Dreams Do Come True - An October Honeymoon Trip Report

Well, I’m back from my honeymoon! We had such an amazing time. We got back just two weeks ago. I wish the honeymoon could have lasted longer than a week but I guess we had to go back to reality at some point, right? Now that I am back and have gone through the wedding gifts, unpacked and more importantly, uploaded all of my pictures, I figured it was time to start my trip report.

A Little Introduction
This report includes Ashley (me) and my now husband, eek Wes. We got engaged at the Boardwalk Resort back on our December 2010 trip and I managed to work out a honeymoon trip on the Disney Dream and then a 3 night stay at the Beach Club Resort. I always said I either wanted to be engaged, married or honeymoon in Disney World and I was able to accomplish 2 out of 3. That ain't too bad, if I do say so myself.

Saturday October 22nd – Wedding Day
We got engaged back in December and it seemed like our wedding day was so far away. Well before we knew it, our wedding day was here and we were getting married! 10 months of talking to our venue coordinator, meetings with the florist, food tastings, trips to Michael's for wedding supplies, making seating charts and escort cards...It had all come to an end. Finally our wedding day was here and all the planning would pay off. And pay off it did. Our wedding was absolutely wonderful! I kept telling Wes that I wanted to spend the majority of the reception on the dance floor and I am happy to report that I was a dancing machine! :lol: I think I danced from about 9pm until midnight (with occasional trips back to my table to take a swig of my drink, of course). It was such a great night and everyone we talked to said that it was the best wedding they had ever been to! I would say that is a pretty successful party!

I don't have my professional pictures back yet but here is a couple that my cousin took from the reception.

Sunday October 23rd - Honeymoon Here We Come!
It was an early start to the honeymoon with the alarm going off around 7am the morning after our wedding. Our reception wasn't over until midnight the night before and then there were goodbyes to family and friends and we didn't get home until around 1:30am. So that 7am wake up time was a little harder than usual. I kept reminding myself that I could sleep on the plane and by the pool on the Disney Dream to make waking up a little easier. We left our house around 7:45am and were sitting at our gate in RDU by 8:10. I love being so close to the airport! Our flight was uneventful. We left and arrived on time thanks to the wonderful crew of Southwest airlines. We arrived at MCO and made our way to DME to check for our cruise.

This was our first cruise ever so we weren't exactly sure what to do. The cast members directed us to the DME counter to check in. I didn't realize that you checked in for the cruise at the airport but I thought that was a great idea. We received our room keys, our bus boarding pass and then got in line to board our bus. Luckily we didn't have to wait very long and we left the airport to make our way to Port Canaveral.

As you can tell, Wes was super excited

I was delighted that the bus ride was just under an hour. We pulled up to Port Canaveral and all I can say is Wow. The ship was huge! We made our way through the terminal and boarded the ship rather quickly, since we had already checked in at the airport. It was funny when we first boarded the ship and the cast member asked me for the family name. It was the first time I got to use my new last name! It sounded very weird but it was really exciting too. As soon as we walked into the main atrium of the ship I was blown away. That chandelier is amazing.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Tonight at dinner we were missing the really interesting couple and Wes and I were really bummed. They were just so entertaining with their inappropriate comments. :lol: So sadly we didn’t get to see them again. Bummer. Now on to the actual dinner. Unfortunately I didn’t write down what we got tonight and my memory is now a little fuzzy. I got a salad to start that had some raspberry vinaigrette dressing that was very good and Wes got some lamb appetizer. I also decided to get a French onion soup which was very tasty. :slurp:

For dinner, I had the steak with lobster on top and Wes got some chicken dish. Both were very good.

It was then time for dessert. I went with the strawberry shortcake and Wes got some peanut butter chocolate cake. One of the other guy’s at our table ordered the sweet temptations dessert trio and our waiter said “No, you can do better than that” and he wouldn’t let him order it. The guy said ok and ordered the Strawberry shortcake. Well after our desserts came out and we started eating, our waiter brought each couple one of the sweet temptations dessert trios, some kind of grand marnier soufflé and then they brought out a piece of chocolate cake with a happy anniversary decoration on it! We had so many desserts!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

It was really funny with the Happy Anniversary cake they brought out because they sang us a little song and then asked each couple how long we had been married. We each kind of look confused and said “4 days”. :lol: It was a really great last dinner on the cruise.

