Walt Disney World Rides – Epcot Center
I hope you get the chance to go one day. It is a great experience. I recommend going in the low season, using the fast pass system and maybe getting a book to plan your stay. Pack light, have sunglasses for when you come outside in the bright sun from a dark movie ride. Bring a vest or something you can put on your shoulders when inside if the air conditioning’s on high. Bring snacks, a bottle of water, sunblock, and some $$.
At the end of Day 1, after Animal Kingdom, I still had time before I took my shuttle back to the hotel so I decided to take a ride in the monorail. I was hoping I could sit down, my feet needed a deserved rest but no, I felt like riding in a full rush hour subway. I did get a seat once we arrived to Magic Kingdom. I enjoyed the ride back to Epcot.
And I did this ride, Spaceship Earth in the Future World. At the end of the ride they take a picture of you and ask you to fill in a questionnaire on a screen in the car, and then they make a mini montage according to your answers. At the exit, like in the Dinosaur ride, they have big screens with pictures of everyone on the rides. They are numbered and they have computers where you can email the animation they made with your picture and answers. I enjoyed this free extra.
On day 2 the first ride I did was “Soarin”. I believe it is the best ride that Disney has. I had tears in my eyes as it was so beautiful. It was worth my 3 day ticket with the park hopper option. If you ever go to Disney, this ride is a must. Oh, and they even lift your seat up so your feet are dangling. I’m not sure if they tilt you forward a bit but for sure I remember vividly that they spray you with scents of pine above a pine tree forest, and with the scents of orange above an orange tree grove. I felt like it was the most wonderful moment of my life.
My second ride was “Living With The Land”, a boat voyage through amazing greenhouses with baby bok choi, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, lettuce and a fish farm. The rides in small cars are my favorites, after walking and waiting in lines for hours.
The next ride was “Journey Into Imagination with Figment”: A Journey that will engage the imagination and the senses. The only thing I remembered after the ride was at the end we got sprayed with the smell of a skunk!
“Honey I Shrunk The Audience”In-your face 3D adventure film where I met a friendly woman from Lasalle or Lachine on the island of Montreal. Her boyish skinny daughter was so cute, asking while we waited sitting on the carpeted floor, if there would be monsters jumping on us. That woman kicked me in the legs a few times when the air shots coming out of the benches made you believe mice were running between your legs.
Canada: “O Canada”, Circle-Vision 360 film. Hosted by Canadian actor martin Short. 14 minute shows. I liked this movie except when Martin spoke a bit of french when he introduced the province of Quebec – in Part II of the YouTube video – and said “La Belle Provence” while what he meant to say was “La Belle Province“. These are similar words but have totally different meanings. Provence is a region in the south of France, and Province, well, is a Province. I thought Martin should have made a bit more of an effort, being an actor he should have been able to rehearse and practice to pronounce Province right. But then maybe that was the Director’s job to tell him . But I still thought he was a good host!
In the France pavilion, I saw “Impressions de France”, a film celebrating the beautiful French country side.
I had lunch in Morocco, at the Tangerine Cafe, outside at a table in the shade, priceless! I had a Felafel Pita sandwich with lentil salad and couscous salad with a Dasani bottled water. I enjoyed the music and the setting.
In the Japanese shop, I saw the most exotic things. I got some paperclips in the shape of Penguins and some stickers.
In The USA Pavilion, I saw The American Adventure, a 30 minute show and inspirational story of America and its people. It felt like you were walking in the white house. It was something big and epic. The characters and their settings came out from the floor and I was wondering how much space it took to keep all of them, and how frequently they had to dust them. It was nice but I found it hard to stay awake and my eyes were shutting, it was so serious. One part they didn’t show us about the history of America though is how the British and French killed the natives with their guns, their alcohol, and their diseases… I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them but I wouldn’t know! And I would be somewhere else! Maybe somewhere in the south of France… with no snow! Yeah! On my way out the first thing I saw was the Espresso Coffee Sign!
