Sunday June 15th 2025

The weather has continued to get in the way of my plans. Its impact is a little different at the base camp than it is in the motorhome. Here at the base camp I don’t necessarily know it is raining outside. In the motorhome every little drop or rain is amplified on the roof. In the base camp a little rain is not noticeable. Blowing rain or the downpour associated with a heavy thunderstorm still gets your attention, but there have been quite a few times I’ve stepped outside only to be surprised to find rain. It was one of these, surprise, its raining events that kept me from returning to Disney World on Friday.

My activity the rest of the weekend was very routine. I got caught up on a lot of chores around the base camp and went to another kind of theme park called Walmart for shopping. Some days Walmart shopping can be a amusing and others just plain frustrating. This was one of the frustrating kind. The aisles were blocked with pallets of goods to restock the shelves and Walmart staff trying to fulfill mobile orders. In some cases it was impossible to get to the areas you wanted to reach.

Thursday June 12th 2025

After a week away from Disney, I returned a couple of times this week to catch up on the changes. Two shows opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios since my last visit. One is a re-imagined version of the Little Mermaid show that has been closed since COVID. It has two live actors that play Ariel and Eric that tell an abbreviated version of the store with animated characters filling the rest of the roles. It was good, but not really my cup of tea. There were too many scenes left out for it to flow well.

The other show at Hollywood Studios is brand new. It is called Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After. Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Maleficent all try to convince the audience they are the most misunderstood villain. The show is filled with music and projections of many other Disney villains. I really like this show. It doesn’t have any real depth, but it is fun.

I also made it to EPCOT to checkout the park now that the Flower and Garden Festival is over. It isn’t as vibrant without all the flowers, but there are still enough flowers to keep it interesting. Getting to EPCOT this week has been a challenge. As the summer weather pattern of daily rain storms settled in it has been getting in the way. When the rain happens during the day can vary greatly. Every rain storm this week has started about 3:30PM. This is also the time I need to leave for the theme park if I want to visit in the late afternoon and early evening. If I leave after 4:30 it will take twice as long to get to the park because of all the traffic.

Tuesday and Wednesday the rain was too heavy and lasted too long to make a trip to the park reasonable. Today the rain was lighter and didn’t last as long. I got to EPCOT before 4:30 and the rain was over by the time I was in the park. I was able to walk around the World Showcase without getting wet. Hopefully, the 3:30 start time for the rain wont last for too many days.

Sunday June 8th 2025

Last week’s wetter and cooler than normal weather has normalized. The temperature is back in the mid 90s with enough humidity to make the “feels like” temperature to be well into the 100s. Even so, it doesn’t feel that bad if you’re not in the direct sun without proper attire.

My weekend was very much focused on my base camp. There was a lot of relaxing in the air conditioned comfort with a few chores thrown in for good measure. The bougainvillea bush needed trimming once again. It seems to need trimming about every week and a half. There were spikes of new growth almost a foot high above the rest of the ragged growth on the supposedly round bush.

I also took a couple of excursions to various garden centers in the area. They all seem to have a lot of palms and citrus trees. I’m looking for something that has actual blossoms for an extended period of time. A hibiscus bush encouraged by trimming to grow as a small tree would be ideal. I’ve seen a few, just not what I want. The hibiscus blossoms on the ones I’ve seen have been too simple. I want one with a complex blossom like the one in the picture below. They exist, but I haven’t found one yet.

All of the pictures in this blog entry are of blossoms I’ve seen during my garden center shopping trips.

Thursday June 5th 2025

It has been a dreary weather week. Instead of the normal mostly sunny days it has been cloudy with the likelihood of rain at any moment. The TV weather talkers delighted in the phrase “the influence of a stationary high level low in the gulf …” to explain the unusual weather conditions. On a positive note, the water levels in the ponds and lakes has returned to near normal levels and the fire danger has gone down.

When the things you want to do are outdoors, this uncertain weather gets in the way. I haven’t made any visits to the theme parks this week. The probability of getting caught in the rain was too high. Most of my time has been spent doing various chores around my base camp until today. The rain chance was low enough that I took the chance on a walk in the woods with a visit to the near by nature preservation land.

Summer has clearly arrived here. The number of occupied units in the park is very low. It is even lower than it was when I arrived last September. On my road, for some reason, I am in a cluster of units that are occupied. Six of eight units in this immediate area are occupied, but there may be only six or eight in the remaining fifty sites on the road.

Sunday June 1st 2025

On Friday afternoon into the evening I made my last visit for this year to the Flower and Garden Festival at Disney’s EPCOT. The festival ends on Monday. It is nice to see all of the brightly colored flower blossoms and topiaries in the park as I get my exercise in by walking around the park pausing periodically to take pictures of all the interesting stuff. The Flower and Garden Festival is my favorite EPCOT festival. The bright colors make the park very pretty. Once again this year, Disney is taking the summer off from festivals at EPCOT. The Food and Wine Festival begins around Labor Day.

My mission at the park on Friday was also to get some Fish & Chips for supper. The meal at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the UK pavilion is pretty good and not too expensive. On this visit I got a free cold shower that I could have done without. I sat at a table with and umbrella to eat my meal, but it wasn’t sufficient coverage when a random thunderstorm arrived shortly after I sat down. I was able to pull up to the table and bend forward sufficiently that my food didn’t get wet. The only thing that really got wet was my back. Blowing rain and water dripping off the umbrella soaked the back of my shirt. The storm ended as I finished my meal. Great timing all around! After the storm the heat of the day returned to dry me off.

It took longer for the park to dry out. Dodging puddles was part of the routine during the rest of my walk around the park. I saw an interesting Disney touch to the post rain activity. The custodial cast members were using squeegees to remove the water from the seat benches around the park. They didn’t want random guests to wet their pants on the benches.

