Saturday November 5th 2022

The great weather continued today. The temperature peaked in the upper eighties with a Florida reasonable level of humidity. The only improvement Mother Nature could have made was a little more breeze. It was pretty still all day.

Since I got in late last night my blog entry was rather hurried. It turned into a lot of pictures of Space Ship earth during the LED Beacons of Magic displays and the fireworks during the Harmonious show in the lagoon. I didn’t take time in the blog entry to explain that I really enjoyed my visit despite not riding a lot of attractions. I was able to walk around the World Showcase about two and a half times visiting the pavilions. There was fun entertainment at Canada, the UK, Japan, while I was roaming around. The big entertainment at the American Gardens Theater was an organized mob scene. People were seated filling the theater for the first Boyz II Men show an hour before showtime. At show time the walkway outside the theater was fifteen feet deep with standing people. It was an organized mob only because Disney cast members had placed tape lines on the pavement defining the standing zone. They were actively enforcing the taped lines. The boy band was not my era or my genre, but I was curious about the attraction. I walked by during two of the shows and was happy not to be in the crowd.

Various Disney news blogs have confirmed my impression that yesterday was a particularly popular day for people visiting Disney. Reservations at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were “sold out”. EPCOT probably picked up a lot of the overflow. It is also theorized that EPCOT has a bigger reservations quota since it has a much bigger area to fill.

Leaving EPCOT last night I waited more than half an hour after the fireworks ended before making my way to the parking lot. The park attractions actually close at the start of the Harmonious fireworks show. It was almost 10PM by the time I started to make my way out and the crowd was smaller. Once in my car I joined a line of cars that moved steadily at a slow pace. Unfortunately, I was parked in an unfamiliar area and made a wrong turn leaving the park. Fortunately, I knew were the roads I ended up on went. I came home via a longer, circuitous route through Kissimmee FL.

My night time driving skills are returning. Before last weeks trip to EPCOT, I hadn’t driven at night since April. My speed and distance estimations based on headlights needed to be refreshed. The insides of my windshield and side windows needed a good cleaning as well. Two or three nights of driving in traffic have restored my skills. It is a good thing since Standard Time returns tonight.