Dream Vacay at Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA, EPCOT

DAY 2, DEC 6, Tuesday: AT EPCOT

Instead of posting daily report, I'm combining 2 days at the same theme park. So this post is day 2 and 5 of our visit both at EPCOT. 

Walt Disney World's second theme park EPCOT opened October 1, 1982,, joining the Magic Kingdom. It is a "permanent world fair",

Epcot is divided into two distinct areas, Future World and World Showcase....Epcot's two areas are open at staggered times. Future World usually opens at 9 AM, and World Showcase at 11 AM

World Showcase features eleven countries, with authentic food and merchandise, hosted by citizens of that country. We loved the Mexico ride, and the Maelstrom ride in the Norway pavilion and the shows and the authentic architecture of all countries...of course nothing beats a visit to the real country but these are pretty good replicas.
As we have been to the countries , I'm giving a link for those reports along with the review of these replicas

The name EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow, Walt Disney's last and most ambitious project. His grand vision for EPCOT was as a living, working city of the future, with latest technology

Spaceship Earth is visible from anywhere in the park and provides a convenient orientation landmark....

The icon of Epcot —Spaceship Earth is a 180 foot geodesic sphere. The name comes from Fuller's book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth though he has not been credited....

There are 11,324 individual triangles in Spaceship Earth.... count and prove me wrong, ha,ha!


Spaceship Earth has a slow-moving 16-minute ride through time and space  inside this sphere. We loved the interactive games and rides in this and returned on the last day and spent 4 hours here before our flight...

Future World in EPCOT  highlights human progress. The "future" is not the fantasy of the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland, but  communication, imagination,and conservation .

Future World is the northern half of Epcot near the main entrance.

From the main entrance, Spaceship Earth is directly in front, with Innoventions hiding behind it. 
Future World East—Universe of Energy, Mission: SPACE, and Test Track—is on the left side of Future World. 
Future World West is on the right and comprises The Seas with Nemo & Friends, and The Land 

Epcot is an "educational park", but it's all presented in the usual entertaining Disney style.

We thoroughly loved the thrill rides...Test Track and Mission: SPACE and Soarin' . We did all these rides twice 

There are innovative fountains ...stroller, wheel chair rental in the background...

On the way to Finding Nemo.

As with all pavilions, this one also has a ride, a show, a restaurant aptly named coral reef and ocean themed gift shop.

Sitting in the clamobile for the show. ...

Clamobile ride vehicle is shaped like a clam and the ride is thru underwater with all the lovely sea creatures..

it is a slow-moving but cute ride; showing characters from Finding Nemo swimming with real fish.

 Nemo is once again missing and Marlin and Dory are searching for him—although, unlike in the movie, Nemo is more playfully absent than truly lost. The adventure climaxes with an awe-inspiring view of the Finding Nemo characters frolicking among real-life fish living in a 5.7 million gallon salt-water tank.

Here's a video of Finding Nemo

There were very good aquariums

The aquarium within this pavilion was once the largest saltwater aquarium in the world; it's still impressively huge. Like the greenhouses at The Land, this is more than just a theme park attraction—the aquarium staff is engaged in research that maintains marine environments .... Two rescued West Indian manatees, members of one of Florida's most critically endangered species, can be found here.

FUTURE WORLD'S Imagination pavilion is underneath this glass pyramid. 

Has an excellent show— Captain EO ...  17-minute interactive film with  musical numbers performed by Michael Jackson, and stunning special effects.

Jumping fountains and the backwards waterfall are highlights in this region.. caught the jumping fountains in a video.

The imagination pavilion also has Imagination With Figment ride and then interactive games at the ImageWorks.

Christmas tree at each theme park was great in its own way.

Future World is a park  with broad expanses of grass and water separating  large pavilions. Each pavilion has themes of human innovation, from communication and imagination to energy and

transportation. there are  rides, a theater presentation, and an activity area with a number of smaller hands-on exhibits.

We went to the land pavilion which spreads over 6 acres... Flew over  stunning landscapes in Soarin'. Sailed aboard a boat ride in Living with the Land and marveled at the gardens cultivating all the produce for all the restaurants in the whole of Disney world. There were even hydroponic and aeroponic hanging gardens. Saw the wonders of nature with Simba, Timon and Pumbaa in The Circle of Life.

