Obrins At WDW December 2006 Day 2

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Epcot

We were once again up later than I really wanted to be. We were at Epcot just in time for our lunch reservation at 11:30.

We had a great lunch at the Garden Grill. The characters were not very interested in interacting with Nick, which is kind of understandable. But, we did get at least a photo of each of them, except Mickey.

The meal is once again family style, after the brief mistake they made a while ago about going to a menu. The fare consisted of turkey and cranberry, beef and mushrooms, catfish. mashed potatoes, pea pods, and carrots. All was very good. We had two full servings, which was really more than enough. The great deser was a bit of a surprise. It was a delicious vanilla bean bread pudding. We had great service. We love the spinning restaurant. It is almost impossible to get any decent photos over the rail, though. I guess you just have to soak up the scenery while you are there.
We had picked up a Fast Pass for Soaring before we sat down to lunch. The return time was 4:30.

I believe that the rule is that you can get another Fast Pass after you have held one for an hour, even if your window on the first one has not opened. It actually says on the Fast Pass the time at which you can get another. We should have taken advantage of this today, and stacked several Fast Passes for the big Epcot attractions, but we didn't.

We went into Innoventions after lunch. It is really nice to see some new stuff here. We did not go into the new plastics area, but Nick and I did mess around in the nanotech area. I found it interesting, and I think Nick did also. Some of the stuff in the nanotech area, like the scope on a rope, was definitely recycled, but a lot of it seemed new.

UL had an interesting new display showing stress testing of doors and a lot of other things. There is also a new fire safety exhibit. The exhibit itself is pretty high tech, but it seemed a little out of theme. There is some type of exhibit about entrepreneurship and kids, which also seems out of theme.

The Motorola communications thing and the home theater stuff is gone. It had probably become dated (the home theater stuff certainly had). The IBM stuff is still there, but we did not do picture mail this time. I remember when it was a big thing for us. But, we now do at least one days connection from the room at the resort, and send back a handful of photos to our friends.

I was kind of sorry that we did not do the House of Innoventions.

Spaceship Earth is still probably my favorite attraction at Epcot. It is still moving and fun. You have to say it makes you think. There was a huge line, though. It was probably close to an hour wait.

Seimens has still has not opened the lower area.

Ellens Energy Adventure is still a good show. Holds up well, I think. It sure moves fast for loading, even at capacity. There are great dinosaurs, and a neat movie wrapped around it all.
We were snacking and watching people for a while. It was a gorgeous day, clear and warm. There was lots of smoke though. It is a shame that most of the neat, peaceful little nooks and crannies are now full of cigarette smoke.
We watched a skywriter in the clear blue sky. After watching the message ufold for a while, it became clear that it was a Christian group, and not Disney. But, it still turned out to be a fun thing to watch on a day like this.
nick and I went on Mission Space. There was a very long line, but the ride is again better than I remember. I always feel nervous during the buildup, but the stress on the ride is actually no big deal. We had a very fun time.
By now, we already had to head back to The Land for Soaring.

Soaring is a great, great ride. It is the same ride as in California, with California views. So, it is not clear how this fits in with the theme in Florida, but the qualitiy of the ride more than makes up for that. You soar on a simulated hang glider over mountains, river, orange groves (complete with smell), and hot air balloons. It is a great sensation, with great sights and smells. It is truly a wonderful ride.

We pulled a Fast Pass for Living With The Land when going into Soaring. It was ready when we got out.
Living With The Land is still fun, but we had a tape instead of a live guide. I was not clear if this was a change since our last trip, or if it depends on the time of day. There was not nearly as much info or fun without the guide. It is tough to take pictures in there at dusk. The camera was confused. It is till fun to hear and see, and the animatronic portion is still neat. I kept an eye open for folks up in the Garden Grill.
Nick and I went on the new Finding Nemo ride in the Living Seas, but not Debbie. It is a very different ride, almost all a big cartoon. But there are some fish at the end, with animation projected in front of tanks. There is an interesting long tube with turtles in the current. I did think there was a little problem with the sound synchronization with the animation, perhaps because of the way the ride is set up.
We did not do much else in the Living Seas. We looked at manatee briefly, and walked around down by the fish tanks a little bit.
It was pretty late and dark now. We walked down to italy.
There were nice holiday decorations in each country, though not as much as I expected and recalled. There is an impressive tree and and an animated archway at the bridge between Future World and World Showcase. The archway lights synched to the holday music is very cool. It is a bit tough to enjoy the decorations and countries with the relentless crowds.
We tried to see The American Adventure show, but the timing was just not going to work with our dinner reservations. We liked the extra Christmas stuff in american pavilion. We heard a bit of the choir show in the amphitheater while passing by and sitting in the American Pavillion for a rest. It was lovely.
We had the best meal of the whole trip at Alfredos. A delightful young girl from Milan waited on us. She was fantastic. I had pasta e faggioli, fettucine alfredo, and chocolate canoli. It was fabulous in every way. Nick had pasta e faggioli, lasagna, and chocolate mousse. He loved it completely. He pointed out that it was far better than the rigatoni at thecastle. Indeed, this was a much better meal than the castle, and cost only one set of credits instead of two. Debbie had caesar salad, a pasta sampler, and tiara ma su. She liked everything, especially noting the tiara ma su was better than what she gets at home.
Whereas Magic Kingdom slowed down the night before at about 8:00 pm, this did not seem to happen at Epcot. It was still busy when we left.
Nick raced ahead of us, and was back in the room when we got there.
Debbie and I tried to take our time and a few pictures on the way home. The bus was not crowded, and pulled up just as we got there. We had to wait a while to pull out, but no big deal.
Epcot is extra lovely at the holidays. We all tried to get to bed early, because tomorrow is a very long day.

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