Trip Report COMPLETED! Our First Family Trip...Oh, and My Disney Wedding! A PeoplemoverTTA Trip Report.

Okay, we’ve been back for two weeks now, so I guess it’s time to get started on my TR. I’ve been feeling the post-wedding blues, so this might be some good therapy

For a rundown on the trip and my Disney wedding, here’s my wedding planning thread. There are lots of details over there! Also, Todd and I went to WDW for a long weekend to celebrate our 1-year dating anniversary. If you’re bored and love TRs, you might enjoy it

But here’s a really quick rundown anyway:

Who
Me - 33 y/o VP of a marketing firm (I just merged my social media marketing company with a full service firm, effective August 1 - lots going on this summer!)
DH - 40 y/o healthcare employee
DS - 10 y/o stepson who has never been to WDW before (or anywhere, really)

When
Friday, July 11 through Monday, July 21

Where
Disney’s Boardwalk Villas (we rented points through DVC Rental Store)

The Wedding
Oh yeah, so the wedding was on Tuesday, July 15 at the Walt Disney World Swan. Right smack dab in the middle of our trip (it was designed that way, so we could enjoy a family trip with my new stepson, enjoy the wedding festivities, then have a short honeymoon - it worked out perfectly!).

So, our trip kicked off on Friday, July 11. Our Southwest flight from BUF to MCO left at 6am, so that meant a bright and early, 2:30am wakeup. My brother in law took us to the airport, and we checked in at about 4am. Ugh.

Still, my boys were feeling pretty chipper - we were heading to WDW!

Moving walkways are an adventure:

Checking out the plane outside:

Brandon was nervous about flying for the first time, but he did very well, and was cool as a cucumber as soon as we were comfortably high in the air:

Just in case we had long lines for DME, I scheduled a town car pickup with Tiffany Towncar. We had used them back in 2004 (before DME) and had a great experience, and we weren’t disappointed this time either. Our driver, Abdul, was a really friendly guy and was waiting for us at baggage claim as we came down the escalator. We quickly gathered our luggage and hopped into our Lincoln. Todd is a car guy, so he was excited to ride in one

Even loading luggage is fun - we’re in Orlando!

Todd wanted to ride shotgun and explore the Lincoln, and he was snapping pictures the whole way.

He was so excited to get this shot (isn’t everybody?):

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

July 20 (continued)

We had packed a lot into the morning so far -- it was time for another great meal! This time, to the Brown Derby. A CM had taken our picture while we were waiting to get in, which would come into play later.

We appreciated the celebration decor on our table

And the complimentary champagne!

But we were especially touched when they brought us this "present" for our honeymoon. That's why they took our picture! This is yet another reason why I'm glad the issue with my brother's name was fixed...it would have been mortifying (and in retrospect, hilarious) if it had said "Diana and Jon" instead

Since our stomachs were full, we thought sitting down for a bit would work out well. So, we headed over to the Great Movie Ride. Todd found this amusing:

Also cool? We saw the Western Show, which I hadn't seen in AGES:

After GMR, we decided to see Indy (never gets old for us!):

And stop by One Man's Dream:

That was it for DHS this trip -- we walked back to Boardwalk for a midday snooze, before heading over to our next step.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

July 20 (conclusion)

We would finish our last night in WDW at the park that started it all -- the Magic Kingdom:

We had dinner reservations at Tony's, so we walked some shops on Main Street and took some photos before it was time to eat.

This pose ended up a little awkward

This one turned out okay, though!

We both remember this meal as a big "meh", and the CM never even said "congratulations," but it was still fun.

My goof, with the original Goof (also, not sure what's going on with the expression, lol -- Goofy is his favorite, so I know he wasn't annoyed at my request for the photo ).

We decided to spend some time in Liberty Square. I have no idea why I took this picture, but the expression is funny!

We decided to go on something I don't think we've ridden since:

It was pretty quiet on the ship, too -- I think it may have been close to the last ride (if not the last ride) by this point in the night.

I couldn't figure out where this was at first, but I'm guessing it has to be inside the Liberty Belle?

Sticking with Liberty Square, it was time for Todd's favorite:

The ghosts were grim, and grinning -- of course, we were grinning too

I remember vividly that MK was open until midnight that night, and it was our last night in WDW (and the last night of our honeymoon) so we were pumped to close out the park -- something we hadn't done on our previous trip, or experienced together yet. I used to do this all the time when I was in my 20s, and it's such a fun experience.

We meandered over to Fantasyland to get the apple drink from Gaston's. Is it me, or does it look like Gaston is dumping water on us?

Do we look tired? Because after this picture, despite planning on closing out the park (I want to say it was around 8 in this picture -- it wasn't even dark yet!), we turned to each other and both exclaimed, "I'm exhausted." So much for that Rather than close out the park, we went back to BW to get some much-needed rest. Tomorrow was our last day, and we wanted to make the most of it!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Oh I forgot this picture -- I've always wanted one of these, and I think it turned out SO good, didn't it? The CM didn't even look when he was cutting it out. This guy was GOOD!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

July 21 -- The LAST Day

Wow, after 5 years, I am finally finishing this TR! Who'dve thunk it?

To start the day, we were at MK for rope drop. While most people ran over to 7DMT or Space Mountain, we went to Todd's favorite, and ended up the very first guests of the day to ride, which was kind of cool!

We decided to then take our time and head to the rides we usually miss (or at least hadn't done yet on the trip).

This one really brings out the kid in us, doesn't it?

I wanted to ride in separate cars so I could get a fun picture like this (no bumping the car in front of you!):

Then, it was time for another classic. I dig how we're spinning but he's crystal clear in this picture!

