Our Greatest Adventure: A 15 day wedding/honeymoon extravaganza!

goodmorningirl · Dec 16, 2014

Hello! Hi! Welcome!

Thanks for dropping in on my trip report. This report is full of 15 days of adventure, which includes our Disney wedding and honeymoon! We took a ton of pictures, had photopass+, and our professional photographer caught all the wonderful moments of our wedding weekend. So I promise, you will not be in want of photos in this report. ::yes::

We were in Disney from August 1-August 15 with a split stay at the Boardwalk and the Contemporary.

Before I start the actual report, some background is needed on the two of us. :hug:

Cory and I met in freshman year of high school. We both went to a satellite high school focused on marine biology. February 29th, 2004, Cory asked me out over AIM; yes, long time ago lol. And we have been together ever since.

Here's us at the end of freshman year. Such babies.

When we were married, we had been dating for almost 9.5 years!

Upon graduation from high school, we saved up for our first trip together, a 10 day trip to Disney World! We had an amazing upgrade at the Contemporary from the garden rooms to one with a Magic Kingdom view. :cloud9:

I knew that with our wedding, I wanted that same view again, and we were lucky enough to do that. Anyway, that trip report can be found in my signature.

Here's us in the Backlot Tour pre-show that trip.

I have always loved Disney, telling my family since I was young that I would have my wedding in Disney, no groom at that point obviously, but that didn't seem to matter. Cory has always liked Disney, but until we met, he didn't love it like he does now.

We've been lucky enough to go to Disney World an insane amount of times and after Cory proposed at the Cliffs of Mohr in Ireland, the planning for a Disney wedding was on. I won’t go into too many wedding details, but I will post pictures from the day, as it was part of the trip.

So I hope you'll join me in reliving our once-in-a-lifetime vacation. Please say hi :wave2:

goodmorningirl · Dec 16, 2014

In case anyone is wondering where this crazy trip is heading, here's our very basic itinerary with meal reservations:

August 1
Arrive in Disney around lunch. Check in to the Boardwalk.
Downtown Disney for AP and TIW Activation.
Dinner: Jiko

August 2
Photos in MK
Lunch: Gastons Tavern
Dinner: Flying Fish

August 3
Photos in HS
Lunch: Pizza Planet
Dinner: 'Ohana Welcome Dinner
Dessert Party

August 4
Wedding! :lovestruc

August 5
Drinking Around the World
Dinner: San Angel Inn

August 6
Switch to the Contemporary
Dinner: Artist Point

August 7
Lunch: Yak and Yeti

August 8
Lunch: Columbia Harbor House
Massage 1:30pm
Dinner: Monsieur Paul

August 9
Breakfast: Kona Café
Dinner: Be Our Guest

August 10
Dinner: Tokyo Dining

August 11
Lunch: Yak and Yeti quick service
Dinner: Narcoossees

August 12
8:30am: Keys to the Kingdom Tour
Lunch: Coral Reef
Dinner: Marrakesh

August 13
Lunch: Le Cellier
Dinner: La Hacienda

August 14
Lunch: Mama Melrose
4:30pm: Behind the Seeds Tour
Dinner: Chefs de France

August 15
7am: Steam Trains Tour
Flight leaves for Philly at 7:30pm.

Lady Marie · Dec 16, 2014

That is awesome that your new DH proposed at the Cliffs of Moher. That is such a BEAUTIFUL place (so beautiful that DH and I decided to get married on the cliffs this past May. Haha!).

Can't wait to read your TR! Congratulations!

goodmorningirl · Dec 16, 2014

That is so awesome, Lady Marie! Ireland is so breathtakingly beautiful and ultra-romantic! And thank you! :goodvibes

I apologize for the lack of pictures, yes, I promised many, but travel day is always hard, so forgive me

We always like to grab the early flight out of NJ/PA, and this morning was no different. Id rather be tired and cranky than miss any Disney time! Lol

I made sure to take a picture of our wake-up time. :faint:

We made sure to say goodbye to our little chinchillas, Lilo is white on the left and Alice is gray on the right. Its always hard to say goodbye, weve never been away from them for so long, but my cousin was going to check in on them.

Quick hug.

We had a taxi service pick us up from our apartment to avoid the crazy parking fees, especially for 15 days, and got to the airport with an hour and a half until our flight. Now, at Philly airport they have a Jamba Juice, and I am obsessed! I was on the hunt for an Aloha Pineapple smoothie and was hoping itd be by our terminal. I once walked all the way from A terminal to C or D for it on past trips, not fun at 5am.

Low and behold, Jamba Juice was there and open! Woo!

