Sunday, September 01, 2013

Orlando 2013 - Epcot

Let's see, where were we.  Snap?  No.  Hypnotoad? No.  I'll get to those later.  Those are Animal Kingdom stories.  One of our five days of amusement-park driven fun at Orlando was at Epcot.  The last time I was at Epcot was in 1988.  25 years ago.  It was approximately five years old at that point.  Start making those sorts of timeline assessments and you begin to feel very old.  There are starting to be a lot of things I did a quarter of a century ago.

Strangely, we went to Captain EO, which even had it been there 25 years ago, I would have skipped.  And we missed Soarin', primarily because of the lines.  My wife wishes we had missed the Mission to Mars ride.  She came out of it looking like she was going to hurl and then started walking around like a drunk and was uncommunicative.  When she was responsive, it was nonsense.  She wouldn't stop trying to walk out of the area, and I finally had to stop her until she came back to her right mind.  Explains why I'm the designated parent when it comes to most high stress rides like roller coasters.

Eryn and Mom in front of Spaceship Earth.  Eryn loved the ride.  I'm now too old to love sanitized versions.  I wish there was an alternate time to go where they did the dystopic Spaceship Earth and showed wars and the awful futures that are possible.  Makes sense to me to engrain kids with hope.  But the cheerfulness in contrast with reality wears me out.


Eryn liked the video games at the end of Spaceship Earth.


This is a strange picture because it was pouring somewhere around this time.  I was so impressed with myself for staying dry, and then Eryn needed a bathroom and, by the time we were done, I had soggy dogs.  I remember this area from my teenage years.  It was the one that most impressed me.  Probably because as a kid I hadn't seen much of the world to compare it against.  I prefer real bike trails and museums to replicas.  We ate pizza right here.  It wasn't very good pizza for $30.  I didn't do the research I often do before we went on vacation this time, so my ability to render good judgments about dining and touring alternatives was restricted.  So there's no one to blame but myself.


In the Japan area.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to dress like Pedobear.  Creepy.


And almost as creepy.  Although if your girlfriend showed up in the footies (sans feet), you'd know to run.  That robe next to it might be a more complex issue.  Is she crazy, or does she do Midnight Martini style Hello Kitty themed burlesque dances as a hobby that you might learn to appreciate?


Eryn was off perusing the flavored sodas that you can only buy a subset of at our Cub.  I was checking out the tanukis.  Large-testicled racoon dogs with their own song.  I think Epcot should have a tanuki mascot for the Japan area.


This was one of the few things I was tempted to buy during the whole vacation.  Chopstick rests seem like a pretty cool gift, and the variety isn't as good on Amazon.  You can order them at EverythingChopsticks.  So there's a better opportunity to find chopstick rests than the large Lard Lad mug I missed out on at Universal.


It's not blue!!!  Eryn was disappointed it wasn't TARDIS colored.  But happy to get her picture in a booth.  It was still raining when we went past the British area, so it kept her out of the rain.  I looked for a match to her old English soccer jersey and couldn't find one.  Disappointing.  You can find one on line, but they come with corporate logos on them which is crazy for an $80 jersey.  She didn't call anyone, although I believe these are working phones.


My last picture of the day.  I didn't bother to take photos inside the design your own car ride or the Mission to Mars.  I should have snapped a picture of my wife looking ill.  I believe this is Canada.  We walked back into the tour area and the waterfall, coupled with the rain, made it so humid it was difficult to breathe.  But we look cheery here.  Eryn loved the park.  It was all new for her, so lots to enjoy.


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