Babymoon Aboard the Disney Wonder - Day 1, Embarkation

 Hey there princess!

Before I found out that I was pregnant, I scheduled a surprise Disney Cruise for my husband, Niles' 30th birthday. Just a few weeks after booking the trip, I found out that I was pregnant and the trip turned into a combined birthday celebration and babymoon. This was the first time either of us had ever been on a Disney Cruise (I went on a Carnival Cruise in 2008 and Niles has never been on a cruise). 

Now, I will start off by saying that this cruise happened in January 2022, so there were a lot of COVID protocols in place, so for the most accurate information you should check the Disney website for the most accurate information. I will also say that the beginning of the Disney Cruise began at the port of entry (for us this was Galveston, Texas) where you were given a COVID test. It was at this test that I found out I had COVID and was not permitted to board the ship. I will put all of the information about what happened at the very bottom of this blog post for people who are interested, as I haven't seen a lot of information online about what happens when you test positive for COVID on the day you are supposed to set sail. Long story short - I rebooked the trip for three weeks later at no additional cost. 

Above is a photo of what the waiting area looks like in Galveston while you wait for your test results. As you can see, the place isn't packed at all. In fact, the whole ship was pretty empty. Our cruise was only booked at something like a 20% capacity, which is terrible for business, but was incredible for our experience. There was no waiting in line, we got great seats for the shows, and we felt incredibly cared for. 

Once we boarded the ship, there was a little performance put on by Mickey and Minnie to welcome us on the ship. As you can see, mask policies were very much in place, and we were required to be masked in all areas of the ship unless we were in our stateroom, outside, or actively eating or drinking. You guys know the drill. The show was super cute, but if I am totally honest after the anxiety of waiting for the COVID tests to come back negative, and the exhaustion of being 4.5 months pregnant... I mostly just wanted to go to the stateroom and crash.

Before you know it, we had completed our safety drill and were able to go to our room to put our things down and relax a little bit. However, being the pregnant woman I was... by then I was hungry! Thankfully, no matter what time it is, there is always food to be found onboard a cruise ship. We made our way to Cabanas, the buffet onboard and loaded up on chicken nuggets and French fries. 

Above is a photo of the buffet (notice... no line!) and you can also see a photo of the classes that they give you to drink out of which have little Mickeys on them! So cute! Here is what I will say about the buffet - the food is great! There is something for everyone, and each meal rotates out the food so you don't ever get tired of anything. However, there is always something available for picky eaters as well, which is great because as a pregnant lady there are just some days where you want to eat something safer. There is also a fresh fruit stand open all the time in Cabanas so you can get in your vitamins. 

Negatives for me would be the size of the glasses that they give you. I love the little Mickey heads, but I am from Texas where we do everything bigger - most certainly cup sizes (I mean have you been to Whataburger?). After lunch, I had to run myself to the gift shop and purchase a large Tervis tumbler to use throughout the rest of the trip. It was easily the best thing I purchased! While I didn't need it in the main dining room, it was essential the rest of the time. 

After my very necessary trip to the gift shop, we took a stroll around the rest of the ship to get our bearings. Look at this place - totally empty! Now, keep in mind, this was the end of January/beginning of February and the weather was a little chilly (chilly to me is high 60s/low 70s). The weather was still gorgeous, but I understand why this wasn't prime cruise time for the average person. The boat was meticulously clean and there were tons of cast members available to answer any questions. 

we went and listened to a live jazz band play before being seated for our dinner hour. All of the performers on the ship were absolutely wonderful. But who am I kidding? I was there for the food. 

Our first meal on the ship was at Tiana's Place, which is a New Orleans-style restaurant complete with live jazz music and an end-of-meal parade. On Disney Cruises, they do something called rotational dining, where your servers in the dinner hour go with you from one restaurant to another (there are 3 different restaurants onboard the ship, so we transition from one style of cuisine to another, and the staff move with you). 

