Hello everyone,
My fiancee Maria and I will be married next Sept 21st, 2013, and honeymooning at WDW the last week of Sept. We'll be staying in one of the Honeymoon Suites on the Club Level at the WL!
Anyone else planning on being at WDW at that time?
Tips/suggestions for honeymooners are more than welcome!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
I won't be going then next year because I'm hoping to take a holiday Disney Cruise. What are your travel dates? You might hit opening weekend for Food & Wine Festival.
Kristen,
We're going to miss the Food & Wine Festival by a day (I already checked)! We leave to come home on Sunday 9/29, and I believe next years Food&Wine Festival starts on Monday 9/30. Too bad to; that sounds like a great event!
But there's always the future!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
Paul,
My fiance and I will be honeymooning in Disney World the first week of June next year for 8 days. We will also be staying at a honeymoon suite in Wilderness Lodge. If you want and remember, I can give you a trip update and more info about Wilderness Lodge and their honeymoon suites after our trip. Not sure what you have planned so far. Some things we are doing are taking a carriage ride at Port Orleans Riverside, getting massages, watching Wishes hopefully from hammock at Polynesian resort, and since the first day we will be there is also my fiance's birthday; I am surprising her with a dinner at Victoria and Albert's.
Paul,My fiance and I will be honeymooning in Disney World the first week of June next year for 8 days. We will also be staying at a honeymoon suite in Wilderness Lodge. If you want and remember, I can give you a trip update and more info about Wilderness Lodge and their honeymoon suites after our trip. Not sure what you have planned so far. Some things we are doing are taking a carriage ride at Port Orleans Riverside, getting massages, watching Wishes hopefully from hammock at Polynesian resort, and since the first day we will be there is also my fiance's birthday; I am surprising her with a dinner at Victoria and Albert's.
Hello Nick,
Yes, I'd LOVE to have a trip update from you once you've returned from your honeymoon!
Based on what I've read about the Club Level at WL, it seems like you get spoiled to death there! The big Plus for me with the Honeymoon Suites is the whirlpol bathtub...which we WILL use! The big plus for me regarding Club Level is the Continental Breakfast...the way I see it, that's one less meal we don't have to pay for or get points taken off the DDP...and Maria likes the fact that they have free wine there! I wasn't originally going to do a DDP, but I have a cousin who's a CM at MK, and she strongly recommended getting a DDP; she said it'll be worth it, especially given the prices of the Table Service meals. Overall, yes, being on Club Level will cost a little more, but we won't mind splurging some on our honeymoon!
Our first full day is Maria's birthday, and we'll be dining at V&A's as well, and looking forward to it! With the exception of Dinner on that first full day, we're just going to relax...we'll either do a carriage ride or rent a jetski or paddleboat. We'll also get a couple's massage at some point.
I'm working with a travel agent at my local AAA office, and taking advantage of the AAA Member discounts for WDW. Once we're inside the 180-day window, she'll make the ADR's for us as well...I just need to get her the restaurants, and dates/times we want. We don't have flights yet...JetBlue looks pretty good schedule-wise and price-wise, but their schedule for next Sept isn't out yet, and won't be for another 3 months or so.
We're planning 4 days in the parks, and we're doing just MK, Epcot, and DHS. We got the Park Hopper Option, so if we get bored with one park, we can skip over to another. Our first full day there is the only day "cast in stone"....the other days will be dictated by the weather. We also built in a day to go out to Kennedy Space Center for a day.
Congratulations to you and yours as well Nick! At this point, I'm enjoying the planning....I just hope it pays off next Sept!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
Nick to our Disney family and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.
Hi Paul,
We are about to make our ADRs. Not sure what restaurants you have planned. V&A is supposed to be an out of this world experience. We are going to the parks 5 days and Blizzard Beach. Where else were you thinking of making Dining ADRs? I made my reservations directly through Disney. If you tell them for instance you are a AAA member they would automatically give you the discount for AAA. Are you booking the whole package (Magic Your Way + Dining Package) through AAA. Was not sure whether AAA would save a lot of money booking the package using AAA. I am going to look into it. From what I know, there are 4 honeymoon suites at Wilderness Lodge; and they all pretty much have the same view.
Thanks Pirate Girl
Guy just remember, booking through a travel agent, you cannot make any changes on the fly directly with Disney. If you have any problems also, you have to go through your travel agent to get them solved. Disney cannot make any changes to your itinerary. We heard about alot of horror story's about trips through travel agents lately.
Don't want to scare you, but booking directly through Disney has always seemed to be the best option.
