Board 8 > FD plans a honeymoon.

(+) Yeah! (+)

There have been several late nights recently while I spend several hours after work going over details for my upcoming honeymoon trying to make sure I'm not forgetting anything.


I'm going to post a quick rundown of my itinerary so far as an additional way of keeping track of what I have already and what I still need to book in the next 2 weeks. It will also serve for anyone else to look at and let me know if I'm completely forgetting about something obvious.



~June 10~
2 PM - Get married
5 PM - Reception
10 PM - Leave reception. Leave Fresno for Morro Bay

~June 11~
1 AM - Arrive at hotel (NOT YET BOOKED)
Sleep
9-10 AM - Wake up and spend day at beach/etc
4 PM - Leave Morro Bay for Las Angeles
7:30 PM - Arrive at Las Angeles and check in at hotel. (Already booked)

~June 12~
Spend day seeing a few site in LA. Walk of fame, stuff like that. Also visit a couple of relatives I have in the area who weren't able to make it to the wedding.

~June 13~
10 AM - Check out of hotel. Eat something.
12 PM - Check in at airport parking. Take shuttle from airport parking to airport. (airport parking already paid for)
2:45 PM - Flight leaves for Orlando (flight already booked)
10:50 PM (times now in EST) - Flight arrives at Orlando
11:30 PM - Pick up rental car (from a place located at the terminal. Already booked)
11:59 PM~ - Check in at hotel near disney world (already booked)

~June 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20~
4 days at disney world (1 day at each park)
2 days at universal studios (probably just the main park)
1 free day

For this section of days I'm still trying to decide which days to spend at which parks.
Disney World includes:
-Epcot Center
-Magic Kingdom
-Animal Kingdom
-Hollywood Studios

Presumably Magic Kingdom will be the most difficult to get the most out of in a single day and so that should get scheduled on a less busy day of the week. Things like that still need to be taken into account, but without any first hand experience at the parks I'm not entirely sure the best strategy for that. Also they just opened a new water park at Universal Florida so our "1 free day" might end up getting filled with that, though I think keeping it as a free day is probably the better plan.

Parking at Disney World and Universal Florida looks like it's $20/day so I still need to factor that in unless there is a hotel shuttle available. But the only issue with going the hotel shuttle route is that we want to be IN the parks the very second they open and stay in the parks until the last possible minute so the shuttle might not be a great option if they can't accommodate that. The extra time in the park could well be worth the 20 bucks a day depending on how that works.

~June 21~
8 AM - Arrive at airport, drop of rental car.
10:13 AM - Flight leaves Orlando for Las Angeles
12:25 PM (times back in PST) - Flight arrives at Las Angeles
1 PM - Take shuttle to airport parking garage
2 PM - Leave LA for Fresno.



Still need to book/buy:
-Hotel for 1 night @ Morro Bay
-Disney World tickets (316 per person)
-Universal Studios Florida tickets (2 people for 2 days)


I think have to call the hotels first before booking for morro bay since check in will be around 1-2 AM in the morning and i'm not sure exactly if that changes anything.
The DW tickets are part of a special pricing they have that will still be available until July 30 so there is no rush to buy those.
I'm still trying to find a decent price for 2 days at Universal.

And I think that is about everything? There could easily be obvious stuff i'm overlooking, but i've been staring at this stuff for a few hours now so it's time for bed.
---

Also-

@DoomTheGyarados any interest on meeting up with me and the soon-to-be-wife while we're in Orlando during one of those days Chris? It would be great to see you while I'm on the right side of the country (in the right state, in fact!). let me know if that will be a possibility.

and @red13n small possibility that we spend June 21st in LA as well and put off leaving for fresno until the morning of the 22nd since we'll have just been on a plane for 5-6 hours already that day. If that is the case we could potentially catch the dodgers game vs the mets that night. I would obviously much rather take her to a Giants game but we'd work with what's available =P
---

Dont use hotel shuttles. They simply aren't flexible enough with the time you want to be in the parks.

Since you are staying offsite, plan your disney schedule around which parks offer early magic hours for onsite guests. Avoid those days.

Also buy your disney tickets already because you need them to book fast passes. Those are likely already slim pickings, but its better than nothing.

Hollywood Studios is tiny, book it to Tower of Terror and Rockn and then take your time after. This park got gutted to hell for Star Wars Land, its unimpressive in its current state. Use whatever is expected to be the busiest day of your stay on this park. Just dont close out your trip with it.

