Tuesday October 31st 2023

Happy Halloween! Today was a nice warm and comfortable day. The high temperature was in the mid eighties. It was nothing like the Halloweens of my youth in the Northeast. My memories of Halloween are associated with cold temperatures and wet weather. It was also darker in the evening because the time change back to standard time was in the middle of October rather than the first weekend in November. There isn’t anything going on here for Halloween. A few people have decorated, but haven’t heard about any parties or golf cart parades. This is a fifty five plus park, so there aren’t any kids to go door to door.

This was a chores around the home type of day. After yesterday’s busy early morning, today was a slow and lazy start. I got what I needed to accomplish done in between walking around the resort, watching some TV and chasing obscure information on the internet. There was a little impromptu dark entertainment today. The fire department and an ambulance were called for one of the guys playing horseshoes this morning. Apparently the game was stimulating enough to cause him to have chest pains. I don’t think of horseshoes as physically demanding, but … Thankfully, the afternoon scuttlebutt was that he was going to be OK.

The weather is supposed to turn colder tonight. A cold front is passing through that will result in the temperature barely passing the seventy degree mark. The average high this time of year in central Florida is right around eighty degrees. The thing that makes this time of year very nice is the nightly lows in the sixties.

Monday October 30th 2023

I left my RV home just after eight thirty this morning. My destination was Disney’s Magic Kingdom. On Friday I learned that the US Air Force flight demonstration team the Thunderbirds were making a flyby over the Magic Kingdom this morning. The Thunderbirds were in town for an air show over the weekend. Disney took advantage of that to arrange a flyover to celebrate the contribution of the armed forces, veterans and their families.

Getting to Walt Disney World this morning was a challenge. In good conditions, it takes between twenty to thirty minutes to get there. This morning because of traffic and construction it took a little over an hour to get to the Magic Kingdom parking lot. I usually don’t arrive at the parks with the morning rush. It took another half an hour to get into the Magic Kingdom. The wait for the Monorail was long and the alternative ferryboat transportation seemed to be an issue as well.

The flyover was scheduled for 10:30. I had fifteen to twenty minutes to find a place to watch the event. Lots of other people had already stacked out their spots. The crowd on Main Street looked thicker than the crowds for the nightly fireworks. I found a nice spot up on the railroad station front porch. There were three rows of people in front of me at the railing, but I was taller than the folks immediately in front of me. After a few minutes wait the Thunderbirds made there first pass over Cinderella’s castle and straight down Main Street. A couple of minutes later they did a second pass breaking formation into a “bomb burst” pattern over the castle. It was a very impressive demonstration. I’m glad I made the effort to get there.

Wandering around the park after the flyover I found the park very busy. The wait times for the popular rides were very long. I checked out all of the areas of the park and took a Journey with the Little Mermaid, a ride on the riverboat and watched the Carousel of Progress show. Around two in the afternoon I headed home after a pleasant morning in the park. It only took twenty minutes to get home.

Some Birds at Disney

Sunday October 29th 2023

It was another nice weather day very similar to Saturday. I had a little more energy today thanks to a full nights sleep. In the early afternoon I set out for a state nature preserve area south of here. I’d been there before and knew roughly how to find the place, but wasn’t concerned. The journey was the real adventure. I wasn’t looking forward to the hiking part of the outing.

The last time I went to the preserve I went south of Haines City on state route 17 before turning east at a sign. This time owing to today’s sense of adventure I decided to turn east in Haines City and then go south. It was on of those “I wonder where this road goes?” kind of decision. So let the adventure begin. The road turned abruptly left and right to avoid housing developments and more significantly lakes. When I looked down at the compass indicator on the dashboard, I was going north. Clearly not the direction I wanted to go, but let the adventure continue. Later, still on the same basic road, I was heading south, then east.

The road continue to wind this way and that. Sometime it was narrow and sometimes multi laned. At one point I was approaching a big brick building with very few windows surrounded by tall fences. I thought I’d found a prison, but it turned out to be a high school. I guess all the housing developments, both new and old, had a place to educate their children, but what does that say about the types of buildings we build for schools. After almost an hour turning left and right and never finding a numbered route, I gave up and turned on the GPS. I really was in the middle of nowhere with lots of lakes. The easiest way out was back the way I came. It was a fun adventure, but shame on me for turning on the GPS. That’s an exploration failure.

