Our Epic Disneymoon!

This is the trip report of an EPIC journey of two Disney Nerds in which we stayed at Boardwalk Villas, we cruised on the DisneyDream, and returned to WDW to stay at Wilderness Lodge Villas. AND it just so happens to be our Honeymoon, which made it even more amazing! We went through David’s Vacation Club Rentals for our accommodations at Boardwalk and Wilderness Lodge. I highly recommend them! We’ve booked multiple trips using them and have absolutely thrilled every time we’ve used them. www.dvcrequest.com
Characters: Lauren (your trip writer extraordinaire), Chris, and a Yeti (I’ll explain later.)
Our wedding was held on August 11, 2012 in Johnstown, PA, where Chris grew up.

You can watch our VIDEO trip report vlogs HERE. Please subscribe to our channel because we post ALL of our trip vlogs!

After a year-long engagement, our wedding took place on August 11, 2012. It was truly the best day of our lives. We had 260-some guests, and we partied our buns off! The only thing wrong was that it went entirely too fast. You have something you look forward to and spend SO much time planning, and it is over in the blink of an eye. Thankfully we hired some very talented photographers and videographers to help us remember that day for the rest of our lives. The honeymoon trip report really starts the following day. So here we go!!

Day 1: Sunday, August 12, 2012:

We woke up and had a lovely, nutritious breakfast of COOKIES! If you live in the Pittsburgh area or have ever been to a wedding in the vicinity, you know the greatness that is the Cookie Table. (If not, google it-seriously! It is actually a well-documented tradition in this area!) We had friends and family baking weeks before the wedding and ended up with literally THOUSANDS of cookies, complete with little boxes for people to take cookies home in. This was actually our first taste of our wedding cookies because we were so busy at our reception, we forgot to eat any! We got all of our stuff together, and I decided to play with the luggage cart. [IMG]

We went back to the reception hall to help get the rest of the food from our reception to take to my parents house. Chris had to hold his Grooms cake in his lap the entire journey. We are huge Doctor Who fans, and our gingerbread TARDIS was NOT being left behind!(The guy sticking his tongue out in the other car is my nutty brother.) [IMG]

We finally joined our families at my parents house and opened presents and pigged out again. We also spent quite some time untying dollar bills from the bridal dance (another local tradition).

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One special present we got from one of Chris’s coworkers was a Happy Meal toy that is the Yeti from Monsters Inc (Welcome to the Himalayas!!! SNOWCONE???). It was an inside joke between Chris and his coworkers that they systematically hid the Yeti in random places around their office, and the person who finds him has to hide him again, and so forth. Chris was delighted to find him inside a present, and we decided that he would be accompanying us on our trip. He became an interesting conversation piece and made for some pretty fun photos. (He continues to accompany us on ALL of our trips!)
Our flight to Orlando was the following morning, August 13 at 7:30 AM. We decided it would be easier to just stay in a hotel the night before, so we made reservations to stay at the Hyatt at Pittsburgh International Airport to make it easier on ourselves. We stopped for gas and the Yeti had his first Photo op.

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We got stuck in some traffic, but made it there around 10PM. We left our car in extended parking, near the hotel. We are here!

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It was a nice experience, the hotel was really nice inside. We had more fun with the Yeti, and found our room.

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We had a snack, (cookies of course), and Chris had a drink with an umbrella in it. (We brought the umbrellas with us-we are dorks.) We went to bed but I honestly didnt sleep, I was too excited and still too worked up from all the wedding excitement.

Day 2: August 13, 2012

We woke up around 5, packed up again, and wheeled our stuff downstairs and checked in. We checked our suitcases and waved goodbye to them, as we wouldn’t be seeing them again until they MAGICALLY appeared in our room later that day. (Yay for the Magical Express!) We went to get in line for security, which stretched waaaaay back into the hallway. After we got through security we hopped on the airport tram and went to our gate.

Since it was Airtran (no assigned seats) we had to wait next to our boarding number and boarded in order. We were in the second group, and thankfully we were able to sit together. The flight was uneventful, but flying over PA was cool because I could see the fog lying in the valleys. There was this really cute little boy sitting next to us, he was telling us he and his family were going to Jamaica.

We got to Florida and immediately booked it to what is affectionately known as the faux-norail – the airport inter-terminal transit system.

I didn’t even stop in the Disney store, which is strange, but I did have to get a picture of Snow White and I in my bride hat.

