Disney VII

Next day we went to EPCOT; Spaceship Earth is there. We got up and ate breakfast at the food court; a few times I had a breakfast sandwich. I’m not a big breakfast eater, certainly not a breakfast buffet and especially not in Disney. Even if I spent a month straight in Walt Disney World, I’d want more. So much to see and do, so little time.

We boarded the bus for Epcot. Sometimes, if a Magic Kingdom bus came first, we would take that and get a Monorail for Epcot at the Magic Kingdom. That day we took a bus and got there a little after opening, which is good because you beat the beginning crush. Upon entering the park you see Spaceship Earth, the huge, I do mean huge, sphere that is the symbol for Epcot. The outside is made up of millions of tiles but I can’t really tell. That’s part of the magic for me-- sighted people can tell that stuff is a construct, whereas many times things look all of a piece to me.

I’ll say this here, since I forgot in the beginning. Many of the rides are accessed by moving walkways and I do have some slight mobility difficulties. When I began using moving walkways I had some difficulty but now, because of escalators and all moving walkways, I have long since become a pro at navigating these issues.

There’s a ride in Spaceship Earth-- that’s how big it is. We rode that first and it was fantastic, as usual. The sound and smells are so authentic and the voice for the ride is M from James Bond. I always get angry when the ride comes to the part about the destruction of the Library of Alexandria from whatever cause. I was a History Major in college so naturally I get perturbed there. You can smell the smoke when you go by that scene.

It’s on to the monks hand-copying documents and then to the renaissance. Finally, you pass through scenes of all the marvels of the 20th century and then to the marvels just beginning in the 21st. As you go through the tunnel that simulates your return to our time you get your picture taken, then it is animated by a computer program and you put your animated self through a demonstration. There is a small screen in your ride vehicle and you choose from a number of options. The results are often funny; especially with the way the animation is done.

Next up is test track, an always fun attraction. You start by going through a winding queue to the ride vehicles. The “object” of Test Track is to test various features of the automobile. There are many things to see in the queue area and I can’t see a lot of them. Usually Mark tells me what they are unless I ask him not to. Sometimes it’s just more fun to take in the ambiance of Walt Disney World even though my usual rule is silence is not golden.

Next Disney entry, I’ll finish Test Track and then full speed ahead.