Day 20: I'm goin' to Dinsey World!

Day 20: June 19th, Orlando, FL - Disney World. Ever since I was young, I'd always heard stories from my friends about their visits to Disney. Even as an adult, I hear from adult friends about their visits to Disney with their own kids, nieces, or nephews. Yes, I guess that I felt like I was missing something having never been to Disney, and it lived up to all the hype. Since I only had one day, we had to choose just one of the Disney parks. There is the original park (The Magic Kingdom), EPCOT Center, Typhoon Lagoon, Animal Kingdom Park, Disney Hollywood Studios, and Blizzard Beach. Clearly, EPCOT Center was the right place for me. Thankfully, Matthew is a seasoned veteran and knew just where to go and what to do. After parking, we rushed to the Soarin' attraction and obtained a Fast Pass which is a reservation to board the ride at a later time, avoiding the 70-90 minute wait. Before this however , there was the obligatory photo in front of EPCOT's icon attraction, the Spaceship Earth dome. Next, we checked out the Ellen Degeneres / Bill Nye Universe of Energy exhibit. The Disney folks are absolute experts at moving people and cuing people up in a way that you don't realize how long the wait will be. For this attraction, they pile you into a huge ante-room with five huge screens and Ellen (not in person) introduces the ride. It's all about energy and where it comes from - fossil fuel, solar, wind, etc. Next, the doors open and we enter the main theater and sit down in theater style seating. We are facing a curtain, but I noticed that there were large screens behind us. The lights dim, and it turns out that the theater seating is separated into three huge sections. Ellen starts yelling "Yoo-hoo" from behind you and as you peek over your shoulder to look, these three huge sections start rotating so that ultimately you are facing the rear screens. After a brief presentation on these screens, the three large seating areas rotate back to the front, and the curtain opens, revealing a lifesize diorama with animatronic dinosaurs. Next, the three huge sections of seating start moving single file as if each were its own car to move through the diorama! We were in the middle section. It's really an engineering spectacle to see whole portions of the audience being moved along like this. We were shown life-sized animatronic exhibits that included dinosaurs ending with a return to the theater to see Ellen and Bill Nye finish up on the screen. It's pretty impressive to see each third of the theater turn into a moving car for this "ride", totally unexpected.

Next, it was off to GM's Test track. Holy cow, this was outstanding! You enter what appears to be a GM test facility, complete with crash test dummies, car doors opening and closing repeatedly for cycle testing, and a plethora of automotive testing exhibits. You line up and board these test vehicles which look like cars which drive a slotted track, although they do have real wheels and tires as well. You are told that you are going to experience a variety of tests: anti-lock braking, rumble strips, extreme heat, cold, and yes a crash test! At one point, your car is coming through a dark tunnel and they turn you right into an oncoming tractor trailer whose lights and air horn turn on suddenly. Of course the car veers away at the last second. Finally, they rapidly accelerate you towards what looks to be a crash barrier at high speed. It lifts away at the last second to reveal an outdoor track. At that very instant, they snap a digital photo of you to register the sheer terror of the imminent crash. Notice the expression on the woman on the right side of the photo! Somehow, I kept my composure. They next accelerate this vehicle up to over 70 miles an hour through twists and turns and banked turns outdoors. This was the best part and I just kept yelling "Faster .. faster .. faster !!!!!" I wish I had that on video for the blog. You'd think I was 12 years old. We had to experience this ride twice for the full effect!

We also went on a ride called "The Land" in which they showed us a variety of aspects of the natural world. The highlight was a tour through what is probably the world's most extensive hydroponic garden. It is truly a working laboratory in which they have engineered such things as tomato trees, yes trees. Also, they grow these enormous 9 lb lemons, huge pumpkins, and the most succulent-looking fruits and vegetables you've ever seen. My friend Jack Bulmer in Albany has a superb hydroponic garden in a greenhouse in his backyard and I know that he would have been amazed by the variety of unique techniques employed here to optimize growth of fruits and vegetables. Here's Jack's own blog about his own hydroponic garden: http://www.hydroponicworkshop.blogspot.com/


We then explored the monorail system. Matt made a special request and we got to sit in the very front of the monorail train, along with the conductor, whose official title is "pilot". This made for some excellent views of the various parks which the monorail serves. The monorail system was commissioned in 1971. The EPCOT line was added in 1982 during the construction of EPCOT. Interestingly enough, you don't need a Disney ticket to ride the monorail and the EPCOT line enters the park on the left side of the dome, goes around the periphery of the entire park and finally stops on the right side of the dome where you get off. You can get a sense of what's inside the park before actually buying a ticket, a little preview. We rode all three of Disney's monorail lines.