Names of restaurants were The Garden Grill and Sunshine Seasons food court....again aptly named and with matching décor.

SOARIN’ was an awesome ride simulating a hang-gliding flight over California.

Our glider lifted 40 feet into the air and there was an IMAX projection dome wrapping 180 degrees around us—so we  really felt as if we were soaring over these scenery.

 landmarks were :

San Francisco

• Golden Gate Bridge

• Redwood Creek

• Napa Valley

• Monterey

• Lake Tahoe

• Yosemite National Park

• Camarillo

• Anaza-Borrego Desert State Park

• San Diego

• Malibu

• Los Angeles...

We flew over a PGA West golf tournament, a skiing and snowboarding exhibition, and cowboys on horseback as they race through the wilderness...

Felt the wind in our hair, the scent of orange groves, evergreens and the sea breeze. ..our feet dangle free.  so when we dipped down close to waves of the Pacific Ocean, we felt our toes will get wet.... The finale was fireworks around us… we did this ride twice and LOVED it.

We also LOVED the ride Mission: SPACE, a motion simulator ride making us feel as if we were blasting off into space ...Disney Imagineers had worked with more than 25 space experts from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including 5 astronauts for designing this ride....we had an astronaut's  experience during a space flight to Mars....

Each member of the astronaut team has a role in a cosmic mission dodging meteors and navigating nebulae.....we took the green team ride twice over.....

That was the end of a long, fun filled day... saw the amazing fireworks and traced our way back.

DAY 5, DEC 9, Friday AGAIN AT EPCOT.

Had great fun on the Test Track ride. .
 Test track ride---did it twice over each day and LOVED it.

Another thrill ride here...

Then got inside all the cars on display..

When we go past Spaceship Earth and through Innoventions Plaza 

 we see the World Showcase Lagoon with the eleven nations of World Showcase arrayed around the far shore. From left to right (east to west), the pavilions are Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. 

MEXICO:

Here we are in MEXICO...VIDEO here

OLA...The Mexican pavilion is dominated by a pyramid, loosely modeled after the pre-Columbian pyramid in Teotihuacan known as the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, dating back to 150-200 CE.

 Its use is still a mystery, but more than 200 sacrificial burials have been found around the original temple. The head of the mythical serpent creature Quetzalcoatl has been included in this replica along the entrance stairs.

Inside the pyramid is a nighttime square with stars twinkling above, some Spanish-era colonial buildings, a restaurant, and a market selling various Mexican sombreros and other items.

 Mexican sombreros for sale...

After the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. we took a boat ride with the Three Caballeros, from the 1944 Disney film of the same name. 

We joined Panchito and José Carioca on a boat ride across all of Mexico, searching for Donald Duck, the last member of the trio, who has been distracted by all the commotion and gone missing.

There are specific times for meeting/greeting Disney characters thru out. By chance we were at the spot where Donald Duck of the Spanish version turned up at the Mexican pavilion. 

There are long queues for these meet and greet sessions …

This is the World Showcase Lagoon: we enjoyed display of fireworks, lasers, fountains and electric light here at night

NORWAY:

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-plan-trip-to-norway-trip-report.html
This is a square representing a few Norwegian towns. The Norway pavilion is 58000 sq ft


The fortress-like restaurant building is modeled and named after the Akershus fortress in Oslo, guarding the sea approach to the city.

 The huge wooden church is a replica of the traditional Stave Church in Gol in Western Norway, dating back to 1212;

At the church door—the original is one of very few surviving ancient wooden churches left in the world 

Viking.ready to attack...

 Docile Viking...

 After the Maelstrom Ride.... we rode in a Viking boat through Norway's storybook lands, with Vikings, cursing trolls and oil platforms!  The ships are  modeled after those sailed by Eric The Red, who colonized Greenland and was central to the Vikings' discovery of North America, five centuries before Christopher Columbus.
 Inside the gift shop with the trolls...

 The viking headgear is surprisingly light...

