WDW/DCL Western Caribbean Honeymoon Extravaganza!! 7/19-8/1 PTR

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Yikes! I'm scared! I've never done a trip report and I'm afraid! If it stinks, I blame PopArtGal! She made me do it!! Actually she just asked if I had started one in our July planning thread...so thanks for the inspiration!


Okay, a little background info:
Here's our engagement picture! And by that, I mean the picture that I took of us after we got engaged. I've become really good and taking pics of us by holding out my arm! It's easier if I'm on the left side of him, but this one came out pretty good!

Me: Nikki - Disney girl, born and raised! My first trip was when I was 18 months old. My parents drove in a station wagon from NJ with me and my 5 year old sister. Apparently we also went to the World's Fair in Tennessee on that trip, but I don't remember it. Since then, we went every four years until I was 13, then I've been at least once a year since then.

DFi: Tom - WDW virgin until he met me! Tom likes to draw and is really good at it. He even went to animation school for a while and was always into Disney and Disney movies, he just never went to Disney World before. Now we are both Disney fanatics from parks to movies, history and everything else Disney related.

We started dating in 2003. Our first trip to Disney World was in August 2006 and we had a blast!! He was instantly hooked...thankfully! Or I don't know if this wedding would be taking place! Our second trip was August 2007, where we engaged on a bench on the World Showcase lagoon. We went once again for a long weekend in the winter of 2008.

Tom after his first day ever in Disney! He's exhausted, but notice the smile on his face!

So of course, our honeymoon had to be a DISNEYmoon. At first, we batted around the idea of of going to London and Paris...so we can go to Disneyland Paris. But I'm too much of a control freak to go to a place I've never been before (if that makes sense). So how could we switch it up so it's not just a regular WDW trip? ADD A DISNEY CRUISE!!!

p.s. Should I do seperate PTR and TR for the cruise on that forum? I'm not really sure how a combo trip works as far as TRs are concerned.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

THE HONEYMOON!
Our wedding is Saturday night, July 18th and we have a 6:30AM flight out the next morning! Crazy, you say? Maybe we are but our thinking was, let's just get there! Like I'm really going to sleep that night anyway! I can never sleep the night before Disney. We'd go straight from the reception to the airport if there was a redeye.

The Resort: We stayed at the WL on our 2007 trip and Tom loved it. It's my favorite resort, too, so that's where Tom thinks we're staying. A long time ago, I asked Tom, "If you could stay anywhere in Disney, where would you stay?" His answer, "The Polynesian, but I know we'll never stay there because it's too expensive." At that moment, I decided we're staying at he POLY!!! Luckily, because I'm in charge, he still has no idea and I can't believe I've kept it a secret for so long. We were able to take advantage of the Buy 4, Get 3 free deal...but we're only staying 6 nights, so really we're getting 2 free. We can't stay the extra night because we leave for the cruise that morning!!! We also had to get 1-day base tickets since we have APs. I'm still thinking an AP discount may be released and we'll switch back to a room-only reservation but we'll have to just wait and see...

 

[PopArtGal]

Here I am!!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Here I am!!!

WooHoo!!!

 

[PopArtGal]

Woohoo the Poly!!

I'm staying at the CR.

You're lucky to have found a guy who loves WDW as much as you do. I have yet to accomplish that! lol

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Woohoo the Poly!!

I'm staying at the CR.

You're lucky to have found a guy who loves WDW as much as you do. I have yet to accomplish that! lol

Oh you can do it!! Or you'll just have to find someone who you can convert!

 

[PopArtGal]

Oh you can do it!! Or you'll just have to find someone who you can convert!

Hummm converting..... Sorry it must be the painkillers I'm taking to ease the pain from my surgery lol

 

[dolfinjuls]

Hey Nikki! Followed you from the July board! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hey Nikki! Followed you from the July board! Can't wait to hear more!

YAY! Thanks for joining!

 

[MN Dis Fans]

Hi - I'm going to love reading your report. We went to WDW for our honeymoon too. How romantic! That was my first trip. First of many!
Congratulations to you both!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hi - I'm going to love reading your report. We went to WDW for our honeymoon too. How romantic! That was my first trip. First of many!
Congratulations to you both!

YAY! A cruise buddy!!! Is this where I should put that part of the TR? What do most people do when they have a two-parter?

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Dining: We LOVE to eat! But we tried the dining plan when we went on our 4-day trip last winter and we ended up with FIVE counter service meals leftover! I think part of our at-home eating habits comes from boredom and in Disney, we just don't think to stop and eat unless we are hungry. We even sometimes split counter service. At home, I like to get nice and full when I eat, and then lay down in front of the TV for a while...but July is too hot to be walking around Disney with full belly! So we probably won't do the dining plan again.

