Disney's Epcot

We started the third day of our vacation (Monday) at the Epcot park. It is divided into two main sections; FutureWorld has rides, shows, and interactive exhibits that are mainly about science, conservation, and technology; the World Showcase has representations of several different countries. We started out in FutureWorld and our first ride was Living with the Land, a boat ride that takes you through scenes about conservation and then a tour of some of Disney's greenhouses. They are doing research on alternative way of growing vegetables and it was really quite interesting - even the kids liked it. After that we rode the Seas with Nemo and Friends, a ride in a "clammobile" to view a coral reef. The idea is to find Nemo, who's cartoon image is projected in the water among the real fish. At the end of the ride there is a great interactive show, Turtle Talk with Crush. Those who have seen the movie will remember Crush as the cool sea turtle who talks surfer-style and uses the word "dude" - a lot! The kids get to sit down in front of a huge screen where a computer generated Crush talks with them. The amazing thing is the way he interacts, asking them questions, using their names when he answers, and referring to specific details about their appearance or reactions. Cullen got to ask a question and I was impressed that Crush repeated his name correctly (people often think his name is Colin when he says it.) Cullen asked how big sea turtles get. I don't remember the answer, but I'm sure if you ask Cullen, he can tell you. They obviously have someone watching the audience and feeding information into the computer, but the quickness of Crush's responses is really amazing. This was a favorite!
Next we rode Soarin', a ride that simulates a flight over California. You sit in a hang glider type seat over a huge rounded IMAX screen. A movie plays and there are all kinds of effects - wind blowing your hair, the smell of oranges as you pass over an orange grove, the scent of pine trees as you fly over a forest. You really get the feeling that you're flying.
From there, everyone except Robert and the boys went to watch "Honey I Shrunk the Audience", a 3-D movie that we knew would be loud and have some special effects that the boys wouldn't like. After the show we caught up with them at ImageWorks, a high-tech playground.

Here's Kenna trying to jump on the lighted squares to cause the instrument pictured to play:
Here the boys are "conducting" cartoon musicians by waving their arms:

We explored a few other interactive exhibits and then went to ride Spaceship Earth - the ride housed in the giant silver ball. It's a slow moving ride about the advancements in communications, from cave pictures to computers. I was surprised at how much the kids enjoyed this ride.

We breaked for lunch, then went to Morocco, just a short ferry ride away. We looked in a few shops and then met Genie from the Aladdin movie. As we were waiting in line, the photographer commented to Genie's "handler" that he was having costume problems. His belt was riding up so you could see the top of his pants. After fixing the problem, the handler came back to the line and made some comment about not wanted Genie's pants to fall down because he wears Mickey Mouse underwear. So, when it was our turn to talk to Genie, the first thing out of Camden's mouth was, "Do you really wear Mickey Mouse underwear?" The photographer just about fell over laughing. Camden always seems to be entertaining someone!

From Morocco, we walked over to France and met Princess Aurora:

At this point we left Epcot and took a ferry over to another park, Hollywood Studios. It was about 5:00 and the place was very crowded with long lines for all the big rides and no Fastpasses to be had. We managed to squeeze in one ride, StarTours, before the 6:30 evening show of Fantasmic. Star Tours is based on the Star Wars movies and was fun for everyone.

From there we headed over to the outdoor theater to get a spot to watch Fantasmic. This is a very elaborate show with live actors, movie clips projected on walls of water, light covered water floats carrying characters, and fireworks. The idea is that it's Mickey's dream, which is quickly taken over by Disney villians. It was very loud, so not a favorite of Cullen (that's putting it mildly, but I don't want to focus on the negative, so I won't go into details). We had planned to stay at the park and ride a few more rides after the show, but everyone had had enough, so we headed back to the hotel and got to bed relatively early.