Yesterday my wife Melissa, my son Will, and I drove down to Epcot Center at Walt Disney World to spend the day...and close out the park for the night. When we arrived around noon, the already overcast sky darkened even more and it began to rain. The park was packed with visitors, and the lines for the attractions we planned on riding were very long...they do have a system to "avoid" lines by making advance appointments for rides, but most rides were already booked that way before we arrived. We did manage to go on the three we wanted the most: Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and Soarin'...and had lunch at The Electric Umbrella near the "giant golf ball" and dinner in the "countries" section, at the Tutto Italia Ristorante. There I ordered Involtini Di Melanzane Alla Parmigiana, composed of eggplant, ricotta, mushroom, parmesan, and tomato sauce...ever since I cooked at a Gainesville Chinese restaurant in the 1980s, I've had a thing for eggplant. This dish was really g-o-o-d!
As is the case with a lot of visitors, our stay at Epcot was divided into two parts: Future World in the front, northern part by the parking lots, dominated by Spaceship Earth (the "golf ball") and World Showcase, a semicircular trail of national pavilions, restaurants, and gift shops. It was a bit stressful going through the human congestion in Future World with the long lines for our rides and the difficulty just going down the sidewalk trying to avoid head-on collisions, but once we crossed over into World Showcase, I felt more at ease in spite of the still-maddening crowds. After dinner, we visited the various nations and enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show at the very end, all-in-all a good visit, and with Melissa and Will the company couldn't have been better...
Melissa noticed that the Spaceship Earth ride, which provides a visual history of humankind's advancement in technology, seemed to taper off after the 1960s and 70s and then jumped ahead into speculation about the future, appearing to essentially ignore the digital revolution that has drastically transformed our lives during the last few decades. I agree with her assessment and wonder whether the good folks at Disney aren't slipping a little. But we all agreed that Test Track and Soarin', once we finally got through the excruciating lines and fastened our seat belts, were great experiences. Overall, though, my preference for the park was in the World Showcase section, where we could browse around and buy food and drink without the suffocating lines. By the way, the international composition of the visitors was staggering in its degree, with Chinese appearing to be the dominant nationality...
