Trip Report Orlando Group Honeymoon - The Movie

Greetings friends. This is my first trip report here and it's been many years since I've made one in general, but I had such an amazing time in Orlando last January that I wanted to share it with the world. So, buckle up. This may take a while.



Chapter I - The Arrival
Chapter II - Skewered Banshee Wings
Chapter III - Manic Kingdom
Chapter IV - Better Butter Beer
Chapter V - Self Induced Dehydration and Schnitzel
Chapter VI - The Honeymoon Alliance
Chapter VII - The End
Orlando Group Honeymoon - The Movie


Chapter I - The Arrival

Eleven years ago, Megan and I met while working at Hollywood Video. We spent many years together sharing laughs, gaining valuable life experiences, traveling the country, making amazing friends, eating food, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, and, of course, visiting theme parks. And on October, Friday the 13th of 2017, we enacted a brilliant scheme of getting some of our best friends to spend a week at Walt Disney World with us by getting married.

Our plan went perfectly. Those idiots were suckered in by the lure of being witness to their friends being spiritually joined as one person forever and couldn’t refuse this once in a lifetime excuse to travel to Central Florida for nearly half a month.


Over the course of a year, from engagement to wedding to the big day, planned an unforgettable Group Honeymoon that folks are talking about to this day.

There were eleven of us. Five couples and one lonely, but enthusiastic, man. Most of us originally come from the Midwest, but now many of us, myself included, live across the country in a small town off the Pacific called Los Angeles. There is a prerequisite. Our large group has taken several day trips to Disneyland with great success. But there are those who have never experience the East Beast known as Orlando. The plan was for 10 days in The World.



On January 20th 2018, the plan unfolded.

Meg and I flew out first. It’s our honeymoon, afterall. We were sure to plan a few days for us to be by ourselves, without the crew. But mostly, we wanted to get a lay of the land and prepare the hotel for everyone’s arrival. We also had a hot date planned.

The flight was fine, by the best I could remember. We both were dying to get to the resort. Everything was finally coming together.

What a swanky joint! Would ya look at all that swank.


For the next week and a half, we called Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House our home.


There…

Do you see it?

This happy little guy served as a room signifier and wonderful greeter to our room. He seems to smirk and say, “It’s going to get wild”.

The suite was… well… sweet.

We had a pool table!

We had our own balconies, all three of these!


And it looked down at animals!

King sized bed for us Honeymooners.

Huge bathroom.

And had a kick*** bathtub with jets and Mufasa can watch you while you’re naked!

We didn’t have much time to stick around. We had a bus to catch.

 

[Director_Guy]

Chapter VI - The Honeymoon Alliance

Morning came swiftly.

Jen and Vanessa had the right idea that morning. After our trip around the world, it would do us all good to eat some breakfast and hydrate.

We began the day at the only remaining theme park we hadn’t visited: Hollywood Studios.

The rest of the crew was to meet up later; taking advantage of the fact that they are on vacation and aren’t insane people like us who want to ride rides all day.

More power to them.

Nick, DJ, Austin, Jen, Vanessa, Megan, and myself opened the park up.

I find that while both lines can get long for the two attractions on Sunset Blvd, I’d much rather wait in the lovely queue for Tower than the outdoor switchback from Hell that is Rockin’ Rollercoaster. So, I forced everyone to go there first.

DJ says, “Wait a minute… I love that idea!”

What do we have here, a couple of them theme park ruffians?!

Oh. You’re probably wondering about the shirts.

DJ’s totally awesome gal pal was, unfortunately, unable to make it to our week long excursion. As a surprise to us, she had made and sent us all these matching shirts declaring us “The Honeymoon Alliance”. We were so thrilled and grateful. Yes, now our touristy endeavours are finally complete. We are, at last, That Group. I couldn’t be happier.

Immediately following Coaster, we jumped in line for Tower.

In fact, it was so great, we jumped back in line again.

This ride is just so great. I couldn’t say enough about it. I miss it dearly at California Adventure, but of course I am content with the Guardians ride. It’s a great ride, but I sure love the spooky aesthetic of the old Hollywood Tower Hotel. It’s right up my alley.

I don’t even see it as an IP thing. I don’t believe people sing this ride’s praises because of “The Twilight Zone”. You could remove every reference to the show and it’d still be a fantastic experience (as evidenced by the Tokyo version).

I wouldn’t want the Tokyo version to replace Orlando’s version, however. I really like the Old Hollywood vibe and would really like that to stay inta-

“Dude, you’re rambling. Get on with it.”

Oh, jeeze. Sorry, me from the past. Let’s move on.


Well, we’d been in Hollywood Studios for about an hour now. I’d say it was about time we ride the only other ride there.

“I hope they’ll let me bring this on the plane.”

The always excellent Star Tours. This was the first time we’d gotten a chance to see the Crait sequence. Kylo Ren held up a picture of my face because I WAS THE REBEL SPY! YES! ME THIS TIME! I WIN!

