was here. The wait was maybe 10 minutes and there was lots to look at in the wait area! The show was pretty fun and there were some hilarious moments when they pointed out certain audience members with funny captions written in. I have no idea how the show works and how they are able to respond so quickly to the audience interaction, but it was definitely fun.

We felt like we had had our fill of Tomorrowland for the time being, so we made our way over toward Fantasyland.

I was eager to see Philharmagic since we were over in that area earlier in the day but couldn’t go on it because of the room stuff. We made it over and the wait wasn’t that bad. We waited maybe 15 minutes and got a chuckle out of reading all the posters inside – have y’all ever looked at all of these?!? They’re really ingenious and catch onto some obscure references! This was DH once we got the glasses:

I really love Philharmagic and can never help but stick my hand out to try and grab all the stuff flying out of the screen! It’s such a great show – I wish they would do more of these 3D interactive things!

Anyways, we were pretty hungry at this point so we decided to go to Columbia Harbour House to get dinner. Another reason we were going to CHH for dinner was that I had already booked too many dinners that required 2TS credits on the dining plan and we had more than enough counter service credits to use, so CHH for dinner sounded like a very wise idea! Luckily it was super yummy! I got the tuna sandwich and DH got a salad with chicken. We sat upstairs and it was nice and relaxing looking out – we could see all the people walking around with the exception that we were in the air-conditioning!

After dinner, we wanted something nice and calm so our dinners could settle. Neither Tigger nor I had ever been on the Liberty Belle and we were right there after we came out of CHH, so we decided that would be a good plan. We were able to walk right on and we went up to the top deck. Soon we were tooting along:

We got some neat views:

Too many pictures - continued below!

 

[Disneymooner07]

Day 2, Part V – August 13, 2007

After the leisurely boat ride, we had digested enough to finally attack my favorite: Thunder Mountain Railroad! I was a little too excited so this was the only picture I got of the ride:

The wild west proved to be a thrill and even better than I remembered – it’s always a longer ride than I think it’s going to be and just when I think there aren’t any big drops or turns, there’s another burst. Awesome! After we exited BTMRR, we wandered over toward Splash Mountain to see how the line was. It was reaaally long and we weren’t in the mood to grab a fastpass for so late in the evening, so instead we went a little crazy in the store next door:

Next we decided to spend a little time at the shooting range. I hadn’t been there in years and it was sooo much fun getting all the little things to move. Here’s me giving it my best shot:

We then slowly strolled over toward Fantasyland again and got into line for Snow White. It was sort of a long line and we tried to entertain ourselves:

Well, we made it through and Snow White was saved by her prince and all was well! By this time, though, it was dark out. We walked over toward Main Street and grabbed these photos:

The reason we were going toward Main Street was because it was almost time for Spectromagic!! I absolutely love Spectro and this was the only night we were going to be able to fit it in so we had to make sure we got spots tonight. Needless to say, Main Street was absolutely packed so we ducked around the side and founds spots in Frontierland. Before long, it was time for Spectro and I was soooo excited!! The music brings back so many memories and somehow Spectro just embodies that magical feeling from when I was a little kid. I went a little photo crazy during Spectro and basically took a picture of every float that went by. I’ll just include some of them here!

I loved every minute of it and clapped and waved like a little kid at all the floats. It was an awesome trip down sentimental alley! We made our way toward Main Street again at this point to catch Wishes. This was the scene on Main Street!

Soooo crowded, but we got a spot at the end near the exit so we could get out of there quickly afterward. Wishes is the best and we absolutely loved it. Tinkerbell flying was so cool and I loved the music and narrative. Also, it was too cute but DH really loved the single super-bright fireworks that arc across the top of the castle. He thought they really represented the idea of dreams and wishes so well. Awww…

After Wishes, it was a total stampede to the exit and we literally ran to get onto the boat for the hotel. We made it and enjoyed a calm little trip back to the hotel. We were absolutely exhausted and after some quick showers, rolled into bed and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows! A fantastic first full day, and we needed our beauty sleep for the next big day at MGM Studios!

Next installment: A magical dream come true at MGM!!!

 

[Nicole786]

GREAT TR! I'm loving every post, the pics are great! I hope one day I can stay at the GF, i've never been inside!

 

[LMO429]

Great TR!!! Im so jealous I would love to have a disneymoon but my fiance is soooo against it I guess I can't complain he did propose to me on main street and im having my bachelorette party there this upcoming May...but i would love to go there on my honeymoon..at least my fiance said he would could do disneyland for 3 to 4 days on our way to hawaii

 

[TrueEeyore]

Great update! Your view was sooooo great! How wonderful that the service was so fantastic. I found it to be the same way at the Poly on my Disneymoon. Disney is the greatest!

Sorry your DH got bored on the TTA and COP...TTA is one of DH's and my favorite rides!

Can't wait for the next installment.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

What a wonderful view you got the second time around. I can totally understand your excitement!

 

[Disneymooner07]

Nicole786: Thanks! I had never been to the GF before this trip either and it didn't disappoint! It was really pretty and quaint and Disney really does get the theming just right I'm not sure it was really DH's speed, though, with all the frills and Victorian influence He's already said he's much more interested in staying at the AKL or Polynesian next time. I'll take that!

LMO429: Oh man, I soooo wish I had had my bachelorette party there! You'll have so much fun, I can't wait to hear all about it! Do you have pictures of the proposal on Main Street? That's so sweet that he did that! And look at it this way for your honeymoon - you get the best of both worlds: Hawaii *and* some Disney! What's not to love?

TrueEeyore: Isn't Disney servie just the best?!? I really was genuinely surprised they were so concerned - we would have been fine in the old room if they didn't have another room, so anything they found for us was just icing on the cake! I keep telling people - Disney is the place to go for your honeymoon because they really do take great care of you. Plus, you get to wear silly pins and Minnie ears so people say "Congratulations" to you the whole time - it's so fun!

Lifelong_Dreamer: The view really was everything I had dreamed of I don't know if it warranted that level of silliness from me, but oh well!

 

[TrueEeyore]

I know, people were telling us congrats left and right, and we only wore the pins! Everyone was really sweet. Did you get anything free? We got a free game at Winter/Summerland, and free raspberry lemonades.
I guess I'll have to wait and read for myself huh? You better get to updating then, missy!

 

[Jacklynn]

What a great TR! I Subbied btw!