“We better get towel animals, it’s our honeymoon!!” PTR Update:Started Trip Report!

[DisneysRedhead]

Hello all! I know I haven’t posted much, but I lurk the boards constantly. Lately I have been reading people’s trip reports and it made me really want to create my own! Actually, I started one a long time ago but I didn’t really get how it worked and nothing came of it, so I am starting over and trying again! Hopefully, I make some new friends too!

Who?

Me (Taryn): 23 yrs old, and lover of all things Disney. My parents raised me on Disney movies and yearly visits to WDW, resulting in my current obsession. I have been to WDW about 14 or 15 times, Disneyland once and Tokyo Disney twice. My dream is to also see the Paris and Hong Kong parks, but that’s way in the future. Currently I am unemployed so in-between job hunting, my days are spent planning our honeymoon and our wedding. I love spreadsheets and charts and that’s how I’ve managed to organize both.

Andy: Almost 24 yrs old, and lover of me! Andy has never ever been to WDW. In fact he is not a fan of theme parks since he worked at Paramount Kings Dominion several years ago. I had to explain how they are so different and WDW isn’t just a theme park, it’s a way of life, but he’ll figure it out when we get there. He still does enjoy several Disney films though and as our honeymoon gets closer he seems to be expressing more interest. (Unless it’s all for show on my account)

Why?
Why not?? Honestly when it came time to decide where we were going for our honeymoon, I knew all along that I had to go to WDW. Andy wasn't completely sold on this idea but when I started to show him our other options we either weren't interested, couldn't take that kind of time off or it was too expensive. In the end, WDW won and he relented. It's ok, I am determined to make a believer out of him and I do know there are plenty of things there that he will love.

What?
What is with the silly title? Well as I stated earlier, Andy has slowly shown more interesting in our upcoming trip. The other day I was looking through trip reports and he was looking over my shoulder. Suddenly, he stops me and asks “Oh! What is that?” I start to explain to him that it’s a towel animal and then try to find him more pictures. He asks if we will get any but I tell him that mouse keeping doesn’t always do it and even if they do it may only do it a couple of days. His response was of course “We better get towel animals, it’s our honeymoon!!” So, it is now on my to-do-list to inform the hotel of our towel animal needs.

Where?
We are going to be staying at the Port Orleans Riverside, which Andy actually picked out! Originally, I was thinking about CBR, but I decided to make him feel involved and show him all the resorts. I knew he'd pick POR and now that I have done more research, I am extremely pleased!!

When?
We will be heading to our Disneymoon the day after our wedding! I wanted to waste no time. We will be there from November 9, 2009 to November 15, 2009.

Ok, I promise to update with a lot more information tomorrow! I'm excited to get started!

Table of Contents:

8/21/2009 Disneymoon Clothes
8/24/2009 Transportation
8/25/2009 Backpack List
8/26/2009 Day One Plans
8/28/2009 Day Two Plans
9/01/2009 Day Three Plans + Other Updates
9/07/2009 Day Four Plans
9/13/2009 Day Five Plans
9/13/2009 Wedding Plans
9/15/2009 Day Six Plans
9/17/2009 Day Seven Plans
9/18/2009 The Spreadsheet!!
9/21/2009 Paid in Full/More Wedding Stuff
9/25/2009 Gearing Up W/ Disney Gear
10/01/2009 Mickey Mail!
10/06/2009 Disney Princess Bridal Shower
10/11/2009 PUMPKINS!
11/01/2009 8 More Days!
11/08/2009 Getting Married!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great start Taryn! And congrats on the upcoming wedding and Disney trip. How exciting for your future husband's first Disney trip!

I'm on-board for more!

Oh, and we will be at POR the same time as you!

 

[DisneysRedhead]

Great start Taryn! And congrats on the upcoming wedding and Disney trip. How exciting for your future husband's first Disney trip!

I'm on-board for more!

Oh, and we will be at POR the same time as you!

I know! Im almost more excited for him than myself!! Maybe we will see you there! We shouldn't be hard to spot with our ears

 

[reyasmommy]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!!

