Dec 2010: Mayhem Invades Disney World!!!

[Mousekedude]

Thanks for the link. Wow, I coulda been a contender!
Now I'll just have to go back and do another fishing excursion.
Actually, we were scheduled to go on one with the Boilers on this last trip, but we canceled because it was too darned cold.

[mindflipper]

Thanks for the link. Wow, I coulda been a contender!
Now I'll just have to go back and do another fishing excursion.
Actually, we were scheduled to go on one with the Boilers on this last trip, but we canceled because it was too darned cold.

Are the wives into fishing? Most don't seem to be.

[Future Guy]

I honestly don't understand the point of fishing if you have to throw them back. Fish are FOOD!

[mindflipper]

Fish are FOOD!

I know a shark named Bruce who would disagree with you on that...

[Mousekedude]

Mindflipper: The wives were looking forward to it almost as much as Boilerdude and I were.

Future Guy: Yeah, the only part of a WDW fishing excursion I hate is having to put them back. But just getting out on the water and going fishing is great fun, even if you don't get to keep them.

Mindflipper: Bruce is living in denial.

[MadEye]

Future Guy: Yeah, the only part of a WDW fishing excursion I hate is having to put them back.

That's the point of bringing a camera with you, to prove you once caught a fish that big.

[Amy]

Ok, I'm up to December 5th, aka
Day 4 for Amy and F1gment...
Well this day started off earlier than either of us would have liked. My poor mother was battling awful leg cramps as a result of a medication given to her for her back strain shortly before the vacation. Unfortunately as bad as I felt for her interrupted sleep, being that we were sharing a king size bed (thanks a lot Disney reservations mix-up) I was suffering too...from lack of sleep. I gave up sleeping a little after 7, went and got her some brekkie from the food court and brought it back to the room, briefed her on where and when I would be looking for her in EPCOT, and I was off in a little bit of a rain shower by 9:30 in the morning. Those few rain drops cleared up quickly thank goodness.
NaCler and I had talked about meeting up and riding Mission Space together since his Mom would not ride that, and I had never been on it before. They hadn't quite arrived when I got to EPCOT so I went ahead and jumped in feet first...Mission Space ~ orange side please. It was awesome! Not at all what I had expected or anticipated. I had even asked the pilot on the way down to Florida what sort of g-forces were experienced when a plane was taking off. He looked at me a little strangely but answered that it wasn't much over 1G. Hmmm, I had read that Mission Space pulled 2G's at the most so I figured that wouldn't be too bad, and it wasn't! I was riding with a Dad and his 2 kids that had obviously been on MS several times so that put me at ease as well.
I was the Navigator...


After Mission Space, I rode Test Track through the single rider line. Another fun attraction and I didn't notice too much wear and tear on the attraction as I had been hearing about. I do enjoy that attraction but think maybe it could be plussed a little bit to be better.
I don't remember the different color cars, I thought they were only white, but here was a pretty blue one...


NaCler and his Mom were in EPCOT by this point. I told NaCler I had been on Mission Space so he decided that he didn't need to go again, so we arranged to meet at the Universe of Energy. I took a few photos while I waited...



The Tron-orail!!

Pretty!!


I always find this Universe of Energy entertaining and laugh at the corny jokes even after hearing them so many times. By the time we were finished at UoE, Mom had arrived and we all scooted over to Club Cool for a little Beverly...yummmm....yummmm....not! Those photos are over in the "What's your Beverly Face" so I won't torment you with them again here

After our refreshing free beverage stop, we moseyed over to Spaceship Earth where NaCler was ever the gentleman and helped my Mom up the ramp to the boarding area. His Momma raised him right We parted ways after this so they could go use their Soarin' fastpasses and we could go get lunch. We decided to eat at Sunshine Seasons and get a FP for Soarin' ourselves. This was the best meal of our vacation thus far as far as I was concerned. I had a turkey on foccacia with chipotle mayo with the yummiest potato salad on the side! The key lime pie dessert I got was disappointing but the chocolate mousse cake Mom got was delicious! And she deemed the Chinese food she got very tasty!


We went on the Living with the Land boat ride. I still enjoy this attraction although I sort of miss having a live tour guide along for the ride.
These were pretty and kind of reminded me of jellyfish...

The dragon fruit looks so cool!

Mmmm, chocolate

The not so hidden Mickey...

I like how they shape some of the veggie, veggie, fruit, fruit...

Behold, the amazing tomato tree!

The fish were feeling photogenic...and I reassured them, fish are friends, not food

A final glance backwards at the awesome greenhouse...

