[Bigjon010]

Hello all, I am brand new to your small world here and it is very cool. My fiance and I are getting married in Gatlinburg, TN on Easter weekend, then we are going to WDW for our honeymoon from April 24 through May 1. I spent one day at MK back during Christmas 1996 and had an awsome time. My fiance has never been. We are really excited about it, not to mention the wedding :laugh

We are staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort and have purchased the Dream Maker Silver package.

We would appreciate ANY advice or tips you veteran mouse chasers could provide on ANYTHING, including things like... what would be a really cool item to buy as a memento of the honeymoon, places for a more romantic dinner, any money or time saving tips. But like I said... ANY advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.!
:) :p;)

edit: PS can you rent cars from somewhere in the park? Like from a certain resort or something? Just in case we want to go and check out Seaworld or MGM.

[MickeyMamma]

Welcome to DC!

I can try to answer a few of your questions.

Cool Momentos:
Well they do have bride and groom mouse-ears that you can get and wear around the parks. You do get some special attention when wearing them. In general, I would say mouse-ears with your names on it are my standard "first visit" purchase for newcomers to Disney. My son got his ears at 18 months. There are also some other special wedding momentos that they have available at the parks and many can be personalized for you.

Other cool momentos: autograph books - leave the opposite page blank so you can put a photo of you with the character there; and personalized christmas ornaments are very popular.


Romantic dinners:
Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge gets my first choice vote. They are really good, not many children go there, and it is not outrageously priced. I did a review of this restaurant a few months back. It is here Restaurant Reviews We went for a belated anniversary dinner there (without our son) and had a wonderful experience.

Another place that people rave about is Victoria & Alberts at the Grand Floridian. This is a fancy gourmet meal. I have not been there myself, but alot of people rave about it.

Also, Artists' Point at the Wilderness Lodge sounds really nice.

If you want in park options, I would suggest the French restaurant in EPCOT or having dinner at Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom.

By the way, you can find menus and additional reviews for these places at www.wdwig.com

Money and Time Savers:
These are popular topics. The short answer is to look at the Budget Forum section here. Also, just having a general plan for your trip helps alot.

Depending on the time of year, FastPasses can be invaluable, saving you from standing in 2 hour lines for a popular attraction.


If I mention anything that you are unfamiliar with, a good start to help you would be to use the search engine along the top bar of the website and see what comes up. Go for the thread that lists what you want in the title and you will probably find some great stuff!

Hope this helps! And congratulations on your upcoming wedding. :)

[Amneris]

Have lunch at the Grand Floridian cafe - great ambiance, not very expensive - and while you're there check out the gift shop. The Grand Floridian has Disney's Wedding Pavilion, so they carry more wedding souveniers than other places. I think you can probably get a photo album with a Mickey and Minnie bride and groom on it or something like that.


I've heard that you can rent cars somehow from the resorts, but I've never figured out just how you do it. I imagine it must be pretty expensive. If you're adventerous enough, rent one from one of the places that lets you pick up and drop off at the airport. You take about two major highways, I think it is, to get to Disney World. Disney has signs up all over the place directing you how to get around. The only danger is if you miss your turn off! I've always been too chicken to try this, but you can get a car for less than $200. The pick up/drop off is the parking garage RIGHT as you walk out the door of the baggage terminal at the airport, so that is not a problem.

[MickeyMamma]

Oops! I missed the car rental question.

Yes you can rent from in the park area. There is a National rental location over by the Magic Kingdom. Just ask at your hotel and they can get you there easier.

By the way, MGM is part of WDW. Did you mean Universal? If so, there are Mears buses that go around to the resorts that will take you to the other parks. Again, you can check with the front desk about what times they come around.

[KarenWDWCP]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!

My number one suggestion would be to try and have dinner at the California Grill at the Contemporary during the Wishes Fireworks at the MK. My friends and I did this on our last trip to WDW and it was amazing. They lower the lights, pump in the music and you have an amazing view of the fireworks from up there. And make sure anytime you make any priority seatings for meals to mention you are on your honeymoon, you never know when they will send some extra pixie dust your way!

Also since you are staying at Port Orleans you could take the boat ride from the resort to Downtown Disney, it is a nice ride and you can snuggle in the boat all the way there. Very romantic. Plus its free!


Karen

[Bigjon010]

Awsome tips so far, thanks a lot!

Yeah I meant Universal, cut off my mouse ears for being a dummie :nervous

[Dana]

WElcome to DC and crongrats on your upcoming wedding. Might I suggest you get a copy of WDW without kids for some pointers too? You can never have to many WDW guide books as far as I'm concerned. The more knowledge the better the MAGIC!!!

