Disney Day 4: Epcot

We spent today at Epcot, the park that was Susan and my favorite part of Disney World when we were here for our honeymoon. It's divided into two huge sections: Future World and World Showcase. Future World has eight sections currently open (with others under renovation), all of which have invention, science, and exploration as common themes. World Showcase has eleven pavilions, each a cluster of shops and restaurants and attractions designed to replicate a particular country's highlights. Much as we tried, we were not able to get to everything in Epcot today (nor did we yesterday in the Magic Kingdom--we have Wednesday set aside for return visits to the two parks).

Susan made us all Epcot T-shirts with all the countries of World Showcase represented on the back. She also made each of the girls a passport with a page for each country, knowing that there are locations in each country's pavilion for children to have passports (or scrapbooks or journals or whatever they bring, frankly) stamped with a stamp representing that nation and signed with some wish or greeting in that native language. And, of course, the autograph books that Susan made for the girls came along so that Disney characters in the park could add their signatures to those of Minnie, Mickey, Pooh, and others from yesterday.

Although much went unseen and undone today, this recap of our day features what we did see and do (not in chronological order)--click the links to see video clips:

FUTURE WORLD

Spaceship Earth

• The attraction, Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow, is undergoing renovation and was unavailable to us. However, the gigantic geodesic dome still looms over the park and provided a great background for photographs. (Late at night on our way out of the park, lasers from some unseen locations were projecting onto the sphere "goodbye" in all the languages of the pavilions in World Showcase--very neat!)

For some perspective, compare the size of the sphere to the size of wee Hillary.

Universe of Energy

• We rode Ellen's Energy Adventure, which has been updated since our last visit. It's a ride through the age of dinosaurs with a focus on how they eventually became the fossil fuels that provide energy for our world. Ellen DeGeneres, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alex Trebek, and Bill Nye the Science Guy now appear in a movie made to frame the ride and provide a context: Ellen dreams of doing poorly on an energy-themed Jeopardy! game until Bill Nye takes her back in time to explore the origins of fossil fuels--and new sources of energy (solar, hydro, nuclear, wind, etc.).

Wonders of Life

• The attraction is closed . . . for the season? forever? We don't know. But Susan and I recall having seen some fun stuff here on our honeymoon, including a simulator called Body Wars, which takes riders on a journey through the human body!

Mission: SPACE

• The big deal here is a simulator called . . . (wait for it) . . . Mission: SPACE. It takes riders on a launch into outer space and a rough journey through a meteor shower and an out-of-control landing on Mars. There are two options: the intense version using a centrifuge to create the feeling of takeoff and of outer space weightlessness, and the less intense version with all the same features but none of the spinning. As a family, we chose the less intense version. When we exited, the girls and I promptly returned for the intense version while Susan opted to wait for us on a bench outside.

The outside of Mission: SPACE is almost as fun as the inside!

Test Track

• It's a roller coaster that reaches speeds of 65 miles per hour and is designed to look and feel like an automotive test track--as though riders are working for an automobile manufacturer. We're taken through acceleration and braking tests, through heat and cold tests, through curves and inclines, all on the indoor portion of the ride. Finally the cars go outdoors to a longer test track, which is where the high-speed (and scream-inducing) part of the ride takes place.
• Excellent story: Susan was in line to get us all FASTPASS tickets so that we could ride this later in the day when George, a cast member working for Test Track, approached the girls and me (and we grabbed Susan to rejoin us). He selected us as the Family of the Hour! That meant that he led us past the lines through back doors and passageways directly to the front of the line (telling us stories along the way about the celebrities who use those very same back ways when they visit the park and get V.I.P. treatment). We hopped right in and enjoyed the ride. When we returned, he asked if we wanted to ride again, allowing us to remain in the car and go for a second ride! When we finally got out, he presented us with a Disney certificate naming us as Family of the Hour! We got included in Disney's Year of a Million Dreams Celebration!

This is George, the cast member who made us Family of the Hour and whisked us to the front of the line!

