On this day, just after the announcement that Ontario Place will be closing (90% of it anyway), I give to you our first day of travel into the World!
We arrived Orlando at around 11pm, a bit rough around the edges. The flight was ok but going from work to the airport is really an act left for travelling salesmen and the like.
Our car was a Mitsubishi Lancer, which turned out to be a surprisingly fun car to drive. Well, actually I just did the riding in the passenger seat, fiddling with AC and the radio. And what is up with Riannah’s “We Found a Love In a Hopeless Place”? We heard it at least twice every day.
Our check in was marred by some poor unfortunate soul that wasn’t completely “with us” as it were. She had some issues and needed to tell the front desk cast member (who she stole from us as we were waiting in line) all about them. Like how she didn’t like milk and couldn’t contact the airlines and how her room was 3″ smaller than her last stay and how aliens probed her nightly. Okay not as dramatic, but you get the gist. The poor cast member was gracious and after 15 minutes of this, was reduced to “Uh hums” and “Yep!”
We get to our room around 1am – a lovely shoebox at the Pop Century, much like every other shoe boxes in this resort, overlooking the the lake, nearly facing the new construction of the Art of Animation resort. A sneak peek (pic below!) – our first Disney Miracle! We crash for the night but not before having a giggling fit over SharkBoy mentioning that we need to leave a tip for the “mermaid”. I started to laugh hysterically at the thought of a mermaid pushing a blue hotel cart around and taking all day just to clean one room. Funnier at 1am, really.
Our first park was Animal Kingdom. A place where if I were not ride any rides but wander it’s paths with camera in hand, I would still have a 100% satisfying day. We did the Kilimanjaro Safari first which turned out to be a PRO TIP – the animals were much more active in the morning than any other times we’ve experienced it. But of course we did ride nearly all the rides. But by noon we were beat. The late night, early start kicked us in the gut and we left before the park was closed. We could have stayed and re-rode some things but we couldn’t keep our eyes open.
That night, we drove over to Celebration to sap some WiFi from a Starbucks. If you’ve got the chance, go visit this town that Disney Inc. built. I think the board members felt some guilt that EPCOT didn’t turn out like the city that Walt wanted so they built their own community and called it Celebration. It’s like Stepford Wives meets Steven Spielberg meets any subversive alien invasion movie from the 50s. Everyone has gingerbread houses, rocking chairs on the front porch and kids getting A+ in school. Its a bylaw I think.
We checked out The Bohemian Hotel for our next trip back in December. Let me tell you, the website makes it look like a bed and breakfast run by crazy homosexuals when in fact it’s a pretty beautiful hotel. Will definitely look into staying!
2 thoughts on “Disney Day One”
Can’t wait to do it all over again with you in December!
That bearipus husbandius in the first picture looks like he is entering mating season and is about to attack.