We had a very uneventful flight and made it to Disney on time! Weve been doing a lot of Spirit out of AC and it is horrendous, never on time. So to actually make it to sunny Florida when we were supposed to was great!
We took the Magical Express to the Boardwalk, again uneventful and then checked in.

The resort is so beautiful, but we were on a mission. When you are married at Disney, one of their gifts to you are Annual Passes. So we headed to Downtown Disney to exchange our certificates and get the Tables in Wonderland card. While there, we ended up running into friends of ours who were already there for the wedding. I knew we didnt have a lot of time before we had to get back to the hotel, but there was no way I was missing out on the Magic Kingdom. So to the bus stop we went.

Waiting for the bus to MK

My absolute goal was to see New Fantasyland and ride Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid. Ariel is my favorite princess and there was no time to lose, it had to happen today!

We purchased Photopass+, telling all of our guests to send us their Photopass numbers throughout the vacation. We then got two CDs full of pictures which we later sent out to anyone that took some.

Our first Photopass picture of the vacation

Heading back around the castle, I was blown away by Prince Erics. Seriously, swoon. It was gorgeous! We enjoyed the ride and got ready to head back to the hotel as I had gotten a text from my maid of honor that her and her family were on the Magical Express.

But first, I need a photo with my home from another lifetime

We got back to our hotel at around the same time as our friends. We had some very important things to do. We had to pick up the three boxes I had shipped to the hotel. We then had to take the welcome bags for each guest to the hotels. We had three hotels in our room block and we wanted them to receive them upon check-in. My maid of honor, Rachel, and I took the Boardwalk and Caribbean Beach, and Cory took Logan, her son, to Pop Century.

Once the whole fiasco was over, seriously it was kind of a mess, we got back to the lobby to see Cory and Logan playing with swords lol They had gotten them at Pop Century for doing such a good job!

Their room was a few doors down from ours and we all went back and got ready for dinner at Jiko! A lot of our friends and family either havent been to Disney, or havent been in a while. We were really looking forward to treating all of them to our Disney favorites. Rachel loves wine so Jiko won for that first nights dinner.

Her husband, Kevin, would be flying in and meeting us at dinner. We took a cab over the Animal Kingdom Lodge and gorged ourselves on their tasty food and wine.

After rolling ourselves out of there, we got a cab back to the resort and got to bed early.

Day two was a very eventful day with a TON of pictures, so stick around! popcorn::

jash08 · Dec 16, 2014

I'm in! My husband and I got married at Disney too. We actually got married at the Boardwalk.

goodmorningirl · Dec 16, 2014

Jash08: Awesome! Where on the Boardwalk? Or reception was at Atlantic Dance Hall

We woke up this morning and hopped on the bus to Magic Kingdom. For our wedding, we had our photographer from NJ come to FL. Along with taking photos for the wedding, we also had him come for some other events.

We were planning for him to meet us at rope drop in the Magic Kingdom, but while we were waiting at the entrance, he called to let us know he had gotten all the way there from Pop Century, but forgot his tickets. :scared1:

So Cory and I headed in and spent some time just wandering Main Street. By about 10:30am, Frank was back and we were ready to take some photos. I had a bunch of places in mind.

We started across from the Crystal Palace.

It was so hot, we snuck into the Hall of Presidents lobby for some air, and also stumbled upon a very knowledgeable cast member. We learned some historical points and were back out in a few.

We went around by the corner between the Hall and Columbia Harbor House.

Then we made our way to my new favorite area, Tangled. We waited for everyone to clear, which took a while, but I love the pictures we have from here.

We went into New Fantasyland to Gaston’s to take over his chair.

And then over to his meet area to get one of my favorites.

goodmorningirl · Dec 17, 2014

We headed around the front of the castle.

And we ended up being there with the parade. This performer and even Baloo hammed it up for our photos!

And we got a bit silly in Frontierland.

Another favorite. Love this guy.

And a parting shot in front of my favorite, the Haunted Mansion.

Cory was very relieved that our little shoot was over as he just wanted to ride some rides! We met up with our officiant, maid of honor, and their son and rode Buzz, all very seriously, obviously. :rotfl2:

Corys goal this trip was to max out to 999,999, but he didnt get it this time.

Then we rode Space Mountain. It was Logans first time and a bit nervous at first, he ended up loving it!

I love his face! Haha :rotfl:

Then we had to head back to the resort and get started on some wedding tasks before dinner. Rachel and I holed up in her room while the boys went and did something much more fun than putting seating labels on soda bottles Im sure lol

Most of our guests were arriving today and my parents texted to say they were in. We ended up finding them on the porch. Cory snuck up and sat right next to my dad. It took him a while to realize who was sitting next to him in this weird chair lol

We walked up to their room with them only to discoverthey were directly across the hall from us. We went into our room, and them to theirs, and instantly freaked out a bit. Cory was playing it cool, but I could tell he didnt like that idea lol And I was not feeling it either. My parents, across the hall for our wedding and honeymoon?

