Land & Sea Honeymoon w/ a Reluctant DH (06/17-06/24) **Updated 7/30** - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Pt. 2 UPDATE : Land & Sea Honeymoon w/ a Reluctant DH (06/17-06/24)
Part 2 Our Honeymoon Begins
Packing
Ok, so by the time we left the hotel (post wedding), visited our parents and finished running around it was like 9pm and were leaving the house at 4:00am to catch our flight at 7:00 am. And we still needed to finish packing. I knew I should have had everything done before, but the wedding stressed me out so much I had to place the packing on the backburner. Big mistake, I so should have been ready and packed at least a couple of days before …Lesson learned.
That night I would say that we were 75% finished. I had made 3 different parts to our packing list- what I need, what Lou needs and what we both use/share.
Before we left I gave Lou his part of the list and had him go down one by one what he needed….T-Shirts 7, Swim trunks 2, Black sandals, white gym shoes, Underwear… If I had left packing up to him I have no idea what he would have thrown in thereJ
We signed up for Magical Express so this influenced how much we packed. I kept hearing over and over that you only touch your bags twice using magical express ( going to the airport and coming home from the airport.) So I decided that its ok, if we pack a lot since we wont have to lug it around by ourselves. We took 2 large suitcases and 2 small ones. All of our clothes were in the 2 large cases. We separated our clothing so that half of his were in one and half of mine where in the other. That way if by chance one of our luggage is lost we would still have half of our clothes. (Great Passporter Tip) one smaller suitcase was filled with just bottled water. The other was filled with combined stuff like snacks, rain ponchos, ice packs (for the hot days in the park)…
I ended up packing everything around 1am. and left Lou to deal with his list. He still had to take a shower and run around. Next thing I know, I knock out on the couch for about 2 hours. When I wake up at 3:30, Lou is still up. He didn’t get to sleep at all.
We are off to DW!!!
My dad picked us up and took us to O’Hare (Chicago) airport. We ended up leaving the house at 4:20 instead of 4:00, and we got to the airport by 5:00. There were actually quite a few people there already. After we checked in and went through security we stopped to have a bite to eat at McDonalds and got ready to board the plane. On the ride there, Lou tried to take a little cat nap, but he didn’t fall asleep. With all the adrenaline I was wide awake. That was of course until we boarded the plane. As soon as the airplane started to move towards the runway I knocked out. I don’t even remember taking off! Next thing I know I wake up and Lous’ asleep next to me and we have like 25min. left on our flight.
Magical Express
Once we got off the plane, we made our way to the Magical Express desk at the airport. 1..2..3 they checked our ticketed info and sent us down to the Red Carpet. Really..there was a small red carpet laid out leading to the boarding lines. The person at the stand asked were our hotel as and directed us to a line that serviced the Grand Floridian and Polynesian. I noticed as other people were lining up our line had the fewest children.
Once we boarded the bus, Lou and I sat right under one of the T.V screens. As we were on our way the driver played a great video that includes a brief synopsis of what DW has to offer. This movie was a great way to get everyone excited! What was great about Magical Express is that we drove by lots of Disney hotels that I had only read about. From a distance I either saw (or saw signs leading to) The Swan, the Dolphin, Shades of Green, the golf course, the water parks…it was pretty cool to see what you’ve been reading about for so long.
Grand Floridian Check-IN / Cruise Documents / The Room!
The ME bus left us off right in front of the GF. This was what I was waiting for. The Lobby was more beautiful than any picture I’ve seen. We headed over to the check-in desk on the right and gave them our names. They checked us in and gave us both “Just Married” buttons with a picture of Cinderella and Prince Charming on them and our key to the world cards.
I had asked them if it was possible to get a Magic Kingdom / Lagoon view, (I asked back home via the call center and it was placed in the system) They said that they did not have one available for us but they were going to give us a Marina view in Conch Key. I was so happy with being in DW and staying at the GF, I was like… “ok, sounds great!” I knew there was a chance that we may or may not get that view, so I didn’t have my hopes up at all. I was just happy to be there! It was about noon by the time we got to the hotel and we knew the rooms wouldn’t be ready until 3:00pm. As it turned out the CM said that everything is ready and we could head over there now. Yippie!
But before we went to the room, we stopped at the Disney Cruise Line Hospitality Desk in the front of the Lobby. It was here that the CM walked us through all of our cruise documents needed for boarding. We also signed up for athe Onboard Airline Check-in.
You can participate if you:
Have a flight that leaves after 11:25pm on debarkation day
Have a LIMIT of 2 bags per person, each weighing less than 50lbs
purchased you air OR ground (ME) transfers through DCL
Are departing from Orlando International Airport the same day your cruise ends
Traveling domestically (including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
If you fly using one of these participating carriers: AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines/Ted
The night before we leave Disney would pick up the luggage and check them into the airport for us. Our boarding passes would also be delivered to our state room. This service was free and all we had to do was fill out a form detailing how many bags we had each, who was participating and our flight info. (at the cruise desk I overheard one family make a mistake on this form, apparently they only put one person down, the father. He was the only one registered. Instead of placing himself, wife and 3 kids down as individuals on the same form he just put his name believing that because the reservations for everything were under his name he was the only name needed on the form-not so!)
They also had a new departure plan if you would like to visit the AK, before you leave DWfor the cruise. Disney would pick you and your family up from the AK entrance so that you would have a ½ a day in the parks. You need to make a reservation for this. They also offer a character breakfast option at the AK too before the cruise departure.
