Disneymoon Take Two - No Broken Ankles This Time (March '19 PTR- updated 3/8)

[Justplainchy]

Hello everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster. This is going to be my first Trip Report...though right now it's my first PRE-Trip Report as we're not headed to Disney until March 15th, 2019.
So I guess let's start with introductions and the basics!
First, the who: That would be me Disney Planner/Fiend (depending on the day) aka: Chy

(This is me at Festival of the Holidays enjoying a flight of Ice Wine)
I'm a Special Education teacher from Texas who loves dogs, writing, bad movies and Disney! Favorite character is Simba, favorite ride is Haunted Mansion (and FoP -- but that feels like a cop out since it's the best), and favorite restaurant is still Le Cellier (even if it was better five years ago).

Second: The Nala to my Simba, the Minnie to my Mickey, definitely my better half, my wife Jo

(I may get in trouble for using this as her introductory picture, but she's just so excited!)
She also works in education (but with High-schoolers, yuck! ) but she's from Stockholm, Sweden -- she lives with me in Texas now. Her favorite characters are Ariel and Stitch, and her favorite ride was Mission: Space (orange side), but on our last trip she confessed maybe Frozen Ever After was replacing it! Her favorite restaurant is ALSO Le Cellier (though I'll admit I didn't know that until I wrote up this report and asked her #greatspousepointsforme).

Past trips for me include going twice as a kid, then every summer for three years as my mom went to an education conference at one of the Disney Springs (it was Downtown Disney then!) hotels and I tagged along, a trip with my whole family in 2012 and then my first trip with Jo (and my mom!) during the ridiculously crowded Christmas to New Years week in 2017. That was her first time at Disney World and she fell in love (thank goodness!)! The most recent trip we've taken was this past December for 4 days when our ridiculously kind friends offered us a free hotel stay at their off-site timeshare. It was a great little taste of Disney and only served to make us MORE EXCITED for our upcoming big trip!

Here we are together (with Stitch!) being cute:


Like I said, I'm so stupidly excited about this trip -- it's the second time we're trying to take our Disney Honeymoon!!! The last one was booked for June 18-26th of 2018 after two years of saving and trying to find time off together. THEN, for my wife's birthday on June 5th, we decided to go rollerskating.

Whomp, whomp. (Super attractive, I know!)
Clumsy adults shouldn't rollerskate, that's what we learned. Surgery a week later and Doctor's orders and our first Disneymoon was officially off. We went back and forth on when we should reschedule (summer again? winter break?) but finally decided on Spring Break as I was sure I'd be up to Disney-Level walking then, it wouldn't be as hot for my Swedish wife, and I'd never been in spring before! It'll be during Flower & Garden, which is exciting because I've only ever seen Festival of the Holidays and Epcot is my favorite park.

We're 48 days out, and I'm so excited to share our plans and pick your brains!

The travel basics:
Dates: Friday 3/15- Saturday 3/23
Flights: Leave AUS @ 6:20 AM arrive MCO @10:00
(this was originally scheduled to be a flight that left at 10:20 am, but Jetblue changed it, and I'll never say no to extra Disney time, even if I'm not excited about getting up that early)
Leave MCO 3/23 at 9:25PM, arrive AUS @11:29
Staying: Coronado Springs Resort
Extras 'cause Disneymoon: Deluxe Dining Plan, Two DAH events (AK & MK) and one Dessert Party
AND EPCOT SNORKELING
(I found out when I was like 14 that you could snorkel at epcot, and it's been my dream ever since. My wonderful wife got the aquatour for me for Christmas and I'm so excited I can barely stand it!)

In the next post I'll talk about our dining reservations, get your opinions about Yachtman's versus Paddleboat, and our Fastpass plans! Thanks for coming along!! ​

 

[stan]

Whoo-hoo! Sounds great! My wife and I are going for the first time of just the two of us (we've been several times with kids) next week for a few days. Epcot is our favorite park as well!

 

[Justplainchy]

Whoo-hoo! Sounds great! My wife and I are going for the first time of just the two of us (we've been several times with kids) next week for a few days. Epcot is our favorite park as well!

Thanks for following along! And hooray to you for a couples trip! I hope you and your wife have a fantastic time! We love Epcot! It gets slammed a lot as being boring, but we love all the big rides there and we love just wandering WS and trying food from everywhere. It's the one time I'm bummed we have the DDP because I'd totally spend all my meals one day wandering through the different booths at F&G.

