"to all who come to this happy place: welcome." -wed

Right now I'm posting this from my BlackBerry, from the Judges' Tent in Toontown! We're about to meet Mickey Mouse! Yep, I'm blogging from Walt Disney World!

I'd have posted last night, but there was just no way. See, after getting about 3 hours of sleep on Saturday, Caroline and I left her apartment a little before 3 am. We stopped 3 times along the way and made it to. our destination in about 10.5 hours, which is a personal record, by the way.

We're staying at Disney's Pop Century Resort, which is turning out to be my favorite of the value resorts. The theme is great, the service is just as good as that in Coronado Springs, it's not as spread out as some resorts, and it's the only value resort with its own motorcoach. Plus, the tie-dyed cheesecake is funky and tasty!

After settling in and showering, we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios to watch the Osbourne Lights. If you haven't seen them, Google it...they are incredible. The show consists of 5 million lights covering the area of the park known as the Streets of America, synced to music. We rode Star Tours (only a 10 minute wait!) and walked around the park, soaking up the magic.

One thing we didn't savor was the cold. It baffles me. I've been to WDW during the winter months before, and it's never been this bad. We bundled up, grabbed hot chocolate, and got over it, because it's hard to be miserable in the place where dreams come true.

We got in the colossal line for a motorcoach bound for the Transportation/Ticket Center, and waited forever. Finally we made it to the TTC and hopped on a monorail bound for the Magic Kingdom, that glorious place where adults become children.

We arrived right at the end of Wishes, the fireworks show. I totally cried, because I am a baby at the MK. The sight of Cinderella Castle all lit up literally takes my breath away, and the general atmosphere fills me with an indescribable feeling. It's a feeling of combined nostalgia, hope, sadness, joy, and pride, topped off with that fluttery magical Disney feeling.

We rode Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Walt Disney World Railroad. The park had Extra Magic Hours that night (which is when a theme park stayes open a few extra hours exclusively for resort guests), but we barely utilized them because we were so exhausted. It was 11 pm when we got "home" and around 12:30 before we were able to sleep.

We managed to do quite a lot considering we were only there for about 6 hours! Caroline and I went to bed dead tired, but exhilarated.

We are back at the Magic Kingdom today, currently in line for the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. Stay tuned for tonight's recap!

You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/susienotsusan for insant Disney updates, if you want. Lots of the cool people over at the DISboard sure are!

Wherever y'all are, have a magical day!

Xoxo