The Honeymoon Hotel Hoppers October 2016 Pre Trippy *Updated 22nd May*

[PrincessCastle]

Hello and welcome to my pre trippy.

Better do some whos, whats, wheres and whens!

Your cast for this event are...
Alix..me! I will be 28 when we go.
Vegas first timer, Florida third timer.
Chief planner, photographer, spender and general boss lady.

Ross..hubby to be! He will be 27 when we go.
Vegas first timer, Florida second timer.
Chief eater, drinker and gambler. I’m pretty sure he’s only going for the food tbh!

Honorary cast members...
Oliver, 5. As featured in my DLP trippy. Obsessed with Minions, Toy Story, Lightening McQueen, Fireman Sam and has a weird love of warning signs and what they mean.

Ariana, 2.5. Obsessed with Minions, Tinkerbell, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, Frozen and watching garbage on YouTube

She wears glasses with Elsa on them and she so pulls them off

Bella the dog, 4 (in human years) bat shizzle crazy miniature jack Russell who thinks she is Ross’ girlfriend and hates me for living with them...it’s true.

She's super cute

But she smiles a lot and it's hella creepy!

They will not be coming with us but they will no doubt be mentioned throughout!

That was the 'whos' now the whats, wheres and whens...

This will be our honeymoon and rather than going to a beach resort and chillaxing for a week like normal people we are going on a fun packed non stop trip across the pond!
We are getting married on Saturday 1st October and flying out to Vegas from Manchester on 4th October, staying there for a week then flying to Orlando for the last two weeks!
We will be staying in a total of 4 hotels over the three weeks (maybe 5... maybe) hense the title! Pretty sure that there is zero point in unpacking for the entire time we are away!

Obviously with this being the Orlando part of the forum I won’t be talking about Vegas toooo much in case I get into trouble and when it comes to the actual trippy I will be posting the first week in the West Coast forum and the rest of it in the Florida one, just so you know!

On with the details!

(Disclaimer: Most images in the next few post have been stolen from google)

[Belle x]

Excited to read this pre-trippie! We go on our honeymoon in September & are also going to Vegas & Orlando!

[PrincessCastle]

The Wedding
Ok so not at all pre trippy related so feel free to skip over if you really don’t care! If Ross doesn't care about the wedding planning I doubt any of you will

We got engaged back in November 2013 and it feels like a lifetime ago! We only looked at two venues, The Garstang Hotel in Preston and MacDonald Linden Hall in Morpeth. I see you live in Carlisle so why are you driving miles out to look at venues? I hear you ask. Good question folks! My dear fiancé is a keen golfer, and by keen I mean he plays about twice a year and is usually rubbish, and he demanded that we got married at a golf hotel so he could play the day before (he orinigally said the day after too, I quickly shot that idea down, ‘you will be spending the day with your new wife sonny jim!’). Carlisle has golf courses but there aren’t any venues in Carlisle I’ve ever been interested in so we decided to look further afield and those two were the top two contenders out of a few.

So we eventually chose Linden Hall. It was the more expensive of the two but it’s definitely where my heart lied and it’s such a stunning place! We did manage to get a big chunk knocked off both the ceremony room and the reception room costs too which was great. Since booking they have put the cost of our ceremony room up to £2,500! That’s ten times more than what we paid! Apparently Mr MacDonald doesn’t want any more ceremonies in there as it disrupts the flow of the hotel and other guests (it’s basically in the middle of the hotel and the main access to upstairs!) so they hiked the prices up to deter folk from booking, glad we booked when we did!

Front

Gardens

This is the room we are getting married in

This is it all set up for a wedding, I will need to walk down the stairs infront of everyone! Fingers crossed I don't fall!

This is the reception room

The theme of the wedding I guess is ‘vintage’, there will be bunting and vintage cake stands, burlap, lace, tea cups, all that jazz. I don’t have a specific colour scheme though which a lot of people find strange! The men are in pale grey suits with a pastel blue/green tie, I think my maids will be in pastel or dusky pink dresses. The chair covers are white with burlap and lace sashes. Flowers are gypsophilia with pale pink roses and pale blue hydrangea. The cake is blue, pink and yellow! So I guess ‘pastels’ is my theme if you want it to have one!
There will also be some 'splashes' of our love for Disney and Harry Potter thrown in for good measure!

