Disney's Epcot

Today's view from our room
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Today was our day for EPCOT - Experimental, Prototype community of tomorrow. We arrived at 9:30am and our aim was to get through most of the popular rides/attractions as early as possibly, as by 10:30, experience at other parks tells us the waits are long and the fast-passes allocated for the day. We made our way directly for the “Soarin” ride. With only a 5 minute wait we boarded our row of seats in the simulator and were lifted high in the air in front of an enormous projection screen, and were given a handgliders view of key areas across the US. This was a great ride and a couple of times I had to close my eyes to stop having a second breakfast – if you get my drift.

The EPCOT world orb
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 It was then over to Mission Space, where yet another simulator ride was to take us on a mission to land on Mars. We opted for the Orange more intense line, but after multiple warnings coming over the PA system about the ride, I changed my mind halfway up the queue and moved to the green – less intense line. Joe opted to stay in the orange queue. With four “crew members” to a ship and each person allocated their role (I was navigator), the shoulder harness descended and I started to get worried. The ride took off at break-neck speed and had us flying in and out of an asteroid storm and other objects all the way to Mars. In the end I was very happy that I took the less intense option, as I got off this one feeling a bit queasy. Joe said the red version went through the same mission, he was Engineer, and I imagine I would have had to use the sick bags that were available to them!!

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Spaceship Earth Postcard
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We then headed to the Spaceship Earth attraction, this one contained in the well known globe of Epcot. In here, we boarded our two-person module and were taken on a ride through the emergence of technology over the centuries, finishing up with the invention of the personal computer. During this ride we were asked questions on a touch-screen in the front of our module about the type of people that we were and the type of things we like to do. At some point a photo had been taken of us and the software had extracted our face images.  The system then showed us a tailor made film of what our future could be like with our faces super-imposed on the animated caricatures.  When we emerged from the ride, we could see our faces displayed on a large screen with a world map, and then they zoomed off into Australia. We could then choose to send ourselves a postcard of the mini-movie which we did, and then it showed us a snapshot of the postcard up on a higher screen.

Nemo Sculpture
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We then checked out “The Seas with Nemo and Friends exhibit”, which contained aquarium tanks with tropical and freshwater fish. After this it was through to a small movie theatre that had rows of benches facing a tank with small fish. When the show started, a projected image of Crush the turtle from the movie Finding Nemo appeared, and through the joys of technology, actually interacted with the audience – asking questions and giving answers to questions asked by children in the audience. It was all a bit too real for a make believe character – We are sure there are now children out there that think that Crush is real, alive and can talk.

Aquarium Fish
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After a few other smaller exhibits we made our way around to the Nations of the World area of the Park, which included areas for United Kingdom, China, Japan, US, Canada, France, Morocco, Germany and Norway. Some just had shops and eating areas, and others like France, Canada and China had 360 degree movie theatres – where you watched 15min films about the country – filmed in 360 degree Panavision. To be able to view all around you you had to stand up and this caused me to suffer from a bit of vertigo and the filming had been done from above so made me about air-sick.

the dude of the sea.. Crush
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After sandwiches from a cafe in the Norway area, we found a spot to view the upcoming fireworks. These went off with a bang and were really good. Then came the mass exodus of people from the park, but thankfully we made it on the second bus back to the resort, happy to be home after a long day.