What do you do when you’re getting married, and want to enjoy a romantic honeymoon afterwards, but you already have a family, and you don’t want to leave your kid(s) behind? Why not plan a two-part getaway, like my clients Brian and Pam! Part one (the “familymoon”) was a kid-friendly trip to Walt Disney World. Part two (the adults-only “honeymoon”) involved leaving their daughter behind with Grandma and heading off to St. Lucia for a more private celebration. The result? The whole family was happy!
Hi Ann,
Happy New Year! How are you? I hope this is better (very) late than never:
Our thoughts on Disney:
- We had a really great time. Isabel loved Disney (no surprise)! We can’t thank you enough for setting us up with the meal plan – HUGE savings! We saved about $90/day in snacks and meals. We made reservations for a Disney Princess Lunch at Cinderella’s Castle and I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone with children who love Disney Princesses. We had to pre-pay and the menu is limited (and expensive – approx. $150 for the three of us including gratuity), but the food was very good and the experience for Isabel was priceless! Additionally, early October is a great time to visit Disney – we hardly waited for any rides (especially at Magic Kingdom). The All Star Movies resort was very nice – I thought we had selected the Toy Story section but we ended up in the 101 Dalmatians section (I don’t know what the difference is). We spent most of our first day at their beautiful pool. We were really pleased with the food court at the hotel as well. The Disney Transportation was very convenient and reliable – until the last day. Our bus back to the airport never came so they hotel had to scramble and find another bus for us (and a few other parties) to ride. It didn’t affect us as we were still more than early enough for our flight to Miami. Overall Disney was an amazing experience!
Our thoughts on St. Lucia and Sandals La Toc:
- We thought the Island and the resort were beautiful! I definitely recommend a Sandals vacation for any couple as the resort has the right mix of relaxation and fun. We took advantage of the ‘stay at one; play at three’ by spending a beach day at The Grand. The food at all the resorts was very good and our favorite restaurants were La Toc and Kimonos (Japanese hibachi – we ate there twice!), and The Pavilion had a great breakfast buffet every day. We scheduled three excursions; our first was a Sunset Cruise. This was okay – I think Pam liked it more than I did. It was very nice to take a boat ride at sunset, but I thought it was a bit long and not really worth the money ($144 for the two of us). We totally loved our other two excursions! We went zip-lining and took the Soufriere Jeep Discovery Tour (all three through Island Routes). Zip-lining through the rainforest was such a fun experience – neither of us had ever done it before and we can’t wait to do it again! The Jeep Tour was probably my favorite. It was the right mix of fun and education about the Island. We toured the Island’s volcano, stopped for a hot mud bath, and washed off at the Toraille Water Fall. We had lunch at a local eatery with a wonderful view of the Pitons and a banana plantation. We loved Sandals La Toc and St. Lucia and thought it was the perfect choice for our honeymoon!
I’ve attached a few pictures that you can feel free to use on your website. Thanks again for all your help with our trip! Please let me know if you have any questions.
Brian and Pam
