We entered through the I-Gateway a little after 10:00a and headed straight for the Land. We did take a minor detour (and no, it wasnt the missed left at Albuquerque, sorry Bugs
) for this:
This was the second time I found the Queen of Hearts behind the Fountain of Nations first thing in the morning. We were on time for her M&G today, earlier that year my kids and I barely squeaked into the line.
We got to a very busy Land pavilion, it
was time for early lunch
and headed towards Soarin for our check in for the Behind the Seeds tour. I was super excited for this tour as LWTL is one of my all-time favorite attractions. We ALWAYS rode it when I came with my parents as a kid I remember parts of it being enclosed with plastic wrap and being really hot, but I loved seeing all of the growing plants.
But I digress
We waited about 15 minutes before our tour guide, Katie, came to gather us up. She took us through some backstage doors to start the tour and we were off to a little outdoor area.
The first room we looked at was where they were growing some of the plants that you can buy at the gift kiosk near Soarin. They had started the cuttings in their little jars and the room was just full of them.
We went back inside the Land building into a small room that had cages of two different types of insects: a wasp and a fly. Katie explained to us that the greenhouses sometimes got these parasitic flies that get inside of leaves and destroy them from the inside out.
Disney actually releases very small wasps into the exhibit that find and feed on these plant-killing flies!
As you can tell from the sign, the wasp also works from the inside out
For some reason, I dont have any pictures of the wasps, but from what I recall, they were smaller than a pencil eraser in length.
In that same room, I noticed Katie handed the only two kids on our tour a vial apiece. She whispered to them what to do with them and then walked to the back of the room again and asked for volunteers. E and I eagerly volunteered for the job, whatever it was, and we, too, were handed a little vile a piece. It was very cold to the touch, and to our surprise, it was a vial of lady bugs!
We were told to hold the vials until further instructed and we set off into the exhibit. One of the first things I noticed was this:
All of the walls were lined with this stuff. Its like cardboard, but its wiggly to stay vented, but it is also kept wet to help control humidity.
After I stopped being distracted by the walls, I listened to Katie talk about sustainability and the different types of gardening they do at the Land. As you may recall, there are several hydroponic apparatus in the exhibit as well as sand and some hanging gardens.
Our first stop within the exhibit was a hanging hydroponic garden of flowers
and some herbs. It was time for the volunteers to take our place in the exhibit and release the ladybugs which are like the parasitoid wasp a natural pesticide.
That one little guy REALLY liked E. At one point, he landed on her head! Also notice my nametag
Hi, Im JEAN!
There are just some things not worth fighting in this world.
Anyway, we moved on the down the first big room (which is more like the 3rd or 4th on the ride) and we talked for several minutes about how to set up our very own hydroponic garden home. Just after talking about the water gardens, Katie told us about some of the special molds Disney uses on some of the plants.
For those who have ever been during Halloween, you may notice Mickey-shaped pumpkins, for the rest of us non-seasonal travelers, we have to settle for Mickey-shaped cucumbers!
Katie opened up a refrigerator and pulled out this plate of cucumbers to try. Now, Ill admit, I hate cucumbers, but Im trying to like them so I tried one. This particular type wasnt as smelly and pungent as the ones we get in Indiana so it was cool and refreshing to eat.
We moved on to the next room through a massive door where a lot of the hanging plants were. We saw the massive sweet potatoes
and pumpkins
(Notice the boat in the background? Someone in the group made the comment to smile and be ready to be in their photos!
)
and this thing that smelled remarkably like a lemon but wasnt:
I cant remember what it was called, but it was bigger than a bowling ball!
We also stopped by the Guiness Book of World Record-holding tomato tree and I asked Katie about how it was doing. Last May the plant was completely down, except for what for any weekend gardener would call a good, healthy plant, but by December, the tree was back up into the canopy they use to support the vining plants. I lamented how much it had grown since May and she had said that a non-native predator bug got into the exhibit and destroyed the tomato tree in early 2011. What I saw in May was the restart after the infestation.
We pressed on to the room with all of the fish and crocodiles and managed to find a hidden Mickey
You cant tell its a Mickey from the boat ride, but the people who go on the tour get a full view!
We spent some time marveling at the alligators and we all had the opportunity to feed the tilapia in the massive vats as you just enter that room. Those things are massive and creepy and remind me a lot of the fish at Indiana Beach. They come up in droves because people feed them right by a boat dock. Eww
theyre just gross to look at!
We needed to get moving as our hour was almost up so we entered the last room of the tour (the first room on the attraction) where we saw bananas and papaya, etc. All of the tree plants.
We made our final stop right in the middle of a lot of the trees and played a guess-what-this-spice-is game. I had to be careful because of my black pepper allergy, but know what it looks like without having to smell it. Regardless, E made sure to send that vial the opposite direction of me. Our guide also shared with us her favorite plant/fruit in the entire exhibit and it just happened to be grown in this room, the dragonfruit.
We were officially done with the tour but Katie opened the floor up to questions/comments/etc. I took some pictures of my nemesis (while humming My neme-neme oooooh my neme-nemesis from Phineas and Ferb)
asked Katie to take a group shot of us near the pepper tree.
We gathered up the group and headed out of the exhibit and back to where we started. I was so glad we took this tour and Im pretty sure MB enjoyed it too.
The girls were set for lunch at Sunshine Seasons to feast on many of the elements we saw growing today, but all I enjoyed was a massive (and fresh) rice krispie treat. I had a date in Germany in a bit!