Innoventions

• This is a plaza with two pavilions (Innoventions East and West--although I think we were in only the East pavilion) near Spaceship Earth, each one featuring educational and interactive games related to human innovation and invention. It was a nice break to be indoors on a self-paced exploratory walk, allowing the girls to play and learn while Susan and I cooled off and relaxed a bit.
• We stopped in at Club Cool, a shop sponsored by Coca-Cola where they offer free samples of sodas popular around the world. They're not all versions of Coke, though; some are fruity, some are light-colored and sugary, and one from Italy is actually quite bitter and is served there as an apperitif!

Imagination!

• These glass pyramids house a couple attractions that we took in: Journey Into Imagination with Figment and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. The former is a mild ride through laboratories doing experiments with sight, sound, and smell; the car took us along the track, and we saw the animated character Figment wreaking havoc in each lab.
• The latter is a 3-D movie based on the movies Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. The premise of today's attraction is that a scientist accidentally shoots the audience with a ray that shrinks us to the point that a pet dog looks to be the size of a dinosaur to us. We got wet when the dog sneezed, and we felt it when mice ran off the screen and seemed to be swarming the auditorium; touches like that really enhance the visual effects of all the 3-D movies at Disney World.
• We played, too, in ImageWorks, a "What if?" lab with games to stimulate the senses--some musical, some using tricks of light, some featuring photography, etc. The girls got Disney charms for their charm bracelets in the shop on the way out.

We're so pose-y.

The Land

• This pavilion celebrates the land as a resource for humans. We rode Living with the Land, a boat ride through Disney's living laboratories (green houses where they grow many of the fruits and vegetables served in Disney World--using avant-garde techniques such a growing plants in midair, spraying water and nutrients directly on the hanging roots rather than planting them in soil).
• We saw Circle of Life, a combo animation/live action film featuring characters from the movie The Lion King learning about (and, in the process, teaching us about) ecology and keeping the planet healthy.
• Most importantly, we rode Soarin'--twice! Riders get strapped into a glider seat, which then lifts up and out into a movie screen that envelopes riders, extending out of sight to the right and left and up and down. Onto the screen is projected a movie filmed from a glider's perspective, taking riders on an air voyage above California's forests, river valleys, ocean shores, city skylines, and finally above Disneyland. Hanging inside the screen made it feel as though we actually were in the sky, and the glider sways and moves to mimic the camera work and add to the illusion of flight. They adjusted the flow of air through our hair to match the flight, and when we flew over California's orange groves, they misted us with orange-scented perfume! Very cool.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

• This pavilion was called The Living Seas when Susan and I were last here, but it now capitalizes on the popularity of the movie Finding Nemo by incorporating those characters wherever possible. The main ride took us (in giant clam shells) along a track through a huge aquarium as we went on a voyage to find Nemo. The frequent glass peek-throughs into the aquarium afforded us glimpses of the marine life within; but, cleverly, they managed to project animation of the Finding Nemo characters into those peek-throughs so that it looks like the cartoon charcters are actually inside the aquarium itself!
• There were lots of informational and kid-friendly interactive displays all over, many sharing facts about the real fish of which the Finding Nemo characters are examples. There was a demonstration of scuba diving in one area and a show in another area of the aquarium in which a trainer prompted two dolphins to perform for those of us looking on through the glass.
• A very fun attraction was Turtle Talk with Crush, an animated turtle character from . . . (can you guess?) . . . yes, Finding Nemo. Audience members are seated (kids on the floor in front, adults on benches in back) in front of a screen that seems like a look out onto the ocean floor. Then Crush swims up and starts talking to the audience! The technology is amazing; somehow the animated character is able to talk in real-time to children in the audience, answering their questions and addressing them directly (e.g., "Little girl in the purple shell [shirt], you have your hand up"). As a matter of fact, Crush called on Abigail! She asked whether all sea turtles look alike, and he replied that they don't and gave some details on the differences.

WORLD SHOWCASE

Norway

• We took a break from Future World at midday to take advantage of our dinner reservation at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. We had eaten here on our honeymoon, and Susan did her research to know that Disney princesses would be visiting today to offer signatures and pose for photographs. To start the meal, we all visited the koldbort (cold buffet) for selections of pickled and smoked fish, cheese, cold meats, and salads. The bread bowl on our table included delicious lefse! Our main courses came after that; and for dessert the server, Hege, brought three items for the table to share. Next to us were sitting two older couples from Norway who enjoyed speaking in Norwegian to Hege and who even posed with the princesses when they stopped by the table!

