Once we were on the plane our excitement reached a new high. I couldn’t even try to sleep, not that it was a long flight. When we arrived in Florida we made our way to the Magical Express Service station. They showed us to our bus, which would take us to the All Star Sports Resort – woohoo! We arrived about 45 minutes later, checked in and made our way to our building. You see, the All Start Resorts are multi-building setups. There are ten buildings paired into five themes: Surfs Up, Touchdown, Homerun Hotel, Center Court and the Hoops Hotel. We were placed in the Touchdown, which was perfect; close to the main building and pool, but not so close that late night kid-noise would pollute our rest.
Once we checked out our room, which was perfect, we headed to the Magic Kingdom (of course). One of the first things Brad noticed was how he had underestimated Disney World. Even I forgot how huge the property is; they have their own freeways within Disney; it can be intense. When we finally arrived I was greeted with nostalgia and sense-memories, making me long for a popsicle. It was so exciting to be experiencing this as an adult, and with my husband! We walked in, bombarded by sights and people, we wandered through the shops. Our first mission: Mickey Mouse ears. We knew they had bride and groom ears, but we opted for the traditional kind you can get embroidered. They say “Mrs. Phillips” and “Mr. Phillips” (I already have a pair that say Allison).
Armed with our ears and out Just Married buttons (this was our honeymoon, after all) we set off for food. We decided on Pecos Bill Café in Frontierland. We had our first magical moment, as a Cast Member brought us a little carrot cake and said, “Congratulations!” After enjoying a burger and fries we found Big Thunder Mountain, one of my favorite thrills. I had forgotten how crafty Disney is about lines: it doesn’t ever appear to be a long line until you realize that it serpentines for about a mile inside the building! Oh well, it was worth the wait. It looks so tame and Brad was a bit surprised at the intensity! We went next to Adventureland to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which turned out to be one of Brad’s favorites for the week. It was nice and cool inside, with practically no line at all. They have added a few things since I was there last. Captain Jack Sparrow makes several appearances, and at least one of the mannequins is so life-like that I literally thought some poor Cast Member had been stuck with the short straw. Even riding it a second time I was unsure if it was real or fake – wow! Once we got our Extra Magic Hours bracelets we wandered in the direction of the Tea Cups. We came across It’s a Small World, which we rode. I neglected to tell Brad how pleasantly lame it is, instead going with “Everyone has to ride it at least once”. A Cast Member announced us newlyweds right before the ride started, and we got applause! (It is so cheesy, but I had forgotten how much I loved that sound!) We disembarked the creepy monotonous children ride and found Disney’s PhilHarmagic. I couldn’t remember what it was, but I remember wanting to do it, so we went inside. What a joy! It is a 3D movie that takes Donald on a wild-hat-chase through scenes of several Disney movies! He is invited to “Be Our Guest”, he meets “the girl who has everything:” and learns all about the “whole new world” in the sky. It is a lot of fun, and I would recommend it to anyone of any age.
As we left the theater we heard loud noises. We stepped out and got to see most of the Wishes Night-time Spectacular. It was amazing! Really, I usually don’t care about parades and fireworks; those are the best times to ride rides, anyway. But something about standing directly underneath the ‘works, standing next to my husband, made it breathtaking and I actually got tears in my eyes (I know, I know, like it is hard to make me cry).
Afterward we went to a snack counter to get a bottle of water, but they were closing. Brad asked, “Do you guys just have some bottled water” and the guy threw him a bottle, said “Magical Moment, sir” and then closed the grate. Woohoo, free stuff! We headed over to the Mad Hatter Tea Party for a quick spin and then headed out. Waving good-bye to Cinderella’s castle we found our return bus and went back to our resort. We already felt as though we had been there for ages, but it had only been four hours! It was a hint of how exhausted we would be by week’s end. We spent a little while relaxing by the pool in our resort that night, and then made our way back to our room to rest and…relax. All in all it was a perfectly excellent first day at the World!