It was only about 9:30 AM. When we got down to the Magical Express, I stupidly stalled and had to take a picture of the sign, so we weren’t able to get on the bus that was loading, but we were first in line for the next one.

We only waited for around 20 minutes when another bus came. I was afraid we were going to get a crappy Mears bus, but not only did we get a ME bus, we got a BRAND NEW one. We sat down and I was so excited, all of my tiredness melted away.

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The Yeti is ready to roll!!

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The ride there was fun as always, and we enjoyed watching the video and Mickey cartoons. Our bus to the Boardwalk stopped first at Port Orleans Riverside, which was nice because I had never seen it before. We let off a number of passengers, then got on the road again.

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The moment had arrived, one I had waited for for MONTHS! We finally pulled up to The Boardwalk, and for me it was the stuff of dreams. It was GORGEOUS. We were the only people getting off the bus, and we scrambled out as quickly as possible. The magic had OFFICIALLY started!

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We were warmly greeted at the door by a CM who asked if we were checking in and if we had ever been there before. We answered that Chris had, but I had not, assuming the CM meant if we had been to the Boardwalk before, but he really meant whether we had been to WDW before….so I ended up with a 1st Visit button. I didn’t mind though! We also got our Happily Ever After buttons…

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…and the CM congratulated us and gave us our key cards (this was pre-Magic Bands!) My card had my maiden name on it and he asked if I wanted to have it in my new name. I of course said “Yes!”- I was thrilled. The CM said that while my new name wasn’t government official yet, it was at Disney World! When he came back, he announced that our room was ready! We made our way back the LOOOOOOOONG hallway…

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We were in room 2005, and we found ourselves walking pretty far, winding around hallways and rooms and yet another small lobby-type area.

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When we reached our room, we had a look around, and I was so happy. It was beautiful.

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I loved the colors and the hidden Mickeys and the furniture. Then I understood why we were given a room so far away. I opened the curtain and this was our view……

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MAGNIFIQUE! We had a lovely little balcony, right near the DVC model room.

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The only thing I didnt love about it was that the bathroom light was pretty dim. It made baths and showers rather dark. Oh well. We were there, LET THE HONEYMOON BEGIN!!!!!

As we were checking out the room, and after I had attempted (poorly) to sign the back of my key card in my new name, we had a knock at the door. PIXIE DUST! We opened it to find two of the Castmembers from the lobby with huge grins on their faces who immediately said CONGRATULATIONS!! They had brought beautiful roses for us. I was so touched! I figured that this was not normal and there must have been a wedding that had used these flowers as a bouquet, but I was just so touched that they thought of us! It even had a cute little Mickey crystal in it, which I kept as a souvenir. I wished we were staying at the Boardwalk longer so that I could enjoy them longer, and now I wish I had brought them on the ship with me, because I probably could have. I hope they passed them on to someone else after us!

Then soon after that MORE PIXIE DUST!!!! Our bags showed up. I was SO impressed with how fast they came! On our last trip our room wasn’t ready until the afternoon so we had left our carry-on bags at the desk and went out for most of the day, so I have no idea what time our bags came then.

By this point we were starving, so we got changed and headed down towards the lobby to get on the bus to Downtown Disney, but we made some pit stops to look around and take pictures. Here are the wonderful CMs at the Boardwalk! The two on the left were the sweethearts that showed up at our door with flowers: Josh and Joseph. They make me want to go work at Disney World so I can make magic for people like that!

We also stopped to take pictures of the Belle Vue Lounge, which became my favorite area of the Boardwalk…it was also where we were to meet the Disney Cruise Line CM’s to take us to our bus to head to the port 2 days later.

I also loved all of the paintings and other furniture that lined the hallways.

We finally hopped onto a bus to DTD. We were so sleepy and hungry we were feeling slightly out of sorts, but after a delicious lunch at Earl of Sandwich we were feeling better! YUM!

We planned to go back to the room to have a nap, but we wanted to stop at the Photopass station because we had purchased a Memory Maker package. It was expensive, yes, but I think for our honeymoon it was a really good idea because of the quality of the photos we received-they were gorgeous. We got ALL of our character photos, all photos taken by the Memory Maker CMs, plus all photos of us on rides. I don’t think we would do it again (Memory Maker is automatically included now when you get an Annual Pass), but since it was such a special occasion we were really glad that we did it. We then went to the World of Disney Store, since we were on a mission to purchase a bride and groom Minnie and Mickey!