After dinner we thought we would head down to Evolution to spend the rest of our night but after dinner we decided that we would just spend our last night watching movies from our OnDemand channel in our room instead. When we got back to our room we found this cute little guy on our bed.

All in all we had a very nice last day on the cruise. I wish we could have had a couple more days on the cruise though. There just wasn’t enough time to do everything. I guess we will just have to go on another cruise!

Up next: We’re on our way to Disney World!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Thursday October 27th – Port Canaveral to Walt Disney World

This morning we were up bright and early at 6:25am. We were originally scheduled for the later breakfast time this morning but we wanted to be on the first set of buses to Disney World so we asked our server the night before if we could switch to the earlier breakfast time. He said it shouldn’t be a problem and that we should show up about 10 minutes after the start of the first breakfast. So we left our room and made our way to breakfast.

So sad to be leaving

When we got to the Royal Palace we explained that we were supposed to be in the later breakfast but wanted to switch so they got our head server and he seated us at a different table that was vacant. After about 15 minutes of being in the restaurant the family who normally sat at that table showed up and were really confused. Luckily there were plenty of empty tables so it wasn’t a major problem.

For breakfast, Wes got the waffles and I got eggs, bacon and a hashbrown.

We finished our breakfast rather quickly and made our way off the ship.

Bye Admiral Donald.

Once off the ship we made our way to the baggage area and tried to find our bags. Man, there were a lot of bags there. Our bags were in the green Tinker Bell section and I swear that was the largest one. It took us a little bit to find our bags. After that it was a really quick trip through Customs where the guy basically just passed us through without even really checking our passports or anything. We didn’t get off the ship in Nassau so I am not sure if that is the reason but I was kind of surprised at how easy it was. I’ve been through Customs before on trips to the Bahamas and Mexico and I remember the people spending more time looking at my passport and reading that customs form. Oh well. Good thing I wasn’t trying to smuggle any drugs into the country or anything. :lol: We were out of Customs and on the bus to Disney World by 7:30.

Disney World here we come!

Bye Disney Dream

We left Port Canaveral around 8 and our bus stopped at Caribbean Beach Resort, the Boardwalk and then it was us at the Beach Club. We arrived at about 9:30. Right when we got off the bus a Cast Member who was earning her ears greeted us and helped us check in. She was a very nice girl and I was so happy to find out that our room was ready. In fact, I was shocked. After she gave us all of our room information she congratulated us on the wedding and gave us some happily ever after buttons. We then made our way to our room.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We decided to unpack while we watched Stacey share some Disney must-dos. I really feel like I am in Disney when I see this video. After we unpacked, we decided to walk around the resort a little bit and check it out.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We found our way to the pool and decided to sit there until Beaches and Cream opened for lunch. We got there a couple minutes after it opened and were seated immediately. There were only a couple other parties in the restaurant but it didn’t take long for it to fill up.

We were on the Deluxe Dining Plan so for each meal we got an appetizer, entrée and dessert. We would eat a lot this portion of the trip. For appetizers, I got the onion rings and Wes went with French fries. For our entrees, I got the hot dog and Wes got the burger. Everything was delicious as always. :slurp:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

It was then time for dessert. Oh my goodness they have some really good desserts. The only problem is they are HUGE! I can never finish mine but I like to try. Wes got the milky way sundae and I went with the old fashioned sundae. :slurp:

After lunch we decided to head over to the Boardwalk to rent a surrey bike. I always thought these looked fun so we put it on our honeymoon registry and someone was nice enough to get it for us.

This is the spot were Wes proposed to me the previous December. I will always have fond memories of this resort and this spot.

