Sunday February 9th 2025

The weather has been great this weekend. While each day started with some fog, the sky cleared by mid morning and the temperature climbed to the mid eighties. Unfortunately, I didn’t take advantage of the weather.

This was the weekend of the annual yard sale at the park. It is apparently a big deal to many of the residents here. Friday afternoon the sale is exclusive for park residents and Saturday from 8AM to 1PM the sale is open to the general public. The Friday crowd was in golf carts and a few, like me, on foot. There were enough golf carts going up and down the streets that I didn’t feel particularly comfortable walking, so I only walked three nearby roads. I have done all of my planned buying for my base camp and don’t have any excess “stuff” to sell. From what I saw, there wasn’t anything I was interested in anyway.

On Saturday the external crowd for the sale was extensive. A traffic flow team was directing traffic in a one way path through the neighborhood. A steady line of cars was coming up my road in a direction opposite my normal way of travel. Drivers were instructed not to block the road when they stopped, but didn’t mean through traffic didn’t have to weave in and out of stopped cars. I saw a lot of traffic, but I didn’t see anyone buying anything from the four neighbors I saw trying to sell stuff.

Today was a grocery run day. Walmart was very busy with people trying to get their purchases completed before the Super Bowl game. I saw lots of people buying snack foods and even a couple of big TV purchases. The check outs were jammed and I got stuck behind a couple that knew they didn’t have enough funds to cover everything in their carts. They took forever prioritizing what they put on the checkout counter and the order it got scanned by the cashier. As they got closer to their limit the process got slower and more contentious between the man and women. Overall it was sad, but also a little entertaining to watch. Both of them were not lacking in prior caloric intake. They bought over $250 worth of high sugar and fat content food. After they finished checking out there was about half a cart full of stuff to be returned to the shelves.

Thursday February 6th 2025

Late last year Disney announced the birth of a tiger cub at the Animal Kingdom. Last week the cub and its mother made their first appearance in the tiger compound along the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Today I got my first look at the new resident.

I actually got lucky. According to the cast member stationed near the viewing area the tigers were scheduled to return back stage for the day at 2PM, but the cub had other ideas. It was still playing a good distance from the back stage entrance at 2:30 despite several attempts by its mother to encourage it in. Mom clearly knew the drill and wanted its offspring to follow her. She would leave the cub and head for the hidden door only to sprint back to the cub a minute or two later when it didn’t follow. A little bit of nudging and prodding followed before mom would try again. Eventually the cub followed.

People were lined up four and five deep at the tiger viewing area. I could see the tigers by looking over and around people, but it was difficult to take pictures. The added distance from the fence resulted in the cell phone camera auto focusing on the fence instead of the animals. When I was done, I had more out of focus than in focus shots. At least digital pictures are cheaper than film pictures and can be cleaned up a bit later.

Of course I had to ride the Kilimanjaro Safari while at Animal Kingdom. It was a fun experience as usual, but there didn’t seem to be as many animals out in the open as there were last week. In particular, the elephants weren’t hiding at the back of their area, making them hard to see.

Earlier in the week I made another stop at EPCOT. My specific purpose was to get some Fish and Chips at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop for dinner, but another viewing of all the art displays was a great experience as well. The absence of rain for a few days allowed the chalk art artists to fill the designated walkways with drawings. I was beginning to wonder if they were going to complete the displays this year.

Sunday February 2nd 2025

If that silly little ground hog from Pennsylvania lived in central Florida it wouldn’t of seen its shadow this morning. Both of the last couple of days have begun with a thick fog cover. The sun never made an appearance. The cloud layer never climbed very far above the ground. On the positive side it was warm both days.

Friday I continued my New Year return to Disney World. This time it was a visit to Hollywood Studios. This is my least favorite park out of the four main parks. Most of the attractions have very long waits and I’m not a fan of many of them. The potential for motion sickness is too high for my tastes.

It was moderately busy on Friday. I managed to see a couple of shows and ride one ride. It took forty five minutes to get a ride on Toy Story Mania and then the laser cannon in front of my seat was malfunctioning. Since I was alone in the car I used the one for the other seat, but it was awkward. My score at the end of the ride was the lowest in the vehicle. Eventually the wait times drove me out of the park and home for supper. Even the food service locations had long lines.

