Chapter 15: Waking Figment and Putting the Cell Phone to Bed
Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.
-ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, first telephone communication, March 10, 1876
Ed, come here, we’d like to vacation with you!
Still Monday, 11/5:
After being subjected to tween-age whining from Tricia and repeatedly raised eyebrows from me, Ed finally ended his work-related cell phone conversation and we went inside the pyramids of the
Imagination! Pavilion to wake
Figment. We missed him last year, so this would be Aunt Rae’s first little purple dragon experience.
My own initial experience with the “figment of the imagination” was only as recent as 2003, about a year after our little yellow-eyed friend made his comeback as the attraction’s headliner. I asked Ed if he recalled the original Dreamfinder version, since he had visited Epcot once in the late eighties, but he said he didn’t remember.
“Do we sit for this?” Aunt Rae asked nervously.
“Is there a moving floor?” She was starting to ask these two questions prior to every attraction. I began to assure her that we would always let her know in advance if there was anything like that coming up, but was interrupted by Ed, who teased her by saying that she would have to stand for 45 minutes, or something like that, and that the floor moved the entire time.
“Really?” she gasped, and I gave him a poke with my elbow as he laughed out loud at the reaction he received. “I’m just kidding, Aunt Rae,” he apologized. But, she continued to worry about those two questions for the rest of the day.
Ready for a wild ride...
The line was practically non-existent and we soon found ourselves recruited as test subjects for the Imagination Scanner. Billy always enjoys this ride, not only because Figment causes “trouble”, but because of the various elements of sensory stimulation throughout. The lights, the colors, the blasts of air in the dark…even the stinky skunk smell (and our reaction to it) all delight him. We craned our necks to see the upside down room and oohed and ahhed when the giant butterfly disappeared. But the best part was toward the end when Figment and Dr. Nigel Channing began to sing
One Little Spark. 
Once you add music and singing to an attraction, Billy is one happy little guy.
He also happens to have an excellent memory, because as soon as we exited the ride vehicle, he knew exactly where we were going next:
The ImageWorks "What If" Labs. There are lots of interactive games he enjoys here, and since most guests were involved morphing pictures of themselves into flowers and sending them to their friends, there was pleanty of room to play in each area.
Conducting the Music...
Stepping Tones...
Billy spent about 15 minutes playing this...
Tricia wanted to play with the
ImageWorks but all the stations were filled and, since I knew it would eat up loads of time anyway, I convinced her to move on. We did stop to look at the
Leap Frog Fountains, though, and everyone enjoyed watching the water hop from one pad to the next. Billy was so excited, I thought he would climb right up there and jump into the fountains if we would let him!
Wacky Water
From here, we finally made our trek over to the Land Pavilion to ride
Soarin' before lunch. Once again, I had TGM to thank for recommending the least crowded park for this day:
We slowly walked up the incline to the doors of the pavilion. Slowly, because we remembered how Aunt Rae got so out of breath when we walked up at a “normal” pace last time. I really can’t blame her, though. There’s just something about being that close to Soarin’ that just makes you unconsciously want to pick up your pace and get to that queue in a hurry!
It was just going on 11:00 and already the
Sunshine Seasons dining area below us seemed packed. The food smelled wonderful and my tummy was glad when I reminded it that we had an 11:30 lunch ADR at the
Garden Grill. We rode the escalator down and Ed guided us through the masses toward the Soarin’ FP entrance. I presented our GAC to the uniformed CM and was delighted when Billy responded with an unprompted “Thank you” after he wished us a good flight.
It took more than one gentle scolding for the kids to slow down for their Aunt Rae as we purposely moved at a snail’s pace along the queue. They were both chomping at the bit to get on that ride! I must say that just about every group that came up behind us was willing to slow down for the older woman until either Ed or I motioned that it was okay for them to pass us in line. She seemed to do all right when there was a handrail to support her, but she clung to Ed’s arm for dear life during the few portions with no railing.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said repeatedly after she realized that so many guests were passing us by. “I’m just an old slowpoke!” We reassured her that it was better to be safe than sorry. Ed teased her by saying, “You’ll perk up once you see Patrick!” and we all laughed. (Aunt Rae really had a thing for “Patrick” this trip!)
