What Happened?? Amber and Matt's Disneymoon May 2014 *UPDATED 8/14*

[HarkiQuinn]

Hey all! It's been a while since I've been on the boards (wedding, honeymoon, quit my job, go back to grad school - one more class, yay!) but I think I NOW finally have time to update you all about my husband and I's disneymoon! It was a great trip and we're STILL having Disney withdrawals (hence why I'm back on the board )

So on with the trip report! We'll begin with the

INTRODUCTIONS

AMBER

25 year old former English teacher, now full-time grad school student getting her Master's in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). Disney fan since childhood and before this trip she has been to Disney World three times and to Disneyland once. When she isn't looking up Disney recipes and stalking the Rumors Boards, she likes to look at cats on the internet and read books (mostly YA). Her favorite Disney characters are Jasmine and Tiana and favorite Disney World ride is Dinosaur (this may be amended >.> ).

Matthew:

28 year old paraprofessional for students with special needs. He has been a Disney fan ever since his mother agreed to play "Sleeping Beauty" with him (in which she was the Sleeping Beauty and he was Prince Philip battling the deadly Maleficient in order to free his mother/maiden). He has been to Disneyland twice and to Disney World only once (because Amber was in shock and promptly decided that they would be going) and fell in love. His favorite Disney character is Stitch and does not know what his favorite Disney World ride is.

Amber and Matt
Amber and Matt have been together since the fall of 2009 and share a love for Disney and books (well him....comic books). They got married May 17, 2014 in Chicagoland (Oak Brook) and it was AWESOME. Don't believe them? See the pictures below:

(The best part was having When You Wish Upon a Star play during the Bridal Party processional)

So that's us! Later this week I'll update with our first day at the World! <3

Tchao!

Trip Reports

May 18: The Arrival
May 19: Magic Kingdom: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V

 

[Cando86]

I'm in and excited to hear about your adventures! I'll be going with my boyfriend in January so I'm looking forward to reading about your trip as a couple!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

joining! congratulations! Lovely picture of the two of you near the lake/pond/body of water

 

[FancyNancy]

You are such a cute couple. Subbing!

 

[HarkiQuinn]

I'm in and excited to hear about your adventures! I'll be going with my boyfriend in January so I'm looking forward to reading about your trip as a couple!

I think Disney World is awesome for couples because you can be a kid and have romantic moments too! The photographer cast members are great too because they will try to get cutesy photos (kissing in front of the castle). Thanks for joining and I hope you and your boyfriend have an awesome time! What resort are you staying at?

joining! congratulations! Lovely picture of the two of you near the lake/pond/body of water

Thanks for joining! It's my favorite picture too! <3

You are such a cute couple. Subbing!

aww thank you dear! And thanks for joining the report!

 

[HarkiQuinn]

Arrival: May 18,2014

So you've just gotten married, it's 10AM and your flight leaves at 4. What do you do first? GO TO THE MALL. ._. Yeah, we went to the mall for two main things: a camera (Sony HX300 for all you photography buffs) and we got those cute unofficial Mr/Mrs Disney shirts from the random kiosks you find at malls (my God they were expensive though).

With our purchases, we drove to Matt's parents/my in-law's house to drop off the car. They get an extra car for the week, they drive us to the airport. Win win.
DSC00006 by harkiquinn, on Flickr

In the past five years, I've only gone to Midway Airport to go to Disney World/Land so Midway=Disney for me.

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And then we arrived in Orlando! Hello humidity!

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As we were letting Disney take care of our luggage, we didn't have to go to Baggage Claim which was a really...weird feeling. Anywho we wandered around for about 30 minutes trying to find the DME check-in which was 100% my fault. You know the stereotype that men hate asking for directions? Yeah, that's me. The last time we had gone to WDW was back in 2011 and I tried to prove that I could find the area based on memory alone. Nope. But we found it in the end, YAY.

