Epcot - land of dizziness

We received free tickets from Jason (Jerome's cousin) to Epcot for Christmas so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and go the day after the banquet.

It was supposed to only get up to about 57 degrees or so that day and turns out it was pretty windy. We get on the long pants (Floridians don't do long pants well), long sleeves and jackets and decided to brave it anyway. We get there about 9:45 and Im sure there were several 100 people there already.

As we walk in, I heard a faint yell, "Charlene". Who the heck could possibly know me here? And 60 miles away from home at that? I turned around to see Bridget. She and the family were waiting for HER cousin to get her in free too! Always good to have a Walt Disney World Cast Member somewhere in the family. We said a brief hello and went our separate ways hoping to maybe cross paths later.

So we get on the first ride, "Spaceship Earth" pretty quick. One of those typical Disney rides with a slow moving continuos cart and animatronics. Cool and always nice to sit and ride - slowly.

Our next idea was to hit text track and mission space since they are popular and would more than likely get crowded later. Well darn if test track wasn't open. It is a zero to 60 "crash test dummies" kind of ride and I was looking forward to it since I knew Charles could get on it too.

After that, Annette and Charles finally talk me into going on Mission Space and after seeing 3 or 4 signs warning those who are prone to nausea to not ride I wonder what I am doing here. You're talking to someone who gets car sick for gosh sake. I had to be tough for Charles. I was sorta worried about HIM since he got a little queasy on the plane to NY. Well we pretty much get right on after a lecture on flying from who other than Gary Sineese (the rather handsome guy with no leg from Forest Gump). He told everyone their jobs. I guess I was the Navigator. O.K! Sure! Oh and Thanks Gary for also reminding me AGAIN about the spinning and nausea stuff. Again, I contemplate my decision.

We stepped into a compartment with 4 seats. We are missing an engineer. Does that mean we will crash and burn?? So you put your belongings in a drawer and buckle up. I am totally freaking out inside. I can't believe Annette is doing this. The dork cast member in the "Mission Space" costume is telling you this is your last chance as I look on the "dashboard" to see real live barf bags. Oh goodie! I point them out to Charles too just in case.

Just as I anticipated, the doors close and the dashboard comes up to your face giving you access to your buttons and a view out of a "window" which is actually some sort of tv screen. The compartment tilts back so your are laying on your back and all you see is the sky out of your "window". Interesting. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,. . Crap.5, 4, 3, 2, 1, , , body tenses and blast off. You actually feel the pressure and it feels like you are really lifting off! A little scary but WOW! Gary is talking rather calmly telling the captain, Annette, when to press her buttons. Luckily she is pressing the engineers buttons too. I guess we wont blow up after all.

You apparently slingshot around the moon and you actually feel the g-force. I think that's about the time I started closing my eyes. They tell you not to lift your head or look either way. Just keep looking forward. No problemo. I'm not doing anything-including looking. I hear Gary telling me to push my thruster. Hmmm-no comment. Gary cant you see I have my eyes closed? So I peek just enough to see my button lit up. I pushed it through squinted eyes. You know what? Forget that ^%#*@ button! Why am I succumbing to the need to press a button that really doesn't matter, luckily, or I would have killed us all. A bunch of other stuff happens and I guess we land safely. Just glad I didn't use the barf bag. I have no idea if Charles made it or not. Overall the ride only lasts about 4 minutes or so. We get off and it isn't until then that I feel a little queasy. Not too bad. Thank God it didn't last longer. If you have claustrophobia that isn't the ride for you. Neither Charles (the pilot) nor Annette got queasy. I don't know how they do it.

Off to more rides and to get fast passes. Disney's new way of cutting down on wait times. Really most of the rides or shows had about a 20 minute or less wait time. Not too bad. The only ride we got fast passes to was Soarin'. During the wait for our fast pass "appointment" we went to The Living Seas which includes a cute "interactive" show with the turtle from Nemo. It is a cartoon projected on a large screen. It looks like that fish screen saver on a computer. 'Crush the turtle' talks with the audience. It is really interesting and the "voice of crush" was really good at impromptu answers from silly kids. Can't quite figure out how they made the turtle's mouth move at "real time" as the guy spoke.

There was also dolphins, manatees and all sorts of fish and stuff. This is where I got a really neat picture of the jelly fish. (hopefully posted) I guess you can scuba dive there-for a "small" fee! ha. They had Sea horses (sooooo cute), cuddle fish (I guess they cuddle-ha), snook, live coral and all sorts of other neat sea life.

We got back to Soarin and there was a wait for non-pass people of 70 minutes. NANNY NANNY BOO BOO.! We walked right in and still had to wait 5 min or so. We sit on a row of seats and strap in. Then the row of seats moves forward and up so that all the rows are facing this HUGE screen with no people in front of them. The movie starts and it gets slightly windy. You feel as if you are "soaring" over California. Bridges, waterfalls, oceans, mountains. Feels like your feet are going to hit the trees. Again, however, we are on a simulated moving ride. I have come to the conclusion that I really don't like these. I would rather be REALLY moving. Again, I felt the queasy sensation. Nothing horrible but irritating. Again, The ride lasts only about 4 minutes. It would really suck to wait 70 minutes for a 4 minute ride that makes you seasick.