My husband and I were married and honeymooned at Disney 8 years ago, and it was the most amazing experience. You're going to have a fabulous, romantic, magical time!

Look foward to reading more!

 

[DisneysRedhead]

Since I received a package in the mail today, I thought I would share my new shirt and a couple other things I have purchased for the Disneymoon!!

First and foremost, I bought these in the Disney store a couple of weeks ago when I was up in NYC:

I also purchased this in NYC at H&M:

Even though I'm hoping the weather will be warm, at night it will probably cool down, so I figured this would be perfect!

I ordered this off ebay and it just came today:

I just want to buy more!!! But at the same time I kind of want to wait and see what they have in TrenD. It's hard being impatient!

More updates later!

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

You got your self another follower! I have to be honest and up front... I am jealous ! You get to go to the best place in the whole wide world 2 weeks before me...

 

[DisneysRedhead]

Started my day late today but I still have plenty of time for an update! I realized that I haven't really posted any info on how we are getting to and from WDW, so here ya go:

Arrival:
Monday 11/9/09:
Flying Airtran Airways @ 7:30am to arrive around 9:30am
Most likely we will get up at around 5:00am and try to be out of the house by 5:30. We live 10 minutes from the airport so ther isn't a huge need to rush.

Once in Orlando we will be taking the ME to POR. As much as I keep toying around with the idea of renting a car, its just extra money we don't need to spend. I have decided if we are ever in a hurry we can just rent a taxi. We also won't be checking in luggage since I just don't want to spend $30 on two suitcases. I think we can survive with two carry on suitcases.

Departure:
Sunday 11/15/09
Take ME back to Airport (I'm assuming we will leave around 5:00pm so that gives us plenty of time to play around that morning)
Flying Airtran Airways @ 8:28pm to arrive home around 10:30pm.

The only issue I haven't worked out is how we will get to the airport. My parents and his parents both live 30 minutes away from us and I don't want them to have to wake up at 4:30am just to drive over and get us. So we are left with a few options.

Take a taxi to the airport: I have no idea how much this will cost so I think I need to call and find out an estimate. Since we live so close I just can't imagine it would cost that much. When we come home, we would probably have someone come get us, so we'd only pay for the taxi once.

Drive Ourselves: I really don't like the idea of leaving my car in the airport for 7 days but I guess tons of people do it so it can't be that bad right? Well we have two choices if we decide to drive ourselves:
A.) Park in the economy parking which is $7 a day ($49 total). That's not too bad, except its not in front of the airport and you have to take a shuttle. That means we would need to arrive a little earlier so that we have enough time to wait for a shuttle and then for it to get us to the airport. Probably add an extra 20 minutes.
B.) Park in the Daily Parking that is directly in front of the airport. This would be ideal but it is $12 a day ($84 total). I know a taxi would be cheaper than that, hands down. So...even though it's the most convenient it's also the most expensive.

I'll figure it out but it's still early.

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

We are bogged down with the same prediciment. Although, we live an hour and a half from the airport and will need to leave the house by 4:00 AM . We too only need to come up with transportation TO the airport, as we will have someone pick us up when we get home. My vote for you is a taxi, I too am weary about leaving my car at the airport, especially in the economy lot...

 

[DisneysRedhead]

We are bogged down with the same prediciment. Although, we live an hour and a half from the airport and will need to leave the house by 4:00 AM . We too only need to come up with transportation TO the airport, as we will have someone pick us up when we get home. My vote for you is a taxi, I too am weary about leaving my car at the airport, especially in the economy lot...

Yeah, I think after typing it all out I am leaning toward the taxi too. Ive had my car broken into before...not at an airport, but just leaving it alone that long makes me nervous that it will happen again.

I can't imagine living so far away from the airport! I'm just spoiled

 

[mickeystoontown]

I wanna sign on too. How great is it that you get to take your first hubby on his first trip to Disney. Hopefully he'll fall in love with it just like you.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[SilverL]

I need to inform the hotel about our towel animal needs as well!! I heard that sometimes they don't do them if they know it's just adults in the room.

