Disney Springs

Wednesday - We went to Disney Springs, the retail area for WDW, to meet up with Tim and Sue from Fairbanks. It was in the 80s (°F) for most of the afternoon and, apparently, not very windy as the helium balloon was flying.

We walked through most of Disney Springs, had lunch at Chicken Guy (good Korean chicken sandwich!), and wandered through the shops. 

We then went to the Pop Century resort and took the Disney Skyliner to the Boardwalk. The Skyliner is free as it is just another transportation option around Disney World, like the monorail and buses. Here, we are crossing a small lake heading towards other resorts, where we will switch to another Skyliner towards Epcot.

We had dinner at Blue Ribbon Corndogs, where they had something that I had to try. A dill pickle corndog. The large pickle is hollowed out, and a hot dog is inserted. Then the whole thing is covered with the corn dog batter and deep-fried. It is served with peanut butter, but I don't think it adds much more. The combination works, though I did end up using a knife and fork. The addition of the pickle made it quite heavy.

We hadn't visited the Boardwalk on prior visits, so this was new. We ended up walking over 18k steps. Definitely got in some exercise. It was wonderful to visit with Tim and Sue.

Disneyland

Wednesday - We took the shuttle back to the Disney parks and this time we were in the park before opening (8am).

This is the “rope drop” crowd waiting for opening. After opening, we walked back to the holiday themed Haunted Mansion. The theme was The Nightmare Before Christmas. I never watched the movie but I gather that it was popular. 

On our way through Adventure Land, we noticed that Pirates of the Caribbean had a very short line. It was a walk-on. No waiting. We then headed into Fantasy Land and walked through the Sleeping Beauty dioramas on the second floor of the castle before going on the Snow White ride. Pretty nice that you can walk through the castle.

Then on to Toontown for the new, for Disneyland, Mickey’s and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad. It was exactly the same as Magic Kingdom. We are using the Lightning Lane Multipass for most of these rides so our wait times were very low to a walk-on. Pretty nice. 

It’s a Small World, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toads Wild Ride, and now we are waiting for the next one. Astro Blasters in Tomorrow Land. Then Space Mountain right after that. Dinner was a deluxe grilled cheese with tomato basil soup from Jolly Holiday. It was delicious. We then did the Nemo submarine ride. Bridget went to watch the Christmas lights and the holiday parade. I am pretty tired and sore so I am at the Star Wars area relaxing with some ice cream. It’s very quiet here. Everyone is at the parade!

I must say that watching DFBGuide, Mammoth Club and the AllEars YouTube channels really helped planning our visits. 16,626 steps for today.

Disney California Adventure

Tuesday - We caught the shuttle to Disney at 7:30 this morning. By the time we entered the park, it was around 8:30. The security line was slow. 

We rode the Monster’s Inc ride a couple of times. 

We then rode the single rider line for Radiator Springs. Only a 15min wait instead of an hour. 

Mid-afternoon, some relatives came by to visit. They were in Disneyland and park hopped to see us. 

I managed to snag a dinner reservation at Lamplight Lounge, which is a Pixar themed restaurant with some incredible food.

Striped Bass…

Brussels caesar! 

Lobster nachos!

After dinner, we went back to Car’s Land to see the neon and Christmas lights on our way out of the park. By this time, the phone battery was fading fast so not too many more pictures. 

15,439 steps for today. Tomorrow, Disneyland…

Downtown Disney

Monday - We took the shuttle from the RV park to the Disney area and spent the afternoon at Downtown Disney. This is the retail section sort of like Disney Springs within Disney World. Much smaller and walking distance from both amusement parks and the hotels.

Tomorrow, we will be going to California Adventure. This is the park the second park that was originally themed around areas and highlights of California. I don’t believe that it was an immediate success. It opened in 2001 so I have only visited it a couple of times. 

We also wandered through the Disneyland Hotel complex. It is significantly bigger than I remember back in the 90s, the last time I had stayed here. The hotel buildings still has a “60s” look to it. 

We had dinner at a new signature restaurant, Din Tai Fung, specializing in soup dumplings, which were fantastic. We ended up getting a double order. 

We are waiting for the shuttle back to the RV park now. It’s running late probably due to traffic…

Disney Springs and City Walk

Saturday - We checked out of the AirBnB this morning and headed south. We won’t be able to check in for our motel until later this afternoon. Just a Motel 6 in Kissimmee for one night. We stopped at Disney Springs to spend the afternoon. Free covered parking and it’s a nice place to wander around. 

