16 Days of Disney! A Wedding and Disneymoon Trip Report!

Introduction

Welcome to my Disney World Wedding and Disneymoon trip report! For the full pre-trip report, click here.

I’ve decided to start by introducing…

The Full Cast

First (copypasta!) there’s me:

24 year old, prior-Air Force, college student with a possibly unhealthy love for Disney and Disney World in particular. This makes my fourth trip to Disney World since my very first trip in 2009.


Coda:

27 year old merchant marine. This is his second trip to Disney World.


Coda’s twin (yep, twin, honestly) brother, Levi, and his girlfriend, Carolyn:

Levi's first (and only) trip was in 2010, and Carolyn hasn't been since she was a kid.


My mom, dad, and my brother, Michael:

This is everyone's first trip!


Coda’s mom and sister, SuHana:
Apparently we have absolutely no pictures of Coda's mom... So this is Coda and SuHana.

Also their first trip.


Our friend, Reuben and his son, Cy:

Yep, their first trip too!


Wow! Can I just say that I will never bring this many people to Disney World (or anywhere else, for that matter) EVER again! Levi and Carolyn joined us from December 15th – 22nd, and they were great! Reuben and Cy were there from the 16th – 22nd, but man, they were a handful. My family and Coda’s mom and sister arrived on the 20th and left on the 22nd and that was complete madness. I promise, we’ll get to that.


The Plan

This trip was supposed to be completely stress free! Key word here is “supposed”. Shockingly, it was not.

We ended up arriving a day early on the 14th. The first few days were mainly for Coda to spend time with his brother and friend Reuben. Coda’s brother, Levi, lives in Alaska (for those of you who are geographically challenged, that is many miles from North Carolina), and they hadn’t seen each other in over a year. The 20th through the 22nd were days to spend with family and, most importantly, get married. Finally, the 23rd through the 29th was our honeymoon. Again, supposed to be stress- and drama-free…

Oh, there was also much consumption of Disney food planned.

Next up: How things actually played out.

 

[tiaragirl]

UM YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOUR PICTURES ARE GORGEOUS!

So happy you didn't let *anyone* ruin your day!
I wish I could see allllll your pictures, sigh!

 

[ShookieJones]

Great job on the TR.
Sorry for the drama
Congrats on everything else!

 

[cfry06]

Beautiful pictures!! I adore your Epcot photo shoot. Makes me want to go back to my wedding day and do it all over again - but in WDW! Well I guess that's what vow renewals are for!!

Many congrats! Looking forward to the rest of the report!

 

[plaz10]

I'm finally caught up!

A few things..

#1 - Congrats! You looked absolutely gorgeous on your wedding day! Loved it.

#2 - I also have less than stellar in laws (well soon to be in laws) - we should exchange horror stories sometime!

#3 - I adore your EPCOT tattoo. It's the same one I want! Except I think I want mine on my foot. We'll see..

#4 - Speaking of EPCOT - your photoshoot...were you not allowed in Future World? I'm not getting married in Disney but I am always curious about this.

Can't wait to read more! Congrats again!

 

[DisneyAubs]

You guys looked amazing. The pics in Epcot are absolutely breathtaking!!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

You were a beautiful bride!!!!!! i am also using Beaute Special for my wedding day. I noticed you had someone do your hair the next day too...We are in line to do bridal potraits at MK and DHS the day after (Im not using Disney photog on the day of so I have to wait until 45 days before) and really didn't want to spend the money to have my hair done again the next day....do you think it was worth it to have them a second time???

And I LOVE your EPCOT tattoo! I think its awesome!

I'm bummed to hear you couldn't have your wedding outside at Sea Breeze Point (I hope hope our wedding doesn't have to be moved because its my favorite spot) but at least it was still beautiful indoors!!! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the honeymoon!!!!!

 

[Pooh Lover]

Thank you so much for posting all these beautiful pictures! So amazing....like being there without all the drama...LOL! Everyone looked fabulous. Those EPCOT photos are awesome...LOVE.

Not being a stranger to a drama filled family myself, I admire your patience and ability to not only hold your tongue but put it all aside and focus on the important things...you and your husband and YOUR wedding. Congratulations on so many different levels! I wish you nothing but smooth sailing and drama-free WDW vacations in the future (i.e. bring NO ONE on your WDW vacations.) Some things aren't meant to be shared!

 

[flynnibus]

Could you share (just order of magnitude) what the cost for the EPCOT photo shoot was.. and how long it ran for?

