Jess and Andrew Lyons’s Honeymoon Journal of Awesomeness
Day 1
After nearly missing our flight because we were so focused on Au Bon Pain breakfast, this was a completely amazing day. We arrived at Disney World around 1:30 and, luckily, got into our room well before check-in time. Our lost honeymoon registry card was replaced (yay!) and we were given a congratulatory magical moments certificate at the desk in honor of our honeymoon. We even received special pins to wear that announced we were newlyweds. They also upgraded our room to a king-size bed free of charge, which is just awesome. Our room is in the alligator bayou section of the resort (Jess’s favorite) and is completely adorable. The housekeeper even left the hand towels and washcloths folded in the shape of an octopus and a few unidentifiable, but still cute, critters.
After a few hours of much-needed nap, we headed out to Magic Kingdom to kill an hour or so before our 9:00 dinner reservation at the California Grill in the Contemporary. As we walked in, Andrew said this is so cool
about a dozen times, but Jess just finds that endearing :-). We had a great trek up the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house and rode the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was very fun and a nice remake. Next we jumped the monorail to the Contemporary for dinner.
Since Jess grossly overestimated the amount of time needed to get to the Contemporary, we grabbed a few cocktails at the Outer Rim lounge, where Andrew decided a Rum Runner was a bit too intense for his taste. It was the first opportunity we had to use our honeymoon gift card, which was very cool. The view out onto the lake and of the hotel’s pools from the lounge was also breathtaking.
We next went and checked-in for our dinner reservation, and the hostess immediately noticed our honeymoon pins. Next we were taken up a private elevator to the 15th floor and given a beautiful table with a fantastic view of the castle and Magic Kingdom, complete with colorful Mickey confetti on the table. Though we were totally puzzled by most of the menu, we went the specials and had delicious shrimp salad and goat-cheese ravioli for appetizers and pork tenderloin and filet mignon for dinner. It possibly looked goofy, the way we were lavishing praise on the food and the atmosphere, but it was well deserving of it. Finally, around 10 PM the music began for the fireworks over Magic Kingdom and we enjoyed a spectacular view of the entire show, ending the evening with a dessert that included a special congratulations
piece of chocolate from the kitchen.
Though the plan had been to go back to the hotel, we remembered that Magic Kingdom was open until 2:00 AM and decided we felt energized enough to do some extra magic hours. It turned out to be a great time, despite a little rain, and we got to see the majority of Spectromagic, as well as ride It’s a Small World, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey’s Philharmagic (Andrew’s first 3-D show!). When we finally headed home we were both tired, but had enjoyed a wonderful day together. We even took an impromptu tour of half the grounds of the hotel when we went slightly astray while walking back from the bus stop (the bullfrogs were so loud that Andrew jokingly referred to it as our detour through animal kingdom). We are both looking forward to building more memories during the rest of this week!