Something else of note is that all of the food is included, and guests are encouraged to order as many items from the menu as they wish. The people seated next to us were food bloggers and ordered one of everything! On this first night onboard, I ordered the barbecue shrimp and grits as my appetizer followed by a salad. The real showstopper was dinner, where I ordered the pork chops and niles ordered steak. The servings were enormous and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of our meal! Everything was divine, and we were even given little Mardi Gras beads as a souvenir from the meal!

After that, I absolutely had to go straight to bed to sleep off our enormous meal in preparation for the next day. It was truly a 'wonder'ful day!

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Now - on to the story of what exactly happens to you if you show up to a Disney Cruise and test positive for COVID. The day of our first scheduled cruise, we showed up and took our COVID tests (these are PCR tests that you administer yourself, testing inside the nose). We then went to the waiting area which is pictured above, prior to boarding. I noticed that a lot of the people in the room had gotten the green light to go upstairs to the boarding area, except for us and a few other families. 

At that time, we got a notice on our app to approach a staff member who would give us directions - my heart immediately sank and I knew in my gut what was happening. Immediately, one woman began yelling her grievances to the cast members working at the desk, which was rather upsetting. I waited behind her for her to finish speaking her peace, and another cast member approached us and another couple (there were 3 groups in total who tested positive on this day), and told us that our COVID tests were inconclusive and that we needed to follow them to retake the test. 

We did follow this cast member out of the room and down a long hallway (note that everyone was masked this entire time), and went into an area of the pier that I now know is where luggage is transported on and off of the ship to be sorted. It was around 12:00pm at this time. A doctor in full gear (think hazmat suit) came into our area and told us that I had tested positive for COVID and that we would not be permitted to board the ship. A few minutes later, a cast member came by and asked if we would like any snacks and water while we waited for our luggage to be returned to us. 

I thought this was super weird... how long could it possibly take to find our luggage? Either way, he came back with a water bottle for each of us about six single-serve bags of Lays brand potato chips. He explained that we could have a full refund on our trip, and I said that was totally ok and signed off on the paperwork he presented to me. We then proceeded to wait in the terminal until 3:30pm when the boat was scheduled to depart. At that time the same man came back and walked us from the terminal to the parking lot and that was the end of our little adventure. I admit, I shed a lot of tears that day and in the following days. 

I still don't understand why we had to wait in the terminal for three and a half hours, and why I was told that I was being taken back to retake the COVID test when that was obviously not what was going to happen, but either way the experience didn't disturb me so much that I didn't rush to rebook the trip as soon as I could.

In all, I had an absolutely fantastic time! I just wanted to share that experience, since I haven't been able to find anyone else online who went through the same thing. If you have any questions about it, please don't hesitate to ask!

Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 5 - Animal Kingdom and Epcot

Hey there princess!

Thursday was our last day visiting the parks (Friday we went to Disney Springs for shopping and Chicken Guy, and then flew home). We made sure to make the most of every moment, while also not pushing ourselves too hard in the process. 

First things first, we were still so enchanted by our dinner the night before that we decided to go back to the Polynesian for breakfast at their quick service location, Captain Cook's. The scrambled eggs were amazing - I have no clue how they got them so fluffy! This was a huge hit for us, and I would recommend trying quick service dining locations at the different resorts if you have the opportunity. Our return to the Polynesian also gave me the opportunity to poke around in their gift shop again, and I picked up a Lilly Pulitzer dress that I had been eyeing the night before as a souvenir. Now every time I wear it I think about this incredible trip!

In the morning, we visited Animal Kingdom and got to experience all of the changes that they have made since my last visit when I was a young teen. The air was hot and incredibly humid, but I was so happy to see so many animals out and about rather than hiding underneath the shade. 

We started our morning off on Kilimanjaro Safaris, and we were blown away by how close the animals were able to come to our car. Our driver was incredibly sweet, and we were able to hop on with no wait at all! A true Disney miracle. 

