Disney World February 2012 Trip Report Part 5
We didn’t arrive at Epcot right at rope drop the next morning, but we needed to catch up on sleep a bit. Still, I think we were there by around 10 am. Not bad, and it was a slow day at Epcot, anyway.
Our first stop there was The Land pavilion, as it’s almost habit to get FastPasses for Soarin’ right away. We only end up using them around 50% of the time, but it’s a fun task, nonetheless. Plus, who doesn’t love visiting The Land? Just being around Sunshine Seasons, the balloons, and Livin’ with the Land makes me happy.
Recently, I’ve been on a bit of a kick looking for vintage photos of The Land online. I absolutely love who much rich detail and 80s goodness The Land used to have. I understand that a lot of this has been striped to open up more space for the heavy traffic that Soarin’ brings, but it’d be nice if the Sunshine Seasons area had a bit more character. Right now it feels a bit like an ordinary food court.
After we grabbed Soarin’ FastPasses, we signed up for a Behind the Seeds tour later in the day. For years, we’ve been saying that we are going to do this, but we always put it off. Paying for the tour that morning pretty much guaranteed that we’d be doing it.
First try, too far away. Time to move closer to the flowers…
Much better!
From there we headed to The Seas, where all of the effects were working!, and then onto Journey into Imagination with Figment. The park was already being beautified for Flower and Garden Festival, which just started on March 7th, so it looked pretty nice in most areas.
Following that we waited a few minutes for the monorail to show up, and we each snapped a few shots. Sarah used her iPhone and I used by D7000 and Rokinon 8mm Fisheye Lens. I was a bit too far under the monorail, so my shot wasn’t quite what I wanted. I actually ended up liking Sarah’s shot better! I noted her location for a future photo.
Then we headed off to World Showcase. We stopped in Canada to take some photos and were a bit surprised when we saw Liverlips, of Country Bear Jamboree, standing in the walkway near the pavilion! To the best of my knowledge, Country Bear Jamboree is NOT set in Canada (Frontierland is based on the American West, which is in…America), but we were just happy at the chance to meet him during daylight hours rather than in his Christmas scarf at a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
From there, we continued on. It was a relaxed trip and we were looking to gain about 35 pounds each, so we decided to SNACK AROUND THE WORLD!!!
We had never snacked in France, so we decided to start there. This didn’t make a whole lot of sense from a flow perspective, but from a deliciousness perspective, it seemed we were starting in the right place.
Before we even arrived at France’s bakery, we saw Marie from the Aristocats. Aristocats is one of our favorite Disney movies, and we’ve only ever had our photo taken with Marie once. She had no line this time, which is rare for this seemingly unpopular character, so we jumped right on line! We were supposed to meow and put our paws up like cats for the photo, but I think Sarah forgot about the meowing part…and also forgot that she has two paws.
At the Boulangerie Pâtisserie, we ordered the Napoleon and Lemon Tart. It was really tough to narrow it down to these two items, but they looked the most promising. We’ll explore other options more in our coming “Snacking Around the World (Showcase).” The Napoleon very well might have been the greatest dessert I’ve ever had at Walt Disney World. It was filled with custard, but somehow (magically, I assume) the layers of pastry in between were somehow light and fluffy. I’m no pastry-architect, but it doesn’t seem like the pastry layers were load bearing. Yet, they managed to hold the custard just fine. The powdered sugar on top was the perfect complement, and the sweet taste of this dessert was perfect.
The Lemon Tart was also good, but after the sweet taste of the Napoleon, it was a bit of a shock to my palate. Sarah preferred it to the Napoleon, but she started out with the Lemon Tart, so maybe that made the difference. It was still a very good dessert. I wonder if France knows how to make a bad dessert, though?! Our dessert tour had just started and already we had our photo taken with Marie and tried the best dessert ever. It was going to be a good day!
Our next stop was Morocco. We only ordered one dessert there, as nothing looked all that appetizing. And it wasn’t. The portion was large, which normally would be a plus, but in this case (as we felt obligated to eat it all), it was not. We also ate lunch in Morocco because it had been a while since we had eaten there.
We ordered the Chicken and Lamb Shwarma Platter to split. It was fairly expensive, but the portion was large, so I feel it offered reasonable value. It actually tasted better than I had remembered, too! It had a unique flavor fitting of a World Showcase restaurant, but seemed a bit tame as compared to more adventurous dishes found at Sanaa. I suppose that’s partly the difference between a tucked-away table service resort restaurant and a quick service restaurant in the heart of a theme park. Still, it was fairly unique.