Belle from Beauty and the Beast

Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Jasmine from Aladdin

Ariel from The Little Mermaid

Alice from Alice in Wonderland (not a princess, technically, but we're not classist)

Hillary's ravioli was shaped like Mickey Mouse!

Susan's meal: kjottkake (a ground beef and pork meat patty in a delicious gravy), red cabbage, and herbed, boiled potatoes. I had a lamb stew.

The dessert: a "princess cake" (top), riskrem (sweet, creamy rice with berry sauce), and chocolate mocha cheesecake

• After eating, we returned to Future World until late afternoon/early evening, when we started getting the girls' passports stamped in the pavilions of World Showcase. In Norway, the girls told the cast member who signed their passports, "Mange tusen takk!" Little Norwegians. We enjoyed shopping in Norway and smelling the wonderful perfumes and colognes for sale in the shops.
• We rode Maelstrom, a Viking ship ride through the waterways of Norway with a moment in which riders almost go plummeting over a waterfall that actually opens out into the Norway pavilion (i.e., outside the otherwise indoor ride itself) before reversing direction and riding backwards through the dangerous North Sea. Trolls are to blame! Following the ride, we watched a five-minute movie on Norway before shopping.

I LOVE THIS PHOTO! Three Vikings posing with a giant troll.

Mexico

• We rode the Gran Fiesta Tour, a boat ride showing off the sights and sounds of Mexican geography and culture. Characters from the Disney movie The Three Caballeros appear throughout--which didn't mean much to me, because I'm not familiar with the movie. It's a fun, winding ride, though, through colorful vignettes and impressive architectural features.
• We strolled the marketplace and got the passports signed. The ride and shops and restaurants are all housed inside a building made to resemble a giant pre-Colombian pyramid in the Yucatan jungles. Beautiful.

Inside this pyramid lie all the treasures of the Mexico pavilion.

China

• Darkness is falling! Running out of time! No time to stop and watch the street entertainment! Must find the Kidcot station for the girls to get their passports signed! The cast member there, Pui Man, asked for the girls' years of birth and then used different stamps to reflect the "Chinese Year of the" animal in which each girl was born. We enjoyed the dramatic nighttime illumination of the stunning architecture in this pavilion (and the others, too, for that matter).

Isn't this pretty? If we were to return by daylight, I believe we'd find that this structure houses the theater where they show a "CircleVision 360" movie about China on screens that cover the walls in a complete circle, surrounding viewers and making them dizzy as they try to take in details all around them! (I remember liking it, though.)

Germany

• Still running out of time! Gotta hurry and find the Kidcot station! The passport signing cast member, Dennis, was impressed when the girls told him, "Danke."

Germany

Italy--no time to stop, but isn't this building pretty?

The American Adventure--again, no time to stop, but I love the laser beams shooting out a window above and behind the Christmas tree.

Morocco

• We hadn't eaten supper yet, we had a late-night appointment to keep, and we had too many countries to see before Epcot's closing time. Therefore, we resigned ourselves to returning on Wednesday as a "clean up" day to see the other countries, and we headed straight to Morocco for food (skipping all the other countries in between and after). We ate at the Tangierine Café: roasted chicken, hummus, tabouli, and cous cous. A nearby couple were one of thousands throughout our trip to ask us whether Suzanna and Abigail were twins!

Morocco

In Morocco we were in a good spot for our late-night appointment: watching IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, a fireworks and music and laser light show held on and over World Showcase Lagoon, the huge lake around which all the pavilions of World Showcase are situated. While Abigail, Hillary, and I staked out a spot on the shore of the lagoon, Susan and Suzanna returned to Norway to buy some pastries from Kringla Bakeri og Kafe (featuring, as they say, "a-fjord-able" treats) for us to enjoy tomorrow morning for breakfast. The show was amazing, inspiring a sense of both patriotism and world brotherhood with elements of Christmas spirit here and there.

The nighttime sights on the way out of the park were beautiful to take in, and we had some more photo ops, too, before hopping on the bus back to our resort--exhausted but thoroughly taken in by the Disney magic.

The lit-up bridge leading to Showcase Plaza at the entrance to World Showcase

The Epcot Christmas tree at Showcase Plaza

A luminous sculpture on our way out of the park is the perfect backdrop for four luminous beauties! (Awww.)