Hi Paul,We are about to make our ADRs. Not sure what restaurants you have planned. V&A is supposed to be an out of this world experience. We are going to the parks 5 days and Blizzard Beach. Where else were you thinking of making Dining ADRs? I made my reservations directly through Disney. If you tell them for instance you are a AAA member they would automatically give you the discount for AAA. Are you booking the whole package (Magic Your Way + Dining Package) through AAA. Was not sure whether AAA would save a lot of money booking the package using AAA. I am going to look into it. From what I know, there are 4 honeymoon suites at Wilderness Lodge; and they all pretty much have the same view.
Nick,
Other restaurants we'd like to go to are the California Grill at the Contemporary (mostly for the MK fireworks view), Rose&Crown Pub and Le Cellier at Epcot and Artist Point at the WL. Artist Point has a buffalo strip steak entree; I've never had buffalo meat before, so I'd like to try that. And Be Our Guest at the new Fantasyland is about to open, so we might look at that one as well. We also want to do Room Service Dinner in our suite on one night.
And yes, we're doing the Magic Your Way AND the DDR package through AAA.
Regarding the Honeymoon Suites at the WL; based on what I read, 2 of them face out towards MK, the other 2 face away from it.....though I don't think there's a price difference in the views with these rooms.
And to mrhub, if your NEGATIVE doom&gloom regarding AAA is true, then AAA will certainly hear about it from me, especially the travel agent I've been working with, and the manager of her office!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
And to mrhub, if your NEGATIVE doom&gloom regarding AAA is true, then AAA will certainly hear about it from me, especially the travel agent I've been working with, and the manager of her office!
Sorry if you consider this NEGATIVE doom&gloom as you put it, but it is one of the drawbacks of working with a TA when dealing with Disney. Disney only deals with ONE person on a booking and in the case of a TA, it is that TA. As far as Disney is concerned you do not exist until you get there and register at the resort. It happened to me on my first (and last) case of booking through a TA.
All the honeymoon suites are one price. When we go to Disney World next June; California Grill will still be closed for refurbishment. Hopefully, it is open when you go. Thanks for the tip on the honeymoon suite views.
Paul Couturier wrote:And to mrhub, if your NEGATIVE doom&gloom regarding AAA is true, then AAA will certainly hear about it from me, especially the travel agent I've been working with, and the manager of her office!Sorry if you consider this NEGATIVE doom&gloom as you put it, but it is one of the drawbacks of working with a TA when dealing with Disney. Disney only deals with ONE person on a booking and in the case of a TA, it is that TA. As far as Disney is concerned you do not exist until you get there and register at the resort. It happened to me on my first (and last) case of booking through a TA.
Bottom line, if AAA (specifically, the TA I'm dealing with) chooses to screw up MY HONEYMOON, trust me, I will NOT let them forget it....and I will tell everyone I know to never use AAA for travel arrangements!
Plus...at that point, I will become a FORMER AAA member!
NEED I SAY MORE?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
I was one of the ones recently complaining about using a TA. I didn't go through AAA and nothing got "screwed up" per se, I just found it annoying that if I wanted to call and check on something or add something to my reservation or switch something, I had to go through my TA. I couldn't just call Disney directly and have it solved. For me, who likes to be hands on, it was just a pain in the butt. Everything had to go through my TA, including my Mickey Mail which my TA held for sometime before I eventually called her to check on it and see if she had received it. Mr Hub wasn't trying to scare you or spout "doom and gloom", he was just trying to point out some of the downfalls of not going directly through Disney if you still have the option to change. I have no expreience with AAA TAs, but if you like having the TA take care of anything and having one point of contact to go through then you should be fine.
January 2020 Trip Report - Riviera Resort
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Sept 2014 Trip Report - Coronado Springs
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We heard about alot of horror story's about trips through travel agents lately.
I so learned that the hard way this year. Though not through AAA.
We've done it both ways. All of our trips in the 90's were done through TA's, and our trip in May was booked through CAA (Canadian equivalent/partner of AAA). In October, I did everything myself. Either way, we have never had any problems. Depending on where you live, and your phone plans, going through a TA can actually be a good thing, since Disney does not have a 1-800 number. Calling to add room requests or tweak reservations can add up, plus you will probably spend considerable time on hold listening to "It's a Small World". (I did in September, and was practically suicidal by the time I finally got a CM! 
).
If you don't want to worry about anything, TA's are fine if they are knowledgeable and organized. Unless CAA offers a fantastic discount or bonus gift again (we got a fabulous Lion King film cell for our May trip), I will probably book future trips myself. I'm a bit of a control freak, so I like being able to pick up a phone and deal directly with reservations, etc.
I hope your honeymoon is fabulous, with lots of pixie dust and magical memories.
