Epcot

Finally, the day Colby has been waiting for! We arrived early to the park, waiting in line with the other 500+ people until it opened at 9 AM. RideMax was a saving grace today and was spot-on, except for the occasional unforeseen shut-down.

First ride was Mission: Space, a simulator that had us controlling a launch to Mars. Colby was a little timid but by the time we entered the ride and he saw the magnitude of buttons and the joystick for driving, he was fine. Good ride, although the green (easy) version still made me a little motion sick. Not a good ride for anyone with a fear of dark, cramped spaces or motion sensitivity.

Next up was a leisurely and sweet ride called Seas with Nemo. We rode in "clamobiles" through a gentle journey, ultimately ending inside the Seas Pavilion, which has a large aquarium.

We then rode Journey into Imagination, an incredibly dated but enjoyed by by Grady ride. It starred Eric Idle and was a very simple an short ride. But for whatever reason, Grady enjoyed it.

Spaceship Earth was next and it represented our longest line of the day (30 minutes thanks to RideMax). Recently redone, the ride takes a slow moving crawl through the history of man and evolution of technology. Eventually you end up in a star studded cavern of the "golf ball" that makes Epcot so famous. I liked it; Colby thought it was boring and Grady gave it a 2 out of 4 stars. Steve thought is was OK. Nothing too scary here, although it is dark and slow moving.

Epcot has a Coke Club Cool here so we checked out the various flavors of soda sold around the world. Some were disgusting (bitters flavor from England) but others surprisingly good (Coke with orange from Costa Rica).

At lunch time we headed over to "Mexico" and the Gran Fiesta. This ride reminded me a lot of Pirates of the Caribbean, but nicer. It was on a boat but instead of featuring pirate, the 3 amigos (in Disney cartoon) were featured. It was a fun, easy ride complete with a ride alongside an indoor restaurant. After the ride, we decided to dine at the San Angel Inn, enjoying fish tacos and margaritas.Yummmmmm!

We attempted to do the Test Track next but it had suffered a breakdown so the lines were way too long. Instead, we spent over 45 minutes with Ellen DeGeneres at Universe of Energy. Not the best use of time or energy in my opinion. Not an incredibly brutal ride, but really slow and long.

Finally, we made our way to the Test Track, one of the boys' favorite rides of the day. the theory is that you are testing a GM car (can you say commercial product placement here). The car was on a track but did some cool things like break through corners at high speeds, endure "high" temperature tests and ultimately take us on a 60+ MPH curved race track. For Disney, this was a great ride.

We finished the rides with a visit with Crush (from nemo) and Soarin over California, a great ride.

We then set out on the World Showcase, which features countries from around the world. We spent a lot of time in Germany fighting evil spies in the Kim Possible Spy Adventure (like a scavenger hunt). Our Moroccan dinner was amazing, complete with a live belly dancer and the best lamb I've ever had (not that I have had that much lamb).

It is now 9 pm and we are trying to get the boys to sleep. They loved Epcot and are really jazzed about tomorrow at Magic Kingdom. Saved the best for last...