Honeymoon Planning.. Need opinions :)

[Collbean21]

Hello all! I just joined the forums! My name is Colleen, I'm a life long Disney fan and I'm brainstorming ideas for my Disney honeymoon in 2018! I'm looking for any and all tips! I have only been to Disney World once in 2006 and have been dying to go back ever since!

I'm debating doing a land and sea honeymoon so any advice on that would be appreciated! Although I know it would be nice to have more luxurious accommodations since it's our honeymoon I am leaning towards a value resort and standard state room if we add on a cruise. I stayed offsite my first trip... I may have an opportunity to save a lot of money staying offsite again so I'm considering it although a stay at Animal Kingdom would be my dream. Besides tips for making the honeymoon aspect special I have some questions just about planning my trip in general and I'd love to get the advice of people who are Disney regulars!

What are the major benefits of staying onsite?

My wedding is April 28th, 2018 so if we go directly after we'll be staying the first week in May... any opinions on crowds/weather at that time? I am also considering holding off and going closer to Christmas because I've always wanted to see Disney done up at Christmas time so any opinions on which is a better time to go?

When I went before we really knew nothing about the fast pass option and never used it. We were there for Halloween and we thought it was a great time, we didn't have any crazy wait times. I know there's magic bands now.. is it really necessary as adults to set up fast passes in advance? I will say although I'm an adult I do want character meet and greets and to enjoy all the classic rides

Is the dining plan worth it?

I definitely have certain restaurants I'd like to go to and character meals I'd like to do but my concern with the dining plan and booking advance fast passes is I don't want to feel like I'm running all over trying to get to certain places at certain times. When I went before we were able to pretty much do and see everything we wanted but still in our own time.. I just get the impression that's not so much the case anymore... do you guys find that to be true?

Lastly I read a little bit about this but I'd love a professional photo shoot.. maybe even in my dress... does anyone know anything about that being a possibility?

I'm sorry this is so long! Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[belledream]

Welcome and congratulations!! How exciting and being a Disney Land & Sea Honeymooner myself, I would definitely say it was the way to go! So I'll do my best to touch on everything in your post.

Even though we got plenty of Disney money for the honeymoon, we still took the 'budget' mentality. After all, there are so many things to spend your money on, and everyone has different interests. Ours was food and length of stay. So we stayed a Pop Century for about a week, and then had an Oceanview stateroom on the Disney Magic. As we didn't spend much time in either room, we didn't feel the need to go all out with Deluxe resorts or Verandahs, though like I said, everyone's needs and wants may vary.

The biggest benefit for staying on site for me, has always been being in that Disney bubble 24/7. But the real benefits come with transportation (free, convenient, often) and Extra Magic Hours (resort guests get into the park 1 hour early in the mornings, and get to stay 2 hours later after park closing at different parks on select days).

I've been to Disney in mid-May and we had excellent weather and low-moderate crowds. We're now used to going in the fall with even lower crowd levels, but May would be our second choice, and I can only imagine that the earlier in May, the better. (after Spring Break, before Memorial Day/graduation parties/etc.) I've done Disney at Christmas as well, and everyone will tell you Christmas week to New Years is absolutely the most crowded time of year to the point it's kind of a disaster. So I would not recommend...even though a Disney Christmas is tempting. Also, that is a really long gap between the wedding and honeymoon...not sure I could wait that long.

I'd definitely recommend doing FP+ online. It's really not that complicated and you will be glad you put the extra effort in. You get to choose 3 right off the bat, and once those are used up, you'll be able to select a 4th, 5th, etc. on your phone. The wristbands have taken the place of the paper tickets.

Dining plan is not worth it unless it is part of the free dining promotion. I'd suggest you load money up on a Disney Gift Card and eat what you want to eat.

Dining reservations, especially character experiences, are a must. And really, to address your concerns, I have never felt like the new system has ruined my capability to get places on time. We usually do quick service lunches, and table service dinners, so obviously QS is at our own pace/leisure, and by dinnertime, we have pretty much done all the rides we wanted to do, so it's not like ADR and FP times were conflicting. But seriously, make dining reservations.

I haven't done a professional Disney photoshoot, but there are Disney Photopass Services (people who take your pictures in the park) and more intimate/professional experiences with Disney Fine Art Photography. You could look them up but I feel like unless you had a Disney Wedding, that might not be an option. But again, not sure and worth a shot if that's what you want.

Hope this helps and happy planning!

 

[Collbean21]

@belledream Thank you so much! I really appreciate all of that info, very helpful

 

[belledream]

No problem! Here to help and it brings back happy memories.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Congratulations on your impending wedding! And how exciting to think of Disneymooning.

DH and I had a 12 day Disneymoon and it was absolutely amazing. Wouldn't have had it any other way. The best advice I can give is to plan, but not over plan. Go slow and enjoy your trip and time together. If you rush and over plan, you're more likely to be left exhausted and it will take away from the little things and the happiness of your once in a lifetime experience.

Booking Fastpasses allows you to ride what you want to ride in a timely manner and will limit hassle. I'd do it for sure. The weather around that time of year, according to our two experiences, was awesome. Some crowds from school groups but light otherwise. The dining plan is very subjective. It really depends on how you want to tour. We only do it if we want to eat at a lot of signatures. Otherwise, we don't like being locked into too many reservations, or locked into needing to use points up. I've never cruised so I can't speak to that.

Enjoy!