 

[Justplainchy]

Reservations Palooza: or, can two people actually eat that much food?

Hey everyone! Welcome back to the riveting pre-planning report for our Disneymoon! Today I'll share our dining reservation plans and solicit input on them:thoughts, fears, encouragement, experiences you've had, etc! Jo and I are both pretty big foodies, so when we realized we were going to do our honeymoon at Disney, we decided pretty quickly we would go with a moderate resort so we could afford the Deluxe Dining Plan. I had used it once before with my family on a trip and I loved being able to eat at some of these restaurants I'd never pick on a usual park day. Also, because of the ankle having built in hour+ breaks is really handy to keep me from pushing through when it's screaming at me for walking so much and ending up totally miserable. Because the deluxe plan includes an app, entree, dessert and drink for each person, our goal was to have two sit-down meals a day. One breakfast or early lunch and then a later dinner at a Signature restaurant. It worked (mostly) as we planned them out -- some days we're at a Signature twice, but overall I think it'll keep us from having to roll from place to place like little balloons!

SO, down to the details:

Arrival Day: Friday, 3/15
Lunch: Morimoto (2pm) - I admit, I'm obsessed because of Iron Chef, but I actually saw him in person at MGM hotel once a couple years ago, so when I found out he had a restaurant at Disney Springs and it was on the DP, it was a must. I had a hard time working it in until Jetblue switched our flights, so now we don't have to leave a park to eat here! Hooray!
Dinner: Currently Yachtsman, likely switching to Flying Fish (9:25pm): due to the removal of the lobster-as-you'd-like-it as an entree and some great recommendations from other DISers, we will likely switch this reservation for Flying Fish - I like seafood more than steak, and while Jo would rather have a steak, Flying Fish seems to have a nice steak too, with a lot more options for seafood.

Saturday 3/16: HS
Breakfast/Lunch: Snack Credits! - Because we got the Fantasmic package (it's one of our favorites and we don't want to burn a FP), our "dinner" reservation is at 4:25, so we don't want to eat a heavy breakfast. I have looked into Hollywood and Vine, but I think we'll just grab a light snack and enjoy dinner!
Dinner: Brown Derby Fantasmic Package (4:25pm)- I know a lot of people aren't impressed with Brown Derby, but I ate there in 2012 with family and just fell in love. It feels like it transports you from the park to an entirely different place, and I really enjoyed the duck two ways. This time I'm going to try that grapefruit cake!

Sunday 3/17: MK
Brunch: Brunch at the Top at California Grill (10:15am)- Okay, I'll admit. This is the meal I am the MOST excited about. Since I read about it on DisneyTourist, I wanted to go and I was able to snag a reservation pretty easily at 180 +2 days. I think it'll be a really awesome way to start our day and a good pre-cursor to the park. We haven't decided if we're going to rope drop and then come over, or just start out here. We'll see how tired we are!
Dinner: BoG (7:05pm)- We've done lunch at BoG before, but we're so excited about dinner! Our friends who invited us on that amazing whirlwind December trip had dinner there and loved it. I'm interested to see how the Pre-Fixe menu holds up and yeah, I'm a sucker for getting to meet Beast

Monday 3/18 AK
Breakfast/Lunch: ????? - Right now this one is sort of left open as we debate between Saluti Canteen and Tusker House -- I am really interested in Tusker House because I've never been, but we both really liked the bowls at Saluti when we went two Decembers ago. Give us your thoughts, please!!
Dinner: Tiffins (6:30pm) - Okay maybe I lied when I said I was most excited about Brunch at the Top. Maybe I'm the most excited about Tiffins! The food sounds so interesting, and we got a chance to do their Chef's menu (app and entree or entree and dessert from a limited menu for $35) the last time we were there, and it was a wonderful taste of what this restaurant can do! Also, the cocktails sound /amazing/. I'm hoping I can convince the wife to order one and a soda for herself so we can pay for the soda instead of an extra drink.