Finally, we made our way over the Polynesian village and the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 as the original Walt Disney theme park. It is the most visited theme park in the world. Its centerpiece attraction is Cinderella Castle, which everyone would recognize from Disney movies and TV shows. Since I only had a pass for EPCOT center and really didn't have time to explore the Magic Kingdom, we just took a look at the entrance from the monorail and moved on.

Next, we made our way to the other side of EPCOT Center where you get to experience 11 different world cultures on a short stroll through the park: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, the UK, and Oh Canada. The architecture, cuisine, shopping, and most importantly the people are authentic. Disney only hires natives of each country to work at the different locations in their World Showcase. It's like traveling to all of these different countries in just under an hour. We stopped in this eerily authentic Bavarian village and enjoyed Bratwurst, cooked and served by Germans. You could see some Germans walking around wearing Lederhosen. There was an authentic German clock tower, complete with dancing figures that chase each other as the clock chimed on the hour. It seemed to be Octoberfest all the time here in the German village, complete with Oompa bands.

Next, it was a visit to the Norwegian village. Here, among some of the traditional Norwegian toys were included trolls. Matt & I posed in front of this huge troll striking our best pose while brandishing some Viking weaponry and wearing our new favorite headgear.

Needless to say, we were not at all concerned with the ridicule we might have to face back home, otherwise this photo would have found its way into the digital bit bucket.

At long last, we found our way to Spaceship Earth, which is housed in the EPCOT's icon dome. After boarding a roller coaster-like car, you are taken on a spiral tour of the inside of this dome. It features a history of mankind, replete with humanoid robots engineered with Disney animatronics. They are so good at this, that some of these robots look and move like real people.

The trip culminates with an ascent to the top of the dome which is a huge projection screen which displays an almost-planetarium style view of the planet earth, among other things. During the ride to the bottom, there is really not much to look at, so your computer console keeps you occupied by asking you questions about what you'd like your future be like. Based on the answers to these questions and using photos of your face, they compile a cartoon on the fly, which they display to you right in the car before you arrive at the bottom. Next, you get to send this cartoon to your friends and family. You can enjoy it too. Click on this link, and you'll see Matt and Joel's version of the future.

We also got to ride on Soarin' towards the end of the day, a name which leads to many expectations to a sailplane pilot like myself. On this ride, they strap you into a rig which lifts off the ground, leaving your legs dangling. A hydraulic system literally pushes everyone's seat right into an IMAX-like screen, and you are completely enveloped by the projection from head to toe, left and right. The screen projects some amazing low-level flying shots. As the airplane banks, so too does your seat. It was a very realistic flying experience, even to a pilot who flies all the time. It felt like you were hang-gliding.

Another fantastic experience was Mission: SPACE. Here, Gary Sinise prepares you as an astronaut trainee and you enter a realistic "space" capsule with three of your closest friends. It can be quite claustrophobic for some people. This capsule is spun up and you experience G forces as you blast off and land your craft on Mars. Each person in the capsule has a responsibility, such as firing off thrusters, performing navigation, etc. We opted for the "more intense" version of the ride that included all of the gyroscopic spinning. There is another version that does not involve any spinning. I'm told that they used to spin this thing up to an even more intense level, but a child actually died on the ride once, so they toned it down a bit. I would have preferred more intensity! We capped this experience by creating the following video. In it, you can see why the Space Shuttle mission was scrubbed while we were at EPCOT.

It really was quite an experience for me at EPCOT. Disney is definitely not just for kids. Or perhaps it turns you back into a kid. It has definitely been a highlight of the trip. One aspect of this day that I did not count on was that the extreme heat (103 degrees) and all the walking thoroughly exhausted me to the point where I got sick again. The nasty dry cough kicked in and even the conjunctivitis returned! I would need an entire day to recover.