CHINA: 

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-to-plan-trip-to-china.html
Walked through the large Paifang gate. These gates were used in ancient China to mark entry into a new division (called Fang in Chinese), and this one is a replica of one in Beijing's summer palace

 The ceremonial gate in better detail... saw a lovely performance of Chinese acrobats here...

The courtyard is dominated by a large recreation of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing; it was used by the emperors to pray for a good harvest.

Many of the smaller buildings are recreations of the Forbidden City, also in Beijing

Saw Reflections of China. ..

A Circle-Vision 360, 13-minute travel movie of China's most well-known sights, from Shanghai and Inner Mongolia, to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China was shown inside this theater. Pretty good technology which made us feel as if we were really in the actual spot.

 The famous tomb warriors of the 1st emperor.. 6 foot life size models of all his soldiers were cast in clay and buried with the emperor along with food, jewelry and all other earthly necessities... these were found after 5000 years on excavation of his tomb. Each warrior has unique individual features and pose.

 The tomb warriors who were found with the 1st emperor of china--are the guardian spirits of ancient China.

The 12 columns supporting the roof of the temple represent the 12 months of the Chinese year, and the four columns in the center represent the four seasons. 

Gift shop is great too. 

Here we are helping Buzz light years by shooting at his enemies with the laser gun...

Son has very high scores and has become a galactic hero as can be seen from the panel below the gun...learnt to take a video and then grab a screen shot from that to get a better picture... after the ride we have to keep the camera handy to take the picture, otherwise it disappears from the screen.

MOROCCO:

Enjoying Moroccan drums here...

Morocco is the only pavilion sponsored by a government. King Hassan II was heavily involved in the construction, and he dispatched native craftsmen to build the .pavilion. Video here...

The minaret (or tower) towering over the area is a recreation of the unique Koutoubia Minaret in Marrakech, which has inspired thousands of church towers across Europe.

 
In Muslim countries priests call for prayers (fard) from these towers five times a day. 

The pavilion also holds a small recreation of parts of the Chellah necropolis, a burial place located in Rabat that is actually an ancient Roman structure.  

  

 There is also a replica of the Nejjarine fountain in Fez, a very intricate mosaic fountain. 

 

Also from Fez, the evenly tiled Bab Boujouloud gate marks the border between the old town (the Medina) and the new town. Inside the Medina, there is a bustling market place, or bazaar. 

Because many of the structures, even as replicas, hold great religious significance to Muslims, the buildings are not lighted during the IllumiNations show. We covered this pavilion in our videos..

saw a pretty Moroccan girl belly dancing as well... top left in pic below

GERMANY:

Hamburg's Miniatur Wunderland is here:

https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2019/05/berlin-trip-report-day-4-day-trip-to.html

The Germany Pavilion located between China and Italy pavilions looks like a German town, with architecture from different eras and regions. The Platz (square) is decorated with a statue of St. George and the Dragon inspired by the statue in the medieval Bavarian town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber,and a clock tower.

 The Biergarten, at the rear of the courtyard, sells German food. 

The pavilion also has numerous small shops selling German goods, including dolls and cuckoo clocks. 

Video here...

The area near the pavilion is decorated by an extensive model village with working model trains.

Characters from the Walt Disney animated feature "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", which was inspired by the tale attributed to the Brothers Grimm, make appearances in and around the pavilion.

The ride section was supposed to be a Rhine cruise but it never got built.

ITALY:

Venice including Murano, Burano:

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/05/how-to-plan-trip-to-venice.html

The Italy Pavilion located between Germany and American adventure features a plaza surrounded by buildings evocative of Venetian, Florentine, and Roman architecture. Video below:

Venetian architecture is represented by a re-creation of St Mark's Campanile (bell tower) 

with the La Gemma Elegante shop representing a replica of the Doge's Palace. 

Neptune fountain here

The ride section was supposed to be a Gondola cruise but it never got built. 

CANADA:

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-to-plan-trip-to-canada.html
Canada's outdoors is represented with a canyon, a waterfall, gardens, a pool with fountains, and totem poles. Video here

Report on our day at Animal kingdom is here:
https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2020/05/dream-vacay-at-disney-world-orlando_8.html