Day Four - Wednesday, October 25, 2006
In a blur I answered the phone and heard a very high pitched voice saying something my brain cannot compute at an early hour. I realized after I hung up it was probably Mickey Mouse waking me up, but at the time I wouldn't have been able to remember my own name let alone understand Mickey Mouse!
Not a morning person.
We rolled out of bed and got ready for the day. Headed down to the Mara where we got bagels and more coffee. By that time we were about 30 minutes away from the time we had to arrive at Epcot Guest Services to meet our group for the Segway tour. It was also about that time I realized I had NO clue where Guest Services was. We scurried up to the bus waiting area and, of course, on the one day we have a time-line, our bus isn't there. I glanced through the bushes and saw it leaving AKL. All well. We sat down and enjoyed our food and beverages. And waited for about 7 minutes until another one arrived. We jumped on and by the time we got to the Epcot gate we had about 5 minutes to spare. In a hurry I asked someone where Guest Services was-we went inside to find out group waiting inside. Another group of people rolled in right behind us-whew-we didn't miss anything!
In our group there was a couple celebrating their anniversery-complete with the Bride Mickey ears and Groom Mickey hat.
A couple of guys that appeared to either be a couple or close buddies (I'm guessing a couple-how many guy buddies spend time in Disney World together??), and two husband and wife groups (if I remember correctly). So, a small group, which was nice.
They took us to Innoventions and inside a room where we watched a short saftey video and got a demonstration from one of our instructors. She zipped around on the Segway without problem-she made it seem so so simple. We were led outside where our other instructor greeted us and fitted for helmets. Then we met our Segway.
They led us through exercises. Turning it on and off. Stepping on and off (the trickiest part), and then finally moving forward on it, then in a circle. We practiced going in between cones for a while, then the split us into groups. One group went toward a ramp and the other toward more cones. I was in the ramp group. We learned how to go up a small hill, stop on a hill and continue down it. It was a little tricky, but not too bad. When we switched over to the cones, we solmoned between them, then went under a stick the instuctor held out. He also jumped in front of a few people to ensure they could stop quickly. Thankfully I was not one of these because I probably would have freaked and fallen off the thing! They also instructed us how to go over objects-such as a board or a hose-if need be. Since the park was still closed there was a chance a hose would be all the way across the sidewalk that we would have to go over. The method is to get off your Segway and lead it over the hose. Pretty simple.
All this learning took about an hour. Then we headed out doors. By that time we all felt like pros on our Segways and zipped right out of the building. The park had just opened and a few people were wandering in. It was fun to watch them gaze as we zipped by. Little kids waved at us, people took pictures... it felt a bit like yesterday's parade!
The instructor took us around the World Showcase. We passed into the World Showcase area that was still closed and stopped in several countries where he gave us some history of the City it was representing and also about what buildings it was mimicked after. It was very interesting. They also took us through little obstacles in the countries. In one we had to slomolm between pillars. In another we went up a hill and back down. We also got some time to just zip around on our own.
Then our instructor gave us each the opportunity for a picture. He took our camera and we posed with the Epcot sphere behind us across the lagoon.
Finally we headed back toward Innoventions. While I didn't want the Segway tour to end, my legs were starting to hurt a bit from concentrating so much on my feet and my weight distribution. I am sure this becomes second nature after a while though.
By this time the entire park was open, so we had the obstacle of pedestiran traffic. We were told they all had the right of way, even though most of them stopped and just stared at us as we came close.
When we reached Innoventions again, we got off our Segways and parked them against the wall. Our instructors praised us for a job well done and presented us each with a pin. It has a little guy on a Segway on it that goes back and forth along the bottom of the pin. We were pretty excited and pinned both proudly to our baggalini.
We headed out of Innoventions, and looked at the board that lists the "big" rides and Joe mentioned once again how much he wanted to ride Mission Space. So, we headed in that direction. There wasn't much of a wait, and of course, we had to choose the more intense mission. I was a tad nervous about getting sick, but I had to brave it.
We boarded the ride and my stomach was doing flip-flops. How intense is intense? I had a friend tell me she was sick for 45 minutes after this ride-and two people have died on it??? Oh man... No turning back now!!! As we experienced the blast-off and the whip around the moon, I did feel a tad quesy, but not nearly what I was expecting. When we got off I felt a bit light-headed, and of course Joe was ready for round two! But, instead of riding again we opted to take it easy and fill our growling stomachs.
Since we had already been around the lagoon on the Segways, we had spotted a few "countries" that looked tasty. We agreed upon Mexico and headed that way. I couldn't remember all the resturants in Epcot, but we stumbled upon Cantina de San Angel and it became our choice. We both had the Plato Combinacion - chicken taco, beef burrito and a quesadilla served with black refried beans and Mexican salsa, along with Churros for dessert. We ordered one Coke and one water, learning from yesterdays experience. Swiped the card and dug into our lunch. It was pretty tasty-nothing overly exciting, but not too shabby either.
[more to come!]
and you got to be in the Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade...(ok it might have been loud -but how cool is that... 
-I need more coffee myself-I'm nursing a serious turkey...sweet potatoes...stuffing kind of hangover..... 
Congrats! It seems like you got quite a bit of Disney magic on your trip. 
I'm glad that everyone was so nice to you
I TOTALLY know what you mean!!!!