Thursday May 29th 2025

The last few days have been above normal temperature with high humidity. Each day has included thunderstorms with heavy downpours and strong winds. Monday evening’s storm even included about an hour and a half long power outage.

I’ve adapted to the weather pattern and get the things I want to do in between storms. On Tuesday, that was a visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I was lucky enough to see the baby giraffe while on the safari. It is only about four months old, but seems to be very independent. Its mom was on the other side of the savanna getting fresh food delivered by pickup truck.

Most of the pictures in this blog entry are from my visit to the Animal Kingdom.

Sunday May 25th 2025

This weekend has been uneventful. The weather has been hot with afternoon thunderstorms. It was very much a Florida summer weather pattern with warmer than normal temperatures. Yesterday, while enjoying the trails along a Lake in one of Winter Haven’s parks, I watched a storm materialize out of nowhere over the lake. One minute it was clear in all directions with a few scattered clouds and the next the area over the lake was thick with fog. Strong winds developed around the edges. Clear air and sun were still visible on the far side of the lake. It was a rapid transformation that I don’t think I’ve seen before.

The weekend has provided an opportunity to get a little yard work accomplished. One of the attractions of this property was the lack of significant yard upkeep requirements. Instead of grass the yard is covered in small stones over landscape cloth. It should be virtually maintenance free. What I’ve found is lots of scattered green weeds that have managed to find enough dirt to grow. They don’t take much to pull out, but if I don’t they will eventually take over. I collected a five gallon bucket full of weeds.

My bougainvillea was also in need of more trimming. This plant is very pretty, but wants to grow to fast. It has only been about a week since the last trimming. The problem is that each trimming cuts away many of the pretty blossoms. I even resorted to a Google search on how to care for a bougainvillea and I’m not doing anything wrong.

In other areas of my yard, I continue to look for other plants to add color. The issue is finding things that will survive and thrive when I resume my travels. At least visiting the garden shops to shop is interesting.

Thursday May 22nd 2025

I have always had the tendency to be a late riser. With specific plans early in the day I have no issues getting going in the morning, but anything short of a commitment and I’ll easily differ the plans. As warm temperatures begin to dominate the weather pattern that becomes an issue. The beginning of the day is the time to be outside. It has been a particular problem this week.

My days have been getting started late enough that the temperature has risen to near the ninety degree mark before I finish breakfast and am ready to start the day. This has put a complication in my quasi plan to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The animals don’t really like the heat. This potential visitor doesn’t like the heat and the animals I want to see prefer to hide in the shade making them hard to see. Every day this week I have changed my plans to visit the Animal Kingdom.

I finally made a visit to Disney’s Magic Kingdom this afternoon. It was a cloudy afternoon keeping the temperature a little lower at 90 degrees. There were plenty of other people taking advantage of the slightly cooler temperature. I got in a good walk around the park and rode a few rides. One of the rides was on the riverboat around the Rivers of America. I want to get in a few more memories before Disney retires the boat to allow for announced new developments.

To get in more Disney time this summer, I am going to have to adjust my daily schedule. Getting to bed early so I can get up early is the plan. A few times a year I have to make this commitment. It works for a while, but my natural tendency to stay up late changes my habits back to the normal late start to the day.

Sunday May 18th 2025

The daily high temperatures continue to run a few degrees above normal. The full summer weather pattern with daily rain hasn’t arrived yet. As a result the brief periods of cooling after the storms isn’t happening. Once it gets hot it stays hot. Dealing with the heat comes down to preparedness. In addition to staying hydrated, dressing appropriately and staying in the shade whenever possible, a lot can be said about being mentally prepared. Knowing that it is going to be hot out before you open the door from air conditioned comfort to sweltering Florida heat helps immensely. That sudden shock is a big demotivator.

In the last three days I let the heat influence my day once. Friday afternoon and evening I went to Disney’s EPCOT despite the heat. It wasn’t a long visit, but enjoyable none the less. Today I drove to the Atlantic coast. I expected to find full beaches and parks with a lot of outdoor activity, but instead I found fewer people and less activity than usual. Saturday was the day I let the thought of heat influence my day. I stayed indoors in air conditioned comfort most of the day. Only one shortened walk along my street interrupted my day in the inside cool.

The current above normal pattern continues until Memorial Day weekend, but hot conditions continue in Florida until the end of September. It is just something you live with and talk about. In my case I also tend to write about it in this blog too much.

Thursday May 15th 2025

I am finding traffic in this area of central Florida to have improved significantly. Some of it is timing. The winter residents are clearly back in their home regions. You just need to driver through a park like the one my base camp resides in. I would guess that less than a quarter of the sites and homes are occupied.

Probably the biggest traffic change in this immediate area is the result of two new lanes on Interstate 4. As I mentioned in one my resent blog posts, the two new lanes were completed in an expedited fashion. Since they opened in the last week of April the stopped traffic on the interstate has been isolated to short periods during rush hour. Drivers are not avoiding the highway anymore. Before the new lanes arrived traffic was using other routes that were not designed for heavy volume. The backups on the local streets, including on Disney property, are a lot less now.

It took me about thirty minutes to get to Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier this week. I has been taking close to an hour during the winter. My visit to Hollywood Studios was to get in one last showing of the Muppet Vision 3d movie. The whole Muppet Court Yard area of the park is being replaced by a series of Monsters Inc attractions starting June 7th. It will be under construction for the next year plus.

Hollywood Studios is my least favorite park of the four at Walt Disney World. It is not great as a place to get in my walking exercise. It is relatively compact and doesn’t have a lot of good long walking routes without doubling back. The rides also have very long waits. In addition to the Muppet show, I rode Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad on this visit. That is a fun ride, but I miss the Great Movie Ride that it replaced.