Next, we rode Expedition Everest, and then we made our way to the new Pandora area based on the Avatar movie. I hadn't see the movie until after this trip, so honestly a lot of it went straight over my head. We weren't able to get a FastPass for Flight of Passage (and I just couldn't justify waiting in the sun for three hours), but we were able to get on Na'vi River Journey, which was really fun and beautiful. 

We knew that we had a dining reservation waiting for us, so we hopped back on the bus and headed to Epcot to enjoy the second half of our day!

We settled in for an early dinner at San Angel Inn and had a delicious and quiet meal in front of the volcano at Rio del Tiempo. I loved getting to sit in front of the candlelight, and taste all of the incredible food that we were served. Something to keep in mind is choosing places to eat where you can really cool down before heading back out into the Florida heat San Angel Inn is perfect for that!

After dinner, we stopped by the Japan pavilion and Niles picked a pearl for me from Mitsukoshi. This is such a special and beautiful keepsake from our trip, and I love having something that I can always wear and keep with me. Keepsakes and mementos have always been important to me - since I was little. I tend to associate little items with special memories, and love to keep them with me. This little pearl is perfect to wear on any normal day that isn't too "Mickey Mouse" but still gives me lots of sweet mushy feelings remembering this special time in my marriage. Do you ever do anything like that?

For the rest of the evening we strolled around all of the different pavilions and watched the fireworks as we road Spaceship Earth one last time. This is scheduled to be refurbished with new theming in 2020, so we ended up actually getting Spaceship Earth into this trip on 3 different occasions! It ended up being one of Niles' favorite rides of all!

I am so thankful for our incredible honeymoon in Walt Disney World. It was the absolute perfect way to start of a new and exciting chapter in my life, and the life of my husband. Since this trip, we have had lots of little adventures together (including spending the past five months social distancing together). I can't wait to see what adventures await us down the line!

Sparkle on!

Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 4 - The Magic Kingdom

Hey there princess!

I hate to spoil the surprise, but this was my absolute favorite day of my entire honeymoon - and it was spent entirely in the Magic Kingdom. We got up early (well rested from turning in early the night before, best decision we made the whole trip), and headed to the park for our 8:30am breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest.

I love this photo from that brief moment that we were in the parks all on our own before they opened up at 9:00am. We are both squinting into the sunlight, and I think Niles got a little sunscreen in his eye from dousing ourselves earlier, but still - it's probably my favorite picture from the trip! After a quick snapshot, we were on our way to a seriously delicious breakfast!

We ate our food in the West Wing area, which was tons of fun (but not super photo-friendly since it is so dark). Thunder crashed, the portrait of Beast flashed and changed, and the AC sent chills down my tank top-clad spine. The food was amazing, and way more than we could eat first thing in the morning. I opted for the charcuterie board, which is about as French as I've ever been, and both of us were so full from our own meals that we weren't even able to touch the complementary pastries that were placed on our table.

When planning this trip, one of the things that I am most thankful for is signing up for the dining plan. Each time we went out to eat or stopped off for a snack, we didn't have to constantly pull out or wallets or worry about juggling large amounts of cash. We used the Quick Service Dining Plan, so the only meals that we paid for were the table service ones (for us - this was Garden Grill, Brown Derby, 'Ohana, and San Angel Inn). We actually ended up booking our trip during a time when Disney was offering free dining with our hotel reservation, but in the future I would book that dining reservation all over again. 

After that incredible meal, we decided to take it easy and ride the People Mover around Tomorrowland a few times. This is such a fun, relaxing ride, and perfect for all ages. There is basically never a wait, the ride is slow, under shade, and partially air conditioned. Plus, you get to have a little preview of all of the rides in that area! 

While we were in Tomorrowland, we decided to jump on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger and Space Mountain (which was a favorite for Niles). They are both such classics, and since we had the photo pass, the app made it really easy for us to download our ride pictures. I always loved looking at these when I went with my family growing up, and these are just as treasured! It makes me want to pull out all of my old scrapbooks! 

