A Disney Honeymoon (or how to get your husband to buy into the Disney lifestyle)

Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this trip report! My husband and just got back from our Disney World and Disney Cruise Line honeymoon, and to help with my back to reality depression, I've decided to start on this trip report.

I'll give you guys a little bit of background first. Before this trip, I had been to Disney World five times (once as a child, once as a teen, and three times as an adult). And every time I've loved it. Whenever I see Cinderella Castle it's like I'm nine years old again and seeing it for the first time. As an adult, I traveled with my best friend Megan (a fellow Disney World fan) and her son Brett. But our last trip was two years ago! I was seriously having withdraw.

This time I went with my husband, Justin. He has never been to Disney before (I know its hard to imagine). He as tolerated my Disney obsession very well. But of course when we were talking about were we wanted to honeymoon my first thought was "Disney!" Justin resisted, he wanted to do a cruise. So our compromise was to do a Disney Cruise. I've lived - and will probably always live - in Illinois, so if I was already going to Florida, there was no way I was going to miss a trip the Disney World. So after a couple months of constant pestering he caved.

Because I paid for half of the wedding myself, we honestly didn't have the money to go right after the wedding, which was in May. So we used most of the wedding money to pay for the trip and went on our honeymoon from October 4th through the 11th.

As usual, I booked my ADRs and planned the itinerary, which I honestly think is half the fun. I was ready.

But then that stupid thing called reality hits me. And by that I mean a deer...I hit a deer two days before we were to leave. I hit a deer in my BRAND NEW CAR. No one needed a vacation like I did. We drove to St. Louis on Oct 3 - after Justin got off of work - and stayed at the Best Western by the airport. It wasn't the greatest hotel, but we would have spent that much in parking for a week. If we hadn't had stayed the night in St. Louis we would have had to leave around 3 in the morning to make our early flight. They had a shuttle to the airport and parking was included. It was totally worth it.

Some time around 7am, waiting for our flight.
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View from above.
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Waiting for the Magical Express
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We stayed at the All Star Music. I had booked a preferred room and it was well worth the extra money. We were in the Calypso building, right next to the main building.

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We went to Downtown Disney to pick up a couple personalized Christmas ornaments, then headed over to Epcot for some drinking around the world. This was a big highlight in how I convinced Justin to go to Disney in the first place, and I thought that after being up since 430 that morning, it would be a nice, relaxed evening.

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But of course by then we were starving. And when my husband gets hungry, he gets the temperament of a toddler, so we stopped at the first place we saw trying to pacify him. It was the Electric Umbrella.

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Has anyone ever watched the YouTube video with Hitler trying to get an ADR to Le Cellier and can't and he talks about how the Electric Umbrella stinks? If not, please watch it, its freaking hilarious. But getting back to the TR, Hitler was right - the Electric Umbrella is NOT good. We both got bacon cheeseburgers and I was expecting something like Cosmic Rays. I still don't understand how the same food can be so different. Oh well, learned my lesson.

But the best way to get over that lapse in judgement is a fiesta margarita from Mexico!
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Did anyone notice all the clouds in the background of the last picture? Yeah, I started raining, then pouring, and then raining some more....but more on that tomorrow.
 

steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
I forgot to mention this earlier, but while we were waiting for our table at Le Cellier, a guy walks in to talk to the hostess. He said that he had a fast pass for Soarin' at the same time as his reservation - and wanted to know if someone from Le Cellier could go and get him another fast pass when it would be available. Me and this other guy that was waiting nearly lost it. The ended up choosing his Soarin' fast pass over and ADR for Le Cellier.

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After Le Cellier, we went to the Magic Kingdom so I could do some more shopping at the Emporium!

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We didn't ride anything this time at the Magic Kingdom, we were ready for a nice nap. So we heading back to the All Star Music for a swim in the guitar pool and nap.

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That evening, we took a bus to the MK and then a boat to the Polynesian for my favorite restaurant, 'Ohana!

View of the Grand Floridian
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We had some time to kill before our reservation, so we found a table by the pool and relaxed

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steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
Sorry that it's been so long since my last update. Work has been sucking the life out of me!

Anyway, on to 'Ohana!

