The newsman on TV said that this week EVERY state in the
country had temps below freezing, including Hawaii and Florida! It’s true but then the weather on top of
Hawaii’s volcano is ALWAYS cold! Our
original plans called for moving to Disney World on Monday but the forecast was
not good so we stayed in Kelly Park an extra day. On Sunday it was almost 80 so we slid into the deep cool water
and snorkeled down the Rock Spring Run.
And as always - I looked like the monster from the dark lagoon! As warm as it was on Sunday, Monday temps
hit the bottom in low 30’s and highs in the 40’s.
Tuesday was not much better as we loaded on the long pants and
sweat shirts and moved the condo to Ft Wilderness Campground in the maze of
loops and lakes in the Disney Complex.
Wednesday was supposed to get warmer but we
wisely chose to wear our winter coats as the morning started out cold - and we
were taking a boat ride to the Magic Kingdom!
Thru the main gates, Main Street USA lay before us and led our eyes to
the amazing view of the centerpiece of the park -Cinderella’s Castle. The child in H emerged as he grabbed my
hand and off we headed to Tomorrowland to ride his favorite ride – Space
Mountain. NO, it is not on my list of fun things to do with all the jerks and
fits of ups and downs and bright flashing lights being thrown in front of you
in the blackest of darkness. Although,
to be honest, I did only see one set of lights until I finally peeked and saw
it was the end of the fitful ride! H’s
second favorite ride, Tomorrowland Speedway was closed, as was his third –
Splash Mountain. We did ride the usual
ones - the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Frontier Railway. We
climbed the Swiss Family Treehouse and patiently sat thru the fake-feathered birds
tweeting away in the Tiki Room!
The
Country Bears Jamboree is not as good as the one in our memory; however, the
Parade of Presidents is still a great thing to behold. We hurried and caught part of the noon
parade but by 8pm we were leaning on the available strong fence to ease our
weary backs and feet so we could watch the amazing fireworks display that
flashed and boomed high above the moored paddlewheel tour boat. The spreading fingers of color that drifted
down the walls of the dark sky looked like large iridescent mum pedals
reflecting in the calm dark water of the small river in front of us. We finally joined the herd of human cattle,
all trying to merge back onto Mainstreet, to finally end up at the various
modes of transportation to get each back to their pillows and places of rest
for the night. Our boat finally arrived
and too many of us were herded aboard, filling the boat with so many passengers
that a lot were standing in the aisle.
Shortly after disembarking, a unique parade of small boats and their
obedient barges behind them slowly paraded across the lake, just out from the
boat dock at the campground. Loud music
bellowed from the lead boat as a large green dragon with a bright red tongue lit
up. Its body and tail were the 2nd
and 3rd boats. Then came a
turtle, 3 jumping fish and lastly a bright green gator with smacking jaws on
the following crafts. Enough! We needed a bus to our campground loop and
our own soft pillows. Thursday was
going to be here soon and we needed to find the road out of Disney.