There's a movie called Honeymoon that you may be able to draw inspiration from.
---

Also Avatar Land opens today I'm pretty sure. Animal Kingdom was already a pretty impressive park, unsure if Pandora will bring crowd levels to insanity, but its possible.

Also there is a small bakery in the back of France. Budget some money to share/eat some desserts from there. I am not even kidding a little bit when i say they were the highlight of my Disney World trip from a couple years ago.

*Los
---

Sorry FD, I can't make it to your wedding. I will be at a wedding on the same day, and it's at the Columbus Zoo.

Also don't forget to stop by Ohio during your honeymoon >_>
---

If Florida was gong to be too expensive (and it nearly was) then we considered ohio to go to cedar point and ride roller coasters.
---

I didnt know Morro bay was a tourist spot, my sister used to live there. It was nice when we visted

They have a hotel thats connected to the golf course that has rooms that are basically on the water so I would say check that out


If you like clam chowder check out Dorms, its bomb
If you like sushi style red tuna check out the pier, they catch it fresh and serve it up there, like a big whole one cut up, its pretty cool
---

Morro bay for a day is less because we're dying to visit and more because its a convenient nearly-mid-point on the way to LA.

That said my interpretation of it is that its a nicer and less overcrowded alternative to places like Pismo so it should be a nice place to spend a day as well as being conveniently located.
---

If your goal is to just crash, consimate, and grab some food then yeah should do the trick. I want to say that their stores and resturants didnt stay open very late though so you want to grab your snacks and what not after you get there to be safe
---

Forceful_Dragon posted...

If Florida was gong to be too expensive (and it nearly was) then we considered ohio to go to cedar point and ride roller coasters.

King's Island would've been closer to several of us (and I like their coasters better, though that may just be local pride talking). =P
---

ScareChan posted...

If your goal is to just crash, consimate, and grab some food then yeah should do the trick. I want to say that their stores and resturants didnt stay open very late though so you want to grab your snacks and what not after you get there to be safe

We won't be reaching Morro Bay until 1-2 AM so I don't expect anything to be open until the morning :)

But yeah its most in the "place to crash" category.
---

Leafeon13N posted...

Hollywood Studios is tiny, book it to Tower of Terror and Rockn and then take your time after. This park got gutted to hell for Star Wars Land, its unimpressive in its current state. Use whatever is expected to be the busiest day of your stay on this park. Just dont close out your trip with it.

So that will likely be on the Friday or Saturday then.

Based on what you said about animal kingdom do you think it will be busier than animal kingdom?
---

I hope What is Love is your first dance. >_>



Anyway, it sounds like an intensely awesome honeymoon plan!
---

Forceful_Dragon posted...

There have been several late nights recently while I spend several hours after work going over details for my upcoming honeymoon trying to make sure I'm not forgetting anything.

I'm not sure how to tell you this but Las Angeles doesn't exist, so you may want to revise your plan
---

Korayashi posted...

I hope What is Love is your first dance. >_>



Anyway, it sounds like an intensely awesome honeymoon plan!

So close. We're going with an instrumental version of "storybook love" which was the end credits theme for The Princess Bride. But at least you got one of the words right :)

MZero11 posted...

I'm not sure how to tell you this but Las Angeles doesn't exist, so you may want to revise your plan

I typed that up at nearly 4 a.m. so I'm going to cut myself some slack :P
---

JonThePenguin posted...

Forceful_Dragon posted...

If Florida was gong to be too expensive (and it nearly was) then we considered ohio to go to cedar point and ride roller coasters.

King's Island would've been closer to several of us (and I like their coasters better, though that may just be local pride talking). =P

I think Kings Island is a better overall park, though it definitely doesn't have as much character since being bought by Cedar Fair. Cedar Point has some good coasters but it especially has Maverick, which is the best coaster.

Kings Island is definitely what I'd suggest tho.
---

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Leafeon13N posted...

Hollywood Studios is tiny, book it to Tower of Terror and Rockn and then take your time after. This park got gutted to hell for Star Wars Land, its unimpressive in its current state. Use whatever is expected to be the busiest day of your stay on this park. Just dont close out your trip with it.

So that will likely be on the Friday or Saturday then.

Based on what you said about animal kingdom do you think it will be busier than animal kingdom?

Animal Kingdom is likely to be very busy every day.

