Mantis Miscellany--Walt Disney World Part 4: Epcot

Originally Published May 14, 2013

Time for my favorite Disney World park. We went to Epcot on three of our days, though one of them was just for lunch, one was for half a day, and the other we made a brief detour to the Polynesian Resort for dinner (see part 1 for more on the Polynesian). As such, this will not be chronological like the posts for the other parks. And it is a lot longer than the others, so beware.

Although Animal Kingdom is the biggest Disney World park, Epcot has the most walking ground open to guests. It is divided into two parts. Near the entrance is Future World, which features pavilions containing rides, shows, and exhibits focusing on science and technology. Further in is World Showcase, where pavilions for eleven countries surround a 40-acre lagoon. Each country’s pavilion features shops, eateries, and live entertainment, and a few also boast rides, films, and shows (though nothing on an E-ticket level). The two areas don’t really go together, but the park is so big that visual thematic jarring is minimized. The circumference of World Showcase’s lagoon is 1.2 miles according to the Unofficial Guide, and though Future World looks small on the park map, it still covers a decent amount of ground.

Future World is divided into two halves, an east side and a west side. Upon entering, you are facing south (the opposite of Disneyland and Magic Kingdom where you are facing north), so east is to the left and west is to the right. Just inside the entrance and past a group of triangular sculptures is the park’s icon, a giant golf ball that holds a dark ride, Spaceship Earth (more on this later). On the other side of the golf ball is a plaza with two large crescent buildings on either side. These structures, which we did not explore, contain a quick-service restaurant (Electric Umbrella), the Mouse Gear store, and Innoventions, a collection of high-tech interactive exhibits (the Disneyland version is in Tomorrowland’s old Carousel of Progress building). Straight ahead are a fountain and the World Showcase lagoon, while to the left and right passages in the middle of each building lead to Future World East and Future World West.

Future World East (to the left) includes three pavilions. Straight through the passageway is Test Track, Epcot’s headliner attraction and the basis of the technology for California Adventure’s Radiator Springs Racers. Although I went on the ride three times, we never waited in the regular standby line; we either used Fastpass or the single rider line (as an aside, I’ve never waited in the standby line for Radiator Springs Racers either).

When Test Track opened in 1999, it was sponsored by GM. In 2012, Chevrolet took over sponsorship, and the ride underwent a drastic re-theming (though the track itself is the same). I haven’t been on the original, but from what I’ve seen on YouTube, it looked like a much more informative and less random ride, as monitors explained the various tests as your ride vehicle performed them. As the ride is now, you basically explore a rather sparse looking version of TRON-land.

In the queue, you scan a card and use a computer console to design your own car out of preselected elements. Before boarding, you scan the card again and throughout the ride, monitors display the ranking of how each rider’s vehicle performed in the tests. In practice, this doesn’t work too well; every time we rode, each monitor showed a different set of cars. In addition, Fastpass guests and single riders aren’t given the chance to design cars (though I personally couldn’t give a whit about that).

The ride vehicles are, well, cars with two rows of three with standard shoulder-and-lap seatbelts. The first part of the ride is completely indoors. After the safety check, the vehicles ascend a ramp (this used to be the hill test, but now it’s just a ramp. The former block test that used to follow is omitted). For the weather test, the cars accelerate forward on a lit track before swerving suddenly in front of projected rain. They then make a U-turn and accelerate again, slowing in front of a projected lightning bolt (this used to be the ABS braking test). Aerodynamics are tested as the cars pass through three chambers, one of which has a mirror that displays a stream of air moving over the car. In the handling test, the cars move rapidly through a series of tight hairpin turns, nearly crashing into a truck at the end. The former barrier test is gone, and instead you accelerate toward a pair of doors that swing open at the last second as the cars speed outside. There is a brief straightaway, and then the cars loop around a circle of display cars. Then there’s another straightaway, and the cars accelerate dramatically back toward the ride building, then make a deeply banked loop all around its circumference before dipping back down into the building into the loading station. And again, on one of our rides, the ride had a minor breakdown right at the end, though we were not evacuated and thus not given re-ride passes. Bummer. After getting off, it takes forever to exit back outside, as you walk through a series of rooms and corridors with Chevrolet-based video games, then to a showroom with Chevrolet vehicles, and finally to the Chevrolet gift shop before you get back outside.

