Day 2: Welcome to Epcot!

The main problem that I have with mornings is the fact that they occur in the morning. If somehow we could make 6 a.m. happen around noon-ish or so, I would be a happy little camper. Suffice it to say that the morning of January 15th was not to be that day. In addition to being early--after not sleeping much the day prior-- annnnnnd that wonderful 3 hour time differential, I was slightly less of a happy camper getting up. More like a bear, being wrested out of a long hibernation. It was OK though, we were going to Epcot!

After somehow getting the both of us out of bed and all 'neat and pretty' as the Mouse, himself used to say, we made our way down to the Boardwalk Bakery, en route to World Showcase. Being hot drink junkies (as will become evident as the trip rolls on) we decided to take advantage of the resort mug offer. One begins by purchasing a mug at a designated location within their resort. These mugs USED to be resort specific, but are now just generic "Million Dreams" mugs. Anyway. Upon purchasing the mug, the bearer is now entitled to unlimited free drinks of the hot variety, as well as soft drinks, throughout the duration of the resort stay. We grabbed the first of many hot chocolates and headed over to the International Gateway to await our entry into Epcot, and first foray into Future World.

We guzzled down the hot chocolates and walked briskly through the deserted World Showcase, which would not open until 11, and somehow were able to navigate our way over to Test Track. We literally walked right on and were seated up front. I had the video camera out the whole time(another theme of the vacation) and got some decent shots. The ride was outstanding. There is nothing like the feeling of 65 mph of wind in your hair as you a zipping and banking around Epcot at 8 in the morning. Upon our departure we found that Test Track offers their ride photos as part of Photo Pass. We were planning on buying the picture CD from the beginning, so we got our first Photo Pass card and picture on that card. 

After Test Track we headed across the plaza to Mission:Space. This was quite the intense ride and I cannot really imagine doing it multiple times in a day. Not to say anything about the ride, it was just...intense. Since it was Early Entry and all of the sane people were in their hotels in the nice warm beds, our Space crew wound up being just Lauren and me. We did our best, but somehow still wound up almost falling into a huge crater. Oh well. We both made it through alive, despite Lauren insisting on doing the very opposite thing that Gary Sinise had warned us about, and looking to the side while we were in space. NASA was taking notes and unfortunately that act of defiance all but ruined her chances to be on the next space mission.

Following our re-entry to Earth, we headed BACK to Test Track. Hey, it was Early Entry, gotta get in those E-Tickets while you can! The line was slightly longer than last time (translation: 5 minutes instead of 35 seconds. Oh, the humanity!) and we still somehow made it through our gig as crash test dummies. 

At this point, it was right about park opening time for the poor schmucks without the Early Entry and we had heard that Spaceship Earth was available for a soft opening, so we hoofed our way over. Turns out it was not. I was kind of bummed out about this, so what could make me feel any better than the ride featuring my favorite TV show ever? That's right folks, Ellen's Energy Adventure...featuring Jeopardy ANNNND Alex Trebek--with real mustache action! The nice thing about this ride, and really all of Disney "edu-tainment" in general is that it educates without being too preachy or partisan. Yes, these sources of energy are wonderful, but at the current time are sort of impractical. However, it gives hope for the future. Note: All protesters, hippies, etc take note. THIS kind of thing is how you reach people. I'm just saying.....

Also, for some reason I remember the dinosaur part being much longer than it was this time. I'm pretty sure it wasn't, but I remember it as such. Plus, the dinos didn't spit on us. 

By the time we had exited and seen a wheelchair that was apparently only dedicated to the ride and the ride only (the logo on the back told us as much) the rest of humanity had entered the park and we were in a quandry as to where to head next.

Tune in next time for the next installment!