Day 2a: Epcot!

After watching Ellen soundly defeat Jamie Lee Curtis on the Jeopardy!, we decided to give Spaceship Earth a try. I have always enjoyed SSE (as it will come to be known in this blog) and as it was coming up from a controversial rehab, I was quite excited. Lauren insisted that she touch the 'big ball.' 

She did not.

While waiting in line, we were cut off by this lame old couple. Seriously. By cutting me off, and pushing past, you managed to save yourself a grand total of, like, 15 seconds....or so you thought! The Karma Police came through and we were actually able to board the ride first! And there is once again justice throughout the universe.

So, the first 'new' thing (and keep in mind that I have not ridden the ride since 2005, so my memory may be slightly sieve-like) is that we are asked to face forward as a photo is taken. This would, obviously, come in to play later.

Lauren was thrilled by the Judi Dench narration and I enjoyed it, though I was a big fan of the previous, Jeremy Irons, as well. Upon reaching the main chambers of the ride, things seemed similar, though much smoother animation and everything looking all clean and shiny.

The library at Alexandria still smelled like burning and that lazy monk was still asleep at his writing desk, hidden mickey still on his parchment. It seemed like there were a few new scenes added, including a 1960's family watching the moon landing, a science lab (I think?) with a lady in some decidedly '70s fashions and a scene of a garage in California with the figure inside (being either Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak) creating the personal computer.

Gone was the scene of the boy talking to his friend in China and the automatic phone translation, but I think I was OK with that. As far as that being a 'future' technology, if there is not something similar available currently, there is something pretty darn close. Plus, personally, I found the new decline to be entertaining.

It was here that the picture taken at the beginning of the attraction came into play. After answering a series of questions ( i.e. "Would you rather travel or shop?") we were treated to video, featuring our lovely faces on some cartoon-type Flash animation characters, illustrating what sort of future technologies would be able to make our particular lifestyle of choice easier. We found it particularly amusing.

I can see how, to the regular visitors, this may grow stale eventually (much as the "What Disney Character Are You?" in the Animation Building at DCA is to me), but as annual visitors (at best) this worked out just fine for us. Yes, I miss the "City of Tomorrow" model on the decline, but this was very entertaining as well and I think kids in particular will get a kick out of it.

After exiting the "big ball," or more appropriately, the "big geodesic sphere" we headed over to "The Land" pavilion.

I had heard good things about "Living with the Land," but had never ridden it, so Lauren and I got in line. Here, we encountered our second karmic offenders. Again, a gentleman elbowed his way in front of us, and then proceeded to bring his large extended family to cut in front of us. And, as in the previous encounter, the Karma Police were on duty and when the Cast Member asked for a group of two or less, we answered the call and got front row seats. 

I wasn't particularly planning to be thrilled by the ride and was mostly riding it to see the home of some of the animatronics designed for Marc Davis' "Western River Expedition" but actually thoroughly enjoyed the ride. As we exited we made very tentative plans to do the "Behind the Seeds" backstage tour the next time that we were in Epcot.

It was slowly getting toward our lunch reservation at the Rose and Crown so we decided to meander toward the World Showcase, but there was an incident that would delay our world traveling. You see, while walking toward the lagoon, I saw an old friend of mine and I needed to go and say hello. He is not a typical friend, we don't really talk when I'm not at Epcot, but where else can you find a friend who is,

"Two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow

Horns of a steer, but a loveable fellow.

From head to tail, he's royal purple pigment.

And there--Voila!--you've got a Figment!"

That's right. Figment. I love Figment. He was standing alone up at his little photo meet and greet place near the exit of the "Journey Into Imagination with Figment." I basically ran up and gave him a great big hug. He didn't really hug back. It's OK though. I was justified later in the trip. 

After having to be dragged away, we were, once again, on our way to World Showcase and our delicious pub lunch.