In Italy and Germany it was mostly shops and restaurants.
In China there was the 360 Movie “Reflexions of China” with Beijing, the Wall of China, the Yang-Tse and the weird mountains.
In Norway, there was “Maelstrom”, A Viking boat voyage through dark places.
In Mexico, it was the “Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. Donald Duck, Panchito and Jose Carioca host a musical boat tour. At the beginning of the ride, on the right there is the restaurant and it smells so good! You can see the people seated and eating in a setting simulating an evening in Mexico in a small village with outdoors shops and lanterns and lots of people. To the left, the is the Mayan Pyramids. It was very colorful.
These last two rides were not a good choice for somebody having motion sickness… But I just wanted to do all the rides! Back in Future World, I went to Test Track… In the single person lane. I was supposed to wait 20 minutes instead of 50 and waited only 5 minutes but I hated it! I should’ve known, I get sick in a regular car, imagine in a test drive car!I regretted I was on it but once the car had left there was nothing I could do but swear in my head ?%$#@!!
So the last ride had ruined this one because I was more vulnerable to feeling nauseous. At Mission Space I chose the green team for a mild journey with everything but the spinning. There was an actor from the movie Mission to Mars. We were all assigned a role and tasks. I was the commandant. It’s not so bad now just watching the video because my seat doesn’t move and there’s no bumps… I had to shut my eyes quite a few times.
As soon as I was out, my watch said 5:15 and I decided I was tired and wanted to catch the 5:30 shuttle back to the hotel. I ran to C-11 and made it on time! The same people as yesterday were there waiting, a family from Scotland: a mother with her 2 kids and her parents. When I got to the hotel it was goulash night, a sort of macaroni with a meaty tomato sauce (which tasted like they had used the leftover breakfast pork patties), brought it upstairs, put my bikini and went for a quick swim. Thee was a Germany Movie Special on TV and it went well with all my memories of the day. At 10:00 I went to bed… tossed and turned.. that free goulash ended up costing me some rest!
At the end of the third day I went back to Epcot to do some rides I hadn’t been on. I went to “The Seas with Nemo and friends” where we boarded a clamobile and did an inside ride.
Then it was Turtle Talk With crush. I didn’t know what to expect in this interactive show and I was impressed! My question is how can they do that?! So there’s Crush, the turtle with a British accent who says “Dude”, “Toaaatally”, “Awesome”, “Right” all the time. The kids were very cooperative and it seemed like everybody enjoyed and had a good time. There was this little boy who was too shy to tell Crush his name “I understand totally dude, I wouldn’t know what to say if a turtle spoke to me”. So Crush asked the girl next to him and she said he was her brother, so crush said: “Oh, you’re kinda like his representative right?” and later he called her the Rep. Crush is very quick and always has a good and funny answer. It’s interesting to watch all the different Videos on YouTube with the different Crush versions… I mean all the versions are different because it’s interactive, Crush doesn’t always have the same voice.. he mutates!
My last ride of all was The Ellen’s Energy Adventure, a 45 minute show where Ellen brings us to the Dinosaur era. I thought I was in for a movie only… So I had a big surprise when we started moving! I had seen the rails on the floor but I thought maybe we would just ride a bit forward or backward or in circle. The whole crowd turned, the cars were all separated we were riding like a train inside the dino era! It was awesome! I was so glad I came back to Epcot after Hollywood.
I had lunch at the Land, a ginger beef Thai chicken with stir fried vegetables and rice. I wanted to do Soaring again but I didn’t have enough time for the wait so I did Living with the land another time and saw “The Circle of Life”, a short film with the Lion King.
I hope you get the chance to go one day. It is a great experience. I recommend going in the low season, using the fast pass system and maybe getting a book to plan your stay. Pack light, have sunglasses for when you come outside in the bright sun from a dark movie ride. bring snacks, a bottle of water, sunblock, and some $$ and voila!