DSC00016 by harkiquinn, on Flickr

I personally love DME. Matt and I have been talking about renting a car for our next trip but I can't imagine not being on this giant coach bus! It's so relaxing and it's the first place where you realize "I'm here! I'm at Disney!" And you get to watch Mickey Mouse classics!

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And then.....

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DISNEY WORLD! <3 I like this photo, Matt did a good job.

We were staying at Coronado Springs and we were second. I was excited because I had never stayed anywhere that wasn't All Stars...I guess since Matthew has only been to Disney World once, the same can be said for him as well. Anyway, we were excited.

DSC00035 by harkiquinn, on Flickr

See, I'm excited!

We checked in, got our awesome buttons (...and they lived happily ever after, Happy Birthday Matthew! --I know, I know. He got a Disney honeymoon AND birthday! Brat!) The concierge was very nice and drew us a map on how to get to our room. So off we went!

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And then we realized that we had been wandering and couldn't find our room! Turns out that the concierge had circled the wrong cabanas grouping. We were circling 8A and REALLY we were in 8B. So we found our room, checked in with our magic bands (well actually Matt checked in...I had some difficulty getting mine to read the sensor, but eventually it did!)

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(Yes I am wearing a jacket. I get cold REALLY easy. It makes no sense.)

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I noticed that the light on our room phone was blinking so I checked our voicemail. And what would you know, Mickey HIMSELF called us to welcome us to WDW and to congratulate us on our special occasion. What a mouse.

We were in our room but our luggage wasn't. I had been on the boards (a lot) before leaving so I kind of expected to have the luggage delivered later, but it still worried me a little.

So in tradition of arriving to Disney at night, we went to Downtown Disney. My goodness it was crowded! It was about 8PM and there were raves going on and just PEOPLE everywhere. We got our mouse ears IMMEDIATELY (the bridal ears and got our last names embroidered - Mr.Hayes//Mrs. Hayes). We looked at some merch, and then went to Planet Hollywood for dinner.

Dinner was really uneventful. I think because exhaustion had set in at the same time for the both of us. The highlight of my dinner was sitting at the bar (waiting to be seated) and hearing "Let It Go" come on. Seriously, every SINGLE person there was belting that song out. It was fun to see.

DSC00065 by harkiquinn, on Flickr

We got back from Downtown Disney around 11PM and our luggage was there. YAY.

And then we promptly knocked out!

The first park we hit up was Magic Kingdom, see you there!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I like the photo of you in the airport casually drinking a drink and showing off your new wedding band like no big deal

and yes, you do look excited!

That must have been the scene - huge crowd of Disney fans, many of whom probably had an adult beverage or two and the Let It Go comes on. Gives me a smile just thinking about it

 

[FancyNancy]

Ahh I LOVE Coronado! I stayed there this past January in Cabanas 9B. It was perfect. I was really into the Southwestern theming too!

 

[we3travellers]

I'm in! I love me a good Disneymoon! And thanks for getting us there quickly. I seem to lose interest when the "getting there" part of a TR is too long. Congratulations on your marriage, you are a beautiful couple. I may have read it wrong, but did you get married the same morning as you departed for Disney? That would be cool!

 

[we3travellers]

Okay...I've got it now. I just reread and looks like you got married the day before but were up and ready to go at 10am on Disney day. Waiting is the worst!

 

[KelleyK75]

I'm in. Can't wait to hear about your Disneymoon.

 

[HarkiQuinn]

I like the photo of you in the airport casually drinking a drink and showing off your new wedding band like no big deal

and yes, you do look excited!

That must have been the scene - huge crowd of Disney fans, many of whom probably had an adult beverage or two and the Let It Go comes on. Gives me a smile just thinking about it

Gotta flash the rock! Haha.

It was really funny at Planet Hollywood because I"m pretty sure the adult voices overpowered the kids' (ourselves included of course)!

Ahh I LOVE Coronado! I stayed there this past January in Cabanas 9B. It was perfect. I was really into the Southwestern theming too!