With all the driving I needed to fill the gas tank. Last Saturday I bought gas at a very reasonable $3.04 a gallon. During the week, gas prices at the same station were twenty five cents a gallon higher. Today the price of gas was more than thirty cents a gallon cheaper at $2.97 a gallon. Are the stations around here running weekend gas sales? I am not complaining, I filled the tank.

Saturday October 28th 2023

The nice Florida fall weather continued today. After a comfortable high sixties overnight temperature, it climbed to the mid eighties today. The humidity was at a comfortable level and a good breeze offset the bright sunshine.

After six plus hours of almost continuous walking yesterday, today began slow. I expected a little physical discomfort emanating from my leg muscles, but no such issue presented itself. My theme park walking legs are back. Even so, I slept late and got a slow start to the day. I lingered with my breakfast coffee until nearly noon.

Overall it was a day for chores and relaxing around my RV home. On my walk around the RV resort today I saw more activity. It looks like more of the snowbirds are returning. Many of the RVs that were closed up were showing signs of life. Cars from northern states and Canadian provinces were present on the sites. There are still a few empty sites, but I suspect that will change over the next few weeks. Another sign of the increased activity is the increased golf cart activity. The social gathering for golf cart gossip is getting bigger. They do a pretty good job of blocking the road as they gather by the swimming pool.

Friday October 27th 2023

Today I went in search of Halloween Decorations at Disney World and boy did I find them. Shortly afternoon I drove to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. I arrived at about 1:30PM. This is a special event day so the park closes at 6PM. Therefore until about 4PM when the people attending the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party separately ticked event start arriving the park isn’t real busy. Note: this is a picture intensive blog post.

I wandered the park looking at the decorations and doing a few things that caught my fancy. That included riding a few rides and watching a couple of shows. Around 4:30 I grabbed some food at Columbia Harbor House before leaving the park. My destination was the Fort Wilderness campground via the boat from the Magic Kingdom.

The campers at Fort Wilderness get into the Halloween spirit in a big way. Just about everybody decorates their site. Every Halloween blowup imaginable makes an appearance. Last year there were a lot of Star Wars blowups, but this year I didn’t see many. Other than a lot of orange pumpkins, I didn’t really see a theme this year. I walked around about half of the camping loops looking at the decorations. As it got dark it became much more dangerous walking around. Even though I intentionally wore light colored clothes, I don’t think I was all that visible to the speeding golf carts, bicycles and electric scooters that people were moving around in. There were also a lot of security and sheriffs deputies on bicycles and in golf carts, so they may have been expecting difficulties. I finished my visit and took the launch back to the Magic Kingdom reaching my car in the parking lot a little after 8PM.

Thursday October 26th 2023

Today’s weather was a step up on Wednesday’s. It still had the strong wind from the east, but the clouds were far less prevalent. The threat of rain was much lower. The temperature climbed into a very comfortable mid eighties.

After yesterday’s very active second half of the day at Disney’s EPCOT, I didn’t get to sleep until early in the morning. Consequently, this day got off to a very slow start. I joined all of the early afternoon traffic on the roads to do some more exploring. My wandering ended at Walmart for groceries. I found everything I was looking for, but didn’t buy one of those items.

I got hit with price shock over the cost of Orange Juice. Perhaps because there was a big 8×10 sign saying $7.49, I paid attention to the price of a gallon of Walmart’s from concentrate Orange Juice. This has been my go to OJ for the last few years and I usually grab it without looking. My impression was that it had gone from the high threes into the high fives over the last couple of years, but a price in the sevens really caught me by surprise. When I got home, I did some research from old recites. It was $6.98 last month and just over six dollars last February. It has been more expensive than I thought for a longer period of time than I thought. (Screams, Expletives, Mashing of Teeth, etc all deleted)

The traffic continued to plague me on the way home from grocery shopping. This time it was caused by school buses. I got stopped behind one bus filled with elementary school kids. In three stops within a couple of hundred feet it unloaded what seemed to be a never ending supply of kids. I really think they must have been sitting three to a bench seat to fit so many kids in a single bus.

