Friday October 27th 2023

Today I went in search of Halloween Decorations at Disney World and boy did I find them. Shortly afternoon I drove to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. I arrived at about 1:30PM. This is a special event day so the park closes at 6PM. Therefore until about 4PM when the people attending the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party separately ticked event start arriving the park isn’t real busy. Note: this is a picture intensive blog post.

I wandered the park looking at the decorations and doing a few things that caught my fancy. That included riding a few rides and watching a couple of shows. Around 4:30 I grabbed some food at Columbia Harbor House before leaving the park. My destination was the Fort Wilderness campground via the boat from the Magic Kingdom.

The campers at Fort Wilderness get into the Halloween spirit in a big way. Just about everybody decorates their site. Every Halloween blowup imaginable makes an appearance. Last year there were a lot of Star Wars blowups, but this year I didn’t see many. Other than a lot of orange pumpkins, I didn’t really see a theme this year. I walked around about half of the camping loops looking at the decorations. As it got dark it became much more dangerous walking around. Even though I intentionally wore light colored clothes, I don’t think I was all that visible to the speeding golf carts, bicycles and electric scooters that people were moving around in. There were also a lot of security and sheriffs deputies on bicycles and in golf carts, so they may have been expecting difficulties. I finished my visit and took the launch back to the Magic Kingdom reaching my car in the parking lot a little after 8PM.

Thursday October 26th 2023

Today’s weather was a step up on Wednesday’s. It still had the strong wind from the east, but the clouds were far less prevalent. The threat of rain was much lower. The temperature climbed into a very comfortable mid eighties.

After yesterday’s very active second half of the day at Disney’s EPCOT, I didn’t get to sleep until early in the morning. Consequently, this day got off to a very slow start. I joined all of the early afternoon traffic on the roads to do some more exploring. My wandering ended at Walmart for groceries. I found everything I was looking for, but didn’t buy one of those items.

I got hit with price shock over the cost of Orange Juice. Perhaps because there was a big 8×10 sign saying $7.49, I paid attention to the price of a gallon of Walmart’s from concentrate Orange Juice. This has been my go to OJ for the last few years and I usually grab it without looking. My impression was that it had gone from the high threes into the high fives over the last couple of years, but a price in the sevens really caught me by surprise. When I got home, I did some research from old recites. It was $6.98 last month and just over six dollars last February. It has been more expensive than I thought for a longer period of time than I thought. (Screams, Expletives, Mashing of Teeth, etc all deleted)

The traffic continued to plague me on the way home from grocery shopping. This time it was caused by school buses. I got stopped behind one bus filled with elementary school kids. In three stops within a couple of hundred feet it unloaded what seemed to be a never ending supply of kids. I really think they must have been sitting three to a bench seat to fit so many kids in a single bus.

Today was lawn mowing day at the resort. A lot of the work is done with trimmers since the grass space between rigs is small. That is followed by guys with backpack blowers to clean up the clippings. Thankfully by the time I got back from grocery shopping they were done.

Wednesday October 25th 2023

I returned to Disney’s EPCOT today to continue Monday’s visit. The weather wasn’t as nice, but everything else went better than Monday. It was a generally cloudy and windy day. A couple of very brief fast moving and light showers occurred during the day. I ducked into the Beauty and the Beast Singalong show in the France pavilion to escape the only rain shower while I was at EPCOT. It was a fun little show that I have never seen before, so the rain did me a favor. I might go again if I get caught in the rain.

My goal was to watch the night time fireworks show EPCOT Forever. It will be replaced in early December by a new show. I wanted to see the current show at least once or twice again before then. The fireworks show starts at 9PM, so I planned to arrive late in the afternoon and stay until after the show. I got there a little early at 3:30PM to still be fresh and energized for the 9PM show. Another hour before getting started would have been better.

The crowds were much smaller today. My parking space was closer to the park than Monday even though I arrived four plus hours later. The second and third tier rides were practically a walk on. The big draws like Test Track, Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure all had typical long waits greater than an hour. I road Spaceship Earth and Soarin over California soon after I arrived with very little wait. The new Journey of Water Inspired by Moana walk through attraction wasn’t as busy. I was able to play with the water without having to compete with the kids. All of that only took about an hour and a half. I still had four hours before the fireworks started.

To pass some time I attended the first Eat to the Beat concert performance of the night. The half hour set performed by a local band called Sound Up was interesting, but not enough that I wanted to attend the second or third sets. I only recognized a couple of the cover songs performed. Some expensive theme park food killed another half hour. Now I was down to two and a half hours of time to kill.

