Amanda & Brian's Wedding and Honeymoon Report - The Full Report!!!!!!!! About This Page:

[Dsnymom]

Amanda: Great trip report, keep it coming. I can't believe you didn't fall in love with the Mickey bars. I probably ate 10 of them all by myself in June. And, I screamed out loud during the mice part of Honey I Shrunk the Audience, so don't feel bad. And, I was trying to be brave for my 2 DD's, age 6 and 3, so how did that look? I can't wait to hear the rest.

[TINKN]

Sounds like magic to me! Great TR so far! Can't wait for more and the pictures!

[mom2mudmonsters]

What a wonderful report, can't wait to hear more!!!

[Tinkerbell22]

September 11, 2002
One thing I forgot to mention from the day before. When we came back into the room at lunchtime there was a single rose in a vase with a Magic Moment sign on our table. It really took us by surprise since we weren’t expecting anything! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

Woke up at 8:00a.m. and the day was so overcast everything looks gray. Because of that fact I didn’t even bother to fix my hair. I just threw it up in a pony tail because it was just going to get wet anyway. We headed to the bus stop to catch a ride to downtown Disney. Taking PolyGirl’s advice again we were going to catch a cab in DTD and go to Sea World. It took forever to get to DTD and when we did you have to walk to the other side to catch a cab. We had a minivan cab and it took about 15 minutes to get to Sea World the cost was $14 plus tip. Right as we walked into Sea World it started to rain. Just a drizzle though so it wasn’t too bad. Security checks at this park seem much more complete then at Disney. They made me open our camera bags and turn them on and everything. But it still went by quickly. We walked in and headed to the map and show time station. One thing about Sea World is that it is hard to find information in advance. They need a discussion board [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] But that is off the subject, after getting our maps and show times we headed to the Stingray area. It is so cool to pet one of these things! They weren’t sure what time feeding was because they were putting oxygen in the tank. After taking some pictures and touching several we moved on to the dolphins. Here is a tip: Do not try to force your way by the pool right when you walk in the area. Instead walk around to the side. We only had about 5 other people around us and lots of dolphin interaction. We fed the dolphins at $4 for 4 sardineens. But it was worth it. One thing they told us is that dolphins don’t like to be petted on the tops of their bodies. But to pet under their chins. Well there was a girl next to us that didn’t pay attention and kept petting on particular dolphin on top. Brian said it went underwater got a mouthful of water and sprayed him and her for the incident [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] . I didn’t see any of it though because I was off getting a poncho. Darn it! It had started to really rain but Brian didn’t want a poncho so I just got one (at $6 a piece – rookie mistake) After enjoying time with the dolphins we headed over to the Shamus show. On the way we stopped by the Clydesdales, now we have the headquarters for Anheisur Busch here in St. Louis so Clydesdales are fairly easy to see at home, but it is such an impressive horse that we had to stop by and visit. Plus the Dalmatians were running around so we got to pet one of them. The Shamus show was good but I felt like it was more vide commentary then the actual whales. It was over quickly in my opinion and I was a little disappointed. We headed to Shark Encounter, which was really cool! After that we headed to a little restaurant ad ordered hamburgers. One thing I did not like about WDW is that they only serve Coke-Cola products. DH and I drinking primarily Mountain Dew so it was hard to go a whole week without our favorite drink. But Sea World had Mountain Dew so we drank a ton of it [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] ! After lunch we headed over to visit the manatees and got some good pictures of them as well. It was about 1:30 by now and we were getting tired plus it was still raining. We caught a cab and took it back to DTD, this time the cab cost $19 plus tip. I didn’t ask! J We walked around DTD for about 2 hours shopping. We had a blast and found a big Stitch stuffed animal for our nephew. We went back to the resort to rest for a while. At 5:30 we headed to EPCOT. I wanted to see the Parade and we had a 7:00pm PS for Rose and Crown. Have I mentioned that it is still raining? Actually it is pouring! We walked up to France to secure a spot but by 6:00 it was really raining. We decided to get some pastry at the bakery in France. I got the chocolate croissant that was SO GOOD! And Brian got an Apple tart, which he said was really good. We found a table under some shelter so we sat there. I swear it was just like being in Paris with the music playing, sitting outside, huddled together. After our sweets we walked around. The parade was cancelled [img]graemlins/pout.gif[/img] We headed to the Rose and Crown at about 7:15 to see if we could get a table. I asked VERY nicely if we could sit on the patio that was covered. And that we would wait since outside seating was even more limited then usual. They sat us right away in the most perfect table you could ask for! Our waitress was great! We split the lamb soup, which was good. Brian had the fisherman’s basket and I had the famous fish and chips. After seeing the shrimp that came on Brian’s plate I decided I should have gotten that. His plate had crab cakes, shrimp, and two pieces of cod plus the chips! My fish was really good though but I helped Brian finish his. Everything was served really quickly which worried me because I wanted to stay and watch illuminations. At 8:30 we were done and ready to leave. But our waitress insisted we stay and watch the show. I had a coffee and Baileys because it was a little chilly that night. The show was fantastic! The wind was blowing in the opposite direction so we didn’t have to worry about smoke at all. It was another perfect evening. And the rain stopped in time for the 8:10 parade but we missed it due to being in the restaurant.