Thanks!

 

[GoalieGirl16]

Could you share (just order of magnitude) what the cost for the EPCOT photo shoot was.. and how long it ran for?

Thanks!

According to the PDF I got from Weddings last week an epcot photoshoot is 850 dollars. Family portrait sessions are MUCH cheaper. I believe they are 350.

 

[rufio]

Have been enjoying your TR a lot! What gorgeous photos!! Too bad those are only for weddings on property. I would have LOVED to do a shoot like that!

Thank you!!! Yeah, it sucks that it's only for on-site weddings, but it was a LOT of fun!

Wow, wow and more wow! Those Disney photographers know how to get perfect shots. Y'all looked great! I couldn't tell you were cold at all.

Thank you! I completely agree, they know how to get great shots! I generally look pretty awkward in pictures.

Your wedding pictures are beautiful. I loved your wedding dress. And the pictures in Epcot are absolutely stunning!

Thank you so much!

Beautiful dress! You are making me reconsider an Epcot portrait session. (That sound you hear is the costs of my Escape Wedding climbing!) who was your planner?

My planner was Kristin Kimberlin and I definitely recommend the Epcot shoot! It's totally worth it!

UM YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOUR PICTURES ARE GORGEOUS!

So happy you didn't let *anyone* ruin your day!
I wish I could see allllll your pictures, sigh!

Thank you!

Great job on the TR.
Sorry for the drama
Congrats on everything else!

Haha! Thanks!

Beautiful pictures!! I adore your Epcot photo shoot. Makes me want to go back to my wedding day and do it all over again - but in WDW! Well I guess that's what vow renewals are for!!

Many congrats! Looking forward to the rest of the report!

Thank you! You should definitely renew your vows at WDW!

I'm finally caught up!

A few things..

#1 - Congrats! You looked absolutely gorgeous on your wedding day! Loved it.

#2 - I also have less than stellar in laws (well soon to be in laws) - we should exchange horror stories sometime!

#3 - I adore your EPCOT tattoo. It's the same one I want! Except I think I want mine on my foot. We'll see..

#4 - Speaking of EPCOT - your photoshoot...were you not allowed in Future World? I'm not getting married in Disney but I am always curious about this.

Can't wait to read more! Congrats again!

#1 - Thank you!

#2 - I would LOVE to exchange horror stories with you! It helps to know I'm not alone!

#3 - Do i!

#4 - No, the shoot is in WS only. FW opens earlier to guests, while WS doesn't open til 11.

You guys looked amazing. The pics in Epcot are absolutely breathtaking!!!

Thank you!

You were a beautiful bride!!!!!! i am also using Beaute Special for my wedding day. I noticed you had someone do your hair the next day too...We are in line to do bridal potraits at MK and DHS the day after (Im not using Disney photog on the day of so I have to wait until 45 days before) and really didn't want to spend the money to have my hair done again the next day....do you think it was worth it to have them a second time???

And I LOVE your EPCOT tattoo! I think its awesome!

I'm bummed to hear you couldn't have your wedding outside at Sea Breeze Point (I hope hope our wedding doesn't have to be moved because its my favorite spot) but at least it was still beautiful indoors!!! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the honeymoon!!!!!

Beaute Speciale is amazing! Just make sure you bring cash! Yes, I think it was totally worth having my hair done a second time! My hair from the wedding day was ruined and I am really style-deficient, so I would have looked ridiculous if I hadn't had them done again. I felt like if I was spending that much on a photo shoot, I was definitely going to splurge to have my hair and makeup done. We were okay with moving the wedding indoors. Looking back on it, I liked the intimacy and not being watched by dozens of strangers.

Thank you so much for posting all these beautiful pictures! So amazing....like being there without all the drama...LOL! Everyone looked fabulous. Those EPCOT photos are awesome...LOVE.

Not being a stranger to a drama filled family myself, I admire your patience and ability to not only hold your tongue but put it all aside and focus on the important things...you and your husband and YOUR wedding. Congratulations on so many different levels! I wish you nothing but smooth sailing and drama-free WDW vacations in the future (i.e. bring NO ONE on your WDW vacations.) Some things aren't meant to be shared!

Haha! Thank you, it was quite a task to be friendly! The only people coming with me on future vacations are my mom and brother, and those will be with just the three of us.

Could you share (just order of magnitude) what the cost for the EPCOT photo shoot was.. and how long it ran for?

