[u]Saturday, 1st May 2004 (Day 10): </u> I woke up to a noise that sounded like someone was using a lawnmower on the lounge carpet, only to find that my sis-in-law had both the washing machine and dishwasher going at the same time. I groaned, knowing that this meant a general tardiness in everyone getting ready and setting off. We planned to go to the Future World bit of Epcot this day and I wanted to start no later than 8:30am from the villa.
As it turned out, we did start on time, but not before my blood pressure was up a notch or two. I kept reminding myself that this was a holiday, but the complacence of one or two in my party got on my nerves at times. We arrived at Epcot by 9am and to my relief, the crowd was not too bad. The weather was also OK, with intermittent sunshine and no immediate threat of rain. The security man took his time to make sure that the tomato & cucumber sandwiches that we were carrying were not going to explode or something, but after that things went smoothly.
I always like to start Epcot with the great Spaceship Earth ride and we got our turn within 10 minutes. My niece was very impressed with the ride and wanted to go again. I managed to convice her that there would be lots of interesting things in Innovations East. While she and the others were trying to send video e-mails to all and sundry, I nipped across to Mission Space to get FPs for all of us, though the seniors had opted out. I had this idea that my bro-in-law and I could use their FPs for a second ride.
We then went to the Universe of Energy pavilion. Whether it was imagination or otherwise, I thought the show was even better than I could remember from the last visit. The pre-show presentation got it just right mixing information with humour and the ride itself with its sensory stimuli was excellent.
Unfortunately, the Wonders of Life pavilion was closed; apparently, it is now a 'seasonal' attraction and open only during busy days. I was hoping to take my niece on the very interesting Body Wars ride, but it was not to be.
I was slightly disappointed when I realised that the entire Mission Space pavilion was dedicated to the ride itself and there was liitle else there. I was kind of hoping for a bit more info and conjecture about future of space travel, thus adding an educational element to the entertainment. But I have to admit that the ride was excellent and the effects were awsome. I was the 'commander' for our group of four and it felt almost real following the 'instructions'. But despite the precaution of motion-sickness pills, we all felt a bit queasey afterwards and I gave up the idea of a second go.
We had obtained FPs for Test Track before going on Mission Space, but even then there was to be a wait of 30 minutes to get on the vehicle. (2 hours for the regular line). My bro-in-law and I found the info at the 'pre-show' in the queuing area intersting, but the ladies seemed bored. I have to admit that the ride itself, though good, felt bit of an anti-climax after after all that waiting (and maybe so soon after Mission Space). The suspension and brake tests were very good though and made me feel that I was in a real testing ground. The thing with TT is to accept the ride for what it is an not to go with a 'rollercoaster' mind, as we perhaps did.
The post-show area provided great photo opportunities with all those latest models and my bro-in-law insisted on sitting behind the wheel of as many as he could and get himself snapped.
It was well past lunchtime by now and we found a shady spot to munch our sandwiches. I recalled that it was the Flower festival season and there were indeed some very colourful blooms to be seen and photographed. My in-laws decided that they would stretch their legs a bit and watch the flowers while we went to the 'Honey I Shrunk the Audience' show. (They had seen it in Disneyland Paris in 2002). Then all of us went to see the 'Imagination' pavilion. I had forgotten that 'Dr Channing' was Eric idle of the Monty Python fame a
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