Of course, we also had to make a trip to visit one of my favorites - the Country Bears! This is such an underrated attractions and I personally could watch it several times on a trip (Niles maybe not so much), but I think it is just so charming! I remember reading that it was the last project that was approved by Walt Disney before his passing, and I think that makes it all the more special. 

The best meal we ate the entire trip (and honestly probably my favorite memory from our honeymoon) was sitting down to dinner at 'Ohana. When we arrived at The Polynesian for our reservation, the hostess saw my little "Happily Ever After" button, and she asked if we would be alright waiting another 15 or 20 minutes for our table. We didn't mind, and enjoyed walking around the hotel looking at the different shops and things they had to do there.

To our complete shock, when we were called back to the restaurant, we were directed to the most amazing table in the entire room! It had a private view of the pool, and a perfect shot of the fireworks show. None of my pictures do this table justice, but you have to trust me - it was magical!

Even more incredible was the view after sunset when the audio for the 'Happily Ever After' fireworks show came on in the restaurant and we got to watch them pop over the Magic Kingdom from the comfort of our table. 

Again, my photo skills are not that great, but hey! I did my best to document the experiment while also stuffing my face. 

The menu there is set, so once you sit down all of the food is brought right to you. I honestly love this style of dining. I don't have to worry about balancing a tray at a buffet, and typically have more opportunities to stretch my taste buds, while also having some really great standards to lean back on if I find that something not to my taste is being served. 

I feel like I can really get lost in a sea of French fries and chicken nuggets when I am at Disney World if I'm not careful, and 'Ohana was anything but that. I wish I had taken a photo of the food, but I was too busy inhaling it to stop (we actually hadn't eaten since Be Our Guest that morning). 

To start, we were served coconut bread along with pork dumplings and honey-coriander chicken wings, and that was just the appetizer. Once we had tasted all that deliciousness, they brought out the most incredible noodles that I have had in my life accompanied by skewer after skewer of sirloin steak, sweet and sour chicken, and spicy shrimp. If we weren't already bursting by that point, they also brought out bread pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce. I was positively bursting. 

As luck would have it, it was also extra magic hours in the Magic Kingdom until midnight, so after finishing our meal, we hopped on the monorail and headed back to enjoy more fun! There was something so fun about being in the parks when there were so few people, and we could basically walk onto our favorite rides (hello Space Mountain). 

We just couldn't get enough Space Mountain!

We also got to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion with almost no wait time at all! All of the running around really helped me to digest my dinner, and I couldn't believe how many amazing things we could squeeze into that small time frame. Plus, since it had finally cooled down a bit it wasn't so completely oppressive to run from one side of the park to the other. 

As we rode the bus back to Caribbean Beach, with the cries of babies  who were up way past bedtime ringing in our ears, we knew we had just had the most incredible day ever. From start to finish, it was fun and funny and transportive. I would live that day all over again now if I could!

How about you? Are there any specific Disney days that stick out in your memory as being particularly incredible?

Sparkle on!

Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 3 - The Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Hey there princess!

Our third day at Disney started back in the Magic Kingdom. For breakfast, we made a Starbucks run and did our best to eat a giant Mickey-shaped donut. The parks have seriously stepped up their snack game, no doubt due to the popularity of social media sites, like Instagram. I love not only eating something delicious, but also cute!

I mean - it's bigger than my head!  

While strolling down Main Street, we also had our silhouette cut by one of the fantastic Disney artists. She said that she had been working in the parks for 11 years, and was seriously so talented! I love having the opportunity to talk to the staff at their jobs. They are all so kind and knowledgeable. When I was growing up, my family always had our silhouettes done here in the Magic Kingdom, and I am so pleased to get to start my own little family silhouette collection. 

After making our way around the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland and seeing the Enchanted Tiki Room, we enjoyed these sweet Mickey and Mini Dole Whips. They were the perfect thing to help kick the Florida heat, and were completely delicious. 

Once the heat of the afternoon wore off, we headed over to Hollywood Studios. 

