Disney World or Disneyland/Aulani for Honeymoon?

[wrighteous]

Hi everyone! My fiance and I recently got engaged at the Magic Kingdom, and we are now in the process of planning our wedding and honeymoon for September 2018! We are torn between going to Disney World for about 9/10 nights with a split stay at AK and Poly (with a few days at Universal Orlando before that), or going to Disneyland for a few days followed by a week or so at Aulani.

A little background on us. We have been to Disney World 3 times in the last 3 years or so (September 2015, September 2016, and May 2017 when we got engaged). I haven't been to Disneyland since probably 2003 or so, and my fiance has never been there. We both have never been to Aulani, or Hawaii at all lol. We both are not big fans of the beach though, and we absolutely love the parks and constantly doing things. But I would like to see Aulani because I hear it is amazinggggg lol. We also live in New York, which greatly affects travel.

Personally, I'm leaning more towards Disney World for several reasons. After going several times, I feel pretty comfortable there, and we would add some more things that we have never experienced before (I'm thinking a tour at MK, trying new restaurants, maybe a spa day, etc.). Also, after the wedding, I don't want to be stressed in new places, along with traveling for hours on end. With Disney World, we'd be there in 3 hours and I'd be good to go! I think my fiance is leaning towards Disneyland and Hawaii. He loves Disney World, but I think he'd like to try something new. He's also thinking if we don't do a big trip like that now, it may not be as easy to in the future. It would involve much more traveling though and be much more expensive I'm sure. Plus, I think we would miss the parks once we leave Disneyland lol.

We are so torn! Anyone else have this dilemma or any thoughts? Thanks so much!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

What if you did Hawaii and then Disneyland on the way home? That way you still have the excitement of the parks to look forward to.

There are lots of things you can do within driving distance of Aulani so you don't just have to sit on the beach.

 

[lurkyloo]

Yeah, we are not huge beach people either, but we managed to cram a TON of other fun activities into the 5 days we were at Aulani for our vow renewal. The first post in my trip report talks about all the logistics, and then each installment covers the different activities we did all over Oahu.

http://disneytravelbabble.com/trip-reports/aulani-to-wdw/

We had our honeymoon at WDW, but it was a novelty for us because we live near Disneyland. In your situation, I would side with your fiance and vote for for Aulani and Disneyland as a unique, almost once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon experience, vs. Walt Disney World, which you will likely return to many times over the years.

 

[justme0729]

I think what made our honeymoon feel special was that it was something we both had never done before (Disney cruise-or cruise at all for that matter!) It was just super exciting to be doing something brand new together right after being married. The cruise was also super relaxing which was what we needed after the wedding, family drama etc. I would do the Disneyland and aulani because it is brand new to you! But if you haven't stayed at AK and Poly before maybe it would have the Same new feeling either one would be awesome!

 

[Wild4Walt]

We were torn also - our choices were Hawaii ( Aulani for 3 nights and then the Big Island for a week ) and Walt Disney World. We finally decided on Orlando because we could spend 10 days there and because we had been before we felt we could kick back and take it at a slower pace this time. Since my DF hasn't been to Hawaii we felt there was so much we'd want to do and see that we wouldn't get as much down time in.