Thursday January 16th 2025

The stretch of Florida cold weather continued this week. It has been cloudy with high temperatures in the low sixties, but I’ve pushed through the cool temperatures.

I finally made it back to Disney World after the holidays. On Tuesday afternoon I went to the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. I was bundled up in several layers to ward off the cold, but there were a few crazy people in tee shirts and shorts. Were they Floridians in denial or northerners that didn’t bring the right clothes?

The Magic Kingdom was in transition. The Christmas decorations were still up, but the background music was no longer Christmas songs. I think they are late taking the decorations down. Disney usually takes them down quickly after the New Year starts. The maintenance staff may have been too busy setting up temporary walls for all of the maintenance tasks that started right after the holidays. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Astro Orbiter are both closed for extensive maintenance. Each has a crane in place for the work. The huge crane at Big Thunder Mountain was already busy lifting big sections of track away from the attraction. It is scheduled to be under repair for over a year.

Wednesday I drove to Tampa for the Florida RV Super Show. I didn’t do as well dealing with the weather. My assumption that the temperature would climb after my 10AM arrival was wrong. I missed the sweatshirt left in my car for the duration of my visit. My Fitbit says I walked over six miles as I wandered in and out of RV exhibits. I think this 40th anniversary show may have been a little bigger than previous years, but they already claim to be the biggest show.

It is interesting to see the changes in RV trends and individual RV changes. I didn’t see anything radically different. In the last couple of years there seems to be a focus on smaller units. There are still plenty of big fifth wheel trailers and Class A motorhomes, but the number of Class B motorhomes and small towables seems to be up.

The one thing that hasn’t changed at the RV show is the number of dogs in attendance. Why so many pet parents brought their four legged kids along is a mystery to me. Most of the dogs don’t look happy. There just isn’t enough room for them to stay out of the way of errant feet or the strollers carrying their fellow four legged friends. To me, just because can bring your dog, doesn’t mean you should.