Using the Disney app, I made a lunch reservation at Morimoto Asia. We had tried to get a reservation there a couple of years ago but it was always booked. We hear that it’s a pretty good place.

I had the Morimoto “buri-bop”. Kind of play on the Korean dish bibimbop. It was pretty good. The yellowtail was cooked at the table on the sides of the very hot bowl. 

Sunday - We met up with some RV friends Kevin and Charla for breakfast in Winter Haven at an egg restaurant. Pretty good food and good company. 

After checking into our hotel, we took the shuttle bus to City Walk, the shopping/restaurant area associated with Universal Studios theme park. Lots of restaurants very few shops. 

Afterwards, I walked to a shoe store about a mile from the hotel and picked up some insoles for my shoes. Hopefully, they will make walking a little easier. Especially the next couple of days. 

Tomorrow, Islands of Adventure.

Magic Kingdom

Wednesday - It seems fitting to go to the Magic Kingdom on our last full day in Florida. Bridget had an appointment in the morning and we headed to Walt Disney World around 2pm. After parking at the Transportation and Ticket Center, we rode the Epcot monorail loop. We then entered the Magic Kingdom and headed to the People Mover in Tomorrowland. It was only a 10 minute wait. 

While we were hanging around the castle, a show started on the castle stage. I’m sitting in the shade across the square as it’s cooler. It’s 86°F with a nice breeze so completely comfortable. 

After dinner, we went on a couple more rides before heading back to the RV. It was a good day. Tomorrow, we head out of Florida. 

Meeting Friends and Magic Kingdom

Monday - Today, I’m met up with BobB and his wife for lunch in a town called Celebration. It was a great lunch and I really enjoyed getting to know them a bit better. I had just known Bob from the ham radio testing.

Bob’s wife, JoAnn works at Disney and knew all the short cuts including this route behind Space Mountain so we could take a fleeting look at the upcoming Tron ride. (No picture)

Around 4pm, I headed for the Magic Kingdom. It took about an hour door to admission gate since I needed to go through the ticket and transportation center and hop onto the monorail to get to the entrance. 

First ride was Pirates of the Caribbean as the standby line was 40 min and it’s all indoor I.e. air conditioned. It only took 25 minutes. The next ride was Thunder Mountain as it listed a 30 min wait. It actually took 22 minutes. I was in the last seat in the last car and you get whipped around pretty good. 

Surprisingly, it doesn’t feel as crowded as it did at other times. Maybe the 91°F temperature discouraged some from sticking around. Yes, it feels warm and humid but it’s not intolerable. Bob suggested not sticking around in July and August. Plus, that’s hurricane season. 

Using the walk-up- waitlist, I had dinner at Skipper’s Canteen which is themed after the Jungle Cruise ride. Pretty cool decor and air conditioned! Plus, the staff use the same style humor as the ride. Kind of corny. E.g. The cabinet is referred to as “The Great Wall of China”.

Day 56, 57, 58 - Orlando Area - TT

Tuesday (56) - Another beautiful day though it is forecast to be breezy. The temperatures are ideal. Bridget is at her PT appointment and I’m enjoying it outside with the Jeep top open while typing this. 

I picked up the new Victron battery monitor from Bob’s home on the way back from Bridget’s PT. I’m thinking of replacing things in steps to try and isolate which part failed. 

1. New cable, original shunt and meter - No
2. New cable, new meter with the original shunt - No
3. New cable, old meter, new shunt - Yes
4. Old cable, old meter, new shunt - Yes

Well, it looks like the shunt failed. I guess I’ll see if I can get it replaced by Victron and then try to sell the new battery monitor with a new shunt. 

Since I have been using the AT&T hotspot almost exclusively, I changed the configuration of the Ubiquity Nano to use LAN1 for the WAN and LAN0 for the inside network. With LAN1 connected directly to the ethernet port on the hotspot. Hopefully, it'll be more reliable.

Wednesday (57) - It was a cool 58°F last night and a very pleasant 72°F now at 10am. There is enough of a wind to discourage having the awning out. I believe that we are going back to Epcot this afternoon and have not made reservations anywhere for a change. I believe the plan is to just walk around Epcot, maybe try some of the festival kiosk offerings, and maybe jump on a ride if there is a minimal wait time. 