From above us we could hear the folks in the standby queue laughing and cheering as they played the new interactive games that had been installed recently to make the line seem to move faster. For a split second, I wished we could check them out, but my curiosity passed very, very quickly when I realized that they were all in for a wait that would most likely be triple the length of ours!
We did wait for about 20 minutes or so and then we were off once more in our hang glider. Tricia
harrumphed that we were in the middle row again, but really, the sneakers dangling overhead don’t bother me. We were in the center section this time, though, which I do think is superior to the two on either end. I was seated between Aunt Rae and an older couple from England who were riding for the first time. They were duly impressed when, upon commenting on our close call with the golf ball in Palm Springs, I wowed them with a little trivia tidbit: the golfer making that shot was none other than Michael Eisner himself. It was an exhilarating ride and we all clapped once more when we came to a gentle landing.
Time for lunch!
We checked in at the
Garden Grill at exactly 11:30 and were given our pager. Everyone took an opportunity to use the rest room, which was conveniently located next to the restaurant. We still hadn’t been called yet, so I took some time to write in my travel journal.
The intrepid trip reporter...
Our pager lit up and we were led around the perimeter of the restaurant and up to the second tier. This was our first time dining here and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew the characters were Farmer Mickey and Friends, of course, and that the landscape changed as the restaurant slowly rotated.
We were seated at a very small table that was designed to seat four, but since we were a party of five, one of us had to sit in a chair sticking out in the aisle. I
almost requested that we be moved to a booth on the lower tier but, well, we were there and had already waited for a while, and everyone was pretty hungry. So, I let it go. We all squeezed into our seats and we let the kids sit on the side closest to the “view.” I took a picture of our starting position, with the idea that I would take a similar picture at our meal’s end to see how much the restaurant had moved.
As group photographer, I took the aisle seat so that I could get up and down quickly to take pictures once the characters came ‘round. Our waiter soon appeared and took our order for beverages and explained the drill: family-style meal… “homegrown” vegetables…all you care to eat…etc. etc. He was very pleasant, but he seemed a little light in the loafers and liked to laugh just a little too much! Oh well, happy in his work at least!
Pluto came around first...
The lighting was particularly harsh for some reason, and I had a difficult time getting pictures that didn’t get washed out. I tried using different angles, though, and was able to get some fairly nice shots of the kids with first Dale and then Chip.
*Next time, I will definitely request and wait for a booth on the lower tier.
Our food arrived and we were pleasantly surprised, especially by the fried catfish.
Pork Loin, flank steak, potatoes au gratin, and green beans on the main platter; fried catfish on the smaller platter.
I'd say Billy really liked his Mac 'n Cheese!
The food was all right, but we were really there for the characters. I must say that character interaction seems to be hit and miss at all the different meals. This one was one of those days when the characters just do a quick pose, wave, and move on. I had been hoping for a bit more “playfulness”, especially from the ever-mischievous Chip and Dale, but they did their bit quickly and were off to the next table.
Mickey came just as we were being served dessert. It was fun to see him dressed up in his farmer costume!
And when we were done, this is where we ended up!
After lunch:
Before lunch:
I guess what goes around comes around!!
(I know…I can hear you groaning from here.)
Kathy
. I am so happy for you!! Not as happy as I would have been if you said you were going back in November when we are, but at least you are going!!!
), it is nice to have something in the works. Only 10 1/2 months until I can make ADRs! 
. 
Oh and I never knew who hit the golf ball in Soarin, I didn't know who Michael was either 
I asked DH who is a golf pro and he hadn't heard of him either (I assumed he was a golfer) and then discovered he used to be CEO of Disney, whoops 