Tuesday 3/19: Epcot
Lunch: Teppan Edo (12:00pm) I'm excited about this one, because I love Hibachi, though I'm not sure what to expect with the DDP and the appetizer, entree, dessert thing here. If you have any experience with using the deluxe plan, please let me know what will happen! Wife has never done hibachi before so she's super excited to see the show!
Dinner: Le Cellier (7:30pm) Our favorite restaurant! The last time we were here we were paying OoP so we skipped an app and dessert. I'm so ready for some cheddar soup and pretzel breadddd. Jo's pumped for a good steak, and I'm hopeful they'll rotate in a delicious salmon dish or something similar. I'm hoping the ice wine flight will be allowed as the included drink, if not -- there's an ice wine cocktail I'm jazzed about. We tried ice wine when we went to Niagra Falls in 2014, and I've been not-so-secretly obsessed with it ever since.

Wednesday 3/20: AK
Lunch: Yak + Yeti (11:00am) I have fond memories of this restaurant from the trip in 2012, so I'm glad to try it again!
Dinner: Tiffins (6:20pm) Yeah, we have it here again. I'm not really sure what to do. We're doing DAH at AK today so we wanted to eat dinner in the park before that started and there's not really anywhere else Signature to go-- we don't want to do Rainforest Cafe (we have one in Texas), so right now we're doubling up. Give me your advice! Should we go somewhere else and then come back? Jiko, maybe? DAH doesn't start until 8:30, so we could definitely eat somewhere else and come in.... help!

Thursday 3/21: Epcot/MK
Breakfast: Garden Grill (9:45am) I've never done this meal before and I'm excited to try it. We originally had a reservation for Marrakesh for noon, but it's SNORKELING DAY, and that's at 12:30, so we switched to this breakfast.
Dinner: Snacks??? Here's the issue here: We're doing MK in the evening and have a reservation for the fireworks dessert package AND DAH: MK, so we don't want to be terribly full, but also it seems maybe dumb to waste a meal time and not have something to eat? Also we may be starving after not eating since 10:00am and swimming for about an hour in the middle there. We have to be at MK at 7:45, so...idk, maybe a dinner at California Grill or something around 5:30? Give me suggestions again!

Friday 3/22: MK
Breakfast: Crystal Palace (8:15am) We love Crystal Palace, but this reservation may be abandoned simply because we have DAH: MK the night before until 1:00am, and we don't know if we'll want to be up and moving again that early. Our dinner reservation is early though, so we're unsure. Right now we're leaving it and we'll see how exhausted we're feeling this late in the trip and maybe we'll just decide to sleep in!
Dinner: CRT (6:00pm) Another early dinner reservation that we may try to push back a little later into the evening if something comes up. I am SO EXCITED about this dinner. I mean, EATING IN THE CASTLE. WHAT. It's GONNA BE SO GREAT. Also I love champagne, and it seems like there is champagne. Also I like meeting Princesses. Jo finds it a little uncomfortable, but hey! She's a really good sport for me. So excited. Also a nice end to our trip, I think.

Saturday 3/23
Breakfast: Ohana (11:00am) We ended our last trip here and it was really magical: eating yummy food, drinking a Lapu Lapu, seeing the castle and getting to meet Stitch. Jo loves Stitch. So it sort of became an unofficial tradition that as many times as we could, we would end our trip at Ohana. But then, of course, Jetblue moved our return flight to 9:45 pm soo....
Lunch: ??? Right now we plan to maybe go back to AK for one last FoP ride (we got a FP), but that leaves us with the question: Should we try to grab dinner somewhere at the parks before we leave for the airport? We'll have credits so it makes sense, but should we go for sit-down? Or just a counter-service? I know CS is a terrible use of a credit on the DDP, but it's better than letting a credit go to waste. Maybe we'll have Saluti here and then do Tusker house before. I'd love input/comments/suggestions!

So that's it: the current state of our eating this trip. Just writing it out has my brain churning about things that can maybe be moved or places we should go. Do you think we're missing anywhere major we MUST hit for a Honeymoon? Do you have a better idea for any of those question marks? Are we trying to eat too much? Are we not eating enough? Is there a spot where you're like "omg, Chy, you crazy!": please let me know. What are your favorite romantic restaurants?

 

[Cloe Colton]

So Jiko is AMAZING so if I were you I would do Jiko first and leave Tiffins before DAH. Or even vise versa. Because Jiko is BOMB

Also if you have the extra 2 credits to do California Grill, do it. Seriously nothing beats that dinner or the view!

And i would do Tusker House the first AK day and just use counter service for your last meal. Because you'll be too sad to fully enjoy a sit down meal (darn those disney blues!) but I feel like Satuli Canteen would be the perfect last meal!

