Partners at Walt Disney World / Toll Roads

Partners at Walt Disney World

On just about every trip to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, I get a photo or two of the Partners statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. Except for the times when there are so many people around that I feel like it won’t be a good shot. Which is getting to be more and more often, it seems. Everyone wants a photo with Walt.

On this last trip, it wasn’t all that crowded around the statue. I knew that was about as good as it was going to get, so I got my shot, even though it had some people there in it. Hard to get one without them with a wide angle lens.

But these particular people had some interesting looks on their faces that you might be able to make out here, especially if you look at the larger version. It’s like they are saying, “I wish he would hurry up!” Don’t know if they were thinking that about me, or someone else. Or if they were thinking of something else completely. Such as, “Why are all these people taking a picture of this statue?”

Photo location: Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida
A three-exposure (-2, 0, +2) HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in GIMP

Toll Roads

On our recent trips through Florida, we drove on several toll roads. As we always do when we are there. It seems that there isn’t really a good way around them. I guess there is, but it would take a lot longer to get there. So we pay and drive.

I suppose it really makes good sense for the state of Florida to do things that way. Because so many people on the roads are out-of-state tourists, it probably isn’t necessarily right to have the local people pay for all the wear and tear that us visitors cause to the roads. So by collecting tolls, the ensure that those who drive on the roads are the ones who are paying for the roads. But it still makes me grumble sometimes when I have to stop and hand over more money. Especially when we had just been through another toll booth a couple of miles earlier.

And then I have always wondered about some of the unmanned toll booths. You can find those at some of the exits that aren’t for the more traveled roads. They expect you to have correct change for those, apparently. And they expect you to know ahead of time that you need exact change, and how much it will be. Because they don’t tell you that some of the booths are unmanned, correct change only booths until you are already down the exit ramp. We have always wondered what would happen if you don’t have correct change for those.

Well, last week we found out. We were turned around, and were trying to go in a different direction. And of course the ramp we took had an unmanned toll booth that charged 75 cents. And all I had was a quarter. I may or may not have gotten a bit panicked wondering what to do. I knew if we just drove on through it would take a picture of our license plate. And I quickly started reasoning how long it would take them to send that to the rental company, and then for the rental company to track us down and send us the ticket for the fine. And maybe they just wouldn’t find us. But fortunately, Laura saw that they have envelopes to mail in your payment if you don’t have it. So we grabbed one of those, and I mailed a check for 75 cents this morning.  Hopefully, that will take care of everything. If not, I’ll give you a call to bail me out of jail. 

And all those toll road experiences have given me the great idea of putting a toll booth on our driveway at home. Of course, Laura and I would be exempt from paying the toll. Because we paid to put in the driveway in the first place. But the meter readers and the UPS and FedEx guys and everyone else will have to pay.

So when you come to see us, you might want to make sure you have a quarter in your pocket, just in case. But don’t worry – we’ll gladly make change.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6