Around the World in Eleven Hours

This morning, we actually got an early start, so excited were we to visit Epcot, Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. We had read a lot and even seen documentaries about Walt Disney's dreams for the building of this park, and were eager to explore it. We were quite disappointed to find that many of the attractions we had anticipated most were closed for the season, and that most of the open attractions that interested us were off-limits to Kala, who is still under doctor's orders to avoid stressful physical activity. Still, we managed to have a pretty nice day.

Our first stop was Spaceship Earth, housed within Epcot's most recognizable structure, the large geodesic globe. This was a very slow ride through the history of communication on Earth. It was a quiet, relaxing ride and the wait for it was not long. Everyone else was rushing off to ride Mission: Space, a simulation of a mission to mars. We'll be fighting our way through that crowded line next time!

Next we took a boat to the World Showcase, made up of pavilions representing select nations from around the world. Appearing in this showcase are Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the U.S.A., Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. We went to Mexico first for some tacos and margaritas, followed by a tunnel-of-love style boat ride through the history of Mexico. It was distinguished from other rides of its kind by the use of television screens to display live action scenes, rather than telling the story through the use of dolls and robots. We weren't crazy about it, really.

After spending some time in the Mexican artisan bazaar, we moved on to Norway. Norway had a similar ride to the one in Mexico, though this one featured an unexpected reversal of the action and a short drop. Again, it was nice to get out of the heat for a bit, but the ride itself was nothing special. The Norwegian pastries, however, were a highlight. As we exited the ride, we followed the scent to the bakery next door and found there a delectable assortment of sweets. It was not easy to choose just one, but we finally settled on the school bread, a large roll filled with vanilla custard and topped with a confectioner's sugar glaze and shredded coconut. It was heavenly!

We posed for pictures with Mulan and Mushu in China, then watched a 360° film about Chinese destinations, such as Beijing and Hong Kong. We want to go!

From Germany and Italy (which didn't seem to contain anything but shops and food), we took the boat back across the lagoon to Future World, where we had an appointment for a private audience with Mickey and Minnie. To our delight, Goofy showed up, too! We took some pictures and clowned around for a bit. Mickey was happy to see Andy's commemorative t-shirt. Minnie appeared to be a little too fond of Andy for Kala's liking, so we took our leave.

Kenai and Koda, from Disney's Brother Bear, met us in Canada, and then we browsed through the shops in the U.K., France, and Morocco, on our way to see the highly touted "American Adventure" audio-animatronic show in the U.S.A. It put us both to sleep.

After our nap, it was time for dinner, so off to Japan we went, to the Mitsukoshi Teppanyaki Restaurant. There our chef, Nagatoshi, put on quite a show as he prepared a delicious meal of New York steak with grilled vegetables, noodles, and bean sprouts. We shared this dining experience with a very nice family from Ohio who tolerated (and even encouraged) our cuddling and canoodling and accommodated us by taking many pictures so that we could cherish this night always. Our hostess presented us with a gift for our anniversary: a slice of chestnut cake with chocolate icing for two. It even had little Mickey Mouse-shaped sprinkles!

After dinner, we found that we had done everything in the park that we were able to do, and so we had to sit around for two hours before the evening show, "IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth." We had really been looking forward to this spectacle, so we didn’t leave the park early as we otherwise would have. We just found a nice place from which to view the show and made friends with the people around us. Sharing our vacation with others and hearing about theirs always help to pass the time quickly. Plus, we love talking to strangers because it nearly always presents us with the opportunity to tell "our story." We just love to brag.

"IllumiNations" consists of a fireworks show set to music around a spinning, globe-shaped television screen. It was nice, but relied too heavily on the globe and not enough on the fireworks for "wow" power. The "Fantasmic!" show at Disney-MGM Studios was much better.

A long day behind us and the promise of another wonderful day ahead, we made our way back to our hotel. We hope to be able to enjoy Epcot more fully on our next visit to Walt Disney World, but tomorrow, we're headed back to the Magic Kingdom! Goodnight!