Trip Log:

Started off the morning with an early thud... it sounded like the Tumble Monkeys from the Lion King show were staying above us and this started a little after 6am. Finally got out of bed around 7:30am and then headed over to Shades of Green to meet some family for breakfast. Hung out at Shades of Green until around 12:30 and then drove back to the Riverside to leave the car and hop the bus to EPCOT. Decided to ride Spaceship Earth since there was no line and then wandered through the park and out the International Gateway. Walked over to the Boardwalk and ate lunch at the ESPN Club. After lunch walked over to the Boardwalk bus stop and road to the Magic Kingdom. Wandered down Main Street and into Adventureland. Grabbed a Fastpass for the Jungle Cruise and then continued on through the crowd and to the Frontierland train station. Took the train over to Toontown and walked to Tomorrowland. Took a spin on the Peoplemover and then checked out the Laugh Floor which was closed for CM Previews. Walked down Main Street and caught the Flag Retreat and then took the Express Monorail to the TTC and transferred to the EPCOT line and then to a bus to get to the Animal Kingdom. Walked out to Africa and went on the Safari since there was no wait at all. Then wandered through the park and back to the busses. Headed for the Riverside to rejoin my group and grab dinner. We decided to try and make it to Fantasmic so we took the bus over to the Studios and hiked out to Sunset Blvd. We made it into a seat on the far side of the theater with about 2 minutes to spare (literally it was 8:28). Watched the show then headed back to the bus and the Riverside to call it a night.

Thoughts & Observations:

• We spent the morning visiting with relatives who spent the night at the Shades of Green. This was my first time spending any substantial time at the Resort and we ate breakfast there too. I thought the grounds were great to walk around and for being full the resort seemed calm and quiet (I am guessing most people headed for the parks early).

• The Magic Kingdom was expecting heavy crowds today with a scheduled closing of 11pm and then tacked onto that the Magic Hours which meant the park was open until 2am. Wonder how the crowds were say after midnight? That's way past my bed time so I have no idea...

• Ate lunch at the ESPN Club @ the Boardwalk and caught the first half of the Florida/Oregon game there. I was surprised that the crowd was so sparse, we got a seat with only a couple minutes wait. I was expecting it to be more crowded. The meal was good, but the service slow, especially getting the check to us to leave.

• Caught the Flag Retreat on Main Street and they have changed up the ceremony from what we saw in December, still not as good as Disneyland's in my view, but a good improvement over what we saw last trip. One nice touch was the Veteran of the day who gets to carry the flag. Today there were two, a father and a son.

• I wanted to grab a bite to eat at Pizzafari but learned that it closed by 6:00pm, wonder why. Seems to me it should be open till closer to closing due to the high traffic location of near Camp Minnie Mickey and Africa. The only AK dinning location open till park closing was Restaurantosaurus. Tusker House closed 2 hours before the park and Flame Tree also closed at 6:00pm.
  
  
• After dinner we decided to head over to the Studios to catch Fantasmic. We were a bit worried that we would not get in due to some delays with the busses we did not arrive at the Studios until about 10 minutes till show time. Luckily the park was not that crowded and we got in and even got a seat, although it was on the far side of the arena.
  

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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