We decided to eat lunch and really wanted to have a "sit down" lunch. There was this restaurant in The Land called Garden Grill. Guess what? It spun. Slowly but surely. They had several characters walking around greeting the patrons in the restaurant and getting pics. This was a total "kill all birds" situation. The menu was Flank Steak w/ mushroom sauce, Fried Catfish (harvested there), Turkey w/ cranberry glaze, potato casserole, and steamed veggies also grown there. Sounded good but I figured the wait would be long too.

It wasn't. We only waited about 12 minutes and got right on the "lunch ride". They served us a giant loaf of hearty bread with lemon grass butter and filled our ice cold drinks. About 3 feet into the lunch, Annette finally figured out we were moving. Cute. Come to find out, they serve you EVERYTHING on the menu. We got a platter with a little of everything. Charles got chicken strips, fries and mac & cheese. How cool! And everything was very yummy! Meanwhile Pluto, Mickey and Chip (unfortunately not from the REAL chippendales-MOM) came by for pics. I was in the middle of the booth so Annette got all the hugs and Charles got all the pics. When we finished all we could of the lunch, the waiter came by and asked if we wanted more (it was included). No way! Then he said we couldn't leave without dessert. It was included too. Well, Ok if you insist. So he brought out a plate with a beautiful arrangement of pecan pie, brownie pie, and cheesecake with whipped cream and chocolate shavings on top. Charles got a "make your own" cupcake complete with whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry. By the time we had finished MOST of the dessert, we were back around to the spot we had started from. What timing. And the lunch only cost about $60. Not bad at all for the experience and quality of food considering it was Whip your Wallet out Walt Disney World.

The rest of the day at Epcot was spent watching all the other shows and visiting all of the countries looking for hidden rides. We found one in Mexico and Norway. Charles had been looking forward to the Norway ride, "Maelstrom" the whole trip so we are finally here. The wait says, "20 minutes" but it was more like 35. The whole ride again lasted about 4 minutes. What's with the 4 minute rides?? It basically involved a Viking Ship which you are riding, 3 trolls, and 2 small (very small) water slides. Woo Wee! But Charles was happy. We bought him a plastic viking hat and moved on.

We went to china and found out the Golden Dragons performed. On the field trip on Tuesday Jan 17th the whole 2nd grade will be seeing them. (I am chaperoning-love to catch the King Center Productions). I bought a golden Buddha. (I really should be Buddhist) and a chinese hot tea set for 4 w/ tray-yes I like hot tea- all for about $15.

Once we got out of China it was turning unusually COLD. (well for Florida and the way we were dressed). Our sweatshirt hoods were the saving factor since it was about 55 degrees and very windy. You know, wind chill? Whatever. So we quickly got to the last countries which included Canada. There was some sort of 360 degree movie about Canada that Charles insisted on seeing. Unfortunately for my feet, it was standing room only. WHY O WHY Would they do that to such weary travelers??? I was angry at Disney and angry at the movie that was simulating a helicopter ride looking over the land of Canada. Okay so it WAS beautiful but I had to keep looking down to keep from getting dizzy. What a wimp I am.

We left shortly there after (7:30) due to lack of energy and warmth and headed for where else but Olive Garden. We both agreed it would probably be less $ and better than Whip your Wallet out Walt Disney World.

Once at Olive Garden, I asked the what the wait was (at 8:45 pm Sat night) and the lady said 35 minutes. She asked "how many", I said "three, Mcdougall" then proceeded to go to the restroom. When I came back we realized I didn't have a little "buzzer" thingy. So Annette went to talk to them and they didn't have our name down. They wrote it down and we then proceeded to wait for about 50 minutes!! At least. Charles and I were falling asleep in the lobby of Olive Garden. Annette had to go up and ask them again how long it would take. The seated us right after that.

Charles was so tired he basically fell asleep in the booth next to me while Mom M and I ate. The waiter forgot the little plates for the bread sticks and alfredo (sinful huh?), the parmesan cheese for the salad, mixed up the teas, took forever and basically just slacked. We noticed he was constantly looking for something. It was taking so long to get the bill (and we were very tired and ready to go) that Annette had to call the Manager over who was talking to some employees including our waiter. We explained the delay in seating and the waiters lack of attention was frustrating. She was very sympathetic and professional. She said she was sorry and there was no excuse for the time spent waiting for a seat but that the waiter had somehow lost or got $400 stolen from his little menu book. She explained that he was a really good waiter and any other time we would have received stupendous service. She said he had worked 10 hours that day and that was all his money (darn maybe I should go work for Darden!!) She said his lack of focus was understandable to her but not acceptable and offered to pay for our meal. Annette explained that wasn't necessary but that it really shouldn't take this long to have dinner. Of course, I was rooting for the "free dinner" since it was my turn to pay and said to the manager, "Look, if you take care of the meal, I will tip the waiter well". Basically all was said and done at that point. I thought that was really cool of the manager to stick up for him. She actually made him about $10 more dollars. The waiter came back he said there was no bill. I handed him a $20 and said good luck and we went home.

We watched a tape of Dancing with the Stars, the one where Tatum cant dance O'Neal and crashed. Back home in the morning.