TR: Our Magical Honeymoon at the Grand Californian

[Docter419]

My first posting on this board. I've read many of the trips reports on both mouseplanet and this one, and I have to say this one is much more enthusiastic and detailed.
I am a Disneyland veteran since I was a small child. A little background on myself. When I was a child My family took an annual 4 day trip to Disneyland. Those trips were some of the most magical memories of my childhood. As I reached middle school and high school my family hit some harder times and we were not able to take the trips like we did when we were younger so after awhile it became a mythical place that I only dreamt about. And as the years went by I thought I kept looking forward to the time when I could go back to the place of some of my happiest memories. Finally after high school and 2 years after junior college I was able to transfer to a 4 year school and the trip my family took to celebrate was Disneyland! And when I went back I found out that it was as magical as I remembered and then some. Disneyland was still as fun and memorible as I remember but now that I was an adult I was able to enjoy downtown Disney to its fullest. Uva bar was Fantastic, but ESPN zone was the best bar I've ever been to. Enjoying a drink there then hopping on the monorail for more rides and magic got me hooked all over again...
Fast forward a couple years and I met a beautiful women who after years of convincing agreed to marry me. The clincher was this a magical moment were I proposed to her in front of the castle...
After our engagement it only seemed right that we spent our honeymoon there. And that is exactly what we did last October... more to follow when I get time!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Well you got me hooked into this fairytale.....will be waiting for more!!!

 

[xnascar2x]

Great start to your pre-trip report.

Welcome to the DIS Boards by the way!

 

[cinderella-princess]

Hi Hubby! I love your first post.

Jason and I met in college and after 6 months together I joined Jason, his mom and his sister in Disneyland. I had not been since I was 5 and did not remember much about it. It was the best vacation! We were only there a few days but I quickly became a Disney fanatic. I love the rides, the parades, the people, and the little extra touches that just make the whole park magical.

We weren't able to go again until a couple of years later. We celebrated our graduation from college with a joint family trip to Disneyland. Little did I know, but Jason was planning to propose to me (this is pretty much the only reason our fathers and my brother went - apparently everyone but me knew the proposal plan!). On the second morning there we all went to have our picture taken in front of the castle. We did a couple of group pictures and then Jason suggested that we take one of just the two of us. After the picture was taken I started to walk away and he grabbed my hand. I said "come on, we have to go fast pass Indy!". It was only when he started telling me how much he loved me and how much I meant to him that I realized something was happening! He actually got down on one knee and pulled out a ring! My Prince Charming!

Needless to say, we found it fitting to honeymoon in Disneyland. We had a great week; we stayed at the Grand Californian (with a Downtown Disney view) and wore the Mickey and Minnie wedding ears all week long.

 

[sahbushka]

What a wonderful story! I am really enjoying your tandem report! Keep it up!

Sarah

 

[Docter419]

I need 10 posts to put pics up...

 

[Docter419]

Ok, My wife mentioned a moment I think everyone is dying to see... so here you go!

 

[kaoden39]

This is so sweet. My hubby and I had our honeymoon in Disneyland. I joke about the fact that we brought home our most expensive souvineer that trip. She is is 16 years old now.

 

[cinderella-princess]

That is an expensive souvineer! Luckily, we are a few years away from any souvineers of that kind. But sooner or later they will come, and then we both can't wait to see our kids faces when we take them to Disneyland to the first time.

 

[Queenbillabong]

Very sweet My husband wants to do something special for our 20th anniversary eek. He is going to be very surprised when I let him know I want us to renew our vows at Disneyland

 

[DizNee Luver]

Ok, My wife mentioned a moment I think everyone is dying to see... so here you go!

What a beautiful moment, thank you for sharing it with us!!!!! Kinda melts the heart

 

[kaoden39]

That is an expensive souvineer! Luckily, we are a few years away from any souvineers of that kind. But sooner or later they will come, and then we both can't wait to see our kids faces when we take them to Disneyland to the first time.

Yeah we weren't really ready ourselves. Surprise! But she is one of the best surprises we've had!

 

[Escape2Disney]

Hi neighbor (I'm about 30 miles from Auburn).

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[Docter419]

OK! I think everyone here is interested in the honeymoon trip. So since I am new here it this PTR will become more of a honeymoon recap. But before I start I would like to tell everyone that we booked our next trip in September so this is an official PTR! We booked three nights at the Camelot in and suites. The same hotel that we stayed at for our engagement trip. We booked it for the 17th through the 20th. The 19th is my birthday so I'll be sure to have a great party!
As for our old honey moon trip, we followed my family's tradition and woke up early. In this case 4'clock! and we were out of our apartment at 4:30. Our car was decorated accordingly, we wrote "just married" all over the car and for the big finale' we had "disneyland or bust" wrote on the back window. Needless to say these decorations got a big response from other drivers driving south on I-5. We got several honks and thumbs up from other Disney travelers. It was like being the star of our own show, and we had many observers. After about 7 hours of driving we saw our exit. And it was one of the best things I had ever saw!