Diana
Time marches on. Eventually you realize it's doing it across your face.
We've done it both ways. All of our trips in the 90's were done through TA's, and our trip in May was booked through CAA (Canadian equivalent/partner of AAA). In October, I did everything myself. Either way, we have never had any problems. Depending on where you live, and your phone plans, going through a TA can actually be a good thing, since Disney does not have a 1-800 number. Calling to add room requests or tweak reservations can add up, plus you will probably spend considerable time on hold listening to "It's a Small World". (I did in September, and was practically suicidal by the time I finally got a CM!If you don't want to worry about anything, TA's are fine if they are knowledgeable and organized. Unless CAA offers a fantastic discount or bonus gift again (we got a fabulous Lion King film cell for our May trip), I will probably book future trips myself. I'm a bit of a control freak, so I like being able to pick up a phone and deal directly with reservations, etc.
I hope your honeymoon is fabulous, with lots of pixie dust and magical memories.
Thanks for the encouragement, Diana!
The way I see it, I'm already paying a membership fee to be a AAA member, and if they also offer discounts to WDW resorts, AND a AAA TA will do the legwork to help plan my honeymoon for you for no extra charge, then why not take advantage of a AAA membership benefit? Once the TA at AAA knew what I wanted as far as a resort, DDP, and park tickets/options, she was right on it...and I had a confirmation number the very next day emailed tome!
Have someone else do the legwork for me to plan my honeymoon at no extra charge....sounds like a no-brainer to me!!!!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
And to mrhub, if your NEGATIVE doom&gloom regarding AAA is true, then AAA will certainly hear about it from me, especially the travel agent I've been working with, and the manager of her office!
Paul, I wasn't negative doom & glooming AAA, just giving some friendly advise regarding travel agents in general. We have always booked Disney directly and never had a problem, and have always been able to get the best discounts doing it that way. Also several people on the board have experienced problems lately from booking through TA's and they have had some headaches because to solve the problems they had to contact the travel agents and have them contact Disney. You can't do it directly becuase you didn't make the reservations, your TA did. They have policies and they stick to them. I truly hope everything goes well for you.
Paul Couturier wrote:And to mrhub, if your NEGATIVE doom&gloom regarding AAA is true, then AAA will certainly hear about it from me, especially the travel agent I've been working with, and the manager of her office!Paul, I wasn't negative doom & glooming AAA, just giving some friendly advise regarding travel agents in general. We have always booked Disney directly and never had a problem, and have always been able to get the best discounts doing it that way. Also several people on the board have experienced problems lately from booking through TA's and they have had some headaches because to solve the problems they had to contact the travel agents and have them contact Disney. You can't do it directly becuase you didn't make the reservations, your TA did. They have policies and they stick to them. I truly hope everything goes well for you.
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And like I said in previous posts...I already pay AAA an annual membership fee, and if they have TA's who will do the legwork in planning my honeymoon for me for no additional cost...that's a no-brainer! Plus...I get to take advantage of AAA member discounts at WDW...for example, my room at the WL cost me 15% less by booking through AAA then if I had booked it directly with WDW! And last time I checked, 15% off is better than 0% off!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
Hello Paul!
Congrats! We honeymooned there over labor day in 2011! It was so much fun. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge. If you have time, you should hit up Animal Kingdom park. I don't know if this was discussed yet, so sorry if it has. 
Anywho, a lady saw us with our wedding ears, which an employee gave to us for free when we visited the first shop in Magic Kingdom! So nice! When the cast member saw us wearing our wedding ears at Animal Kingdom, we were chosen to be the grand marshals for the Mickey's Jammin' Jungle parade that day! It was so much fun!
Definitely take advantage of the parks extra magic hours. We were able to do this each day, and it was definitely worth it!
I was so glad to take advantage of the disney dining plan too! I feel like we definitely got our money's worth!
Unfortunately, we weren't there long, so we didn't get much time to just relax poolside with drinks, so if you have time, definitely do that! Our pool was open 24/7 as well, which was really nice!
Use the concierge too! They were so nice and helpful! We ate a delicious dinner at the nice Mexican restaurant in Epcot per their suggestion! Oh, and with Epcot, definitely sample some of the delicious drinks!
Have fun!
Andrea
Andrea,
Thanks for the tips!
We plan on wearing the Bride & Groom ears AND the "Just Married" buttons...and I intend to use those to my advantage to get as many perks and freebies as I can! Based on the research I've been doing, honeymooning couples tend to get treated like royalty by CM's! Plus, it'll be my future wife's birthday while we're there, so we'll be doing dinner at Victoria&Alberts for her birthday!