Today was lawn mowing day at the resort. A lot of the work is done with trimmers since the grass space between rigs is small. That is followed by guys with backpack blowers to clean up the clippings. Thankfully by the time I got back from grocery shopping they were done.

Wednesday October 25th 2023

I returned to Disney’s EPCOT today to continue Monday’s visit. The weather wasn’t as nice, but everything else went better than Monday. It was a generally cloudy and windy day. A couple of very brief fast moving and light showers occurred during the day. I ducked into the Beauty and the Beast Singalong show in the France pavilion to escape the only rain shower while I was at EPCOT. It was a fun little show that I have never seen before, so the rain did me a favor. I might go again if I get caught in the rain.

My goal was to watch the night time fireworks show EPCOT Forever. It will be replaced in early December by a new show. I wanted to see the current show at least once or twice again before then. The fireworks show starts at 9PM, so I planned to arrive late in the afternoon and stay until after the show. I got there a little early at 3:30PM to still be fresh and energized for the 9PM show. Another hour before getting started would have been better.

The crowds were much smaller today. My parking space was closer to the park than Monday even though I arrived four plus hours later. The second and third tier rides were practically a walk on. The big draws like Test Track, Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure all had typical long waits greater than an hour. I road Spaceship Earth and Soarin over California soon after I arrived with very little wait. The new Journey of Water Inspired by Moana walk through attraction wasn’t as busy. I was able to play with the water without having to compete with the kids. All of that only took about an hour and a half. I still had four hours before the fireworks started.

To pass some time I attended the first Eat to the Beat concert performance of the night. The half hour set performed by a local band called Sound Up was interesting, but not enough that I wanted to attend the second or third sets. I only recognized a couple of the cover songs performed. Some expensive theme park food killed another half hour. Now I was down to two and a half hours of time to kill.

A lot of wandering around the park looking at various things and various odd people followed. I watched several of the Beacon light shows on Spaceship Earth. These shows are a very positive addition to the park at night. They were introduced for the fiftieth anniversary and have continued at EPCOT ever since. Finally, I spent some time with the fish in the aquarium inside the Living Seas building.

The fireworks show was worth the wait. It is a short show at ten minutes, but it has a lot of big shells and good music. Unfortunately, I was using my cell phone for a camera today. My standalone cameras take better pictures of fireworks. Maybe I can figure out some settings changes to make the cell phone take better fireworks pictures.

Tuesday October 24th 2023

It was another nice day in central Florida. The temperature climbed from the overnight low in the high sixties to the mid eighties. The humidity was low for Florida perhaps do to the strong wind out of the northeast and east. It was definitely a hold onto your hat kind of day.

I must have walked more yesterday than I thought. This morning every change of direction caused my leg muscles to protest. My normal daily routine includes a lot of walking, but it isn’t really the same as theme park walking. Yesterday I was walking on hard surfaces, maneuvering around people and having to change pace constantly to deal with the crowds. Just getting into a tolerant mental state is hard enough. So many of the people wandering around the parks are oblivious to the other people in their surroundings. The groups walking five abreast and two or three deep to completely block the path are always “fun” to get around.

While I was out and about today, the price of gas surprised me again. On Saturday I was surprised to fill my car tank at $3.02 a gallon. That was the lowest I’ve seen gas in about a year. Today, when I drove by the same station, it was $3.27 a gallon. First, why was the price so low on Saturday? Second, what caused it go up twenty five cents in a couple of days? A price rise because of the hostilities in the middle east makes sense, but that much, that quick. At least I got a full tank at the cheap price.

After writing the previous paragraph, I paused to consult the great oracle “google” about gas prices in the area. It listed quite a few stations in the area that are below three dollars a gallon for regular gas. So the change in price probably isn’t related to the middle east hostilities. The question remains “Why did so many stations in the area raise their prices since the weekend?” The google sources explanation for the lower prices is sketchy to me. They seem to think it is an increased supply based on a change to the winter formula for gas. I don’t think the change in formula results in an increased supply. I guess I’ll just be thankful when the price is low.

