"Just One More Glass of Sangria..." Our Magical Minimoon at the Beach Club! (May 2016)

[heycitygirl]

Livin' it up, love that feeling. Filling me up, we're together once agaaaaaiiiin!
Livin' it up, my heart starts beating.
Fillin' me up, let the memories begiiiiin! (Let the memories begin!)

(I get teary-eyed just singing that in my head, it's my favorite).​

Welcome, friends, to our one and only Disneymoon trip report! My name's Melissa, and I was actually a member of the Disboards a few years ago. I honestly can't even remember what my username was, but I made a lot of really good friends who I still keep in touch with to this day.

Three weeks ago, my fiance husband and I got back from our incredible Minimoon at Disney, spending six days and 5 nights at the Beach Club Resort. I miss it already! I always have the hardest time adjusting back to the real world after a trip, but the fact that we have some future Disney plans in the works definitely makes things easier...

Anyway, there's so much to say and share and reminisce about, and I can't wait to get started! I'm going to use this post as a Table of Contents of sorts for easy access to the other parts of our report. Stay tuned for a brief history of our trip, coming up soon...

Thanks for stopping by!

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Table of Contents
Pre-Trip Part 1: How Did We Get Here?

 

[heycitygirl]

Pre-Trip Part 1: How Did We Get Here?

So how did our Minimoon trip come about? It's quite a story, actually...

I looooove Orlando! Like, really, really love it. It all started waaaaay back in 1992, when my parents took my brother and I on our first trip to Disney World. I was 5 and my brother was 3. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, and I spent the week crying. That's right... Snow White's Scary Adventure? Cried. The Great Movie Ride? Cried. Haunted Mansion? Cried to the point of having to be removed from the line. The Shamu show at Sea World? Cried from being wet and uncomfortable. Needless to say, it was quite the memorable trip

I spent the rest of my childhood watching our family video from that week and dreaming of the day we'd be back. I can actually remember snippets from that trip, with my favorite memory being when I played Ariel in the pool with a little girl I met. Those were the days. Disney was always a huge part of my childhood, thanks to the resurgence of truly great Disney films (I'm a child of the 90's) - The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King. You name it, we had the VHS tape. And the stuffed animals. And the play sets. And the costumes. Whenever my mom makes fun of my Disney obsession, I always remind her that hey... it's technically your fault

​

I always loved Disney, but didn't fall head-over-heels in love with Disney World until my junior high school senior trip in 2001. As a teacher now, I can't even imagine herding 150 14-year old's onto a plane and around a bunch of theme parks, but we had a great time. I was so amazed by the technology behind the rides, the little details around the parks, and the true magic of it all. I had to bring my family back! So I spent the next four - that's right... FOUR - years trying to convince my parents that a family vacation to Orlando was a great idea. The only caveat? My mom wouldn't leave our dog, a tiny little Shih-Tzu named Oreo. No problem - let's bring her!

So that's what we did. Finally, in 2005, my family packed up our car, Oreo included, and drove all the way down the east coast to Florida. It was an 18-hour trip from NYC to Orlando and I loved every minute of it. Sure I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin a few times as we drove past endlesssssssssss trees, trees and more trees for 18-hours in a 2-day span... but we were on our way to Orlando! We rented a condo and stayed for a month, visiting Disney World, Universal Orlando, Sea World, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Titanic: The Exhibition, and a few other small attractions in the area. It was such an incredible trip that we did it all over again in 2006, 2007 and 2009 (staying two to three weeks each time).

Since then, Disney hasn't been a big part of our lives. We took an incredible trip up to Portland, Maine and a really fun trip to Mystic, CT, but Disney was never really an option. My mom kept saying that she wouldn't go back until she had grandkids. Way to put the pressure on me, mom! Then in December of 2012, I met my Prince Charming! My Mr. Incredible! The Aladdin to my Jasmine... the Simba to my Nala... the Beast to My Belle? His name is Geoff. We fell in love, moved in together, and went on many a magical vacation - to Toronto, Halifax, Niagara Falls, Atlantic City, Cocoa Beach, Universal Orlando, Mystic Seaport and Philadelphia. We both love to travel and have made it a priority in our lives.

Then things got really magical in December of 2014 when - SURPRISE - Geoff proposed! We knew we had to celebrate with a trip, especially since we both had some vacation time. But where to? Vegas? Hershey Park? Lake George? Then a little thought popped into my head - what about Disney World? I'd always dreamed of going with the love of my life. It was a relatively easy trip, with low airfare and not having to rent a car. Plus, now that I was an adult and didn't have to beg my parents to take me, how could we NOT go back?! So it was settled... Disney it was! It was a great trip too, but that's another story for another post...

Coming up Next: "Be careful.... you know you're here to act like animals."