Today was the sixth or seventh consecutive day with an extreme heat threat, but it seemed to be a little cooler overall. I took the opportunity to visit Disney’s EPCOT for some exercise and my evening meal. Mother Nature did express her preference for my meal selection by sending a thunderstorm along to change my dining plans. Rather than Fish and Chips outdoors I had a burger and fries indoors while the rain passed through quickly.
I was in the mood for more rides and attractions today than usual. I road the Nemo ride at the Living Seas before watching the fish in the aquarium. Next door to the Living Seas at the Land Pavilion, I road Soarin Around the World and Living with the land. All of these rides happened without much of a wait before the rain moved in and I took shelter to eat. After supper and the rain passed I just walked around the park at a slower pace.
The pictures in this blog entry are all from my visit to EPCOT.
This weekend was more about the things I didn’t do vs the things I did. I let the summer heat control my activities. Each day had a heat advisory issued by the Weather service. The temperature at my base camp peaked at 96 degrees Fahrenheit today. The feels like temperature was around 108 degrees.
Blossoms getting overtaken by growing greenery.
Everyone, including me thinks of Florida as very hot, but these are unusually warm temperatures. The city of Tampa reached 100 degrees for the first time ever today. The usual temperature peaks in the mid nineties with plenty of humidity and a good breeze. The last few days haven’t had much wind, the humidity has been a little lower and the usual daily thunderstorms have been missing. All of this means it feels hotter and just different.
I considered going to Disney’s EPCOT on Friday evening, but having spent most of Friday inside doing chores in air conditioned comfort, it was very uncomfortable when I stepped outside. Hot enough to change my mind. Saturday’s tentative plans were a drive to the Atlantic coast, but the thought of wandering along the coast in the hot sun wasn’t very appealing. Today was going to be bougainvillea bush trimming day. It has been two weeks since its last trim. Standing in the direct sun beside a metal shed to do the trimming was also not going to happen. The sensor for my indoor outdoor thermometer is on the opposite shaded side of the shed. It was reading 104 degrees. The radiated heat from the metal shed causes the reading to be inflated from the actual air temperature. I am looking for a better location for the sensor.
The bad news is the weather pattern continues into the middle of the week. I need to push through and actual do something in the heat. I’m running out of simple inside chores and tasks to do.
Wednesday was the day I planned to see Disney’s new Starlight Dream the Night Away Parade. As I documented in my last blog entry I was lucky to see the first public preview on Friday night, but I still planned to see it again using my Wednesday reservation. Mother nature sure made it complicated. Rain started around 2PM with heavy thunderstorms followed by continuous light rain into the evening.
Unlike some days, I wasn’t in the mood to allow the weather to get it my way. I let the last big thunderstorm on the radar pass over my base camp then followed it toward Disney World. The storm was moving slower than I was driving and it didn’t take long for me to be in the middle of it. I arrived at the Magic Kingdom parking lot while the storm continued to dump lots of rain. The Disney parking attendants were all safely out of the parking lots taking shelter. Self parking in a Disney lot can be difficult. If you pick one of the one way aisles without any empty spaces you’ve got to double back a long way. I had to do that once before I found an empty space. Then I waited ten minutes or so for the rain to let up a bit. I got to the Magic Kingdom in a light rain. It continued until about 8PM.
I enjoyed dinner at Columbia Harbor House and a couple covered attractions. I road the People Mover which only gets you wet in heavy driving rain. It stopped a couple of times for a minute or two. That trend continued at my next attraction, the Carousel of Progress. The moving theater stopped twice during the show. I had to watch the same scene twice before the show continued.
The first parade started at 9 followed by fireworks at 10 and the second running of the parade at 11PM. I was in Frontier Land for the first parade. The nighttime parades run from Main Street to Frontier Land. This is just the opposite of the daytime parades. I stood well back from the parade route on the bridge in front of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for a good overview of the parade. Once again I enjoyed it.
After the parade it was decision time. Should I stay for fireworks and the second parade or try and beat the crowds. The rush for the monorail and ferry after fireworks is always a mob scene. I chose to escape before the fireworks although I did see some from the monorail platform. Getting to the parking lot and back home went smoothly. I arrived home by 11:30 which was pretty good time.
