Road Trip Honeymoon: 4 Parks, 5 Days

Wedding Recaps
images via PhotoPass photographers

images via PhotoPass photographers

Early in the honeymoon planning we’d mapped out our park days (both to help make our dining decisions as well as have a general plan), this also came in handy when we were given the option of scheduling FastPass+ attractions. The basic plan was:

  • Monday: Animal Kingdom, plus Hollywood Studios in the evening
  • Tuesday: EPCOT
  • Wednesday: Magic Kingdom
  • Thursday: Hollywood Studios, plus EPCOT in the evening
  • Friday: catch up on any missed attractions, Magic Kingdom for MVMCP in the evening

Mr. RT hadn’t been to Animal Kingdom before, so that was our obvious first park. We  had FastPasses for Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, and Kilimanjaro Safari in that order. While a lot of Disney fans consider scheduling rides like this to be way on the micro-managing side of things, we loved the convenience of it and not having to go from one side of the park to the other and back again collecting the paper passes. It also allowed us to get the big rides taken care of first thing in the morning, so if we wanted to take a break after lunch we weren’t in danger of missing much of anything.

jvanderbeek_day1_part1

Short days mean short hours at Animal Kingdom, so we had time at DHS to ride a ride and see a couple of shows before our dinner reservation.

We have over 1500 photos from this week, it's tough to choose just a few highlights for these recaps!

We have over 1500 photos from this week, it’s tough to choose just a few highlights for these recaps!

Tuesday was EPCOT all the way. Considering we Road Trips are not morning people I was happily surprised at making Rope Drop this morning! We had a few hours and some FastPasses to use up before the World Showcase and the Food & Wine Festival opened, so it was Mission:Space for T and characters for me. Unfortunately, once we got into the World Showcase, Monday’s full day and our early Tuesday start was beginning to get to me, so we took a break to go back to the room for a while. We returned that evening to hit more of the F&WF booths and see the fireworks show–Illuminations is my favorite of all the Disney shows.

EPCOT Fun

EPCOT Fun

Even with that afternoon rest, I was starting to lose steam (and to realize that the plantar fasciitis in my right foot is far worse than I thought–ouch!) so we made the decision Tuesday night not to set an alarm for Wednesday morning and get to the Magic Kingdom around lunch time. This turned out to be one of our better ideas. And it was no trouble at all to change our a.m. FastPasses for afternoon using the Disney app. We started with pictures on Main Street, progressed to lunch at Be Our Guest, and I got to introduce T to classics such as the Enchanted Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise. Then that night we had dinner with the 100 Acre Wood crew at Crystal Palace.

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Thursday was our second stop at Hollywood Studios and another not-too-early start. As before, we’d shifted our FastPass times but we weren’t paying full attention to the clock and missed T’s Tower of Terror time. Oops! Rescheduling the day before was easy, but during the day in question we weren’t having much luck–the available return times conflicted with our dinner plans. Oh, well, we decided to just wing the rest of the day and I figured we’d come back on Friday to make up the missed rides. That night we were heading back to EPCOT to see both Dennis DeYoung’s Eat to the Beat concert and have dinner in Japan.

jvanderbeek_day4

Friday we had a morning appointment with Chef Mickey and then Mr. RT surprised me by choosing EPCOT to return to this morning and not Animal Kingdom or DHS. I wasn’t going to complain as I was interested in doing a bit more shopping in World Showcase and T had a few more blanks to fill in his passport. Mid-afternoon found us back in the room and then we were back to Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. The great thing about the separate-ticket events is that, even at sold-out capacity, the crowds are so low that you can walk onto just about any ride in the park (especially if you go during the parades).

jvanderbeek_day5_part1While it was kinda sad to know our honeymoon was coming to an end, there are far worse ways to end a trip than with a spectacular fireworks show around the glittery castle.

jvanderbeek_day5_part2Besides, it wasn’t really the end. On Saturday we ended as we began: with another trip to Downtown Disney, this time to use the Disney Quest passes that came with our package. It was a good way to ease us out of the Disney “bubble” and by 7 p.m. we’d made it back to Tallahassee and what passes for reality.

Next up: The big restaurant run-down!