Walt Disney World: Day Three -- Epcot

We actually had an uneventful morning on Monday. Having learned my lesson the day before, I set the alarm clock in the room, and it went off at 6:45. I got myself going, and then got the family going and, as a result, we were at Epcot by 9:10 a.m.

I had learned from my reading (and watching the Disney Information Channel on the hotel TV) that the new ride/attraction, Soarin’ was the number one attraction. Soarin’ was imported from Disneyland in honor of its 50th anniversary and, as the Number One Attraction, I knew that we should make that the first thing on our list of things to do at Epcot.

Soarin’ is located over in the Land pavilion and, after a brisk walk through security and the ticket gates, we were on-line in Soarin’ by 9:20. We only had a ten-minute wait, so we were thrilled.

Let me tell you, it’s an amazing ride. It’s part IMAX movie, part hang-glider, and 100% fun. You do get lifted up in the air for the ride, but don’t let it freak you out. You don’t really go anywhere – but let me tell you, it certainly feels like you are hang-gliding over California. You feel the breeze, you smell the trees, and you feel yourself move. It’s so real, I instinctively lifted my feet as we swooped over the ocean because I thought I was going to get my shoes wet! (By the way, for those hunting for Hidden Mickeys, watch closely – you’ll see one during the ride, if you're alert.) Soarin’ is amazing, and really worth the wait. (Seat Tip: There aren’t really any bad seats, but in Row 1, you won’t have any feet hanging from above you, as you do in Rows 2 and 3. It’s not really terribly distracting, but I did notice it, so I’m just saying....)

After we finished, we wanted to do it again, but by this time, the wait was already up to thirty minutes. Hello, Fast Pass. We got a time for about an hour later, so wandered upstairs to the Circle of Life movie. It’s very informative – and kinda dry. But it did serve the educational purposes we needed for Jake to complete one of his assignments for school, so it was worthwhile. For instance, in the waiting area outside, we learned that cars were the hope of the future in the late 1800s because folks figured they would help decrease the horse-droppings problems that were plaguing society at the time. The movie itself, though, in all candor, is kind of a yawner for younger kids, so keep that in mind.

From here, it was over to the Living Sea. The must-see attraction over here is Turtle Talk, with Crush (that’s the turtle from Finding Nemo). This is a neat little interactive show that will delight your kids and really amaze you as well. We’re still trying to figure out exactly how it works. Simply put, Crush talks to you, reacts to you, and engages members of the audience in conversation. You have to see it to appreciate it, and you should definitely see it.

The massive aquarium in the Living Sea is also incredibly impressive. You can watch schools of fish, and rays, and a wide variety of sea critters. There are also lots of informative displays all throughout here, so if you’re into the denizens of the deep, this is the place for you.

We strolled back over to Soarin’ for our second ride. Thank goodness for the Fast Pass. The wait was over an hour when we got back to the ride, but in the Fast Pass line, we waited for less than five minutes. The ride was just as thrilling the second time around.

By now, it was lunch time, and we’d reserved lunch over at the San Angel Inn, in Mexico. (Yes, I know. It’s technically the Mexico Pavilion. But to me, it was Mexico, so that’s what I call it.) Inside the temple, it appears that you’ve stepped into a courtyard in Mexico on a star-lit night, and the effect is truly realistic. There’s a little ride that passes through here (The River of Time, which traces the history of Mexico) and you can see the little boats passing by as you eat your meal at a table near the “river.” The effect is really neat, and we had a wonderful, mostly authentic, Mexican meal that was delicious. I say “mostly” authentic because I did notice that they were using bagged Tositos chips, instead of freshly made chips as in some other Mexican restaurants we’ve visited. Not that the chips were bad – but you can tell the difference (and I saw the bags as I passed by the kitchen). Other than that, though, the food was wonderful. Afterwards, we wandered through the little shops and stalls in the “courtyard.”




Once outside, we visited the little jewelry stand, where Sue found some beautiful sterling silver rings at very reasonable prices. For about $20, you can have your name, or initials, carved into a silver ring in about 20 minutes. It’s a neat little souvenir.