Although I could have been a better spy. My t-shirt is a dead giveaway.

 

[Director_Guy]

Megan is still the champion at getting to be the Rebel Spy. I think she’s been chosen over 5 or 6 times on several different versions of Star Tours. Maybe that’s rookie numbers for some of you, but that’s insane for a casual Star Tourist.


Suddenly, Natalie arrived!

Just in time for us to enjoy the Henson classic, MuppetVision 3D.

I sure miss this one back West. Very happy about the Philharmagic replacement, but it’s definitely a consolation prize.

The Force may be strong with us, but so was The Hunger. We quickly found a place to eat adequate food.

Clearly, we made the right choice.

Nick and Natalie went off to have their own lunch date at Epcot.

The rest of us spent some time getting a few drinks, wandering the park, and getting a few more rides in.

By mid-afternoon we were back on a bus and headed to Animal Kingdom to meet with the rest of our group.

Those bus rides between parks are some of the best sleep you’ll ever have.

Back on Pandora!

Jambo, friends. We are all together again, at last.

Many of us used this opportunity to try the local flavors.

These shirts sure do catch the eye, don’t they! Oh my!

You know what... I kinda like walking around dressed just like 10 other people. We look pretty sharp.

 

[Director_Guy]

Time for Time Travel.

“Doyouthinkhesaurus?”

When we got into the vehicle, the ride operator said “You’re gonna want to get the picture for this one.” He was right.

We double backed to Asia to ride Everest one last time.

“Top o’ the World!”

Afterward, Brian and Vanessa went to grab some Flametree BBQ dinner and the rest of us ran over to single rider Everest for one last last ride.

The sun had nearly set and it was finally time to do what we were here to do. See Pandora at night.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the lighting at night. It doesn’t compare to what you expect from having seen the movie Avatar. But I think it does look pretty.

 

[Director_Guy]

I do have issue with being able to see lighting equipment that’s basically out in the open and in reach of all guests.

Well, it’s not really an issue for me, more like I can easily see someone messing with this. It also, looks kinda tacky.

The vibe, for the most part, is pretty nice.

To end the night, we exercised our FastPass for Flight of Passage. It was just as good this time as before.

After that, we all went back to Jambo House for rest. Tomorrow would the last day before the alliance was broken...

 

[Rista1313]

Megan is still the champion at getting to be the Rebel Spy. I think she’s been chosen over 5 or 6 times on several different versions of Star Tours. Maybe that’s rookie numbers for some of you, but that’s insane for a casual Star Tourist.


Suddenly, Natalie arrived!

Just in time for us to enjoy the Henson classic, MuppetVision 3D.

I sure miss this one back West. Very happy about the Philharmagic replacement, but it’s definitely a consolation prize.

The Force may be strong with us, but so was The Hunger. We quickly found a place to eat adequate food.

Clearly, we made the right choice.

Nick and Natalie went off to have their own lunch date at Epcot.

The rest of us spent some time getting a few drinks, wandering the park, and getting a few more rides in.

By mid-afternoon we were back on a bus and headed to Animal Kingdom to meet with the rest of our group.

Those bus rides between parks are some of the best sleep you’ll ever have.

Back on Pandora!

Jambo, friends. We are all together again, at last.

Many of us used this opportunity to try the local flavors.

These shirts sure do catch the eye, don’t they! Oh my!

You know what... I kinda like walking around dressed just like 10 other people. We look pretty sharp.

I like the back of the shirts! Bet you can't guess why!

 

[MississippiBelle]

This trip report is a blast! The part about "theme park running" really got me Write the report for your anniversary trip!!

 

[Director_Guy]

I like the back of the shirts! Bet you can't guess why!

Hahaha! We got married on Friday the 13th in October, so it was to represent that. Rista1313, though... I'm guessing:

13 = M

1313 = MM

MM = Mickey Mouse

Either that or you're a big The Munsters fan.

This trip report is a blast! The part about "theme park running" really got me Write the report for your anniversary trip!!

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I just went through all of my Tokyo pictures and, while there aren't enough pictures to do a report similar to this one, I might sit down and write a few thoughts down to go along with some pictures.

Where would I post it? This is "WDW Trip Reports" only, right?




Final chapter coming soon!

 

[Rista1313]

13 = M

1313 = MM

MM = Mickey Mouse

Well that's hilarious! I think I'll adopt this! 13 is just my favorite number, and YEARS ago, I found that on some sites Rista13 was taken... what?! So I started using Rista1313 anywhere... or is it RistaMM???

 

[MississippiBelle]

Where would I post it? This is "WDW Trip Reports" only, right?

I think you can post it in the trip report section. Other people post their different park reports there... Don't quote me on that (lol, get it?)

 

[amjt660]

I have done reports from 5 of the 6 parks here and others have down cruises and Aulani so go for it on the TDL report in this spot

If you put it in the Asia sections it will not get the same foot traffic as this section of the forums

Oh and I loved this one

Honey - your going love this ride- I swear!!