The surrey bike was fun but it was a little hard for me to peddle since I am short. I had to sit really far forward just so I could reach the pedals. :lol: It would have been better if I had longer legs. It was fun though. It was really hard going up the two hills on the route and I was worried that Wes was going too fast around one turn but we survived.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

After a couple trips around Crescent lake, we turned in our surrey bike and walked back to the Beach Club. We were really exhausted from being up so early so we went back to our room to rest up for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

We left our room and made our way to the bus stop. As soon as we got there a bus to the Magic Kingdom pulled up. We couldn’t have timed it better.

Off to the Magic Kingdom

We got the Magic Kingdom right at 4 o’clock and made our way through the turnstiles to get our wristbands. As we were walking up to the gates there was a father in front of us with his family and there were two kids in a stroller. The dad says to the kids “There are only two rules in Disney World…you can’t be rude and don’t po0p your pants.” :ROFLOL: Funniest comment I have ever heard.

As we walked down Main Street we made time to stop at some PhotoPass locations.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We decided to head over to Tomorrowland.

Space Mountain had a 20 minute wait time posted but it was really more like a walk on. After our ride through the galaxy we walked over to Adventureland for a ride on Pirates. Of course we had to stop again for a quick picture.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

After Pirates, we went to Frontierland to see what the wait times were like for Splash Mountain and for Big Thunder Mountain. The wait for both was 20 minutes but I decided that I didn’t want to get soaking wet so early in the evening so we decided Big Thunder Mountain was a better choice.

It was time for us to check in for our dinner reservation at Tony’s Town Square. We had never eaten there before and we decided it was a good time to try it. We checked in at 5:30 and we weren’t seated until 5:45.

We were seated in the sunroom/gazebo type section of the restaurant. I was a little sad to sit out here since there wasn’t all of the Lady and the Tramp artwork like there is inside but it was nice to get to see the town square area from our seats. It took a while for our server to come over our table and I knew this was a bad sign. We ended up ordering immediately because I knew if we didn’t it would be another 20 minutes before we got a chance to order. I did ask the waiter to take a picture first.

For appetizers, Wes got the cheese and garlic bread and I got the Caesar salad. Both were very good.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

It seemed to take forever for our dinner to arrive. I was getting anxious as we got closer to 7 since that is when the Halloween party officially started. For dinner, Wes got the chicken parmesan and I got the spaghetti and meatballs. This is where the meal was just so-so. Both were just okay. Wes thought it would have been funny to see people’s reactions if we started pushing the meatballs with our nose like in Lady and the Tramp. :lol: Needless to say we decided not to try it.

As soon as our waiter came over to take away our dinner plates we asked for the dessert menus and quickly ordered something. Wes and I both decided to get Tony’s cheesecake which was apple cheesecake. It was really tasty. The waiter was also nice enough to bring out an ice cream as a congratulations for our honeymoon.

Service was so slow and it was really hard to sit for so long as we could see the lights on Main Street changing for the Halloween party. Overall I thought the dinner was just okay. I really haven’t found a table service restaurant in the Magic Kingdom that I like but I think if I really felt like eating at a table service restaurant I would go back to Tony’s Town Square. I still prefer the quick service restaurants but I am glad that we tried Tony’s.

After dinner, Wes and I both went to change into our Halloween costumes and made our way out to Main Street.

We had a fun time posing for pictures with our costumes. Originally I thought that we would probably just wear some bride and groom Mickey ears but Wes thought it would be fun to find something different to wear. He found the Top Gun costumes online and then we were able to find them for a cheaper price at the Halloween store so we knew they were perfect for MNSSHP.

We wanted to go to the Haunted Mansion first to see the new queue so we started walking towards Tomorrowland to get there. I don’t know why we went this way. For some reason Wes said that was a good way to go and I listened to him. I knew that this was not a good idea but I went with it. On our way to Haunted Mansion a Cast Member asked us who was Maverick and who was Goose. I said I was Maverick and he seemed really confused by that. Of course the wife would be Maverick and the husband should be Goose. :lol:

We eventually made it to the Haunted Mansion. I really liked the new interactive queue and think they did a really nice job. While waiting in line the lady in front of me said to her daughter “Hey, there’s Tom Cruise.” It took me a second to realize she was referring to me. :lol:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

The Haunted Mansion was great as usual. We then got some more fun PhotoPass pictures.

