On first look, stepping into Celebrations feels like stepping into the 1950’s. In reality, it’s a “master planned community” established in 1994 by Disney.
Sorta Pleasantville-esque, everything is manicured and clean. It’s a bike-friendly area with lots of walking/biking paths too. A kid on a bike is even on their city logo.
Celebration is also in the middle of swamp land, so there are fenced off bodies of water and lots of greenery, and bugs.
Disney put a lot of effort into building and maintaining the area. The houses are all very similar looking, most (if not all) are plantation style. Forbes named it one of the top 10 prettiest neighborhoods in America. Indeed, it looks like a movie set, but pretty is only skin deep. Interestingly I saw many of these Neighborhood Electric Vehicle signs in the area along with a few of the actual vehicles in use, including one that could seat 4.
Fisherman were wrapping up for the day as we arrived around dusk. True to Disney form, I did not see any gator warnings, but did see a sign that warned people it is illegal to feed alligators in accordance with Florida law. We definitely did not wade into the water here, though we did take a relaxing seat overlooking it on some rocking chairs.
To get there, we strolled for about 40-ish minutes in high humidity, ensuring I was halfway melted by the time we go there. Thankfully, an ice cream shop picked me back up. There’s a play area with fountains that change heights for the kiddies, and plenty of pokestops for the kiddies-at-heart (ahem, ourselves included).
I’m glad we checked it out, but wouldn’t want go out of our way to spend time here. I’m a big city girl at heart. I like the mish-mash of different foods, vibes, cultures and, well PEOPLE! With a single Main St.—that’s what it’s called (and it’s like the one in Disneyland)—and extreme cookie cutter “perfection” in what sets out to be a real community, it’s eerie.
P.S. It’s not just me. For more reading, check out this Gizmodo article: Celebration, Florida: The Utopian Town That America Couldn’t Trust.
These planned communities SOUND like a great concept but I agree about the lack of natural diversity and the dynamizm (?) that comes with.