Test Track is a lot faster and more kinetically thrilling than Radiator Springs Racers during the outside portion. However, it is not as well themed, especially in the newest incarnation where the tests aren’t really explained. The visuals, reflecting the virtual test theme, are very minimalistic and almost cheap looking. Sure, the original ride may have needed updating, but making it “virtual” is almost a cop-out, as basically all the Imagineers had to do was make everything black, and then add some neon lights. It’s still a great ride, and the thrill of the outside part is excellent. But a perfect ride of this type would have the inner theming and racing element of Radiator Springs Racers and the speed of Test Track.

To the left of Test Track (facing the entrance) is Epcot’s newest original ride, the notorious Mission: Space. The ride has a reputation for extreme intensity and potential for motion sickness. Disney now offers two versions of the ride: the less intense Green and the original Orange. At every time of the day, the wait time for Green was 5 minutes and Orange was either 5 or 10 minutes. It looked like there were four simulators, but whenever we went there was just one for each version running.

I haven’t really gotten motion sickness from a ride (The Simpsons Ride got me the closest), but I do get carsick if I read. We opted for the Green version first. Now, the Green version isn’t exactly Dumbo; the ride is still a simulator and it’s comparable to Star Tours. But what the Green version doesn’t do is spin to simulate the heavy g-forces a space flight experiences during lift off and landing. After riding, we then opted to try the Orange version.

At the entrance to the ride building, cast members ask what version you want, then hand you a “ticket” and show you what line to get in. The tickets are printed with all sorts of health warning and disclaimers, especially the Orange one. Inside the building, the queue passes by a large, round model of a space station module set up on its side, and then passes by a Mission Control center.

You are then directed into a briefing room, which holds ten groups of four. Monitors introduce you to Lieutenant Dan, I mean Gary Sinise, who not only has legs, but also is your team leader for your mission. You are on a mission to Mars. It might be the first, though there is already a base there when you land, so maybe not. Anyway, “It is intense,” Sinise warns before you are admitted into a long, curving corridor that actually surrounds the simulator itself. Your group of four waits at a door, and Sinise appears on another monitor where he explains that each of you has a special role: commander, engineer, navigator, and pilot. Anyhow, there are two lit buttons that you’re supposed to press when he tells you. Another technician says that if you start to feel sick, keep staring straight ahead. Do not close your eyes or look to the side. I’m guessing that doing one of these things could make you aware that you’re actually spinning, and disorient you even more. Even if there is no line, like there was when we went, the two pre-shows still take about ten minutes.

When the doors open, you enter the simulator room. The simulator itself is not a single cabin like in Star Tours. A central column has arms that attach to ten small cabins, each of which holds a group of four. You enter the cabin and bring down the over-the-shoulder restraints, and a cast member closes the capsule, which brings the controls and viewing screen towards you. Handy barf bags are provided. There are lots of little buttons, switches, and a joystick, but they don’t do anything during the ride. In fact, the two buttons you’re supposed to press don’t really matter either, as you’ll soon find out.

The ride starts with a launch. In the Orange version, you can definitely feel the g-forces, and I haven’t been on a roller coaster yet that pushes you back that hard into your seat for so long. “Gnarly” would be a good word for how it feels; I could feel my carotid arteries pumping harder, and though I could lift my hands, it felt very peculiar. It’s an adrenaline rush, in any case, and a unique experience for those of us who are not pilots or astronauts.