I loved Mickey Ears Yoda!

But we finally found our prizes and booked it back to the Boardwalk for that coveted nap.

We decided to hop off the bus from DTD at the Swan and Dolphin so that we could walk through it. I was glad we did, it was beautiful! I really enjoyed walking the back way to the Boardwalk, it almost ended up being faster to hop off at S&D instead of riding the whole way to BW. I’m sure it would have been faster but it started to pour, so we used the opportunity to look around. I had never been to Disney during the summertime before, so I grew to really appreciate these short downpours because they really cooled things off!

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The part of the Boardwalk we stayed in. Our room was on the second floor, fourth window from the left, underneath the “O” of Crest O’ the Wave.

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When we got back to the room, we had a message on the phone-it was Mickey and Minnie wishing us congratulations!
We had a lovely 2-hour nap and woke up refreshed. We then got on one of the friendship boats and headed to DHS, where we had an ADR at Sci-Fi Drive in.

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I loved this place! The movies they play are so cheesy. My DH and I watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 and by RiffTrax, so this experience was pretty fun for us. We also love the Movie Ed Wood with Johnny Depp, so we find B-Movies pretty entertaining. I particularly liked the “Cat-Women from the Moon” one.

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My appetite the first few days after the wedding was pretty limited because of all the excitement, so I only had a kids cheeseburger and fries (I’m sure those who have done the whole wedding shebang can relate, fortunately this was remedied quickly and I didn’t feel like I was going to barf from running on sheer adrenaline for much longer…)
The Yeti really seemed to like Sci-Fi…

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I did too!

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Then it was time for rides!
What is the best ride to go on just after dinner when you are still feeling jittery from the most exciting day of your life? Why Tower of Terror of course!!! For some reason I can’t find the picture from ToT that was put on our photo pass. Oh well, I think it was really bad anyway. So I took other pictures.

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I love that magical spiral thing!
Next we wanted to go on Star Tours, it was our first time on after the refurb. Actually it was my first time on since I was 11 years old, since it was closed during our 2011 trip! We absolutely LOVED it! We and intended on going on again later on the trip, but never made it. We of course then had to stop in Tatooine Traders and Chris picked out a lovely apron but we didn’t end up buying it. We later regretted it!

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…but I pointed out that he doesn’t really cook. (*I don’t really cook FOR him either because he has Crohn’s Disease and just eats very little in general, and what he does eat is limited. Basically cheese, bread, potatoes, most fruits and some veggies. He has NO problem with sweets though! You’ll see later how this pans out for him when we go to the meals on the ship.*)
I almost bought this shirt for my brother but it was only available in a 2X

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After that, we made our way over to the Great Movie Ride. We love this one, we’re so cheesy.

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We started to get hungry for a snack, and what is really better in life than a Mickey ice cream bar???

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Those were our “It’s the first day of our honeymoon and we are eating Mickey ice cream in Disney World” faces.

We had planned on seeing Fantasmic but I think we decided to go back to our room because we were still pretty tired, and the humidity was getting to us. We went back to the boat and had to wait in line for awhile to get on. I got three mosquito bites on my ankle. OW! We waited for around a half hour for the boat to come and we started getting concerned and the line was getting pretty long, but fortunately we werent too far back in it. I felt bad for the people that were much further back in the line. A boat came eventually, and I didnt get all of my blood sucked out by tiny vampires. Another boat came immediately after too, so it looked like everyone got home safe and sound. I decided to take some night pictures.

Looking towards Yacht and Beach Club (We stayed at Beach Club in August 2017- stay tuned for that Trip Report!

I killed Chris. Oops.

Next up: Day 3, where we eat a ginormous cupcake, take a swim with a giant clown, we venture to Epcot, ride Mission:Space without barfing, dine at Rose and Crown, chase a cockroach, and try on a Fez. Fezzes are cool! And stay tuned for Day 4, when we board the DISNEY DREAM!!!

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Day 3

We woke up feeling refreshed, and I had finally slept through most of the night. The jitters finally started to go away, but not completely as we were going to board a ship the next day, and I was so excited about that I didn’t know what to do with myself. Anywho, we took our time waking up, and we went down to the Boardwalk Bakery to have breakfast.
I sampled the huge couch in the entryway.

At the Bakery…

I had the Egg and Cheese Croissant and we split an AMAZING strawberry cupcake! Seriously, best cupcake I have ever had. Not too sweet, just perfect.