Well probably do that one on our final full day then. Tuesday the 20th. Unless it happens to be a magic hours day.
---

Yeah did Animal Kingdom my last day in the parks when I went. I think it makes a pretty great closer.

Also about the magic hours, only the extra morning hours really matter. People leave the parks when they are tired regardless, so extra magic hours at night end up with little crowd impact.
---

June 14, Wednesday - Disney, Magic Kingdom

June 15, Thursday - Universal Studios Day 1

June 16, Friday - Disney, Hollywood Studios

June 17, Saturday - Day Off

June 18, Sunday - Disney, Epcot Center

June 19, Monday - Universal Studios Day 2

June 20, Tuesday - Disney, Animal Kingdom



This schedule seems to work and doesn't conflict with any morning time magic hours.

But regarding the "after hours" magic hours, how does that work? You have to prove that you qualify at each attraction or do you have some kind of special pass? What would stop us from staying an extra 2 hours with everyone else?
---

The magic bands know. I think. I've never been an on-site guest since they ran on this system. But that seems like a reasonable assumption.
---

Also the only Universal park I've been to in Orlando was Islands of Adventure. It was pretty great. But its been a long time. Probably want to find out if its better to do 1 and 1 or 2 days in the main park from someone.

(I'm doing 1 and 1 next time I go I think. Maybe I'll splurge and 2 day Park Hopper though).

Also I'm really, really interested in hearing about how the Universal water park is. If anyone here on the board goes I really want to hear about it. Next trip to Orlando I'm either going there or to Blizzard Beach(Which, just thematically is a very visually impressive water park).

(Next time I go, doing 3 days in Disney, skipping Hollywood Studios altogether, 2 days in Universal, and 1 day of water park)
---

Yeah they have 3 parks now. The main park, Islands of Adventure and the new Volcano Bay. It's still undecided how we'll break that down. It could easily just be 2 days at the main park if there isn't enough at the others to commit a day to.

We explored the Hogsmeade section of Universal Hollywood, so we are excited to do the Diagon Alley section in Orlando, but that's in the main park and Islands of Adventure has all the hogsmeade stuff that we already did. But then we'd be missing out on the Spiderman ride which i've heard is a treat. But to be honest there seems to be some Hollywood overlap evident at both parks so 1 day apiece might be better.

But at least since they generally have less to do than the disney parks I can slot those on busier days without having to be too worried that we'll leave without experiencing everything the park has to offer.
---

A heads up that if you want to do the Hogwarts Express you have to have a park hopper pass

I went to Universal in October and did 2 days, but the friend who i was visiting had a season pass which had a express pass after 4pm, so on the first day i did a park hopper with a express pack at the 2nd park after 4, and honestly could have squeezed every thing I wanted to do into one day.

(Volcano Bay was not open yet)
---

The only problem is that I don't think there is not discernible price difference between 1 day hopper and 2 day non hoppers. They set the prices so that you might as well spend 4 days because they want to get just as much money from you even if you have only 1 day available.
---

Yea I was lucky that it didn't matter to me because my friend was working at Disney so I got in for free so I could spend extra at Universal
---

Lucky :D
---

Bump

(some more small details have been attended to)
---

Took the car in for an oil change today so it would be fine on the drive(s) for the honeymoon. Naturally they found a bunch of things wrong with the car that were poised to self destruct if subjected to a long drive. $500 later it is all fixed. Finances just went from 'slightly better than expected' to 'very extremely tight' -_-

Fortunately some of our guests have been giving money to a honeymoon website we set up or we would be very far behind on costs. Even still its going to be close now.
---

Morro bay hotel is now booked. Should be paying for universal tickets in the next few days.

Which will only leave:

-Disney World Tickets
-Final night in LA after we get back from FL.

But I think that just about covers everything. Sometime this weekend I'll make a better looking itinerary, print out a couple copies and then print out the confirmation pages for all the different reservations.
---

Welp.

During work last night someone smashed my driver side window and broke into my car.

Near as I can tell they didn't steal anything at all, so I can't for the life of my figure out why they did it. The only result was that now I have someone else to spend money on before the wedding, because money wasn't tight enough.

Thanks random jackass.



And then i'm playing stardew valley tonight to unwind and I get completely F***ED over by nearly unavoidable circumstance causing me to waste at least 5+ hours of play time. So yeah, now I'm pissed off even more by what was supposed to be my leisurely relaxing time to not be pissed off about the car.

