Queenie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2005
- Messages
- 3,144
EPCOT had been one of the parks I was most looking forward to as it was the only park where I, the Orlando virgin, was going to have the upper hand. Why? Because I was the only person in our group who knew what Mission: Space was all about! Arriving at the park I was astounded by the size of Spaceship Earth, Id seen it so many times on TV and it was even more enormous! After a stroll through the Leave a Legacy area we chose to hit Spaceship Earth first as the queues were short. A ride which teaches you about the history of the human race this was my kind of theme park!!!
A quick toss up between Mission: Space and Test Track was debated and we headed to the former first. As we walked through the queuing areas and watched the pre-shows our nerves almost got the better of some of us. I knew what was coming and even I almost wimped out by the end of all the warnings, Graham who isnt too keen on spinning decided to go for it anyway. We separated out as there were five of us, three in one capsule, and two in the other and wished each other good luck. I was made commander on our first flight and me, Scott and Roger boarded our capsule with a very nervous looking guy! The ride was brilliant and I didnt feel even slightly queasy, only exhilarated by the almost weightless feeling and knowing this was as close as Ill ever get to going into space. When you ride, you can really understand why kids think theyve actually left the building, its probably the most realistic ride out there. When wed landed on Mars we met up with Graham and Linda who had both survived without being sick too. We all agreed that the ride was very intense but that the warnings are so powerful that it might put off people who would be fine on it, still, better to be safe than sorry.
After regaining our senses of balance and solid ground we headed over to Test Track for some more high intensity fun, the sound of the cars whizzing around the outside track had made me nervous but I loved this ride and it became a firm EPCOT favourite. The Living Seas was closed for the most part but we got to look around the aquariums where we found Nemo, saw some humongous tuna fish and watched the dolphins being trained. Honey I Shrunk The Audience was fun for the most part except that I am scared to death of snakes. Even though I knew it was coming, and looked away as soon as I saw it slither onto the back of the screen, I still freaked out at seeing it in the background. I needed to calm down so we decided we could wait another hour before lunch and headed to Ellens Energy Adventure. This was more like it, dinosaurs and comedy. It was a great way to chill out and cool down and the way the ride changes throughout was fascinating for a first timer.
By now we were hungry so we headed to The Land for some lunch. Standard food was eaten along with a truly delicious brownie but Scott complained that the brownie quality wasnt as high as in the past. He is somewhat of a Floridian brownie connoisseur these days and he vowed to hunt down some more before we went home. A quick stop at Ice Station Cool was scheduled to have some weird and wonderful beverages (lychee juice is surprisingly nice) before we headed to World showcase for the afternoon.
We decided to head clockwise around World Showcase kicking off with Mexico. There is a tradition amongst Scotts family that during every trip they make to Florida, at some point a photo must be taken of the whole party in sombreros by the fountain. Scott hates it as he is a devoted introvert but we all lined up anyway before hopping aboard for a cruise down El Rio Del Tiempo. As none of us are true food lovers (were a steak and fries kinda gang) the culinary delights of World Showcase passed us by as we strolled from place to place enjoying the architecture and browsing the shops. Even without eating it takes a remarkably long time to get around! We stopped for a while in Japan where Scott bought a selection of lucky cats for us, our website and friends. He had bought me a lucky white cat from the same place in 2002 but it had been stolen out of my bag at school when I took it as a mascot during my GCSEs. He bought me a replacement white cat, bought one for him and a red one for our website, all of which now live happily together in one of our display cabinets. In Morocco a toilet break was scheduled for the guys so they could look to see if a message that had been left in 2002 was still there amongst the wall of messages. The toilets had been repainted so the message was lost to history. In France we visited the patisserie and were tempted by a range of gorgeous and calorie filled treats but as it was nearing tea time we passed and carried on our way. In England we stopped for a drink in the Rose and Crown and admired how close the pub looked to a real English pub. I spotted a few flaws though; it wasnt nearly dark enough, the floor wasnt sticky and there wasnt a big drunk bloke in the corner called Big Phil who was eyeing up the non-locals. We briefly visited Canada before heading back to the UK to catch the British Invasion who were very good. By now time was really starting to pass so we dropped into the Yorkshire Fish & Chip shop as I wanted to check out how close theyd got it. Nearly but not quite and the fish finger things were quite disappointing. We strolled around World Showcase again anti clockwise before settling on a spot near Mexico for Illuminations. This is Linda and Grahams favourite of all the Disney night time shows although they preferred the original version and it took my breath away even more so than Wishes.
Rather than fighting the crowds and getting stuck in the car parks we let the main swell of people go ahead and visited Mouse Gears to browse around. Roger let the Disney Spirit hit him full blast and ended up doing a fashion show with most of the hats and a few kids dress up outfits much to the delight of our group and several other shoppers. It was getting very late by the time we finally found the cars and got back to Summer Bay. We flopped in front of the TV with some drinks and checked the news which was reporting that Jeanne, now a Hurricane was aimed at Florida. No need to panic yet as it was still a few days away. The group asked me what I wanted to do the following day and I suggested Universal as I hadnt been there yet. Everyone was happy with that decision and we headed to bed totally knackered from a lot of walking!