Before we left the cruise desk, I remembered reading that refrigerators and microwaves are available for free at the deluxe hotels. I asked Lou to go to the main ask and request one each. He came back grinning from ear to ear. Apparently, the CM told him that refrigerators are free but there is a fee for the microwave. Another CM overheard the discussion and came over. She said, “What? Don’t you see his button, he is a newlywed. He needs all of his money for flowers and gifts for his new wife…I think he should get it for free.” Which we did. Example no.1 for how the buttons work!
We left the main building and walked through the courtyard. Talk about beautiful. Lou was really impressed with how beautiful the courtyard was and all of the hotel’s buildings. The Main pool in the courtyard was open 24hrs and right in the center of the buildings.
Our Room was in Conch Key located right next to Narcoossee’s and the Boat Launch. Our room was lovely! It has a King sized bed and a private balcony. The balcony had a great view of the Marina which is part of the Lagoon. In the Marina you could see the boats that were available for rent. In the background you could see the monorail heading towards the MK.
MK Here We Come
Because we were running on little to no sleep I struck a deal with Lou. We would go straight to the MK for lunch, come back for a nap and because of the EMH would return to the MK at night.
We caught the monorail at the main building and headed off to the MK entrance. It took us less than 5min. from door to door. Talk about speedy transport! The first ride we did was Pirates of the Caribbean. I wanted to make sure that Lou would be interested in the MK right off the bat. Seeing that he liked the movies, I knew this was a safe bet (Plus the lines were short) After the ride we grabbed a fastpass for the Jungle Cruise and went to have lunch at Peco’s Bills. He loved the fixing’s bar there!
Our guide for the Jungle Cruise was hilarious, we laughed at all of his corny jokes. He was great, I can’t believe that others didn’t get into him? I guess we’re just weird like that. It was here at the MK where Lou learned what the Fastpass was, and boy did we have it down to a science by the time we left DW! Best tip ever..take advantage of the Fastpasses!! That’s why they’re there. There was plenty to do and see in-between the 12 hour window.
(We were lucky- the parks that week were pretty slow, we didn’t wait more that 20-min w/o a fastpass for rides- that was until we reached the AK on day 4 talk about depressing…well back to the MK)
We spent the rest of the afternoon there working our way back and forth between Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square. We then went back to the hotel and took a nap. What was awesome was that when we got back to the hotel, waiting for us was a bottle of Champagne, a rose and an autographed pic. of Mickey and Minnie wishing us a happy honeymoon! I was so excited!
We ended up going back to the MK around 8pm or so. We hit Tomorrowland as soon as we got there. The first ride I knew we had to hit was Space Mountain! Well, when we got there the fastpasses were all gone for the day and I think there was a 40min standby line. Lou and I discussed standing in line, I kept telling him that for Disney, 40min is good, try waiting 2-3hrs in line for a ride! Just as we were deciding whether or not to wait or go eat a random guest came up to us and offered his fastpasses. Awesome! We got in the ride in less than 10min-if that!! I guess 2 people in his party didn’t want to go on so they gave us their fastpasses to use right there and then!
After Space Mountain we went to other attractions like the Monster’s Inc. Laugh floor. Lou and I liked this. In the beginning of the show, cameras zoom in on people in the audience and project their images on to large movie screens. Under each picture is a caption like, “this kid doesn’t know that his parents are monsters..” They showed a picture of me and underneath it said, “She’s kissed a monster before…” I was caught off guard so I started laughing and pointed to Lou…..then they paned over to him and Lou was cracking up. That was hilarious!
After some attractions we stopped to see the fireworks Wishes.After that we started to look for someplace to eat and settled on Casey's Corner on Main Street. We couldn’t find anything open and the parade had started so we decided to stay close. We had the huge hot dog on the menu and another plus, they had a fixin bar too w/ onions and sauerkraut!We watched the parade go by as we ate which was nice. Normally, I don’t think Lou would have just wanted to watch the parade. Twards the end of the parade, we couldn’t get to Fantasylandthrough the castle, we had to wait until the parade was over.
Lou is not much for parades, as we were watching I saw that he started text messageing a friend back home. I was like, Hello! You are missing DW! He text a friend of ours saying that he has never seen me this energetic on like 4 hours of sleep. We worked our way to Fantasyland last. I knew that his section wouldn’t interest Lou that much so I saved it for the end. After a quick run through Splash Mountain at about 1:30am we called it a night. It was time to finally get some sleep.
Part 3, EPCOT Lou as we enter world showcase, “I’m starving…is there anywhere we can eat?” Hello??!
Sorry these are so long; I love all the little details. And this is a great way to relive my trip over and over.
Last edited by Disneydiana; 12-30-2008 at 10:15 AM..
What an adventure and it is only day 1. Thanks for all of the detail, i felt like i was on the DE with you. I have decided that i want a just married badge. My husband and I were married 3 years ago but we never actually went on a honeymoon. I always wanted it to be ad WDW but it has taken this long for it to actually happen. Do you think that we would able to say it is our honeymoon even though we actually got married 3 years ago?????
Great update and they are NOT too long! I am enjoying reading about your adventure!! Sounds like you are having a magical time! the surprise waiting in your room!! Hurry back with more
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Pixie Dust
and all the little extras you got 
Glad you had a great time at MK! Can't wait for more 
Alice in Downunderland
Sounds like you are having a magical time! 
the surprise waiting in your room!! Hurry back with more
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