The Bowden Family: Epcot

We went to Epcot on our second day at Disneyworld, and both decided that this was one of our favorite attractions at Disneyworld. There are really two parks inside of Epcot, Futureland and the World Showcase. Futureland has some rides and other attractions, and the World Showcase shows off 17 countries from around the world, with restaurants and buildings influenced by the design from that culture, and of course overpriced gifts from each country represented.

At first I wasn't too excited to visit Epcot because I had heard that Epcot was originally created as Walt Disney's kind of crazy idea for an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow", and that he had some really weird ideas. Some people that had visited Epcot a while ago (like 10 years ago) had said that there weren't really any rides there and described it as being pretty boring. However, my opinion of Epcot changed soon after we got there. We started the day by heading to Test Track, the line was short (10-15 minutes) so we decided to grab a fast pass before we got in line so that we could go a bit later when the line got longer (that turned out to be a very smart idea). If you've never been on Fast Track, it really is a neat ride. It's sponsored by GM, and the idea is that the roller coaster is supposed to mimic some of the tests that GM does on their cars. It all ends with you going 65 mph around a loop with hairpin turns. It was a blast.

Next we headed over to Soarin'. You basically watch this huge screen (about half the size of an IMAX), while you are lifted up in kind of a virtual reality ride of being on a hang glider in California. You see some ski slopes in Northern California, the beach, and orange trees. Disney puts so much attention to detail in all of their rides, they even have an orange scent that gets released when you're over the orange groves. The ride moves as the camera does, and it really does feel like you're gliding over California. It was a lot of fun. After that we went on our second go round of test track, which we liked better than the first (for some reason the first time was really bumpy).

We tried out Mission Space, which is kind of like a space simulator, but instead just makes you feel like puking. Then we decided to check out some of the less intense attractions. We really enjoyed the huge aquarium, and Cheech really liked looking at the dolphins. We got hungry, so we decided to check out the World Showcase (they supposedly had good food in the World Showcase).

By this time, we were kind of tired of walking, and just tried to make it quickly to each of the attractions that we wanted to see. We had a quick lunch at some crummy Japanese restaurant in "Japan" and washed away the bad taste in our mouth with some gelatto from "Italy" which was excellent. It really was cool to see all of the detail that had been put into each "country".

Next we headed back over to Futureworld, and did all the attractions that we had overlooked. We really did have a great time at EPCOT. Even though there are really only three real rides at Epcot, there is just a ton to see, so much that we decided to go back on our last day.