A quick toss up between Mission: Space and Test Track was debated and we headed to the former first. As we walked through the queuing areas and watched the pre-shows our nerves almost got the better of some of us. I knew what was coming and even I almost wimped out by the end of all the warnings, Graham who isnt too keen on spinning decided to go for it anyway. We separated out as there were five of us, three in one capsule, and two in the other and wished each other good luck. I was made commander on our first flight and me, Scott and Roger boarded our capsule with a very nervous looking guy! The ride was brilliant and I didnt feel even slightly queasy, only exhilarated by the almost weightless feeling and knowing this was as close as Ill ever get to going into space. When you ride, you can really understand why kids think theyve actually left the building, its probably the most realistic ride out there. When wed landed on Mars we met up with Graham and Linda who had both survived without being sick too. We all agreed that the ride was very intense but that the warnings are so powerful that it might put off people who would be fine on it, still, better to be safe than sorry.
After regaining our senses of balance and solid ground we headed over to Test Track for some more high intensity fun, the sound of the cars whizzing around the outside track had made me nervous but I loved this ride and it became a firm EPCOT favourite. The Living Seas was closed for the most part but we got to look around the aquariums where we found Nemo, saw some humongous tuna fish and watched the dolphins being trained. Honey I Shrunk The Audience was fun for the most part except that I am scared to death of snakes. Even though I knew it was coming, and looked away as soon as I saw it slither onto the back of the screen, I still freaked out at seeing it in the background. I needed to calm down so we decided we could wait another hour before lunch and headed to Ellens Energy Adventure. This was more like it, dinosaurs and comedy. It was a great way to chill out and cool down and the way the ride changes throughout was fascinating for a first timer.
By now we were hungry so we headed to The Land for some lunch. Standard food was eaten along with a truly delicious brownie but Scott complained that the brownie quality wasnt as high as in the past. He is somewhat of a Floridian brownie connoisseur these days and he vowed to hunt down some more before we went home. A quick stop at Ice Station Cool was scheduled to have some weird and wonderful beverages (lychee juice is surprisingly nice) before we headed to World showcase for the afternoon.
We decided to head clockwise around World Showcase kicking off with Mexico. There is a tradition amongst Scotts family that during every trip they make to Florida, at some point a photo must be taken of the whole party in sombreros by the fountain. Scott hates it as he is a devoted introvert but we all lined up anyway before hopping aboard for a cruise down El Rio Del Tiempo. As none of us are true food lovers (were a steak and fries kinda gang) the culinary delights of World Showcase passed us by as we strolled from place to place enjoying the architecture and browsing the shops. Even without eating it takes a remarkably long time to get around! We stopped for a while in Japan where Scott bought a selection of lucky cats for us, our website and friends. He had bought me a lucky white cat from the same place in 2002 but it had been stolen out of my bag at school when I took it as a mascot during my GCSEs. He bought me a replacement white cat, bought one for him and a red one for our website, all of which now live happily together in one of our display cabinets. In Morocco a toilet break was scheduled for the guys so they could look to see if a message that had been left in 2002 was still there amongst the wall of messages. The toilets had been repainted so the message was lost to history. In France we visited the patisserie and were tempted by a range of gorgeous and calorie filled treats but as it was nearing tea time we passed and carried on our way. In England we stopped for a drink in the Rose and Crown and admired how close the pub looked to a real English pub. I spotted a few flaws though; it wasnt nearly dark enough, the floor wasnt sticky and there wasnt a big drunk bloke in the corner called Big Phil who was eyeing up the non-locals. We briefly visited Canada before heading back to the UK to catch the British Invasion who were very good. By now time was really starting to pass so we dropped into the Yorkshire Fish & Chip shop as I wanted to check out how close theyd got it. Nearly but not quite and the fish finger things were quite disappointing. We strolled around World Showcase again anti clockwise before settling on a spot near Mexico for Illuminations. This is Linda and Grahams favourite of all the Disney night time shows although they preferred the original version and it took my breath away even more so than Wishes.
Rather than fighting the crowds and getting stuck in the car parks we let the main swell of people go ahead and visited Mouse Gears to browse around. Roger let the Disney Spirit hit him full blast and ended up doing a fashion show with most of the hats and a few kids dress up outfits much to the delight of our group and several other shoppers. It was getting very late by the time we finally found the cars and got back to Summer Bay. We flopped in front of the TV with some drinks and checked the news which was reporting that Jeanne, now a Hurricane was aimed at Florida. No need to panic yet as it was still a few days away. The group asked me what I wanted to do the following day and I suggested Universal as I hadnt been there yet. Everyone was happy with that decision and we headed to bed totally knackered from a lot of walking!
