Celebration – The Town That Disney Built
This is the first of a set of blog posts on my 10 days trip to Florida in May 2018. Click here for the rest of them!
Moving to Vancouver means moving away from those closest to me which sucks!. May 2018 will be a month I will forever look back on for the wedding of one of my closest childhood friends (I will eventually put a link to that blog post here) and a chance to visit Florida with Sam aswell as my Mum & Dad who were also meeting my Mums two best friends (including my godparent) and their husbands. I have not been to Florida since I was 5 and although my love for Disney still burns bright the trip addresses my other interests with Disney taking a backwards step.
Having been best man at a wedding on the 4th May (May the 4th be with You) in England, my parents and I flew out of Manchester early on the 5th to the Sunshine state of Orlando. Due to prior commitments (mainly a Shania Twain concert), Sam planned to join us on the Monday. Saturday as we landed and Sunday were forecast overcast with occasional sunshine and showers and for once they were correct and we landed to a dull yet humid Florida.
On Sunday after an expected annual pilgrimage to a all you can eat breakfast joint (a memory of Florida 1995) which, to be honest was nothing to write home about we decided to go to the town of Celebration. Celebration is a master planned town designed in the early 90s by the Disney company (yes I know I said there was no Disney but they are everywhere). The town was designed as a model village for Disney employees which employees beautiful ‘American’ tree-lined avenues and homes. The town is also famous for providing the name and inspiration for the Desperate Housewives street, Wisteria Lane… so basically it is pretty. Here are some of the photos from the town and my solo walk around the downtown lake.
I especially loved the cool boardwalks through the ‘jungle’.
Trish has booked dinner at 5 but with nothing to do we decided to hit the town a few hours earlier and explore. The town is indeed very pretty but residents are very restricted on what they can do so this is a trade off. I did enjoy $5 happy hour Margaritas (I had 3 and my god were they strong) at the Mexican restaurant Avacado (Ava’s are taking over the world) where I made some friends watching El Classico with the football loving, Spanish staff.
Dinner was at the Town Tavern, a Boston themed bar serving Seafood / Burgers / Steaks and grills etc. I did make the wrong choice in the meatloaf but it is the liveliest part of town. The atmosphere was especially rowdy as the Boston Bruins got knocked out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (Ice Hockey for any non- North Americans) by local team Tampa Bay lightings in what is equivalent to quarter finals. Much to the displeasure of our waiter (Joe) who was a good laugh. As a adopted Vancouverite we have no love for the Bruins who beat the Canucks in the final back in 2012.
Overall Celebration is an OK place to visit. Not one I would pick personally but thats just me! I am just excited about what is in store for us over the next 10 days in FLORIDA baby.
