Disney Independence Day Fireworks and Crowd Pandemonium

The fourth of July is a great holiday in the United States because it marks our independence from England. The holiday is caped with an evening fireworks show. In 2015 we went to the fireworks in Celebration. We vowed not to do that again, so, in 2016 we went to the Magic Kingdom where they do the Independence Day fireworks on July 3 and July 4. 

After a great experience last year we decided to return to the Magic Kingdom on July 3 this year. But something changed this year. Perhaps in 2016 we were still haunted by the memories of the Celebration fireworks. Or perhaps in 2017 too many people attended. Regardless of what the difference was, we did have a good time... but there were some challenges.

First challenge was with getting a viewing spot in sight of the castle. Disney was trying to push people out to the extremities of the park to view the show, but if you are in the Magic Kingdom, you want to see the fireworks blasting all around the castle. 

We arrived to the castle area 45 minutes before the show started and it was packed shoulder to shoulder with people. The only spot we could find was near Tomorrow Land with a tree blocking our view of the castle.

The cast members were annoying in four different situations. In the first situation, once we found our spot, one cast member kept telling everyone (including a small group feeding babies) they need to all stand up and move forward - squishing uncomfortably into the people around them. After the fourth time? I think we have all squished about as much as we are going to. 

The fireworks started and were spectacular. You can see the entire fireworks show below:

When the fireworks end, everyone exits. Last year worked perfectly because a door opened behind us allowing us to exit behind the Main Street buildings. This year was different. To help deal with the crowds, the Magic Kingdom stays open for several hours after the fireworks so that people can ride rides instead of stand in exit lines. They also try to deal with overcrowding buses by offering Extra Magic Hours to those staying in a Disney Resort - allowing them to ride rides until 1am! We decided not to fight the exit crowds but to, instead, ride some rides.

When the fireworks end, cast member's job is to empty the overcrowded area in front of the castle by directing people to the extremities of the park where special exists have been set up. Because we were standing near Tomorrow Land, they wanted our section to exit into Tomorrow Land, but we wanted to go to Fantasy Land. This is were the second poor cast interaction happened. When we headed toward the Fantasy Land bridge, we were stopped and told the Fantasy Land Bridge was closed. That was obviously not true because there was a flood of people crossing that bridge. 

That lead to the third poor interaction. As we went to the bridge, there were two cast members that demanded we walk around them. In retrospect, maybe they were blocking puke on the sidewalk or something, I don't know. Linda was very annoyed at this point and yelled at one of them. 

The fourth interaction was later. At dinner we had ate at Cosmic Ray's because we couldn't find anywhere else that sold a basic hamburger and fries. When we paid we were told "Your annual pass discount works everywhere except Cosmic Ray's". We weren't very happy about that. To make is worse, once we found a table (those tables are made for two people, not four - what were they thinking?) we learned the restrooms were closed at Cosmic Ray's - further frustration. And I know, "How could you be frustrated at the Greatest Place On Earth?" Well... it happens. So now fast forward to the end of the night and we hit the restrooms at the Terrance as we were leaving Tomorrow Land. A cast member says "Sorry, these restrooms are closed, but there are more restrooms at the bottom of the ramp". That must have been the straw that broke the camels back because Linda lost it on the guy. "Closed! Closed! What do you mean closed? How can they be closed? They can't be closed!" Mark, to his credit, calmed his mother down and we went to the bottom of the ramp and found some restrooms.

Back to the story... we followed the flood of people across the Tomorrow Land bridge. There was a mix of people heading the correct way and the wrong way (coming at us) because they didn't know where to go. It wasn't clearly communicated that after going to Tomorrow Land you could exit the park next to the Carousel of Progress. Instead, people flooded into Tomorrow Land and didn't know where to go. Worse, a flood of people who had crossed the Fantasy Land bridge hit Fantasy Land and took a right into Tomorrow Land with the hope of getting across our bridge so they could exit. There was one cast member standing at the end of the bridge trying to stop the flood by yelling "This bridge is one way! Go back the way you came!"

