The Magic is out there. Jan. 21st-26th

 As much as we love St. George Island, we had to leave. Vowing to one day return again. We had a commitment to keep. So we packed up and headed along the gulf coast to our next magical destination. The drive along highway 98 was beautiful. Tall long leaf pine forests. Palm trees here and there. The sun reflecting off of the gulf coast waters. A great drive until you get to I-75.

What is it with Florida drivers? They are so angry and aggressive. Everywhere we go I am getting saluted with the one finger salute. (You know what finger I am talking about). 

"I am sorry that I cannot drive 90 in a 70mph zone!"

"Pass me for cripes sake!"

 I know when the bird is about to fly because they will tailgate me for a few miles and then zoom around me. "It's an interstate butthole!"

"There are three lanes! Is that really necessary?!" 

But all of that is behind us now as we get to Disney World. The most magical place on earth.

One of the perks of being in the military is that you get discounted park tickets. Plus we are also Disney reward members. So this week at Disney was theoretically free! We stayed at the Ft. Wilderness Campground. We love it there. Free transportation to wherever you want to go in Disney. That means, nobody flips you off.

Our first night there we hopped on the bus to Disney Springs for a little shopping and dinner. We got our first taste of large crowds. I asked Lisa, "Doesn't anybody keep their kids in school anymore?" She said that I was sounding like a grumpy old person. Keep calm. We made a vow that we were not going to be on our phones and the reason why is that wherever you look, people are plastered to their phones and not enjoying the surroundings. So many times we have been here and my only view of the parks was through the view finder of the camera. But not this time.

Our first full day was at the Magic Kingdom. In all honesty I was quite worried about being here. My health has not been the best lately and I did not want to be on the national news as the grumpy old guy that dies at the Magic Kingdom. Luckily I did not die there but I feel like I could have any day. More about that later.

We enjoyed seeing all that Disney has to offer. The rides, the scenery, the food. We loved riding the old familiar rides. Checking out some new ones and a little sad at the ones that are gone. Disney is continually changing all of the time.

Lots of people milling about. Some rides had short waits, 30 minutes or less. Some rides had much longer waits, 60 minutes or more. So after a long day,we got our fill of the Magic Kingdom.

We left before the fireworks and got back to our camper very tired. This was only day one. Those that have never been to Disney don't know what I am talking about but those who know, know. There should be an exercise program developed just for the people going to Disney. It should include walking all day. Standing in one place for what seems like hours. Just mainly being on your feet for an entire day. Many parents do it by wearing 20 pound backpacks and holding small children. We have been there and done that before.

Day two. We went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. This park is always changing the most it seems. Again lots of people. Some of the most popular rides like Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror where closed. I said to Lisa "A certain percentage of their rides are closed, they should give us that percentage in a discount off of our tickets". She chuckled and told me I was sounding like a grumpy old guy again. LOL?

We rode the rides with short waits and skipped the ones with longer waits. In past visits to Disney, they always offered what they called "Fast passes". That's where you could schedule a time to ride the most popular rides, thus skipping the waits. Now they call it the "Lightning pass." It does the same thing but now you have to pay extra to use that. So as we sit in line watching these other happy idiots skip lines as we wait, a small amount of anger starts to well up inside. I said to Lisa, "Disney should get rid of the lightning pass's and make everybody wait in line like the rest of us. That would make it fair." Grumpy old guy again. I'm starting to sense a theme. It's our own fault though. Disney saw an opportunity to make more money and they took it, because so many of these idiots said that they would gladly pay even more money to Disney than they already are.

They opened a new area at Hollywood Studios themed after Star Wars. Very well done. You would think that you are on a Star Wars planet of some kind. Except for the people everywhere. It was a very popular area.

Lisa kept thinking that we have been here before. In fact she swore on it. So she was looking back at photos. I on the other hand felt like we had not been here. Finally after much deliberation we figured it out. It was Disneyland where they had a Star Wars area. Duh. We were again tired and exhausted so we went to the camper for "Happy Hour". The local turkeys were eye balling the cats as we sat outside.

"Watch out! Here comes the grumpy old guy again!" Many years ago I said that I would not pay 6 dollars for a beer at Disney. And that holds true even more so today. Now the beers are $9.50-$10.00 a beer depending on what park you are at. Those are Jim and Barb prices. Again Disney saw an opportunity and ran with it because apparently there are a lot of people that will. If you want to buy some beer at the gift shop at your hotel, $19.50 for a six pack. Knowing all of this from before, we stocked up on alcohol before we got there. Put that in your pipe Disney and smoke it. Ha!

Day three. Disney's Animal Kingdom. Same story here. Lots of long lines for the most popular rides. We went to the "It's tough to be a Bug" show in the Tree of Life. It was so funny listening to the screaming kids that were so terrified by the show. That was the best part. There is a place in the Animal Kingdom named after me. If you go there maybe you can find it.

We got through the park in a few hours and then headed back to the camper for another "Happy Hour".

Day four. Disney Epcot.

Lots of changes going on again here also. We enjoyed walking around. Did a few rides. We walked around the World Showcase and got some good food from Japan, Morocco and England. We walked back around to Mexico for a Fiesta Margarita. ($15.50). After hours of fun we went home again for another "Happy Hour". Tomorrow we leave for more fun and frolic.

4 parks in 4 days. We were beat. We kept getting worn out after just a few hours. We asked ourselves how we could have done it from park opening to park closing every day. We would go around each park 2 to 3 times. Now we can only make it once and we are done. We were younger and in better shape for one thing but how can we both feel so decrepit? 

On to our next destination. It was great getting on the road again and being flipped off by the very first driver. Not kidding about that. In hindsight, that should have been a sign for how the day was going to go.

Until the next episode.