And lastly, dinner in the castle is my absolute favorite! You'll love it!

 

[Justplainchy]

So Jiko is AMAZING so if I were you I would do Jiko first and leave Tiffins before DAH. Or even vise versa. Because Jiko is BOMB

Also if you have the extra 2 credits to do California Grill, do it. Seriously nothing beats that dinner or the view!

And i would do Tusker House the first AK day and just use counter service for your last meal. Because you'll be too sad to fully enjoy a sit down meal (darn those disney blues!) but I feel like Satuli Canteen would be the perfect last meal!

And lastly, dinner in the castle is my absolute favorite! You'll love it!

I think you're right about all of this! I went ahead and booked Jiko for the night before DAH -- we're going to try really hard to do the "go back to the resort and rest" during the mid afternoon hours and then be back doing around 5:00, so I need to remind myself that means we can go other places to eat outside of the parks! We're usually a ropedrop to fireworks couple, but that's only sustainable for a few days (we did it over that new years to christmas trip, and we were beat by day six. Like, doing impressions de france four times in a row to take a nap each time, beat) so we're going to TRY. Now as long as we're not our own worst enemies....

And I think you've also go a point about Salut'i. We will be too bummed to really enjoy a meal, and that one is not so heavy we'll feel bogged down while we fly home. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Justplainchy]

Fast Pass Party Time: Or - This is What Being up at 6:00 and Having Two Bookers Gets You
Hello again everyone and welcome back to the pre-trip planning and lengthy explanation post that is this report! We're getting closer now (38 Daaaaays!!!!) and we're trying to make our final adjustments and get things locked in. Here are our current fast pass reservations. They're timed differently than we've ever timed them before: we tried to skip the first hour because we love rope dropping and found having that 9:00am FP often interrupted our touring around things with no lines, AND our last fast pass for a lot of them is later in the evening than usual. We're going to try really hard this trip to do the mid-day rest. We are usually a ropedrop to fireworks couple, but our goal on our honeymoon is not to be totally burnt out and exhausted by the end and to spend some time just relaxing and enjoying each other's company -- so we're planning on at least a couple hour break in the middle of the day. We'll see how it works out!

Saturday 3/16: HS
Star Tours 10:05
RnR 1:15
Slinky 5:30
I'm a rollercoaster wuss only because I hate that first big drop so I love RnR. I'm (believe it or not) a little nervous about Slinky -- but I'm going to trust that everyone says it's less intense than BTMRR, which I also love. Wife's favorite ride at HS is Star Tours so we try to ride it a couple times after rope drop AND grab a FP.

Sunday 3/17: MK
Space Mountain 1:10
Peter Pan 2:25
Big Thunder 4:45
Later FPs this morning because we're doing brunch at California Grill first! Space Mountain is for the wife (I used to love it and now it just sort of terrifies me) and BTMRR is for me! We both like PPF, but have missed it the last couple of trips because we didn't get a FP and we're not waiting 60+ min for it.

Monday: 3/18 AK
Safari 9:45
FoP 10:50
Dinosaur 5:20
I've never ridden EE (see the rollercoaster fear above), so these are our go-to FP for AK. We both love FoP (obviously), so our goal this day is to RD it, FP it and then jump in again at the end of the night. We'll see how it goes! Also, I adore that early morning (ish) Safari. And I know a lot of people dunk on it, but I love Dinosaur.

Tuesday: 3/19 Epcot
Frozen 10:30
Spacesip Earth 3:50
Mission: Space 5:05
Jo recently said Frozen was her favorite ride (sheepishly admitted as we rode it last trip), so we got a FP to avoid the hike to the back of the park after RD. We're going to try and hit Test Track at RD and then Soarin. But we've had good luck with Soarin FPs later in the day, so if it's too long after we get out of TT, we'll bank on that!

Wednesday: 3/20
FoP 9:40
Dinosaur 5:15
Safari 7:00
Are you sensing a theme in AK days here? We have DAH: AK this night, so we've moved our FPs around to include a nap. I think I may have to cancel this dinosaur one for our dinner at Jiko (thanks suggestion givers!) but I'm really excited about the late night safari. I've never done it this late in the day and I'm hoping a lion or two will be up and about!