Blegh.
---

And now my phone just shut off randomly and wont turn back on, despite definitely being nearly fully charged.


What is going on with this past week that all these things are happening at once?
---

Yeah, my phone is definitely dead. I'm going to have to try to switch back to my barely functioning windows phone that I used before this one. There almost certainly won't be time or money to replace it before the honeymoon.
---

Successfully switched back to my "barely qualifies as a smartphone" windows phone. I wont be able to play Pokemon Go in Florida like we were planning anymore, but at least I can call/text people and slowly browse the webs again.


Had my car looked at by glass repair people who ordered a new window which will arrive on wednesday, so wednesday morning I can get that fixed, so that's going to happen at least.



To do list:

Monday- Haircut
Tuesday- Book final hotel night for extra day in LA.
Wednesday- Fix car
Thursday- Make sure i'm not forgetting anything, and pack suitcase.
Friday- Rehearsal + Dinner (double and triple check things)


At this point we wont be buying park tickets until the day after the wedding. But we have a good idea how much money we're getting from a few people so I think we're pretty safely covered as far as that goes.

I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting but I have a week to remember at least.
---

Up
---

Not sure you were considering it still, but Volcano Bay is looking like something to be avoided. Overcrowding is looking like a massive problem. Unless you really want to overpay to be in a lazy river all day.

We have already committed the free day to spending time with Chris instead, but that's good to know just the same.
---

getting closer
---

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Monday- Haircut

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Tuesday- Book final hotel night for extra day in LA.

Working on it. Just got some more moneys.

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Wednesday- Fix car

Done.

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Thursday- Make sure i'm not forgetting anything, and pack suitcase.

Starting laundry then packing now. Also going to wash the car because it's dirty as hell.
---

If you're still looking for Disney advice I think Jesse Custer is a big Disneyland fan if I remember correctly.
---

@red13n @Leafeon13N

I'm booking the extra LA hotel and probably the dodgers tickets tonight after I get paid at midnight. So that's definitely happening.

Also this coming Monday the 12th we're still planning on spending a portion of the day checking out some sights in LA. Hollywood and the walk of fame and things like that. Do you have any suggestions on places to go or things to see?

I believe @Zachnorn is an LA local as well or any other b8 with solid touristy advice feel free to chime in.
---

just posting to say "Las Angeles" hurt my eyes
---

I'm sorry!

I typed it at like 4 AM but I'm still awful for doing it.

Also my best man's girlfriend just went into labor so his son is about to be born! I was 100% convinced it was going to happen on the day of my wedding so I'm glad it's happening now instead :)
---

KingBartz posted...

just posting to say "Las Angeles" hurt my eyes

This.

Anyway, what types of things about LA interest you, aside from Hollywood? Hollywood is a great place to visit definitely, but there's a lot to LA. I'd normally recommend going to places like Universal Studios or Disneyland but I see that you're visiting the versions of those in a place that is essentially LA's rival when it comes to amusement parks. You wouldn't have time for them anyway if you're only in LA for a day.

I haven't done it in LA, but I have in other cities - try taking a bus tour. I know there are a lot of them - some are general tourist buses that show a lot of sights, some are focused on celebrities and where they live, and so on.

Also, general tip: Since you're coming on a workday, you will probably experience the famous LA traffic. I don't know if you're renting a car or driving or anything, but rush hour times tend to be from 7-10 am and 4-7 pm (sometimes up to 8) and traffic builds up at random times too. My point is: If you can, try to avoid traveling at those times - go eat, walk around, do some activity, etc. Nothing wrong with traveling those times if you want to, but keep in mind that if you go too far, you might end up wasting time sitting on a freeway. Another tip: Google Maps offers estimated travel times based on the date and time you give it for when you depart or arrive. Just have it give you directions, then click on where it says "Leave Now" and change it from there. That might help with planning.
---

How long do bus tours usually last and is it the kind of thing we could decide to do the day of or does it have to be registered for in advance?

At the very least I can look up some of the tours and just get ideas of other sites to see.

That's plenty to go on to get me started, thanks for the help, Zach :)
---

Could totally do Disney or Universal in a day, but that is outside of FDs budget. He'd also burn himself out before flying of course, so no need.

No real advice here, i dont spend a lot of time in the la or Hollywood area unless sports are involved.

Just stay out of traffic.

I would be surprised if you had a hard time just finding and booking a random tour bus day of. There are plenty. I would probably say just look them up prior and then decide day of if you want to go.