The crowd was insane: complete pandemonium. I was run over my several strollers and almost taken out of action by a wheel chair. We had to get out of the crowd and jump on a ride but everything had 50 minute waits... except for one ride....

The Carousel of Progress! The line was short, the ride holds a lot of people, we got right on, and then enjoyed a nice air-conditioned show. When we emerged from the ride, the crowd had nicely thinned out. We stayed for several hours enjoying the dance party and several rides, then left the park around 11:30. 

My description of events might make it sound like we didn't have a good time. Actually, Disney World offers such a fantastic time that it is rare (and noteworthy) for those short moments when everything isn't just perfect. 

Hollywood Studios: March of the First Order

Hollywood Studios (aka MGM) is undergoing massive construction. The small park has been made even smaller as various attractions have been closed down to make room for a new Star Wars land and a new Toy Story land, expected to open in 2020.

The favorites are still available: Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, Little Mermaid, Muppets, The Great Movie Ride,  Indiana Jones, Frozen Sing-a-long, and many of the rest. The Beauty and Beast shows have been cut back to make room for a new Toy Story show in the same theater.

The main reason for going to Hollywood Studios is Star Wars. If you are Star Wars fan, you'll find no where else that will give you as much Star Wars exposure.

You can watch Star Wars movie clips, get behind the scene information, visit the canteena, have pictures with characters, watch light saber fights, see the movie props, buy souvenirs, and more.

You'll see storm troopers march down the main street of Hollywood Studios around once an hour. The storm troopers are from the First Order and, as the story is told, they land just behind the buildings, emerge, and march down the center of the street to deliver a message of warning to the citizens. Last year, the troops came from the Launch Bay, but this year's parade down the main street is much better.

You can watch a video of the March of the First Order here.

Disney Quest Closes

Word came last year that Disney Quest was closing to make room for an NBA basketball themed restaurant. Disney Quest is a multi floor arcade that opened in 1998. You can read more about Disney Quest's history here.

The sale to the NBA restaurant fell through in 2016 over a disagreement between Disney and the future owners on who would pay for the building renovations. Negotiations started up again and an agreement was made. The closure of Disney Quest from moved from 2016 to July 2, 2017.

We decided to go to Disney Quest to enjoy one last go. Unfortunately, we arrived and found a huge line of people waiting to get in because the building was filled to capacity! My boys were very disappointed as it was clear we wouldn't be able to get in. We decided to, instead, head over to the AMC theater and watch Cars 3.

The theory behind replacing Disney Quest with an NBA experience is to give husbands something to do while the wives go shopping. They want to pull in the kinds of customers that wouldn't normally go to Disney. I don't know how successful this will be and would rather have seen them keep Disney Quest.

What to take to the park

When we go to Disney, we go prepared. There are four of us so that means four backpacks. When the kids were younger we used to take a stroller and hang bags off it. When they got older and weren't using strollers anymore, we still took a stroller so we could pile it high with bags. But now that the kids are teens they can all carry their own backpack.

The security guys at the park entrance usually get a chuckle when they check our bags. "How many days are you planning to stay?" "You can get free water in the park." "All of our water is filtered." The comments are great.

So... what do we take?

Water. Lots of bottles of water. I usually have five in my pack and one frozen - not because I drink six bottles of water (I don't) but because the kids usually drink more than they carry and they don't like the taste of Disney water.

Each bag has a camera, batteries (extended batteries for phones, AA and AAA), a handheld video game or two, charging cords, a mini fan/spay gun, park maps, small flashlight, cooling towel, wash cloth, Hat, sunglasses, suntan lotion, rain poncho, Disney trading pins, chapstick, and bug spray (gotta fight off zirka). Each person also carries a snack container that might have cookies, crackers, pretzels, frozen grapes, or whatever they can fit in the container.

I don't like the taste of Disney water either so I take individual crystal light packs that I can pour into the water bottle when I refill it.

Do you think we take too much? Write to me and let me know what you take with you to the park.