He really does love palm trees - even fake ones

It was time to ride another classic (I think this may be my last time on Space Mountain, lol -- it's too rough for my old bones )

Not sure what we're thinking in this one, but the lady in front is having a blast !

We hadn't eaten much that day, so we headed over to my favorite for some lunch:

Interestingly, we're both plant based since our honeymoon. It's kind of funny looking at the pictures of food! Thankfully, Casey's now has an AMAZING plant based dog

I like taking "natural" pictures of Todd when he doesn't know it (and how cute is he with that balloon?):

Next up - closing out MK for this trip!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

July 21 (continued)

We decided to head into Adventureland one more time this trip:

And shared a nice treat (did we ask someone to take our picture with a Dole Whip? Really?!):

Then, we did one more attraction that we hadn't done before:

And that was it for MK this trip. We spent a LOT of time here, but we were both said to say goodbye for now.

We decided to close out the trip by hopping on the monorail and heading over at Epcot:

I will never feel like I have too many pictures in front of SSE!

There were two things I wanted to do here -- 1)

And 2) -- I really wanted to close out the parks with my second-favorite attraction, Spaceship Earth (I am so sad that the Peoplemover was down our entire trip, since that is, unsurprisingly, my #1!).

Don't you dare take my mural away, TDO!

Funny enough, this is EXACTLY how our future turned out. How did you know, Siemens?!

Then, we slowly walked toward International Gateway to head back to BW.

But first, Todd loved his free pop (sorry for the 99% of you who say "soda" )

One last picture for this trip with SSE:

And finally, wrapping up this whole darn thing!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

July 21 - the Conclusion!

And one more with SSE for me

One last pic of Todd on the way out...

No, he wasn't sick -- just looking at the ducks

We walked over to BW and decided to have some fun:

Side note: We hopped on one of these while taking our wedding pictures, but those pictures weren't in the finals sent to us by our photographer -- I wish I had gotten to see them! Ah well.

You may have noticed in our last Epcot pictures that the sky was looking a little cloudy...since it was July and the afternoon, that meant the inevitable was coming.

We decided to get an early dinner with some of our last meal credits (our flight left late, and we didn't know when we'd be able to eat at the airport). We actually still had credits left, so we bought pizza for the people in line behind us too

It was POURING. Luckily we were covered and just had a little misting.

We decided to explore the resort a bit before we left. We had a late checkout, so we could enjoy ourselves a bit:

It really is such a beautiful resort. I am so glad we chose BW for our wedding and honeymoon trip!

I have no idea why I'm posing like this.

Can't you spot something, though? Throughout Epcot and definitely at BW, Todd was in a MOOD. Not quite as bad as Brandon on his last day, but still noticeable. Finally, I asked him why he was being a bump on a log...

He was sad the trip was ending. Awww. Yes, you and me both, Mister. But let's enjoy our last hours here for this trip!

Oh, and I forgot to mention this, Todd decided to give away his balloon to a little kid when we were leaving MK. It was very sweet -- we knew we couldn't take it home, so he wanted to spread some magic

A few more adventures before leaving:

And a yummy drink for me:

That one turned out a little weird

And with that, we bid BW a fond farewell. After they moved our room, we had an even better view of SSE

Yes, it was time to head into REAL married life now!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Wrap up

I'm fairly certain that @fractal is the only person who actually made it through this entire thing But thank you to anyone who joined early or late -- I am glad to have finally finished this TR!

FWIW, here's a little update on what's happened since:

- We're still married (Just for the record )
- My stepson is now 15(!)

We have had quite a few trips since our wedding trip, including two with Brandon at Christmastime (including one of my favorite trips ever, a special Christmas trip to see the Osborne Lights one more time -- and the only time Todd and Brandon got to see them).

We also had two trips where Brandon couldn't come, including one last summer:

With our daughter

Don't worry, she wasn't burned or dehydrated. She's just like her mommy and would get super pink out in the heat.

All four of us will be traveling to WDW this December (12/17-12/23) for our first, full family trip to WDW. We cannot wait!

So I guess you could say we are living happily ever after

 

[Swissmiss]

I’m glad you posted a recent picture, because I couldn’t help wondering when you picked up the TR again if there had been any additions to the family in five years . Congratulations

 

[Nunu]

I went back to read about your wedding day and loved it!

I'm so happy I found your TR, I enjoyed your commentary and pictures.

Congratulations on your beautiful family!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

I’m glad you posted a recent picture, because I couldn’t help wondering when you picked up the TR again if there had been any additions to the family in five years . Congratulations

Haha, yes - I wouldn't leave everyone hanging It took a few years, but we are thrilled now that our family is complete

I went back to read about your wedding day and loved it!

I'm so happy I found your TR, I enjoyed your commentary and pictures.

Congratulations on your beautiful family!

Aww, thanks! Our wedding day really was perfect. I tried to be very low key about it (I was in a Disney brides group on Facebook at the time, and it was filled with people who were literally sobbing because their napkins were folded incorrectly -- I did NOT want that to be me!), and because of that (and all the amazing people who contributed to the day), I not only married my soul mate, I had a BLAST too

It was so much fun to relive my wedding and this trip -- thanks to everyone who followed along at any point in the journey! I think I'm going to start a PTR for our Christmas trip sometime this week. I'm having so much fun now that we're in the last few weeks of planning!

 

[fractal]

We did the Seas Aqua Tour in 2011 and loved it! Glad to see you did as well.

Thanks for taking the time to finishi the report!