I did purchase a dining plan also, on the advice of a cousin who's a CM at MK! She said that given the price of the TS restaurants, the DDP is definitely worth it! She also confirmed what I discovered in my research; that the last week of September is one of the best times of the year to go, due to low crowd levels (kids have just gone back to school) and the weather is still good.
I read that over at MK they also look for a family or couple to be the Grand Marshals of the 3:00 Parade there; I wouldn't mind doing that!
Where staying in one of the Honeymoon Suites at WL on the CL, so we'll have the perks and privileges of CL as well! So if I need the concierge, I'll have no problem picking up the phone or going right to the concierge counter!
I'd also like to go to Jellyrolls one night...I haven't been to a piano bar in years! Did you go there or do any other non-park activities?
Paul
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
Oh awesome! That sounds like lots of fun!
We went to downtown Disney and went to Planet Hollywood to eat. We also went to lots of shops and such in Downtown! That was fun, but super crowded! I know it's still at Disney, but we enjoyed "drinking around the world" at Epcot. It was really hot, so we only did half of the countries, but it was fun!
We did go to the Wizarding World of HP at universal too, which was fun!
Paul: Your honeymoon sounds awesome! I don't have any tips since I'm planning mine right now too: we're going the first week in May (4 days at Disney, four day cruise). And I AM booking mine through a travel agent (not AAA, but a different agency)--I know lots of people like the hands-on abilities you get from booking them independently, but since this is the first trip I've planned I definitely wanted the help (and discounts!). It's been great so far!
Fall 2015: Master's Degree Graduation Trip, Details TBD! Can't wait to be back in the World!
Nov. 2014: Baby's First 1/2 Day at the Magic Kingdom; our date day at Hollywood studios
Jan. 2014: Our princess was born!
May 2013: Our POR & DCL honeymoon (& my husband's first Disney trip of hopefully many!)
May 2013: Our Disney-themed wedding
Congratulations!
We will be in WDW in early october to do our wedding planning session, originally we were going to get married at this time now its late feb in the world
Make ADRs, splurge and do some back stage stuff, enjoy your trip. You may want to consider a honeymoon photo shoot at the castle or epcot .
Pi}{ie
Member of the ANRF Running Team. As a warrior of arthritis I encourage you to help us end this disease: http://www.active.com/donate/Racing4ACure/Run4Arthritis
Yes, there will definitely be pictures of us in our Bride and Groom ears in front of The Castle! I'd like to recreate the picture taken of us as an engaged couple in front of The Castle that was taken last Feb when we went to WDW for 2 days!
And since digital film is cheap, there will be LOTS of pictures...and if I can afford a half-way decent video camera, video as well!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
That's so cool that you had an engaged picture there! What a cool picture that will be for your honeymoon too then!
Yes, I'd like to put the 2 pics side by side in a future wedding/honeymoon album!
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
Aww! I love the idea of having the 2 pics!!
Vettelover wrote:Paul Couturier wrote:And to mrhub, if your NEGATIVE doom&gloom regarding AAA is true, then AAA will certainly hear about it from me, especially the travel agent I've been working with, and the manager of her office!Sorry if you consider this NEGATIVE doom&gloom as you put it, but it is one of the drawbacks of working with a TA when dealing with Disney. Disney only deals with ONE person on a booking and in the case of a TA, it is that TA. As far as Disney is concerned you do not exist until you get there and register at the resort. It happened to me on my first (and last) case of booking through a TA.
Bottom line, if AAA (specifically, the TA I'm dealing with) chooses to screw up MY HONEYMOON, trust me, I will NOT let them forget it....and I will tell everyone I know to never use AAA for travel arrangements!
Plus...at that point, I will become a FORMER AAA member!
NEED I SAY MORE?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
From my personal experience, CAA (Canadian AAA) did a great job for me booking 5 previous Disney vacations. Although, I did find that CAA/AAA deals were not better than Disney's promotions. Make sure to check Disney's website because sometimes I'd go in and tell my TA that a better deal is available and she'd call Disney and get the newest promotion applied to my package.
Other than that, I've always had a great experience with CAA. I hope they work out well for you too!
(P.S. I've booked my next trip directly through Disney now that I am such an expert so I'm excited to see if there's a difference in the experience).
JP,
I've already discussed many of these things with my AAA TA, and I confirmed with her that if WDW comes out with any promotions/perks that I find, if she can apply them to my booking, she will!
Paul
Paul
Honeymooning 9/22-9/29/2013
Staying at WL
Hey Paul, how comes your cousin didn't get you discount on the hotel room? My friend works as a CM and get get around 40% off for us for later this year. Much better than the 15% from AAA
Have a great honeymoon
Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
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TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
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