Disney 2010: Day 1

First things first:  I’m posting vacation photos on my photo gallery daily!!

Yes, we’re back.  Yesterday was quite the adventure.  There was snow coming into the Mid-Atlantic region (closing airports along the way), and the mystery of what a Deluxe resort room (did I say FREE!) upgrade looks like.

We got up at 3:30am to make the trek to the airport.  By the time we got to the airport, parked, rode the shuttle bus, checked in and made it through Security, it was 6am, and we were hungry — so we grabbed a small breakfast at McDonalds.  Thanks to business travel, I had enough points for two business-class upgrades, so we got to sit in the front of the bus in the nice wide seats and get the special drink and snack services.  Nice way to start a vacation.

So there we were, in business class toasting the start of our vacation with Bloody Marys (just one each, and we didn’t completely finish them — but the ladies on the other side had each downed three by the end of the flight), waiting to push back and take off.  I looked over at John just as he discovered that the headrest is configurable and drinks are free and said “Isn’t this obscene.”  He looked back at me and said “Obscene?  I feel like a total whore!”  LOL

The flight was uneventful, and it was 68 and rainy when we got down here — but it wasn’t snowing, so we’re happy.

Our room is very cool.  For those who don’t know; we got a surprise call from Disney last week wanting to move us to another resort because there is a business convention happening at the one that we booked.  They upgraded us to Animal Kingdom Kidani Village for free, which is a Deluxe class resort.  We typically stay at a moderate.  So far, the differences between the two seem to be:

Pros

• 10x more themed; it’s amazing
• Larger room — it looks smaller, but that’s because the bathroom is much larger
• We have a sofa
• And a private patio with two chairs and a table
• There is a 33-acre wildlife reserve just steps from our room.  Yesterday we watched giraffes, zebras and other animals.
• Real HVAC system instead of those stupid wall-units
• Ceiling fan
• Flat-screen TV with gaming hookups
• Insane free amenities like: DVD rentals, fireside storytelling, Wii Fit, Foosball, and other neat stuff

Cons

• Since the entrance to your room is on an inside hallway (instead of on the outside), it’s more hotel-like
• Our neighbors started having a party at 6am; or at least it sounds like it.

The noise in the room next door was so bad this morning that we’re swapping rooms this afternoon.  Even now they are still yelling, laughing and arguing over there.  Sure, the sound carries, but they actually are being completely inconsiderate….. and it’s all the adults.  The kids haven’t made a peep.

So, enough about the room.  We headed to Downtown Disney (DTD) first for lunch at The Earl of Sandwich, which is tradition for us.  We cruised around DTD a bit but were exhausted from the early start so we headed back to the hotel for naps.  Around 5 we headed to Epcot because John wanted to hit Spaceship Earth before our dinner reservation at Le Cellier.  Vacation truly started when we walked through the gates. 

We got our first PhotoPass photos done, and we rode Spaceship Earth — John even tried imitating one of the characters in the mural out front.  We had a great time.  After SE, we went to MouseGear to exchange our torn ponchos.  We bought them on our first trip, but Disney has a policy of replacing them no matter how old they are, so we did.  New ponchos — wooo!!!

Dinner wasn’t until 7:10pm, so we had some time to kill.  We checked out the menu at the San Angel Inn (in Mexico) for later in the week, but nothing was grabbing us.  We did, however, discover a tequila bar in there that we’ve never seen before — will have to check that out.  We also took the time to ride the Mexico river ride while we were there.  And then dinner and celebrated John’s birthday for once.

And then John bought me a light-up Tinkerbell pin! 

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