So the previous four days have been quiet around here because …ta da!… I took a vacation.

First one since last year.

I couldn’t go very far away from home and it was a part of a “family” event at my younger daughter’s University yet we wound up not doing much there and instead headed to Orlando for a couple of days at the parks there.  The first date was at Epcot and my wife in particular wanted to go there as they are doing their annual Food and Wine Fest and you get a chance to try out all kinds of world-wide fair.

One has to be careful, however, to not binge too much!

The next, and last day, was spent at the Magic Kingdom and…

…damn were there a lot of people there.

Used to be we Floridians knew there were certain dates you could go to the Parks (any/all of them) and there would be scant crowds to deal with and, therefore, very manageable lines to the various rides.

Used to be October was part of that time period as most people were knee-deep into their jobs/school/etc.

Apparently, that’s changed.

At one point, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, one of the Magic Kingdom’s newer and more popular rides, was listed as having a wait time of 180 minutes.

In other words, you had to wait in line three hours to go through what amounts to maybe a 1-2 minute long ride.

Sheesh.

Anyway, if you’re hoping to sneak into the area and not face big crowds, at least with regard to Magic Kingdom, you won’t have any luck.