I have to tell you guys about this woman next to us at the restaurant. She kept telling them she didn’t want her food until “later” when they brought it out at 8:30 she got all huffy with them about the fact that she didn’t want her food yet. They sat down shortly after we did so they had already been there over an hour! The park closes at 9p.m. and this woman didn’t want to be served until after the show [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] ! Come on! Anyway, she just complained about everything from where they sat (right next to us so very good seats for the show.) to the food. She complained when they put the umbrellas up on the lower level even after they assured her they put them back down before illuminations. They eventually moved her – thank goodness! How can you complain so much when you are at the happiest place on earth?

But despite her we had a great time and another perfect evening!

Taxi total - $38 round trip (including tips)
Souvenirs - $97.48
Food - $ 105.68
Poncho - $6

[tikibird]

YES!!!

Add two more to team Dole whip you Mickey Bar fans! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Lovin' your report - very descriptive - and looking forward to more! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

(Oh, and PLEASE tell me you made it to the Tiki Room at least once!)

[Tinkerbell22]

September 12, 2002
Today is MGM day! This was a day that Brian and I were really looking forward to because we both LOVE movies! Our reception had a movie theme even. The announcement that we would be arriving was done with the Superman theme, the wedding attendants were announced with the theme from Shaft, and Brian and I were announced with the theme from Star Wars! It was a blast and almost everyone enjoyed it. But I digress; we didn’t wake up until 9a.m. it was so so so nice to sleep in today. We got to MGM about 10:30 a.m. Looking at our to do list and the time frames for all the shows Brian and I knew this would be a no break day. Thankfully it wasn’t to hot but it looks like the rain would hold off. Walking into MGM was the coolest! Only one thing, the hat totally takes away from the atmosphere! Get that thing outta there! I made Fantasmic Reservations they offer Hollywood & Vine, Mama’s, and the Brown Derby. I panicked and picked the Brown Derby. The first thing we headed for was Tower of Terror. DH hates rides especially fast ones but he agreed earlier to go on this ride from me. This has got to be the coolest queue! We were put into the room almost immediately and I was in 7th Heaven looking around and watching the video. We were assigned our lines, we were in row 5, we get into the elevator and Brian gets the chair with only a seatbelt in the middle of the row. No one is in front of him and there is nothing to hold on to. I can see the panic in his face. But he braves the ride anyway. The elevator dropping is the so much fun! What cracked me up even more is watching DH’s legs swing into the air every time we fell! He was laughing through the whole thing and told me that he really liked the ride. Next was Aersomith, DH was not going to go on this ride; fine I would go without him. The CM standing outside the ride informed DH that he could go in with me and there was an exit door he could go through. Well my begging and pleading with puppy dog eyes worked and he got on the ride. Again this ride is fantastic! We did both those rides in 30 minutes! I wanted to go again but DH put his foot down. Beauty and the Beast was seating as we walked away from Aerosmith so we ducked in there. The pre-show was really good! The performance by Belle and the gang gets 2 thumbs up! We really liked it.

