Another Time, Another Place 02/08/19 (Friday)

Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, Disney World, Orlando, Florida

If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love.  I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  ~ John 15:10-11

We’ve figured out another piece of Disney’s diabolical plan to rake in the dough.  They apply sleep deprivation and extreme fatigue in order to boost sales.  If the children are grumpy, the parents try to placate them with snacks and gifts.  This strategy also works on weaker-willed adults.  Hence the multitude of mouse ears, Disney clothing, random paraphernalia and toys roaming the parks. 

So how do they manage this?  Late night, after hour fireworks and early morning semitruck deliveries and trash pick up – – – at 5:30am.

But we’re strong.  We’ve refused to succumb.  So far.  And with only one day left, we feel pretty safe.  Although I’m experiencing cravings for pastries from France . . .

We start later (and more slowly) as each day passes.  Our bones ache.  Bodies and minds need a day of rest, but that won’t happen until Sunday, because we still have today in Epcot and tomorrow we move. 

I haven’t touched my laptop since we moved last Saturday.  It’s remained safely tucked away in its case.  Resting and waiting for me, like a ventriloquist’s dummy.  😊

It’s out this morning though, because we’re not leaving today until about 8:30am, and we’ve been awake since 5:30.  We’d most likely leave even later, but we have two Fast Passes to use.  If only we’d known, we would’ve done the Fast Passes differently.  Next time . . . .

If I can talk Blaine into a ‘Next Time’.

Our daily devotional for today was really good, so I decided to share it.  It’s in the Guideposts book my mom gives us each year for Christmas.  This one was written by Erika Bentsen.

Eight degrees below zero.  Moonlight casts perfect, crisp silhouettes of the trees, right down to the last pine cone and needle, and scatters millions of diamonds across the ice-crusted snow, outshining the stars overhead.  The air is shockingly cold and fresh and pure.  All is absolutely quiet.  No coyotes.  No owls.  No traffic creeping along the frozen highway in the distance.  Not a breath of wind moves.  I am caught up in the beauty.

I’ve got to share this.  I pat my pockets and pull off my gloves to retrieve my phone.  Cold bites at my fingers as I turn on the camera.  The focus icon blinks red.  Even with a brilliant full moon it’s too dark.  A flash won’t help.  Irritation flares.  Then stillness follows.  Look.  Breathe.  Savor.  Be.  This is for me alone.  And it’s only for right now.  Slowly, I memorize the details in my heart:  the colors on the snow, the stark image of the pines.  God’s creation is much too big to be confined in mere photographs.  How often do I rush through moments like this, trying to capture it to be enjoyed later?  Sometimes I need to slow down and immerse myself in now.  This is when I feel closest to God.

So good for me to be reminded of this!  But this is exactly why I take so many pictures.  So I can be reminded later of how God has blessed us!

Today we didn’t leave until 8:45, but really only that early because we had a FastPass to use by 10:20.  It takes time to get anywhere, but most of the time it’s very efficient.  And it takes at least two modes of transportation to get anywhere (unless you want to hire a Minnie Mouse Taxi) – a bus to get out of the campground, and then a bus, boat or monorail to get to where you want to go.  This time, it was two buses.  Oh!  And FYI – Disney has about 350 buses and is one of the first in the US to run on R50 fuel, and 50% renewable diesel made from non-consumable food waste (like used cooking oil).  Good for them!

Security took a while today.  There were a lot of people!  I guess because we arrived later.  Anyway, we went to our FastPass, but the ride was shut down.  There was no power.  So they told us to come back anytime during the day.

So now what?

Blaine said he wanted to ride the monorail around Epcot, which sounded like a good idea at the time.  Well, that sure didn’t go as planned!  It took for-ever!  Basically, we rode Disney transportation around for a total of two hours this morning.  But that’s okay.  We could use the rest.  😊  And on the way, we learned a few facts through their speakers:  The geosphere (the big ball) is 18 stories tall.  Epcot currently encompasses 300 acres and hosts 11 countries in the World Showcase area.  And the monorail is capable of holding 300 passengers at a time.

While we waited for our next FastPass time at Test Track, we did some more exploring and re-visited the Aquarium.

The Test Track queue allows you time at a computer screen to design your own car, and then, as you go through the ride itself, they tell you how your design tested in things like efficiency and power, etc.  Ours didn’t do well except in the power category.  😊  But part of the ride also goes outside, simulating being on an actual test track!  That was unexpected and a blast!  And we were fortunate enough to be in the very front seat!  We also learned that this attraction is the longest and fastest ride ever created for Disney.

It was just about lunch time, so we walked to the now open World Showcase area to get some lunch – – somewhere.  The somewhere ended up being in Mexico.  Not our first choice, but we were really hungry by now and the food smelled and looked good.  And it was.  Blaine had nachos with beef, beans, etc.  and I had a bowl with rice and chicken, etc. 

After lunch, we took up our tour around the world and just like yesterday, we visited some wonderful places!

Before we left Epcot for the day, Blaine checked the wait time for Soarin’ and found it was only 30 minutes, so we high-tailed it to the other side of the park and flew one more time.  This time I took a few pictures!

We were just too tired to wait around for Epcot’s fireworks show, which doesn’t begin until 9pm.  I seem to remember that we went to bed about that time tonight.  😊