Chapter 7 – Day-4
- Part 2: Single Riders and Protean Spills
After getting our financial house in order, we continued on around the west thoroughfare and encountered something new (to us anyway). It was called “The Sum of All Thrills”. It appeared to be a simulator type ride that allowed you to design your own rollercoaster scenario and then actually experience your creation on a two-person simulator.
I’ve seen similar things at Disney Quest and other themed attractions but this was new for Inoventions. There was a healthy wait at the time and we were in the process of executing a different plan, so we kept moving. But we made a decision that we would have to come back here at some point and give this a try (and that we would do). We popped out into to Millennium Central, watched the fountain for just a moment or two and then continued on toward the east.
“East… South… what’s up with the directions?” OK, time for another one of my tangents (feel free to skip on down to the next paragraph if’n you’d like… Actually, I’d advise you to do so). Now then… I “see maps”. What?!?!… You heard me (and I told you to skip on ahead, but did you listen? Noooooo)… In the same way some folks “see words” as they’re trying to remember something or others “see dead people”, I “see maps”. Once I’ve read over one for a bit, it just kind’a hangs in the sky in fount of me from that point on, ready to be referenced as needed. It’s helpful when it comes to traveling around the home stomping grounds, navigating when out of town or just traveling around a theme park. Once I get everything lined up along the points of a compass, then I can make short work out of the business of getting to where you need to go. MK is very easy to navigate. If you’re standing at the main gate looking at the castle, you’re staring due north and the entire facility is laid out exactly like the park maps show. EPCOT on the other hand is upside down. When standing at the main gate at looking directly at Spaceship Earth, you are looking due south. What this means to me is that the sun rises over Mission Space and sets on The Land (sort’a poetic don’t you think), or from a WS perspective, it rises over Mexico and sets on Canada (which is completely cockeyed geographically speaking). Don’t know just how handy that little piece of information will actually be to you, but it does give you a glimpse into how I go about explaining where we’re headed. It also serves as an example of the kind of lunacy that my DW has to put up with on a daily bases (which really makes me wonder just exactly why she has hung around for better then twenty years… Lucky me).
Now where was I? Oh yah… Heading east toward the rising sun.
Toward Mission Space. This attraction comes in a v-e-r-y close second to Sorin’ as a family favorite and only because, Tamara simply can’t ride it. She did it once (and deserved serious “cred” for having done so), but ain’t getting on it again.
Here’s and older pic from the first time Max & I got a chance to hit this attraction (he’s considerably bigger now to say the least)
I hated to actually make you look at my ugly old self there, but pictures with me in ‘em are fairly rare. We’ll be taking two cameras on our next trip, so that could change in my next TR… Not that that will be a good thing for those that foolishly choose to travel along.
Anyway… Back to Mission Space. This dynamic (the one where only the fell’as are ridin’ the thing that is) effects how we go about taking in the fight to Mars, and actually in a good way. Since only the guys are ridding (and we don’t mind being split up), and MS actually has a single rider line (where as Space Mountain doesn’t) we can generally get onto one of the premier attractions “On World”, with very little wait (even during stupid crowed days). So away we go. We pick up our orange cards (I’ve never ridden the green side) and gather in the single rider corral. After a minute or two a CM leads us down toward the front of the queue, and as fast as a Saturn-V can leave a lunch pad, were only six people back from the fount of the line. Of course, there are still things that will slow up the process. The CMs generally will not run the attraction with any of the cars partially full (which is why they need singles at times), but just how many cars need to be filled out during each run is a very random thing. As such you might have to wait a round or two (but still considerably less the rest of the rabble). Today, however, we encountered something else that can add to the wait. Protean Spills. This occurs on the orange side rather more often then on the green and generally around meal times (if you catch my drift). Well, we had one of these unfortunate events so half the orange side was off line for a few minutes while a containment crew was doing a little bit of cleaning, sanitizing and deodorizing inside one of the simulators (there’s a job that I’d prefer not to have). It clogged things up for maybe ten minutes, but then everything got back on track and the count down resumed. As it turns out, they needed both Max and I to fill out the next run (Bonus!) So, into the briefing chamber, aboard the ship, a ten second count and Lift Off! Second stage TLI, once around Luna, into cryostasis, through the asteroid field, one hot landing, “don’t move a muscle” and we’re there. I love this ride.
We strolled through the obligatory gift shop and headed back toward the core. We found Tamara sitting in the sunshine talking to another couple and swapping stories about kids, travel and of course Disney. She was probably having about as much fun as the boys did (but just in a different way). We said our goodbyes to our fellow Dis-lovers, and journeyed west back toward Mecca (our Mecca that is: Sorin’).