A lot of wandering around the park looking at various things and various odd people followed. I watched several of the Beacon light shows on Spaceship Earth. These shows are a very positive addition to the park at night. They were introduced for the fiftieth anniversary and have continued at EPCOT ever since. Finally, I spent some time with the fish in the aquarium inside the Living Seas building.

The fireworks show was worth the wait. It is a short show at ten minutes, but it has a lot of big shells and good music. Unfortunately, I was using my cell phone for a camera today. My standalone cameras take better pictures of fireworks. Maybe I can figure out some settings changes to make the cell phone take better fireworks pictures.

Tuesday October 24th 2023

It was another nice day in central Florida. The temperature climbed from the overnight low in the high sixties to the mid eighties. The humidity was low for Florida perhaps do to the strong wind out of the northeast and east. It was definitely a hold onto your hat kind of day.

I must have walked more yesterday than I thought. This morning every change of direction caused my leg muscles to protest. My normal daily routine includes a lot of walking, but it isn’t really the same as theme park walking. Yesterday I was walking on hard surfaces, maneuvering around people and having to change pace constantly to deal with the crowds. Just getting into a tolerant mental state is hard enough. So many of the people wandering around the parks are oblivious to the other people in their surroundings. The groups walking five abreast and two or three deep to completely block the path are always “fun” to get around.

While I was out and about today, the price of gas surprised me again. On Saturday I was surprised to fill my car tank at $3.02 a gallon. That was the lowest I’ve seen gas in about a year. Today, when I drove by the same station, it was $3.27 a gallon. First, why was the price so low on Saturday? Second, what caused it go up twenty five cents in a couple of days? A price rise because of the hostilities in the middle east makes sense, but that much, that quick. At least I got a full tank at the cheap price.

After writing the previous paragraph, I paused to consult the great oracle “google” about gas prices in the area. It listed quite a few stations in the area that are below three dollars a gallon for regular gas. So the change in price probably isn’t related to the middle east hostilities. The question remains “Why did so many stations in the area raise their prices since the weekend?” The google sources explanation for the lower prices is sketchy to me. They seem to think it is an increased supply based on a change to the winter formula for gas. I don’t think the change in formula results in an increased supply. I guess I’ll just be thankful when the price is low.

On my walk around the RV Resort this evening I visited lots of ducks. As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry there are three pairs of Sand Hill Cranes in the park. Each pair has an area they like to hang out. A group of ducks seem to hang out with each pair of cranes. They seem to be a mutual protection society. Tonight, I also wandered into an independent group of twenty of more ducks. I think someone had scattered a bunch of feed on the ground near one of the ponds.

Monday October 23rd 2023

One of the reasons I came back to the central Florida area this fall is to enjoy the theme parks. I have an annual pass to both Disney World and Sea World. This morning I got started with a visit to EPCOT at Disney World. My timing could have been better.

Today was the last day they were giving away Oswald Magnets at EPCOT to annual pass holders. That is the essence of why I decided to go to EPCOT this morning. It wasn’t a very good reason. The place was very busy. Wait times at attractions were very long. Rides that usually had 5 to 10 minute waits had 35 to 40 minute waits. The ones that often had 70 to 80 minute waits had up to 120 minute waits. I didn’t ride many attractions.

The International Food and Wine Festival is still going on at EPCOT. It started in July and goes until early November. Of the four EPCOT festivals it is my least favorite. The main focus is on food booths scattered around the park that provide tasting size entries and deserts along with wine and beer pairings. I didn’t take advantage of any of the booths today. The lines for food were proportionally as long as the attraction lines. The Festival of the Holidays starts around Thanksgiving followed by the Festival of the Arts in January. The Flower and Garden Festival in the spring is probably my favorite.

The construction in the middle of EPCOT, just behind Space Ship Earth is still going on. The majority of the construction is supposed to be over by the end of this year. Some of the construction walls have moved since my last visit in May and one new attraction has opened. The official opening of Journey of Water Inspired by Moana was last Monday. It has been in previews and soft openings since the end of August. I didn’t have any real wait for the walk through attraction, but it was very crowded.

The Journey of Water Inspired by Moana is a teaching attraction. It shows the roles of water in nature in creative ways. It is very interactive. You can make music by passing your hands through streams of water or you can make water spouts jump by waving your hands just to describe two of the interactions. Today, with all the people, it was difficult to try all the exhibits. I look forward to trying some of them with less people around.

