Disney's Epcot Center

Our third Disney park this week was Epcot Center. We were there for half a day a couple weeks ago, after Andrew got out of school, so this wasn't a first visit for any of us. Even so, we found a lot of new attractions to attend and Andrew came away with a new favorite.

The biggest attraction for me was the new hang gliding simulator called Soarin'. As soon as we entered the park, we walked straight to The Land to get our FASTPASS for priority seating later in the day. But instead, we decided to get in line and wait the posted 30 minutes. Boy was it worth the wait! Without giving too many details, it looked and felt like riding an open ski lift chair, but without the cable. We rose and fell over a variety of beautiful California landscapes. It was so cool, we decided to get a FASTPASS for later.

Then it was back to Spaceship Earth. This is Andrew's third favorite attraction at Epcot (I'll talk about his other favorites later). Andrew likes this because it is slow and it takes pictures of the passengers and uses them later in a funny way.

Other attractions included Universe of Energy, Mission: Space, Test Track, and The Seas with Nemo & Friends. I liked Mission: Space the best; this was Andrew's second favorite. Andrew thinks Test Track is the best, no doubt, because it is f a s t. Susan enjoyed the dolphin demonstration at the Nemo aquarium, while Andrew and I went downstairs to play in Bruce's Sub Room.

The most bizarre attraction, by far, was Captain EO. This is a 3D movie with bonus tactile features, created in 1986, starring, of all people, Michael Jackson. To me, it was just a cleaned up Thriller video, shot in outer space. Weird. But, the 3D effects were pretty good, so I'm told. My glassed seemed to have a problem.

Outside Imagination!, Andrew was fascinated by the leaping fountains. Jets of water leaped from one pad to another, crossing the path in several places. Andrew decided to stand in front of one of the pads and ended up getting soaked.

At dusk, we decided to find something to eat at World Showcase. Susan wanted veggies, so we stopped in China. For dessert, we had Apple Strudel in Germany. Finally, we watched the awesome fireworks show from the shoreline near Italy.

This turned out to be our longest park day so far; nearly 10 hours. Andrew didn't last quite that long. I ended up carrying him through most of the park and back to the car.