Like the good little park guests that we were, we dutifully made our speedy way in the direction of Soarin. The park had already been open for a few minutes, so we walked straight up into The Land and into the Soarin' queue (probably approximately 10 minutes at this point). Because I'm a pain, and feet gross me out, I requested we sit in the front row. We waited through one cycle of the ride, and then were led to the front center section!
While I do love Soarin', I will admit that it is a very brief ride for the hype, and the length of the queue itself (did you know that queue for Soarin' is a QUARTER MILE long? Not taking into account the hike to get into and through The Land pavilion.) Wingnut is in the group of people that can take or leave Soarin' completely, but I do like to go at least once during a trip.
After Soarin', of course, we then went over to one of our favorite rides, Living with the Land.
What can I say, I love a nice peaceful boat ride along harvests of lettuce and sturgeon.
I didn't take too many pictures during this ride, but I did make sure to get a picture of the Dragon Fruit. (During our previous trip, Wingnut bought one of the little dragon fruit plants from the teeny tiny store in the Land in the greenhouse environment, named it Planty (not knowing the Phineas and Ferb reference), transplanted him to dirt when he outgrew his little container, and we've been watching Planty grow since.)
Our Planty (the potted plant):
(Yeah, he's even in fancy cactus dirt.
)
Their Planty:
(That would only take up, oh, around half our living room...)
Supposedly (according to the Internet) our Planty wouldn't be able to produce fruit without being pollinated by bats or fruit flies. Which is SO not happening in our home. And if I put him outside in hopes of a random bat or fly coming by, more likely, he'd just get eaten by a squirrel.
We don't have a water lily. But they are pretty.
Of course, a picture of the 9 pound lemon.
(
Does everyone remember when I actually did the math to figure out how much lemonade the 9 pound lemon would yield?) (Last comment)
Lettuce, Mickey-style.
Scientific hidden Mickey!
Towards the end of the ride, I was absolutely DETERMINED to get a picture of my most favorite ride part, the pictures of the people with the various fruits and vegetables. (I have a particular fondness for Blueberry Boy.)
And this is what I got.
Hurrying to try to get another picture before we floated past.
Not great, but still counts as a YAY!!!
After Living with the Land, I knew Wingnut was itching to go on one of his favorite rides, Universe of Energy.
(In typical Wingnut fashion, again, a ride that they warn you you will be on the ride for 43 minutes. Which, conveniently, was approximately the amount of time we had left until World Showcase opened.)
(I really do love the Ellen ride, I think she's fantastic. But you can't say it isn't long!)
(
Also, I know this is a few days old, but did everyone see the Cinco de Mayo joke she played around her office?)
Waiting for the next show to start.
It's like a Stringbean and Wingnut puzzle!
We were let into the ride. The piggy bank. Dinosaurs. "What is rain."
And then we were back out into the sunshine! And heading to World Showcase, to a place we hadn't been before!
Happy almost birthday to your niece!
I just could NOT figure that place out at all!
And I have to admit, after a point, my favorite part of Oregon Trail was figuring out how quickly I could kill everyone. Fording rivers was usually good for that. 
)
But I will admit that it is a ride that could use an update. A slightly longer movie would be cool, as would a movie that travels around the world. But, I suppose, that if the movie were much longer, the lines would be that much longer. 
