Epcot at Disney World

Epcot is Dad's favorite park because it includes science stuff and beer from eleven different countries in the World Showcase. The park has the science and technology section up front and then a lake with eleven areas, each representing a different country. The countries included are Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada (where there is an amazing steak place). They also have this amazing show they do every night in the lake called Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, that has a barge, cool lights, and lots of fireworks. It's very cool.

We rode a couple of the rides here. One is Mission: Space. On this one you go into a closed in, dark simulator and your crew of astronauts goes on a mission to Mars. This was one again that we weren't sure Syd would like, but she loved it and kept saying, "That was awesome!" The other ride we went on was Test Track, which is one where you ride in a car that they're putting through tests. You go off the road and almost crash, go back and forth between cones, do a crash test, and it ends by going 80-100 miles per hour around a track, making sharp turns. They describe it as the longest, fastest attraction in Disney history. Syd was just tall enough for this one and we let her watch if from outside to be sure she wanted to do it. She said yes, so we went. Well, it was nightime so it was dark and she was sitting in the backseat behind a neck rest that was blocking her view. She really didn't like it at all and we suspect it was for two reasons. One, she couldn't see what was coming and everything was a total surprise to her and two, it went way faster than she ever thought it would and she's never done anything like that before. Her belly hurt after and she didn't want to do it again. Guess she wasn't quite ready for that one. Oh well, we'll try again next time we go.

We also looked around Innoventions, which is this really cool place (well, actually two places - East and West) where they teach kids about science and technology. It also had a section this time where they were teaching kids all about fire safety with some really cool technology.

One of Syd's favorite things in Epcot was the The Seas with Nemo & Friends and Turtle Talk With Crush. The ride includes sitting in a big "clamobile" that takes you underwater to view Marlin searching for Nemo. The ride includes real fish in a tank and the animated fish (looking very real) "in the tank" as well. The pictures are of the big aquariums they have outside the ride and the diver that we got to see emersed in a big tank they have. She came out after and took pictures with the kids.

We also walked around all of the countries. We spent the most time in Japan where there is the largest collection of Hello Kitty items you could ever imagine AND an assortment of snacks and candies made in Japan.

We were told, by almost everyone, that the coolest attraction at Epcot is Soarin'. We went to get on it around 5:00 PM and there was a 2 hour wait, so we got Fast Passes for it that would allow us to get right on between 8:15 and 9:15 PM. Well, this was Thursday - our last full day at Disney - and we were all really tired, so by the time we ate and walked around more Syd, especially, just wanted to go back to the resort and rest. Dad and Mom really wanted to ride Soarin', but we decided to let Syd make the final decision so we didn't end up riding it. We'll put that on our list of "have to" for next time.