Trip Log:

Started off the morning heading to the Studios.  Arrived about 15 minutes before the posted 9am opening and found the park already open.  Headed to Toy Story and grabbed a Fastpass and then went for a ride, about a 15 minute wait.  Next up ducked into One Mans Dream to see what was on display.  Wandered through Pixar Place and out to the Streets of America.  The area was extremely quiet which was great!  Strolled by the Muppets and then by Star Tours.  Made our way back through the central plaza and out to Toy Story to use our Fastpasses.  Next up a quick walk down Sunset Blvd then through some shops on Hollywood Blvd on the way to the Friendship Launch to EPCOT.   Hiked through the International Gateway and to Innoventions East to see the new Vision House.  After the tour walked over by the Imagination Pavilion with the goal of going for a ride, but there was actually a wait..  posted at 15 minutes.. took a peek inside and seemed about right, so skipped it and hung out by the fountains for a while.  Slowly wandered back toward Canada for lunch at Le Cellier.  After lunch walked to the Boardwalk and hopped on a bus to the Animal Kingdom.  First stop was Camp Minnie Mickey to watch the Festival of the Lion King.  Was trapped by the Jamin Jungle Parade finishing up.  Then out to the Safari.  The posted 10 minute wait turned out to be 25 due to the parade ending crowd plus several trucks going offline.  Once back from our Safari slowly made our way to the front of the park and a bus over to the TTC.  Was forced onto a Ferry since the Express Line was offline again.  Once in the Magic Kingdom grabbed some Sorcerers cards and then made our way down Main Street.  Some stopped at Sleepy Hollow for a funnel cake and I stopped at the Launching Pad for a hot dog.  Most of the group headed back to the room at this point and I roamed out to Storybook Circus then through Fantasyland, around the Castle and out to Frontierland to play Sorcerers.  Visited the last two windows to complete my first task then headed for the front of the park.  Decided to try to make it to EPCOT again.  Tonight no problems at all and it took about 25 minutes from Main Street to the topiaries in front of Spaceship Earth.  Spent some time taking some night pictures before finding my way out to World Showcase lagoon to watch Illuminations.  After the show joined the mass exodus and headed for the bus back to Pop Century to call it a night.

Thoughts & Observations:

• Decided to head for the Studios near opening with the game plan to visit Toy Story and see what else was going on. Thanks to Fastpass was able to do two rides in the first hour or so with a combined wait of maybe 20 minutes. My scores were about average for me, I really need to learn how to shoot faster to up my game!
  
  
• It was great to walk through a nearly deserted Streets of America. Seems everyone was in line for the attractions so we had large areas to ourselves.
  
  
• Same was true for One Mans Dream, I walked through the displays and stopped to see the Little Mermaid model and video (the model is the same one that was at DCA) and the cast members out numbered the guests.
  
  
• We wrapped the Studios rather quickly since there really was nothing on our to see list and headed back to EPCOT. We decided to head to Innoventions to check out the new Vision House that opened a few days ago.
  
  
• While in line for the house I spoke with several cast members and all were extremely proud of the house and how Walt Disney World got something before Anaheim. They kept saying they heard when the current Dream House contract is up that Disneyland would be getting a Vision House too. I think the best way to describe the house is as an eco-centric display where as Disneylands current house is a technology centered one. I thought it was interesting to see the items and be able to walk around the house but in the end I left wanting something different. I would have much rather seen a house of the future or something that highlights ground breaking ideas. The products featured here were either available or in the pipeline for the most part.
  
  
• Had some time to kill so thought I would visit Figment but upon entering the building I saw a rare sight.. there was a line.. so i promptly turned around and moved on.
  
  
• As I waited for a monorail to come around in an attempt to get a picture of the leapfrog fountains and the monorail I thought of a very cool app or add on Disney could have for their MobileMagic. An EPCOT line monorail tracking app. It would definitely make life easier to take a picture if you knew when one was coming without having to keep an eye peeled.
  
  
• Ate lunch in Canada at another of my favorites, Le Cellier. The lunch menu has changed a bit but they still have my go to item the steak... the bread was good but I do miss the breadsticks. The service was uneven, at times she was attentive and on top of it and other times she seemed to wander off for long stretches as we waited.
  
  
• After lunch went back to the Animal Kingdom because I wanted to see the Festival of the Lion King and no one had a better idea. It is an incredible show and should be on everyones must see list when they visit the park.
  
  
• Walked out to the Safari. It was posted as a 10 minute wait and we sailed right through the line till the end. Then we watched as four empty trucks drove by, seems it was a shift change and we had to wait. So in the end it turned out to be a 25 minute wait.
  
  
• Afterwards we decided it was time to leave but we were trapped by the parade stepping off. You could not get around it so we watched and then followed it.
  
  
• We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and the Express Monorail was offline again. Not sure but it sure felt that the monorails had more problems this trip than past ones, or our timing was just off.
  
  
• After playing Sorcerers for a while decided to head to EPCOT again since I did not get the night pics I wanted. This time no problem with less than 25 minutes to make it there.
  
  

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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