The Future Looks Like the Past at EPCOT

Despite the fact that I flew on American Airlines, I amazingly made it back from Orlando yesterday--we even landed twenty minutes early. Some of that Disney magic must have still been with us.

We went down to the sunshine state because my husband had some business down there for The Man, so I took it as an opportunity to tag along and get a change of scenery and weather. After chilling for two days at our resort, I headed out on Thursday for eleven hours of theme park madness on my own. I spent half of the day at EPCOT and the other half at the Magic Kingdom.

The last time I was at EPCOT was in the year 2000, and it hasn't changed a heck of a lot since then. I remember when the park was first built in the early 80s, and then renamed EPCOT in the early 90s--it was supposed to be a futuristic place that spotlighted new technologies and innovations. (EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow... Walt Disney had originally envisioned it as an actual town where people would live and where businesses could be based. That didn't quite work out.) When I visited this park as a kid, it did seem kind of cool. But now it just seems dated.

I went there this time for one reason and one reason only: to ride the new Finding Nemo ride. I have a sneaking suspicion that they placed this ride in EPCOT, instead of where it more logically would fit in the Magic Kingdom, to keep people coming to the park. I made a beeline for the ride as soon as I got there (which was shortly after the park opened at 9 AM) and was happy to find that there was hardly any line at all.

The ride was short and sweet... and quite honestly, meant for the 3-6 year old set. But hey, I still liked it. You're in this little clam shell thingy that moves slowly through scenes from the movie, and at one point it looks like Nemo and some of the other characters are swimming around with real fish, so that was cool. Here are some pictures of the entrance to the ride...


The seagulls above move and shout "Mine!" like in the movie.



I barely made it out of the ride alive!


Since I got through Nemo so quickly, I decided to keep going and tried the new Soarin' ride. Basically it's like you're in a hang glider and you're flying over all of these scenic landscapes. You're in front of a gigantic movie screen and your feet are dangling down as they raise all of the seats into the air, so it does feel pretty real. However, I kept being distracted by little flecks on the film, and I thought they cut between scenes too quickly, which ruined the illusion that you were actually soaring. You can't just go from being over the ocean to being over the mountains in a split second!

I actually liked waiting in line (about 40 minutes) for Soarin' better than the ride itself. They had this giant screen that projected outlines of everyone standing in line, and then you could move things on the screen with your hands--it was wild. I am the figure a little bit to the right of the center of the picture below, with a bag over my shoulder. The blue spots are where peoples' hands are moving the rows of "mountains" projected onto the screen. It really does not take much to amuse me.


After Soarin', I got a kiddie meal for lunch. My husband said that this picture made him ill. What? Chocolate pudding and carrots don't mix?


I then went on Imagination! and Maelstrom (the ride located within the Norway exhibit). There were some teenagers in the boat with me for Maelstrom, and they kept yelling, "Help me Lord JEEEEESSSSSSUS!" I actually found it pretty funny because it is not a scary ride, at least not if you're above the age of 5.

That was pretty much it for me at EPCOT. By 1 PM I headed over to the Magic Kingdom, though I did really enjoy the International Flower and Garden Show displays that were out throughout the park at EPCOT on my way out.

Here are a bunch of them for your viewing pleasure...






- e