Disney Day 1

by Brittany Geragotelis

Matt and I got up at 4:45 yesterday morning to catch our plane to Orlando...and though we were both wiped out by the end of the day, it was totally worth it. The flight went by pretty fast, however, there was a TON of turbulance (not sure if you heard, but Hurricane Nicole is sending aftershocks our way), which left everyone just a TAD uneasy about being in the air.

When we got to the airport (in one piece), we hopped on the magical express and were driven straight to our hotel, The All-Star Music Resort. We were both excited to check into our room, drop off our stuff and get to the park, but when we finally got our room keys, walked over to one of the furthest hotels in the music resort, we ran into an unpleasant surprise. Apparently, Florida is INFESTED with what the locals call "Lovebugs." And I've gotta tell ya, there's NOTHING to love about these pests.

First off, there are thousands of them; walking from the main building to our hotel room was like being in a bug war zone...we were just trying to avoid being hit by these gross, big, flying bugs. But the worst part was when we got into our room, there were about 35 in there already. Some were dead on the floor, others were alive and crawling around. It was beyond gross. So, we called the front desk, and they told us to come back to the front desk and that they'd move us to a new room. The nice Disney peeps ended up upgrading us to a King Size bedroom that's right next to the food court and main office, and is right alongside the pool. And the best part? No bugs.

We decided to start off at the Animal Kingdom and went straight to Expedition Everest and got a fast pass (so we didn't have to wait in line) and then went to eat. Have I mentioned that Disney's great about food allergies? I just had to let the fast food cashier know that I needed to eat gluten free and one of the chef's came out and talked me through the menu. Most of the food places have gluten-free buns so people can have sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, etc. Some places even have gf chicken fingers and pizza! The thing that made me laugh though, was when I was waiting for my food and the cashier woman called out to one of the people behind the counter and referred to me as "Allergy Girl." Okay....a little weird, but I'll take it if I get to eat a pulled pork sandwich ON a gf bun, french fries and gf cookies for desert. YUM!

As we were leaving Animal Kingdom, Hurricane Nicole reared her ugly head and it began to downpour. And we're talking too heavy to be real, must be fake like in the movies rain. Good thing I knew it was supposed to pour all week and had bought us ponchos. We still got soaked (it was raining A LOT), but in a way, the rain was a blessing in disguise, because we were able to go straight through to the front of the lines at Hollywood Studios for The Rockin' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror.

Then, Matt and I ended our night eating at the California Grill. The food was pretty good (but way overpriced, with a very selective menu), but the highlight of the night was that we got to watch the Disney fireworks show while we were eating! It was truly a magical experience.

So, that was our first day in a nutshell. I've attached pictures from our safari in Animal Kingdom, as well as a few other candids, in case you want to take a look. Enjoy!

5x5,

B.