Wednesday December 14th 2016

Today started foggy like yesterday. It took until almost nine before the sun burned through the fog. I spent the morning at the campground and the late afternoon into the evening at the Magic Kingdom.

Cinderella’s castle

My plan was to arrive at the Magic Kingdom in time for the parade. I succeeded in arriving before the parade, but unfortunately too early. The launch from Fort Wilderness to the Magic Kingdom was nowhere in sight, so I took a boat to the Contemporary Hotel then walked to the Magic Kingdom. I easily beat the launch and was more than half an hour before the Parade would start at the back of the park. To kill time while waiting for the parade I went into the Mickey’s PhilharMagic show. When I came out the last units of the parade were visible in the distance.

My first FastPass was in Tomorrow Land about an hour from the end of the PhilharMagic show. While I waited for the FastPass window to open for Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin, I road the People Mover and watched the Carousel of Progress show. I first saw the Carousel of Progress at the New York Worlds Fair in 1965. It impressed my childhood self then and continues to intrigue my adult self. It has been updated over the years. The last scene is supposed to represent the turn of the 21st century. When the show first opened it was set closer to the then current date. I think they have taken enough liberty with the time line that it is consistent with the current time sixteen years into the century. For example, the virtual reality gear they are using is only just becoming a thing this year, but the computer looks like something I had in the 1990s.

After riding Buzz Lightyear, I road the Riverboat around the Rivers of America, saw the Country Bear Jamboree and finished up with a FastPass to the Pirates of the Caribbean. Having a FastPass for these rides was a big help. The standby times for most rides were well over an hour. For the shows, you really don’t need FastPasses.

Cinderella’s Castle draped in lights

Christmas Tree in Town Square

I came to the Magic Kingdom to see the Christmas decorations. There is a big Christmas tree in the Town Square as you enter the park. The street lamps all have wreaths hanging below the lamps and the big centerpiece is the castle wrapped in white lights. In the heavily themed areas the decorations are subtle to non existent as it should be. One down side is that the Country Bear Jamboree no longer has a special Christmas show.

Tuesday December 13th 2016

Today started out foggy. It was so foggy the boats and launches to the Magic Kingdom were not running. It caused a bit of confusion in the campground, but not for me. I didn’t get underway until close to noon when it was a bright sunny day.

Wilderness Lodge Christmas Tree

I had a marathon Disney day with resort hotel visits and two theme parks. It started with a boat ride to the Wilderness Lodge. Massive upgrades and expansion are underway, but the lobby hasn’t been impacted. The tall Christmas tree is impressive.

Mickey Mouse Topiary at the Contemporary Resort.

From the Wilderness Lodge I continued on via boat to the Contemporary Hotel. There are a few small traditional Christmas trees in the lobby, but no big center piece trees. On my way to the monorail, I stopped to admire the confectionery creations the hotel has on display instead of gingerbread houses.

Confectionery castle at the Contemporary Resort.

Christmas tree at the Grand Floridian

Full size gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian

Christmas Tree at the entrance to Animal Kingdom

I stopped at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian hotels to check out the Christmas Decorations then caught a bus to the Animal Kingdom from the Magic Kingdom bus stops. I had a Fastpass time for the Lion King show. I missed the time window for the pass but got in the general setting area to watch the show.

Simba in the Lion King show

Flying Monkeys acrobats in the Lion King show.

After the show I toured the animals of Africa and Asia while I waited for my Fastpass time for the Kilimanjaro Safari. The safari ride was not one of the best I’ve had. This particular driver didn’t pause often or travel slowly to allow for good pictures. The animals were also not plentiful. I think this is the first time I didn’t see any elephants.

Male Gorilla

Animal Kingdom’s idea of what Mt Everest looks like.

Asian tiger

Hyena on the Kilimanjaro Safari

Zebra on the safari

Lion asleep on the rocks

From the Animal Kingdom I took a bus to the Boardwalk hotel. I walked the boardwalk around the lagoon to check out the Yacht and Beach club resorts, then entered EPCOT from the International Gateway. EPCOT was very crowded. I caught the first half of the Candle Light Processional standing in the walkway in front of the America pavilion. Meredith Vieira was the narrator. I continued my walk around the world showcase when it became apparent that here voice couldn’t be heard from my vantage point. The carolers voice were amplified much better. The line for the seating area for the next performance had already reached Japan.

Boardwalk hotel Christmas tree.

Gingerbread encrusted carousel at the Beach Club resort.

EPCOT Christmas tree

My original plan was to stay at EPCOT and watch the Holiday Illuminations performance, but I was getting tired. I returned to my campsite for the night.

Monday December 12th 2016

Today started with clouds and humidity and ended with sun and humidity with near record high temperatures in the region. The cloudy day reflected my energy level today.