Thursday: 3/21
Test Track 9:30
Living w/ Land 11:30
Mission Space 3:10
Can you believe we've never actually ridden test track together? We've always done single rider -- so we're looking forward to actually being in the same car for once! FP times are weird today because they bracket SNORKELING AT EPCOT. Also this is our Fireworks party and DAH: MK day, so we'll see what we're able to pick up and if we stay at Epcot until late or head over to MK early.

Friday: 3/22
7DMT 11:05
Jungle Cruise 12:35
Buzz Lightyear 1:35
We're really excited about 7DMT this early in the day, and Jungle Cruise is hands down one of my top five rides. Hopefully we can pick up another BTMRR and the wife is hoping for another go on SM. Hopefully I'll be up for it too!

Saturday: 3/23
FoP 3:00
It's our last day, but our flight got moved to 9:20pm. We have a reservation at Ohana at 11:00 that we may try to move up -- but last time we went to Ohana it was like an hour and a half wait to sit and then the hour for the meal, so we didn't want to cut this close if we decide to head back and ride it one more time. We may also just go back to MK since the Poly is on the monorail and it's so easy. We'll see if we're FoP'd out after two days at AK and DAH:AK. I'm not sure one can be FoP'd out though...

So that's it! Those are our FP plans for the week. Do you see any glaring errors? Anywhere we can do better? Any advice about how not to be a chicken on SDD or EE? How bad IS that EE drop? It looks awful, but I've heard it's not as bad as it looks cause it turns...idk, it's the one ride besides ToT I've never been on. See you next time for a discussion of our "extras" we've added on to make it a special Honeymoon!!

 

[reyasmommy]

Everything looks great ! I'm jealous of all of your ADR's, we rarely do any because of my kids. They hardly eat any food and it's such a waste spending so much money plus we're always running late and I just end up stressed figuring out how to get to our reservations on time. If it was just my DH and I, it would be a different story.

SDD and EE really aren't that bad. My DD is terrified of everything and SDD is probably her favorite ride and she likes EE, she just won't sit up in the front.

Enjoy your Honeymoon!

 

[Justplainchy]

Everything looks great ! I'm jealous of all of your ADR's, we rarely do any because of my kids. They hardly eat any food and it's such a waste spending so much money plus we're always running late and I just end up stressed figuring out how to get to our reservations on time. If it was just my DH and I, it would be a different story.

SDD and EE really aren't that bad. My DD is terrified of everything and SDD is probably her favorite ride and she likes EE, she just won't sit up in the front.

Enjoy your Honeymoon!

Yeah, it's a totally different story if we're traveling with other people -- we like to have the break of a sit down meal (and now the ankle demands it!) but when we went with my mom and with friends they were all about counter service and not tying up hours with sit down dining. I imagine with kids it gets even more complicated.

Really? See, that's what I've read -- and I realize it's so silly. I love RnR, which is often ranked as "most intense" because of the inversion and the speed, but idk, the over the shoulder restraints and lack of a drop make me feel a little safer/don't hit that stomach-in-throat falling feeling, but my heart still goes about forty miles an hour when we wait for that launch! I have to keep reminding myself that I've ridden it multiple times and love it! My brain keeps trying to talk me out of riding it because it's a roller coaster!!! We have DAH: AK booked so I figured if I'll ever get up the courage to do EE, it'll be then where there isn't a wait and I don't have to burn a FP on something I may chicken out of. I'm hopeful about SDD, too! Thanks for the words of encouragement, I'll take any I can get!

And thank you! We're so excited!!

 

[Justplainchy]

Added on Extras and Seeking Advice for One More Tour:
Hello everyone! Back again to discuss the next planning portion of our trip: The Honeymoon "Extras"! Because we're doing a Disneymoon, we wanted to do some special things to make it memorable. I've been on precisely one Disney tour before -- I went on Behind the Seeds with my grandparents and mom when we went on our family trip in 2012. This time we have four "big" extras we've added that we normally wouldn't BUT the kicker is that Jo's wonderful Momma (my mother-in-love), gave us a little less than $200 for Christmas to use on another tour but we just can't decide which one to do! We were really enamored with the taste of the magic kingdom tour--but with the DxDP, we figure we'll be a little food-ed out...so we're going to save that one for another trip. Do you have a tour you love? Something you wouldn't miss for the world?? We can go a little over that $200 for two tickets, but we're not VIP level tour talking here. Did you like Marceline to Magic? Have you done the night safari at AK: Lodge? Should we save it for another trip because we're already doing so much? Help!