The men's suits

Dress...
My dress is by Annasul Y, it’s a sample gown I picked up from a local bridal salon, Mia Bridal, for £500. My heart was set on Naomi Neoh’s ‘Fleur’ dress but at £3500 I was a definite no no! My dress has the same look, it’s an a line flowy dress with a sweetheart neck line and the lady who I bought the dress from is going to make me a lace bolero type thing to go over the top and my granny is donating her lace wedding dress to use to make it! We are both very excited for that!

This is the Naomi Neoh dress to give you an idea. I dont have a pic of my dress apart from the one of me in it and I look fugly so you cant see it!

I also have another dress for another purpose but I will get into that later!

Photography...
Our photographer is called Mark Williamson.
We had been looking for photographers at a wedding fair in Morpeth. We met one guy who was really reasonably priced but his work wasn’t all that professional, looked more like a weekend job than his profession. Another guy was really good and really nice, beautiful photos but had never done a wedding at Linden Hall before and we really wanted someone who knows the venue and knows where the best places for pics! So then we got to Mark, started chatting and looking at his pics. He was a really nice guy and his pics were amazing, he showed us some comedy photoshopped ones that he’s done, the bridal party running away from a t-rex etc which is GENIUS! We really liked this one! He asked us where we were getting married, we told him Linden Hall and he goes ‘Oh I’m their resident photographer’ and whips out 5 albums of Linden Hall weddings. Sold! Hired! Take my money! He also does the graduation photos in Carlisle twice a year so we get to meet up and discuss things without having to travel to see him which is fab!

Rings...
We bought our wedding rings from Nicholson & Coulthard, a local family run jewellers. Ross chose a ‘hammered effect’ palladium ring, he’s a size Z+3! He’s not chubby in the slightest but he has absolutely massive hands! Mine had to be specially made to fit my engagement ring as it’s an unusual shape, it’s white gold with diamonds set into it and it is a teeny weeny size H!

'scuse my gross hands!

My maids...
No bridesmaid dresses have been chosen yet, two of my maids are pregnant, my sister is due next week (! ) and my friend is due in march. I will be ordering from Asos or something so I don’t need to worry about ordering loads in advance, I don’t want to pressure the new mums into worrying what size they might be in October so I will leave it for now!

The Cake...
Oh em geeeeee the cake is epic! I originally wanted a ‘naked cake’, just plain sponge, no icing on top, decorated in flowers and shiz. On a couple of occasions at wedding fairs we saw giant French fancy cakes which Ross would go crazy over cause French fancies are his fave but they were always crazy money and I aint spending £500 on something that’s gonna be eaten! Just no. So when I was emailing a lady about a naked cake her prices were ridiculously cheap so I asked her to humour me and quote me on this giant French fancy thing. She loved the idea and told me they are actually working on a giant battenburg cake right now and she said to make an exact replica of the pic I sent her it would me £250! Barg! I know it’s still crazy money for a frickin cake but it’s about what I expected to pay for a naked cake, which are always cheaper due to the lack of icing work so it’s a winner in my eyes. This, however, is a total secret, Ross has no clue at all that I have booked this cake and I cannot wait to see his piggy face when he sets eyes on it!

Epic!

Stationary...
I’m making my own invites, cause I’m crazy! I’ve already done the ‘save the dates’ which went out before Christmas. I bought brown card and envelopes. Bought patterned card for the bunting then measured, drew and cut them all out. Then I typed up the wording, printed it out and used a border punch to make to edges look pretty. I’m ridiculously chuffed with them and quite proud of myself! It only took about two weeks to make them all just working on them in the evenings. The actual invites are going to kill me but I’ve already made a start on cutting the card etc and I will post a pic when I have a finished artice!