I was at the park for about four and a half hours. I did a few fun things and walked all around the World Showcase. The crowd really discouraged me from waiting at many of the attractions. For the 100 hundred years of Disney celebration, the Soarin Over California film has returned to replace Soarin Around the World temporarily. The wait was fifty minutes and seventy minutes each of the two times I considered getting in line. It has been several years since I saw the California version of the movie. I’ll be back to catch it and other things another day. Right now, I’m thinking I’ll return Wednesday late in the day to catch a few attractions and the night time fireworks.

Sunday October 22nd 2023

The weather was very nice today. It started cloudy and cool. The temperature climbed from the low sixties to a high in the mid to upper eighties before the sun started to set. Tonight’s overnight lows are not expected to be as low, but tomorrow is forecast to be another nice weather day.

I spent a relaxing day at home today. My activities included TV watching, reading and cooking a more complicated meal than usual. There is nothing difficult about roasting a piece of pork, but with side dishes it takes a little planning and more time than I usually dedicate to meal preparation. I get at least two full meals and several sandwiches out my efforts.

For exercise I took a more extensive walk around the RV resort. I think there are fewer available sites this year than there were last year. That’s not to say there are more people here. Many if not most of the RVs are not occupied. The people haven’t returned. This is made clear by the closed shutters, plastic wrapped golf carts and the absence of cars at the sites. I suspect as my stay goes by many people will return.

The one thing that there are a lot of is quasi domesticated wild birds. There are at least three pairs of Sand Hill Cranes. Lots of ducks of various species are near every body of water. I also saw a peacock in the car port for one park model. I suspect there are a few peahens around based on last years visit. I call all of these wild birds quasi domesticated, because they are very comfortable with people. If you don’t walk directly toward them they don’t react. I could pass them at a distance under ten feet today.

There are three or more small bodies of water in this park. I don’t know if there are any alligators in residence, but there sure are lots of turtles. I saw one downed tree packed with turtles taking the afternoon sun. They were stacked two high in some places along the branches.

Saturday October 21st 2023

The day began cloudy as the latest cold front moved through the area. By afternoon the sky was blue and the sun was at full seasonal strength. All the front managed to do was lower the humidity level a bit. The temperature peaked in the mid to upper eighties which is a couple of degrees higher than the norm for this area.

After a slow start to the day including a very relaxed breakfast, I got the bicycle and rack off the car. It was ready for exploring and that is exactly what I did. The drive didn’t have any real destination other than to see what has changed since I was last in the area. The whole area south and west of Orlando along US 27 and US 17 and 92 is experiencing lots of growth. There are new commercial spaces being built, new housing developments including lots of apartments and road construction to service all of the development. The road construction made several of the roads I’m used to traveling a real problem. Taking longer physical routes seems to be shorter time wise.

All of my wandering brought me into the Disney World area. On a whim I decided to stop at Disney Springs. A Saturday afternoon is not the ideal time to visit Disney’ shopping and entertainment district, but it has a few advantages too. On weekend afternoons most of the entertainment stages are filled with performers. By night time all of the stages fill up with entertainment. I was able to stand in the shade well away from the stages and watch some of the entertainment. The bands and singers were very entertaining. The dance teams from around the country made up of elementary school aged girls on the main stage were a big draw. Most of the audience was probably filled with the families of the kids. They may have been very good for their age, but the phrase “Only a mother could love” comes to my mind based on my couple of minute of observation. Clearly they were good enough to fund a trip to Disney World from places like Kansas and Wisconsin. Their performance just wasn’t my idea of a show to watch.

The stores were all very busy. The big Disney merchandise store was packed thicker than the shops in the theme parks at closing time. The crowds at the various merchandise racks were two and three people deep and the line at the checkouts was even longer. I wasn’t shopping, just looking. A lot of what I saw was orange and black. There was a lot of Halloween themed merchandise in all the stores. Even the Christmas shop had a large section dedicated to Halloween decorations. To me, there is something wrong with that.

When I got back to my RV home a pair of the resident birds was visiting the are of my site. There are one or two pairs of Sand Hill Cranes that live in the area of this resort. Most of the time they just wander around going about their business, but occasionally they will decide to take flight and make their presence known. They have a very loud voice when they need it.

Friday October 20th 2023

This was a travel day. For once the weather cooperated. It wasn’t hot, windy or rainy. There was perhaps too much glare inducing sun, but dashboard visibility issues are a small annoyance for an overall nice day.

