We're here!

Hi! We made it! We arrived safely yesterday in Orlando. Our flight was roughly 30 minutes early. We checked in at our shuttle bus and were on our way (see photo). Last night we had some loud people outside our room around 3am, but other than that no news or highlights.

This morning we woke up and checked out of our first room and re-checked in to our second, thankfully one with a king size bed. Double beds seem tiny now. We dropped our bags off at the bell desk and went off to the Magic Kingdom. A note to my Disney regulars- they've switched around the locker and stoller rental locations. We grabbed breakfast at the Main Street Bakery, and then we got Fast Passes for Splash Mountain and then stood in line for Big Thunder Mountain. We waited about 40 minutes for that one, about my line limit. We then saw the Country Bear Jamboree, and after that nosed around a few shops before we walked back over to Splash. Jared seems to be a fan of Big Al from the Country Bears. We got on Splash with about a 30 second wait (Fast Pass is wonderful!) and bought a picture of our drop.

We had lunch at The Plaza, one of my favorites. As we sat, we sang three rounds of "Happy Birthday" to various guests. I'll have to remember to wear my birthday button on Tuesday and see what happens to me! A couple of the Main Street "resident" characters came in and led one of the rounds (see photos). After lunch we hopped on the Jungle Cruise and Swiss Family Treehouse (see photos of our view from the treehouse). We browsed some Adventureland shops and visited The Enchanted Tiki Room before we caught the afternoon parade (video, hopefully it loaded). Not bad, but not as good as others they've had in the past. As far as the Tiki Room, I still think the original version is heads above this version, but anyway. Then we boarded Pirates of the Caribbean after the parade (see Jared as Captain Jack), and then made our way across Adventureland and Frontierland to Liberty Square and visited the 999 Happy Haunts of The Haunted Mansion. We then began making our way around Fantasyland and hit Small World, Mickey's Philharmagic, Snow White, and a few more shops. Jared pointed out that North America really isn't represented in Small World, and I thought about it- Mexico and Hawaii get the only billing. The rest of the USA and Canada don't rate I guess.

By this time, we figured we should probably start heading towards the bus for dinner, so we made our way back down Main Street and began browsing those shops to scope out the merchandise. I've got my eye on a few things. We waited awhile for the bus to Wilderness Lodge, but made it in time for our reservation at Artist Point. REALLY good food here. Jared had buffalo and I had some really good salmon. I'd definitely go back. When we finished dinner we went back to the park, grabbed our bag from the locker, flew with Peter Pan since we had a Fastpass, and then turned around and got back to our hotel and our new room. We're in the Football themed building at All Star Sports.

Overall, a very fun day. Hot, yes, humid, yes, but we're drinking lots of water and wearing the sunscreen. I can't get over the people wearing long sleeves and heavy clothes, yuck. BUT IT DIDN'T RAIN AT ALL, YAY! People were very annoying with the flash picures today in the rides where it was clearly prohibited. I really hate that, and people just don't think the rule applies to them. Hopefully this doesn't continue, but it probably will, as it always does.

Anyway, tired now, so hopefully we can post again tomorrow :o)