Beauty...
Ashley Wallace will be doing my hair and make up and the maids as well. I like simple, low, up-dos, something to hide my big dumbo ears and she says that will be no problem at all! I have also found two hair band thingys I like on etsy so I need to choose between those.

This is my perfect style

Entertainment...
Our band are Highly Strung, a very popular band in our local area. They will be playing a swing set to start off the night as our first dance is ‘Beyond the Sea’ and then will play a mixture of everything till the early hours.
We have booked a photobooth, not a fancy actual booth, a guy with a backdrop and a camera and some props but it’s still a photobooth! I have some props of my own to add to his which fit with our themes, Mickey and Minnie ears, Hogwarts scarves etc.
I will be making my own sweetie table and it is going to be a Honeydukes themed one! I have got some labels from etsy and I will be buying sweets that fit the descriptions of ‘fizzing wizzbees’, ‘liquorice wands’ every flavour beans’ etc etc.

[PrincessCastle]

What's booked though?

So when we were in Florida in 2012 we pretty much decided then that the next time we would go back would be for our honeymoon. At the time we weren’t even engaged so we didn’t have a clue when that would be! Upon getting engaged and discussing the honeymoon we decided to do more than just Orlando. A Disney cruise was discussed but that was ‘too much Disney’ for Ross. I didn't know there was such a thing!
Las Vegas was decided on and also San Fransico. So we were thinking Vegas for 4 nights, San Fran for 2 or 3 then Orlando for two weeks. But when we started talking about everything we wanted to do in Vegas (a lot of stuff) we realised that 4 nights wasn’t going to be enough. Ross tried to suggest cutting days off Florida... nice try buddy! So San Fran was dropped with a promise we would go one day, Alcatraz is calling! And not because we belong in an abandoned federal prison, but because it’s cool and it’s stories are awesome and we really want to go! One day.

The plan was then to have 7 nights in Vegas, fly to Orlando, stay a few nights on I-Drive, 2 nights at HRH then go to a Disney hotel for a week for our first onsite ‘in the bubble’ experience! The dream was Animal Kingdom or maybe Beach Club (the second being the preferred).
We usually book all of our Holidays with Thomson but this time they really really ticked us off so they lost our business maybe forever. I’m sure they don’t care... but they should.

On the release of the 2016 free DDP deals last June we called in explaining that we wanted to book a Disney hotel to make the most of the DDP deal then add on flights and other hotels at some point. Well they were not happy with this at all, telling me I’d be silly to do that as I wouldn’t be ATOL protected if I didn’t book flights now. She spoke to me like I was stupid but I told her again we would be adding flights on later when they were released. She grudgingly asked me which hotel I wanted, I said the Beach Club, she replied with ‘In Disneyland Paris?’ eeeerrrrrmmmmmmm no love, no. No such hotel in DLP, also no such thing as DDP in DLP, educate yourself fool! So she took us to her colleague and told her what we wanted and also told her that she had basically told us not to bother, so rude. This girl looked on her computer and said ‘we don’t do holidays to the Beach Club, how about All Star Sports’ *sigh* All Star Sports isn’t doesn’t exactly have the luxury honeymoon vibe we are looking for now does it! Nothing against it but it’s hardly ‘the next best thing’!

At this point I was so done, told them to forget it and walked up the road to Thomas Cook. Hadn’t been back to Thomas Cook since me and an ex booked a trip to Portugal back in 2008, where we ended up in a room with a single bed and a pull out camp bed. The hotel was full so we couldn’t move rooms even though we had booked a double room and all we got was a ‘sorry’ letter from Thomas Cook! I was fuming so boycotted it and used Thomsons forever more! How the tables have turned!

We told the guy what we wanted and he directed us to their ‘USA expert’, Sue. Sue listened to what we wanted to do now and what we wanted to do in the long term and said ‘no problem, let’s get some prices’. She was a dream! She told us that she could book flights now if we wanted to and get quotes for I-Drive hotel and HRH too to give us a better idea of overall costs.

It took a few weeks to get all of the prices and what not together because she needed to speak to the signature team as it’s such a random holiday but it wasn’t too long till we were booked and sorted!

