Saturday May 18th 2024

It was a hot, humid and almost rainy day. The day started cloudy with a little rain here and there. As the day went by, the clouds thickened and the sound of thunder could be heard. There were never any real downpours, but the sky spit and cried a lot. Every time I tried to do something outside, like a walk around the RV park, the weather chased me back inside. Toward nightfall the sun made an appearance in the western sky. This weather pattern is expected to repeat tomorrow.

Last night’s blog entry was completed in hast after returning from a few hours at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. It was a fun evening. Crowds were about normal from my experience. Wait time at the popular attractions were around an hour. If you caught them right the wait was around a reasonable half an hour. I focused on attractions that I haven’t done in a while. The Carousel of Progress and the Tiki Birds show were among those attractions.

Going to the theme park at the supper hour means eating at the park. While there are full service restaurants that you can make reservations at, it requires upfront planning and isn’t the best option for a solo traveler. Instead I use the counter service restaurants. Most of them support mobile ordering. I put my order in from one side of the park and the foods ready by the time I get to the restaurant. My choice for Friday night was a grilled skewer of shrimp over rice at the Columbia Harbor House. The shrimp were good but the rice was sticky.

I got in place on Main Street for the fireworks half an hour ahead of time. With that lead time I found a space about half way down Main Street. The area in front of me, all the way to the castle, was mostly full by that time. As the start time approached, the crowd got thicker and it really got uncomfortable at times. The families that tried to find ways for their small children to see the show were a royal pain, but understandable. One dad was even trying to hold two kids on his shoulders. That didn’t work very well. He had to resort to rotating between the kids. The result was also rotating unhappy kids.

The park was open for another hour and a half after the fireworks. Getting to the rides from Main Street after the fireworks is a challenge. Most of the people watching the fireworks were heading for the exit. By the time I got to the back of the park the wait times were back up to long waits. I wandered around waiting for the crowds leaving the park to thin out before I started that was as well.