Friday, July 4, 2014

SciFi Fourth of July in Celebration Florida

After sleeping in (badly needed) we headed to Epcot with one goal: spend the afternoon doing pavilions.

When I started going to Disney in the 90's the pavilions were horrible so I developed an aversion to them. Pavilions today are much better. They are filled with computerized interactive learning games (that are light on the learning and heavy on the game). One pavilion has a ride simulator on the end of a robotic arm that flips and turns the rider upside down and all around. We had a blast!


We did the Cool blast and tried various sodas from around the world. This was an experience I had read and seen youtube videos and really wanted to try. All the drinks were very sugary and strongly flavored. We decided to just stick with our Anerican favorites.

To cut costs we are eating at home and off property as much as possible. We passed by the Electric Umbrella and the smell of French Fries came waffling out of the restaurant and we decided we were all very hungry.

We left Epcot and ate dinner at the Wild Side BBQ on Rt. 192. We were smart this year: Linda and I split a meal and we still had to bring food home because we were stuffed. Everything was incredible except the garlic mashed potatoes had too much garlic. We were really excited because our youngest (who is a very picky eater) ate beef brisket!

Next stop was to Celebration for the SciFi Fireworks. We want to understand life as a local and one way to do that is to attend local fireworks shows.


Floridians are unique individuals in many ways. For example, it is highly discouraged to use turn signals in Florida. I suspect in Driver's Education classes students lose points if they signal for a lane change. Instead it is expected that the only person who needs to know where you are going is you, and everyone else is optional.

Another way Floridians are unique is that they have been conditioned for long lines. When you hear that there is a five hour long line to see the Frozen Princesses, or two hour wait for Toy Story Mania, you think nothing of a 90 minute wait for a bus. And that is exactly how long we waited to board the bus that took us to Celebration, and how long we waited for one of the only three busses to pick us up and take us to our car. Most of our Fourth of July experience was spent standing in lines.


A third way Floridians are unique is that they enjoy cramming themselves onto Main Street to watch fireworks. Celebration was so packed that people had to stand on top of other people 's feet. All of Market street and Front street were packed with people and nearly impassable. The Magic Kingdom gets packed but caste members keep the sidewalks open for emergencies. If there had been an emergency at the Sci Fi Fourth of July, emergency crews would not have been able to respond.

The fireworks were excellent, except for a tree we were standing under blocked the view. Otherwise they were excellent.


When we saw the return bus line was so long, I suggested we simply walk the 1.5 miles back to the car. I walk or jog 3-5 miles every morning, 1.5 miles would be nothing. But Linda was concerned about going through unknown neighborhoods in the dark. This is Celebration, the town Disney built! Their HOA doesn't permit rift raff. We had nothing to worry about! But Linda wanted to trade a 30 minute walk for a 90 wait.

Would I do Celebration's Sci Fi Fourth of July again? Not if I had to wait that long for a bus again. I would want assurances they employed more busses, or, I would want to be able to walk back to the car.

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