The difference with her is that she took the time to ask us what else we wanted and told us what she could do now and what she could do later rather than just dismissing us straight away. God Damned Thomson

With most things booked this is how it’s looking so far...
04/10/16 09:15 Fly PE from Manchester to Vegas (booked)
Stay 7 nights in Vegas (no hotel booked yet)
11/10/16 Fly from Vegas to Orlando (flight not booked yet)
Stay in the Rosen Inn @ Pointe (its familiar, we like it for an i-Drive hotel) for 4 nights (booked)
Stay at the HRH at Universal for 2 nights (booked)
Stay at the Beach Club at Disney for 7 nights with free DDP and free Memory maker (booked)
24/10/16 16:35 Fly PE from MCO to Manchester (booked)
Also included are the Disney park tickets and the Magical (tragical ) express to the airport on the 24th.

We need to book the Vegas to Orlando flight soon, looking on Kayak its going to be about £250 which is the cheapest option, this has a change over in Texas. I don’t think there are direct flights!
Looking at Vegas hotels I’m thinking either New York New York or Planet Hollywood but I will seek advice in the West Coast forum and I don’t think we will be booking it until nearer the time.

[PrincessCastle]

General Plans

I will give a quick run down of what the plans are for Vegas but I won’t go into it too much as I know it belongs in another forum!

We plan on visiting a few of the hotels, I definitely want a gondola ride at the Venetian and to ride the rollercoaster at NYNY. A helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon, a ScootCity tour of the strip, a History Channel tour which takes you to the Pawn Shop, Counts Kustoms, ATM and a few other places all which are featured in various programmes we watch on the History Channel. We want to visit Freemont Street and do the zipline there, eat lots of food, drink lots of alcohol, catch some shows, shop and of course, gamble! I’ve been using the MyVegas apps so hopefully will get some freebees out of that too!

Zipline looks so amazing!

Whilst staying on I-Drive we plan to take it relatively easy to recover from the craziness of Vegas!
We want to go back to Discovery Cove but without the dolphin swim this time, possibly do the dive thing instead but I’m really unsure about that as those helmets look really claustrophobic and it scares me a lot! Can anybody advise what they feel like on?!
We will visit the outlets, compete in mini golf and maybe visit the aquarium too but it will be an easy going few days I’m hoping! Maybe even some lie ins!

And then we move onto our Universal stay where the theme park fun starts!
We stayed at the Hard Rock last time for 1 night to make to most of the early entry and the express passes so I’m excited to enjoy those again for an extra night! We only needed 1 night last time but with the HP expansion I know I need more time! And hopefully we will get some pool time in this time since I forgot to take our swim gear for our overnighter last time!

I absolutely cannot wait to see Diagon Alley and the train journey between the two. The new King Kong ride should be open then (hopefully! Pleeeaaase! ) I really hope they put express pass on that thing cause the queues are gonna be mental! The Transformer ride wasn’t open when we were last there either so that will be another new experience for us!

Halloween... halloween. Last time we went I (on purpose) made sure we went after the Halloween season was over cause I wasn’t keen but this time I can’t avoid it! But Ross and I made a deal... I will go to the HHN and he will go to MNNSHP...in fancy dress. Pretty good deal. But I have been going off the idea recently...

Let me tell you a little story about me (soz) I feel like I need to tell you this life story to try and justify my fear!... I am and always have been a massive wuss, a total pansy, a scaredy cat. I cried in the ghost train in Blackpool Pleasure Beach when I was a kid, the episode of Buffy where she was in hospital and that scary dude was killing the doctors and stuff...I had to sleep in my mums bed for a week after that! I hate horror films, always have done. When I was 19 a group of us girls went to Blackpool, the other girls in the group decided to do that haunted house thing with the live actors, I knew that I was stupid to do it so I went and waited in the pub where you exit the haunted house after being chased through the exit door by leather face. So I’m sitting in this entirely empty, kinda creepy pub waiting for them all by myself but it’s fine cause at least I’m not in there. Fast forward a year and we all go back to Blackpool with our fellas at the time and talk comes to this haunted house. I was somehow persuaded to go in it this time (dragged kicking and screaming). Well... we go in and get taken downstairs to be given the safety brief...’don’t touch the actors, they won’t touch you, don’t run’ etc etc...I start crying! And didn’t stop the whole way around, it was horrific! At one point I hear the nightmare on elm street music and didn’t want to go any further cause ‘Freddy’s gonna get me’. When leather face chases us out of the door the pub is jam packed with people and there’s me hyperventilating with mascara all down my face looking fly. Great!