Here's my tentative list of where we want to eat.
* need ADR

7/19 -
lunch: Pecos Bill
dinner: 'Ohana*

7/20 -
breakfast: Kona*
lunch: Flame Tree

7/21 -
lunch: Chefs de France* (I just switched this with Mexico)
dinner: Rose and Crown *(hopefully outside for Illumintations)

7/22 -
breakfast: pastries and coffee at Royal Anandapur Tea Co. AK
lunch: Beaches and Cream

7/23 -
lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern*

7/24 -
lunch: Beirgarten*

7/25 -
breakfast: we'll try to hit up Kona for breakfast again (if we like it the first time) before we leave for the cruise but don't want to commit to an ADR at this point so if we can't get in, maybe we'll order room service

All other meals, we'll just play by ear. We want to be able to snack a lot which is why we're doing mainly ADRs for lunches so we don't have to worry about "saving room for dinner" all day! Also because lunch is usually less expensive and in case of the buffets, most likely the same food. All of our ADRs are places we've never eaten at before and I'm excited to try new places. (We had dinner at LTT but never lunch. And once we had the AK breakfast I'm planning totally by accident and it was awesome to just chill and peoplewatch, while listening to the monkeys scream! I want to recreate it!)

 

[PopArtGal]

We also do lunch. I don't eat that much in WDW either because the hot weather doesn't let me be hungry. And we snack a lot too. So lotsa snacks and less meals per se.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

We also do lunch. I don't eat that much in WDW either because the hot weather doesn't let me be hungry. And we snack a lot too. So lotsa snacks and less meals per se.

Exactly!

 

[PopArtGal]

BTW...since we're only gonna be a monorail away..maybe we could meet up for coffee. Never met anyone from the dis. It would be a first.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

So another reason the dining plan didn't work for us so well is that we like to fill up on drinks!! Actually, I'm usually not a big drinker at all. Occassionally I'll get a drink with dinner but I'm kind of past the "going out on the weekends and getting drunk" phase. I'd rather do without the sick feeling in the morning and I usually end up with a headache two drinks in anyway....But for some reason in Disney, I LOVE my drinks!! My favorite???

MMMMMM mmmm mmmmm! The tasty margarita! Here we are enjoying some in my favorite World Shocase pavilion...Mexico!

This is what happens after one margarita...

Here's an example of what might hapen after two margaritas.....

Here's what might happen after three or more....

NO IDEA whose stroller that was...Chip motioned for me to get in it and who was I to argue!

I've got it all planned out so that we can have three margaritas before going the rest of the way around WS. Here's how! We always start going around WS with Mexico. Get margarita #1 asap. Enjoy it while walking around the pavilion. Come out of the pavilion and get margarita #2. Enjoy this while walking around Norway. Before going onto China, run back real quick to get margarita #3. Ta Da!


Just to show you we DO enjoy other drinks...
Here we are with some frozen drinks at the Banana Cabana! Again, see how good I am at taking pics of ourselves? Who needs photopass?!

Hope you guys like pics! That's always my favorite part of other people's trip reports so I hope you don't mind...I'm probably going to put a lot of pics in here!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

BTW...since we're only gonna be a monorail away..maybe we could meet up for coffee. Never met anyone from the dis. It would be a first.

I would love to!

 

[PopArtGal]

I would love to!

We'll talk about it when the trip comes closer

Although.... 4 months!

 

[podsnel]

YAY!!! You started!!! I love , love, LOVE all the pics!

And can I just say...you must have the longest arms to be able to take all those great pics yourself! I love doing photos like that- but all mine are EXTREME CLOSEUPS because my arms are so SHORT!

You are sooooo lucky to be staying at the Poly- what a FABULOUS surprise that will be for your groom!! I have always wanted to stay there, ever since I was a little girl. Mind if I come along? I can't wait to hear all about it!!

More, please!

Ellen

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

YAY!!! You started!!! I love , love, LOVE all the pics!

And can I just say...you must have the longest arms to be able to take all those great pics yourself! I love doing photos like that- but all mine are EXTREME CLOSEUPS because my arms are so SHORT!

You are sooooo lucky to be staying at the Poly- what a FABULOUS surprise that will be for your groom!! I have always wanted to stay there, ever since I was a little girl. Mind if I come along? I can't wait to hear all about it!!

More, please!

Ellen

Hi Ellen! Thanks for joining! I am SOO excited to stay at the Poly. I'm still trying to decide how to reveal the surprise.

Yes, my arms are quite long but it also took years and years of practice to be able to frame the shot so that we're both in the middle and so that I don't have a double chin! It's an art form, really. I think it has more to do with my OCD that I have to be in charge of everything combined with the fact that I love taking pictures. I swear, I'm going to keep my camera in my bra on my wedding day. Do you think it would be inappropriate to take it out and get a shot of the two of us on the alter during the ceremony??