Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

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theBIGyowski
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Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by theBIGyowski » Oct Thu 14, 2010 3:33 pm

DW and I got married on August 28, 2010. I'll spare everyone the details of everything that went wrong from the time we got engaged to the time the wedding started...because we could write a novel and win awards. Anyway...once the wedding started everything was perfect. We got married in Homewood, AL which is a small town just south of Birmingham. The church we got married in was the one I grew up going to and it's also the church of the school my wife teaches at. So we got the church and the reception hall for free! Everything went great during and after the wedding and we headed off to our historic hotel in downtown Birmingham to get a little sleep before our big trip the next day.

Day 1: (8/29/2010)
We woke up Sunday morning to a dreary Birmingham. It was dark outside and pouring rain. Our flight to Orlando was going to leave at 8:45am, so we made sure we were up and ready by 6:00am and out of the hotel by 7:00am. Talk about really wanting to leave for WDW...when it is nasty outside. We were still glowing from the wedding and after an hour and a half of waiting in the airport...we took off for MCO.

We landed in Orlando around 11:30am Eastern Time to perfect weather. We heard from other people that it had rained Friday and Saturday, but that the weather would be perfect for our stay. I took DW by the hand and we were off to board Disney's Magical Express...which was on the total opposite end of the airport from where we arrived. As we got closer we saw a line that looked at least an hour long. Great...not even to WDW and we have to stand in line. I got out the DME info that my travel agent (shout out to MouseFanTravel.com!) sent me so I could make sure we had everything we needed. A CM (I think) saw my info and told us that we didn't need to stand in line...that we could go ahead and proceed forward to the buses. How awesome was that!!! All those people were in line because they hadn't added DME to their package. What an awesome travel agent that she took care of that for us! So...we headed to our bus and boarded it...and were on our way. Total time from the plane to the bus was about 25 minutes!

The trip had already started off with a bang. Could it get better? Of course! Our resort...Port Orleans Riverside...was the first stop on our route! So about 35 minutes after leaving the airport we were standing at the front desk of the resort. We checked in...got our "Just Married" buttons and then the CM said she had something for us. She went to the back and returned with a huge basket full of goodies, wine, glasses, and of course the Mickey & Minnie Just Married Ears! We grabbed everything and headed to our room...which was already ready...at 12:30! Well...it was supposed to be ready. We got there and it was obvious that it had not been cleaned or made up. So I called mouse-keeping and they sent someone pronto to take care of it and she assured us that it would be fixed when we got back from the parks.

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So off we headed to our first park as a married couple...
Last edited by theBIGyowski on Oct Thu 14, 2010 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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1986: Offsite
1997: Offsite
2001: Coronado Springs
2008: Shades of Green / Saratoga Springs (WDW Half Marathon)
2009: Port Orleans French Quarter (WDW Half Marathon)
2010: Port Orleans Riverside (Honeymoon)
2011: Old Key West / Bay Lake Tower
2014: Kidani Village
2015: Old Key West (5th Wedding Anniversary)
2016: Old Key West (Kids' first WDW vacation in December!)

theBIGyowski
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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by theBIGyowski » Oct Thu 14, 2010 3:54 pm

EPCOT

We arrived at the gate in record time and couldn't believe that it had only been about 3 hours since our plane took off from Birmingham, AL...and we were already in Epcot! It was right around 1:00pm and we made a beeline straight to The Land. Why? Because I wanted to meet one of my WDW heroes...Lou Mongello. DW had no clue what he looked like so I told her to just look for a short, happy Italian man. We walked around for a few minutes and I started giving up hope...knowing that Lou was only going to be there until 1:30. We got something to eat at Sunshine Seasons and looked for a table. Then DW tapped me on my shoulder and said "is that him?" Of course...it was Lou Mongello...the happiest little Italian man in the world. I ate as fast as I could and we then went over to meet him. I got him to autograph a WDW hat I had just bought and we took a picture with him. I will try to get it uploaded so everyone can see.

After that we headed to drink some Beverly and then backtracked it to try and catch Captain EO.
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After Captain EO we decided to walk around the WS and just look at them from the path since we knew we would be going back on another day. We had an ADR for 7:45pm at Coral Reef...but we decided to go see if we could get a table at 6:45 since we were tired and hungry. Either we were lucky or the CM noticed our "Just Married" buttons...because we were seated in about 5 minutes of checking in. Pretty awesome...also awesome that we got a table right next to the giant tank! I think we were sitting in the exact same spot as Danny Tanner and his girlfriend when they ate there on Full House. Anyway...the food was excellent and we decided to head back to the resort instead of watching Illuminations...since we were about to pass out and we knew we would be back in Epcot later in the week.