 

[DisneysRedhead]

I am very much a list person and so of course I have already made a list of things that I want to carry in our backpack for the parks. Here is what I am hoping will be the final list (Red if I have purchased it or already own):
- Disposable Ponchos (bought 4 at dollar store, may buy more)
- Sunscreen (try to find travel size)
- Extra socks
- Sunglasses
- Nintendo DS
- Advil, Zyrtec, Airborne and Tums(try to find in travel size)
- Gum
- Extra Batteries for camera
- Extra hair ties and headband
- Waterbottles (To be ordered from Costco)
- Mini hair straightener
- Camera
- Hand Sanitizer
- Ziplock bags
- Small pouch for money/credit cards

It seems like a lot but I’m one of those that always needs to be prepared. The mini hair straightner might seem crazy but my hair is super curly. I don’t really care as much about the rest of my hair but my bangs look stupid if they start to curl. So I’m going to buy this thing: Straightner

I also need to purchase us a backpack and I am debating what to get but I think in the end I will just order or find this one:Backpack

I also think I want to buy a new digital camera because mine is awful but I may end up borrowing someone else’s to take with me.

 

[SilverL]

It seems like a lot but I’m one of those that always needs to be prepared.

I'm one of those people who could never get by with just a fanny pack at the parks. Actually, I bought a really cute purse that matches a lot of my vacation clothes, but now I'm contemplating wearing a small backpack instead. My DH will have a backpack, so maybe I just need to get over it. I think I'll bring both.

On our last trip, my mom needed a scooter, so we were spoiled. All of our junk went on the scooter.

Don't forget extra batteries if necessary. Also, we are bringing anti-bacterial wipes in addition to hand sanitizer so we can wipe down the tables at Quick Service restaurants before we eat. You don't know what some people do at those tables

Do you share my germ phobia as well?

 

[DisneysRedhead]

I'm one of those people who could never get by with just a fanny pack at the parks. Actually, I bought a really cute purse that matches a lot of my vacation clothes, but now I'm contemplating wearing a small backpack instead. My DH will have a backpack, so maybe I just need to get over it. I think I'll bring both.

On our last trip, my mom needed a scooter, so we were spoiled. All of our junk went on the scooter.

Don't forget extra batteries if necessary. Also, we are bringing anti-bacterial wipes in addition to hand sanitizer so we can wipe down the tables at Quick Service restaurants before we eat. You don't know what some people do at those tables

Do you share my germ phobia as well?

Oh man such a good idea! I have hand sanitizer on my list but I never would have thought of the wipes. Those could be extremely useful indeed! The batteries are covered, I bought a pack of 16 AA at walmart!

I'm not as afraid of germs as I am just a clean freak. When things are messy it literally makes me depressed. My brother however has had severe issues with germs since he was old enough to understand what they are. He used to wake up in the middle of the night to wash his hands!!

 

[SafetyPinndSally]

My DH and I Honeymooned in Disney when we got married back in February and we're going again for our 1 Year as well as my Birthday. You will have a great time and just remember: Even when things go wrong (if they do at all) while you're in WDW, you are will the man that you love, your Prince Charming and sometimes that's better than anything.

I remember when we went...we ended up sitting on HM for almost an hour because something happened and instead of getting upset because we were going to miss our ADR, DH and I just sat there and laughed and made stupid jokes and stories about the ride and in the end we didn't care about dinner and just went to Capt. Cooks when we left the park.

Also be prepared for a lot of showing off of the rings and people fawning over you because it's going to happen.

Anyways, I'm subbing and will be reading your PTR and TR in preparation for my own.

 

[DisneysRedhead]

My DH and I Honeymooned in Disney when we got married back in February and we're going again for our 1 Year as well as my Birthday. You will have a great time and just remember: Even when things go wrong (if they do at all) while you're in WDW, you are will the man that you love, your Prince Charming and sometimes that's better than anything.