[TaraDoug]

Congratulations!!!

We spent our Honeymoon at WDW December 29, 2002 - January 5, 2003! It was the BEST decision we ever made to make this our Honeymoon destination! We had a blast!

Without researching, I don't know what your package has - but we still tell people that the best decision we made was to use our Magical Wishes that came with our package for our dinners. We ate like Royalty. I agree - Jiko is a great choice. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and since it was raining on New Years Eve :( we ate at Jiko so we didn't have to get out. It gave us an opportunity to try some foods from Africa - things we normally wouldn't try at a restaurant here in Texas!

We also enjoyed the Yachstman Steakhouse and Fultons Crabhouse. The best part of the package and using the Magical Wishes for the meals was that you could choose ANYTHING off of the menu...not some forced meal for a certain price. Plus, with the Magical Wishes - you get appetizer, main course and dessert - gratuity included!

We were there at what is supposed to be the most crowded time of the year, but I only felt that way when we were at Magic Kingdom. I was a basket case between planning the wedding and planning our Honeymoon itinerary (yes, a control freak) to make sure we got to do the things we wanted to do. I kept watching the time go by and we had NO Priority Seating for ANY of our meals. I was in a panic!! I just imagined that we were never going to be able to eat at any good places. Not so...we called the day before and even the day of and got places at decent times. Of course, we couldn't get to the most popular - like a meal at Cinderella's Castle or something like that, but I still think we had great meals.

Definitely a charachter meal! We did the breakfast at Animal Kingdom and got pictures with Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto. We had a blast! And the breakfast buffet was outstanding! Another great use of our Magical Wishes!

On the wedding ears...I was convinced we had to have these. My hubby said no to a purchase, but that he would put them on for a picture. So we ended up cheating and taking a picture with them on in the store. One of the best pictures from our trip! Some people had them on at Who Wants to be a Millionaire and they got made fun of! I still would have worn them...but in the end, I really wanted the picture - so I got what I wanted! We still got special attention because of our Honeymoon lanyards.

Fastpass for the rides a must! One thing on the rides at the park - I regret not purchasing the photos from the rides. While I know they are expensive...they would have looked SO good in my Disney Scrapbook (a mouseterpiece that I'm still working on)! Just one of my regrets!

Tiffany Towncar is the best for getting around. Compare what they would charge you for picking you up at the hotel and taking you somewhere else to a rental car. Our driver took us to an outlet mall (yes, I forgot to pack my tennis shoes!!)

Downtown Disney has a great Christmas store for personalized ornaments. I just wanted to buy all of them. Also, there is a kitchen store at Downtown Disney where I bought two cookbooks to add to my new kitchen. They include recipes from the resorts! You can really go overboard on Souvenirs! I bought all the wedding and honeymoon pins...but of course I didn't want to trade them, so they are still attached to the lanyard!

I'm so excited for you!!! And jealous!!! I want to go back! Sorry for the book...but I just can't tell you how perfect this destination was for a Honeymoon! Congratulations and best of luck with all your planning! Just remember, you aren't going to be able to see it all, so enjoy what you can see, relax and make plans for a trip back! Have a great time!

[Bigjon010]

Even more good advice, keep it coming friends!

Now a few more questions....

First...
I am kind of concerned about us doing some of the events that may be presented more for children. For Example... is CRT, Hoop Dee Doo, and the like designed to be mostly for children? I don't want to work hard to get this PS then feel uncomfortable when we are the only couple there without children.

Secondly
Fastpass.. from the discussions I have seen here, and from the Unoffical Guide... my understanding is that You get one fastpass then can get a second fastpass for another event as soon as your fastpass return window opens, or two hours after you receive the first fastpass, whichever comes first.
Basically, I should be abel to get a fastpass at least every two hours. Sooo to complicate the question...Is the following possible...... say I get a fastpass at 10:00 am, with a return time of 4:00 pm. Then I get a second fastpass at 12:00pm with a return time of 5:30pm, then I get a third fastpass at 2:00pm with a return time of 6:00pm. Is that situation possible?


Third:
To TaraDoug ... how did you get the Honeymoon Lanyards??? Our travel agent knew we were booking for our honeymoon, but he didnt say that we would get anything special like that. Should I call and make some special requests or sometihng?
I had thought about doing the Guest of Honor Badges, but if I can get those lanyards, that would be very cool.

Fourth...
Karen said to watch Wishes from the California Grill, are there any other places with a good view of a show like that?