This is Chris’s “I have a cupcake” face:

We sat there outside for awhile just relaxing and making various sound effects for all the funny little maintenance vehicles that kept going by (like the Jetsons spaceship noise…*pipipipipipipipipip), then we wandered around the resort and around the shops. I wanted to get a zip cover for my ipad but didn’t find one I liked. We took some pictures.

We also checked out the (much smaller) model of the ship we would be boarding in a mere 24 hours:

I wanted to take the model home but figured they’d probably frown on that.
We went back to the room and got changed because we had every intention on spending the afternoon in the pool, and that’s exactly what we did! I didn’t take my camera to the pool for obvious reasons. We spent a few hours laying on the lounge chairs and going in and out of the water. I even went on the freaky clown slide!

After a great time in the pool, we rested for a little while, and headed out again for Epcot!
We took some pictures on our walk there:
My cute husband

I sooooo want to stay here again sometime.

I loved being able to walk from our resort right into a park.
I forgot to mention that the previous day we had used our Annual Passes for the first time, so we were even more stoked about it.
We first made our way to Future World, and hopped on Imagination. I love Figment! I remember this ride from when I was little, and I wish they hadn’t changed it.

We were hungry again, so we decided to go into The Land for a small lunch. (We had 7:30 ADR’s at Rose and Crown so we didn’t eat TOO much).

Chris and his PBJ:

We both got kids’ meals, then we rode The Land ride. I love this one, I love all the cool plants and fish. I always wish I was a better gardener than I am.
The skies weren’t looking too friendly, and it started raining pretty hard, so we made our way towards Spaceship Earth, and ducked into the little photo store. I looked around and Chris called his family to tell them what we were up to. In front of the shop,there was a small remote controlled car zooming around peoples feet, with a small Perry the Platypus toy driving it, and he was holding a sign that said Please take a sticker while he had a roll of stickers dragging behind him. I saw a CM standing close with his hand in his pocket, obviously with the remote. There were kids chasing Perry around with delight.So Disney. I called my parents too, then we rode Spaceship Earth, one of my favorites.
Not our best picture.

We then went to ride Mission:Space. We both tend to get motion sick on anything that spins around, so we hoped we would be okay on the wuss-version of the ride. We did great! We actually really liked it! I totally enjoyed the queue.

“Hey, who turned out the lights?”

IT’S LIEUTENANT DAAAAAAAAN!!!!

Next we went over to Club Cool and I tried the Beverly for the first time. At first I thought everyone was nuts because it didn’t taste that bad. But then the taste got to me. AWFUL!
The rain really had cooled things off, so we both had on light jackets…it was pretty weird to be wearing them in August!
It was getting to be evening, so we then worked our way around to the World Showcase and explored the UK for a bit, since we had 7:35 ADR’s at Rose and Crown.
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We watched a really fun band called British Revolution. They were really good. The highlight was when they played “Crazy Train” and one was headbanging and screamed “YEAAAH, we’re playing Ozzy in Disney World!!”

We spent the rest of the evening bopping around the World Showcase, and then we watch Illuminations. We didn’t get back to our room until after midnight, and we were so excited because the next day we got to board the Disney Dream!

Day 4: August 15, 2012

The Yeti was really going to miss The Boardwalk. (He will get to see it again in August 2014, but SHHHH! Don’t tell him!)

Chris woke up early enough to hand off our luggage to the CM’s that came to send it off to the ship. (You’re supposed to have your luggage just inside your door by 8AM) He went out for a little while and texted me and asked if I wanted to have breakfast at Kouzzina…I said of course!

We had a really nice breakfast, and Chris even saw Cat Cora coming in.
I went back to the room to make sure I had all my carry-on luggage together, but Chris wanted to check out the ESPN store, so I headed back. I had a great idea and texted him to come take a picture of me on our balcony.
Can you find me?

It’s Romeo! Sorry about the fog on the lens, it was really humid.

Chris came back up and we said goodbye to our lovely room. We then walked around the resort for awhile, and ended up in the Belle Vue Lounge, where we were to meet the CM’s from Disney Cruise Line so they could direct us to the bus to the port

There were lots of families there waiting, including the family that had been our next-door neighbors during the past two days. When the CM’s arrived, they directed us all outside towards the conference center, and before long a beautiful bus pulled up!!

We were instructed to wait, but a few minutes later a second one pulled up and we were instructed to show our passports and board the second bus.

YAY WE WERE REALLY GOING!!!

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