A Day at Epcot
Our first good decision was to go to Epcot for the afternoon and evening, a decision guided by the heat and my desire to see the closing fireworks show. Our first adventure was the "ride" that takes you through the sphere. The theme is communications through time so you travel on a track in the dark passing by animatronic scenes of cave men, Greek orators, early phone operators and families around TVs. The animatronics were great...I was sure that one cave man was live...it was the blinking eyes that got me!
The best ride of all was the Mission to Mars where we "rode" a shuttle into space, around the moon and landed on Mars...all via simulation and film. The special effects were astounding! Jim was the Commander, I was the Engineer and another couple played other roles. Of course we really did not have to do anything for real, but you get pretty involved in the concept. The effect of the G forces and the centrifical spinning both sort of disoriented me. I was sure glad we had not eaten anything before going aboard.
We were able to visit many of the attractions and were especially intrigued by the Turtle Talk show in the Living Sea. We sat in a theater where the MC had all the little kids sit on the floor in front. A huge screen showed an undersea scene. A turtle from one of the Disney movies appeared and started talking and got the audience involved in responding. Then the MC had kids asking the turtle questions and the turtle responded appropriately, like live, in both words and actions. How they got this animated turtle to interact in realtime was wonderful! We have some ideas how this happens....but of course they don't share that info with you.
Here are some scenes from the Living Sea...
I was delighted with the kids playing in the water spouts...
Our second good decision was to eat dinner early so we were among the first guests at Chefes de France where we enjoyed a salmon tartare appetizer, grouper with raviolis and roast duck with brandied cherry sauce, accompanied by Cote de Rhone wine and topped with creme brulee and profiteroles!!! Our server, Christophe, was from Paris working here for a year. We asked why he'd come to America and he exclaimed, "why to see everything...Chicago, Washington." We shared a bit of our lifestyle with him and encouraged him to go west of the Mississippi!
We had no clue it would rain so we sat out the shower in the Italian village and then watched the closing fireworks. A day at Epcot is not cheap....$125 for two for entrance tickets plus food and souvenirs. We overheard one dad say to his family..."here we are on a $5000 vacation and you spend time coloring pictures in books!" When we left and watched thousands of people stream out of the park I could only think $$$$$60 per person! But it was a wonderful day, a great escape!