The last three days have been hot. The weather service issued an extreme heat warning from noon to six each day. The actual temperature peaked in the upper 90s, but the feels like was ten degrees warmer. I stayed in the AC a lot during the day.
Before I was aware of the heat, I ventured out to Disney’ Magic Kingdom late Friday into the evening. The heat wasn’t bad once you got acclimated and stayed out of standing in the direct sun. I also didn’t let a water fountain pass by without stopping. For my effort I was rewarded by a new Disney parade. I got to watch the very first showing of the Starlight Dream the Night Away before a real audience. The new nighttime parade premieres on Sunday night, but was soft opened with very little advanced notice on Friday night.
I didn’t know about the parade when I set out for the park. It was only when I was walking along Main street that I got a clue. People were sitting on the curb and cast members were putting down crowd control tape on the side walks. A little thinking followed by confirmation from a cast member confirmed that I lucked out for a chance to see the first soft opening or perhaps better stated as a dress rehearsal of the parade. A few minutes of rain delay did build up the suspense a little, but shortly after 9PM the parade began.
By 7PM all of the good places to watch the parade were gone. Two rows of people lined all of the parade root. I found a place along Main Street in the third row of people around 8PM, but it was still a very long wait standing in one position. My view of the parade was good for observation and enjoyment, but not very good for pictures. There were tall people in front of me that raised their cameras a lot.
All of the floats were very tall and covered in lights that change color and sparkle continuously. It does have a bigger focus on newer intellectual property like Encanto, Coco and Wish along with the princesses. A Peter Pan float and a train shaped float with Mickey. Mini, Donald, Daisy and their friends bring up the rear. It is a real spectacular.
I had planned to see the parade for the first time this coming Wednesday. Since I have the park reservation, I will still go. Hopefully, I can find a better viewing location.
The highlight activity over the last few days was a daytime visit to Disney’s EPCOT. My usual visits are in the late afternoon into the evening, but this time I was on a mission to ride the updated Test Track attraction. It officially opens next week. This week they were offering previews to annual pass holders.
It wasn’t simple to take advantage of this “opportunity”. First I had to make a reservation to visit the park. This is a normal requirement to visit a park with an annual pass before 2PM. Next, I had to reserve a time in a virtual queue for the attraction. This is a timed entry that can be reserved online at 7AM or 1PM. I was up before 7AM only to strike out in my speed of button pushing as the clock struck 7. Being optimistic I arrived at the park around noon thinking I’d have more success at the 1PM online button pushing. I didn’t.
My visit was still enjoyable. I walked around the park taking pictures of the flower blossoms and the birds visiting the park. I didn’t ride any rides, but ate an expensive soft serve ice cream cone and watched the Voices of Liberty sing a few folk and Disney songs in the American Adventure rotunda. Both were very good.
My visit ended shortly before 4PM as I observed a very dark cloud moving in from the southwest. A few rain drops were falling by the time I reached my car in the parking lot. I experienced a few minutes of tropical downpour on my way home. It was all over long before I reached home.
Today I had one outside chore to do. I probably wouldn’t been able to do many more. It was very humid without any real breeze. One brief period of rain didn’t have any impact on the overall condition. Shortly after the storm passed I set out to trim my Bougainvillea bush.
Growing condition must be perfect for the bush. I really can’t keep up with its growth. The last time I trimmed it was two weeks ago, but it should have been cut last weekend. The problem is that it takes about a week for the beautiful purple blossoms to return after a trimming. If I cut it as soon as it needed, I would never get to enjoy the blossoms.
Before a little trimming.Not quite a buzz cut.
Trimming the plant doesn’t take long. The trick, that I really haven’t mastered, is to know when to stop. There is always one or two areas that look like they need a little bit more attention. The worst part of the effort is cleaning up the clippings. The branches have thorns. I have to wear heavy work gloves in the summer heat. When I was done, I had a Home Depot 5 gallon bucket full of clippings.