SSE is just so beautiful at night...isn't it?
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We got back to the room and had two love birds made out of towels waiting for us on the bed. I have pictures of these somewhere too...so I will have to upload them. We showered and hit the sack for a good night's sleep. Awesome first day!
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1986: Offsite
1997: Offsite
2001: Coronado Springs
2008: Shades of Green / Saratoga Springs (WDW Half Marathon)
2009: Port Orleans French Quarter (WDW Half Marathon)
2010: Port Orleans Riverside (Honeymoon)
2011: Old Key West / Bay Lake Tower
2014: Kidani Village
2015: Old Key West (5th Wedding Anniversary)
2016: Old Key West (Kids' first WDW vacation in December!)

theBIGyowski
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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by theBIGyowski » Oct Thu 14, 2010 4:13 pm

Day 2: (8/30/2010)

We woke up, got ready, and headed out the door to the park that started it all...

Magic Kingdom

Going to Epcot on the first day was awesome...but nothing quite compares to arriving at MK for the first time as a married couple. So right after walking in I took a picture of DW with her button on.
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We made our way around the corner and onto Main Street USA. What a beautiful sight! We did the obligatory picture in front of the castle via Disney's Photopass and then made our way to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain. We got a FastPass and then got in line. The refurb of it was awesome and we loved the music and sound effects. Also nice that there was hardly any line. Oh...did I mention that every CM that saw us with our buttons on said "Congratulations!"? It was so cool to hear because it reminded us why we were there and made us that much happier. It never got old either...to our surprise. Anyway...we rode Space Mountain and then Buzz Lightyear. We then headed over to Fantasyland to check out the construction and ride Peter Pan.
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Being newlyweds I knew I had to give DW a kiss as we floated over London...so that was totally awesome! A little difficult in the dark...but we managed. Then we rode Haunted Mansion and headed to Frontierland. There we got a FastPass to BTMR and rode Splash Mountain. Surprisingly we did not get soaked like a few other people in our log. After that we ate at Pecos Bill...and boy was it great food! Thank you FREE Dining Plan! After eating we took a nice ride on the Liberty Belle while our food settled. We got off the boat and rode BTMR to wake us back up. After that we got a Dole Whip float and shared that.

That's when I got an awesome idea...
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1986: Offsite
1997: Offsite
2001: Coronado Springs
2008: Shades of Green / Saratoga Springs (WDW Half Marathon)
2009: Port Orleans French Quarter (WDW Half Marathon)
2010: Port Orleans Riverside (Honeymoon)
2011: Old Key West / Bay Lake Tower
2014: Kidani Village
2015: Old Key West (5th Wedding Anniversary)
2016: Old Key West (Kids' first WDW vacation in December!)

theBIGyowski
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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by theBIGyowski » Oct Thu 14, 2010 4:23 pm

(Day 2 Cont.)

I got the idea to hop on the Resort Monorail and stop at each one of the resorts along the way! I had always wanted to do that but never had the time. So DW and I left MK and took the Monorail to the Contemporary. I think this was DW's first time inside the Contemporary and we both loved it. We went in the shop there to look for a few things and then walked around the grounds to soak in the atmosphere. After about 30 minutes we hopped back on the Monorail and headed to the Polynesian. This resort will always be special to me because even though I have never stayed there...my parents took me there for a character breakfast back on my first trip when I was 4 years old. DW loved the lobby and couldn't believe that we were still on WDW property...because it felt like Hawaii! We got a beer in the gift shop and decided to walk around the property. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip...just strolling around the Poly grounds...sipping on our beers. It was so quiet...the weather was perfect...and the scenery unmatched. The torches were lit and the sun was beginning to go down. We made our way to the beach and since there was no one there...we decided to relax on one of the swings.
Below is a picture looking at MK from the beach and another one looking at the sunset. The third one is DW sitting on the bench with my beer...both of them wanting me to come back to the swing.
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The beach there really was just perfect and the breeze made you think you were in Hawaii. We were reluctant to even leave but knew we had one more resort to get to before the sun went down and then we had to be back inside MK before Wishes. So we hopped back on the Monorail and headed over to the Grand Floridian. After going in there it is easy to see where it got its name...and why it's the flagship resort!
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It was easily the most stunning lobby either of us had ever seen. The music that was playing was so pleasant and relaxing. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then we looked across the way and saw that it was a live band playing...a live band! It was so romantic walking around the lobby and hearing the beautiful music. We then headed outside to the beach and just sat out there for a while. Life really couldn't get any better. As the sun went down we knew we needed to head back to MK to catch MSEP and Wishes. So that's what we did...got us a turkey leg in Frontierland...and staked out a spot for the parade.

