Orlando, day one.

Arrived on time at Orlando but because I checked in so early at Newark, my bag arrived ahead of me. No one had told me this, so I waited about 90 mins until the luggage belt was empty before mildly panicking. I found it eventually waiting for me in a special spot. Waited for a shuttle to take me to "Palm Lake Resort" (sounds nice, doesn't it?), and find that it's a dingy little cheap hotel with the smell of dog lingering in the check-in and communal areas. At least this place has a kitchen. Hoorah!

Alas, I forgot that I had booked myself into an 8 person dorm. So opening my door was a mildly shocking moment for a minute.
The owner ran me through a couple of the basics of the place and things in the area, but I wasn't really paying attention, on account of the dog smell. Sure enough, in come 2 big slobbery dogs, practically knocking this guy over.

I tried to set my room up as best as I could with limited space- keeping most of my luggage on the bottom bunk with me while I sleep should be interesting. All of the lockers were taken already and one other person took up the remaining floor space with her bags, I'm assuming because she couldn't find any other room either.

Decided to go next door to the tourist information place because I was too embarrassed to find the owner and tell him that I wasn't paying attention to anything he told me.

The tourist info place was a good decision. Phyllis helped me with my Disney and Universal tickets and kept telling me how brave I was for doing this all by myself- and such a long way from home too!! She was just so friendly and kept using such lovely words- I warned her that I wasn't FEELING brave at the moment and currently holding onto my emotions by a thread so you'd better change the subject. Well I did warn her. I ended up bawling my eyes out. She joined me because she felt bad. She ended up giving me her phone number incase I wanted someone to talk to. God love ya Phyllis.

Here's a serious question for you, how does one "blink back their tears"? Is this possible? For me, apparently not as I failed miserably about 3 times today. Am I doing it wrong? Please someone teach me! This is going to be a killer 4-6 days. Great time to be a lady (sarcasm font), if you catch my drift. Sorry if that's t.m.i.. Might help explain the emotion patterns though.

Moving on... It was about 5:45pm when I headed over the road, to catch the bus that Phyllis told me about, to take me to Downtown Disney. It was a long wait. And a long couple of bus rides. But I made it. Bus drivers are friendly fellows. The passengers can be a bit seedy. I was called "sexy" too many times today. And it was a makeup free day too!

Well Downtown Disney is a magical place. And it's the free one. I could easily spend over a grand on cool crap that I don't need. I was a good girl, and only spent $150. (Eek!! Rations for the week becoming smaller..) I was there from 6:30 til about 9. And I felt very rushed. Had to make the bus home! Asked for directions about heading back and got misguided. The bus that was waiting for 10 mins while I just sat there waiting, was actually the bus I needed to be on. Not the one that came 20 mins later. So got on the right bus a little after 10pm. (The last bus home- phewf!)

Girl nearby helped me out with that one. She also saw me looking extremely tense while I searched for clues as to where the heck I needed to get off/tell the driver to stop. She got off before I did. So naturally, I pulled the cord too soon and had to walk about 500m to my intended stop.

Wifi is a little better here. Not so much at 11pm- probably because the guy in the common area is downloading movies or something.

Anyway, I'll give Harry Potter a go tomorrow and let you know. In the meantime, here's a little taste of Downtown Disney. The magical place that is free!