Fifth...
Since we are on the Dreammaker Silver plan, and get two "wishes" or vouchers per person perday. Where can we get the most bang for our buck when using wishes for food. I know a few places require you to spend two "wishes" to eat there and I guess I am wondering if it is worth it. I am assuming that using the wishes to eat at a buffet type of location would be the best idea.


Sixth..
Well, no sixth yet, but I am sure it is coming haha.

Thanks for being patient with my newbie questions...
:)

[crystalrp]

DH and I went to Hoop Dee Doo without the kids and it was fine. They have several tables for two so it wasn't a big deal at all. We haven't done any character meals without kids so I can't really comment on that one. My DBrother and his family used the silver plan and had a heck of a time using all their wishes. Two big meals a day is alot of food, especially since the meals include appetizers and desserts. The CMs really try to give you the best "bang" for your buck and often suggest taking the desserts "home" with you if you are too full to eat it there.
Regarding the Fastpasses, yes you could do it the way you described. One thing to keep in mind is that during more crowded times, or for the more popular Big ticket E rides, often the fastpasses are all gone by early to mid afternoon. Plus most likely if you get a fastpass when you first arrive at the park, the return time will be well before 4:00, usually only an hour or two from the present time. As the day goes on, the time span will widen.

[Bigjon010]

I found out last night that I can get a great discount at the Disney Swan or Dolphin. Now I am in a interesting situation...

Like I said above I have already booked (paid a deposit on), but not paid for, a seven night stay at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort with the dreammaker silver plan. Where I get two "wishes" vouchers to be used on meals or activities per day. Including airfare and airport shuttle transfers the total is a bit above $3500.


Using the room discount I can get:

a seven night stay for 2 at the Dolphin in a traditional room,
two seven day park hopper plus tickets deliverd to my house,
round trip airfare,
a rental car,
for about $2400ish.

So it seems am looking at about an $1100 difference.




Can anybody think of a good reason why I should not cancel my current reservations and switch to the discounted Dolphin rate?



During my scouring of these great threads I read where somebody discussed using vouchers or "wishes" that they seemed to buy "a la cart," or not as a part of a package. I remember them saying each wish was thirtysomething dollars each. Can somebody varify that this is possible? I called the WDW reservation number and the lady said that I could not buy the wishes without a package. If I could buy the wishes seperately it would be great.

Thanks again everybody.

[crystalrp]

wow..that is quite a savings! I have never seen or heard anything about buying wishes without a package, but if you can, I am sure someone should be along to tell you soon. Now go to www.wdwig.com and go to the menus, and try to figure out how much you would spend on food and other "wishes". Your wishes could also be used to see Cirque de Soleil, which I have heard is an excellent show!! See if that would total the difference, then base your decision on that. As I had said earlier, my brother and his family had a very hard time using up their wishes. He wanted to be sure to get his money worth so he had surf and turf about twice a day! LOL You should also figure out just staying at POFQ with just the UPH tickets, no silver plan, and see how much you are actually saving. It really does pay off to do your homework as you are doing. The more you plan, the better off you will be when you get there. Have fun and keep asking those questions!

[llama]

That is a significant savings! Rest assured that the Dolphin is a beautiful resort - in fact, if I were on my honeymoon I might just prefer it over Port Orleans. Both are great resorts, but the Dolphin is much more adult-oriented and romantic. You won't likely see as many kids there. (Now don't anybody start - I love kids too, but this is their honeymoon!) Personally, I don't like having the feeling that I have to "do" something everyday in order to get my money's worth, which is kind of the feeling you get with the "Wishes". Why not go for the Dolphin and with the money saved, put it towards things that really are "honeymoonish" - like dinner at Victoria & Albert's, or Bistro de Paris, massages or tickets to Cirque de Soleil.

[xwing14]

I am new to this website but could use some help. I am getting married to the love of my life on April 17 2004 we are start our honeymoon at WDW on April 19th for six wonderful days staying at Port Orleans french quarter. We booked the dream maker pkg. I was wondering what other things I could do to make this extra special for Addie (my soon to be wife). I work for a PBS station so I dont make alot of money. Are there any tricks or tips I can do to make her feel special.

Thanks in advance.

Jason

[Bigjon010]

Congrats Xwing! Best wishes to you and your new co-pilot ;) My fiance and I were going to stay at the POFQ until I got the nice discount at the Dolphin/Swan. Everybody says the FQ is a very nice place. I can't answer your questions because I have little WDW experience, but check around on the threads here. I have been asking many questions myself and maybe some of those answers will help you.