But anywaaaay: on to the extras we already have booked!!!

March 20: DAH: AK
I know there have been some reviews of DAH: AK that say it isn't really worth it, and maybe it's even less so for us because I'm too chicken to ride EE, but I'm so excited about this! AK is very special in my heart because I went as a kid the summer it opened and to this day I'm just a big animal nut, so blah blah blah, yes. We're really excited about seeing it (mostly) empty at night, and getting to ride Dinosaur a few times in a row (seriously, I love that ride), and obviously to ride FoP a couple times without having to be up at 6am to rope drop! We also haven't ridden River Journey since the Christmas trip in '17 because we RD'd FoP on our last trip and the line never got under 60 minutes the rest of the day. I'm excited to ride that a couple times too without a wait! Also: I can eat my weight in popcorn. Bring it on, Disney.

March 21st: SURE JUST GO AHEAD AND DO THEM ALL IN ONE DAY THAT'S FINE. Or: Epcot: Aqua Tours, MK: Fireworks Dessert Party with Plaza Garden Viewing and DAH: MK
First and foremost, oh my gosh guys, it's EPCOT SNORKELING.

When I went during the summers with my mom, she was in a conference until about 3pm every day, which gave me a lot of time to research and wander and learn things about Disney World. At some point, I learned that you could (OMG), actually could SNORKEL in the epcot pavilion. It was on a Disney Special that was showing in our room. I think maybe back then it was going in a shark cage? I'm not sure, the memory is fuzzy but I learned that my body could be in the giant aquarium at EPCOT. Since then, it's been a bucketlist dream of mine.



That's gonna be me. What. I know. I'll probably be the lady that looks like she's waving at the fish. I'm gonna wave at ALL THOSE FISH. This tour is at 12:30, and we're meeting at 12:15 at guest relations outside the front of Epcot. We do a backstage tour of The Seas building, get on wetsuits (over our swimsuits -- we must have them, I was reminded four times during the phonecall to book), and then about 30-40 minutes of actual snorkel time. It's actually an oxygen tank instead of a traditional snorkel, but we're not allowed to dive beneath the surface of the water. Whatever, it's gonna be amazing!

After that (quite a few hours later), we have our fireworks party!! We have been to Disney twice in the past year and a half and we actually haven't seen HEA. I know! Madness! When we went in 2017-18 it was the New Years Eve show and then when we went in Dec of last year it was at MVMCP. We're really excited to just see the "standard" show (as funny as that sounds). We chose Plaza viewing because 1) we don't mind standing and getting a center view was more important than sitting at tables. I'm also excited about desserts, but Jo is worried about there not being enough that isn't chocolate. If nothing else she'll eat her weight in Ice Cream (is there ice cream? I think there's ice cream), so that should help. We're doing the "before" dessert party, so we check in as early as 7:45.

And THEN because this day wasn't full enough (we're gonna take a nap in the middle, probably) we head to DAH: MK after the fireworks. This is why we didn't book the "after" dessert package. Our goal is to 1) eat our weight in popcorn (JK - we'll probably be full of desserts!), and 2) ride a lot of things! Jo's actually never ridden Jungle Cruise as regular Jungle Cruise (it's always been Jingle Cruise), so we'll try to hit that, and PPF a couple times and then I'm sure she'll be on SM at least once. Definitely plan to ride 7DMT a time or two, even though we have a FP the next day. I'm excited about maybe repeat rides on BTMRR and we're going to go ahead and just avoid Splash like the plague. Big drops + possibly being wet all night = not our idea of a good time. We're also going to try to get some good pictures on an "empty" (emptier) mainstreet. If you've done this event and you have tips, feel free to drop them off! Does anyone know if Stitch is still meeting during AH? He's Jo's favorite, but during the day his wait is like 45 minutes.

SO that's it! Our "extras" plan! Give us your input/ideas/suggestions for that last tour.
Thanks for reading along!

 

[Cloe Colton]

Sounds like some great plans!

I havent done any tours but I feel like the Rhino tour at AK has gotten great reviews (hard to get though) and Marceline to the Magic tour is definitely on my bucketlist! Those would be my votes!!

Or you could put the money towards a couples massage at Sense at the Grand Floridian. DH and I did one on our anniversary trip last year and it was very enjoyable!!