Highway 27 Walmarts

Every year we go to the Walmart on Highway 27 in Clermont.  It is easy to get to: just go to the end of 192, then turn right. 

Walmart has the best prices - much better than Publix or any others. But this particular Walmart is a tourist Mecca. I call it the Babylon Zoo. When you visit this Walmart you will find people from every corner of the globe speaking every language you can imagine. It is a bit of a crazy mad house as tourists pile carts full and locals want to just get a few items quickly. The place is packed every time I go. Employees can't keep the shelves restocked fast enough. When you are ready to checkout? Pack your patients because there are never enough open registers and the lines back into the clothes section. 

We went to this Walmart on Tuesday to Grocery Shop and Wednesday to pick up some odds and ends that we were missing. On Thursday, we needed to go to Walmart to get my son a new bathing suit and we all said "No more Babylon zoo!"

We drove the extra 20 minutes south down highway 20 to Haines city. Haines city has an excellent Walmart that is nearly the same size. I call this Walmart the LoveMart. In one part of the store, we came across a couple that were feeling each other below the belt - awkward! In another part of the store, a young lady came up to a guy and started making out with him. He finally pushed her to the aside and said "That is enough". At that point the young lady slapped the guy really hard! The guy then turns to me and says "See the kind of abuse I have to put up with?" This Walmart is appropriately named: the LoveMart. 

Instead of going south on Highway 27, we could have went north on Highway 27. Babylon Zoo is in Clermont, but, that is really the outskirts of Clermont. Going 25 minutes north takes you into Clermont where another Walmart can be found. We visited that Walmart in 2016 and found it to be nice and free of tourists.

There are other Walmarts in Kissimmee, but I would fear those would be even more filled with tourists. 

Bugs in the villa

I have written about Florida bugs in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and tips to avoid taking bugs home.

When we select a villa we always ask about the owner's pest control procedures. We have stayed in too many bug infested houses and have learned the importance of regular professional services and quick responses to problems.

We have never stayed in a Florida villa that didn't have some bug infestation. Those villas that lack professional services will tell us "It is Florida, this is normal". That is a lie. You may see an occasional roach or ant, but it is not normal to see an infestation or to see these creatures regularly.

This year's villa was no exception. The dinning room had a severe ant infestation. The ants were entering near the dinning room window and were expanding throughout the house.

We immediately contacted the owner. The owner called Terminix who came out the next day and sprayed.

We have learned important lessons over the years and we were prepared to deal with this problem. We always bring at least four totes and keep them off the ground. Our groceries are sealed into large ziplocks and space bags put into the totes. We do not allow anything that a bug could get into to sit on the floor (bags, suitcases, etc).

Terminix arrived and sprayed. The great part of having an exterminator spray is to not only kill the bugs you see, but to kill the bugs you don't see as well.

Yes, that picture is of a roach. When you contact an owner who doesn't do good pest control and report these creatures, they will say "Oh, that is just a Palmetto bug".  Palmetto or not, it is a roach and it doesn't belong in the home, so, don't accept that answer. This roach is belly up and dead as a result of the exterminator.

In houses where we do not trust the pest control practices, we'll put a piece of double-faced tape across walk ways and then check in the morning to see what it caught. We are also not afraid to buy ant traps and spray our own bug spray around the house.

Arrive to your villa with the expectation you'll find bugs and will need to deal with it. Demand immediate response from a professional pest control company, and call them back to repeat as often as you need. Follow the precautions I have outlined in previous posts.  And don't accept living with pests.

Villa Check-in Inspection 2017

It has been a long journey and you have finally arrived at your villa. All you want to do is get inside and jump in the pool. But wait! Before you bring any of your belongings into the villa, you must do a check-in inspection. You must go through the villa top to bottom and look for problems and damage. Those issues need to be immediately reported to the management company and/or villa owner. Failure to do so could leave you liable for those damages!

Read the Five Must Do Tasks when you arrive at your villa. You can also read about our 2015 inspection and our 2016 inspection.

You can watch us perform our 2017 inspection by watching this video here.