Thanks!

Sure, the Epcot photo shoot costs $850 and lasted about an hour and a half, though I feel like it would have lasted longer if we weren't freezing and trying to hurry. Also keep in mind that you have to pay for any additional photos which can be quite expensive. The DVD with all of your pictures costs $725 and can only print up to an 8x10.

According to the PDF I got from Weddings last week an epcot photoshoot is 850 dollars. Family portrait sessions are MUCH cheaper. I believe they are 350.

Yep, this is correct.

 

[rufio]

Day Nine – Part Two

Our big plan for the day was switching hotels. We couldn’t check in to our new room until 4pm, so we had to fill the day with other things. Our post-wedding brunch was at 10:30am at the Contempo Café and my parents arrived at our room at 10:15 to help us move our stuff to our car. We were getting tired of paying bellmen. With all of our things packed and loaded, we headed over to meet the rest of the group.

The rest of the group turned out to be Levi and Carolyn. Rueben and Cy had headed back to North Carolina already, while Brenda and Hana decided not to come. I was devastated, of course. Because we were checking out today, we asked the cashier how many credits we had left. It turned out that we had several snacks left AND two refillable mugs. We hadn’t realized that we got new ones every time we checked into a room! So we let my mom and brother pick two mugs out and keep them as souvenirs. We had a really fun breakfast together, but then Levi and Carolyn had to get going. Their plane was leaving today and they wanted to spend a couple hours at the Magic Kingdom before they had to leave. My mom, dad, and brother had a few hours before they had to go, so we decided to take them to Downtown Disney for a couple hours.

We got there around 12:30 and Coda and my dad dropped my mom and I off at an entrance. They both had quite a time locating parking spaces, but eventually they came in and found us at World of Disney. My mom loved this store! I got her a picture frame to put one of our photopass pictures in, and I helped my brother get a pair of pajama pants (I have never owned a pair of $40 PJ pants in my life!). While we were waiting at the checkout, we met a famous dog in a stroller. She even had business cards. Apparently she’s a model, actress, and humanitarian… You go figure that one out!

Next we went to Disney’s Days of Christmas. My mom has been considering stealing my ornaments for years, so she wanted one of her own. After much deliberation, she got a red ornament with some gold and silver decoration. She wanted to get it personalized, but couldn’t wait, so we chose to have it delivered to our hotel to bring back with us.

Since my dad is a junk food junkie like me (and we had snacks to use), I took him and my brother to Goofy’s Candy Company while Coda showed my mom the Art of Disney. We watched them make chocolate covered pineapple and then my dad got one of those and my brother got a big chunk of fudge. I settled on a vanilla cake pop. I love those things! When my mom got done at the art store, she joined us and I took her inside where she got a chocolate covered pretzel. But then they had to leave.

We walked them down past the Lego store (which my mom had to get a zillion pictures of) and then they headed back to their car. Coda and I decided to go check out the inside of Splitsville! It was really neat on the inside! There are a few bowling lanes clustered together in random places throughout the building, which made it feel a lot more intimate. The sushi bars were tempting, but we had dinner reservations! Around 3pm, we left DTD to head to our new hotel…

Kidani Village!

We checked in and were sent in the direction of our room. WOW, what a walk! We were nearly to the end of the hall in the Pumba section! It took us at least 10 minutes to walk to our room (or at least it seemed that way). Finally, we got there and looked around. The room was SO much bigger than our room at Bay Lake Tower!

Sorry for the excessive brightness, it was really bright out! We were staying in a savannah view room, and this was our first glimpse of outside:

Like I said, bright! These guys came by to visit shortly after our arrival.

It was amazing!!! The guys with the horns stayed outside our door for pretty much the entire stay. They were basically joined at the hip.

Around 6:50 we headed back out for dinner. Without thinking, I had made dinner reservations at Narcoossee’s, so we would be going to the Grand Floridian twice in a row, but this time from Animal Kingdom Lodge. Thank goodness for our own car! We got to GF and made the trek to Narcoossee’s.

We were seated fairly quickly and our waitress offered us a glass of champagne on Mickey for our honeymoon! Too bad I’m allergic to yeast and can’t really drink champagne. So I ordered this beauty instead:

This was the view from where we were seated!

