Trip Log:

Started off the day checking out of the Radisson after walking the grounds and headed out to breakfast and shopping at the outlet mall. Next up time to head to Disney. Parked at the Pop Century Resort and checked in. The room was not ready so off to the Magic Kingdom via bus. Wandered down Main Street and lined up for the 50th event. After the simulcast it was back down Main Street and back on the bus to Pop Century. Ate at Everything Pop! And finally got into the room. Got situated and let the rain stop then off to Animal Kingdom. Wandered through the park, catching the end of the Jamin Jungle Parade on our way to the Safari. Ended up on the Pangani trail which was half closed and then back to the Safari for our ride. Grabbed our wristbands so we could stay in the park late. Then roamed along the trail to Asia which was all closed except for Kali, went across the bridge to Dinoland and out to near Tarzan Rocks to get some Everest shots. Next up dinner at the Restaurantousarus. Headed back to the Tree of Life Garden trails and around them before heading to the park entrance, back to the bus and over to the Studios. Walked down Hollywood Blvd and into the Animation Courtyard. Went through the Animation Tour and then walked by Echo Lake and out to the Big City Streets for some pictures. After we had our fill it was back to the park entrance and the bus to Pop Century.

Thoughts & Observations:

• Check out of the Radisson and into Pop Century today, the check out process at the Radisson was smooth and quick, just called to tell them we were leaving and that was it. Before going we walked the grounds to get a feel for the resort and it was really relaxing to stroll around.
  
  
• Decided to check out the two Disney outlet stores at the Beltz Outlet mall. It was a 20 minute drive (we took the long route up International Drive and hit quite a few lights). The two stores carried an interesting variety of merchandise. There were some really good deals and several ok deals of say 10-30% off. You had to watch what you picked up and check the signs and price tags to be sure. Overall kind of nice to look around but doubt I will make any special trips out there in the future.
  
  
• Drove back to Disney, taking I4, so it was only 10-15 minutes. Tried to check into Pop Century, but our room was not ready so left the car and bags and off to the Magic Kingdom we went.
  
  
• The Press Event at the Magic Kingdom, the live simulcast (or castlecast or whatever they were calling it) started at 1pm. We lined up on the East side of the castle and managed to get into the second or third row of standing guests (about even with the start of the press stands. So not too bad of a view. Everyone entering the roped off area was invited and received at least two sets of golden mouse-ears. The WDW portion of the show was ok, it basically consisted of a warm up person, a song, Wayne Brady talking, the simulcast, more Wayne Brady, and a finale song. We joined the Disneyland simulast in progress and then pulled out before their finale. A little disappointing. Disneyland's opened with Leann Rymes singing the theme song and closed with Julie Andrews and all the characters arriving (a continuation of the TV spot). Instead we were treated to a not very good rendition of a couple songs with three Broadway singers and Wayne Brady reading his queue cards instead of just talking. The parts where he talked and adlibed were great, but for most of it he was just trying to the read the cards and it did not seem to look or work that well. Overall worth seeing because I was there and had nothing on the schedule but if I planned my trip around it I would have been a bit disappointed. Wonder how it was received by the members of the media that it was targeted at.. I guess when you put it into context of the three days of events they had it probably made more sense and worked better, but us just seeing this small portion was a little off.
  
  
• After the event it was back to Pop Century for a late lunch and to check in, hopefully. The room became ready at 5 minutes to 3:00. We talked to the desk trying to check in earlier and they kept assuring us we did not want to do that, we came to find out the reason being the room we were assigned was just opening up after a rehab where it got new bedspreads, shower curtains, etc.. and a deep cleaning. It need look sharp and like new, and the location was great. We were right on the pool deck for all practical purposes, too bad were not big swimmers (guess having your own pool in Southern California does not make that a big draw at resorts).
  
  
• Went to Animal Kingdom since it was the Extra Hours park and I really enjoy the park in the cooler evening with the sun setting. The only disappointment is that the animals are all on the 5pm schedule to head backstage so there really is not a lot to see in that respect. The park did have more people than in October when we went to the later hours, but still not enough to really say there was a crowd.
  
  
• Panagani was closed right after the ranger station (guess that is what it is) and you had to make a u-turn and go back to the entrance and in the exit to see the gorillas and then it was closed off again right at the end of the bridge. Not sure what was going on. On later trips it was all open, maybe some rehab work.. no real idea.
  
  
• The Studios was kept open later too, due to EPCOT closing at 3pm for the press event. We were expecting more of a crowd, but there really wasn't. The park felt kind of dead to us, no real momentum or activity, not sure why either.
  
  
• We went to visit the new animation tour and it really is a shell of its old self and really nothing more than a bad copy of the Animation building at California Adventure. I say bad because its missing my favorite part, the large lobby playing clips and the interactive area is not really themed at all, unlike its DCA cousin which has what I would call elaborate theming for the interactive part where you can find out what characters your like or sing along with a film. Really a disappointment.
  
  
• Had to drive out to the airport to pick up the last member of our group, what an easy drive. Took about an hour round trip, including circling the airport twice due to his bags not being in yet, also factor in the rain fall so I was driving slower and drove even below the speed limit to get there due to the bags, so probably could have done the round trip in under 45 minutes if everything clicked, what a difference than LA airports...

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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