Trip Log:

Started off the morning heading over to Celebration (had to stop by the Bank of America and a grocery store and then back to Port Orleans Riverside to drop off the car. We headed off to the Studios around 11am. We walked down Sunset Blvd and ended up at Beauty and the Beast. After the show watched some of the street performers and then headed over to the Echo Lake area. Indy was starting soon so we stopped in there to watch the show. We walked back over to the Animation Courtyard and grabbed a Fastpass for the Little Mermaid and then walked down Mickey Ave to see some of the Toy Story Mania construction before the High School Musical Pep Rally began. Watched the rally then stopped by the Animation store before heading into the Little Mermaid. After the show bee lined it out to Lights Motors Action. We next headed down the New York street and stopped by the Sci Fi Diner. The wait was only 10 minutes so we ate a late lunch/early dinner around 3:30 there. After eating we set our sites on the park exit and wandered around Echo Lake and down Hollywood Blvd to the exit. Hopped a bus to Animal Kingdom. Hiked out to the Safari to see about Fastpasses, which were now gone for the day. The wait time said 60 minutes but the line looked to be moving so we hopped in it. The total wait time was only 20 minutes, so we lucked out. Next up we strolled through Pangani and then over to Asia and the Jungle Trek. Then we continued our circle of the park and walked past Everest and around Dinoland and back toward Camp Minnie Mickey. Stopped by Pizzafari for a snack/dinner and then went to the 8pm Lion King Show. After the show wandered around the Tree of Life and then out to the lower dinning area of Flame Tree for some Everest shots. Then we headed for the exit and to call it a night. Got on the bus just after 9pm and was back in the room around 9:30ish.

Thoughts & Observations:

• Its been several years since I last visited Celebration, but from what I remembered the city has really grown. There are quite a few more buildings and even more projects still in the works as it fully builds out. It seems like an interesting place to live to me.
  
  
  
• We spent the late morning/early afternoon at the Studios and I have to say that we managed to get to just about everything that we wanted to and probably will not spend much more time at the park the rest of the trip. It seems to me that this park has lost its identity now that all production work is gone, the animations are gone, and the sound stages are slowly disappearing/being converted. It still drives me crazy to ride the backstage tram now a days (this trip we did not even go on it) since its a shell of its former self.
  
  
  
• Caught the High School Musical Pep Rally and it is now nearly identical to the Anaheim version, including the stage. This is a much better show and location than the one that was running in Tomorrowland that we saw in December.
  
  
  
• The Lights, Motors, Action show seemed to move a bit faster than before, wonder if it was just me or a change in the show. The split Herbie did not perform, is that cut from the show or just not working the show we went to, Herbie came out and just did a quick loop.
  
  
  
• We took a chance and decided to see how long the wait was for the Sci Fi Diner, they said only 10-15 minutes so we decided to give it a try for a late lunch/early dinner (it was just after 3:00pm). I found the theater to be much quieter than I remember and a bit more relaxed, maybe it was the time of day that led to this. The food was good as usual, but we did have a major problem with the service. We were seated in about 5 minutes but no waitress or waiter stopped by to take our order, finally after about 20 minutes we stopped another car hop and they said they would check into it. A couple minutes later a manager showed up apologizing and someone took our order and the service was great from then out. The manager explained that our server had gone on lunch break and they goofed up the transition/coverage and we fell into a hole.
  
  
  
• We headed off to the Animal Kingdom because I wanted some night shots since the park was open till 10pm (yes your reading that right AK open till 10pm). As soon as we arrived we headed out to the Safari and decided to wait and go for a ride since it closed at 6:45 (and it was now after 6). Most of the animals were ready to go in for the day unfortunately but we did get some great shots of the male Lion.
  
  
  
• For those who have not experienced the park after dark I would highly recommend visiting, the lighting is incredible and its just a nice park to walk around. Only thing I wished is that some of the animal encounters would operate past sun down. I vaguely remember hearing they did during the parks first summer and I would really like to see this mode of operation.
  
  
  

Pedometer Information for the day:

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