Disney World: Arrival

We arrived in Orlando today in a plane full of extremely annoying children. I think that's going to be the theme of the week.

Here is our hotel:


Yes, that's right; holy crap.

We're staying at the Swan Resort at Disney World. The other hotel in the resort area is the Dolphin:


The dolphin is so named for large fish-like alleged dolphin creatures that appear everywhere at the resort, such as in the scene at left. Yes, that is an immense concrete seashell, held up with large fish sculptures. Pretty common scene around this place. (Dave was a little intimidated by the large fish sculpture.) You tell me whether these things look like dolphins.


I was telling Dave that the entire resort feels like a gigantic cruise ship. If you don't have a car, which we do not, you are pretty much stuck in its orbit. There is a shuttle, however, that can take you to all the Disney theme parks. Oh, and there's karaoke. At a sushi bar, we saw a bachelor party today sing "Baby Got Back" and a few 1980s ballads. Amazing.

So, we have been having a good, relaxing time so far. It's pleasantly warm, and definitely not as hot as I'd expected. I'm looking forward to going swimming tomorrow, and reading outside in the courtyard. I brought two books: a wonderful WWI book I have been reading, Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, and some lighter reading: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

We're planning to go to the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom on Thursday, and Sea World on Friday. I told Dave that he's basically going to watch me regress into a 12-year-old by the end of the week, and I think he's had some amusement so far. We'll see how amused he is when I try to force my humongous body into a dolphin stroller at Sea World a la 1985.

More later, when I explore coconut lime verbena shampoo and conditioner, a large pool, and cajun lime steak fries.