We could see everything that went on at the castle. While we were sitting there, there was a really loud crash! Since we were seated next to the bar, we could see everything that was going on. A server dropped an entire case of glasses! Suddenly there were other servers, bartenders, and managers all over the place! Eventually they got it cleaned up and everything settled back down. Poor guy…

For dinner, I ordered the filet mignon and Coda got the two pound lobster.

The steak was amazing! And Coda said his lobster was superb as well, though I didn’t try any (I find seafood repulsive).

For dessert, I had the coconut chocolate crème brulee, and Coda had the baked mousse, which was off limits for me due to yeast content.

Dessert was amazing also! I can never get enough of Disney dining! We saw part of the new show on the castle, but no fireworks. Oh well, we would see them soon! After tipping our wonderful waitress, we headed back to the Grand Floridian main building. I had to get my gingerbread shingle! And Coda was on a mission to get the s’mores cupcake I’d told him about! With both in hand, we headed back to our hotel around 9.

And then I went on a mission to remove all of the bobby pins from my hair a second time! I had decided to leave my hair up all day since I really didn’t have time to wash it. So I had been roaming around all day long with a tiara in my hair. I got some strange looks, but it’s okay! A hundred bobby pins later, we finally got some much-needed sleep!

Up next: Epcot and more food!

 

[LindsayLoves]

Love the report so far, I have been following along with all the drama - yuck! I am getting married in less than a month and it stresses me out to read how selfish and rude Coda's family were being to you. People just need to put their egos and issues away sometimes... Hopefully the tail end of your trip goes much more smoothly than the first part.

You guys sure did a lot of hotel hopping so far, was that by choice? I am more of a plop myself in one place for a week kind of gal (which is why I like cruising, you only unpack once and go to a couple of different places).

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Darn! They didn't join you for brunch?! That's a shocker. It's not my place to ask, but I will. Did they at least say goodbye?

Fantastic view of the Castle at N's. Excited to hear more about AKL-KV.

 

[rufio]

Love the report so far, I have been following along with all the drama - yuck! I am getting married in less than a month and it stresses me out to read how selfish and rude Coda's family were being to you. People just need to put their egos and issues away sometimes... Hopefully the tail end of your trip goes much more smoothly than the first part.

You guys sure did a lot of hotel hopping so far, was that by choice? I am more of a plop myself in one place for a week kind of gal (which is why I like cruising, you only unpack once and go to a couple of different places).

Thank you! And yes, the rest of the trip is much less dramatic. We planned to hotel hop so that we could maximize our points. The first room change was because we wanted a theme park view room. It wasn't really worth it since we never enjoyed the view amongst the craziness! From now on we'll be sticking to one spot.

Darn! They didn't join you for brunch?! That's a shocker. It's not my place to ask, but I will. Did they at least say goodbye?

Fantastic view of the Castle at N's. Excited to hear more about AKL-KV.

No, not besides the time when Coda chased his mom to the parking lot and made her come say bye. She told Coda on the phone that she wasn't going to be at brunch because she had to return her rental car by 9am. My parents offered to give them a ride, but she declined. So Coda asked her to come to our hotel room before we left for our photo shoot and she said she would, but she didn't show up. So no, she never actually said goodbye. She's a lovely lady.

I have a TON more pictures of Kidani!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

She's a lovely lady.

I have a TON more pictures of Kidani!

I try to remember with every less-than-pleasant-encounter with someone that Somebody is giving me this opportunity to remind myself how not to act. But I digress.

Yea!!! Tons of pictures! Yea!!!

 

[6laurac]

a) Congratulations b)you did the right thing in trying to involve all of the families together c)hope that you had a terrific time d)love your shoes-were they royal blue for your something blue?

 

[coachwnh]

Darn! They didn't join you for brunch?! That's a shocker. It's not my place to ask, but I will. Did they at least say goodbye?

Fantastic view of the Castle at N's. Excited to hear more about AKL-KV.

I was wondering the same thing!

 

[Kristia]

Finally caught up! Love the pics of you at BW with the Christmas decorations! Beautiful photos at Epcot too! So sorry you had to deal with rude people and drama. Hopefully you don't have to deal with them too often!

 

[rufio]

a) Congratulations b)you did the right thing in trying to involve all of the families together c)hope that you had a terrific time d)love your shoes-were they royal blue for your something blue?

Thank you! And no, they were a really bright purple (my favorite color)!

I was wondering the same thing!

Haha! Nope, she didn't say goodbye. She's my favorite person ever!

