Back in January, my mom and I were driving from Knoxville back to Florida at the end of my “Christmas” visit home. (Working in hospitality means that Christmas now happens in January as far as my family is concerned.) We pulled in at a McDonalds in Georgia, and I pulled up Pokémon Go and was shocked by how many Pikachus there were! Turns out there was a thing called Pokémon Community Day and I had no idea. Thankfully I snagged one of the special Pikachus while we were stopped because there usually aren’t Pokémon on the interstate.
Currently, Pokémon Go Community Day is something that happens once a month, usually on a Saturday or Sunday. After getting stuck working a fifteen-hour shift during the Charmander Day, I started requesting the afternoon off for future events. (Don’t worry, I managed to get a shiny Charmander on my lunch break!) So, for the Squirtle Community Day this past weekend, I met up with my friend Cara and her boyfriend Chris at Disney Springs because it’s my favorite place for Pokémon.
I actually never played Pokémon as a child or watched the anime, but I got super into Pokémon Go when it came out two years ago. Fun fact: it released on the ten-year anniversary of the knee surgery that destroyed my soccer career, but now I run marathons and I catch Pokémon while running marathons. So, I had only known about the “Squirtle Squad” from friends who had grown up on pocket monsters. I just saw that there was a chance to get Squirtles that were wearing sunglasses and count me in!
I parked in the Orange Garage and raced to meet Cara over by the Cirque du Soleil theater. Practically every Pokéstop was lured up. I’d already caught three Squirtles by the time I got to Cara. We hit the three Pokéstops by the theater and started to make our way across Disney Springs. You could see Pokémon players everywhere. Some people were wearing shirts, and almost everyone had a cord going into their pocket to charge their phone, but honestly, Pokémon players are pretty easy to spot. We all have our heads in our phones and make a pretty distinctive motion anytime we’re trying to catch anything.
We kept having to duck into shops as we went, partially for air conditioning and partially because we were the ones who needed sunglasses. The Florida sun was beating down on us and made it hard to see our screens. Plus, we needed to clear out our Field Research to get the Squirtle Squad Squirtle so we could another research task at the next Pokéstop. The only way to catch the special Squirtle with the sunglasses was by catching five normal Squirtles and then redeeming a Field Research stamp. Some of the special Squirtles were shiny and some were regular, but I never saw one above a 400 CP.
We had made it as far the Co-op when Cara’s boyfriend announced two Legendary Raids would be starting soon, and we decided to finish the loop and go back around the time it would start. I asked how he knew it was Legendary Raid. Apparently, there’s a color code I had no idea about! A pink egg is going to be a common, easy Raid, a yellow egg is going to be a rare, harder Raid, and a silvery egg is going to be a Legendary. You learn something new every day!
I also just learned about EX Raids while I was writing this, but that’s a story for another day.
We walked all the day down to the Christmas Shop and Art of Disney Store to spin those last few Pokéstops, and on our way back I swung into the Co-op again to switch out my fuel rod. My phone was only on 50% but with two Raids coming, I didn’t trust it to hold out. Fuel rods are a Trainer’s best friend at Disney.
We made it back to the Lego Store where the Raids were waiting to pop, and we had to wait inside due to the glaring sun. I feel really bad for the people who work at the Lego Store because I feel like this is a common occurrence. THERE WERE POKEMON TRAINERS EVERYWHERE! The Pokéstops in range were no longer giving me Field Research tasks because I’d spun them too many times, and with three minutes left until the Raid started I dashed over to T-Rex to get another one. I wanted as many Squirtle Squads as I could get!
Cara and Chris had the Raid pulled up as the last few seconds counted down, so I did that too. I don’t actually Raid that often in large groups, it’s usually just Jay and me, and maybe one other random player. Not at Disney Springs on Community Day! The first Raid popped and I was instantly in a group of twenty players, and Cara said there were probably three or four separate Raid groups. She and Chris play at Disney Springs a lot. I would more if I lived closer! We crushed the Regice in no time at all, and I managed to catch it on my seventh try. I’d never caught one before!
The next Raid was going to pop less than a minute later so we stayed put. This time I actually wound up in a different Raid group than Cara and Chris, and for the heck of it I loaded up all my Legendaries. I actually don’t use them in Raids and Gyms that often, just because my other Pokémon are more powered up. So I went into the second raid with Mew, Zapados, Latios, Moltres, Articuno, and my Tauros just so he could get some love. I didn’t see a point in trying to put one Regice against another Regice. We crushed this one in no time too, but I ran out of Pokéballs before I caught him. I already had one, so I wasn’t too upset.
We headed to Blaze for food, and the event ended shortly after. I waited until I got home to do my evolving and transferring. I caught a total of NINETY Squirtles during the event. Eighteen of which had sunglasses, and four shiny ones with sunglasses. I was going to trade one to Jay since he couldn’t go, but it was going to cost 16,000 Stardust and he didn’t want one that badly. I evolved one shiny sunglasses wearing Squirtle all the way to Blastoise, and then the highest powered Squirtle I had caught as well. Then I just kept evolving Wartorles until I ran out of candy.
They haven’t announced the next Community Day yet, but I’m looking forward to it. So far, we have had Pikachu, Dratini, Bulbasaur, Mareep, Charmander, Larvitar, and now Squirtle. I want a Vulpix Day! For the time being, we have the rest of the month of July to catch special Pikachus wearing hats and to get the Pikachu apparel in the style section.
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