What shocked you the most on your first time visiting USA/florida/disney?

[TigerMom]

Just how vast everything was. Buildings, food portions, queues and some people. I don't mean obese people either. I'm just 5ft and I felt like a midget as there were so many tall people. Oh and warm rain. Miss it all so much.

[Shutterbug]

The noise and lights on international drive, felt like Blackpool on steriods, my first night i was ready to turn around and come home, total sensory overload. I got used to it and love it now. And the gaps on loos doors and around the edges, and self flushing toilets that go off on their own when you've done nothing more than step into a cubicle! And a cockroach- yuk, didn't mind the little frogs and lizards but a cockroach- blurgh. Hubby got the task to shoo it out.

[Guest]

How Disnified my husband got right away! It was a bit of effort to get him to be up for it and I'd emphasised the coasters of SeaWorld, Universal, Busch etc. Disney stole his heart right away even though it has few thrill rides and now he can't see past it.

[shona]

Seeing grits on the same plate as a fry up at breakfast

[Gev]

Yes, the ubiquitous toilet cubicles and the auto flush.

On the interstate how cars can overtake on either side of you and slide into the already small space in front of you.

TV adverts with legal messages at the end spoken sooo fast you haven’t a clue what he’s said! And the frequency of adverts during the tv programme you’re trying to watch! 5 minutes of programme with 20 minutes of adverts!

The vastness of the Walmart supercentres. We wanted a loaf, but didn’t know where to start with so much choice.

People pouring maple syrup all over their bacon and eggs.

When it was time to come home, I felt like I’d been plucked from my nirvana and was single minded in my quest to return.

[greekgranny]

Originally Posted by taffs travels

I was shocked and bemused to have scones with my fried chicken in KFC

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Yes, I was surprised and caused much mirth by asking if they had any butter and jam I could put on said biscuit/scone. (This was in First Watch)

[Johnnyp]

Cops with guns.

I knew it was the norm but seeing it for real rather than in a tv show was a dose of realism

[Emmie2016]

The gaps in public toilets, that was a shock haha 😳

[scooby99]

Some memorable things:

The alligator sitting in the middle of the parking lot at the old Belz factory outlets on International Drive.

The snake in the lazy river at Typhoon Lagoon.

The guy towing his barbecue behind him with a gas bottle attached to it on the I-75 and doing around 75mph!

How localised the weather is; standing on the pavement in bone dry sunny weather whilst on the other side of the street, it was almost a white-out with monsoon like rain!

More weird weather; sitting at the pool in 80 degree heat but unable to see anyone on the other side of the pool due to fog!

[Scaramouche]

How nice everyone was -
The first time we went I took my sister alone (me 20, her 13) and I was so worried about immigration, the guy could tell I was nervous, asked the typical “have you brought any food, any alcohol etc etc” in and then followed:
“have you brought any chocolate?”
“No”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“Not even any Cadbury’s?”
“No”
“Not any galaxy?”
“No”
“It’s not the same here. You’ll regret that”
With the biggest smile on his face, I was terrified but he changed everything. More awkward when my sister started asking why I had my finger prints etc taken. Had to answer that away from the airport and have a convo about 9/11.

The gaps in the toilet doors!

When I fell and City hall tried to give me forms to sue them, no questions asked.

We complained about house keeping not changing the bedding in 6 days(I spilt bright orange Fanta on it so it was obvious!) then they told me I had to change it myself because I was DVC - we weren’t DVC. I explained I wasn’t impressed and that we’d also had half a sandwich left in the fridge when we arrived - the manager was livid! We got the cost of a nights stay at rack rate back, a full deep clean and a turn down service. When things go wrong, they fix it.

That you got free drinks and nibbles on the internal flight (we flew in direct the first two times)