Disney Part 2: Arrival, Hotel & First night in Florida!

FIRST, please read Disney Part 1: Road Trip!

We arrived at our hotel at 9:45am, exhausted, smelly & enjoying the lightening flashes & loud booms of thunder as rain poured down around us! Our hotel was not ready for us to check-in yet (we arrived many hours earlier than expected), so we decided to drive over to buy our Disney tickets. On our way to the parks, we passed a small blue hut (literally) with a sign announcing 'Discount Disney Tickets'.
We hesitated, but figured, what could it hurt? So we stopped. Of course, there's always a catch. We would have to take a tour of a timeshare up the street (lunch included) and then they would pass over our (highly) discounted Disney tickets! Once again, I'm not spontaneous, but leave it to Tim and he said "Sure! Let's Do it" and there we went (in 2 day old clothes with messy hair and hungry bellies) off to view a timeshare we knew we wouldnt buy. What was promised as a 90-minute tour, of course actually took up 4 hours of our day, but it wasnt as bad as it sounds. If the sun was shining, I would've been more upset, but the heavy rainstorm lasted the whole time. And they had a fun Kid's Center which the girls loved (movies, video games, arts & crafts and games). We were there from 11am till 3pm and got a free lunch out of the deal as well.

After the tour, they handed over our tickets as promised. Tim had a $500 Amex gift card from buying fuel for the jet - so with the timeshare discount and his gift card, we paid pennies (not literally of course, but close!) for 5 day Disney tickets (and we would only be in Disney for 3 days!) Then we stopped at a HUGE Walmart next to the timeshare to buy some goodies to replenish our snack stash and we got things like water bottles to bring into the parks.

At 4pm we finally checked into our hotel...and what a hotel it was!! We stayed in a Hilton Embassy Suites completely FREE (with Tim's Hilton points)!! *click link to view our exact hotel and please take a tour to see all the pics*

Some of our favorite things about this hotel were:
* FREE made-to-order breakfasts every morning (including the best omelets ever!)

* FREE Happy Hour each evening (including unlimited alcohol and snacks plus juice for the kids)

* Two pools (indoor & outdoor) plus a hot tub
* Huge soft King size bed for Tim & I

* Girls slept on a comfy sofa bed in the 'living room' area of our suite

* Great view from our sliding doors to balcony (we were on 7th floor)
* Awesome views of Disney fireworks while sitting on our bed
* Beautiful water fall in the lobby with trees and pretty gazebo
* Free internet (with Tim's code)

I could go on and on, but you get the idea - we were very impressed! Of course Tim lives like this on a daily basis while on the road (poor guy - cough cough), so he may not typically have been as impressed. But I think he really did enjoy seeing our excitement at staying in this beautiful hotel!

After checking into the hotel, we unloaded our bags and Tim & I crashed in bed for a short nap while the girls watched TV. From 6-7pm we went down for free Happy Hour... lots of free drinks & snacks (chips with salsa, popcorn, pretzels, etc).
Unfortunately, this was the only night we were able to take advantage of the Happy Hour because we were busy running through Disney World the other nights!

We splashed in the beautiful indoor pool and extremely relaxing hot tub from 7-7:30pm.






Then up for showers and cozy PJs while we snuggled up and watched American Idol together :) I cant give up my Idol fix even while on vacation! heehee... I also made a packing list of things to bring to the parks with us (Tim carried a backpack the whole time). We saw the Disney fireworks from our balcony then collapsed into bed for a much-needed night of rest. We requested a Wake-up call for 8am to start our Disney fun...