Honeymoon Discussions

My Disney Honeymoon!

So we finally went and it was super awesome, so glad we chose Disney!

A few notes I wanted to share:

Absolutely call at the 120 mark to make dining and tour reservations, I didn't until 45 days (I forgot and also didn't realize how important it was).
Best meal we had was at the Coral Reef at Epcot. We also enjoyed the Sci-Fi drive-in.  The worst meal: Yak and Yeti. It was just mediocre Chinese food.

We had a lot of off-site meals that we used gift cards that we redeemed from our credit card rewards but we wish we had just did everything on site and never left Disney Properties out of convenience and not needing to rent a car (with two exceptions).  We also wish we had the dining plan, it probably would've been worth it when we realized how often we were going to eat on site regardless of our off site gift cards.

The exceptions to not staying on Disney property and needing a car: 1) We got tix to the Red Sox/Rays playoffs game (we are huge Sox fans) and 2) The Exotic Experience we went to. http://exoticexperience.net/   I watched a youtube video a few months ago of this kangaroo and lemur playing that cracked me up and realized it was in Orlando and that we could visit them. You go and meet 3 Lemurs, 3 Kangaroos, a Kinkajoo, a baby coat, some large dogs and a species of deer and it's all one one one. I was feeding the Kangaroo and I had lemurs crawling on me. You see them at Animal Kingdom but you can hold them at this place. It was amazing for $35 pp for 1.5 hours.

The Keys to the Kingdom Tour was AWESOME at Magic Kingdom and I'm so glad we did it. Well worth it and you get a 20% discount if you pay with your Disney Credit Card.

My favorite things about Disney were Animal Kingdom overall, Fantasmic and the Disney Lights Parade that goes into Wishes show and Fireworks. I cried when we saw Wishes and we went back a second time.
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You'll never be subject to a cash bar, gap, potluck wedding, or b-list if you marry a Muppet Overlord.

Re: My Disney Honeymoon!

  • We did ours during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.  We didn't know about it till we got there (our honeymoon was planned at the very last minute due to finances and scheduling around the Navy) but we had a blast eating and drinking our way around the world.  
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • We saw it but only got a dessert from it due to time restrictions and not knowing about it before having to go to reservations.

    We had intended to come back but 9 days went by instantly..... or so it seemed. We were trying to fit in Universal too.... I laugh at us for thinking we could spend 1 day at each park and be satisfied.
    imageimageimage

    You'll never be subject to a cash bar, gap, potluck wedding, or b-list if you marry a Muppet Overlord.
  • So glad you had a good time!  I have a Disney time share, so I go often, but it's still fun every time!

     

    I'm heading down in 3 weeks for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, and it will be my first trip to the Food & Wine Festival.  I'm super pumped!  The running should burn at least some of the calories I'm planning to inhale at the food booths!  And then we're Drinking Around the World at Epcot for my bachelorette party in January.  Hopefully we'll all come out alive!

     

    I don't eat a lot of seafood, but I do need to try the Coral Reef restaurant sometime, I think it would still be good, and I've heard great things.  I actually went to Universal last month (a friend won a trip in an online contest), and while some of the rides were really cool and different, it just wasn't the same as Disney.  Though the pics I sent to FI of the Simpsons land there made him VERY jealous. :-) 

     

    I agree - Disney makes it so easy for you to stay on-site that renting a car can be pointless...it's nice to have one if you can get free parking though (I get it from the time share and I think the Disney credit card holders also do) - the Magical Express, while super convenient, makes you get to the airport HOURS before it's really necessary.  and renting a car gets you on site faster from the airport, and gives you the ability to grocery shop if you don't want to eat all of your meals at the park (doesn't apply to me currently, but when I have children I can see how that would be a huge bonus when staying in a time share room with a full kitchen).

  • We arrived at the airport hours before it was necessary anyway because getting the rental car took a really long time too. We go off the plane at noon, and our car wasn't with us until 3:00.

    Granted, we had to get one with hand controls but they took FOREVER to bring the car out and the first car they brought out to us was the wrong one.

    We had planned to grocery shop! It just never happened, we got water one day...and glad for that but I seriously don't know where the heck 9 days went....it was just so fast.

    Is the timeshare worth it?

    Coral Reef was delicious.


    imageimageimage

    You'll never be subject to a cash bar, gap, potluck wedding, or b-list if you marry a Muppet Overlord.
  • The time share is worth it if you plan to vacation a lot - and at least once every other year.  You essentially buy Points that you can split up and use whenever/however - but you can only roll forward for one year at a time.  So basically if i have 200 points/year, and i didn't use any in 2013, i would need to use at least 200 in 2014, or i would lose those 2013 points.

     

    i go a lot, so i'd never run the risk of losing points (normally i actually have to borrow a few from the following year).  One year we did roll forward all of our points and went to the resort in Hawaii.  there are also Disney owned resorts in Hilton Head and Vero Beach that are easily booked.

     

    If you wanted to use points at a non-Disney property (all over the world) you have to be prepared to book that VERY FAR in advance.  they book up quick.  To get yout first choice of Disney resorts you need to book at either 11 or 7 months out (i'm not going to get into explaining the difference, but suffice it to say: if you're a last minute vacation planner, it my not work out for you).

     

    If you can go at non-peak times of the year, it costs fewer points than peak times, etc.  So over Christmas week, Spring Break, Easter, Summer (any time children are out of school) it's more expensive than other times.  The cheapest times are September and January generally (because not a lot of families take vacations then due to the children just going back to school after a break).  The cheapest times to go correspond with the least busy times at the parks - so going then is both a bargain AND a lot less stressful.

     

    I've been really into the Run Disney races recently, so I've been going a few times a year for just long weekends around the race dates (i ive in NC so it's a super easy flight).  Once I have kids and i can't blitzkreig the parks in 4 days anymore, i suspect i'll do a full week every other year or something like that (in a 2-3 bedroom unit so that other family members can join us).

  • My H & I have a Wyndham timeshire.  And we love it!  They are also the only non-Disney property located within Disney.  My parents have been to this place before and love it!  H & I go in 3 weeks to Disney!  And are very much looking forward to it. 

    The great thing about the Wyndham is that you can go anywhere on your points.  They also have an exchange program with RCI, but Wyndham has so many locations on their own, we probably won't even need to exchange.  Their point system allows you to bank your points for 3 years.  We currently can stay in just about any 1 bedroom unit and in the future if we need to start getting 2 bedroom units, we can just buy more points.

    Thanks for your update Muppet! 

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