Max

 

[Director_Guy]

I think you can post it in the trip report section. Other people post their different park reports there...

That's very good to know! Thank you.

Don't quote me on that

Okay I wo- Whoops!!

Oh and I loved this one

Honey - your going love this ride- I swear!!

Hahaha! Two in a row right there, too.

 

[amjt660]

Hahaha! Two in a row right there, too.


Well technically they were in two different rows......

Max

 

[Director_Guy]

Chapter VII - The End


The final day as a group had arrived.

Jackie and Mikey were the first ones out, hoping to catch up on the things they missed at Hollywood Studios.

Austin and Jen decided to spend their last moments before their flight that evening at Epcot (good choice).

Meg, DJ, and myself were out early, but several steps behind the others. We did enjoy the extra room on the bus, however.

The rest of our gang weren’t too far behind, but it’s park time, baby, you can’t waste that!

We met up with Austin and Jen right away. They wanted to more soberly explore the World Showcase (at least for a little bit). We walk through the back half and stopped in Canada, Austin’s home country.

I had never seen it before, but found it surprisingly enjoyable. I was almost nostalgic for a country I’ve never visited!

Austin felt very homesick afterward, so we drowned our sorrows with feel-good juice in Mexico.

Yes, we got two each! The line is stupidly long, man. This just saves time.

We stepped outside and found Jackie, Mikey, Brian, and Vanessa. A small bee was making friends with Jackie’s Gudetama pulsh.

The bee recommended we ride Mission: Space for some “sick G’s”. Well, I’ve never been one to say ‘no’ to a bee, especially a Bee that knows its G’s. The group migrated over and we blasted off.

We were the only ones who wanted the intense side!

We were running out of time before Austin and Jen’s flight, so we swung by Club Cool for a beloved right of passage.

You can see for yourself how it went:

We all got on a bus back to Jambo House to have a midday rest.

DJ couldn’t wait until we got back.

DJ sleepy.

At last the time to say goodbye had arrived. Austin and Jen left the wonderfully strange dreamland that we got to stay in for a week and flew back to Los Angeles. But before the Alliance broke, we met once more for a last Jambo.

What a great group of weirdo adventurers.

After a small rest, we all met downstairs at Boma for an unbelievable “Last Meal”.

Here’s my “stalker photo” inside Boma.

Folks, this place is up there with ‘Ohana as just the best food at the resort. Holy crow, it was just good thing after good thing.

Natalie, show ‘em what we ate:



Oh man. Guys, don’t Trip Report while hungry…

After Boma, we all relaxed with a somber board game. All of us were thinking it: we didn’t want to leave.

Why couldn't we stay like this forever?


The next day, they were gone.

 

[Director_Guy]

Ah, at least there was some evidence left.

Oh, man! DJ’s Winequest! He must have quested hard.

This day Meg and I were celebrating our 10 year dating anniversary. We started at Hollywood Studios…

Feeling sad that our friends were gone, and exhausted from when our friends were here, we went back to Jambo House for lunch. We couldn’t leave Florida without getting another one of these cheesy suckers.

Oh, Giordano’s.


Meg and I then enjoyed our hotel. We lounged about, took a midday nap, enjoyed the Mufasa tub. It was a very calm day.

That evening we wandered Epcot in the rain.

We had a lot of the park to ourselves. There weren’t many other people who wanted to be out in the rain.

We roamed until it was time for our romantic dinner reservation at Le Celier.

To be honest, I was so punch drunk (and a little actually drunk from Mexico, of course) from this trip, that I barely remember eating here. I think it was good! I liked the intimate environment of the restaurant. We shared this piece of meat and went back to the hotel.


Our final day had arrived.

Did we spend our final day at Epcot?

Yepcot!!

We had a few final FastPass+ rides…

...but we mostly wandered the park soaking up as much as we could before we had to face the real world. We reflected on an incredible week. How lucky we are to have such close friends that were willing to travel halfway across the country to see us get hitched and then months later follow us all the way across the country to spend a week stuffing our faces, walking our ***es off, drinking our livers raw, and laughing at cacophonous levels.

In the end, The Tragical Express comes for us all.

Someday Meg and I will return; we can’t stay away too long. But, I don’t think any future trip will match up to our Orlando Group Honeymoon. It was simply perfect.

Kwaheri.

 

[Rista1313]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us... it was fun to see what a group dynamic was like.

 

[krisri18]

What a great group! So is this going to be an annual thing for your anniversary?

 

[NessNewt]

Guys, don’t Trip Report while hungry

Ain't that the truth...

Thanks for sharing your trip! It looked like an absolute blast.

 

[amjt660]

Thanks for sharing your group honeymoon adventures with us

Max

 

[Megbutnotmegan]

Wow! Thank you for sharing!!! This trip seemed perfect!!

 

[NickPytlinski]

had fun just watching and reading dude! felt like we were with you