I would just say for MK DAH, I know it seems like a waste of party time but try to get a couple of photopass pictures at like 11:30/11:45 (or like right before your party ends) because as soon as the party is over those lines will be MASSIVE!! Me and DH did this and we were very happy we did so because Main Street looked pretty darn packed once the party was over and everyone had no where to go but leave!

 

[Justplainchy]

Or you could put the money towards a couples massage at Sense at the Grand Floridian. DH and I did one on our anniversary trip last year and it was very enjoyable!

This is the second time you've been brilliant! I brought it up with Jo last night and I think we're definitely going to go the couple's massage route. We're staying at CSR and they actually have a spa attached there -- but we may look around at the GF to see which one seems nicer. It will at least definitely make us come back to our hotel and relax during the middle of the day! Thank yoooouuuu!

 

[Cloe Colton]

This is the second time you've been brilliant! I brought it up with Jo last night and I think we're definitely going to go the couple's massage route. We're staying at CSR and they actually have a spa attached there -- but we may look around at the GF to see which one seems nicer. It will at least definitely make us come back to our hotel and relax during the middle of the day! Thank yoooouuuu!

Its definitely a great Disneymoon activity! I cant speak to the spa at CSR but Senses spa really was an amazing experience!

 

[Justplainchy]

29 Days Out!! ​

We are officially under the one month mark for our Disneymoon redo. It's a bit of deja vu, because I remember being this excited LAST time too, and now I KNOW things can happen at the last minute and ruin all your Disney dreams, but my efforts to tamper down my excitement haven't really worked so far. I just can't help it! Especially since when I checked the mail this morning, I found...

​

How am I supposed to keep my excitement managed when we have our luggage tags and instructions (again!). 29 Days until we'll back in our favorite place! 29 Days until we're using all those amazing dining reservations (switched one Tiffins for Jiko, and still stalking a Tusker House reservation for 3/18 in the morning)! 29 Days until we start our Honeymoon! And definitely no broken ankles this time

 

[Justplainchy]

25 DAYYSSSSS: Or, We Got Us Some Magic Bands and Some Earrings!
Another picture update! We have magic bands, I repeat, we have magic bands! Because we'd originally signed up for the "Enchanted Extras Honeymoon Package" on our first trip, we received the honeymoon magic bands and the honeymoon luggage tags. We ended up not rebooking it on the make-up trip because the cast member we talked to had no idea what it was, so we assumed we wouldn't get the bands, but we did! They're super cute and I've included pictures here to show them off.

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THEN, we went shoe-shopping this weekend (the ankle means I have to be a LOT pickier about footwear now, which sucks because I used to be a cheap-but-cute-flats girl all day) and found out Hot Topic was having a huge jewelry sale AND a clearance sale on their patches. So we got FOUR sets of Disney themed earrings (buy two, get two free!) and three patches for our park backpack: it's a really lightweight one that folds up into its own pocket and we LOVE it, but it's not very cute OR Disney themed, so it'll be a lot better once I get these sewn on.

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The Solo necklace is for Jo (no pierced ears) but the rest are for meeeee. I'm resisting the urge to go back and get the Moana set and the Rapunzel set too. Trying not to spend ALL the budget before we actually get to the parks......

So that's it! 25 days out and we're getting even more excited. What are your favorite park accessories? ​

 

[Justplainchy]

18 Days and a Flower Crown!
Happy Monday everybody! Only two more Mondays (after this one) until Disney! Spring break is working its way here (Ladylove and I both work in education), and we're getting even more excited for Disney! Outfits are being laid out. Patches are being sewn on bags. Last minute shopping lists are being made. Comfy shoes are being purchased and broken in. You know, all those things you normally do before just a standard vacation....

This post is actually just a shameless show-off post, because we're both a lot extra, so we both bought outfits to wear to Epcot for Flower and Garden Festival. Mine came in first (thanks Amazon!), and our hobby is making ears that match our outfits, so while we watched the Oscars last night I got to work! I had never made the flower-crown style ears before, and I was pretty nervous about how they'd look; but with Jo's careful eye laying out the flowers perfectly, I think they came out pretty great! I included a picture of my face wearing these ears and then the ears on the skirt they're meant to match. All I need now is a tiny honeybee pin or broach or something to complete the outfit.

Ready for Flowers and Gardens and exploring Disney on our Disneymoooon. 18 Days, y'all! Can't wait!!! ​

 

[Cloe Colton]

How exciting!! The flower crown came out super cute!