Why is Wes making a “roar” face? :lol:

I wish this picture had turned out better. The one we have in 2009 was great. This one not so much.

The first parade was about to start so I thought that now would be a good time to hit up some rides in Fantasyland. We decided to try our luck with Peter Pan. The wait said 30 minutes but it ended up only being about 20. After Peter Pan I thought it would be fun to ride the carrousel.

Highway to the danger zone…:lol:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We decided to make our way to Frontierland to ride BTMRR and Splash Mountain. Unfortunately, the first parade wasn’t quite over yet so we were fighting the crowds trying to go from Fantasyland to Frontierland. Eventually we made it past the end of the parade but it was a little crazy there for awhile bobbing and weaving through the crowd.

We thought we could use our fast passes for BTMRR but they weren’t accepting fast passes. I thought the last time we were there for a party they accepted fast passes but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, it was only a 10 minute wait so I wasn’t too upset. After BTMRR, we went over to SM and there was only a 5 minute wait which really meant walk on. Luckily we didn’t get soaked by the water cannons but the log behind us wasn’t so lucky.

It was almost time for HalloWishes so we went through Adventureland and found a spot right at the base of the hub near between a popcorn stand and a trashcan. The trash can was a good barrier from other people getting all up in our space but unfortunately we were a little too close to the popcorn cart and people kept thinking we were in line.

HalloWishes was great. My pictures, not so much.

After the fireworks we decided to find a spot for the second parade over on the Tomorrowland side of the hub. We found a nice spot on the curb, again, next to a trash can. The parade was great. I think this is one of my favorite parades. The Haunted Mansion part is by far my favorite.

During the parade one of the dancers said to Wes, “Hey Iceman” :lol: It was really funny to hear so many people comment on our costumes throughout the night. This one was especially funny since the cast member was part of the parade and continued his dance routine while he talked to us.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

After the parade we headed over to Tomorrowland for a ride on the Peoplemover. While on our journey through Tomorrowland I saw that Buzz Lightyear was out and I knew that as a fellow pilot, we would need to get our pictures with him.

It was getting pretty close to midnight at this point so we made our way back towards Main Street and stopped at various PhotoPass locations along the way.

This one is my favorite

We saw this awesome costume as we started walking down Main Street. How cool is that?! He made little sound effects too.

We decided that we wanted to get a snack so we stopped at the Bakery before leaving the park. We ended up splitting a cinnamon roll and it was very tasty.

After finishing our cinnamon bun, we walked through some of the shops and then left the park right at midnight. When we got to the bus stop there were only 5 other people in line. We didn’t have to wait long for a bus to show up and there was plenty of room for us to get a seat.

It had been a really long and fun filled day. We got back to the Beach Club around 12:30 and went to bed shortly after.

Up next: Our first trip to the Food and Wine Festival

 

[sam_disney]

awesome! have to agree the halloween parade is def one of the best! x

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Ashley, I'm so excited you started your report!! Your wedding pictures are just beautiful!! I love your dress!! You look stunning!!

We normally travel with big groups on a cruise so we eat with friends, which is definitely the best way to go. When it's just our family we do request a table alone. Maybe one day we'll be as brave as Wes!:lol:

Your Palo dress is so pretty!! I'm glad you loved Palo, it's my favorite!

We've done a 6 person surrey bike and we almost killed ourselves. It was sooooo much work!! Those hills were awful! I think we made it around once and stopped. We were like, okay check that off our list!:lol:

Keep it coming!

 

[disneygirl1]

Amazing start to your trip report Ashley! Your wedding dress was absolutely stunning on you! Congats to you and Wes!

We are going on the Dream in May! We are so excited. Like you we are on Deck 9 too! Stateroom 9002 and from the looks of the deck plans we are pretty much as far "aft" as you can get!!! :lol:

Ok so we too are heading back to WDW after our cruise too, we are staying at the Boardwalk, my question is I was to be off the ship and and the resort as quick as possible. When do I let them know I was to be the early breakfast on disembarkation day? And what time exactly is that early breakfast? And what is the earliest you can leave the ship?