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I always have to have a Lapu Lapu!
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I got the recipes for 'Ohana's salad dressing and wings from this website and they are really good. And trust me, if I could make them, you could too!

We took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and then a bus to the All Star.

The next morning was very bitter sweet, we were leaving the happiest place on earth, but heading to our cruise! It was probably the first and only time I was excited to leave. They picked up our luggage from our room, they would be waiting for us on the ship.

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Check out of the hotel was at 11 and we had to meet in the lobby for the cruise at 12, so we killed some time in the arcade.
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coleandrachel

Active Member
This is an awesome TR! I have a similar story to this. When my wife and I got married in '08 she suggested honeymooning at WDW because she had been several times and I had never been. I was 21 at the time and I wasn't too thrilled about it because I thought that I was too old for that sort of thing, but I figured what the hey, it's a vacation so I'm in. Well I couldn't have been more wrong! It was hands down the most magical time of my life! We left just minutes after being married and road tripped it down there from TX. I was intrigued by everything and it took me back to being a little boy :) I suppose that's why we are about to go back for the 3rd time in 5 years. This time though we are taking our 3 year old daughter. Christmas, snow, lights, Santa! HOLY COW YOUR TR HAS ME ALL EXCITED NOW! Thanks for the great story and great pics. Congratulations and good luck to you both :)
 

steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
Our first view of the Dream!!
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When you board the ship, they announced our names and they have cast member lined up to applaud for you. It makes you feel like a celebrity! Just another Disney touch to make you special

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steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
By the time we finished roaming around the lobby, the rooms were ready! We were on Deck 6, toward the back of the ship. The lock was something different, instead on inserting your key to the world card in the lock, you just had to swipe it in front of the little black box thing. I know, I know, it doesn't take much to amuse me.
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We did have a larger room than a standard, which included a private verandah

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We went up the deck 11 to eat lunch at Cabanas. It was around 3pm, and since we had only had breakfast that morning at the All Star Music, we were starving. Cabanas is a Finding Nemo beach themed buffet that is open for breakfast and lunch.

Nigel was waiting for us just off the elevator.

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Part of one of the two beautiful mosaics inside Cabanas.
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Yummy!
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First alcoholic drink of the cruise! The first drink, including the souvenir glass, was $10.50, but you could refill it with the drink of the day for only $4.50. I was sold at souvenir glass :)
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steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
After a wonderful lunch, we left Cabanas and explored the pool.

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We had to report to designated areas for the emergency drill. It was basically to show were you needed to report if we had to be evacuated into life boats.

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lovenerds2012

Active Member
I am LOVING this TR! My hubby and I did a similar Disneymoon back in August- we were on the Dream too! Your TR is bringing back all those memories...sniff. And I love the picture of Nigel the Pelican...we walked past him every day to get up to the top decks! SIGH....
Ok time to get off my lazy butt and write my own....
 

sam_disney

Active Member
loving this report... glad you've started to write about the disney dream... sooo want to do this!
really love your I'm your minnie/ i'm your mickey t shirts!

Massive congrats on your wedding x
 

steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
After the safety drill, we headed back to the pool decks for the sail away party!

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About half way throughout the Sail Away party, I looked across the ship and I could see us moving away from Florida! I hadn't even felt the ship move! Once we got back to the room, you could feel the movement a little more, but we had thought that it was because we were toward the back of the ship.

The ship is full of Disney pictures - a lot of them concept art. But we discovered that some the pictures were not pictures at all - but short videos that were activated when you got close to them. They only lasted a few seconds but they were so cool. One was of Bambi, Thumper, and Flower were a butterfly flew across the screen and landed on Bambi's tail. But I thought they were awesome! It was my mission to find as many as I could.
 

steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
We had some time before our dinner (which was at 8:15 - the late option) so we roamed around before heading back to our room to get ready for the Enchanted Garden.

