Florida: Day Three

We finally arrived at our hotel - another Courtyard by Marriott - just after 1:00 AM. We were staying on the north side of Orlando, about 5-10 minutes from downtown. April didn't have enough points to stay at a Marriott close to Disney, which would have put us on Orlando's southern side. We drove through a rough-looking neighborhood, which changed drastically after we entered the business park where the hotel is located. Several people were in the pool, but we were too tired to join them. After settling in, we got some much needed sleep.

When we awoke, Katie and I went down to the pool for a swim. April and Lillie decided to relax in the room. Several families were swimming with us, and Katie elected to make friends with a little girl a year younger than her. We were in the pool for nearly an hour, then we returned to the room to get ready for dinner.

We went to the Grand Floridian Resort at Disney for our dinner. On our way there, April and Katie stopped at this place to buy her a Cinderella outfit that she could wear. April paid more than she wanted to, but we figured that Katie will only want to do this once in her life - I don't see her wanting to dress up when we come for Lillie's 5th birthday. We ate dinner in one of the restaurants at the resort, called 1900 Park Fare. Katie was able to meet and take pictures with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, and two of the mice. We strolled around the resort grounds after dinner and marvelled at the amount of people who could afford to stay here. A bridesmaid posed for pictures inside the main room (can you say "enormous?" I knew you could). Two gay guys bickered while waiting for the valet to bring up their car.

We returned to Downtown Disney to walk off our dinner - too much seafood isn't really a good thing. We stopped in the Disney store and sipped on a shake from Ghirardelli. We bought some T-shirts to wear tomorrow on our trip to the Kingdom. We watched some teenagers shake it on stage to the Village People's "YMCA."

We retired to our hotel around 10:00. Tomorrow will be a HUGE day.