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

awesome! have to agree the halloween parade is def one of the best! x

thanks! that part with the grave diggers from the haunted mansion is just so cool and is mostly the reason i love that parade.

Ashley, I'm so excited you started your report!! Your wedding pictures are just beautiful!! I love your dress!! You look stunning!!

We normally travel with big groups on a cruise so we eat with friends, which is definitely the best way to go. When it's just our family we do request a table alone. Maybe one day we'll be as brave as Wes!:lol:

Your Palo dress is so pretty!! I'm glad you loved Palo, it's my favorite!

We've done a 6 person surrey bike and we almost killed ourselves. It was sooooo much work!! Those hills were awful! I think we made it around once and stopped. We were like, okay check that off our list!:lol:

Keep it coming!

thanks tammy! those hills are really hard. i can't even imagine having 6 people on one of those bikes and being able to make it up. and i am with you on checking the surrey bike off my list. now that i have rented one i don't feel the need to do it again.

more is coming soon! this time of year is a really hard time to write a trip report. just too much going on.

Amazing start to your trip report Ashley! Your wedding dress was absolutely stunning on you! Congats to you and Wes!

We are going on the Dream in May! We are so excited. Like you we are on Deck 9 too! Stateroom 9002 and from the looks of the deck plans we are pretty much as far "aft" as you can get!!! :lol:

Ok so we too are heading back to WDW after our cruise too, we are staying at the Boardwalk, my question is I was to be off the ship and and the resort as quick as possible. When do I let them know I was to be the early breakfast on disembarkation day? And what time exactly is that early breakfast? And what is the earliest you can leave the ship?

thank you reese! we had an amazing time at our wedding and on our honeymoon. the dream was incredible! you will love it. being so far aft was bad for the motion sickness element but it was nice because you only have to go up a few flights to get to cabanas and it is aft, so that was nice. it is also nice to be so close to the stairwells.

unfortunately, i can't find the paperwork they gave us with debarkation information. if i remember correctly, you could either board buses to wdw at 8:15 or 9:15. i think the first breakfast seating is at 6:45 or something like that. we had asked our waiter the night before about going to the early breakfast seating and he told us it wouldn't be a problem. then that morning we asked for our head waiter and he seated us at an empty table. i am not sure what time people were allowed to get off the ship but i know that we were off the ship, found our bags and through customs by 7:30am. so you can get off the ship pretty early. from the time we got on the bus to the time we got to the beach club it took about 2 hours.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Friday October 28th – Food and Wine Festival Here We Come

This morning we woke up around 8:15 to find that it was raining outside. But I wasn’t going to let any rain get me down today because we were eating breakfast at the Kona Café! We got dressed and made our way to the bus stop.

As soon as we got to the bus stop a bus for the Magic Kingdom pulled up. We were so lucky this trip with buses. Once we got to the Magic Kingdom we ran to the monorail and made our way to the Polynesian.

We checked in at the Kona Café and then looked around the gift shop while we waiting for our table.

This was our first time eating at the Kona Café and I was really excited to try the tonga toast and it did not disappoint. :slurp: Wes went with the Big Kahuna which was really good because he could share it with me.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

After our delicious breakfast we walked to the TTC to catch a monorail to Epcot. Luckily the rain was just drizzling now and by the time we got to Epcot the rain had stopped.

We made our way to Test Track and decided to grab some fastpasses and then we went to the Festival Welcome Center to kill some time until our FP return time.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

It was really neat being in this pavilion since it’s only open for special events now. We took a look around at all of the displays and merchandise. There was also a live cooking demonstration going on while we were there. We decided to buy a Festival cookbook so we could try some of the recipes when we got home.

We still had some time left until our FP return time so we went to Mouse Gears to buy some Mickey and Minnie mouse ears. After that, it was time for our ride on Test Track.

Saw this guy with the same backpack as Wes with this funny guy tagging along.

I love Test Track. I don’t know what it is but I just love it. World Showcase was now open so we started our eating and drinking tour around the World but not before some PhotoPass pictures with our new Mickey ears first!

We started our tour in Mexico and went on the Grande Fiesta Tour.