Fort Wilderness Christmas tree at night

Yesterday I was on the go all day. First with the move from Jetty Park and then with touring here at Disney World. I was dressed for the daytime temperatures not the evening temperatures that got into the 60s. I fear I might have started to catch a cold. My plan for today was enjoy the campground in the morning then go to EPCOT for the late afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, after walking around the campground this morning I lost my enthusiasm for dealing with the crowds at the theme park this evening. I’ve taken it slow and easy all day. Hopefully I can fight back any oncoming cold.

I’ve had plenty of opportunities this year to enjoy the rides and attractions at the parks. I last visited three of the four parks in October. What I’m really here for is the Christmas atmosphere. I get plenty of that in the campground. I would guess more than half of the sites are decorated. The level of decorations range from simple, like my 20 light string of colored lights, to the extreme. Some sites have 10 or more blow up Christmas characters with lights and music. Keeping in mind it is still early in the Christmas vacation season it will only get more intense.

A well decorated site

Very big Santa Mickey

Sad reindeer with Olaf on his back

Santa Clause in his trailer

Last night and tonight I went down to the campground beach to watch the nightly fireworks from the Magic Kingdom. Last night it was the Holiday Wishes show and tonight it was the regular Wishes show. The aerials are clearly visible across the lake and the music is played on the beach speakers. Before the fireworks I saw the Electrical Water Pageant both nights.

Below are some of the better attempts at pictures of the fireworks and water pageant.

Electrical Water Pageant lead dragon

The only good alligator in the lake. They say it’s a crocodile

Patriotic ending to the Electrical Water Pageant

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Lots of Green

These look like lollipops

Sunday December 11th 2016

It was a cloudy dreary day. I met my planned departure time from Jetty Park of 10am. I arrived at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort around noon and my site was ready. By 2PM I was ready to start checking out Walt Disney World at Christmas time. The decorations at the various resorts and parks is the attraction. The crowds are a distraction.

This post will be mostly some of the pictures I took today. I went to the Disney Springs shopping area with a stop at the Animal Kingdom Villas on the way.

Setup on site 223

Christmas Mickey and Minnie Mouse have taken up residence in the front of my RV home.

Christmas tree at the Fort Wilderness Settlement

Animals on view at the Animal Kingdom Villas.

One of several Christmas trees at Disney Springs. This one is in the West Side area.

Rolling Piano travels through the Town Center area of Disney Springs. The woman at the keyboard was playing and singing Christmas songs.

Toy Soldier and friend greeting people at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony

Characters in Flight balloon as the moon tries to break through the clouds.

Christmas Tree in the Town Center area of Disney Springs

More Disney touring tomorrow.

Saturday December 10th 2016

Today was a rest and relaxation day. Tomorrow I move on to Fort Wilderness at Disney for 5 nights. I need to be well rested for the adventure to come. This was a good day to do nothing. The temperature got up to around 70 and the wind was a little lighter than yesterday’s gale.

Kite Boarders gliding over the surf.

My exercise for the day was three walks. The first was over to the beach to check out the action. I could see large kites in the air from my campsite. It turns out there were several kite boarders working the wind and the surf. That had to weave in and out around several people on sailboards. Watching the kite boarders go airborne when they hit the waves just right is quite a show.

Tree in bloom

Closeup of blossom.

On my way back from the beach I passed a flowering tree in full bloom. I don’t recall seeing it before and I’m confused by what might be in bloom this time of year. The tree, big bush or vine in a tree, what ever it is, has very pretty flowers. I think I should know what it is, but it isn’t adding up for me. I took several pictures and will continue to Google for an answer.

Norwegian EPIC leading the Disney Fantasy out of port.

The cruise ships took there time leaving port tonight. They were listed as departing at 4PM, but they didn’t get going until almost 5PM. The wind tonight was more from the east than last night, so the ships didn’t have as much impact on the ships departure. There were two Carnival ships that bracketed the Norwegian EPIC and the Disney Fantasy in the departure order. The Carnival ships are always having a party on deck as they depart the port. The Disney ship usually blows its horns to the tune of “When you wish upon a star” and the Norwegian EPIC in all its huge hulking majesty just glides along. Most of the passengers on the EPIC are on their private balconies. I still have no interest in taking a cruise as a captive on the seas, but clearly Norwegian is more my speed.

In between walks I’ve been doing the day before departure prep work. Going over to watch the cruise ships one last time prevented me from doing all of the outside tasks before dark. I’ll have a few more things to do outside tomorrow, but I’ve got more of the inside stuff done than usual. I am targeting my departure for ten.

Friday December 9th 2016

The sun finally came out just before sunset. The clouds that dominated the sky for most of the day kept the over night cold in play all day. The temperature barely made it to 60 and the wind was constant out of the north. It was not a short sleeve shirt and shorts day. It was a long pants sweatshirt and windbreaker kind of day.