At various points during the rest of the ride, the voice of Mr. Sinise tells each person to push a button; the navigator is asked to fire the boosters at one point and the engineer to send the crew into hypersleep. But if you take too long or if no one’s sitting in the appropriate seat, the “autopilot” does it anyway. I rode by myself one time, and the other two people with me didn’t push any of the buttons when they were told to. As a result, the ride got confused and the autopilot began to do everything, so when I pushed my buttons, nothing would happen, and then the autopilot would take over.

Anyway, after the launch, the rocket curves around the moon, justifying some more intense g-forces, and bypasses the earth. We are then put into cryogenic sleep before the ship emerges in the midst of a meteor shower. Surviving this, the ship descends to the Martian surface with even more g-forces, then zooms and twists through a canyon before making a rough landing on the base. There’s a fake-out as the ground crumbles in front of the ship to reveal a precipitous drop; alas, you don’t fall and the ride is over.

Mission: Space Green isn’t too different from any other simulator, though you are in a small cabin with only four other people. But the Orange version is something else entirely. The g-forces are created by spinning, but you can’t really tell that you’re spinning and the effect is at once both exhilarating and almost otherworldly. I myself didn’t get motion sickness, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I’m sure Mr. Gump would be proud to see how far his old friend has gone.

To the left of Mission: Space is the closed Wonders of Life pavilion that used to hold a simulator ride (Body Wars, directed by Leonard Nimoy), an animatronic show (Cranium Command), Martin Short’s sex-ed film The Making of Me, and other minor attractions. To the left of that (and actually near the entrance, though it’s inaccessible from here) is the Universe of Energy, a combination theater film and ride starring Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Alex Trebek (who has a mustache). The whole thing lasts about 30 minutes not counting the preshow, and the nature of the attraction makes it impossible to get off outside of an emergency. And Disney does not consider needing to take a dump or a piss an emergency.

The preshow introduces Ellen on a series of screens, and we are introduced to her and a dream she has which form the plot of the attraction. She dreams she’s on Jeopardy against Albert Einstein (who doesn’t do much of anything during the whole ride) and Dr. Judy Peterson (Curtis), Ellen’s childhood nemesis. The topic is energy (the attraction was originally sponsored by Exxon, after all), and Ellen is no match for Judy. She pauses her dream to ask help from her neighbor, Bill Nye the Science Guy. He invites her to learn about energy, and then the doors open to the actual theater.

The theater is divided into six large sections (one of which was covered up when we went) with doors at the end of each row. The seats are benches and not individual chairs. Once everyone is seated, the sections immediately start rotating. Bill Nye narrates a brief history of the universe (nothing to do with Stephen Hawking, though), and a large screen shows the Big Bang and its aftermath. The pair then travels to the time of the dinosaurs to explore the origin of fossil fuels. A large door in the side of the theater opens, and each section then travels through, one after the other, to the ride portion of the attraction.

The ride is a much more elaborate variation of the Primeval World exhibit seen on the Disneyland Railroad. The sections pass by several scenes of dinosaurs doing their thing. An animatronic of Ellen battles a pesky specimen, though Bill Nye is nowhere to be seen (you can hear him, though). At the end, the sections enter another theater where a voice narrates radio reports from various moments in history as we wait for all the sections to get in (they move rather slowly). Then, another big-screen film starts as Bill takes Ellen on a journey showing where other sources of energy come from, including dams, solar panels, and wind farms. The sections then go back into the original theater as Ellen returns to her Jeopardy game. The Final Jeopardy question asks what the only unlimited source of energy is. Ellen gets the predictable Disney-esque answer, which is, of course, human imagination.

Universe of Energy is an interesting attraction with a unique ride/theater system. The dinosaur ride portion, however, ties very loosely with the concept of energy, and the attraction doesn’t clearly explain the connection. It almost feels like Disney had a neat ride segment, and then tried to build a film about energy around it. The film is fairly amusing, though you probably won’t learn anything new (at least I didn’t). But again, the structure of the attraction and the entertainment value from the actors make it worth seeing.