The MSEP was great and it really brought me back to when I was a little kid on my first trip. I think I got a few good pictures with DW's camera that I will try to upload soon. After the parade was over we headed to the main hub to get a spot for Wishes. We were both dead tired...but knew that the fireworks would be a perfect ending to our day. We were right and you just couldn't help but to get choked up watching those fireworks and hearing each Disney character make their wishes. As soon as the fireworks were over we made our way out of the park...along with the rest of God's creation it seemed.
I somehow found a way to turn around and take a picture of the castle without getting trampled.
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We got to the bus area and noticed that our resort bus stop had a line a mile long! So I took DW by the hand and we walked over to the POFQ bus stop. The two resorts are joined...so it wasn't that big of a deal. We loaded onto that bus probably a good 30 minutes earlier than we would have if we had stayed with the Riverside bus line. We arrived at POFQ and walked through it to get to the Sassagoula River. I was happy because I got to show DW where I had stayed on my last trip there at POFQ and how beautiful it is. We walked alongside the river and eventually made it to Riverside...and our room...for a good night's sleep.

To be continued...
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1986: Offsite
1997: Offsite
2001: Coronado Springs
2008: Shades of Green / Saratoga Springs (WDW Half Marathon)
2009: Port Orleans French Quarter (WDW Half Marathon)
2010: Port Orleans Riverside (Honeymoon)
2011: Old Key West / Bay Lake Tower
2014: Kidani Village
2015: Old Key West (5th Wedding Anniversary)
2016: Old Key West (Kids' first WDW vacation in December!)

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by MmeLeota » Oct Thu 14, 2010 5:16 pm

WOW! Great report so far!! It sounds like this is going to be the most special trip to the parks that the two of you will ever take. :D I really like that idea of hitting the MK resorts around sunset. The picture of the Poly beach is absolutely gorgeous!!!

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by Amy » Oct Thu 14, 2010 7:14 pm

Great trip report Big, can't wait to hear more! Sounds like everything so far was quite magical for your Disneymoon :D
theBIGyowski wrote:The third one is DW sitting on the bench with my beer...both of them wanting me to come back to the swing.
very clever tag line by the way ;)

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by NaCler » Oct Fri 15, 2010 6:10 am

Big... GREAT trip report so far! Keep it coming!

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by wewantsdaredhead » Oct Fri 15, 2010 8:26 am

So far so good!
Keep it coming...

:)

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by mindflipper » Oct Fri 15, 2010 9:01 am

theBIGyowski wrote:Image
Now THAT's a BEVERLY face!!!! :lol:

Great report and it seems like you're both having a great time for the Honeymoon!

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by Future Guy » Oct Fri 15, 2010 9:21 am

Great report so far! I've always wanted to stroll around the Poly; we'll have to do that before our APs expire; maybe it'll make Future Gal want to stay there!

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by boilerbabe » Oct Fri 15, 2010 10:39 am

Great trip report so far, loving the pictures! You two make a handsome couple!!! Looking forward to reading more.
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theBIGyowski
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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by theBIGyowski » Oct Fri 15, 2010 11:14 am

Day 3: (8/31/2010)

Day 3 had an absolutely beautiful morning. There were clouds in the sky, but still plenty of sunshine. There was also a nice breeze to keep you from getting too hot. We made some room coffee and headed to the main bus stop. Along the way I decided to take some pictures.
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So we hopped on the bus and made our way to our next park...

