A Dalmatian Honeymoon! About This Page:

[Starshine]

I'm finally getting this started, but who knows how long it'll take me to finish (hopefully it won't be end up being another NASTEE nailbiter!) In the words of Ben Stein, "I shall do my best..."

A Spotted Honeymoon

The Cast:
Starshine (Lori), the new wife, 29. Third trip to DisneyWorld, first time staying onsite since I was little, first time flying to Orlando.
Patrick, the new hubby, 25. Second trip to DisneyWorld, first time staying onsite, first time flying ANYWHERE

Adventure Dates: October 8-15, 2001, Honeymoon Discovery Magic package at the All-Star Movies Dalmatian building of course!


Pre-trip: “This is my wedding vow to you…”

I started planning the Honeymoon as soon as we had a wedding date set, much to the dismay of Patrick. He still claims I spent more time planning the Honeymoon than the wedding itself (and I actually think he might be right but hey I have my priorities straight!!)

In any case, I was really glad that I had planned the trip ahead of time, because in the weeks before the wedding I had NO time for anything. The wedding was on Saturday October the 6th, and I had taken the 4th and 5th off from work so we could decorate the hotel for the wedding and the fire hall for the reception. I wasn’t scheduled to return to work until the 17th. The bad part about this was the million things that needed done since I was going to be off so long. I ended up working 12 hour days all week, then decorating all day Thursday and Friday, with the rehearsal dinner Friday night. I was almost too exhausted to make it to the wedding! I made it though, and the wedding was wonderful. Patrick and I recited Celtic Wedding Vows, and we all had tears in our eyes during the ceremony (even the preacher and the wedding party). Then we had a grand party for the reception, and danced until about 2am. Thank goodness our flight to Disney wasn’t until early Monday morning! We slept in on Sunday and opened our cards. Then we finished packing and went to bed by 9:30pm. Our dog (Draco, an 80 pound dalmatian) wandered around whining pathetically the whole time we were packing. He knew as soon as the suitcases came out that he was being abandoned…


Day 1 Monday October 8: “My Walmart sense is tingling!”

The alarm went off at 2:45am. ICK!!!! But our flight was leaving Pittsburgh at 8am and it’s a 2 hr and 15 min drive to the airport so I only took the luxury of hitting snooze once. I staggered to the shower, Patrick and the dog both stayed in bed awhile longer (thus proving that they are both smarter than me). The shower helped wake me up, and I started getting excited. We were finally leaving for our honeymoon! Then I had the daunting task of getting Patrick and the dog out of bed. I finally shoved Patrick in the direction of the shower, but the dog was still snoozing (now we know who the smartest one in the family really is!)

I got online and checked our flight status while Patrick showered. Our flight was delayed by 40 minutes for maintenance reasons. I was actually relieved as this gave us some extra time. I called my parents (who were kind enough to drive us to the airport) to let them know we don’t have to rush. As I was finishing getting ready, I realized that sometime during the wedding preparations I had lost my hairspray (I didn’t do my hair on Sunday so I had no idea until that moment). Thank goodness for my parents again! They live right across the street, so I called my mom for some emergency hair spray. Hair disaster averted, I packed the last of my toiletries in my carry on, and pushed the reluctant dog out of bed (he was literally groaning the whole time). I gathered up his food for the week, put on his leash, and we trekked across the road to my parents. They were also dogsitting for us (and no, this trip wouldn’t have happened without all their help). I felt so bad leaving the poor dog, and he had the most pitiful expression as I walked away. It didn’t help that no sooner than I dropped him off my parents left too so he was all alone.

I came back to find Patrick asleep on the couch. But at least he was dressed and ready to go. I wake him up (again) and meet my parents out front. As we’re loading the car, he confesses that he took TWO Valium while I was gone. This was his first flight ever, and he was terrified. He had a Valium to take for the flight down, and one for the flight back, but he was so nervous that he’d taken them both!!

Needless to say, he slept the whole way to Pittsburgh. We got to the airport by 6:45am, to find a HUGE line at check in. The couple in line in front of us had their dog in a carry on bag, which we thought was adorable. It would never work for us of course, since 80 pounds of Dalmatian will NOT fit on the floor in front! Patrick is on his feet at this point, but his eyes really aren’t focusing, and I’m worried that he’ll pass out in line. He made it the whole way, and then we were off to the line for security. We didn’t actually make it to the gate until about 8:20, so it was really good that our flight had been delayed. We finally boarded and were in the air by 9am. Patrick watched the takeoff, and managed to stay awake for the snack of Sky Mix which he loved. It must have been the Valium, because I thought it was nasty stuff (whatever happened to good old fashioned peanuts?) He then promptly put his head in my lap and passed out.

I woke him up as we began or descent into Orlando. As he lifts his head, I notice that he has managed to drool all over me. I expect this from the dog, but not my husband- YUCK! I whine for awhile about it, but we get distracted when Patrick looks out the window and spots Walmart immediately. He has what we call his “Walmart sense” (kinda like Spiderman’s Spider sense). No matter where we are, Patrick can find a Walmart right away!