As mentioned before, the huge golf ball near Epcot’s entrance holds Spaceship Earth, a dark ride with constantly moving vehicles like in the Haunted Mansion. Its theme is the history and development of human communication with narration by Dame Judi Dench. As the ride starts, you’re told to look at a monitor, and a picture is taken of your face, which will be utilized later. The ride spirals up the interior of the golf ball, passing by animatronic scenes including early humans making cave paintings, an Egyptian noble dictating to a scribe, the fall of Rome, Gutenberg’s printing press, Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a television broadcast of the moon landing, and the development of the personal computer. Now at the top of the dome, the ride enters a huge planetarium-like area, with stars projected all around and the Earth right in the center. The vehicles then turn around and descend backward through a blue-lit tunnel. There is no scenery, but touch-screens in the cars ask several multiple-choice questions about how you would like to live in the future (only one screen per two-seater vehicle, so no squabbling). At the end of the questionnaire, the screens show a video of your future, with your heads grafted onto cartoon bodies. At the ride’s exit, you can use computer consoles to find your ride photo and email it to yourself. The email also contains a link to your video (download it as soon as you can because it’s apparently taken off the server after a few days). Spaceship Earth is a fairly edifying ride with some impressive scenes. The descent is visually sparse as you’re supposed to be focusing on the questionnaire; the previous version (1994-2007) narrated by Jeremy Irons had much more visuals as the cars went back down to ground level.

Future World West also has three pavilions. Closest to the World Showcase lagoon is the Imagination pavilion. It has a theater, a ride, and an interactive area. The theater for many years showed Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and it was showing Captain EO Tribute when we went. The ride is the bizarre Journey Into Imagination With Figment. Fittingly, the ride vehicles are slightly strange as well. A train of four large cars travels along the track. But the cars can rotate, and the train stops at several points as it comes to different rooms. The ride is a whimsical ode to imagination, starring Eric Idle as Dr. Nigel Channing of the Imagination Institute. He is trying to show guests several experiments in an attempt to quantify imagination, but this purple dragon named Figment keeps messing things up. For example, in one room, Channing tries to demonstrate something with smell, but then Figment enters and creates a literal stink. Near the end, we travel through Figment’s upside-down house. The finale takes place in a room that starts out fairly nondescript, then there is a flash and it transforms into a saccharine phantasmagoria of rainbows, stars, multiple Figments, and other bright objects. Again, it’s a very bizarre ride. Throughout, Figment sings a song called “One Little Spark,” an excessively charming earworm.

The ride’s exit leads to a room of interactive exhibits. One uses motion sensor technology where you wave your hands around to play virtual instruments. Another is a game where colored panels light up in a specific sequence, and then you try to copy the sequence as it gets progressively longer. There are computer terminals where you can design your own Figment. Here is my masterpiece (the name is an in-joke that literally two people will get, so don’t worry about it. I will say that it has to do with Build-A-Bear Workshop):

To the right of Imagination is the creatively named The Land. The doors open into a large, well-lit atrium with two levels. The upper level contains the full-service Garden Grill restaurant and the Circle of Life show. The lower level has the Sunshine Seasons food court, Soarin’ (identical to the original Soarin’ Over California and thus something we skipped) and Living With the Land (a boat ride).

Circle of Life is a large theater that shows a rather prosaic film starring Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa from the Lion King. Timon and Pumbaa want to build a real estate development, but Simba reminds them of the circle of life and the responsibility that everyone, especially humans, has in protecting the environment. Honestly, this is a very slight show and more like something one would see on TV or playing as a preshow in another attraction. It’s as far from Animal Kingdom’s Festival of the Lion King as you can get.

Sunshine Seasons is a nifty food court with no burgers, pizza, hot dogs, or French fries in sight. There are several food stations, including a salad bar, made-to-order sandwiches, Asian selections, and a grill. The salmon I has was delectable, and I’d put it up there with salmon I’ve had at some other full-service restaurants.