By now it is 11:45a.m. and we have a noon ps for the 50’s Prime Time Café. Aunty Angela made sure we finished our homework and set our table. I ordered the chocolate milk shake that had to be the best thing I have ever had! I ordered the Chicken Pot Pie and Brian got a Turkey Sandwich. Both were excellent! Our waitress was just enough in character to make us laugh but didn’t force-feed any of us the last few bites of our lunch. We also did very well at not putting our elbows on the table.

We left Prime Time and Indian Jones was seating so we dashed in. (Don’t we have awesome timing?) This was another great show! After Indy we got Fastpasses for Star Tours because there was a bit of a wait and I just had to use Fastpass once! We headed over to Muppets, which was really cute, but DH and I were a little disappointed. I guess we were figuring it would have the same adult humor that most Muppet shows have. After that our Fastpass for Star Tours was up. DH loved this ride and I felt sick! I think we rode it a little to close to lunch. We decided to try our luck at Millionaire next and on our way there we say Sorcerer Mickey taking pictures with hardly a line! So of course we jumped in. Brian’s favorite Mickey is the Sorcerer so the picture is extra special. After that we went to Millionaire, which sat after waiting about 10 minutes. We are both awful at this game! Not once did we get up on the board and the people in the hot seat weren’t too impressive either. But we had fun anyway. We walked through One Man’s Dream, which was really interesting and informative. Next was the Great Movie Ride, we had the gangster and it was a blast! By now it was almost 4:30 so we decided to go near our restaurant for dinner, find a bench and relax. The Brown Derby is really cool on the inside. It makes you feel very sophisticated with the curved ceiling, dark woods, and half circle booths. Everything is done in rich tones and screams old Hollywood. There is only one problem; we didn’t care for the food. I got the Lobster bisque, which was just okay, DH got a Caesar salad, which was also just okay, and we split the roasted chicken. The waitress told us we had to order separate entrees but she would go ahead and make an exception for us (good service) The chicken was good but the potatoes were gross. If you like fancy food eat here but don’t bring children and it is not that great of a value. As we walked out of the restaurant it was pouring! “Where did this come from!?!?” The morning was so beautiful I didn’t pack my poncho. We found shelter and waited for the rain to end…….and waited……………..and waitied…………..and waited an hour later it was still pouring cats and dogs. Brian and I ran across Sunset and found a sweet shop connected to a shop buying ponchos. We discussed just leaving instead of waiting to see if they cancelled Fantasmic but I really wanted to stay so we did. We bought 2 ponchos (rookie mistake – AGAIN) and I got a caramel apple, DH got a cookie. And we went and stood in the rain. At 7pm we decided to sit for Fantasmic we had done everything we wanted to do and really just wanted to sit down plus we got seats right up front where no one can sit in front of you. A little while later a little boy about 3 comes up to DH and says, “Can I sit by you?” Of course we said yes and invited his family who was sitting behind us to join us. They were staying at the Poly too but would be leaving Sunday for one of the cruises. The boys were really excited. We had a great conversation with them for over an hour about our wedding and what they had planned for their vacation. Then Fantasmic started – this has got to be one of the greatest shows of all time! It was so cool it gave me goose bumps several times just watching it. The seating for Fantasmic packages is not bad at all, but I wouldn’t wait until the last minute to go and get your seats or you will be farther away. Leaving MGM was great with all the lights going and feeling like you are really in Hollywood. Oh yea, the rain stopped about 30 minutes before Fantasmic. The bus ride home was LOOOOONNNNNGGGGG. Once we got back to the Poly DH and I were both hungry because we really didn’t eat much of our dinner. Brian told me how he wished we had gone to Mama’s and gotten pizza. So we ordered pizza from room service and had a feast in our room. It was great. Lights out and good night!