Animal Kingdom

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Very first thing we did was head straight for Expedition Everest to get some FastPasses. The standby line was only 20 minutes...so we hopped in line. DW had never been to Animal Kingdom before...so today was going to be a whole new experience for her. You can't help but to be in awe of the level of detail done on this queue...heck...the whole park! The only downside is that sometimes you get unruly kids who love ringing the bells in the outside part of the queue...and it gets old really, really, really fast! So we made our way to the train and had the ride of our lives! DW loved it and couldn't wait to go back on...but the line had grown to 45 minutes...so we decided to come back later and use the FPs. Oh yeah...Yeti was broken and that was sad...but DW didn't know any different so at least it didn't ruin anything for her.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat from the Yak & Yeti quick service stand. Nothing like some Chinese food to get you day going! After that we headed over to Dinoland USA to ride Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. Both lines were unusually long probably because they were only using one side of the rides. Regardless...we both had a blast on everything. We were feeling a little thirsty...so we went back to Asia and found a stand selling Indian beer and jalapeno cheese-stuffed pretzels. Let me just say that pretzel was one of the best snacks I have ever eaten in my life. It was like the white queso inside of a pretzel! Mmmmmmm. I took a picture of it...but with DW's camera...so will have to post it later. Anyway...we looked for a place to sit down and eat and found a huge seating area directly across the water from EE. There was nobody around...at all...and it was somewhat quiet. We almost thought we were somewhere we shouldn't have been...but there were no ropes or anything keeping you out of that area. So we ate and drank and relaxed...a must-do on your honeymoon. We finished up there and headed to Africa for the Safari...and had a blast on it. We were sitting on the first row so we could ask lots of questions to the CM...which was really cool.
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After the safari we walked out into Harambe as Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade was going on.
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Once it passed us we headed towards the Tree of Life and caught the first half of the parade...hooray for shortcuts! After Mickey passed us again we went back to the Tree of Life to catch ITTBAB. It still blows me away with how much detail they were able to put into the animals carved into the Tree of Life. I tried taking a picture of DW and myself...but the flash kinda washed us out.
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We thoroughly enjoyed ITTBAB but needed something to get the blood flowing again. So...we headed over to EE to use the FP. By this time EMH were kicking in...and it was amazing how many people had left the park! When we got to EE we noticed the standby line was only 10 minutes...so we decided to not use the FPs we had so DW could scrapbook them when she gets a chance. So we rode EE...in the middle. We got off...and got right back in line...and rode in the middle again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYe3HdVXVtM
Got off and got back in line again. This time we asked the CM if we could sit in the front...so she pulled us to the side and when a front car opened she sent us up there. Totally awesome riding up front because the wind is in your face and you feel very vulnerable to the Yeti. Only problem was that as you go downhill...you have to wait for the back of the train to come up and over before you can go fast...so we decided to ride it again...this time in the back. So back through the queue and waited for a back car to open up. Totally different experience in the back! The train feels a lot faster and you feel like you are a mile away from the Yeti animation you see with him tearing up the track...as opposed to feeling right there when you are in the front car. We got off this last time and I was feeling a bit woozy...with my stomach in my throat. So we headed over to Dinosaur and rode it one last time before leaving the park.

We had ADRs at Boma...so we hopped on the bus going to AKL. I had never even seen that resort before so of course we were blown away when we got there. What a beautiful resort...from top to bottom! We had about an hour before our ADR time, so we walked around the lobby, stores, and then outside to check out the animals. It was so quiet and peaceful out there! After relaxing outside we went down to Boma and were seated without too much of a wait. Our server was awesome...wish I could remember her name...but she made our dining experience spectacular! The food was amazing and by the end we were stuffed! This was definitely a place we wanted to come back to once we have kids.

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There was no way to get back to our resort from AKL...so we caught the bus to DTD and then took the boat from there to Riverside. A nice little treat along the way was that Illuminations and Wishes were going on at the exact same time...and from our boat we could see both of them on our right and left. It was really cool and made the boat ride that much more romantic. We got back to the room...poured some champagne...and took a stroll around our resort to walk off all the food we ate at Boma.

After that we hit the sack to recharge for another day...
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1986: Offsite
1997: Offsite
2001: Coronado Springs
2008: Shades of Green / Saratoga Springs (WDW Half Marathon)
2009: Port Orleans French Quarter (WDW Half Marathon)
2010: Port Orleans Riverside (Honeymoon)
2011: Old Key West / Bay Lake Tower
2014: Kidani Village
2015: Old Key West (5th Wedding Anniversary)
2016: Old Key West (Kids' first WDW vacation in December!)

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by Amy » Oct Fri 15, 2010 12:05 pm

Wow! You guys packed a lot into your days! I love all your photos too :D

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by mindflipper » Oct Fri 15, 2010 1:14 pm

I've never been to AKL either, so thanks for the photos. I agree with you about being in awe of its interior.

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Re: Yowski's Honeymoon at WDW!

Post by Mousekedude » Oct Fri 15, 2010 3:26 pm

Loving your report so far, Big! The pics of POR and AKL are especially nice.... POR is special to us because it's the first (and second) resort we've ever stayed at, and on our upcoming trip in December we'll be doing a split stay there and at the Boardwalk, so that will make three stays at POR. And AKL is our favorite resort for the theming... we've stayed there three times too.
The quality of your pics is outstanding! What camera body and lenses are you using?

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