About halfway through our meal, this coloring book Duffy on a stick landed right in the middle of our food. It turned out that a kid had been throwing it around and the wind caught it. I picked it up, and the dad came over and grabbed it, saying, “ha, sorry about that” and they walked right off. I didn’t expect some drawn out apology, but almost immediately, the kid began throwing the Duffy around again. This pissed me off. If I had a kid and he or she had a toy that ended up in someone else’s food, the kid wouldn’t be playing with that toy again for a while.
Sarah didn’t eat much of the food after this, as she’s more health and germ conscious than I am. I didn’t see a plate of germs sitting there, I saw a plate of approximately $7.67 worth of food still sitting there, and I wasn’t about to waste over half my food because of a few (or few thousand? I don’t know much about germs) germs in my food.
We weren’t too hungry after this, so we decided to walk the rest of World Showcase slowly before making our way over to The Land to use our Soarin’ FastPasses and doing our Behind the Seeds at Epcot tour. So it was a rather short-lived “Snacking Around the World” quest. Perhaps next time we won’t eat any other food and will flat-out skip Morocco. A valiant attempt, nonetheless!
When we finally completed our stroll of World Showcase, we headed for The Land. We had 30 minutes until our tour, so we figured we had time for Soarin’. Even with a FastPass, Soarin’ is notoriously slow, so perhaps we shouldn’t have tried to push our luck here. We barely finished the attraction before our tour was to start. Luckily, two other people in our tour were running late, so we arrived with plenty of time to spare before the tour started.
You can read our full review of the Behind the Seeds at Epcot tour, but in a nutshell, it was awesome! While I love Livin’ with the Land, my interest in a more thorough explanation of what goes on behind the scenes in the pavilion was very low prior to the tour.
Despite that, I loved the Behind the Seeds tour. It was interesting without being dry and pedantic and balanced the practical applications of these techniques at home (something that doesn’t interest me at all—actually, it scares me, as Sarah trying to utilize some of these techniques likely means more work for me!) with the broader scientific studies and theory behind some of what is being done at The Land.
To the casual theme park guest, though, the tour is outstanding. The tour is engaging rather than a typical lecture, as guests are allowed to touch things, release bugs, and sample foods, and our tour guide was great. On that note, a word of caution; the tour guide is pretty make or break for Behind the Seeds. Our tour guide was exceptional. She had extensive knowledge of the different areas of the greenhouses, was articulate, personable, and wasn’t afraid to admit when she didn’t know the answer to a question (which was rare). I much prefer that than someone making up an answer that sounds good.
Critics contend that little remains of the EPCOT Center that opened in 1982. They claim that Journey into Imagination is now the antithesis of imagination. The Living Seas aren’t nearly as alive now that cartoon characters inhabit some of their waters. World of Motion and Horizons are gone, replaced by thrill rides. Wonders of Life (not a 1982 attraction, but still…) is now the Wonders Retreat, a seldom used home for hard-ticket events during Food & Wine Festival and Flower & Garden Festival. Spaceship Earth now wants guests to “thank the Phoenicians” and play with touchscreens. While I disagree with much of this (and think many changes were necessary to hold the interest of contemporary guests), I think it’s unquestionable that Epcot has captured the spirit of “edutainment” with the Behind the Seeds tour. Resist as I might, I found myself accidentally learning while having loads of fun on this tour. Going in, I fully expected it to be nothing more than an opportunity to take some cool photos while Sarah learned about gardening techniques. I was shocked to enjoy this tour so much.
After Behind the Seeds, it was time for a caffeine infusion, courtesy of Club Cool. A lot of EPCOT Center fans dislike Club Cool, but I have to admit, we stop there all the time. It may be shameless corporate plugging for Coke, but it offers free caffeine, gives a glimpse at other beverages around the world, and is better than almost everything (besides Sum of All Thrills) in Innoventions. It also takes up relatively little space. All in all, I can’t complain about it.
Next up was Spaceship Earth. I’ve probably said it a thousand times, but this (minus the end of the attraction) is what I’d like to see more of at Walt Disney World. Incredibly long, Audio Animatronic-heavy dark rides rich in visual detail. Epcot used to have several of them, but this is pretty much all that remains. It seems to me that these attractions still resonate with contemporary audiences (who here hates Pirates, Haunted Mansion, or Spaceship Earth?!), so I don’t see why more aren’t built.
Sarah was feeling especially tired at this point, so she decided to go back and take a nap. We were approaching sunset, which I didn’t want to miss, so I wandered around by myself for a while. I had a bit of time before sunset, so I decided to do Mission: Space. Sarah can’t do this attraction, so it’s rare that I have the chance to experience it. I enjoy it, even if Horizons does seem much more appealing to me (I don’t recall Horizons from my youth).
From there, it was sunset time. Journey into Imagination is one of my favorite places to shoot the sunset, and I had an idea. What if I could shoot the sunset from inside the upstairs ImageWorks in Journey into Imagination?! My attempts at seeing the upstairs in the past had failed…would this be a success?