It took two tries, but I finally got my fish and chips at Disney’s EPCOT. The Yorkshire County Fish Shop at the United Kingdom pavilion serves a pretty good simple fish and chips meal. It took two visits to EPCOT before I made it to the back of the park for my dinner.
Late afternoon on Wednesday I drove to EPCOT for exercise and fish and chips. Based on the morning weather forecast I thought it would be a fine evening. My first indication of a deviation from that plan came in the EPCOT parking lot. All of the parking cast members were missing. When there is lightening in the air you have to find your own parking space. Looking to the west the reason was obvious. Threatening black clouds with flashes of lightening filled the sky.
I got into the park before the rain started. Believing that it was only going to be a quick storm I rode the Space Ship Earth ride. When I emerged about twenty minutes later the storm was dropping rain in sheets. I hurried into the Connections quick service restaurant and then the Creations Shop gift shop for another waiting out the storm sequence. After about an hour I took a few moments to check the forecast and the radar on my phone. It didn’t look anything like the morning forecast. Moderate to heavy rain was forecast through about 11PM. My decision was to use a small window of lighter rain to head back to my car and home. By the time I got to my car I was soaked. Most of it came from sitting in a puddle on the parking lot tram, which I only rode to stay out of the rain.
This afternoon I repeated the plan successfully. The weather cooperated and I managed to get my three plus miles of exercise and a good meal of fish and chips. The park wasn’t too busy. I even managed to get a seat at a table to eat. I was prepared to use the top of a garbage can for a table as I often have. Even though it was dry, I didn’t stay for the nighttime fireworks. I prioritized getting home with simplicity over entertainment. The state is doing nighttime paving on US 27 outside my base camp. The later you are the worse the delays and difficulties. Trying to see going in and out of the massive construction lights seemingly aimed right at you can be a challenge.
This area of Florida has reached mid summer mode. Today was mostly sunny with a high in the mid nineties and lots of humidity. There were plenty of thundershowers in the area, but not over my base camp. This a change from the last few days that were cloudy and humid with the chance of rain at any minute during the day. The positive part of that weather pattern was a lower overall temperature.
Longtime readers of my blog probably already know I’m a big fan of fireworks. I include pictures of shells bursting in the air quite frequently. Friday night I looked forward to the possibility of watching and taking pictures of the local town fireworks from my base camp. The launch site is two or three miles away, but I am at a slightly higher altitude. It turns out I can’t see them very well. The shell bursts were right on the horizon looking south from my front door. Most of the time only about three quarters of the circular burst was visible. They weren’t picture worthy, but I enjoyed them anyway.
Today turned into a grocery day. I have tried to avoid weekend grocery runs, but when you run out of something the crowds don’t mean as much. In this case I was out of milk. It’s not something I use a lot of, but somethings just don’t work very well without it. The fact that I ran out is Walmart’s fault. They were out of the two quart size last week and they didn’t have many today. They did have lots of customers. It was a bit of a zoo. Sunday also seems to be the day for odd characters at Walmart. The guy in front of me at the checkout kept staring at himself in a hand mirror while talking on the phone. He paused long enough to pay for the mirror before resuming his staring and talking. Weird?
The last few days have been very ordinary. The threat of rain has remained high, although I’ve only been caught in it once. Driving in tropical downpours is not fun and I’d really prefer to avoid it. Visibility is very poor and it’s hard to avoid driving through standing water.
Tuesday was my last chance to visit Disney World this week, but the rain in the forecast and actual rain kept me home both Monday and Tuesday. My annual pass is blacked out around major holidays. Disney can get very busy during the Independence Day Holiday. I’ll have to settle for watching Disney World live streams on YouTube until Monday. There are plenty of them. A trip to Sea World in the next few days remains a possibility.
My exercise the last few days has been almost exclusively from walks around the park that hosts my base camp. I can get a couple of miles in by walking the perimeter. There are not a lot of people in residence. A few more residence seem to have left over the last few weeks. My neighbors, proud full time residents, say the July and August are the slowest. People start coming back after Labor Day.
One of the remaining residents at the park this summer. (blurry picture)
Rob's Rambling Road Trip 