Today my exercise was at the nearby wildlife preserve. It was a nice walk around the ponds. A few wildflowers have blossoms after the cold days of January. Hopefully more will start to blossom as the warm weather continues.

Thursday January 30th 2025

The weather is back to seasonal normal conditions. Last weeks cold and rain has been replaced by sunny days with high temperatures at to well above the seventy two degree normal high temperature. My activities got back to a more normal behavior. The furniture project that I started before Christmas got some renewed attention and I made a couple of visits to Walt Disney World.

On Monday afternoon I made a visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I arrived just in time to see the Macaws entertaining in front of the tree of life. Periodically during the day there is a show featuring a flock of the Animal Kingdom’s resident parrots. They are free flying from elsewhere in the park and arrive in dramatic fashion. After they do a little preening for the audience and get feed they fly back to their hidden roost. It is a fun little show.

From there I made my way to the Kilimanjaro Safari to see the selection of African animals. The wait was a short thirty minutes for the truck ride out into the savanna. The animals were active during the afternoon. The zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, white rhinos, lions and elephants were all out to be seen. The baby elephant born about a year ago was out eating and playing with her aunts. The safari truck stopped in that area for several minutes while we waited for the white rhinos around the corner of the road to move so the trucks could continue along. It was a great place to sit and watch the elephants.

On Wednesday I spent the afternoon and evening at the Magic Kingdom. It was busy, but appropriate for the time of year. I arrived in time to watch the parade from the train station at the end of Main Street. The festival of fantasy parade has been around for a long time, but it still has a lot of good elements including a fire breathing dragon.

Sunday January 26th 2025

Friday’s weather improved enough for another visit to EPCOT’s International Festival of the Arts. It was still a cold day, but the sun was back allowing the temperature to reach the mid to upper fifties. The crowd was lighter than the previous week, but parking was still a challenge. For some reason they are not using one of the bigger lots close to the entrance. I had to park in the “Eve” lot on the far eastern end of all the parking areas. It was a new experience.

I had plenty of daylight time to walk around the whole World Showcase checking out all the Art kiosks. There were some spectacular canvases and prints. Even the ones that were not to my liking, but represented plenty of talent so had to be admired. The items that were on other media like glass and wood were also very impressive. The art will change before the festival ends at the end of February so future visits will be different.

In addition to the Art kiosks there are the usual food kiosks around the park. There aren’t as many food options during the Art Festival as the longer festivals. These are mostly focused on presenting a pretty plate with something fairly exotic. Checking the menus for something good for dinner didn’t pan out. Pasta with squid ink was just one of the items that failed to interest. During the other festivals I usually find one or two good choices. It didn’t happen on this visit.

Today, and most of the next week or more, the weather is starting to be above average. I got back to working on my furniture project. An end table to hold a lamp beside my couch is my current project. I spent most of my time today remembering where I was at in the task. It has been since before the holidays that I really put any effort into the task. Hopefully, the good weather will allow me to make more progress.

Thursday January 23rd 2025

The high temperature in this area of central Florida has been generally below normal since the middle of December. In the last week, the sun has also been absent from the sky most days. This week has been even worse. We didn’t get the snow and ice that fell in northern Florida, but the high temperatures were in the forties with lots of rain. The average high temperature is in the low seventies about thirty degrees higher than what we have been experiencing.

Experiencing the Florida winter weather at my base camp instead of my RV home is different. I am comfortable in both, but the differences are notable. First my base camp is better insulated or at least it has less glass area to allow heat transfer. It is not as cool in the morning after having the heat off overnight. Perhaps the biggest difference, also related to insulation is the sound deadening. It has to be very severe outside before I become aware of the weather. Normal levels of rain and wind go unnoticed. It takes thunderstorm like rain before I can hear the rain on the roof or awnings. Wind I don’t hear at all unless it is a severe gust that hits from the right angle. In general, I can be oblivious to the weather. That can be annoying when I start to go out and find the weather unsuitable for my plans.