Food - $106.51
Ponchos - $ 12
Souvenirs - $0

[Tinkerbell22]

September 13, 2002
We woke up at about 9:30 a.m.; the wake-up call came at 8:00a.m. But we ignored Mickey and decided to sleep a little more. Actually I woke up about 9:00a.m. And went outside on the balcony to read, relax, and thank our Lord for the wonderful trip we were having. I was hungry for breakfast so I went down to Kona Café (in my flannel pajama pants and t-shirt [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] ) and got two orders of Tonga Toast with bacon to go. DH devoured it when I brought it back to the room. He loved the Tonga Toast; I think it is good but almost to sweet! But definitely at WDW best. Once we woke up we dressed in a hurry grabbed some granola bars and we were out the door. We decided before we left that we would sacrifice time at Animal Kingdom to go to Sea World, but I really wanted to see the Festival of Lion King so we headed to AK to see that. It looked like a beautiful day outside! We hopped on the bus and we were off! Once we walked in AK I was sorry we decided to sacrifice the time to spend there. The whole park makes you think you are in the jungle. As we were walking through the Oasis I couldn’t stop looking all around me and that is when we ran into “the kid” There was a small bridge you had to walk across that if you shook hard enough the bridge would sway. Well I walked onto the bridge and there was a kid probably 11 or 12 (old enough to know better) Anyway, he watched me walk on and then he swayed the bridge so hard that I crashed into the right side of it and almost dropped my purse into the small pond. [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] I threw this kid the look of death and my DH looked like he wanted to deck to this kid. What was worse is that his parents were behind us and didn’t say anything! Nothing! No apology to us and didn’t bother to say anything to their kid. Whatta brat! I digress, as we walked up the way to the Tree of Life one of the picture people spotted us. Right away she noticed the Bride and Groom pins and she insisted she take our picture. She did a “portrait” and a fun one and the whole time she was giving us marriage advice. She has been married 35 years so we paid attention and she seemed so full of life that the bratty kid was forgotten. Too bad when we went to pick up the picture that DF and I didn’t like them enough to spend $12 on them. L We took a couple pictures of the Tree of Life plus had a nice man take some pictures of us (I love watching people look at our digital camera). As we turned right to go to the Festival there he was…………….Stitch and Lilo! I had to have a picture with them! As we waited in a short line there was a Mom with her 18 mo. Old in the stroller trying to get organized. Things kept dropping from her bag or her arms were full so DH and I were helping her out. Then she told me that her daughter absolutely loves stitch and she didn’t know where her husband was and he had the camera. When they were the next to go I got her email address and told her I would take the pictures and then email them to her. She was so grateful. And they turned out really cute. Next was our turn and I literally ran up to Stitch. He embraced me in the tightest hug ever! I just gushed over him and Lilo and the picture that the CM took for us turned out great!

On the Lion King which was AWESOME! I have to see the Broadway show now. We sat in the Elephant section and had a ball. After it was over I didn’t want to leave AK but I also wanted to see the parade at MK. We decided since it was only 12:45 to take the bus over to Wilderness Lodge so I could check it out for our next trip and then the boat over to MK.

The lodge is beautiful! And if we can work out the finances we will definitely being staying their next year. I can only imagine what it looks like with Christmas decorations on it. Of course DH will be disappointed since it has no monorail! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

When we got to MK we decided to go on the Jungle Cruise, cute with lots of bad jokes but we had a good time. We grabbed another Dole Whip and decided to stake our claim on the street. Now I had heard that this parade was short but I didn’t think it would be that short! To be honest, I was really disappointed and wished we had stayed at the Animal Kingdom instead of coming back and waiting for the parade. Although we got some great pictures of the floats, characters, and castle. We decided to head back to the resort and take a nap. We were really tired for some reason this day; I think it is because it was nearing the end of our trip. We ate lunch at the food court and napped for about and hour or so. After that we woke up, took showers and go dressed for Cirque Du Soleil! We got to Downtown Disney about 6:30pm and the show wasn’t until 9pm so we finished up some souvenir shopping and soaked up atmosphere. Then we passed the Pearl Factory. This is where they have all sorts of jewelry with pearls and stuff. We just stopped to look and then DH bought me a ring for my birthday (I turned 23 the follow Wednesday) it is so cool and my 2nd favorite souvenir. He got me a blue pearl in a simple yellow gold setting and whenever I look at it I remember Cirque and our romantic honeymoon. On to the show! We had eaten a late lunch (around 3:30) and skipped dinner so we got popcorn and soda for Cirque. We had great seats! Sec 203, row BB and the show was Amazing! There is just no other word to describe it. DH said it was the best part of the whole trip. After the show we had to get the CD so we headed down to the store. I was starving so we stopped into McDonalds and got Double Cheeseburgers. I think my body was craving the fatty greasy food from home because this burger was the best burger I have ever tasted! LOL! We got back to the hotel around midnight and were fast asleep by 12:10a.m.