The TV in my bedroom came on at 7:30AM as directed. This is my form of alarm clock. Other than about half an hour for coffee and breakfast, I worked steadily to get on the road. I was in the dumping station as the 11AM checkout time arrived. A few minute later I pulled out of the Ortona Lock South Campground for my 130 mile drive north into central Florida.

All of the journey was on state and US routes. Most of the roads were multi lane and there was only a few short stretches of construction. The first half of the trip was not difficult. Traffic was light until I started to pass through the bigger towns starting with Sebring. In the towns there were numerous traffic lights going through business districts with plenty of big box stores. Drivers don’t know how dangerous it is to jump in line in front of a big motorhome then slow down. There is a reason I keep a lot of space between me and the guy in front. I can’t stop as quickly as they can. There were a few instances of hard braking on my part. The inside of my RV home was a little the worse for the braking, but nothing broke.

Once I reached Lake Wales travel really slowed down. Not only did I have lots of traffic lights to deal with, lots of traffic was added in to the mix for the last 25 miles of my trip. It took multiple light cycles to get through some of the traffic signals. Clearly I was back in the busy congestion of central Florida.

I arrived at the Kissimmee South RV Resort in Davenport Florida about 2:30PM. This is the same park I spent a little over a month at last year at this time. I’ll be here for a month again this year. It isn’t a park I thought I’d make a return visit, but it isn’t bad, just not my preferred style of park. It is a long term 55+ RV community and a mobile home park. When booked for a month at a time it is a good value for what you get.

Just like last year, I’m not in the site I thought I was booking. You are required to select a site on the booking web page, but they clearly state it is not guarantied. The park staff seems to adjust to prioritize by size, duration of stay and returning residents. I’m not on the greatest site. It was hard to get backed in and a power line is preventing me from raising my satellite dish.

I had an audience for the whole backing up and setup activity. My new neighbors had all kinds of information they were anxious to provide, but none of it was related to assisting me with backing up. This was my day for people wanting to talk while I was trying to get something accomplished. I had a talkative neighbor while hooking up my car for towing this morning too.

Thursday October 19th 2023

The temperature and humidity started to climb today. Overall it was still a comfortable day, but the it wasn’t as cool and dry as the beginning of the week. The lower overnight temperature remain. This is the key difference that makes it fall in this part of Florida.

I had a lot of chores to accomplish today. Tomorrow is a travel day so the things I’ve been putting off during my stay needed to get accomplished. I also had to start the packing and rearranging tasks needed before traveling. Throughout the day I did a few chores then wandered the park. This evening I got the primary outside travel prep tasks accomplished.

The whole vibe at the park is changing. RVs continue to arrive occupying sites that have been empty throughout my two week stay. It is as if somebody put out the call to “come on down”. Most of the new arrivals are from out of state. The lawn mowing crew was also in the park today. This is the first time I’ve seen them during this stay. It just added another level of activity to the campground.

Tomorrow I have a 130 mile drive north into the center part of the peninsular. It will mostly be on US 27 up the spine of the peninsular. This is a four lane road with plenty of traffic lights in the towns it passes through. Checkout here is at 11AM so I will have a busy morning. I’ll be in the Orlando area by early afternoon.

Wednesday October 18th 2023

Similar to the last couple of days today started cool. It was around sixty inside my RV home this morning. Unlike yesterday the temperature climbed into the low eighties today. The humidity was still low allowing for a mostly cloud free sky most of the day. The wind was also less forceful today.

On my mid day walk around the campground along the Caloosahatchee Canal I spotted a brown disturbance in the water along the bank. On closer inspection in turned out to be a manatee. It was nosing into the bank to munch on the vegetation along the bank. I watched it for five to ten minutes and attempted to get a good picture of the mammal. It wasn’t really possible, but some shots are included below.

I wonder how the manatee got here. It is two locks and dams from the gulf and three from the Atlantic. It is possible to go through the locks by following a boat, but do they have that instinct. The alternative is it could have been born in the Okeechobee inland waterways and has never been to the open ocean. Either way, it was nice to see the creature in the wild.

The campground has become busy. The middle of last week was very quiet in the park. Tonight there are close to twice as many occupied sites than I recall from last Wednesday night. Last week most of the residents were from Florida. Tonight there seem to be a lot more travelers. I have seen license plates from Nevada, Michigan and Texas just in my immediate area of the park. Is it the change in weather that has caused the increase in visitors or has the winter travel season begun?