The flags were out straight in the wind.

This morning I ran some errands and toured the area a little. I was hoping that it would warm up by the time I got back to the campground. It didn’t happen that way. I added a jacket layer to my sweatshirt for my outdoor activities. I went for a walk over to the beach but didn’t walk down the beach. The wind was blowing the sand hard enough that any exposed skin got irritated.  Even the Great Blue Heron was hunched up to keep out of the wind.  I restricted my walking to short walk around the campground.

On a nice day, time to pose for a closeup.

Today, all bunched up against the wind.

Late in the afternoon the sun came out. I bundled up again to watch the cruise ships depart port. While I was waiting for the ships to get underway I watched the bird races. For some reason all of the sea birds were flocked together. It was like Pelican races going by about 20 feet off the ground. They seemed to be coming in off the ocean in waves. I didn’t see any sign that the birds were circling. It looked like every wave of birds was a fresh group.

One wave of Pelicans racing into the port.

The leader of the flock.

One of the cruise ships had difficulty getting away from the pier. The north wind was keeping it pressed to the dock. A tug boat was used to help pull it into the channel. The cruise ships usually don’t need any assistance. I bet that ships captain was annoyed at needing assistance. It was probably as much safety related as maneuverability.

Cruise ship coming down the channel while the Pelicans raced in.

After the cruise ships departed I returned to my RV home for the night. I have new neighbors tonight. The park has filled up a lot for the weekend, but it still isn’t full. In addition to the local area people, there are many rigs from Canada. I think there are more Canadian license plates than states other than Florida. Not a big deal, just a curiosity.

Thursday December 8th 2016

The weather is about to change in this area of Florida. Today was sunny in the low seventies, but the forecast for tomorrow has the high remaining in the 60s. The cold weather in the rest of the country is reaching down into Florida.

My focus today was on chores around camp. I discovered an accumulation of dust on the far side of the bed that told me it was time for more than just a cursory pass with the broom. I got the attachments for the build-in vacuum out of the basement storage and got down on my knees in the bedroom with the business end of the suction hose. I proceeded to work my way to the front of the rig. I try to sweep frequently and use the vacuum every couple of months, but this is the first time I’ve crawled around under the bed overhang and got into similar places in the main room.

Pelican floating in the boat basin

The next step was an attempt to get the rug from the bathroom clean. It is a light color rug that I probably should put through the laundry regularly, but it isn’t something that I think about. I went at it with a hose and brush out on the picnic table. It’s still drying this evening, so I don’t know how successful I was at cleaning it. I’m inclined to replace it with something darker that fits into the bathroom space better than this rug.

Big container ship arrived in the port overnight.

On my walks about the campground and beach area today, I noticed that the ships in the port have changed. They seem to move in and out during the night. Unless they have to sound their horns for some reason, you don’t know anything is going by. During the day you can often see ships and barges in holding patterns off the coast. I presume they are waiting for available space at a pier.

Wednesday December 7th 2016

After yesterday’s rain today was not as humid and the high temperature was only in the 70s. It was a beautiful day. The highlights of the day were a long walk on the beach and a rocket launch this evening.

Florida Stork

This morning I drove inland into the wetlands that make up the headwaters of the St. Johns river. I was looking for parks or boat launching areas that had wildlife. I found a couple of areas on the water to check, but only came up with a few black birds making noise. There were also a couple of merchants offering air-boat rides on the river with promises of seeing alligators and other wildlife. I don’t need a noisy boat ride to find gators, I saw plenty down south a couple of weeks ago.

Jetty Park Beach with Casino ship entering the channel to Port Canaveral

Back at Jetty Park this afternoon, I took another long walk on the beach. This walk was the longest yet. There were many folks from the condo that line the shore sitting out on the beach, but there were fewer walkers than other days. The ocean was churning up a lot of seaweed today. In some areas each breaking wave brought more dark brown seaweed up onto the beach. The birds were enjoying the seaweed bounty. Something in it made a worthy meal.

When I got back to the park from my walk, the beach parking lot was starting to fill up with the cars of people getting ready for the rocket launch at 6:53pm. It was close to 4 hours prior to the launch. I returned to my RV home to eat and wait until closer to the launch before returning to the beach area. When I got back the parking lot was overflowing.

I had scouted out a good vantage point for watching the launch. It was on one of the boardwalks out to the beach. It was still available when I got there, but I was soon joined by others. The rocket launch was for an Air Force wide band communications satellite. It was being launched by United Launch Alliance on a Delta IV rocket from launch complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Station. This particular rocket configuration has 4 solid rocket boosters attached to the main rocket engine. It is one of the bigger Delta rocket configurations.