Living With the Land is not a thrill ride, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. It starts out as a dark ride, traveling through sets representing different environments, including a jungle, desert, rainforest, and plain. After going through a corridor with props and monitors showing farm scenes, the boats enter a real greenhouse. A bevy of edible plants are grown here and labeled. The boats then go through a fish farm, passing tanks with fish and other aquatic creatures used for food. Another greenhouse contains giant versions of plants such as pumpkins and lemons. The final greenhouse has more specimens planted via techniques like vertical growing, aeroponics, and hydroponics. Maybe the reason I liked this ride is because it had so many elements; it starts out as one thing, and then gets more interesting as the ride progresses. It’s especially nice that there are no barriers between the boat and the plants (though most of them are far enough away to be unreachable).

The final pavilion in Future World West and the nearest to the entrance is The Living Seas With Nemo and Friends. To the right of the entrance is the Coral Reef Restaurant. The entrance leads to the queue of the Nemo ride. It’s a continually moving ride in clamshells like The Little Mermaid. The indoor queue area is rather long, but it was empty when we went in the early afternoon. The clamshells pass by projections of characters and situations from Finding Nemo, and then go through the pavilion’s massive aquarium where characters are projected on the windows among the real fish. They sing the “Big Blue World” song from the musical in Animal Kingdom.

The ride exits into the pavilion, which is basically a small aquarium, though it features a tank that’s probably larger than may aquariums’. A viewing area provides 360-degree views of the tank, which includes fish, sea turtles, and dolphins. Another area has specimens from Finding Nemo in their own small tank. Especially nice is a two-level manatee tank. We got to see the handlers feed the manatees romaine lettuce, which they gobbled up. Monitors throughout inform guests about sea life, narrated by Mr. Ray (Nemo’s teacher). Turtle Talk With Crush is also in this pavilion. The aquarium pales in comparison with, say, the massive Monterey Bay Aquarium. But it’s well done, and even Monterey doesn’t have manatees and dolphins (as of this writing). There is, of course, a gift shop at the pavilion’s exit.

We didn’t thoroughly explore all the pavilions in World Showcase, but I will go over what we did see. I’ll start on the east side with Mexico, and then go clockwise around the lagoon.

Unlike all the other pavilions, Mexico is all inside. The building is a large pyramid, and right inside the entrance is a small museum. It then opens up into a nighttime scene in a village square, complete with stands selling items, other shops, and a restaurant along the banks of a boat ride (shades of Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean.)

The boat ride is the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros. There are a few Small World-esque puppets, but the ride consists primarily of large video screens. The boats pass by the restaurant and a pyramid before passing by screens that show parrot Jose Carioca (the green one) and rooster Panchito (the red one) as they look for Donald Duck in Mexico.  As the Unofficial Guide notes, only Panchito is Mexican; Jose is Brazilian and Donald is from Duckburg (which, if you’re wondering, is in the US state of Calisota). The three are shown interacting with live-action Mexican scenes. Donald, as is expected, is infatuated with the country’s girls. A room midway through features random dancing doll figures, and the finale mixes screens, dolls, and fiber optic fireworks. It’s fairly pleasant, if short, though the ride in Norway next door is even shorter.

Norway features a troll-obsessed shop, a princess meet-and-greet buffet restaurant, and a scatterbrained, disjointed, and very brief boat ride called Maelstrom. The ride had a fairly long (15 minute) line, which is not justified by the actual ride, which does have some interesting elements, but is much too short and falls flat. It starts by going up a lift, and then travels past some scenes of ancient Viking village life. A troll appears and sends the boats backwards over a drop. The boat, still going backwards, passes by nature scenes and a polar bear. The boats stop (with a brief view outside if you look back) and go forward down another drop to a storm scene with a huge oil rig. Then, the ride is over. Again, there are some interesting elements that could work given a longer and more coherent ride, but it doesn’t come together. At the exit, you can watch a tourism film about Norway.

The China pavilion has a Circle-Vision film (Reflections of China) that we didn’t see, as well as some restaurants. There is a small museum, which when we went featured displays on the Terra-Cotta warriors, including an impressive replica of some of the figures. The large House of Good Fortune features Chinese items and merchandise.