I will say, I understand they were trying to keep our room block together, and thats great, but not the bride and groom, come on. So I called the front desk and they told me to come down.

So what happened? Did we have no choice to stay in that room, did we get switched? Stay tuned

jash08 · Dec 18, 2014

We got married at Sea Breeze Point (the Gazebo by Epcot). We then had a small reception on the balcony of my Dad's room. He had one of the rooms with the large balcony on the Boardwalk. We had a great time! We went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night!

wdwcarla · Dec 18, 2014

You guys are so cute! I can't wait to read more!

goodmorningirl · Dec 19, 2014

Jash08That sounds lovely! Sea Breeze Point was definitely a contender for us too, we just love the Boardwalk area.

WdwcarlaThank you so much! And thanks for joining in.

So we last left off with us at reception, trying to get our room switched. After a lengthy process, probably close to 30 minutes, we were given another room. They led us to our new room which was actually one of their cottages! Talk about a serious upgrade. :cool1:

We were ecstatic to have such a lovely room for our wedding, and to be away from my parents!

The outside/entrance.

Taken from the stairs.

The bedroom. This second, full bathroom upstairs was lovely with a huge shower and Jacuzzi tub.

Not only were we happy to have this room for our wedding/honeymoon, but it would be perfect for getting ready on the morning of the wedding! I had six bridesmaids, our moms, and three hairstylists. Im not sure how we would have fit in a regular room.

After getting settled into our room, there wasnt much time before we had to head to dinner at Flying Fish. We were meeting most of our wedding party, minus Corys family, and my close family members.

The grounds are so pretty.

From left to right: My aunt/godmother, my grandma, my mom, and me.

It was so exciting to not only see our family, but to be seeing them in Disney! It was really surreal to have our best friends actually there after all the planning. :goodvibes

Some of the most important people in our life/part of our wedding party.

Dinner was so yummy and we all had a great time. For dessert I got this adorable Boardwalk thing with mini-treats. It was almost, ALMOST, too cute to eat.

After dinner, the six of us in the above picture went to the small bar at the Boardwalk. We hung out and drank for a bit, but we all went back to our rooms pretty early, maybe around 9pm. The next day we were having another little photoshoot in Hollywood Studios, along with meeting some guests in the park that day, we told our guests where we would be for the first 6 days of our trip, and then we spent the rest of the time on our own.

Up next: A real Hollywood photoshoot.

goodmorningirl · Dec 22, 2014

We were up bright and early for rope drop for Hollywood Studios. As with the day before, we were meeting our photographer, and a few of our guests in the park. This time, Frank was on time and we started pictures right on Hollywood Blvd.

We then went around by 50s Prime Time and got one of my favorite photos from the entire trip. :lovestruc

And of course, over to Star Tours area.

And then the Streets of America.

Another favorite.

Did some Singing in the Rain.

And then around by the Backlot.

Couldnt pass up the giant ant. Because, you know, Im five.

We took a ton of pictures in the park, like hundreds. After our little shoot, we meet friends/family for a ride on the Tower of Terror. Our group is the entire back row, plus the middle right. The guy in the maroon tshirt on the left of the middle row is our photographer lol

I loved having the Photopass+ to have pictures like these. Now, we had forgotten our red card this day and were heartbroken. The next day was the wedding, but we were going to try and head back to HS in the afternoon just to try and get this photo put on our card. When we were talking to our Disney helpers during our wedding brunch, they told us to just relax and not worry about it. Late that night, when we came back from our reception, waiting in our room was a print of this photo along with it put on our account. Disney is the best, seriously.

We then went on Toy Story Midway Mania with our bridesmaid, Kate, and groomsman, Craig.

And Rock N Roller Coaster.

We had lunch at Pizza Planet and took one more picture before going back to our hotel.

That night was our family dinner at Ohana along with our dessert party, so we had to get some rest!

Teresa Pitman · Dec 23, 2014

I'm already hooked. Such great photos!

TP

jrmint427 · Dec 23, 2014

I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing pictures from the wedding! It is awesome that they were not only willing to move your room but gave you an upgrade too

goodmorningirl · Dec 24, 2014

Teresa: Thanks for joining in again! :flower3:

Jrmint427: Thank you for joining my report! It was such Disney magic!