This hell hole! Don't do it!

Do you think I could handle HHN?! Since then I have matured more and thought I could cope with it..until recently. A friend told me to watch Hannibal the TV series cause it’s ‘really good and not scary’. The films didn’t scare me too much so I thought well why not. She lied. Ross works shifts and is often on 2pm-10pm so there would be nights where I’d put the kids to bed then come downstairs and shut myself in the living room till he came home too scared to move thinking that somebody was going to break into my house and brutally murder me, anxiety attacks and general fear of any noise in the house would send me over the edge, fun times! The episode with the girl under the bed... if you’ve seen it you’ll know what I mean! Ross had to check under the bed every night before I went to bed with the light on. Like a full on crazy I persevered and finished all three series and have been done with it for about a month and a half and since then my general fear of life and being alone in the house has nearly gone but HHN? I dunno... we will see!

This guy... is an a-hole. I don't like him!

Anyway... that was probably a ridiculous and unnecessary story and y'all are probably judging the hell outta me right now but at least you all know how mentally damaged I am and might not think I'm being unreasonable for giving HHN a swerve Ross is still trying to persuade me though! We'll see...

Moving on to Disney..
I’m so mega excited to stay at the Beach Club! Walking distance to Epcot...yes please! We didn’t get to visit the Board Walk last time so we can easily do that this time. A boat ride over to DHS. Just not having to endure an hour on the bus or a $40 taxi to get to a Disney park is gonna be great!

We have something very exciting planned for the 18th October. We have booked Randy Chapman for a photoshoot on the Board Walk! This is where my 2nd wedding dress comes in that I mentioned earlier. We have wearing our wedding attire for the photo (a compromise for not being able to have a proper Disney wedding) My actual wedding dress is very full skirted and won’t be easy to take anywhere so I managed to pick up a bargain sample gown by Mark Lesley that is more fitted and takes up a lot less space than my other dress. The dress shop I found it in actually used the dress in a Rapunzel style shoot so it’s technically a ‘Disney Dress’. I really want to book hair and make up for the photos so need to look into that and make enquiries!

This is the beauty, it's not quite as gold looking in real life

We want to do MNNSHP, the dressing up depends on me manning up for HHN as per our deal and whether Disney change the rules again, I hope they do! I’d already started buying my costume! Come on Disney, let the big kids dress up too!

There are a few new attractions since we last went. The entire new Fantasy Land for a start! It opened the day after we went home on our last trip which I was gutted about so I’m excited to see it and to use the Tangled loos! Weird right? Very.

Exciting toilets!

7DMT is new, Test Track will be open this time, new Star Wars themed areas, Disney Springs...yey new stuff!

Already started making lists of restaurants and food we want, think I will cover those next. Roll on April for ADR day!

Thanks for reading this first mamoth post, lots of info so congrats if you're still here!
Till next time

[smithlane]

Love, love your pre trippy! Looking forward to reading more, sounds like you're going to have an amazing time!

[Belle x]

Just read the rest of your first post - have you looked at Delta for your Vegas-Orlando flight? Ours were £95pp for the end of September!

[CazP]

What a fab honeymoon you have planned. Love both of your dresses

[lovedisney89]

Sounds like you will have such a fab time! Your stories of being scared made me giggle. Look forward to reading more of your plans

[Yorkie Girl]

Wow, this all sounds amazing! I love your wedding plans.
We are also going on our honeymoon this October (but just sticking to Orlando so I'm really jealous of your plans )