Cantina Rosato

Honeymoon day 1

So I am still working out the kinks with trying to establish scheduled posts, and I believe the blogger ate a post a two that was supposed to get published. One of which was the first day of our honeymoon, and the other one I really poured my heart into. I am trying my best to recreate it, but I was really dissappointed that I cannot seem to find it posted or in draft form. Anyways, that was a bit disheartening so I am really trying to move past it.

Which brings me to... Day 1 of the honeymoon! We touched down around 11am and checked into our hotel. After quickly depositing our things, we made one quick shop at the gift store to pick up our Bride and Groom Mickey ears. Louis was actually the one that realllllllly wanted these. I felt a little cheesy and did not love all the attention, but I will admit it was pretty nice to hear so many people congratulate us.

And hey, you only live once, right?

Next we made our way to Epcot. We figured the peak of the day was not the time to visit Magic Kingdom, and we both really love Epcot and had never visited it together, or as adults. And I will say it was a completely different experience as an adult to visit Epcot!

We rode the new(ish) ride fast track, which was worth the wait. It reminded me a lot of Space Mountain, but it did have an outdoor portion. It wasn't at all what I was expecting and I was pleasantly surprised. Also, the lines where you waited were filled with really neat cars and games, like designing your own car and doing a mock race with it, so we were really entertained the whole time. I love that Disney even makes waiting in line a fun experience!

Obligatory shadow/mouse-ear pictures:

I love Mary Poppins, but we didn't stop for any characters. That'll be on our next trip, with our kiddo! Crazy to think about!

Most days we had a light breakfast then waited until about 4-5 to eat dinner, which worked out really well for us. The first night we ate in "England" of Epcot. Fish & Chips and a delicious cheese platter were the perks of this meal. Oh, and the company was pretty good too :-)

I learned an important lesson, do not feed the ducks! You will make a friend for life if you do!

Going in February meant that Disney was in the middle of getting ready for their garden show, and we were definitely loving the perks of that! Including all the bush sculptures!

Other than the hats, Lou and I did not get a whole lot of souvenirs for ourselves. We did manage to get a commemorative cup of sorts each day, though, which was unplanned but totally awesome in retrospect.

It may not have been Europe the real-deal, but it was everything we hoped for in a vacation!

Patty

Welcome, Autumn!

Happy Autumn!

I've always been a fan of autumn, since before I can remember. The cozy sweaters, vibrant colors, and the bit of magic and mystery that always seems to hang in the air, and the anticipation of festivities to look forward to.

Enjoy it... because as they say in Game of Thrones... winter is coming!

via

Patty

Honeymooning Day 2 Part 1

If our honeymoon had a theme, it was selfies. My husband (I love that word!!!) gave me the go ahead on being a little camera crazy, sooo... off I went!

Day 2 we did a bunch of everything. A little known area of Disney ended up being a great find, and so much fun, was the mini golf course at Blizzard Beach. We had the course to ourselves as Blizzard Beach was actually closed for refurbishing, and it was delightful. (Though we did have to wait a bit for buses, and the staff was super helpful and sweet about hooking us up.)

The course was holiday/winter themed in the summer, much like Blizzard Beach. I loved the music, both festive and summery. It pretty much fit the season we visited in too!

I will say, it was the only time I've beaten Lou at golf because of this...

which happened twice ;)

Most days we stopped back at the hotel after getting up early to the the parks. I loved the daily siestas, as we called them. Gave us a chance to reboot! Plus, I loved our hotel pool :)

The rest of the day was spent at Magic Kingdom, more on that next!

Have a great weekend!

Patty

Honeymoon Planning

Last year was a hectic one, full of big life moments, including job changes, an engagement, a wedding, and buying a house. In the midst of the craziness, Louis and I talked about our honeymoon in a generic way of what we wanted it to encompass - fun, stress free, and nothing too expensive. Planning a wedding in late February in upstate NY, we knew we wanted to go somewhere warm. And while we both have a long list of places we'd like to visit, we also wanted something low stress and easy to plan. Don't get me wrong, I loved loved loved planning our wedding, but it was very time and mind consuming to prepare for the wedding, and, more importantly, our marriage.

We tossed around ideas for months, but were always unsettled, and always somewhat half-assed. We are not typically beach people, I would read a book and drink endless margaritas and Lou would sit on his gameboy. We both lusted for Paris, but it wouldn't really be escaping the cold, and the idea of a long flight, currency exchanges, and the language barrier was a little intimidating. It was about halfway through December when we were knee deep in boxes from moving, when we were looked at each other and said, what the hec, let's just go to Disney World! We'd both been multiple times before, and even once together, and have extremely fond memories. Other than booking the flights, hotel, and passes, we didn't spend a second more planning it.

And you know what?

It was perfect.

We even had a ton of help with the plans we did have for the flights, hotel, passes, and dinner reservations. I contacted Donna, with Pixie Vacations. She graduated high school with me and I had seen through Facebook that she was a travel agent on the side of her teaching career. It'd been years since I contacted her, but I was sooo glad I did. She had tons of helpful hints, and her excitement and enthusiasm for Disney is infectious. If you're interested in a Disney vacation, definitely check her out. (Not a sponsored post, just really grateful for her help.) ALSO February is a great month for weddings and anniversaries, we got great deals on the venue and a great vacation package - 30% off - cha-ching!)

We left from Philly the Monday after wedding. Another thing I would definitely recommend is taking a day in between the wedding and departure. We got to spend the next day still celebrating with family and friends from out of town we don't get to see that often. I was really happy we took a honeymoon right after the wedding. I know some people do mini-moons or just go back to work, but I was really happy with truly getting away. I can't imagine going back to reality after the magical-ness of a wedding. I wasn't ready to stop celebrating my new last name :-)