We land with no problems, then we claim our bags, and take off for the rental car garage. I had signed up for National’s Emerald Club online, so we went straight to the garage to pick out our car. We ended up choosing a silver 2-door Pontiac Sunfire with Louisiana plates (the out of state plates turned out to be incredibly helpful, because apparently silver rental cars are just prevalent as white ones).

Finally, we’ve arrived!! We make it to the All-Star Movies resort in no time, and I check us in. Waiting at the desk is our honeymoon itinerary and two honeymoon watches and pins. We also get our White Glove goodies since I charged everything to the Amex. The CM is great, she put charging privileges on our keys in addition to the 28 magical wishes (2 per night for each of us) that came with the Honeymoon Discovery Magic Package. The good news is that our request for the Dalmatian building is honored. Bad news is that there are no king beds available in Dalmatians. Do we want another building or doubles in Dalmatians? Dalmatians of course!! (I’ll cope without the king). In fact, after stealing the pillows from the extra bed, we used it as storage space. We’re building 4, room 4838, and we’re lucky enough to find a really close parking spot. We lug our stuff up to the room (2nd floor) and head to the food court for some lunch. I stop by guest services to pick up our Cirque de Soliel and Polynesian Luau tickets (the Honeymoon consultant had already booked these for us). The entire time I’m oohing and aahing over all the Dalmatian sights and having a grand time (Patrick just shakes his head, but I noticed he was getting a perma-smile regardless of how cool he was trying to be!) We pick up refillable mugs and chili cheese dogs and fries. Yum. We take the food back to the room for some relaxation and a nap (for me, Patrick had plenty of sleep thanks to the Valium). Then it’s off to Walmart (Patrick’s Walmart sense got us there in no time) for water, film, and hair spray!

We have 6:10 PS for Cinderella’s Royal Table, and Patrick wants to drive on to MK instead of going back to the resort and taking the bus. Fine with me since I’m impatient waiting for the busses anyway. This ends up being the trend for the rest of the trip- he’d rather drive than bus. It did end up saving us lots of time, since we were usually inside any given park within 15 minutes of walking out the hotel room door.

The first view of Main Street was breathtaking. People were starting to clear out since MK was closing at 7. Our first order of business, to the Chapeau for bride & groom Mickey ears. Patrick lost a bet to me back in March, so he’s stuck wearing his ears all week with nary a complaint!! The CM in the store even gave me bobby pins for my hat since it was a little windy that night.

Off to the castle, and who should appear while we’re waiting for our table, none other than Cinderella herself! We posed for a picture on her throne. Our table was ready minutes later, and all decked out in Mickey confetti. The couple at the next table was honeymooning also (we ran into at least 5 or 6 other honeymoon couples in the course of the week, it must have been a good time to get married).

Our food was ok, nothing spectacular (and nothing compared to the dinners we had later in the week) but the view more than made up for it! The bill was over 90 dollars- magical wishes to the rescue. The main reason we got the Discovery Magic package was to use our wishes for dinners, and I think we managed to get our money’s worth. We certainly wouldn’t have eaten such extravagant meals without knowing they were paid for in advance. CRT was the lowest priced dinner we ate all week- most of them were $150!

It was just beginning to be full dark when we left the castle, and MK was already closed. But the lights on the castle were beautiful! The shops on Main Street were still open, and we browsed for awhile, but didn’t spend any money just yet. Then it was back to the resort for some much needed sleep!


Coming up on day 2… Patrick meets some cavemen!

[ 10-31-2001: Message edited by: Starshine ]

[ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: Starshine ]

[Beth L.]

1st thing, belated congratulations on the wedding, it must have been a glorious day. I had to laugh about the valium because I know how your DH felt (I take xanax when I fly) but not good taking both because now nothing for the flight home. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] So far it sounds like a great start on a wonderful honeymoon. Can't wait to read more.

[Swazie]

I love reading these stories! I wish we would have been able to do Disney for our wedding. But I'll just have to live it through the ones I read. I'll be watching for page two.

Congrats!

[tikibird]

Starshine,

Congratulations on your wedding - and for not only getting Patrick on a plane, but getting him to wear the Mickey ears!

Great report so far - looking forward to more! One question - for the Emerald Isle, how exactly do you go about that? I'm using it in December, and have no clue!

Thanks!

[Starshine]

Thanks everybody! I'm still getting used to his whole married thing! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

tikibird, just follow the signs to National's parking garage, and pick out a car in your class (they're labeled by Economy, Intermediate, etc). The keys are in the cars. Then drive to the gate and give them your Emerald Card, driver's license, and the ticket hanging from the mirror of the car. The other cool part is that when you return the car, you don't have to worry about filling it with gas. They'll check the fuel gauge, and charge your credit card automatically with regular gas prices for the refill.

[maggy_1]

Great report Starshine! Congratulations for your wedding [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] and glad to see you enjoy the package

Chantal [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]