Monday May 8th 2023

There was very little wind today, but otherwise it was very similar to the last couple of days. The result of the lack of wind was a less comfortable day. The temperature peaked in the upper eighties, but it felt warmer.

My plan for the day was a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I didn’t get a particularly early start and arrived at the theme park about ten o’clock. It was a long walk in from the parking lot without a lot of other people. I was hoping that was an indicator of a slow crowd day. As soon as I arrived in the park I was proven wrong. It looked like a very crowded day as I headed toward the Chinese theater.

One thing I wanted to do on this visit was ride the Star Wars Rise of the Resistance attraction. The wait time has always been very long on previous visits. I checked the Disney My Experience App as I was walking in from the parking lot and it indicated the ride was temporarily closed. When I got to the ride entrance the side indicated the wait time was eighty minutes. I bit the bullet and got in line. About half an hour later the line started to slow down. The app once again indicated the attraction was down. Fifteen to twenty minutes later the line started to move again, but too fast. They were dumping the line having given up getting the ride going anytime soon. I did get a Lightening Lane pass to a second tier ride anytime during the day as a consolation “prize”. Eventually I’ll get a chance to ride the attraction.

The crowds really became a problem at that point. Everywhere I looked the waits were over an hour. My timing was also off for the shows. Everyone was either a long time away or just loading. I finally managed to get a seat in one of the last groups for the Frozen sing along show. The comedy of the historian story tellers is always fun to hear. The songs get old fast. After that I was able to use my Lightening Lane pass for Toy Story Mania. The first time I passed by the Lightening lane was backed up a long way. My score on the arcade shooting game was terrible.

By this time I’d been in the park for about four hours and looped around the park at least twice. The Rise of the Resistance attraction was still not open. I gave up and decided to return to my RV home. While I enjoyed my visit, it is a good thing I have an Annual Pass to Disney World. If I had to pay the full daily entry price, I would have been disgusted. It is not that I didn’t enjoy my visit. I just didn’t get to do much.

Back at the state park I walked around the campground a couple of times. The water level in the two small lakes near the campground is way down from my last visit in February. The turtles and alligators are still thriving. This evening there were two alligators trying to steal the catch of the fishermen on the dock.