50 States, Day 268

  Disney World, Epcot Center

"The end of wisdom is to dream high enough not to lose the dream in the seeking of it."

~William Faulkner

Today we rode to the fun in the free shuttle, courtesy of KOA. Thank you. Upon arrival, the Monorail to Epcot broke down at the station, leaving us waiting for fifteen minutes for another one. Not a good first impression.

While quite entertaining, Epcot is educational too. I know, I hate to learn anything too, but it's good for us. Epcot is like a World's Fair, with countries of the world showcasing their nation. And a tip of the face shield to France, Norway, Mexico and the United States for doing bang up jobs! Many other countries only featured food and gift shops. Come on! We need a boat ride or something. 

Speaking of boat ride, a few felt like recycled Pirates of the Caribbean. And a few places just felt like Disneyland wearing a different dress. Entertaining, nonetheless. 

The Japanese did well, with three drummers pounding out excellent percussions. And the lady making art out of candy? Amazing. She'd roll out a gob of candy, stick it on a chopstick, tweak and stretch it here and there, and voila! Elephant. Or parrot. Wolf. Her flamingo was a work of art.

The Americans rocked it, I mean, fifed and drummed it, playing traditional music such as The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and for a finale we all sang, "God Bless America." Very touching. Inside, Mark Twain and Ben Franklin (animatronics- SPOILER ALERT! They're dead!) took us through the history of our country. Excellent. 

We hit most of the international exhibits and missed most of the rides, although we hit Mission Space. Gary Sinese a former astronaut who doubles as an actor, trained us to fly to Mars. This ride, a simulator, felt like a recycled Star Tours ride, but quite fun.

We discovered the departing Monorail to be broken down again! We hoofed it to a bus, missed it, got to the shuttle port and missed our shuttle home, and had to pay for another. Drat! Left Disney with a bad taste in our mouth, a first. Happiest Place on Earth, indeed!

Note I haven't complained about their excessive high prices. However, for as much money as it costs, they better produce a great experience. And they fell a bit short today.

And now, knowing so much more internationally, Quilter Girl!

Epcot is divided into two parts, one with exhibits from other countries and a future world area.  As you can see, we spent most of our time in the international area.  There are streets with shops selling products from that country, along with restaurants and landscaping with a national flair.  We spent time in England, France, Japan, America, China,Germany, Norway and Mexico.  The food offerings were varied, specialties from each country offered.  Chjna was where we ended up for lunch, ordering Orange Chicken and Potstickers.  It would be fun to eat your way through Epcot!  Expensive, though.  

We were glad to see our cute little tent at the end of a long day. 

QG

Tomorrow, we chill (although not literally, as it's warm here) and write, sew, and probably go for a ride. See you then.