EPCOT – Experimental Prototype community of Tomorrow

I learned something today.
I learned the EPCOT actually stands form something, I had no idea. It stands for Experimental Prototype
Community of Tomorrow. Interesting right?
Now back to the beginning. The
morning began with a change in weather, it was cloudy and cool, our moods seemed to correspond. The Parks are great but we had reached the 4th
day of going all day long without any breaks.
I think we all were starting to feel the wear and tear. However, Ken has many memories of Epcot, it
Is his favourite of all the parks and he was excited.
After a
quick breakfast we all piled into the cars, Nate had taken to having a word of
the day, today’s word was Epcot, fitting, he said the word over and over until
we reached the gates. Apparently Epcot
is a very fun word to say as Will joined in a s well. The American Holidays ended on Sunday, this
seemed to relieve many crowds we had experienced at the other parks. We were there early enough that we were in
the first parking lot and didn’t even need to take a tram from the parking lot! Thanks to the expert advice of our friend
Tracy we immediately headed to get a fast pass for Saorin’. We then checked out all the attractions
located in that building. Epcot really
is the most educational park of the four, we saw some very interesting
things. We started off with a movie, The
Circle of Life, an environmental fable hsted by everyone’s favourite Lion King
characters, Timoe and Pumba. The basic
gist of the movie was a good one but it had a very Disneyfied ending showing
how all humans are working together and cleaning up the environment. I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but,
it’s a great goal! We then headed on a
boat tour that took us through the history of the planet and then into Disney’s
green houses where they are developing interesting new organic and hydroponic
gardening techniques. The green thumb in
me was certainly impressed.
We then
headed to what I really think was my favourite section of the Park, The Nemo
Reef! There were some really fantastic displays
here but my favourite by far was Turtle Talk with Crush. Crush is my favourite Disney Character of all time so I
was thinking that this would be fun but it was way better than I had
expected. We entered the theater and
Crush started talking to the people in the audience, asking and responding to
questions, it was really cool. There
must be an actor somewhere providing the voice, the animation part we haven’t
figured out yet as his mouth moved fairly accurately to the words. We then spent some time admiring the fish and
aquatic life they have in giant aquariums.
The dolphins were of course my favourites. We then went to the Manatee tank. They are something to see up close, they
really look like giant lumps of clay floating in the water. Giant lumps of clay that munch on lettuce all
day long. It was then time to use our
fast pass for Saorin’.

I didn’t
really know what to expect from this ride but as we got further along the line,
the warnings became more frequent, do not ride if you are afraid of heights, please
remove loose fitting shoes, yikes, what was I getting myself into? I decided that this trip I was going to do
things that I was afraid of (except roller coasters, I’m hanging on to that
fear!) The ride amounted to a big flight simulator in
an Imax type screen. The ride lifted us
up into the center of the screen and we were off. Soaring over the Southern Pacific coast of
the US, Yosemite Park, Napa Valley, the Pacific Ocean, it was so
beautiful! I was glad to have been brave
and faced my fear of that ride!

It was
almost 1;00pm and we had done so much yet we had just scratched the surface. Nate was slowing down, that became our
indicator that it was time for lunch. We
again had a quick lunch so as not to miss any park attractions. Once filled up again, Nate and Will were
ready for action! Although the action we
found may not have been the right thing.
We headed over to Ellen’s Energy Adventure, we thought this would be a
funny, educational experience and It was but it was also another experience
that sent Nate over the edge. At the
beginning of the movie/ride, Ellen and Bill Nye the Science Guy (Bill, Bill,
Bill, Bill) took us back to the beginning of the earth and then the period of
the dinosaur. At this point the ride moved and took us into a recreated dino
land, complete with a roaring, giant T Rex.
I heard the whimpering first, then the I’m scared, then the full out
melt down. Luckily, we moved quickly
through the dinosaurs and onto the next time period. Nate
recovered quickly but every time we went into another dark area and he was
unsure of what was coming next, he got very close and still.

When
the ride was over, it was time to head to the giant sphere and ride Space Ship
Earth. This was really cool, travelling through
displays about the ways we have communicated with each other through out
time. When we got to the very top of the
dome it was as if we had entered a planetarium.
The stars projected on the roof were spectacular! Will, Ken and Eric now had fast passes to
ride Mission to Space. A ride simulated
to feel like a launch. Nate, Jane and I
spent the time having a little snack and then Nate hatched a grand plan to
surprise the boys when they passed by our resting spot. The plan contained a lot of choreography and
we had to run drills continuously until
the boys walked right past us and missed the whole thing! Nate yelled surprise and Ken didn’t even
notice. Clearly, we had to re-run the
scene so that Ken and the other boys would have the appropriate reaction, we had
been practicing for half an hour after all!
After the appropriate level of surprise was attained we headed over to
the Test Track. This immediately became
a favourite experience of all the boys in our party. Even I have to admit it was pretty cool! We hoped into a car on a track that went
through a variety of testing obstacle courses. Then to achieve the speed and breaking tests
it took us flying along an outdoor track.
Will and Nate were beside themselves, I could hear them whooping and
giggling through the whole ride and when we got off, the conversation was a
mile a minute. Did you see this, did you
see that, we went sooooo fast, let’s do it again! We explained to them that the wait without a
fast pass was two hours, that quickly changed their minds and we were off to
explore the world!
We
managed to explore almost all of Tomorrowland but the sun was already beginning to set as we
headed off for the world Exposition.
Nate was struggling as he had injured his foot and he was hungry. Will on the other hand was excited, he couldn’t
wait to get to China, he thought there would be a Great Wall of China, imagine
his disappointment when there wasn’t! We did however come across a show of
Chinese acrobats and contortionists. The
boys were enthralled for a while as one man did amazing tricks with a giant
clay pot and a young woman turned herself into a pretzel! This is as far as we got, Mexico, Germany and
China, then the temperature plummeted and we were all cold, tired and
hungry. We made our way back to Mexico
where we had a lovely meal overlooking the lake. It was the beginning of Will’s birthday
celebrations as our waitress brought over cake with a candle and the wait staff
sang to him in Spanish. Will had never
experienced this before and he loved it.
His eyes shone with excitement!

Finally the time had come to say good bye to the Magic
Kingdom. We had had four fabulous days
of sine shine and fun or as Nate would happily sing for you, “Disney Junior,
where the magic begins!” Our magic is
not over though, tomorrow we board the cruise ship. I really don’t know who is
more excited about that Ken and I or the boys!