Day 4: Epcot Center

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone! Now, onto the post.

I first have to tell you about a dream I had about Epcot a couple of weeks before we had left. I dreamed that I was at Epcot Center and met Matthew McConaughey there. So that everyone would believe me that I had met him, he recorded my voicemail message on my cell phone. I'm not sure what this has to do with anything, but I felt like I needed to tell you.

We were a little late getting on our way that morning because we were so engrossed in an episode of Judge Alex that we couldn't leave before there was a ruling. Here's a line from the episode "So, I called him up and said 'hey, baby's daddy.'" Classic. We went to Epcot and our bus driver needed to pull up directions on her little GPS unit to get there, so that's always interesting. One of the first rides we went on was Mission Space. We were a little nervous. Mission Space, for anyone that hasn't heard, is a ride that is supposed to give you the G forces and actual feelings of taking off in a space ship. There were two paths you could pick: the green side (the less intense) and the orange side (the more intense). When you first enter, they hand you a card for your side which has all the warnings about the bad things that might happen if you ride and all the restrictions of why you shouldn't ride (if you're pregnant, if you are claustrophobic, if you get motion sickness, whatever). Danielle and I chose the orange side because we are experienced ride riders, so how bad could it be? I get a little nervous because during the whole wait there are announcements and videos and placards about how if you are unsure, you should go on the green side. We stay with orange anyway and get a little more nervous when we are loaded on the ride and there are barf bags on the console in front of us. We still went on and didn't really find anything bad about it.

Another ride we went on was Test Track, and we are about 95% sure that we were in line with a guy we went to high school with. We kept looking at him and he kept looking at us. The reason that there is still 5% of doubt is because we didn't actually ask him. We didn't really know how to start that conversation which was further complicated by the fact that two brothers went to our high school and we weren't exactly sure which one it was.

Then we headed to the International area. We ate in the Mexico pavilion which was yummy. I thought about buying my boss TT something from the Germany pavilion and really confuse her since she was already having enough problems remembering that I was on vacation. Outside of the Japan area was a woman forming what looked like colored taffy into little figures. I could only understand about every third word she was saying, and it went something like this "Candy...yum yum...Froggie...Froggie shoe...Nother Froggie shoe...yum yum...candy" Then we went to the boulangerie/patisserie in France because Danielle was on a search for chocolate cake. I thought about breaking out some of my mad French skillz, but all the workers looked too bitchy, so I didn't.

Then I took Danielle to Soarin'. I had first been on Soarin in Disney's California Adventure and loved it. Soarin is in like an IMAX theater type place, but you sit on a bench that looks like a hang glider, and it is actually lifted up so that you are in the middle of the screen, so not only do you feel like you are high and flying over California, but you are actually pretty high. Now, i briefly forgot that Danielle was scared of heights, and when I was telling her about the ride in line, she broke out in a cold sweat, but decided to go anyway. There was a guy in front of us that was throwing out more curse words and inappropriate language than I had heard on the entire trip to Disney. At one point, the woman of indeterminate relation in front of him was trying to put her book bag into the pouch underneath the seat for the ride and said "I don't think its going to fit." I'm going to let you imagine his response. Please be as dirty as you want, because he went on for about 5 minutes on it not really concerned that there was a 6 year old child beside him.

We went to see a show (ok, actually it was 'The Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable') and before the show they go into the "please no flash photography. If you need to exit prior to the end of the show, yada yada yada." We hear a guy go over to the Disney cast member and say "what do you mean, no flash? Am I not allowed in?" I turn around to see a guy wearing this.

Loser. I turn to Danielle and say "how many times do you think he's done that today? Because I doubt its the first."

We decide to fore go fireworks because they are 2 hours away and we have pretty much done every single thing at Epcot (shopping, shows, everything). On our way out we see that Spaceship Earth (aka the thing in the big ball) has the gate open. In the morning we were told that Spaceship Earth was closed for refurbishing, and there was a big construction barrier around it. The cast member at the gate said this time that they "weren't supposed to be open, but they were testing it for anyone that wanted to ride." Sure, we're game. Though it does make you a little nervous when there is an engineer standing right beside the control panel as you get on the ride. Parts of the ride had to be brand spanking new because they still smelled like construction and paint and wood. Well, guess what, we get stuck. Luckily we're not in an as annoying place as at the Pirates of the Caribbean. The sound for that area just plays once and is done. We finally get restarted and leave Epcot for the day. No, Matthew McConaughey.

Day 5: A bucket of Funmeister