On my walk around the RV Resort this evening I visited lots of ducks. As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry there are three pairs of Sand Hill Cranes in the park. Each pair has an area they like to hang out. A group of ducks seem to hang out with each pair of cranes. They seem to be a mutual protection society. Tonight, I also wandered into an independent group of twenty of more ducks. I think someone had scattered a bunch of feed on the ground near one of the ponds.

Monday October 23rd 2023

One of the reasons I came back to the central Florida area this fall is to enjoy the theme parks. I have an annual pass to both Disney World and Sea World. This morning I got started with a visit to EPCOT at Disney World. My timing could have been better.

Today was the last day they were giving away Oswald Magnets at EPCOT to annual pass holders. That is the essence of why I decided to go to EPCOT this morning. It wasn’t a very good reason. The place was very busy. Wait times at attractions were very long. Rides that usually had 5 to 10 minute waits had 35 to 40 minute waits. The ones that often had 70 to 80 minute waits had up to 120 minute waits. I didn’t ride many attractions.

The International Food and Wine Festival is still going on at EPCOT. It started in July and goes until early November. Of the four EPCOT festivals it is my least favorite. The main focus is on food booths scattered around the park that provide tasting size entries and deserts along with wine and beer pairings. I didn’t take advantage of any of the booths today. The lines for food were proportionally as long as the attraction lines. The Festival of the Holidays starts around Thanksgiving followed by the Festival of the Arts in January. The Flower and Garden Festival in the spring is probably my favorite.

The construction in the middle of EPCOT, just behind Space Ship Earth is still going on. The majority of the construction is supposed to be over by the end of this year. Some of the construction walls have moved since my last visit in May and one new attraction has opened. The official opening of Journey of Water Inspired by Moana was last Monday. It has been in previews and soft openings since the end of August. I didn’t have any real wait for the walk through attraction, but it was very crowded.

The Journey of Water Inspired by Moana is a teaching attraction. It shows the roles of water in nature in creative ways. It is very interactive. You can make music by passing your hands through streams of water or you can make water spouts jump by waving your hands just to describe two of the interactions. Today, with all the people, it was difficult to try all the exhibits. I look forward to trying some of them with less people around.

I was at the park for about four and a half hours. I did a few fun things and walked all around the World Showcase. The crowd really discouraged me from waiting at many of the attractions. For the 100 hundred years of Disney celebration, the Soarin Over California film has returned to replace Soarin Around the World temporarily. The wait was fifty minutes and seventy minutes each of the two times I considered getting in line. It has been several years since I saw the California version of the movie. I’ll be back to catch it and other things another day. Right now, I’m thinking I’ll return Wednesday late in the day to catch a few attractions and the night time fireworks.

Sunday October 22nd 2023

The weather was very nice today. It started cloudy and cool. The temperature climbed from the low sixties to a high in the mid to upper eighties before the sun started to set. Tonight’s overnight lows are not expected to be as low, but tomorrow is forecast to be another nice weather day.

I spent a relaxing day at home today. My activities included TV watching, reading and cooking a more complicated meal than usual. There is nothing difficult about roasting a piece of pork, but with side dishes it takes a little planning and more time than I usually dedicate to meal preparation. I get at least two full meals and several sandwiches out my efforts.

For exercise I took a more extensive walk around the RV resort. I think there are fewer available sites this year than there were last year. That’s not to say there are more people here. Many if not most of the RVs are not occupied. The people haven’t returned. This is made clear by the closed shutters, plastic wrapped golf carts and the absence of cars at the sites. I suspect as my stay goes by many people will return.

The one thing that there are a lot of is quasi domesticated wild birds. There are at least three pairs of Sand Hill Cranes. Lots of ducks of various species are near every body of water. I also saw a peacock in the car port for one park model. I suspect there are a few peahens around based on last years visit. I call all of these wild birds quasi domesticated, because they are very comfortable with people. If you don’t walk directly toward them they don’t react. I could pass them at a distance under ten feet today.

There are three or more small bodies of water in this park. I don’t know if there are any alligators in residence, but there sure are lots of turtles. I saw one downed tree packed with turtles taking the afternoon sun. They were stacked two high in some places along the branches.