After lunch, which we finished at about 1:30, we had a bit of a dilemma. We had 6:30 dinner reservations in England, so we had about five hours. We were also stuffed from lunch, and we weren’t at all sure how much we would want to eat by 6:30. This highlights the primary problem we faced with having booked two Disney meals in the same day. You wind up planning your activities around meal time, which kind of stinks, because you’re always watching the clock. Also, you don’t want to eat too much at lunch for fear of ruining dinner. But, if you have a wonderful luncheon meal, you sure want to indulge, right? Thus, the dilemma.

We decided to hit as many countries as we could until about 4:00. Then, we would start to work our way to the front of Epcot again to visit Innoventions and Mission: Space before dinner. (I was the only one remotely interested in Space, by the way – we’d heard a lot of horror stories about how sick people became on the ride, and how scary it was, so Sue and Jake were already opting out while at the same time insisting that I go so that I could report back. [That’s part of the on-going mission of the family -- to find a ride that I won’t go on. So far, they haven’t found one!])

Anyway, after lunch, we headed for Norway, where we wanted to ride in the Viking Boat. That was a neat little ride, actually. (Note, though, that if you’ve got little kids, there are some dark, kid un-friendly, semi-scary moments during the trip.) We did elect to skip the film about Norway after the boat ride. I know, I know. But we made up for it when we visited China next. There, we watched the film (which is the only entertainment in China). The film is quite amazing, and China itself is beautiful. The movie is one of those 360 degree films, where the screens are all around you, and the movie is shown on 8 screens, all with a different scene, shot from a first-person perspective. It’s really impressive.

Inside the pavilion, there’s a display about the new Disneyland they’re building in Hong Kong. We, of course, had to get a picture.



From China, we skipped past Germany and hustled over to Italy for one of the afternoon street shows. (The times for the entertainment is listed in your daily guide, which you should make sure you get when you enter the park.) The World Showcase has a wide variety of street performers and entertainers, and its both a nice rest break, and an entertaining show, if you catch the performers in one of the countries.

We watched the World Showcase Performers put on a rousing version of Romeo and Edna (one of Shakespeare’s lesser works). They did a great job of putting on an entertaining show, involving the audience, and having a good time. After that, we paused to enjoy a little champagne and chocolate from the little wine shop in Italy while we enjoyed the afternoon sun.

From there, we started to make our way towards the American Pavilion, when we happened upon a couple of characters: Mr. Smee, from Peter Pan, and one of Cinderella’s mice. Then, suddenly, from the little pathway between Italy and America, we caught site of the mother-lode of characters. We saw Chip and Dale! And farther back – Pluto! And, Oh. My. God! Mickey AND Minnie! Together! Jake was freaking out! He got autographs from Chip and Dale, and Pluto, before grabbing a spot in the Mickey and Minnie line. Oh, but it was a long line. We’d learned that the characters don’t stay out all that long, and I could hear the clock ticking as people did their meet-and-greet with Mickey and Minnie, and adjusted themselves, and readjusted, and snapped, and reset for pictures. All too soon, the Cast Member with them said, “Mickey and Minnie will be back, but they’re going to have to take a break in five minutes.”

Five minutes? Well, that should have been plenty of time. But the family of five in front of us had to shuffle, and adjust, and pose, and re-shuffle, and hug, and then pose some more. The Cast Member said, “We’re going to have to leave soon,” and my wife piped up sweetly, “But it’s onlyl been two minutes! We have three minutes left!” The Cast Member, who was very nice, grinned, and acknowledged, “Okay. Three minutes.” Meanwhile, the family of five was STILL trying to get just the right picture. Yes, I know it’s Mickey, and I know you want your picture, but there was a line of about a dozen folks waiting, and they were completely oblivious to that fact. But we stayed calm and, with one minute to go (we made sure to time it!), we hustled Jake into position with first Mickey, then Minnie. He got his pictures and his autographs, and we were done in thirty seconds, which left plenty of time for the folks behind us to get their pictures, too. Whew!