After a small dead area with stands selling African jewelry, there is the Germany pavilion. There are no rides, but a definite highlight is the Karamell-Küche store featuring all kinds of scrumptious sweets and baked goods dipped in caramel. We ate dinner at the Biergarten restaurant, a buffet with sauerbraten, breaded pork schnitzel, hot potato salad, and a vast variety of different sausages. The dining space is themed to an outdoor celebration of Oktoberfest in a village square at night. A stage showcases a German band, which plays songs from guess-where as well as popular drinking songs (a surprisingly large number of people joined in the latter songs).  Alphorns and a glockenspiel player were featured when we were there, along with the more traditional brass and accordion ensemble. Guests are also invited to dance at points. The food was okay, though it could have used some more flavor. The German pavilion features another gem: an outdoor model train set with several tracks and intricate landscaping.

We didn’t really explore the Italy pavilion. The American Adventure is an elaborate animatronic/film show that we didn’t get to see and one I hope to get to next time. The half-hour shows are every 45 minutes, and we got there just as a show started. There’s also an outdoor stage where the Voices of Liberty perform; for an a cappella group, they could get impressively loud.

The Japan pavilions has no attractions, but does have a trio of restaurants, a large pagoda, a garden with waterfalls and a koi pond, and the sprawling Mitsukoshi Department Store. All manner of Japanese goods are sold here, from snacks and kimonos to vintage action figures and manga. A counter sells pearls from oysters. There’s also an impressive liquor selection along with a tiny bar.

Next is Morocco, which we didn’t really look at. The France pavilion has a (non-accessible) Eiffel Tower replica, some fancy restaurants, and a panoramic film (Impressions de France). Down the pavilion’s winding street is an indoor area with a store and the Boulangerie Pâtisserie bakery, which sells baked goods and sandwiches. The toasted ham and cheese croissant sandwich is one of the simpler offerings, but it counts as a snack under the meal plan and tasted great.

Last are United Kingdom and Canada, both of which we saw in passing. The latter does have another Circle-Vision film (O Canada!) featuring Martin Short. Between World Showcase and Future World West was a path that had promotions for Oz The Great and Powerful, including posters, midway games, and a playground. I only mention it because we ended up traversing this rather narrow path several times.

Closing off the Epcot day is Illuminations, a nighttime spectacle that takes place on the World Showcase lagoon. We got to the area 10 or 15 minutes before it started and still got to stand right in front of the railing; it was nowhere near the madness of Disneyland’s Fantasmic (neither was the post-show exit). It’s a fairly short show, but it has fireworks, flares, flames, and a large, spinning globe with video projections of human achievement that floats on the lagoon’s surface. The pyrotechnics are impressively close, and many of them are launched from right in front of you. The proximity of the fireworks is neat, though most of them go off at the beginning and at a point about two-thirds through the show. One barge is devoted to flames, and the heat is palpable. You can pay to have a boat take you out in the lagoon during the show, and I can only imagine how the heat feels that much closer. As a finale, the globe opens up to reveal a flaming torch within, which shoots of fireworks of its own. The story and theme of the show is vague, and much of the show seems to be nothing but the globe spinning and displaying stock imagery. But as mentioned, the closeness of the fireworks and the in-the-round nature of the show take it up a few notches.

Epcot is a massive park, and we didn’t get to see all of World Showcase. But the variety of the attractions and its difference from the California parks made it my favorite of the Disney World parks. Disney admirably mixes entertainment, education, and thrills into a sometimes overwhelming, but still brilliant amalgamation of science and world culture. On a future trip, this is undoubtedly the park where I would personally like to spend the most time. There is nothing at the Disneyland Resort like it. Well, except Soarin’, but that was copied from California Adventure anyway. And Turtle Talk With Crush and the Captain EO show, but those are among Epcot’s more minor offerings. To many others, the Magic Kingdom will be the best Disney World park, but for me, Epcot takes the prize.

Next: Disney’s Hollywood Studios