So we Made our way down to the Grand Californian and seeing the entrance was even better then the exit!

We hurried our way into the hotel, knowing that our honeymoon awaited us and all the joy the accompanied it. When we got into the hotel we saw a sign that informed us of some information that we already knew. It was Miley Cyrus' 16th birthday party....

That was ok... because we knew it was coming. We had this trip planned for months so we looked at the entertainment schedule. But it was ok it allowed us to go to downtown disney and have some adult fun. So we went to the park while our room was being readied. After a couple of magical hours we decided it was time to go and formally check in. So we went back to the hotel and did just that. We got room 5151, and the view was Spectacular.

After that we left to eat some dinner at Ralph Brennen's Jazz Kitchen. Which is always awesome!

With our bellies full we headed over to the Uva bar to have some celebratory drinks.

After that we headed back to our room only to realize that we were being serenaded be the wonderful violinist Drew Tretick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek35IPCW9a4

We liked it so much that my DW had me run down and buy his CD. It was the perfect ending to a perfect first day.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Great pics & what a view you had!!!!!

So you didn't get an invite to Miley's birthday???? I could think of thousands of other things I'd rather do!!!

I've never eaten at the Jazz Kitchen, but it sure seems to get some great reviews.....might have to look into that next trip!

 

[cinderella-princess]

Love the post babe! The view we had was perfect! We requested a Downtown Disney view because we love to people watch. It was great to be on the balcony, glass of champagne in hand (often eating the left over wedding cake we brought with us!) and watching the people wandering by. There was a musician right below us every night which was really neat!

The Jazz Kitchen is great; the seating on either their first floor or second floor balcony is nice, once again because of the people watching. And the Gumbo is awesome.

 

[kaoden39]

What nice pictures. You guiys are such a cute couple.

 

[Belle Ella]

I could have sworn I marked my spot here but it is nowehre to be found!

Anyways, looking forward to all that is to come! You two do make a great couple. Oh, and what a coinkydink. I was just in Auburn this past week visiting family. I don't know why but I always find it exciting to find DIS'ers who are either nearby or at least someplace I have heard of.

 

[Docter419]

We woke up early on the second day, but not too early. We decided to eat breakfast at the Storyteller's cafe. It was awesome. We both order the single meals instead of the buffet. We simply can't eat enough food to make the buffet worth while. I order the pancakes, and DW had the scrambled eggs and bacon with Hash browns. We especially like the hash browns, they put a spice on them that is simply awesome!

Of course some Bears had to come along! They were the bears from brother bear. We've never seen that flick but we loved the motif.

We finished a wonderful breakfast and and headed into the park because we had another special occasion scheduled. That morning we scheduled the "walk in Walt's footsteps" guided tour. We pretty much knew everything about the park but we've never been on a guided tour around the park before so we wanted to give it a shot. And let me tell you it was totally worth it. The main reason that we loved it is that it allowed us to go to places that we have never been. A great example of this was the caboose on the Disneyland railroad. Walt designed it to entertain dignitaries and it looked as such.

And it had a wonderful picture and Walt and Lillian.

And the highlight of the tour... a visit the ultra exclusive Club 33!

It was beautiful. We only got to see the lobby but that was enough for us. Little did we know that my sister had a hook-up and we would eat there just two months later but thats another story all together. After that the tour ended. But if you have a chance I highly recommend the tour. You can schedule by calling the Disneyland reservation line at (714) 956-6755. You can also book reservations at any of the resort restaurants.

After the tour we spent several hours in the park. Doing everything and anything we wanted. And my DW being the planner that she is had reservations for us at the Blue Bayou for 5:30. But before we went there for dinner I had to make a stop at my favorite place in Disneyland except the park... ESPN ZONE! So we walked down downtown Disney and had a couple drinks at the best bar a sports' fan like me has.

After that we hopped on the monorail to head back into the park to get dinner at the world famous Blue Bayou. We told the staff that we were newlyweds and wanted seats right next to the water. And they happily obliged, we ended up getting the most perfect table right next to the water behind the emply boat on the shore.

It was incredible we ate, drank and waved at all the riders going by underneath candle light. It was a very memorable dinner. After that we milled around the park for a couple more hours before heading back to the hotel to be together. When we got back we were surprised once more by the excellent service of Disney.

The stuffed animals we had brought from home but they put them on our bed with the greatest of care along with a Polaroid to capture the moment. It was a wonderful gesture and another reason why Disney does it better then anyone else.

 

[kaoden39]

That is such a nice touch on Disney's part. They do, do it better. And because of that it makes it harder to stay any where other than on property.