As Jake enjoyed his autographs, the couple that had been behind is line thanked us for making it possible for them to get their autographs and pictures. We exchanged stories about our character hunts, and we learned that Donald was one of the toughest to get. As we thought about it, we realized that we hadn’t seen Donald yet at all, anywhere. So, of course, our goal for the rest of the trip was to find Donald.

By now, it was time to work our way up towards Mission:Space. I tried to talk Jake and Sue into joining me, but no go. Instead, they busied themselves exploring the area around the mission while I walked in. (You can see that Jake had his hands full!)



There was absolutely no line for the ride – the wait was less than five minutes. But here’s another line tip. They have a Fast Pass line, and a regular line, and also a line for those “flying” solo. DO NOT take the solo line. Here’s why: Each “capsule” seats four. If they have a couple, or a group of three going together, they take a person from the solo line to fill in. Since I was solo, they told me to go in the solo line, which I did. However, the Cast Member up at the front of the line had absolutely no idea what she was doing. With no one – NO ONE – waiting in the regular line, or the fast pass line, she didn’t start filling capsules with the first four solos in the line. Instead, she waited to get groups of two or three, and then would pull one or two solos from the solo line, resulting in about a ten minute wait. Yes, yes, I know – with a ten minute wait, I shouldn’t be complaining. But it’s the principle, dang it!

Anyway, the ride itself is pretty good, though I wouldn’t classify it as great. In the waiting area, you’re given a role – commander, engineer, etc. Then, you’re led to the capsule. The first thing you see is an air-sick bag, displayed prominently on the dash board before you. From what I was told, these bags actually get a workout on a regular basis, although I didn’t anticipate any such need on my part. Still, a pouch full of air-sick bags can be somewhat intimidating.

As you enter the capsule, you take the seat that corresponds to the “role” you were assigned. During your mission, each person has certain buttons they’re supposed to push during the trip, at certain times, for the mission to be a success. (The button pushing, while fun, is not required, so you needn’t worry about crashing your capsule.) You get a pre-flight briefing (from mission commander Gary Sinise, who's one of my favorite actors), and then, you’re off.

The simulated launch is really amazing. The view through your screen, plus the sound, plus the motion, helps make the feeling of lift-off very realistic. It’s pretty impressive, as is the rest of the mission. Overall, it’s an enjoyable ride, and I’d do it again, but I certainly wouldn’t waste a lot of time waiting in line. Fast Pass it, to make the wait tolerable. (Riding Tip: I understand that this ride is based on a NASA-style centrifuge. The secret to avoiding any motion sickness is to keep your head back against the head rest and continue looking straight ahead. That way, you’re less likely to lose your equilibrium.)

From Mission: Space, we spent some time in Innoventions. We were surprised how empty it was. Jake got to try some virtual bowling, and some virtual baseball, without worrying about people waiting behind him. We also toured the “house of the future,” which was a fairly colossal waste of time (but worked its way into Jake’s science project for school!) and also saw some of the testing devices used on appliances by the Underwriters Laboratory. (*Yawn!*) Okay, it was somewhat interesting, but only just.

As the dinner hour rolled around, we headed off towards England. Unfortunately, dinner was a bit of a disappointment for us. The menu was severely limited for our tastes, and the food itself was not particularly well-prepared. I was kinda sorry that we’d scheduled the afternoon around what turned out to be a very sub-par dinner.

As we waited for the check, we discussed whether we had the energy to wait for Illuminations, which was scheduled for 9:00 p.m. (almost two hours away). Looking at the schedules, we saw that MGM, which we were visiting the next day, closed at 7:00 p.m., which would leave us plenty of time to scoot over to Epcot afterwards to watch Illuminations. Given our level of fatigue (between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, there’s a LOT of walking involved), we decided to call it an early night, and head back to the hotel. After all, it was our vacation – why make ourselves miserable with exhaustion?

As we headed out, we paused in a couple of shops and did some hat shopping. We stopped at the lighted sidewalks, and the dancing fountains. And, because I’d promised Jake, we finished with the ride in the Golf Ball (the Spaceship Earth attraction). With absolutely no wait at 7:30 p.m., it was an easy way to finish the day.