Day #02 - Mouse Ears to Gray Hairs

It's always nice returning to a place of happy memories and Walt Disney World is built on the notion of happy memories.

For me, this is my third visit to this magical land and it's almost a quarter-century Pilgrimage back to the "Happiest Place on Earth" (1989 & 1998 were my previous visits). As for James, well, he's lost count of the number of times he came as a child! So for both of us, a lot has changed since our last visit and so we are excited to discover all that is new and all that is familiar. 

We are starting our stay in the Caribbean resort, where "worries melt away amidst Calypso rhythms!" It's one of the resorts "Moderate" class hotels and from first impressions, it's definitely worth it. We're staying in the Old Port Royal section of the resort which is right next to the waterfront and a charming white sandy beach. 

When we arrived last night it was a case of heading to the room, quick unpack and orientation before exploring the hotel and grabbing something to eat.

We dined in style at Sebastian's Bistro which was lovely - especially since we had a few Caribbean themed cocktails to really kick the holiday off beforehand!

The three course meal was delicious and James' face lit up over the "Protein Platter"! All that muscle building meat! And as for dessert, the Coconut-Pineapple Bread Pudding was to die for!!

Once thing that is a big change since I was last here, is the use of technology and mobile phone apps! We entered one of the restaurants this morning to grab some breakfast, only to be completely confused by "The system" - do we sit down? do we talk to a server? do we continue to stare gormlessly at everything and hope we figure it out?! Eventually we got it sorted and ordered via the app and collected our order, including the classic refillable mugs. Now I can have unlimited tea - yeah! (and as a side note, they have Twinings Breakfast Tea so I am a happy bunny and don't have to tap into my stash of British tea bags, currently stuffed into shoes in my suitcase!). 

So onto our second day, or full first day of our trip, we took the decision to take it easy and not head to one of Disney's four main parks. Instead we opted to enjoy our resort hotel, head to Disney Springs which is an "entertainment centre" filled with restaurants, bars, clubs, the odd show and shopping as well as visiting the amazing Typhoon Lagoon Water park.

Disney Springs was lovely and we spent a pleasant couple of hours doing some "visual shopping" (no room in suitcases for anything at the moment!) and had a lovely mexican lunch beside the water. Then onto Typhoon Lagoon - one of the Disney water parks. 

The incredible main lagoon has the most amazing wave machine ever created! It is capable of generating a wave up to six feet tall that comes racing towards you! Alongside that, there are some lovely water slide and tube slides and a wonderfully relaxing lazy river. We enjoyed them all naturally and since it was a beautiful Florida day with temperatures in the high 20's and a strong sun, I naturally went blotchy red (I did have sunscreen on!) while James' tan matured beautifully, hence why in the selfies, I look like the anemic vampire and he the bronzed adonis! 

We couldn't take photos while enjoying the water for obvious reasons so please enjoy this little compilation collage!