Of course, we had to ride Rock n' Rollercoaster, which was incredibly fun. Our trip took place two weeks before the opening of Galaxy's Edge, so we weren't able to peek at any of the new Star Wars stuff. All the same, we had tons of fun in Toy Story land, and looking at all of the other fun Hollywood-themed things. 

Making dining reservations at The Brown Derby was one of those things that I knew I had to do as soon as my 180 day window opened up. I celebrated a birthday here when I was younger, and it never really lost that magical, classic Hollywood feeling. Sitting in their dining room, I can almost imagine I am Bette Davis from All About Eve. 

When planning for this experience, I made sure that our timing would coincide with the Fantastic firework show so that we could to and be seated once our meal was finished. To be honest, once we finished our grapefruit cake, we were both too exhausted to do anything else, so we chose to go back to our room and turn in early rather than seeing the show.

Planning is important, but so is flexibility. I want to have fun while I'm on vacation, and if I am so exhausted that I can't keep my eyes open, then I'm not having fun. 

By turning in early on this night, we were able to catch up on some much needed rest, and were more energized for the rest of the week. 

What do you do when you're tired on vacation? Do you find it difficult to say 'no' to fun or having to change your plans?

Sparkle on!

Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 2 - EPCOT

Hey there princess!

Our second day at Disney World started in the absolute most perfect way, with Mickey Waffles! I had been dreaming of these bad boys for a long time, and it was so fun to finally get to eat some. Things have certainly changed since the last time I was at Caribbean Beach Resort (probably about 15 years ago) and I loved all of the renovations that they have done! Most of all, I love that the reports still give you a refillable mug at check-in, because that bad boy got used a lot!

Once our tummies were full, we donned our sunscreen and hopped on the bus to head to Epcot. This is Niles' first ever time going to Disney World (he is a California boy and grew up going to Disneyland), and being in Epcot was such a fun and new experience to share with him. Since it was the middle of August, the most important things to us were keeping cool! We dressed in lightweight clothes, brought hats (mine with the new monogram) and wore tons of sunscreen. I also found some neat cooling packs off of Amazon (click here to see) and I threw them in my purse to help us not get overheated.

One of those special Epcot-only attractions is The Land, which is one of my all-time favorites. Even just the smell is something just incredibly special that stays in my memory. I can almost feel the breeze coming off of the water now while I type this. 

When planning our honeymoon there were some very specific things on my "must do" list, particularly involving food. One of my favorite places to eat in Epcot is the Garden Grill, which sits directly above The Land attraction. Garden Grill checks off so many boxes - it is a character dining experience, it sits directly above one of my favorite attractions, and you can look out over the balcony to see people passing by, and the food is phenomenal.

When I say the food is good, the food is GOOD! It is family style, so there is a little bit of everything and you don't have to worry about a menu. Dessert is included, and Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale stop by periodically to check on you and take pictures. I am seriously still thinking about how amazing that turkey is! For me - I want to have at least one opportunity to have a character interaction on my trip, but I don't want to wait in line or have to use a FastPass. Character Dining is the perfect solution to this, and Garden Grill gives you both great food and personal interaction without too high of a price tag. 

Of course, no trip to Epcot is complete without riding Spaceship Earth. We actually ended up riding it three times since it is being closed for changes to the story in 2020 - 2021. Who knows what it will be like when we return?! 

Of course, we also had to get some cute pictures in front of "the ball" to commemorate the trip. If you look closely, you can see that I have changed clothes. About halfway through the day I was totally exhausted, and decided to beat the head by taking a nap in our room. During that break, I also made a stop at the hotel gift shop and bought a cute little nap time sweatshirt!

Before calling it a night, we made a quick stop at the Mexico pavilion, and were totally blown away by the incredibly Coco inspired Dia de los Muertos decor. This is my absolute favorite pavilion, and always spend a substantial amount of my time in Epcot exploring this slice of fun! What is your favorite EPCOT pavilion? 

Tune in tomorrow for more fun adventures!

Sparkle on!