The Bates Motel

We arrived in Orlando around 3:30 yesterday afternoon and had a tough time finding our hotel; it's right on International Drive and is probably the biggest hotel on the strip, but it had no visible signs and it looked like a bunch of 4-story motels, with the entrance on the balcony. Maybe that's a Florida-thing, I don't know. But when my dad and I went inside to get our room keys, I kept saying, "It didn't look like this on the website!" and "I didn't sign up for this; where are the pools and the fun things for the kids to do?" Honestly, I sounded like Goldie Hawn in the movie Private Benjamin: "This isn't the Army I signed up for!!!" The girls were horrified and were sure somebody was going to break in during the night and kill us all. Compared to where we usually stay when we come to Orlando, it's pretty sketchy, but hey...we're only sleeping here, right? It's not like we're moving in.


So we dropped my dad off at Shades of Green this morning so he could play golf, and the rest of us went to Animal Kingdom; we've been there before, but it's been years. I couldn't believe the changes they've made in that time. I really wanted to go on the Expedition Everest--a roller-coaster type train through the mountain, but I couldn't get any takers. Here's a picture of the train shooting out of the mountain. I thought it looked great, but didn't want to go on by myself, and my family didn't want to wait the 40 or so minutes it was going to take me to get through the line. Oh well...there's always the Kraken tomorrow!


We had a great day and left the park around 4:00. We'd just made it back to the hotel when it started to pour. It rained heavily for about an hour, and then cleared up in time for us to go across the street for supper (Ben & Jerry's). My parents went to TGI Fridays, but we just wanted something quick and light. So get this...four single scoop waffle cones cost $17! Is it just me, or is that crazy??

Anyway...one more picture of this good-looking guy we saw at the park today. He was pretty relaxed and seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting.

So tomorrow...Sea World.