welcome to disney world!

now seeing this sign after hours of driving is enough to get your blood pumping!!! despite the "no stopping" signs on the side of the road, i begged brian to stop and get a picture of the very exciting welcome! we arrived about 9:30, checked in, and headed right back out the door to explore downtown disney. we stayed way too late, but hey, there were no kids to put to bed! no, we did not go club-hopping at pleasure island... we actually spent most of our time in the toy stores, already thinking about what to bring back for our kids that we'd just said goodbye to 8 hours earlier! we also discovered ghiradelli hot chocolate that night... and i don't know if i can ever drink any other hot chocolate again. we had so much fun that night, walking hand in hand with the christmas decorations and disney atmosphere already surrounding us! and we hadn't even stepped into a park yet.

ok, enough chit chat! on with the show! first stop... animal kingdom!