Other than shopping for life’s essentials I don’t have many indoor places that I need or want to go. My outdoor activities like theme park visits or hiking various parks need better weather for comfort. If I didn’t know Florida winter would be over as soon as next week according to the forecast, I would push the envelop for outdoor activity. I have still walked around the park when it hasn’t been raining, but the temperature with wind chill hasn’t made it comfortable. Without pockets for my hands it would have been worse.

All this “talk” about the weather is just an explanation (excuse) for not having done much the last few days. Other than a trip for groceries at Walmart and a visit to Lowes, I have stayed indoors at my base camp. I’ve rearranged the cabinet contents a bit and installed a couple of puck lights for under cabinet lighting. I have a couple more simple maintenance tasks on my list if the indoor weather continues and of course there is always TV and the internet.

Sunday January 19th 2025

Disney’s International Festival of the Arts at EPCOT began on Friday. This is my second favorite EPCOT festival. Only the Flower and Garden Festival that starts in March is higher on my list. Not being willing to wait I headed for the park Friday afternoon. I should have waited. Note to self, Don’t go to EPCOT on the first day of a festival. Lots of other people had the same idea.

The International Festival of the Arts is a giant art show and sale. Kiosks around the park show paintings and sculptures that can be purchased or just admired. Most of the art is Disney focused, but there are some pieces with a broader appeal. Along with the art you can watch artists developing new items or even get your hands dirty painting a giant size paint by number mural.

I only had a little more than two hours of daylight left once I got into the park. Getting the car parked and walking in from what seemed like the next county took longer than expected. I was parked much further away than I usually have to park. Once inside the crowds were heavy. To look at most of the artwork you had to stand four or five people deep. Once it got dark you had to be closer to be in the lights than many of the crowds allowed. I really enjoyed what I could see, but will return a time or two before it ends in late February. Getting there earlier with more daylight and smaller crowds is necessary for better viewing.

As usual the chalk drawings on the walkways were one of my favorites. The artists were still working on the drawings. Only one side of the walkway had any completed. The other side was waiting for another day. Today (Sunday) it rained very hard so the artists will need to start over tomorrow.

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.

Sunday January 12th 2025

The cold start to the new year continues. Friday into the first half of Saturday attempted to warm up a little. Unfortunately, it came with some rain. Most of it was overnight, but the lite showers late Friday afternoon managed to keep me away from Disney World once again. By Saturday afternoon the thick cloud cover gave way to sunshine with dropping temperatures.

Today the cool weather was back in force. The high was briefly sixties, but most of the day was in the fifties. The temperature had a different impact on my activities today. It was laundry day. My washer and dryer are in my shed exposing them to the outside temperature. The temperature sensors in the dryer seem to be impacted by the cool temperatures. The drying cycles seem to be taking extra long even though I think it was dry long before the dial indicated so. I was in laundry mode all afternoon into the evening.

Other than moving my tools off of the washer and dryer so I could use them for their intended purpose, I haven’t worked on my furniture projects. Part of the problem is I have reached the comfortable stage with respect to living conditions. The last couple of furniture pieces are needed, but not vital for my comfort.

Thursday January 9th 2025

It has been Florida cold the last few days. The highs have been around sixty degrees and the lows have been below forty. Last night the low even flirted with the freezing mark. While these temperature are warm by northern standards, they are about fifteen degrees lower than the normal temperatures in the area.

Knowing that it in a few days the temperature will be warmer causes me to put things off for warmer times. My furniture projects sit waiting in the shed for warmer weather. The morning temps are around fifty so I choose to wait for it to warm up, but once it is warm the remaining daylight is short.

Last week I was waiting for my Disney Pass blackout to end. I anticipated going to a park on Monday, but I still haven’t gotten there. The wind chill after dark requires several layers of clothes. I remind myself that the weather will improve and I can go to the park another day

Here at the base camp there are still more empty units than I thought there would be. I anticipated people to arrive shortly after the new year. There are still many units with closed shutters, reflective insulation in the windows and/or covered golf carts in the yard. Will people be showing up later, or are they staying away this winter? I certainly don’t know. Based on a perusal of license plates as I walk around the resort, Michigan and Ohio seem to be a very popular origin for many of the snowbirds. I have also seen plates from most of the eastern states and Canadian provinces.