The Most Magical Place On Earth!

---

So on Nov. 30th we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel and got all of our things together and ready to check out. Around 9:30 we arrived at the Orlando airport (side note: drivers at this airport are crazy, if you're in the area beware.) We quickly dropped off Stephanie's Mom and Dad, and with the knowledge that we were now officially on our own headed out. So of course we choose the Walt Disney World park to help us acclimate to the new situation.

We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom, because I have never seen the park in Winter and there were several rides and shows that we both wanted to see. We figured that we would be coming to Disney on a fairly regular basis so got annual passes. The lady selling tickets, did a very big favor for us and gave us the resident rate even though we didn't have any way to prove that we were now residents. It ended up saving us something like 350 dollars together.

So once inside, a disney worker came up to me and asked if I wouldn't mind participating in a study. He said we would get a gift card worth 25 dollars if we filled out a little journal type book about our day and sent it back in to disney. We agreed of course.

After that we walked around the park, looking for things to do. We ended up going to the Enchanted Tiki Room, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Snow White's Scary Adventure, and the Mad Tea Party all before lunch. It was all very fun, and of course there were a few others that we had to take a rain check on, but I'm sure we'll get to them soon enough. We stopped at Pinocchio Village Haus for lunch, and it was okay. I have to say that the food wasn't really memorable, but it was satisfying.

After lunch it was on to Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Stich's Great Escape, and my personal favorite of the day Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. By this time it was late afternoon and because the Magic Kingdom was taping their Christmas show today, the castle decorations were down and we were a little disappointed. So we decided to go and see another park's Christmas Show. We chose the Epcot Candlelight Processional.

We took the monorail over to Epcot, and had a little time before the show so we decided to look at Innoventions, some of their activities are very cool. We particularly liked the Sum of all Thrills ride, where you got to design your own roller coaster type ride, we actually did this one twice. I also got a very tastey mint ice cream cookie sandwich. Stephanie didn't really like the mint part, but I thought it was great.

We got to the World Showcase Section and listened to a couple of their Holiday speakers from the different countries. That was actually very informative and fun. The Candlelight Processional was very beautiful and a great concert. By the end we were quite hungry, and decided to go to Stephanie's favorite restaurant Earl of Sandwich. The Jerk Chicken and Hawaian sandwiches are very good. We ended up deciding to stay at the same hotel since we had another coupon. Thus ends the best day at Florida so far. We were very excited about moving in. But we didn't know that stormclouds were just on the horizon...

---

Photos

Memories
Oh yes, let them begin!

Side walk Artist
They have this guy sweeping up garbage?

Mountain view
While we were riding Big Thunder Mountain.

Christmas Mickey and Minnie
Wow, what beautiful topiary work.

Stitch!
Helping with the Christmas lights.

Epcot at sundown
Lovely view.

The big tree at Epcot
Much better in person.