Monday May 1st 2023

The temperature climbed a few degrees higher than Sunday, but otherwise was very similar to the post rain Sunday weather. That means it was windy and not very humid by Florida standards. The temperature peaked in the mid eighties during the afternoon.

My plan for the day was to spend the afternoon into the evening at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. I know that Monday’s are usually a very busy day at the Magic Kingdom. Tourists that arrive on Sunday for the week want to get their park visits started on a high note. That means a visit to the Magic Kingdom. My rational for going against that fact is the time of year. This period of time is between the spring break weeks and the start of the summer season. It is considered a slow time of year for the parks. The world didn’t get the message. The park was packed with people. Possibly this period is getting marketed heavily around the world. I heard lots of foreign languages and English with an accent being spoken today. The bottom line is it was hard to find any wait times under an hour.

The second handicap to today’s visit was of my own making. After parking in the Scar 413 section of the parking lot, I tried to pull out my phone to take a picture of the parking lot marker. It helps to find the car later in the day. Today there was a problem. I left my phone on the charger back at my RV home. The plan was to have it fully charged for the afternoon at the park. In addition to the normal issues with not having your cell phone security blanket with you, a whole additional set of theme park phone dependencies come into play.

Without my cell phone I didn’t have access to the My Disney Experience app. I had my plastic annual pass card and a magic band that allowed me into the park, but I’ve been using the phone lately. The app also gives me access to the tip board that lists wait times and show schedules. I either had to find one of the few wait time boards in the park or show up at the attraction and check the wait time. Perhaps the biggest drawback is that I couldn’t mobile order food at the counter service restaurants. It would be necessary to wait in the long line for one of the limited cashiers. Luckily I wasn’t planning on using the added fee Genie Plus service to get quicker access to the rides in the Lightning Lanes. It is next to impossible to use that service without a smart phone.

I spent the afternoon at some of the less popular attractions that I haven’t seen in a while. They are still fun. I added in watching some of the street performances, the afternoon parade and one of the better rides. I waited about fifty minutes to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. It was the only top tier rides with a wait under an hour that I saw all afternoon. During the fifty minute wait I experienced the biggest downside to forgetting my phone. I had nothing to keep me entertained or distracted during the wait.

Around 6PM I ran out of energy. My original plan included staying for the 9PM fireworks and then some. Dealing with the crowds all afternoon combined with the probability that the fireworks were going to be an even bigger mob scene made the prospect of hanging around another three to four hours unappealing. Once again the lack of my phone came into play. If I could have hid away in a corner and played with my phone for an hour or so to recharge my energy, I might have stayed. The revised plan is to return to the Magic Kingdom around five or six another day while I’m in the area.