We entered Epcot around 3pm. It’s moderately crowded but not as bad as during the holidays. It’s partially cloudy and 79°F so pretty nice weather. We usually head to the right towards Canada and go around the world showcase counter-clockwise. Thus time we are heading clockwise. 

I had the bruschetta with grilled vegetables and feta. Very tasty with the balsamic glaze. I should try and make this sometime. 

At Club Cool you can sample Coca Cola products from different countries. The Joy from Korea was the best offered here. Apple-lychee. The worst tasting was the smart sour plum.

The next small entree was the plant based Korean short ribs. Also, very tasty. The texture was closer to meatloaf but the sauce was spicy and the pickles were a nice addition. 

Thursday (58) - I finally got around to putting more micro-usb outputs on the 5vdc buck converter. It has a capacity of 35 watts so it should be able to power the three Raspberry Pi3s in the cabinet. The buck converter has two modes. Voltage limit and current limit. I run it simply as a 5VDC supply with USB outputs. The input is an Anderson Powerpole connector which I sort of standardized on inside the RV. 

I now have two of the four Raspberry Pi's powered off the buck converter. The third one, the DMR ham radio hotspot, doesn't boot completely. I asked the developer for a link to the software image. I will try re-imaging the SD card and try again later. Not sure what the problem is as it worked fine a couple of weeks ago.

Day 50, 51, 52 - Four Corners, FL - TT

Wednesday (50) - This pond is just up the road from our site and is within the RV park boundary. Warning signs for alligators and snakes are there but I couldn’t see anything.  

I rode the bike around the perimeter of the park and this place is huge. There’s even a fishing pier on a large lake. 

In late afternoon, we went back to Epcot. The Flower and Garden Festival is still going on so there are quite a few special booths set up around the World Showcase. Epcot is easily my favorite of the Disney World parks. 

We had been trying to get a reservation at the Garden Grill but have been unsuccessful. But when I checked the walk-up waitlist, it said a ten minute wait. And it really was only a 10 minute wait. The meal was very good except for the green beans. They were too salty. 

On the way out, we stopped to watch the light show on the Epcot dome. Goofy is holding a cake as part of the 50th celebration. 

Thursday (51) - The morning task was installing a trailer connector on the back of the Jeep. Not that we plan to ever tow anything but we may use a cargo or bike carrier on the back and it could have lights. The unit I installed was made by Curt and it has a small electronic module to control the trailer lights. With the module, the trailer light power is isolated from the Jeep lights. A good system. 

The awning screen came from Amazon yesterday to Bob’s home (thank you!). The upper foot of the screen slides into a track on the awning tube and the lower six feet zips on. Then add some stakes and guy lines. It does a good job of reducing the sun and doesn’t trap heat. 

Friday (52) - It rained a bit last night but it is another nice day today. The sunshade is working well. I've been thinking of picking one of these up for a while. At least every time the passenger side is facing south or west. I picked up some tent stakes from Walmart last night as the metal stakes don't have enough cross-sectional area to hold in the sandy soil. Two of the stakes actually screw into the ground.

We had heard that if you don’t like the weather in Florida, wait a few minutes. A front came through seemingly out of nowhere. I put things away and by the time I was done, the severe weather alert was gone…

Day 24 - More Disney…

Friday (24) - After a nice, cool morning, it’s warming up on its way to a projected high of almost 90°F. The “schedule” says that we are going to the Animal Kingdom park today. Probably not ‘til later this afternoon due to the temperatures. Plus, that park is one that most visit earlier in the day then “park hop” to one of the others that have more evening hours and entertainment. The Animal Kingdom park opens early and closes early. 

The first stop was the bird show followed by a light snack. It’s 4pm now and partially overcast. Which really helps not having the direct sun. 

The sitar player was pretty good. Different performers are scattered all over the park.  The crowds are definitely lower than they were at Epcot yesterday. I think the arriving later was a decent strategy. 

Right now, we are in the nice, air-conditioned theater for the Lion King live show. We still have 20 minutes but it’s air-conditioned so it really doesn’t matter. 

After the show, we wandered around the park and ended up sitting in the Pandora section for a while. It is starting to cool off, which feels nice. 

We had dinner at Tiffens within the Animal Kingdom. And then wandered through the Pandora section after dark. The iPhone 13mini takes much better nighttime photos than the iPhone X.