WDW In Pictures - Day One

I flew into Orlando Sanford which I was very impressed with.  I loved how small it is and how easy it is to get around.  Great experience all around.

I checked into All Star Sports after Ashley picked me up.  I found a cute little letter my husband (Matt) hid in my suitcase.  I was really impressed with the rooms at All Stars.  I liked it better than the pre-refurbed rooms at Pop Century actually.  We got our things settled, ran to her townhouse just north of Magic Kingdom, and then headed into the park.  She showed me where they shoot off the fireworks behind the park.  I also saw Disney University and the Disney Holiday building.  It was awesome!

We got into the park later than planned so we decided to skip the parade and just hit attractions.  Everything had a pretty long wait.  The crowds were just nuts.  At one point while trying to get from Frontierland to Liberty Square we got caught in a crowd.  It was a stand still in a walking path.  Folks were trying to watch the parade and CMs weren't doing their jobs right by getting guests to move through the walkways.  So, Ashley and I jumped the fence in back of the people and walked in the landscaping.  I did this all in a dress.  I should get brownie points for the flashing of my rear that I'm sure took place. 

Right before Wishes Ashley and I hit up Dumbo.  Though, you can't tell we were on Dumbo at all.  I only took my point and shoot camera with me this night because I knew I couldn't get any decent shots with my DSLR with the crowds.  I also took my very first spin on the teacups!  I LOVED IT! 

We watched Wishes from a very cool place that night... in between Dumbo and the back of the castle.  It's neat to see the fireworks split on both sides of you.  Just a totally different experience.  Unfortunetly, Space Mountain was experiencing technical difficulties.  A sensor on one side crapped out and apparently they have them specially made so they had to wait until later the next day to get it.  They were only operating on one side and the wait was ACTUALLY 120 minutes long.  Just... nuts.

We ended up missing our planned Boma reservation and wouldn't have made it to the restaurant in time to still get seated so we walked from the Grand Floridian (where we parked) to the Poly and got a walk up at Kona Cafe.  We shared a Spicy Tuna Roll and Pan Asian Noodles with Shrimp.  The food was delicious but the service was very slow.  Very very slow. 

Ashley and I headed back to our resort where we met up with her friend Jarret who was down working a few shifts and brought his college buddies along with him.  The guys asked me to take some photos of them around the resort goofing off so me being the awesome girl I am began to shoot away.  We didn't go to bed until about 2 a.m. so it's pretty clear that I was exhausted from the very long day. 

Just a note on these shots outside at All Star Sports.  I didn't have a tripod so I had to do some trickery in order to set up my shots.  It was difficult and I could have gotten better shots with more photography knowledge and a tripod but... I did what I could.  :)