I have seen two other launches. They were both daytime launches. The first was in the early 1990s. I had the opportunity to see a Shuttle launch from down the coast from here in Melbourne beach. The other launch I watched was from Titusville a few years ago. That was a much smaller rocket that I don’t remember too much about.

Delta IV booster as it climbed out of sight.

This was my first night launch and from closer than the other two events. At the expected time the area of the launch pad glowed orange and then a ball of light moved up from the glow. The rocket was a long way up in the night sky before the rumble of the rocket engine from the launch reached my viewing location. Shortly after the noise passed the glowing object in sky got smaller until it looked like a bright star. Looking back toward the launch pad some of the rockets smoke trail was visible in the moon light. In some ways that was more impressive than the glowing object disappearing from sight.

I enjoyed watching the launch. I’m glad my stay at Jetty Park and the launch happened to coincide. My memory of the shuttle launch many years ago are more impressive. Twenty plus year old memories many be embellished, but I think this was a big firecracker by comparison.

Tuesday December 6th 2016

The big event of the day was the rain. This morning was a fine day. The sun was out and the temperature was up in the high 70s. As the morning progressed the wind got very gusty and the sky to the northwest was darkening. It was clear that storms were coming.

In the early afternoon the front arrived. Over the next 3 hours line after line of storms brought heavy rain and strong winds. Some of the storms had thunder and lightning, but the rain was the main event. The sound on the RV’s roof was a continuous roar. It was so loud I couldn’t turn the TV volume up high enough to hear clearly. The roads and low areas of the campground developed pools of standing water.

Some of the weather reporting stations in this area haven’t had measurable rain since the hurricane passed through in early October. It has been one of the driest Novembers for the region. The area was in need of rain, but this probably was too much too quickly. The evening news reported some areas got around an inch of rain from the front that passed through.

I think the workers here at Jetty Park deserve the credit or blame for the rain. This morning a shipment of roofing supplies arrived. Shortly before the rain began they started working on the bathhouse roof. When the rain started they had the shingles stripped off one side and several sheets of plywood decking removed. They had quite a scramble to cover things up and get off the roof before the lightning arrived.

A new pose for an old friend

Hopping from rock to rock

The storm front had passed before sunset. I took my late afternoon walk around the park and over to the beach. Naturally, there were not a lot of people around but it was a nice late afternoon. The usual birds were out in their usual places. I’m convinced I’ve taken one Blue Heron’s picture 50 times already. It isn’t overly concerned with people and you can get within a few feet of it before it will run, not fly, away.

Monday December 5th 2016

It was even warmer than yesterday. The temperature reached the lower 80s and the humidity made for uncomfortable conditions. There were two ways to avoid the heat and humidity. Stay out of the sun, but in the breeze blowing in off the ocean or stay inside in the air conditioning. I took advantage of both.

Where’s my fish?

Today’s focus was errands and chores, but I did get to check out the beach and channel on a couple of walks. Two cruise ships and a new cargo ship were visible in the port. Several additional coast guard boats were also patrolling the port. I’m not sure if the new cargo ship is the cause or something else. They were not around later in the day.

Around the camper I dumped the tanks, took out the trash and generally picked up around the rig. For errands, I went shopping for food and propane cylinders for the gas grill. I found a Lowes to shop for the propane cylinders and possible a new gas grill. I struck out on both accounts. I still haven’t found a gas grill I like and the cost of the propane cylinders seemed excessive. My next stop was Walmart. I found the propane cylinders for a dollar and a half less, unfortunately I also found other stuff to buy. If I spent the extra buck and a half at Lowes and went home I’d of spent less money. Until next time that is. One item I bought is a cheap LED Christmas tree that I’ll put up for the Holiday once I reach my next stop.

In between all these activities I got some planning accomplished. I booked a campsite for the month of March in Arizona. The campground is about halfway between Tuscon and Phoenix. I had been looking at places in the Mesa and Apache Junction eastern suburbs of Phoenix, but those places had issues. Most of the places are huge manufactured home communities that have a few RV sites. They are located in built up heavily congested areas. There are lots of them, but the few I could talk myself into liking were already booked at this late date. The Silverado RV Resort in Eloy Arizona seemed much more my style. It’s about 50 miles from the Mesa area and about the same distance to Tuscon.

I know have a site booked in Florida for the month of January and a site in Arizona for March. The month of February will be a travel month. Once I get west of Mobile Alabama, I’ll be in new territory. Figuring out how to get from here to there is part of the challenge that I enjoy. The complicating factor of winter weather makes detailed planning a bad idea. The route is fairly simple, Interstate 10 most of the way, but where to stop and for how long is very much dependent on the weather, traffic around the cities, my mood and things to see along the way. I’ll be working on ideas and alternatives over the next month and a half.