[Amy]

Then it was off to Journey Into Imagination which is better than the last time we saw it ten years ago, but still lacking a lot of the imagination of the original. I have some more photos from this attraction which I will post in a future day's report...



This was pretty, but made me think of work


After that it was next door for Captain EO. It was ok, but I see it more as a nostalgic look back for me since I do actually remember going to this attraction when I at EPCOT in the 80's. Mom slept through a good portion of it so it was a good nap-worthy attraction as far as she was concerned!

We headed over to the Living Seas, sat through Turtle Talk with Crush which I could easily skip on any subsequent trips. It was ok, but definitely geared toward the little flounders in the audience.

Dude....



We looked through the Seas. I remembered the aquariums as being much more full of life when we were there last. I was a bit disappointed in the lack of sea critters to look at. We thoroughly enjoyed the smaller aquarium tubes and their inhabitants though.
Maybe the doubleboilers can clue me in to where the heck all the fishies were hiding

The eels were very cool!



The seahorses were so beautiful and delicate but very difficult to photograph

I liked how the reflections showed up in these photos...


No divers while we were there...

Cuttlefish are just cool!


We made our way over Ellen's Energy Adventure for Mom's first time on this trip, then back to the Land to use our Soarin' FP.


We decided to eat at Sunshine Seasons again since it was so good for lunch. I ate the same sandwich but opted for the rice krispie brick for dessert. Ahhhhh, that's my favorite dessert and this rice krispie treat definitely tasted like it was made fresh and not outsourced somewhere

Lunch dejavu...


Mom was a bit tired by this point and was willing to navigate the exit and bus back to the hotel alone so I stayed and took some nighttime photos in an increasingly cold and quickly emptying EPCOT. I went on Test Track via single rider once again, then Spaceship Earth. Still love the whole thought of SE, but I really don't like the new narration. I find the video on the way down to be fun, but I miss the awesome music, and beautiful sparkling twinkly fiber optic city of the future that you used to see I loved those fiber optic lights!!
The Spaceship Earth postcards were fun...


I had a brush with royalty while cutting through the building...


I'll share some more night-time EPCOT photos in a later day of the trip report and/or in the tribute to the nighttime photos thread, but here are a few...

[NaCler]

Amy - Thank you for the gentleman comment... my tough-guy persona is almost totally gone now! Also, I wish you would have called me once F1gment left EPCOT as I probably could have been talked into coming back into the park.

[Amy]

Amy - Thank you for the gentleman comment... my tough-guy persona is almost totally gone now! Also, I wish you would have called me once F1gment left EPCOT as I probably could have been talked into coming back into the park.

Sorry, didn't want to encroach on your Momma/Son time. I hope we'll have a chance to hang out in the future so I can meet your wife and little NaClers!

[mindflipper]

Great trip report, Amy! Sorry about the hotel problems, but right there with problems that Mousekecouple and I think the boilers (or was it NaCler?) had it seemed like so many people had hotel problems this time around.

I know some people don't like the Sunshine Seasons area at the Land, but I have to admit I love it. It's one of my favorite lunch choices!

On Spaceship Earth - did you remember to e-mail the "Your Future" cartoon to yourself? I never knew about it myself until somebody told me about it.

[Amy]

Great trip report, Amy! Sorry about the hotel problems, but right there with problems that Mousekecouple and I think the boilers (or was it NaCler?) had it seemed like so many people had hotel problems this time around.
I know some people don't like the Sunshine Seasons area at the Land, but I have to admit I love it. It's one of my favorite lunch choices!
On Spaceship Earth - did you remember to e-mail the "Your Future" cartoon to yourself? I never knew about it myself until somebody told me about it.

Thank you Sunshine Seasons just has really good choices, fresh food, the best rice krispie treats The only complaints I can see people having would be that it is generally very crowded and pretty loud with all the hard surfaces.
I did remember my cartoons from Spaceship Earth. They were fun and I taped them off the computer once I got home since I know those links don't usually stay active all that long.

[mindflipper]

I try to remind everybody that I know at work and home about the Spaceship Earth Cartoon E-mail before they go, I wished I had done with everyone while I was there on Dec. 4th...

[Amy]

I try to remind everybody that I know at work and home about the Spaceship Earth Cartoon E-mail before they go, I wished I had done with everyone while I was there on Dec. 4th...

I have the one with NaCler and his Mom. (At least I think I still do) If he says it is ok, I can try to figure out how to post it. It was funny because they chose a lot of the same things we did

[mindflipper]

I think we need to poke Mousekedude to get him to continue his trip report...