Find out in the next installment…
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Hey, great report. Just letting you know that your “Next Part” link directs to this page instead of part 6.
Another fantastic update! With a cliffhanger, no less. If you have no memories of Horizons from your childhood I wonder if you have any of the old upstairs Imageworks. My guess would be that if your brain were to hold onto just 1 of those 2 things it would be Imageworks. It’s a place that will live forever very distinctly within my brain…and heart.
We’ve done Behind the Seeds twice with a few years between each tour. There were things that stayed the same but also things that changed. Also, as formerly was the case with Living With the Land, having different guides lends a bit of difference in information and presentation. Great re-tour-ability there. I also loved that written information on some of the agg-techniques was made available for those interested. It’s such a wonderful tour all the way around. Even keeps semi-intelligent teens engaged. Can’t beat that!
Horizons is the only attraction I don’t remember from EPCOT Center. I remember all of the rest (although only bits and pieces of the Living Seas) just fine!
I am so jealous that you guys met someone from the Country Bear Jamboree! I LOVE this show, have since I was a little girl, but I had no idea that they ever are walking around! I want to meet them!
I also love your pics from Spaceship Earth. And I completely agree, this is what Disney needs more of. SSE, Haunted Mansion, Carosel of Progress are my favorite park rides! 🙂
If you ever go to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, chances are, you’ll be able to meet four of the Country Bears!
Steph,
I know this is no help now, but we were able to meet three of four possible Country Bears at the One More Disney Day at Disneyland (Wendell, Liverlips, and Shaker were switching out with Big Al). Of perhaps more help is the fact that the alley where Tom and Sarah met Liverlips and the one by American Adventure sometimes have random and great assortments of characters–we’ve definitely encountered out of the ordinary characters there with no prior warning (maybe I’m not looking hard enough, but I’ve never seen them on the Times Guides or on Kenny the Pirate’s character site). In December Hook, Smee, Rafiki, Mary Poppins’s penguin, King Louie, and Donald were in the America one and Eeyore, Goofy, Pluto, and two guys from Pinocchio (Honest John Faulfellow and Gideon) were in the Canada one. The lines weren’t all that bad, and you could basically hit them one after the other very efficiently (we did miss Goofy and the Pinocchio characters because the Canada meet was closing very soon after we got there).
I preface my comment with by stating that I immensely enjoy your blog & photography. But every time you make a “if I had a kid” comment, I smile & think, “Oh, childless couples…how little you know, how little you understand.” And this is coming from a parent whose children are expected to address all adults as “Sir” & “Ma’am,” and a parent who doesn’t tolerate poor behavior, at home or in public.
All I’m saying is: maybe one day you’ll be the father of a child who disrupts the meal of a young married couple. A little grace goes much further than eye rolling. I’m not condoning bad behavior, mind you. (My children would have been required to apologize to you, straight away.) Just offering a wee suggestion.
Keep up the terrific work with the blog
Nice to hear that someone enjoys “The Land” as much as I do. We loved the tour, too. Very funny about seeing Liverlips in Epcot. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about the Napoleon at the French bakery, so I’m definitely going to have to try that next time…your photo of it looks so yummy! My favorite has been the lemon tart. And I like your comment about the “long, Audio Animatronic-heavy dark rides rich in visual detail.” I’d like to see more of them, too.
Can’t wait for the next part of your report. As always, your photos are great. I’m an amateur photographer upgrading from a bridge camera to a DSLR this spring, and I can’t wait to take it with me on my next Disney vacation. Your photos are very inspiring. Thanks so much for sharing them.
DEFINITELY give the Napoleon a try. It was amazing. Thanks for the kind words on the report, coming from someone with such good attraction taste, it means a lot!
That looks like a picture of the plant that closes when you touch it at the start of your Seeds tours. I had no idea it grew anywhere in the US. Was it on the tour, or is it somewhere non-touring guests can see?
This was on the tour. We actually shot video of it. I’ll have to see if I can find that…
I’m glad you guys got a good Behind the Seeds tour guide. Ours was not great at answering questions and was getting flustered by a hyperactive 8-year-old in the group who was monopolizing the conversation. I may take the tour again some time because I still have questions about the greenhouses that I’d like answered.
That really stinks…I’d definitely give the tour another try.
Loving the ‘to be continued cliffhanger’! Not that I need anything to prompt me to read another of your blog entries! Glad you enjoyed the Behind the Seeds tour…we thought it was awesome too…great value compared to the cost of many of the other tours. We love Club Cool too! Great free punch of caffeine:)
Today, THE CLIFFHANGER IS RESOLVED!
A cliffhanger……..you are keeping me in suspense.
Tom,
Great report as always, some really great shots in Part 5! Thanks!
Charlie