I remember when we went...we ended up sitting on HM for almost an hour because something happened and instead of getting upset because we were going to miss our ADR, DH and I just sat there and laughed and made stupid jokes and stories about the ride and in the end we didn't care about dinner and just went to Capt. Cooks when we left the park.

Also be prepared for a lot of showing off of the rings and people fawning over you because it's going to happen.

Anyways, I'm subbing and will be reading your PTR and TR in preparation for my own.

Congrats on recently being married! And thank you for the advice. I think that is the only problem with my consistent need to plan is I forget that things don't always need to go according to plan! My fiance is the kind of person who plans what he's doing that day, I plan what I'm doing next month, so we tend to balance each other out

And oh I'm ready for fawning! Bring it on!

 

[DisneysRedhead]

In due time, I will eventually post a picture of my spreadsheet because I am very proud of it! However, if I post it now I can't stretch out this PTR!

So I think I will take you guys through our trip by day! Restaurants are in green:

Day 1 (Monday November 9)

Even though we will be exhausted from our wedding the day before, I'm hoping the Disney adrenaline will kick us into gear! We will wake up at 5 and try to be out of the house at 5:30, if not a little earlier. I think this is completely possible if I do my make up at the airport and we have everything ready to go the night before. (Packings, showers, etc) As I stated earlier, we also live like 10 minutes away, so we'll be alright.

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 7:30 am and we will hopefully arrive at Orlando around 9:30. I am going to bring my laptop so hubby and I can watch Wall E on the plane(He LOVES that movie.) We will take the Magical Express and I am hoping to arrive at Port Orleans Riverside around 10:30am. We will get checked in and leave our bags (I'm sure the room won't be ready by the time we get there)

Then it's off to play! We might stroll around the resort for a little while but then we will take the boat to DTD and go get an early lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. After that we will try to hit up all the stores: World of Disney, Days of Christmas, Pin Traders, Goofy's Candy Company, Lego Store, Mickey's Mart and Tren-D. I'm hoping to at least get an ornament made at the X-mas store with our wedding date on it!

We will also go hit up DisneyQuest which despite it's bad reviews, I still love and I think Andy is going to really enjoy it too. Hopefully it will be pretty empty and we can get everything done pretty quickly.

Finally we will top the night off with dinner at Raglan Road (6:30pm). I think we will be really tired and want to be well rested for the next day, so after dinner it will be back to the room for well needed rest!

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

November 9th is right around the corner!!! Day 1 looks great! I read on the boards that there is a spot in Germany at Epcot that you can make custom glassblown ornaments - just a heads up!

 

[SafetyPinndSally]

Sounds like a great day to have after your wedding the day before...relaxing enough, but still doing something Disney.

When we went that's kind of what we did when we arrived...avoided the parks and just chilled at DTD. You might want to think about heading over to the Poly beach...maybe catch Wishes and enjoy that gorgeous resort( I am biased because it's my favorite). Maybe you could stop into Capt. Cooks, get a snack and then head to a hammock and cuddle while you watch the fireworks, very romantic and relaxing end to a first day.

 

[DisneysRedhead]

Sounds like a great day to have after your wedding the day before...relaxing enough, but still doing something Disney.

When we went that's kind of what we did when we arrived...avoided the parks and just chilled at DTD. You might want to think about heading over to the Poly beach...maybe catch Wishes and enjoy that gorgeous resort( I am biased because it's my favorite). Maybe you could stop into Capt. Cooks, get a snack and then head to a hammock and cuddle while you watch the fireworks, very romantic and relaxing end to a first day.

Well we have ADR's at Kona another day so I figure we will see Poly in due time. Plus after our dinner at Raglan Road, I think after that we will just want to go back to the room and crash! Although the hammocks do sound enticing....

November 9th is right around the corner!!! Day 1 looks great! I read on the boards that there is a spot in Germany at Epcot that you can make custom glassblown ornaments - just a heads up!

Ohh! Thanks for that, we will have to check that out. We need lots of ornaments for our x-mas tree this year!