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Goofy golf
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The adult's only pool
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I'm pretty sure this was the cast member's pool
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I highly recommend riding the Aquaduck during the day and at night. As you can see, it has lights that change, it's a totally different ride at night!
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steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
Time for dinner!
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First off I had the baby spinach salad, with spinach leaves, pine nuts, fresh raspberries, crumbled gorgonzola and some kind of vinaigrette dressing. It was delicious!
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Now for the main course: prime rib! Justin got the same thing.
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As I'm sure you have probably heard, on the ships you have the same wait staff every dinner and you sit with the same people every night as well. Now I knew that you had the same waiter - but you actually have 3 waiters! You have a "head server" who just basically goes from table to table making sure you are doing okay. The "server" is your main guy; he gives his recommendations, answers your questions about the menu, takes your order and delivers the food. You also have an "assistant server" who delivers the bread, takes and delivers your drinks and refills them. I'm sure they did a hundred other things, but those are the highlights. And I must brag: we had the best server and assistant server EVER! Major props to Adrian and Whinne! (More to come on their awesomeness)

After dinner we headed back to the pool and rode the Aquaduck! It was a blast! We also spent some quiet time in the adult pool and hot tubs. Oh, and the hot tubs actually hang over the edge of the ship and have a clear bottom so you can see the ocean!

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While you are at dinner, the housekeepers do what is called a "turndown" service in your room. They tidy up and get your bed ready for you to hop in. They also leave you a copy of the next days Navigator, it's like a tv guide for the ship's activities, including which characters, where, and when they will be. Oh, and most importantly, they make you towel animals and leave chocolates! First night's towel animal was a swan.

You also have an option to have breakfast delivered to your room, which is what we decided to do. We ate breakfast on our verandah with a beautiful view.

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disneygirl1

Well-Known Member
Loving your report! Congrats to you and your hubby! One day I will make it on a Disney Cruise, I just have such a hard time having to give up a longer stay in WDW.
 

steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
Our first view of Nassau!
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The only shore excursion we booked for Nassau was snorkeling at 3, so we still had the whole day ahead of us. Justin decided that he wanted to rent a scooter and drive around and explore the island our selves
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Some views from around Nassau

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We found a quiet beach - I think it was called Goodman's Beach. It was beautiful!
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Now here was my shining moment. While Justin was in the ocean, I was playing in the sand. I went to the water to rinse my hand off and my camera dipped in the water. And of course it stopped working. I was not a happy camper. Luckily we had brought our laptop and once we got back to the ship we put the memory card in and I was thrilled to find out that I still had all my pictures I had taken so far - just my camera died.

So I don't have any more pictures of Nassau until we went snorkeling and used one of the water proof cameras. After this, we used our cellphones for the rest of the pictures

Anyway, back to Nassau. After the beach, we drove rode around some more, stopped at a straw market, and had a hand made fruit slushy - of course with rum :), and grabbed lunch.

Overall impression of Nassau - I was not impressed. Most of it looked poverty stricken. Mind you, we didn't go to Paradise Island, where the Atlantis resort and all the celebrities live. We were originally going to spend the day at their water park, but it was going to be almost 250 a person. Oh well, I guess that's what I get of being cheap.


After several hours, we headed back to the boat, relaxed in the room for about an hour, then headed down to meet for our snorkeling.

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On our way back, the boat driver was pointing out some celebrities houses and he said that the thing that looks like a bridge that connects the two large buildings of Atlantis was actually a suite that costs $25,000 a night and you have to reserve it for 4 days. Wow.
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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Love your report! Takes me back to the good ole days lol! We were married in '95 and my hubbie hadn't ever been to Disney either. While not a Disney nut like me, he was totally onboard for a Disneymoon. He was so impressed after we went that he has become more Disney obsessed than me! We went on our first Disney cruise in April and it was heaven! Can't wait for the rest of your report!
 

steph88

Active Member
Original Poster
Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Great news - I got a $200 camera on Black Friday sale for $100!

Anyway, back to the Disneymoon!

I was really looking forward this night's dinner. We ate at the Royal Palace. A princess themed restaurant that I got to dress up for - a perfect fit for me!

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Glass slippers in the chandelier - it doesn't get better than that!

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The holder for the bread looked like a carriage.

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Belle's french onion soup - delish!

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I had said that it was our honeymoon when we booked the trip, and this was what we had waiting for us after dinner!

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I know I say this all the time, but this is yet another reason why Disney is the best!!

Up next: Castaway Cay!
 

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