I saw on the resort boards you booked a trip for July too! That is awesome! I'll be honest, I just went to check out prices for late June and was utterly shocked at what I found. $480 for CL GF I wish I could make it work!!

 

[Justplainchy]

How exciting!! The flower crown came out super cute!

I saw on the resort boards you booked a trip for July too! That is awesome! I'll be honest, I just went to check out prices for late June and was utterly shocked at what I found. $480 for CL GF I wish I could make it work!!

Thank you so much! I think it did too. I'm really pleased with it. And now I can be as Extra as my students accuse me of being and have a set of flower ears that match my skirt

And yes!! That annual pass bug has a STRONG bite. And the deals were insane! I figure it's because they're trying to draw people who are waiting for SWGE opening into the parks a little earlier -- but whatever it is, I'll take advantage of it! Usually it's just hundreds of dollars a night out of our price range, but then it WASN'T, so yeah! 4th of July trip at club level whaaat. It'll be a fun too because my mom was already going at that time with her partner, so we might meet up for a meal, but otherwise we'll both be separately at Disney all the way from Texas, hah!

 

[Justplainchy]

Single Digits! 9 Days Out and We Can Barely Stand It!
First, exciting news: we couldn't resist the sales this summer and the lure of our expiring-in-december annual passes and we've booked a five day-four night stay at Yacht Club at Club Level! It'll be our first ever deluxe stay and obviously our first ever Club Level stay. We're so stinking excited. Still more excited about the Honeymoon trip -- but we're really pumped about being within walking distance of two parks and getting to experience Storm Along Bay. And also I can put away a good amount of free champagne, sooo.....

Other random thoughts as we count down to leaving:
It's strange for us because we live in the Austin area of Texas, and SXSW is usually during our spring break and usually that's what we're gearing up for this time of year. We attend the film festival and it's very similar to Disney touring in that you're up early and out the door and then gone for 14+ hour days as you cram in panels and free food (oh wait, that doesn't happen at Disney, lol), and films and stand in SO MANY LINES (that DOES happen at Disney!). This year, all of the school districts moved their spring breaks back a week, including UT - the biggest college in town - and SXSW didn't move their dates, so it starts next week when we're still at work. Thankfully, even though Ladylove and I work for different school districts, we ended up with the same break as that would have been a tragedy! So it's weird to not be getting ready for a week of festival-style touring; having a Disney Honeymoon is actually cooler. We just have to remind ourselves of that as we get information about the Good Omens panel with Neil Gaiman and David Tennant in attendance....

I'm slammed with grad school right now (taking time off to write this pre-report update that no one really needs), because I'm trying to complete three weeks of work in 1.5 weeks. So far, it's going pretty well. My goal is to only have to do discussion board replies when we're at Disney and those I can do on my phone in line. Ah, the curses of doing an online program that doesn't acknowledge spring break.

We actually, believe it or not, started packing last night. Well, this past weekend we picked out our outfits for each day so we knew what we still needed to buy and last night we started the toiletries and making sure we've got all the different required things. I know Florida weather changes on a dime (if I may mix my metaphors), but it does look like we'll hit some spring rains while we're there. So we've definitely loaded up the ponchos. Ponchos, umbrella and sunscreen. Still hunting for some moleskin and hoping it won't be like the Texas weather this week - 28* Monday and 77* by Friday. Yikes! The goal now is to see if we can fit all of it in one suitcase so we don't have to pay for two suitcases on Jetblue. We think with two carryons and one large suitcase we'll be fine. I'm sure you're riveted.

We did get the last desired reservation at Tusker House on the 18th! So everything is set, it's just waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and trying not to vibrate out of my body in excitement. What do you do to keep things at a reasonable level of excitement?? I'll take any tips I can get!

If nothing drastic changes, the next response to this post will be when it turns into a proper trip report! Thanks for following along!! ​

 

[Cloe Colton]

I'm right there with you! Although now I feel behind that I'm not packed! haha I have most everything picked out though so it's really just moving everything from my piles to my suitcase!

I feel you on that second bag with Jetblue. We've gotten so used to SWs two free bags that I think we're just going to pay for the second bag for our one leg with Jetblue.

Good luck on your Grad School work! Hopefully the prospect of getting it finished for DISNEY will be enough incentive for you to get everything done on time!