According to Wikepeida Spaceship earth is an 18 story geodesic sphere that takes travelers on 13 minute dark ride to show the evolution of communication through the ages. In theory there are 11,520 total isosceles triangles in the sphere. It took 26 months to construct and it was designed so no water falls to the ground when it rain. Water is collected in one inch gaps in the facets and drains into a gutter system which delivers it into the World showcase lagoon. Talk about recycling.
When we were done in Innoventions we started to walk in the direction of spaceship earth. We will trying to kill some time until we could get out TT FP's and ride Soarin. The posted wait time for SE was 20 minutes and I would guess we were in line at least 15. It was just starting to get hot outside and I was glad when we were settled in our omnimover. DH sat with LJ and I sat in the back row by myself. When I tried to enter my home location, I ended up mistakenly telling the ride I lived in Iceland. I don't know what it is about this ride, but I can never hit my location. I know Delaware is small, but I've ended up in the Atlantic, the Pacific, Costa Rica, and Nigeria.
I must have a really fat, uncoordinated finger!
Once I was all settled in, I began enjoying my travels from the stone ages to the Roman ruins to Michaelangelo and the Cistine chapel. The unexpected ring of my phone ruined my solitude. The fact that my phone was even ringing at all was a surprise since my kids rarely call, they only text. It was DS14 on the end of the line and he wasn't calling from his phone, rather a Florida number.
He said, "mom, I'm calling from the phone in the room because Brian took the key to the safe and my charger is locked in there and my phone is dead. Brian left without me to go to the water park".
Double
My first thought was.....How much is this phone call going to cost??????? My second thought was......He will have to stay in the room by himself. My third thought was.......He has NO PHONE
How can I contact him. I tried to stay calm. I'm not sure if I was more upset about the expensive phone call, the stupidity for letting his phone die (which he does constantly), or the fact that Brian couldn't wait for him and left him behind. Granted Nicholas is EXTREMELY slow. He moves like molasses and Brian lets no moss grow beneath his feet. I should have KNOWN they couldn't work together to get out of the room in unison.
So while all these thoughts were going through my mind, what happened next is no surprise.....LOST CALL. And I knew he wouldn't call me back because I was already upset about the toll call. Then I get a text from Brian that says, "Left my room card at the hotel". Now there's a surprise. (This is the card with charging privledges because we were no longer on the meal plan.) So I texted him back and said, "Either go back and get it or hope that J (his friend) has some $ to pay for lunch and drinks".
I was starting to feel like this couldn't get much worse. In fact, I thought maybe I should just leave the park, go reassemble everyone and start over. I felt like I just couldn't even think straight. Of course, DH and LJ were totally oblivious to my frantic phone calls and texts. Just then, Brian texts me back and tells me he found his card. I called him and told him just how displeased I was with him leaving Nick behind. Of course, he has some lame excuse that he thought Nick was right behind him.
So in the midst of all this confusion, the ride ends.....much sooner than I had expected or was ready for. My drawstring back pack was still part way open on the seat beside me. So when I hastily stood up after the ride, the two water bottles inside my bag went spilling out onto the revolving floor. And they kept getting further away. See where I'm going with this. Of course, poor unsuspecting LJ reaches out to get them just as the revolving part of the floor starts going under the stationary part of the floor. Still following me. Of course, I am seeing this, but I am powerless to stop LJ and I just picture his little fingers getting stuck in the revolving floor. Even the CM maning the ride is getting nervous and she stoops down to help him.
And DH.....well his response to the whole situation was a very condescending, "
Mary Elllen". Every syllable screamed to me, "How could you drop those bottles on the floor and put LJ at risk of getting his fingers caught in the revolving floor".
And that's when it happened......THE MELTDOWN........ The thoughts were rushing through my head.....You know the ones....."I tried so hard to make this a good trip. I worked for months to make ADRs, plan our park days, get tickets, book flights, pack, keep people organized, and now this....."
So I responded in a way does not make me proud. I exclaimed in a loud stage voice,
SHUT UP! Yeah that's right. I could feel my throat getting dry and my eyes getting teary and my hands shaking. And I just kept on walking right out of Spaceship earth. Never turned around once!
Once I was outside in the bright sunlight and the warm air I started to think a little clear. I realized that I could call Coronado springs and get connected to the room. Fortunately, I remembered the room number and Nicholas picked up. I told him to go get on the next Epcot bus and I would wait for him at the fron gate, same turnstyle as last night. He said he needed to take a shower first. No wonder Brian didn't wait for him. He really is slow in the morning. By now it is probably 10:30, going on 11am.
When DH and LJ come out we decide to go over and get our TT FP's. Then, since it is almost lunch time, we decided to go to the Electric Umbrella. I wanted to eat something quickly before I had to go meet Nicholas. So I gobbled down something that I split with DH. I don't remember what, because I still wasn't in the best frame of mind. Then I set off to wait for Nicholas. Since he didn't have a phone I had no idea what time he would arrive. I waited for what felt like an eternity. Here are some pictures I took while waiting.....
Here was the view I saw while I was waiting for Nick. First I would look here:
Then here:
Then here:
Everytime a bus would unload I would repeat this again.
And then FINALLY DS Nick arrived. I did not take his picture. I can't really remember where LJ and DH were. I think they styed at the Electric Umbrella for awhile. When we all met up, DH decided to give up his Soarin FP so DS, LJ, and I could ride together. We got the back row, but that was OK. At least I wasn't bothered by the little black dots that plaqued me during our December trip. I didn't see any dots at all. LJ loved the ride. Success. However, when we got off the ride I could not find DH. Do you think he was waiting near the ride exit. NOOOOOOOOOOO! Do you think he answered his phone..NOOOOOOOOOOO! Just when I was ready to take the boys and ditch him, he appeared.
Here's a picture I took when we were leaving the land.
I did forget to mention that when he first arrived, I sent Nick over to get his own FP for TT. I knew he wouldn't have the same time as the rest of us, but at least we could combine all 4 later in the day.
We did stop and listen to these guys for awhile:
At this point I am really not interested in making any decisions. I was still exhausted after the meltdown, so I let the rest of the gang decide where to go. We ended up back at Spaceship earth. Fortunately, the line was a bit shorter because some of the crowds had dispersed into the World showcase.
Here's some pics I took while waiting in line:
Up next..... A More relaxing ride on Spaceship Earth and the rest of the afternoon.
) so maybe then.
Now we have to wait to hear about the meltdown! No fair! 
We'll call your TR: Meltdown and the Mickey Gnome! I really liked those gnomies and I should have gotten one. 
LOL