Souvenirs - $37.29
Food - $49.65
Birthday gift – I wasn’t allowed to know [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

September 14, 2002
Slept in again today but that was okay since we were headed to Epcot! On Wednesday and Thursday I never bothered to fix my hair since it rained. But today I wanted to be in the pictures around World Showcase so I spent extra time drying and curling my hair. We get to EPCOT walk towards the fountain and the water starts to spray right in our direction (hard winds today) and my hair got soaked I was so bummed because as soon as my hair gets wet it starts to curl and frizz! DH could tell I was bummed so he ushered me into the bakery and we ordered breakfast. Good breakfast, still bummed about my hair. But it never did curl and frizz on me and stayed pretty straight! We headed over to Test Track, that is a fun ride! And Whoo hooo does it go fast! Ya know, 60mph doesn’t seem that fast when I’m on the highway enclosed in the car. Next was Ellen’s Universe of Energy. I love Ellen so I really enjoyed the preshow. The show itself is a little long winded and DH said he got bored; me I got motion sickness and had to keep my eyes closed through the last half. We walked over to World Showcase and headed to Mexico. The San Angel Inn wins hands down for atmosphere but looking over the menu left much to be desired so we decided to not have lunch there. Although we did ride the ride and watched the glassmaker work their magic. We instead went to the San Angel Café (I think) and ordered there. Okay Mexican food but I’ve had better. We took our time on that half of the World and when we got back to America we rode the boat back to Mexico and headed back to the resort (I love how quickly the Monorail gets you to and from Epcot)

After our naps we were going to head back to EPCOT. We stopped by the Contemporary first because I had forgotten a couple of souvenirs. By the way all the CM’s that checked us out asked us what pins we were purchasing. DH and I are not pin collectors and they all looked at us like we were from another planet. DH collects from the Walt Disney Classic Collection and that is expensive enough, thank You. WE hopped on the monorail to the TTC and when we got off DH points at the sky. It is pitched black! And you can hear the Thunder and see the lighting. I know the Tapestry of Dreams parade is going to be cancelled and that was our only reason for going back to EPCOT because we had missed it every other time. I was so disappointed! DH said, out of everything what would you like to do? So we headed to Ohana’s. I really wanted to eat at this restaurant but couldn’t fit it in with any of our time frames. We got there at 5:30pm with no PS and were seated right by a window with a fantastic view of the castle. As soon as we sat down in started to pour like cats and dogs outside. You could hardly see. We ordered Lapu Lapus which come in the pineapple and boy are those good and strong [img]graemlins/achoo.gif[/img] ! 2 or more of those and one could easily become intoxicated! The dinner was great! DH and I really liked the turkey and beef. The shrimp is huge! But was a little too spicy for me but definitely the biggest shrimp I have seen. After about an hour of pouring it became just raining so the view wasn’t completely wasted and DH and I were glad we decided not to go to EPCOT. After dinner we headed to our room to start packing. At 8pm we headed out to the beach to secure the swing for the fireworks. This would be the only night MK would have fireworks. It sprinkled the entire time we waited but I was glad we got out there early because a lot of people walked towards the swing until they saw people in them. We fed the ducks and talked about various parts of our trip. We sipped soda from our mugs and just chilled. The water pageant was great again! And the fireworks were very cool! By then we were freezing from being rained on for over an hour so we filled our mugs with Hot Chocolate and headed to the room. We finished packing and then lay in bed talking until midnight.