Tonight was the night I had been planning for as long as the wedding. I wanted to have a dinner at Ohana for our close family and friends before the big dessert party. I got changed into my gold, C-3PO inspired dress and my best friend, and bridesmaid came to the room to do my hair. We were running behind so I suggested Cory go with her boyfriend and some of our other wedding party so that we didnt lose the reservation.

It was another half an hour before we left, and I was definitely freaking out a bit, being only 15 minutes until our reservation time. I didnt want to pay for a cab, but Kelsey insisted and we found one easily at the lobby. Not even 15 minutes later we were rushing into the lobby, sure that we were late. Luckily, most people were already there hanging out. Unluckily, Cory and the three other friends he was with were not there yet. I started to get worried and called him. He said it took forever for an MK bus to come and now they were on the slowest bus in history! :furious:

Finally, almost 45 minutes after our reservation, they showed up. Mini-freakout over, we finally made our way to our large table and were given such wonderful treatment. We were given leis and two servers, a married couple, waited on us hand and foot, making sure I immediately got a Lapu Lapu and Cory got a drink. They were so great. ::yes::

Everything was now good.

The food, as always was so delicious! Everyone could not tell us enough how much they loved it!

It was really cool to sit at the head of the table and look down at all our family and friends.

After we got our special dessert, we were off to the Contemporary for our dessert party. We had such a blast at Ohana and they really, really took care of us.

We hopped on the monorail from the Poly to make our way to the Contemporary. We were a bit early, but the plan was to meet in the Wave bar beforehand. I wish I had pictures from here, but unfortunately I was running out an iPod to our wedding planner and making sure everything was set. There was a big surprise coming for Cory and our guests. This bar was really cool though and everyone had a great time just hanging out.

Then, it was time for our dessert/welcome party at Porte Cochere at the Contemporary, right outside the convention hall. I really wanted to do something specifically for Cory, so we picked a Star Wars theme, all the way down to the food. Disney Weddings was super excited for it and went all out. My maid of honor and I made the food signs and trivia. We also brought two lightsabers from home.

The dual, Darth Maul, lightsaber? Just awesome.

Now, as for the surprise, only maybe 5 out of the 90 guests knew about it. I had tried to get Star Wars characters to appear through Disney, but at that time, they were not licensed to do that. Instead, I contacted the 501st legion in the Orlando area who agreed to appear, I just needed to make a donation to a charity, no problem. Well, my one maid of honor saw the below guys and thought that was who I meant was appearing. :rotfl2:

Haha. Nope. According to our wedding planner, the chefs working the event were so psyched it was Star Wars they appeared in helmets with lightsabers all on their own!

They killed me! Lol :rotfl:

I was soon given the signal from our planner that they were ready. I brought Cory by the doorway and announced everyone to do the same. And then they came out. Excuse me for the multiple reaction shots, but I cant get enough. He had zero idea and I cant believe I had kept it a secret for so long! :goodvibes

I also love my brothers reaction!

I mean, look at that face. :lovestruc

In total, we had Darth Vader, three stormtroopers, a red stormtrooper, and Jango Fett. Boba Fett is Corys favorite, but Jango was awesome.

goodmorningirl · Dec 24, 2014

When the characters came in, people werent sure at first what to do. Everyone was so surprised, I dont think they originally thought they could take pictures with them lol We had a great time just interacting with the characters.

I love this guy just chilling by my grandma

Cory ended up having a 30 min conversation with Jango about why hes cooler than Boba lol Seriously.

A bunch of our friends from high school came, which was so amazing. We had a graduating class of 24, so we were all super close.

My family.

We got the announcement from our planner that Wishes would be starting. Everyone moved toward the front of the area and we had the music piped in. Most of our guests had never seen Wishes before and everyone loved it! It was so incredibly magical to be watching my favorite fireworks show with everyone and sharing our love of Disney.

I cried, as per usual while watching Wishes. I couldnt believe that in just a few hours, we would be getting married in Disney. We had such an amazing night and I couldnt wait for the next day, and another huge surprise for Cory.

NMW · Dec 25, 2014

subscribing

mlegerto · Dec 28, 2014

Subbing!!!! Can't wait for more details! DF and I will be there Aug 2015 for our honeymoon

trishtophers · Dec 28, 2014

Subscribing! I can't wait for the rest. It seems like you guys had an amazing trip!

wdwcarla · Dec 29, 2014

OMG!! These pictures are great! It looks like a lot of fun!

Teresa Pitman · Dec 29, 2014

That Star Wars dessert party was amazing! I loved the names they gave the various desserts, and the chefs in costume! So cool that they got into the spirit of the party. And I love the reactions to the Star Wars characters arriving!

Can't wait to see the rest of the photos!

Teresa

Our Greatest Adventure: A 15 day wedding/honeymoon extravaganza!

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