Around the world in 8 hours (give or take)

Epcot: Part three

The Mexico Pavilion:




We never did find out what the technical difficulty was that you will hear announced on this film.



The Norway Pavilion:

This is supposed to be Eric The Red, but Blaze thought it was Jesus




The Maelstrom boat ride







The China Pavilion:



Blaze didn't feel very well after the Maelstrom ride, but sitting in the shade for awhile with a bottle of water and this strawberry -red bean ice cream seemed to cure him


the bromeliad dragon






A woodcarver at work in between pavilions



The German Pavilion, where we ate lunch at the all-you-can eat buffet:



The food is fantastic!

The musical entertainment during our meal





The Italian Pavilion:





The American Pavilion:








The Morocco Pavilion:





The Japan Pavilion:





The museum of tin toys inside the Japanese Pavilion


A little break to look at a book about the art of Totoro





The France Pavilion:





The Grand Marnier slush that Dh and I shared by the fountain







The Great Britain Pavilion:








By the time we reached the Canadian Pavilion, it was dark. This is the gift shop where Blaze got his new "coon skin" cap.



He walked out of the store wearing the hat and singing the Davy Crockett song.


We watched the fireworks show from right in front of the Canadian Pavilion.

Epcot: Part 2

There are rides at Epcot, but the park is not all about the rides, like most amusement parks. The first ride as you enter the park, is Spaceship Earth, which takes you through the history of man.









After Spaceship Earth, we headed over to The Land, which is the agricultural exhibit.



There is a boat ride that takes guests through the experimental greenhouses.





This is Dragon Fruit. I never knew what the plant looked like before, but DH bought a seedling while we were there, so we'll see if we can grow one at home.



There are various experiments with different plant growing methods.







The film quality is not great, but I thought the idea of a tomato tree was interesting.



Next we went to the Test Track, which was the ride Blaze most wanted to go on.

I think this is the ride that is most like a regular amusement park ride. It's a roller coaster disguised as a test track for new cars.



This was the ride that changed Blaze's mind about wanting to be a race car driver when he grows up.

Well, once again, I need to stop writing and posting pictures before I'm really finished. We are going to brunch this morning at my sister-in-law's house. I'll post pictures of the different countries' pavilions at Epcot tomorrow.

Epcot: Part One

For anyone who is not familiar with Epcot, it is one of four Disney theme parks in Orlando Florida. Epcot is an acronym for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow", according to DH, but no one ever calls it that. It has all the elements of a World's Fair, but they are permanent. There are exhibits about new technologies, history, and agriculture, as well as, several huge pavilions dedicated to different countries.

The thing that looks like a giant golf ball, as the guests enter the gates, is the Spaceship Earth exhibit.



Epcot is right in the middle of their Flower and Garden festival, so throughout the park there were beautiful flowers and plants that are not there the rest of the year.





I will post more pictures tomorrow, but right now, we are franticly getting ready to go to a wedding.

A Really Wild Dinner and Lots of Legos

We were hungry by the time we reached the hotel in Orlando, so we headed over the Down Town Disney to find some dinner.



This is quite possibly, the noisiest, most colorful restaurant I have ever been to, but the T-Rex cafe is an eight year old boy's dream.



When we saw the long line waiting to get into the restaurant, DH and I tried to talk Blaze into going somewhere else, but once he saw and heard the animatronic dinosaurs, there was no hope of dragging him away.



We were seated in "The Ice Cave" section of the restaurant, which changed colors every few minutes.





Does this color bother your eyes? Every time the walls turned blue again, I could feel my eyes relax. I don't think there is any way I could work in a place like this.





This was the bar, which DH described as being a James Bond villain's lair, that had been turned into a restaurant:


It's a place that is very fun for children, but it's nearly impossible to hold a conversation there.
The food was very good and the waitstaff was excellent.


After dinner, we went to the Lego store.

The huge Sea Serpent made of Legos:





Blaze playing with Legos right outside the store:



One of bins of parts for assembling your own Lego people inside the store.



DH created the University of Florida Archeology Grad Student Lego Man:



Legos, Legos everywhere










Just before heading back to our hotel, we found this fountain for Blaze to play in: