So I thought I'd try to write a post last night, but goodness gracious, I totally passed out so early, so that didn't quite happen.
I spent the past 2 days with basically the same plan for Epcot - take the water taxi from the hotel over, spend a couple hours in Tomorrowland, and then the afternoon in the World Showcase. That plan held together mostly, except for the total exhaustion that kicked in both days. So, Saturday - I got to Epcot right on time for opening. The water taxi dropped me off at the international gateway - between England and France in the World Showcase. They open the gates there about 7 minutes before the front gate in order to account for the time it takes to walk to Tomorrowland. My original plan said to go to The Seas with Nemo first, but there was a stream of people going towards Soarin', so I thought it'd probably be a good idea to get to Soarin' before it got packed. So I made my way over there, grabbed a FastPass and then hopped on the ride with barely any wait. I then rode Living with the Land, which, as a serious nerd, is honestly one of my favorite attractions - the greenhouses are ridiculously cool.
I then did the Seas with Nemo, which is kind of like the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland, except that it's in a moving clamshell rather than in a submarine. Very very well done. Then it was back to the Land pavilion to see the Circle of Life and ride Soarin' again using my FastPass. We then hit up Journey into Imagination with Figment. Now, my memory of the Figment ride was that it went through the big Spaceship ball, which is where Spaceship Earth now is, but I might be making that memory up. One of my last stops in Tomorrowland for the day was at Captain EO, which is just bizarre. I mean, it's Michael Jackson in some weird 3D musical adventure directed by George Lucas. From 1986. I just didn't get it. I was never really an MJ fan in that time period - I liked his early 90's stuff - Remember the Time, Black/White, etc - but wasn't really into him earlier in the jerry-curl era. Last stop in Tomorrowland was Innoventions West, which has some cool exhibits in it.
From there, the plan was to go all the way up to America in the World Showcase and make my way back down through the Western countries. So to America I went. I checked out the Fife & Drum corps and then an a capella group. I had a lunch reservation in Japan, so I made my way over there, had some sushi and explored Japan for a bit. There wasn't a ton to explore in Morocco, mainly shops. In France, I got a glass of wine while walking around and then went to see Impressions of France, the 18-minute video about France. It was there that the exhaustion kicked in as I struggled to keep my eyes open. I decided at that point that I wasn't going to survive to make it to dinner without a nap. So I hopped on the water taxi to head back to my hotel. 2/3 of the way there, lightning was spotted in the area, so I had to walk the rest of the way back in the rain. I pretty much crashed as soon as I got back to my room. I had a dinner reservation at 6:30, and had I not had it, I wouldn't have gone back to the park. But I did, so around 5:45, I made my way back to the park, walked through England and then went to Le Cellier in Canada for dinner. I wish I had been hungrier - it was SO good. I had a filet over mushroom risotto, which I realize is a pretty classic combination, but oh my goodness was it yummy. Oh, and I also had a beet salad, because, as previously stated, I'm apparently obsessed with beet salads now. After dinner, I watched O, Canada!, the 360 degree movie about Canada. It's been updated since I saw it as a kid. There were parts of it that I distinctly remember, but they've added things, like narration from Martin Short, and my least favorite part - a clip of Joe Carter hitting the home run off of Mitch Williams in the 1993 World Series. I may or may not have strongly objected out loud to the chagrin of those around me. I believe I could be quoted as "No. No. NO. NO NO NO NO!! NO!!! NO!!!!!!"
Last stop of the night was the nighttime fireworks spectacular over the lake - Reflections of Earth. It was very enjoyable. I made it back to my hotel, wrote the previous blog post, and crashed (are you sensing a theme?)
So, yesterday - similar plan - Tomorrowland first then World Showcase. I had cancelled my lunch reservation cause I figured I'd just pick something up - fish and chips sounded really good. First up - Test Track. Single Rider Line came up really big and I got on the ride with basically no wait. I then picked up my FastPass for Mission Space and went over to Innoventions for the Sum of All Thrills. The Sum of All Thrills is one of the most underrated rides at Epcot - it's very slow to load, but really fun - you design your own roller coaster and then get on robot arm and virtually ride your own coaster. How cool is that? There wasn't much wait at Mission Space at this point, so I figured I'd hit up TestTrack once more in order to get a better "value" out of the Fast Pass. Took a few minutes longer to get onto TestTrack this time, but the Single Rider Line still helped. A lot. Then I hit up Mission Space. Now, much has been made of this ride. When first opened, it was so intense that basically everyone threw up. So they made it a little less intense, and people still threw up. Apparently, though, people didn't want it less intense. They were fine with throwing up. It's on a centrifuge so there are G-forces created along with various jostling and whatnot that simulates a space mission. They have created a more tame version that doesn't use the centrifuge. And they warn you - a lot - about using the less intense version if you think you can't handle the more intense. Well, I don't know what all the hullabaloo was about. Yes, there were G-forces, but nothing like that ride we all used to do at the traveling fairs - you know the one where you stand around the side of a circle, it spins, and then tilts, and then the floor drops out. And you can barely raise your arms. I'm not the only one who remembers this ride, right? After I successfully did not throw up at Mission Space, I then hit up Ellen's Universe of Energy, but it went down about halfway through, so we disembarked early.
Anyway, I finished up with Tomorrowland and headed back to the World Showcase. I was super excited about the possibility of fish and chips for lunch, so I picked some up in England and then went up to America. I saw the a cappella group again and then watched American Adventure. It was interesting seeing this after having gone back stage on Friday. Then I made my way around the East side of the World Showcase, drinking a glass of wine in Italy, drinking another glass of wine and buying a caramel apple in Germany, watching Reflections of China in China, riding Maelstrom in Norway, and riding the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico.
It was still early by the time I finished up with all of the countries, so I decided to go back to Ellen's Universe of Energy to get through that completely. Worked out well. I halfway considered going to ride Living with the Land again, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep my eyes open. So once again, I headed back to the hotel and crashed. Hard. At like 6:00. When I woke up at 9:30, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back to sleep, but I finally did around midnight.
This morning I checked out of my hotel and started making my way toward Pensacola. Now, I had 2 wineries and a mission planned to go to on the way here, but when I got to the first winery, I had no desire to get out of the car, so I kept on driving. Consequently, I got to Pensacola a couple hours before originally planned. I hung out here with my brother for a while and went out for pizza for dinner. Tomorrow he'll show me around where he works and flies.
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