We were in 8B so we were ALMOST neighbors! I really liked the theming too, it was just soo relaxing. And I fell asleep in those hammocks more than once.

I'm in! I love me a good Disneymoon! And thanks for getting us there quickly. I seem to lose interest when the "getting there" part of a TR is too long. Congratulations on your marriage, you are a beautiful couple. I may have read it wrong, but did you get married the same morning as you departed for Disney? That would be cool!

During the early stages, Matt originally wanted to wait a few days after the wedding to go to Disney and I shut that down pretty quick. In all honesty I was more excited than Disney World than I was the wedding, I think we both were. HAHA. Thanks for reading! I'll get you back to MK shortly

I'm in. Can't wait to hear about your Disneymoon.

Thanks for joining!

 

[HarkiQuinn]

So last we saw, Matt and I had just arrived at Disney and had our fill of food (and Frozen) in Downtown Disney. We made plans to go to Rope Drop at Magic Kingdom the next day so I set an alarm for 7AM.

So at 7AM we sllooowwwllllyyy got out of bed. And I do mean slowly. I decided to shower first, and then Matthew followed suit. While Matt was showering I decided to watch Stacy's Must Do's and some classic Disney toons on the TV. And then I realized what time it was.

I swear, Matthew is a fish. He takes the LONGEST showers ever. So because of Matt's love for a hot shower, we left late. We left out at 8:30 and I knew that we were going to miss rope drop so we made a promise to wake up even EARLIER for the next rope drop for MK on his birthday.

So we decide to skip breakfast so that we can get to MK faster. We hope on a bus, grab a seat, and arrive at the Turnstiles 20 minutes later!

DSC00074 by harkiquinn, on Flickr

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So we're walking around, getting our bearings again and just glowing in excitement.

On our way to the castle we come across some characters and shows.

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It's around 9:30 and our first fast pass was at 10AM for Space Mountain. So we headed over to Tomorrowland and took a lot of pictures. Naturally.

DSC00087 by harkiquinn, on Flickr

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The way I stand makes it look like our shirts say "Mr. and Mr." Oh well.

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Can someone PLEASE tell me where the cameras on Space Mountain are? Because....

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I need to know WHEN this photo was taken! Haha. Our first ride and we look oh-so-happy.

I think Space Mountain is one of my favorite rides at WDW because it's pitch black. No matter how many times I ride it, I can't get over the feeling that I have to duck at all times or risk decapitation.

Once we had our trip to space, we decided to roam around Tomorrowland some more.

DSC00105 by harkiquinn, on Flickr

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And then an hour went by and we realized that we hadn't eaten in 12 hours. Where should we eat?

The last time we were at Disney was 2011 and all of the Pardon our Dust fences were up for the new Fantasyland. It was the biggest tease ever since we should SEE The Beast's Castle. Now that Fantasyland was completed, we had to get over there!

So we power walked our way to Fantasyland for breakfast and to run around like children.

See you there!

 

[awalker1015]

Such a cute couple! Can't wait to read more!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Hello! This trip report sounds like a lot of fun.

I like to read YA too! Read any good ones lately? I just finished Red Rising which I think is pretty awesome.

I love Coronado, that is my fav resort!

Hah you guy totally did look like Mr. and Mr.

The ride photos on Space are in a really weird place, like right when you take off. I have no idea why the pictures are taken that early because the ride really isn't even going yet.

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Loving this! Following along.

 

[DisDance]

Subbing!! I'm also from the Chicagoland area, I love how you said midway= disney, I can't imagine flying out of. O'Hare for disney, because I'm always out of midway. Can't wait to read more

 

[martinmont]

Subbing'! We are going on our Disneymoon in dec! Living it thru you for now. Btw dies your button says honeymoon? I can't really read it on the photos

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm joining! You guys are just too cute.

I'm wondering if we ever crossed paths at any point.

 

[bluechic03]

Congrats from a fellow Chicagoan (although I live on the East Coast now) I miss my lou malnati's and Portillo's