Souvenirs: $63.71
Food: $108.07

[Tinkerbell22]

September 15, 2002
Time to go home! We woke up at 9am to start finishing up packing, showering, and getting ready. We got to the front of the Poly at 10:15a.m. We had express checkout but I wanted to find out when my card would be taken off our hotel passes in case something should happen to them. I casually mentioned we didn’t get the flower necklaces when we checked is so the CM got us, some which are now hanging in my bedroom. We were waiting for our pick-up from Happy Limo at 10:30a.m. We were scheduled for 10:45a.m. Pick-up. At 10:55a.m. I got concerned. One of the CM’s told me that Happy Limo had been here earlier about 10am to pick up the Thebeau’s. AUGH! I even called and confirmed the day before our pickup would be at 10:45! So phone calls were made and the driver was on his way. He got there about 11:10a.m. and apologized for being late. I was aggravated but got over it since we had the most delightful conversation with our driver. He is from Pakistan and we have a friend from Iran so we were having a conversation about the differences in culture. We got to the airport at 11:45 and our plane boarded at 12:20pm. The line to get roadside check in was so unorganized and ridiculous. It took us 15 minutes to get someone’s attention to check us in. Once we got inside the line through security took 20 minutes and seemed really unorganized as well. I didn’t feel like the security check was as good because of this, we got to the terminal just when they started boarding. MCO needs to get more organized in the present time. The flight home was uneventful and by 3:30pm we were in our apartment starting laundry. We had a great trip!

Hindsight is 20/20
I learned a lot on this trip! One being that you can’t over plan for a trip to Disney, but you also need to learn to let the plan go and do the spontaneous.

1) Buy ponchos ahead of time and take them with you everyday to the parks even if there isn’t a cloud in the sky. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
2) The food in Disney is addicting and no matter how much walking you do, you will probably gain weight! LOL! This may not be true for everyone but I gained 5 pounds on our trip!
3) Have a Dole Whip [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]
4) Hug as many characters as you can. And even if you don’t have kids get an autograph book!
5) Digital cameras are great because if the picture doesn’t look good you can delete it and not have to waste money getting it developed.

Best Parts of the Trip:
1) Dinner at CA Grill. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] The sunset was beautiful and the CM’s there are out of this world. DH and I are not fancy eaters and they were great at explaining the menu without making us feel like complete idiots. Order champagne with your dinner and if you bring kids, if you can leave them at the resort and enjoy this place with your special someone. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] Even if you can’t see fireworks you should eat here. DH and I are still talking about this. And try the sushi!
2) Watching the Water Parade from the beach at the Polynesian
3) The Polynesian, by the far the best resort to honeymoon at.
4) Tower of Terror – watching DH’s feet fly in the air! LOL!
5) Fantasmic and Illuminations are must sees
6) Holding Hands, in WDW my DH always took my hand!
7) Petting the dolphins at Sea World, it is so amazing to be that close to something so beautiful
8) Cirque Du Soleil is a great show! Even kids will like it! Buy the CD
9) Ohana’s is a great place for dinner! Love the staff, love the view, love the food, and LOVE the drink! Order the Lapu lapu
10) Walking through Magic Kingdom without worrying about fitting all the rides in and just enjoying seeing everything.

Planning for the Next Trip, Must Do’s
1) Tapestry of Dreams Parade
2) Animal Kingdom
3) Learn to speak Spanish.

~Amanda [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img]
Next Trip in the works for DEC 2003!

[Shell_of_the_South]

I so enjoyed your trip report! Sounds like you guys really enjoyed the Poly! That was so nice of you to email that lady her picture with Stitch!

[Irenaroo]

Amanda and Brian, Congratulations! I loved reading about your wedding and your first trip to WDW. I'm so glad everything worked out. It sounds as if you had a beautiful wedding. My best to you. Thanks for all the fun details of your trip! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[disnyfan]

Amanda,
Congratulations of your nuptials and honeymoon at WDW> I enjoyed hearing about your wedding plans and trip. Wishes for a long life and happy marriage! [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]

[Debo2]

Thanks so much for sharing your wedding and honeymoon. Ipray you're blessed with many years of peace, harmony and love. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

[joyjoy]

This was some kinda fun report! Thanks for all your hard work and congrats and best wishes for your happy new life. [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[TiggGrrrl]

Wonderful report! Thanks for sharing your special time with us [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Wishing you and DH a long, happy life together [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]