Finally caught up! Love the pics of you at BW with the Christmas decorations! Beautiful photos at Epcot too! So sorry you had to deal with rude people and drama. Hopefully you don't have to deal with them too often!

Thank you! We loved the Christmas decorations! And nope, we don't have to deal with them hardly at all other than on the phone. We live in North Carolina and they live in Washington state!

 

[rufio]

Day Ten

With the stress and madness of our families and the wedding behind us, we were way past due for a relaxation day. Which is why we chose not to set an alarm. We drug out of bed just before noon and saw these guys outside.

We took our sweet time getting ready to leave and didn’t have a clear plan for the day. We knew the crowd level would be through the roof since Christmas was fast approaching, so when we boarded the bus at 1:30, we decided just to take the day as it came.

When we got to Epcot, Coda went through the bag check and I went straight through the “guests without bags” entrance. The security guards, noticing my wedding ears, stopped me and gave me a bunch of crap about leaving my husband already having only been married two days. They were really cute old guys. Once inside we noticed the 45-minute wait for Spaceship Earth and kept on walking.

Though it wasn’t likely, we went to Test Track 2.0 to see if there were any fastpasses left. The ride was completely shut down and the fastpass distributors were covered! So much for that idea. We decided on lunch instead. Since neither of us had been to Sunshine Seasons, that was our location of choice. Inside The Land was a madhouse! Luckily, the wait for food wasn’t bad and there were tables available. I ordered sweet and sour chicken with rice, but I don’t remember what Coda had.

Dessert I remember! I had the carrot cake cupcake (scrumptious!) and Coda had the red velvet whoopie pie.

Yum… Next I knew I had to take Coda to Living with the Land! It was a 25-minute wait, much difference from the walk on I’d experienced only a few days before. As I suspected, he loved it! And as soon as I told him there was a tour, he was sold. We put our names on the list and we sat down to wait for our tour guide. Our guide’s name was Laura and she was amazing! The 45-minute tour turned into an hour and a half!

It was really neat to be on the other side and see all the “secret” things you wouldn’t normally see on the ride. It was also funny watching everyone from the ride stare confusedly at us.

The only part of the tour that really put us both off was the fish and gator-farming portion. The fish were clearly unhappy. Many were missing their tails and they were right on top of each other. She also said the tank was only about 1/3 of the way full. I understand sustainability, but this is bordering on animal cruelty, in my opinion.

The tour ended on a good note, with a Mickey-shaped tree that you can only see from the tour-angle.

Overall, we really enjoyed it and it was definitely worth the few dollars we paid. If you go, ask for Laura!

Next we headed to Club Cool where I convinced Coda to try the Beverly. Unfortunately, he didn’t think it was disgusting. It was not the reaction I was hoping for. Oh well. We went back to Test Track to check on the wait, which was up to 120 minutes. No dice. So we headed to the World Showcase instead.

Mexico was our first stop. We immediately saw the huge Mayan calendar and had to have a picture!

Notice our wedding date? How could we possible pass this up?!

China was our next stop. Coda went to watch some performers, but I was too short to see anything. He wanted to stay and I was sad that he got to stay and watch and I couldn’t because I was too short. So I went moping around to shop, and who did I come across but Mulan? She asked why I looked so sad and when I told her that my husband was watching the show, but I was too short, she immediately jumped up on the rail and started going on about tactical maneuvers. It was hilarious! We got a picture, but I lost the photopass card so I don’t have that one… I went ahead to look around in the shops and Coda called me soon after. When I went back to find him, he was with Mulan!

She was my favorite character from the whole trip! I was sad and mopey and running into a Disney princess is a sure way to turn your frown upside down!

We had dinner reservations in Japan, but we made a quick stop in Germany to pick up some pickle ornaments. My grandmother was from Germany, so I got one for my mom and myself.

We checked in at Tokyo Dining right on time and were seated quickly. This is Coda’s sushi face:

I ordered some kind of mandarin orange martini, which was really yummy! For dinner I got the vegetarian meal, which came with an absurd amount of food, in my opinion, but was amazing!

Coda got a ridiculous number of rolls, but here’s one of them:

Coda LOVES sushi! Our waitress surprised us with cake and an origami flower for our honeymoon! Also delicious!

After dinner we roamed around the World Showcase getting photopass pictures.

This is my favorite:

After a wonderful, relaxing day we headed back to the hotel for more still-needed sleep.

Up next: Hollywood Studios EMH and Fantasia (no, not Fantasmic)!