Our Disney Honeymoon

First of all, thanks to everyone who helped make our honeymoon dreams come true! I found this wonderful website called TheBigDay.com which allowed us to "register" our honeymoon! So thanks to all who "purchased" items!
We started off with a night at the brand new Hilton Garden Inn in Avondale. This would be by far the largest room of our honeymoon, so too bad it was only for one night! haha! Then we flew to Florida and arrived at our Port Orleans French Quarter hotel pretty late in the evening. Disney takes care of their guests, so we didn't even need to go to baggage claim and get our luggage to the hotel! They simply picked it up and delivered it to our room. It did take a couple hours though, so since we got in so late, I didn't get to wash my face until 2am! haha!

Day 2, we went to Disney's MGM Studios. It was a bit smaller than I had imagined, so we finished the park fairly early. We watched their cute motor car Hollywood Holly-Day parade. We also watched their version of Fantasmic--- not recommended. Sure it was great to be able to sit in stadium seating and show up 5 minutes before show time, but the show itself is nothing compared to Disneyland's. My favorite, by far, was this cute Little Mermaid show! They used the movie as a background and
puppets and live Ariel and Eric. So cute! MGM is also home to Beauty and the Beast live stage show :) Trust me, we video taped everything, so if you are curious, you just have to come over and watch! At night they have the Osborne Family Spectacular of Lights- which is buildings decked out in Christmas lights that dance to music. My husband's favorite ride of the day was Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster. It's like Space Mountain, only it takes you through L.A. We were unable to dine at any of the restaurants. Even though it was a Monday, they were all booked! We found that happening every night. I guess Disney World is always crowded with world travelers. So we left and went to Downtown Disney. We had a wonderful dinner at Planet Hollywood- it's huge! Then, of course, we went shopping!

Day 3, we went to my favorite of the Disney World parks- Epcot! It was just so much fun traveling from country to country tasting drinks and food from around the world! It was such an experience! We had espresso from Italy, pasteries from France, chocolate from England (Cadbury to be exact!), dinner in China, snacks in Germany... It was amazing! Infact, all the Cast Members who work in the countries are actually FROM that country! USA's part was dressed in colonial times, which I totally love! Besides having fun in all the countries, we also enjoyed their ride called Test Track where you get to be a dummy in a car test!

Day 4 brought us to our fairytale, Magic Kingdom. We started our day by having breakfast INSIDE the castle at Cinderella's Royal Table. They take your picture with Cinderella as you enter, and later frame it and give it to you as a keepsake! They also hand you a sword (for the guys) and wand (for the girls) as you enter. Because we were on our honeymoon, they gave us two engraved champagne glasses! Of course all the princesses are there to greet you and take pictures with you. Afterwards, we explored the park. I enjoyed visiting rides that haven't been at Disneyland for years- like the Country Bears, People Mover, and Carousel of Progress. I also throughly enjoyed both of their parades- Disney Dreams and SpectroMagic (which is like a circus version of Electrical Parade). During our visit, we popped into Guest Relations and ended up chatting with a
Cast Member named Sarah. She gaves us a gift card for $175 to go buy our pictures from our Photo Pass! It was her wedding gift to us :) My favorite ride of the day was The Hall of Presidents- it's like Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln in Disneyland. I guess it's more of a show than a ride. I loved Liberty Square! It's my favorite land! As a whole, I must say that I still prefer Disneyland. Yes, Magic Kingdom was bigger, but it didn't have MORE rides, it was just more spread out. Also, Disneyland seems to seclude their lands better, so you really feel like you're in Toontown or Fantasyland, not BOTH.

Day 5 started out with our Disney Cruise Line bus forgetting us! haha! What a way to start the day! So, they rushed us over to another resort and we were picked up there. No joke! The ship was gorgeous, totally decked out everywhere in Disney magic. Our ship's name is the Disney Wonder, which is the smaller of the two. Our cute little stateroom was on Deck 7. Again, our
luggage was brought to our room. Disney threw a sailing off party as we left the dock. Mickey, Minnie and all the gang were dressed in cute little sailing outfits! We dined at Parrot Cay with other honeymooners who were so fun! We ended our night by watching a movie in the ship's theatre- Dan in Real Life.

Day 6 the ship docked at the island of Nassau in the Bahamas. We took a historic tour of Nassau, which was a bit crazy- they loaded us up in a van and drove us to two different forts while pointing out things along the way. The crazy part was all the driving. They drive on the left and have hardly any stop signs and only one traffic light! I think I got a bit car sick! We didn't do much shopping- just popped into one store called Del Sol where everything changes color in the sun! We gladly boarded on ship early! haha! That night we watched a live stage show in the Walt Disney Theatre called the Golden Mickey's. It was a
broadway performance! The theme for dinner was Pirates IN the Caribbean, so Jan and I bought matching Pirate Disney Cruise Line shirts. We dined at Triton's that night and they gave us all pirate bandanas to wear. After dinner, Mickey and the gang had a pirate party and fireworks, which ended with a pirate buffet!

Day 7 was my most favorite day and night of the cruise. We docked at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. I've never seen a more beautiful and *clean* island! They even had a tram to take you to different parts of the beach. Jan and I layed out on provided chairs with cocktails. The sand was like flour and the water was as clear as glass. It was gorgeous! Disney also provided lunch and icecream. We had to board early because I had a hair appointment. The theme was formal and we booked reservations separately at an intimate restaurant called Palo. The food was amazing and we had such a wonderful experience.
After dinner, we watched my favorite show of the trip- Disney Dreams! At the end, Tinker Bell seemed to have sprinkled our ship with pixie dust and the whole ceiling started to glitter! It was simply magical. Afterward, we changed in to PJs and went down to what we thought would be a farewell show- well, it was actually an opportunity to take pictures with all the characters! So we ran back up and put our dress and suite back on! It was worth it because we got the best picture with Donald!

Day 8, our final meal on the ship was at Animator's Palate for breakfast. Then we had to leave the ship :( They drove us to the airport and we walked around, shopped, ate, and slept. We had to wait 8 hours for our flight! Our layover was in Cincinnati, where it was cold, foggy, and rainy. As I looked around, everyone was in coats and winter apparel. Here I was in flip flops and
a Disney sweat jacket! Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb! They stuck us on a tiny plane I was sure was going to crash- but we made it to Pittsburgh. We were welcomed by my new in-laws who had a banner made that said Congratulations!


We would go on another Disney cruise in a heartbeat! Infact, I don't think we will ever be able to cruise with anyone else! It was also fantastic being around so many people from all over the world!