Cold and Crowded at Disney World

On Friday morning I took off for Hollywood Studios. I wandered around a bit and then decided to do the Movie Ride. That is usually easy to do because the line moves quickly. The ride is housed in a building that resembles Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Well, I had to wait a bit. Things are really crowded at all the parks, more than I expected.

In the line for the ride one sees movie memorabilia.  And then one gets into a large room where bits of old movies are being shown to keep one entertained while winding a way through the queues.

Here is a view from Mary Poppins. And then finally I was off for the ride.

After this I decided to find my way back to the Comedy Warehouse again for another show. The cast was a bit different, but indeed they are doing improvisation for while the "acts" were the same, the content was different. This time the cast had to quickly make up a story song that used the phrase, Happy Christmas.

After the show I went looking for lunch. No luck -- every place had long lines. By the this time the combination of cold with some light rain as well as the crowds made me decided to leave the park and go to Boardwalk for lunch. One does that by taking a boat.

Much to my surprise almost every restaurant there is closed for lunch. I ended up at Big River Grille and had a sandwich. Then I took the boat to EPCOT.

EPCOT was crowded too and the rainy weather did not make it a good afternoon for taking photos.

I tried to get a photo that showed the rain drops glistening on the cabbages in the gardens.

I went to the film in the Canadian pavilion and found to my surprise about half of the shops in that pavilion to be closed.

The music group that plays here, Off Kilter, is one of my favorites.

I was delighted to find myself in the right place for a performance, but oh, another surprise. The combination of musicians has changed and the type of music has also changed. Perhaps if I had encountered the group for the first time I would have been delighted, but I was looking for the "old act." Glad to have CDs at home, so I can continue to hear the music.

I had in mind to do some jewelry shopping at Italy where there is Murano. I was delighted to find a necklace that has a stone that matches ear rings I purchased here another time.

I stopped at the restaurant in the American pavilion for a bit of supper. While there darkness arrived. I continued to walk around the World Showcase and decided to enter the Mexican pavilion, for it's always night there anyway. The markets were really crowded, but the line for the boat ride wasn't too bad.

Then I headed for Spaceship Earth for that is usually a walk on after 10 AM in the morning. Boy, was I wrong, I waited in line for 20 minutes. (On Sunday at 10 AM when I walked by, no one in line!)

After this I headed back to my room, hoping the sun would return tomorrow.