Epcot 2011-01-23 Between the Land and the rest of the world
February 11, 2011
At the completion of our greenhouse tour, we went on to see Soarin' using our earlier acquired fast passes. The approach was a reasonable length walk, which is probably for the best give the popularity of the ride. After a Patrick Warburton-led flight safety video you're guided into a dark room with loose hanging rows of seats. The attraction involves being lifted above a screen in a hang gliding simulation over California. It was a lot of fun, even for Kate who normally isn't one for that sort of ride.
We had an excellent lunch in the food court of the Land pavilion. As you'd expect, many of the ingredients came from the hydroponic gardens and fish farms we visited. The prices were fairly reasonable and the portions ample. Afterwards we went to see the new attraction of the oceans: Crash's Turtle Talk. The attraction seats a small theater in front of a screen with an interactive computer-generated figure and a live human handling the voice. This worked pretty well; Crash had a range of behaviors, took questions from the audience, and whoever was handling the voice did a pretty good impression and did a good job working with kids.
We then proceeded through the classics of the topical Epcot exhibits, starting with the new Figment ride at Imagination! with Eric Idle. They haven't quite worked out how they want to handle that one. I'd recommend greatly increasing the level of surrealism; Idle should be capable of it. Afterwards, we wandered through some of the corporate exhibits in a classic world's fair setup on the way to the Spaceship Earth ride. The history of technology was enjoyable and Kate particularly enjoyed the 70s scientist lady near the end.
Afterwards Kate proceeded on to the World Exhibition and Mom and I went through the Mission to Mars centrifuge. The simulated G-forces were a lot of fun for me and we were amused by the slight interactive element. Each person had a role in the mission, but the role just involved pressing two buttons at an appropriate time.We were actually missing a commander, but through strategic reaching to an adjacent console, we were able to pull together anyhow.