Sunday, April 15, 2012

Honeymoon (Part 1)

This post could also be titled "I can't believe we were once so naive!".






As mentioned in the previous post, our honeymoon to Disney was hardly what you would call "planned" (don't worry, we've come a long way since in terms of planning). I will admit we made a lot of rookie mistakes. Although I don't remember much of the details, I'm pretty sure we ended up purchasing tickets for everyday of the trip, meaning on arrival day and departure day, which we never used.


Here is what I do remember: We checked into the All Star Music resort (DH and I both play guitar and that guitar pool was too cool to pass up!). Although DH had never been to the World in his life, and I hadn't been in 15 years since I was a child, the magic started right away. Since it was our honeymoon and a slow season, when we checked in we were upgraded to a family suite! 


Before even heading to our room, the gift shop called our name. To this day, one of the tell-tale signs that we are truly in Disney is the smell of the lobby gift shop. Once the sweet aroma in the air hits my senses I feel transported to a magical world. As if I've walked into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and promptly forgotten the real world behind me. We were immediately drawn into the gift shop. 


We bought a few things right off the bat, purchases I will never regret! Although we didn't really plan out our trip, we had purchased a book called the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. One thing that caught my eye in this book was a plush doll called Pal Mickey. Pal Mickey has a GPS in his nose and as you take him around the parks and cross certain GPS points, it triggers Micky to tell you facts about what you're looking at. It was an expensive purchase, but well worth it as Pal Mickey was discontinued the following year. I still bring him back to the parks each year.


The other items we couldn't resist were wedding ears. I got a white headband with white ears and a veil. DH got the top hat with ears. We just thought they were cute and a fun way to celebrate. What we didn't anticipate was all the attention they would garner! Every Cast Member (what Disney calls employees, I'll use CMs going forward) who saw us yelled out "Congratulations!", "Happy Honeymoon!". Almost constantly. We certainly never forgot why we were there! There were other surprises that came with those ears. At Sunshine Seasons we were in line to pay for lunch and someone dropped a Honeymoon Pin on our trays with desserts, said "Happy Honeymoon" and ran away before I could thank them! In fact, we got quite a few free desserts that trip for celebrating at the World. CMs also gave us fast passes so we could skip waiting in lines once or twice. And when they needed volunteers for the BackLot Tour, our ears stood out and they picked us! (If only I had known I was going to get hit with a ton of water. Literally.)


Ever since, we've always made sure we wear an Anniversary Pin. You never know what kind of magic might come your way!

5 comments:

  1. Annie--
    So glad you have your DH to share the magic with! Did you already make your ADRs for your upcoming trip? And if so, where did you make them? Will the Epcot F&W Festival still be going on when you are there?
    Regardless, you and DH will have a blast!
    Rebecca (Annie K-O's stepma)

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  2. Hi Rebecca,

    yes, we had a countdown just for our ADRs! (I expect that will end up an an upcoming post). But this year we have reservations for Boma, Le Cellier, 1900's Park Fare, Crystal Palace, Hollywood Brown Derby (Fantasmic Dining package), and 50's Prime Time Cafe. We're waiting for the Tomorrowland Dessert Party to open up reservations in September.

    Unfortunately, we will just miss the F&W festival, but I'm not terribly disappointed as when we attended last year it tends to be a bunch of drunken locals and ruins the magic.

    Thanks for commenting, Rebecca! Now that I know someone is actually reading, it inspires me to continue posting!
    I also welcome any tips or experiences you'd like to share on here.

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  3. You are going during the Free Dining time, right? That's great if you can combine that with low crowd levels (thank you touringplans!)
    You got the Le Cellier reservation--good job--that's a toughie. Love Le Cellier, Brown Derby and Crystal Palace (with the Hundred Acre Wood crew). Another website is www.allears.net and it has the menus and reviews, but you have ressies at great places. Excited for you and Bill as you count down...

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  4. Yep, gotta love free-dining! I do visit allears.net. In fact, I could probably do a whole blog post about my "favorites" folder with all the Disney links I visit. I will probably ask Bill to do a post something as a guest blogger, since he is really into podcasts. Hoping to put up another post tomorrow when time allows. Thanks for following along and sharing our excitement! Do you have a countdown?

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